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doyouknowthisgame · 14 days

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#do you know this game #len'en mugenri #len'en mugenri ~ evanescent existence #windows #touhou... 2!

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singular-yike · 7 months

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Getting into Len'en Lore: Part 1

Cause I mean there's a lot of it, isn't there?

With the 10th anniversary coming up I thought it might be nice to share my personal recommended reading order(?) for all the Len'en material, for people who really want to dig into the lore.

Of course, I'm sure most folks reading this are already neck-deep into the lore swamp but hey, on the off chance that it reaches someone new, right?

Getting the information in English

To start off, you'd either have to learn Japanese, or find a good translation for the series and its associated materials. Here I'll go with English, since it's, well what I'm writing in.

The Len'en wiki, for 99% of all cases, will absolutely be where you want to go to read up on the lore and translation of Japanese material.

All of the translations on the wiki have been diligently worked on by me and other brilliant translators, and even now we revisit old translations to polish them up, so I guarantee it's quality (I suppose there's no reason to trust me, but I do promise).

Now the wiki also has links to English patches for all 4 of the shmup games, if you'd prefer to read the dialogue in-game, though I must note that they won't be the most updated version of the dialogue, and have further paraphrasing to trim things down to fit textboxes.

Still, they're more than enough for getting a basic understanding of the plot, and the visual elements of the game are not to be missed out on, so do give the games a go!

The Reading List

Now that the preamble is over with, let's actually get into my recommended order for lore-exploration. Forewarning: It's a lot, so brace yourself for some good old reading.

Major Entries in Release Order

The first place to start is of course each of the series entries in release order, though there are some curiosities about how this series tells its story through changes to the games itself, so I'll walk you through those as well.

These are separated into "story reading order" and "additional reading", the first ones are pretty much necessary to, well, understand the story.

Additional reading, on the other hand, are not as crucial to grasping the story, and will be ordered from most important to least.

They often contain little tidbits of lore tucked within, and are fun reads perhaps only for fans of JynX writing or those who really want to dig deep.

Game 1: Evanescent Existence

We of course start with the first game in the series, Len'en Mugenri ~ Evanescent Existence (often abbreviated as EE in English).

Story Reading Order

Prologue

Yabusame Houlen's story — Main Story → Bad Ending → Good Ending → Extra Story

Tsubakura Enraku's story — Main Story → Bad Ending → Good Ending → Extra Story

Official Profiles

Additional Reading

Music Room Comments

Spell Cards

Documentation Pages — omake.txt, manual.txt, readme.txt, readme.txt (trial ver.)

Note: Bad Endings Bad endings are non-canon in all of the games, in the sense that the events depicted within haven't actually occurred. They're still very useful to read as "what-if" scenarios though, since they actually provide a lot of interesting information.

Game 2: Earthen Miraculous Sword

Moving onto game #2, simple enough. Here's Len'en Tasouken ~ Earthen Miraculous Sword (abbr. EMS).

Story Reading Order

Prologue

Main Story (Any character order is fine) — Yabusame Houlen: Story → Bad Ending → Good Endings A & B — Tsubakura Enraku: Story → Bad Ending → Good Endings A & B — Kuroji Shitodo: Story → Bad Ending → Good Endings A & B

Extra Prologue

Extra Story (Any character order is fine) — Yabusame Houlen, Tsubakura Enraku, Kuroji Shitodo

Official Profiles

Note: Good Endings A and B The two endings differ only in a single textbox at the very end, so no need to read it twice, just jump to the very end to see the difference. Or honestly, since it doesn't affect the story at all, you're free to just read either one and be done with it.

Additional Reading

Music Room Comments

Spell Cards

Documentation Pages — omake.txt, manual.txt, readme.txt & readme.txt (trial ver.)

Note: On the EMS Documentation Pages EE and EMS were actually released at the same time, as a result some files are unnecessary to read. ・omake.txt: Only different in the game title ・readme.txt files: Identical in every way in the trial version The manual and readme files are however different, so give them a glace if you'd please.

Game 3: Reactivate Majestical Imperial

Onto the 3rd entry: Len'en Reiretsuden ~ Reactivate Majestical Imperial (abbr. RMI). This game first introduces the team system, so each story features 2 playable characters.

Story Reading Order

Prologue

Main Story (Any team order is fine) — Shrine: Story → Bad Ending → Good Endings A & B — Bottle Opener: Story → Bad Ending → Good Endings A & B — Slaver: Story → Bad Ending → Good Endings A & B

Extra Prologue

Extra Story (Any team order is fine) — Shrine, Bottle Opener, Slaver

Official Profiles

Note: Good Endings A & B This time, the two endings have more differences, stemming from a slightly different outcome of the main scenario. So I'd personally recommend giving both a read. Though to be fair there's no functional difference between the two in terms out final outcome. So I wouldn't say that you must read both to understand the plot or anything.

Additional Reading

Music Room Comments

Spell Cards

Documentation Pages — manual.txt & readme.txt

★ Len'en Kanji Change

It is while working on the next entry of the series that JynX decided to change the kanji "Len'en" is written with, from 鏈縁 to 連縁, changing the first character, as you can see above.

There's actually quite a bit to read about this, though since it doesn't relate to the story, I'll just mention that this happened for now, more on this later. Onto the next game!

End of Part 1

This actually got so long that I couldn't fit it all in one post, so let's end things here and move onto part 2!

#len'en project #len'en #len'en lore

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evilisk-played · 4 years

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#len'en mugenri evanescent existence #len'en #evanescent existence #len'en quotes #evanescent existence quotes #yabusame houlen #tsurubami senri #len'en project

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beatsbycossack · 7 years

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Undertale clearly is a ripoff of Len'en. The most obvious proof for this is the fact that the main-character and many other characters of Undertale are "oh, what a coincidence" without a defined sex. How high do you think is the chance for this to be just a mere coincidence. Well, I am not finished yet. You see there are many big and small hints in the game. Consider the fact that that the child easily got into the underworld, but it is hard to escape from there, just like JynX described the Mugenri Barrier. Or the role, Skeletons play in the game. Almost at the start of the game you meet a Skeleton (or two in undertales case) which at the beginning may seem weak, but at the very end of the game turn out to be one if not the strongest character in the game. Just like Mugenri, the underground is ruled by two beings, of which one is currently not an active ruler. When in Len'en Tsurubami leaves Mugenri in Evanescent Existence (which can be seen as the beginning of the actual story) in Undertale Toriel returns to the palace at the end of the game. Of course I could go on and on for hours about this, but I think if you aren't completely retarded, you should get the point. Undertale is a ripoff of Len'en. This also means that all self-proclaimed "Undertale-Fans" are actually Len'en-Fans, who are simply not aware of the existence of Len'en.

#undertale #len'en #copypasta

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singular-yike · 1 year

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Len'en Stuff Masterpost

Here's a more organized collection of every Len'en post that I've, hopefully this makes things easier to look through.

Overall Explanations

Introduction to Len'en

Getting into Len'en Lore (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Len'en Relationship Charts

Character Analyses

First-person Pronouns Used in Len'en

Second-person Pronouns Used in Len'en

Overall Shitodo Siblings Analysis

Evanescent Existence

Kurohebi

Aoji Shitodo

Tsubakura Enraku

Yabusame Houlen

Hooaka Shitodo

Kuroji Shitodo

Wilhelm von Clausewitz Halcyon HISUIMARU

Tsurubami Senri

Earthen Miraculous Sword

Jun Amanomiya

Shou Amanomori

Lumen Celeritas

Sukune Katano: 1 2 (Speech Quirks)

Adagumo no Yaorochi and Saragimaru (Saragimaru's Name)

The Tasouken

Reactivate Majestical Imperial

Sese Kitsugai

Fujiwara no Iyozane

Taira no Fumikado

Shion

Tenkai Zuifeng (Also see the Azumaterasu analysis!)

Brilliant Pagoda or Haze Castle: Haze Route

Kujiru Kesa

Kaisen Azuma (Also has a small theory)

Taira no Chouki

Para: 1 2

Brilliant Pagoda or Haze Castle: Brilliant Route

Mitsumo

Medias Moritake

Kunimitsu Ooya

Fujiwara no Shirogane no Sanra

Ooama no Ake no Mitori

Brilliant Pagoda or Haze Castle: Extra Stage

Yago Ametsukana (1st Version)

Haiji Senri

Other Characters

Hoojiro Shitodo

NiLU

Other Analyses & Theories

On JynX's Inspiration and Creative Process

Locations & Organisations

The Outside World

On the Sanctuary

Barrier Shop "Azumaterasu"

Buddhism and Devanagaran Court Culture

The Devanagaran Fujiwara Dynasty and the Historical Fujiwara

Ponderer of the Ivory Cup

Concepts & Terms

Barriers: From History to Len'en

Shikigami: From History to Len'en

Spell Cards & the Spell Card System

On Bird's Names

On the Name "Len'en"

"Lily Pad Ice" Dimensions (Relies on a fair bit of theory)

Theories

Holy Sites of the Len'en Series (also has 2 little theories)

Outsider Senri Priests

The Earthly Gods and Mugenri (Follow-up)

2 Tsurubami Theories (Eye of Senri + Rei)

On Iyozane's Revival

The Tale of Genji and Len'en (has analyses but is mostly theory)

A Pair of Mysterious Kuroji Spells

Musing on Ancient Mugenri History

Other Len'en Asks

Favourite Characters

Favourite Facet of Iyozane

Funniest Translation Moment

Character Most Likely to Make it as an Idol

My Wish For A Future Len'en Game

Speculation: The Orochi Myth in Len'en

BotC Release Version: First Impressions

Thoughts on Iyozane's Theme

Non-Len'en Stuff

My 2023 Japan Trip

The Kamishikimi Kumanoimasu Shrine

The Shirakawa Yoshimi Shrine

Other Asks

"Warrior Shinto Priests"

Ask: Japanese Translation Tips

#len'en project #len'en #len'en lore

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evilisk · 4 years

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Reading Len’En Profiles Pt 1

Just realized that except for Jun, Shou and Hibaru, I’ve been making judgments on characters purely off the games and also my gut. I’m gonna go through the profiles and see if they can change my mind. This part is for the Evanescent Existence characters.

Yabusame Houlen

Original Opinion: Except for that one line when talking to ‘Tsubakura’ in EE, Yabusame seemed perfectly sensible, if a little boring, as a character. Then EMS comes along and they are consistently portrayed as ‘dumb as Sukune’ in EMS and RMI. I find it hard to like a dumb protagonist, though RMI pairing them with Tsuba made them more tolerable.

Profile Details:

Apparently Yabu was always meant to be dumb, JynX just didn’t do a good job of showing it in EE

I find it hilarious that line 1 is “Yabu can be described is plain and boring” but then line 2 is “Yabu is outrageous weirdo”

I did pick up on “Yabu is a cross dimensional thing” but I did not know they were *not* spirited away to Senri in this game... that explains one line during their convo with Tsuru.

New Opinion: Eh, I still don’t like ‘em. Their profile makes it seem like they’re a satellite character to Tsubakura and I don’t really like one of the series protags having that kind of attitude.

= = =

Tsubakura Enraku

Original Opinion: I had no opinion on Tsuba in EE since you spent almost no time with them. EMS and RMI made me realize I do like Tsubakura... thought not as much as I like Kuroji. My impression of them is “lazy, entertaining jerk’ with strong emphasis on the lazy part.

Profile Details:

“Young genius scientist” is not what I was expecting to read in Tsuba’s profile. The “slave to sponsorships” and “suspicious research” makes them sound really shady tbh.

It’s zany that a young genius scientist was Tsuru’s first pick for their successor / substitute.

Why is their power described as ‘controlling ink’ only for ‘ink’ to actually be frigging nanomachines? Why do you write profiles like this JynX?

Enjoying things which are enjoyable is my ability too.

New Opinion: Tsuba is way more interesting than I gave them credit for, though I can’t believe “the greatest prodigy in all of history” is supposed to be one of their titles. Now I can understand Kuroji’s salt.

= = =

Kurohebi

Original Opinion: I have no opinion on Kurohebi (I typically don’t have opinions on Stage 1 bosses even in Touhou) other than ‘the comparisons to Rumia make me very angry’ because Rumia makes me angry. (NOTE: My opinion is that Rumia is a PC98 character who stumbled out of a PC98 game and lucked out into being the Stage 1 Boss of the most popular Touhou game ever)

Profile Details:

So you’re telling me that Kurohebi is this super Frankenstein and is such an ultimate assassin that you can’t detect them by sound or even touch, only by sight, and that they’re actually a “fake assassin” only because they haven’t been given an assassination order yet? What the hell, I love Kurohebi now, why the hell are they only a Stage 1 Boss?!

New Opinion: No seriously, how could you make the character with the coolest backstory the Stage 1 Boss, Jynx?!

= = =

Aoji Shitodo

Original Opinion: I don’t like them for being a wimp, and also for being Absurdly hard for a Stage 2 Boss (seriously, even on Easy, they’re too Hard!)

Profile Details:

Wow, this profile has nothing! Seriously, it describes their powers and that’s it. There’s only two lines describing their personality, and they’re details you can easily pick out from the game (they’re the youngest Shitodo sibling, and they’re hesitant)

New Opinion: I have the exact same opinion as before, as reading their profile is like adding 0 to an existing number.

= = =

Hooaka Shitodo

Original Opinion: They’re also pretty hard (I hate that spell card where they summon a bullet maze that you have to scale before it fires downwards) but at least they’re on Stage 4 instead of Stage 2. And I guess they have some funny lines too.

Profile Details:

Wait, their species is “Magician”? What? Are we operating on Touhou rules here? (In Touhou, Magician is a subspecies of Youkai)

I’m also not getting a whole lot out of this profile (talk about powers is useless to me). All I’m really getting is that Hooaka can read the mood (literally) and that they’re quite adaptable.

I’ve heard that Hooaka is a lazy bum, so I’m a bit surprised it’s not referenced anywhere. Is Hooaka in Brilliant Pagoda then? Cause they’re sure as hell not in EMS or RMI.

New Opinion: I don’t know what to do with the information that they’re very adaptable. And that they’re species is “Magician”, but I guess I still like ‘em more than Aoji (who, by comparison, is still my least favourite EE character).

= = =

Kuroji Shitodo

Original Opinion: I didn’t really like this character for feeling like discount Seija, but I slowly came around on them. I can’t hate on this dashing and competent scamp in purple who is ready to shakedown everyone and everything. It helps that they’re basically the underdog MC (now if only they’d stop problematically blackmailing poor Snek Kid)

Profile Details:

Continuing the weird bit on Species, we have Kuroji’s species as “Scholar of Prehistory” (though they’re listed as Human in the subsequent description.

Their backstory is sounding a lot like discount Tsubakura tbh...oh, okay, I get it. No wonder they see Tsuba as their rival.

With how many mentions of Tsuba there is in their profile, it’s no wonder they ended up being a player character in EMS. Because besides Tsubakura themselves, the other two characters that focus on Tsuba on their profile are also the two player characters in *this game*.

I didn’t really pick up on the Historian theme (I don’t have “Historian” in the same mindspace as “Archaeologist”) though in hindsight, their two themes do have “History” in their titles.

I think if I read their profile as I was playing EE, I probably would have liked Kuroji even less (bc of the discount Tsubakura angle)

New Opinion: Kuroji’s still my favourite MC though I empathize with them a little more with this profile.

= = =

“Clause”

Original Opinion: This fella gives me big Rinnosuke vibes. I do not like this fella.

Profile Details:

Ah I see, so Clause is exactly what they appear to be (they’re that one annoying person you know, who is now so much worse now that they have actual superpowers)

Thank God Wilhelm von Clausewitz etc. isn’t their real name. Now if only some character got to rib ‘Clausewitz’ about this.

“Species: Annoyance” okay yeah, JynX is totally joking around here.

This isn’t in the profile, but the one good point I’ll give to Clause is that even Suzumi gets annoyed by their talk.

New Opinion: So, basically, what you’re saying is, I am totally justified in not liking this fella. Got it.

= = =

Tsurubami Senri

Original Opinion: Tsuru’s easily the coolest character in this game, but is that any surprise? I mean, they’re one of the two original player characters, they have a cool fight, they have one of the best tracks in the game AND they have the best smack talk too. They even BTFO Suzumi in her own Extra route. They’re basically the complete package.

Profile Details:

I actually know a lot about Tsuru just because they seem to be such an integral part of Len’En’s setting, and most lore bits that you see repeated ad nauseum (e.g. Tsuru is a militant tyrant) seem to be ripped directly from Senri’s profile.

With that said, uh, what the hell does “ability to raise poultry” mean?! Is Tsuru a farmer? Or is this referencing the final two lines where Tsuru can “raise latent potential in others” and then use it for themselves? (If it’s the latter, ‘poultry’ is an incredibly unsettling way of describing that power’)

Wait, are you telling me that Tsuru did all of this so they could go on VACATION?! What the hell. Tsuru really is “tired Reimu”

New Opinion: This character just got a little more interesting. I’m hoping they get to be playable in Brilliant Pagoda or Haze Castle, but in their true form instead of their disguised form.

= = =

On Suzumi

I already mentioned them a bunch of times, but yeah, I sort of get what their deal is, just from in-game conversations and from general popular knowledge of the series (e.g. you can’t not watch a video with her theme without all the commentators losing their shit, talking about how spooky she is).

Since this is about profiles and since I also don’t specifically remember what reveals about Suzumi were in EE, I’ll hold off on writing about her until she gets an in-game profile I can comment on.

= = =

And that’s about it. Aside from Aoji, Clause and Yabusame (who were like my bottom 3 EE characters already), I have a much better appreciation of EE’s cast. I’ll get to doing EMS and RMI’s casts soon.

#len'en #len'en lore #evanescent existence #len'en mugenri evanescent existence #len'en project #kurohebi len'en #aoji shitodo #hooaka shitodo #kuroji shitodo #clause len'en #tsurubami senri #tsubakura enraku #yabusame houlen #len'en profile review #len'en content #not a reblog

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evilisk-played · 4 years

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