[JP News] 12/28/2023 Live Stream Recap!

Help all, it's the final 2023 Touhou LostWord JP Live Stream and we hope you all had a Merry Christmas if you celebrate it! What will be announced this time? Well if you don't want to be spoiled, feel free to stop reading now!

As a reminder of last year, we had not 1, but two Swimsuit Komeiji Sisters primed to kick off 2023, and that was quite the announcement. Maybe there will be another sense of double trouble here on the beach? We also have more news relating to the MV Project, future content in January 2024, and much much more, so let's dive into it all!

Before it's time for the MV Project News, let's remind ourselves of the guests that appeared on previous JP Live Streams this year, starting with A-One back in April, Tokyo Active NEETS in June, Yuuhei Satellite in August and of course, ZUN returned as a guest in October! I wonder what other guests will join in on the fun in 2024?

Also, if you are in the Touhou LostWord Official Discord Server, you may also notice a number that looks familiar, and it was the amount of server members taken on December 8th 2023, which was 46,197!

And finally, the stream showed off some overseas Fan Art of some Touhou LostWord original characters, such as one of Wriggle Nightbug by Smol_Tomo, and one of Z1 Marisa Kirisame by BreadMasterMSG on Twitter!

Now it's MV Project time! Last month was when we discovered Shion Yorigami would be getting her own MV, and usually we would hear it all here, but that is instead being saved for right when it turns 2024 in Japan (which has actually been the case in the past). However, we get a little teaser in what to expect for the MV titled Reminiscence Love by Touhou LostWord feat. Otsuki Kenji × Butaotome!

Here is the short version of the MV below as well as the Video Letter by Otsuki Hanamori! A link to the full version will also be below although it will only be available from January 1st 2024 at 00:00 JST.

Now before we get into some huge news, let's go over a little roadmap of various content we can look forward to!

We had a small Story development in Chapter 4 Act 3 EX 3, and it's more of those adventures with the Scarlet Sisters enjoying the Splashes in the Sunlight, and this was live in JP beginning on December 27th.

It's time to introduce the newest additions to the swimsuit party, starting with Yuyuko Saigyouji (Seamless Swimsuit Ghost), our first ever Destroy-Class Friend in the Epic rarity! She has team CRIT ATK II, gains offensive buffs when inflicted with Freeze, Poison, Blind or Paralyze, and of course, has a new mechanic where she is able to give the team a 30% boost in their effective elemental damage!

And of course, you could nether have Yuyuko without her trusty swordswoman, in this case we have Youmu Konpaku (Sunny-Dual Wielder), a Technical-Class Friend with 200% Slice Scaling in her Last Word, can gain Agility when inflicted with Freeze, Poison, Blind or Paralyze, can inflict and break Freeze anomalies and this time, the new mechanic here is her ability to reduce the Skill Cooldown Reduction of her allies by 1 turn!

As usual, we get to see all their Voice Actors and we will also have access to a Trial Quest for each Friend which may be a fun way to test out these new mechanics, but unlike the previous swimsuit-wearing Friends, they have their own BGMs!

However, we are not done yet, as we have one more Friend to look forward to, albeit on January 10th! That's right, Reimu Hakurei (Karma Speed) is on the run as the next Relic to look forward to! Will she be Speed-Class as her title would suggest? Only time will tell...

Joining in with the new variants of Yuyuko and Youmu are two new VS Divergent Spirits stages! One of them is against Satori Komeiji (C3) and the prized Story Card is named Gaze Upon the Flowers! This one is perfect for our new Yuyuko in question. Meanwhile, alongside it is a stage where you face Remilia Scarlet (C3) for the Story Card named Break Time in Yomi! Ironically, both are against Defense-Class Epic Friends!

Also coming back is the Daily EXP Quest (actually already available in JP as of typing!) and it will help you out with levelling up your Friends, especially the Fantasy Rebirthed ones (more on that later). There also comes a Happy New Year Training Support Pack, similar to what we have had access to recently with those Free Support Packs!

Another reason why the above will come in handy is because Kourindou Roulette is back, but it's not limited to just L1 friends. Yes, A-Series Friends and Ultra Festival Friends also have a chance to appear! Ultra Festival Friends will be finding their way elsewhere too, because there will be a new Forever Prayer where they are in that pool alongside all the other L1 Friends starting January 18th!

And now for the rest of the Prayers to look forward to that were announced here, but those who remember last year may remember how it works, it's the return of the Lucky Bag Prayers, with Festival, Ultra Festival, Relic, Genic and Epic Friends in the mix! These cost 600 God Crystals per Prayer and there is only 1 chance to pick up the Rate Up Friend, but you will walk away with one of them. Will it be someone new you are happy with, or someone you were hoping not to get? Choose wisely!

Now for our monthly dose of Fantasy Rebirth updates! Hailing from the moon and from B2/B3/B5 are Junko (B2), Seiran (B3), Ringo (B3), Reisen (B3) and Reisen Udongein Inaba (B5) as they are next in line to be eligible to pick up some Mirrors of Rebirth! But who will follow in their footsteps? Well it's back to some of the L1 gang, as L1 versions of Tenshi Hinanawi, Iku Nagae, Shinmyoumaru Sukuna and Seija Kijin are all ready for the end of January 2024, as by then they will be able to relish those Mirrors of Rebirth!

Now for some Fantasy Rebirth Costumes! Last month was Mononobe no Futo (L1) and Soga no Tojiko (L1)'s time for new costumes of these kind, but this time, we have Shiki Eiki, Yamaxanadu (L1), Komachi Onozuka (L1) and Kutaka Niwatari (L1) all have some awesome costumes! But it seems they are in between members of the Divine Spirit Mausoleum for their costumes as Seiga Kaku (L1) and Yoshika Miyako (L1) will have January to look forward to when it comes to their own costumes!

And here we have some Fantasy Rebirth 2.0 Upgrades, this time it's all newcomers as Watatsuki no Toyohime (L1), Watatsuki no Yorihime (L1), Medicine Melancholy (L1), Shiki Eiki, Yamaxandu (L1) and Hecatia Lapislazuli (L1) all have their own enhancements for their first times!

Speaking of Fantasy Rebirth, there are a few more tidbits of information to go over, like the Ultra Festival Themed Prayer including Junko (B2), Reisen Udongein Inaba (B5), Seiran (B3), Ringo (B3), Reisen (B3), Watatsuki no Toyohime (B3), Watatsuki no Yorihime (B3), Sagume Kishin (B3) and Kaguya Houraisan (B3)! It does also come with a Step-UP including 300 God Crystals on Step 1 and 600 God Crystals on Steps 2-5.

In addition, there will be a pack for 2 Rings of Fate if JP players wanted to use them on more Rebirthed Friends!

And now for events! Naturally, because it is December and that special Christmas time, there is currently an event in Touhou LostWord JP that is spreading joy across a snowy Gensokyo courtesy of Seiga Kaku (or Seiga Claus in this case), Yoshika Miyako, Keiki Haniyasushin and Mayumi Joutouguu! Let's remind ourselves of that event and their awesome costumes in the video below!

Speaking of traditions in Touhou LostWord JP, we've noticed that maid costumes alongside their own events have been arriving in January of every year, and January 2024 is no exception!

Reruns are of course going to take place, and they include The Maid's Chocolate Hell, including Koakuma, Rin Kaenbyou and Utsuho Reiuji in maid costumes as well as a JP-exclusive event called Rebellious Microfantasia (unofficial translation) featuring Seija Kijin and Shinmyoumaru Sukuna in...you guessed it, maid costumes!

But who else was maid to work for the Scarlet Devil Mansion next? It looks like we have Cirno, Ibaraki-Douji's Arm, Daiyousei and Rumia next up! And yes, we finally have maid fairy costumes with Cirno and Daiyousei!

Oh and another thing, New Year's costumes! This is the fourth year that Touhou LostWord JP welcomes another batch of New Year-themed costumes! Last year was Remilia and Flandre Scarlet, but this time we have Koishi Komeiji and Hata no Kokoro celebrating in style!

The stream also showed off a new Manga event, which again, is also coming in January 2024! This one seemed to be themed around Satori and Koishi!

There was recently a Touhou LostWord survey for JP, and over 40,000 people answered the survey, 41,142 to be exact! The majority of users are male, and as for age ranges, they are mostly either 10-14 or 15-24. However, it's rather spread out as to when the user base started playing, whether it's from JP launch (back in 2020) or this year!

We also had a list of top 10 favourite content as a result of this, from Story, to Prayers, to Fantasy rebirth and more!

Meanwhile, we also had some special messages from the management team and the PR team!

From Packs to Merch, it's natural for a JP live stream like this to show off some cool goods. For the pack side of things, we have some New Year Packs to celebrate 2024!

As for the cool merch, we do have some posters of some Touhou LostWord characters, a Tsutaya Pop Up Shop full of goods, and some cool frame art, keychains, acrylic stands, posters and more!

And that is all the news that 2023 has to offer when it comes to JP Live Streams...or is it? Because there is just one more thing left...

Ok...it's actually the last of JP Live Stream news! It's been an awesome year of developments, mechanics and happy news, and personally, I loved when I first found out about not one, but two versions of Sakuya Izayoi based off of Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom, plus having no idea how that would be handled was always fascinating to me! I also enjoyed all the new mechanics that came in, like the Elemental Weakness inflict and the Genics' Resonance Skills (as well as the Genics themselves)! But with that said, here's to more awesome JP live streams in 2024, starting next month in January!

If you have read through everything here, thank you as always for doing so, hope you had a great 2023, a great Holiday season and an enjoyable time with Touhou LostWord! Let's hope 2024 will be just as awesome, if not, better, and thank you as always for supporting Touhou LostWord!