The Touhou Project is the brainchild of Jun'ya Ōta, better known as ZUN. Related: A World of Pain: Bullet Hell Games Worth Checking Out Other important characters in the Touhou universe include Marisa Kirisame, Reimu's best friend and human magician, Remilia Scarlet, a main antagonist and vampire, and Sakuya Izayoi, a maid with time-shifting powers. Over the years, the Touhou Project has continued to expand in terms of its lore and game mechanics, with the series going beyond its roots as a bullet-hell and branching into the realm of fighting games, Metroidvanias, Animes, print works and even music albums. The main character of the series is Reimu Hakurei, a human shrine maiden whose main job is to act as a 'balancer' between youkai and humans. The Touhou Project is a series of bullet-hell games that take place in Gensokyo, a fantastical world inhabited by humans and creatures from Japanese folklore. And with how interconnected the world is today, Touhou may be making waves in the US sooner or later. Touhou's popularity in Japan may as well equal the popularity of games like Call of Duty in the West.
However, if one were to bring up Call of Duty to someone in Japan, the response most likely would be polite confusion. Mentioning Touhou, however, might net slightly more interest. With gaming becoming more and more mainstream, certain game titles have become instantly recognizable at the mere utterance of their names.
