Original: Sleeping Terror and Faint Dream ~ Inanimate Dream
From Touhou 4: Lotus Land Story
Themes of Yuuka Kazami
Composed by ZUN
Light Arrangement

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL!

Halloween is almost here! What better way to celebrate than to screw about with the two themes of one of Gensokyo's most powerful and feared enemies? Yuuka Kazami is so ridiculously strong that she might be a goddess. Seriously, the power that she has shown off to the residents of Gensokyo has hinted to be merely a fraction of what she is fully capable of. Perhaps that's one of the main reasons why she survived the jump from the PC-98 era to the Windows era. There are a lot of theories that, after the destruction of Makai, Gensokyo kind of just... reset. The devastation was so immense that time and space in Gensokyo fractured, and only a handful of denizens survived the apocalypse. Reimu survived because she is the current Hakurei Shrine Maiden. and the power of her bloodline allowed her to make it through. Marisa made it through the event without a scratch because Mima sacrificed herself and her power to protect her. Yuuka might be the only character to have made it through the Armageddon just because she felt like it. But, I digress. When it comes to Touhou, the lines between canon and fandom get increasingly blurred. Most of what I've said is speculation on part of the community by analyzing conversations between characters, studying story events, and so forth. But even without the fandom blowing her power out of proportion, we all remember the first time Yuuka used the Master Spark... followed swiftly by the sound of our character going "PTCHUUN" and earning ourselves a game over. Yuuka is terrifying.

I considered adding Yuuka's theme from PoFV as well, but the tone of that song's structure is a little too joyous for what I was shooting for. With enough time and effort, I could have made Flower Land fit into her other themes with the same vibe, but that would have taken at least another couple of months, and I've been working on this project since around August. I kinda just felt like I wanted to move on to other projects, like the first few tracks of Border of Fate 2017 and Nuclear Fusion. I guess you can say I was a bit lazy. However, I really enjoyed the concept of the two songs being blended together, and when Sleeping Terror ends and Inanimate Dream begins, a chill went down my spine! I was actually spooked for a second! So at least personally, this project was a success. Hopefully it creeps out everyone else, or at least feels like the essence of Yuuka was recreated into a "modern Touhou" feel. I feel like I captured what makes Yuuka such a great villain in Lotus Land Story. She's polite, elegant, and refined. But on the opposite side of the spectrum, she's unpredictable, cold, calculating, and surprisingly brutal. But enough babbling from my keyboard. Happy Halloween!