Becoming a Touhou Fan.... How did it happen for you?

[ExPorygon]

Several IOSYS videos later, I was hooked.

IOSYS always seems to be a big hook with everyone, though I never came across any of them before learning of touhou.

Anyway, I was introduced by I have no name and another friend. I was watching them play Imperishable Night and wanted to try....on easy mode of course. I failed a couple of times, I think, until I got the hang of it. Then I tried normal several times (don't remember how many exactly it could be a lot or a little) and 1cced. Then I had the nerve to go after extra next, and failed consistantly on it for months until finally succeeding. Only then did I start playing the other games, in this order: PCB->EoSD->MoF->SA->UFO, with PoFV somewhere in between.

[chirpy13]

Video games were boring.  Nothing ever provided a decent challenge, and if it did, it was artificial challenge (retarded 1 hit spikes on MMX6 gate stage 2 for example).  One night I decided to try Touhou and got recommended to play EoSD as my first.  It kicked my ass and insulted my mother.  I was in love ever since.

[Cosmosis]

Being a total nerd and loser, my favorite type of music is video game music. And my favorite type of video game music are those which can invoke strong emotions as I listen. From experience, I enjoy listening to soundtracks from RPG games; some of my favorite composers are Falcom Sound Team JDK,  Tenpei Sato, Yoko Shimomura, and Kazuki Yanagawa, although I usually enjoy only a few songs from every game. About three months ago, I started running dry on good music to listen to, as all the new soundtracks I found were mediocre, sometimes even harmful. I was on the verge of listening to anime music; I was ready to indulge my guilty side and turn into a full otaku, even though I never really liked anime music.

Then, on one of my routine YouTube walks, I stumbled upon U.N. Owen was Her? Out of sheer curiosity, I downloaded the soundtrack to Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. On my first few listens, I was very unimpressed with most of the soundtrack, sticking only to a few songs such as Septette for the Dead Princess and U.N. Owen. However, as I got more bored, I soon began to see the pure brilliance in ZUN's powerful, yet simple melodies. When I gave the OST to Perfect Cherry Blossom a try, I was completely enthralled. Then, I picked up Imperishable Night's soundtrack, which sealed the deal for me. I was already on the pathway to Touhou fandom, and I didn't even know there were games.

Even though measuring "enjoyability" is a subjective matter, I have found myself experiencing the highest levels of musical excitement whenever I listen to a really good Touhou song. I always listen to Touhou music in the morning to wake me up. When I walk from my dorm room to class, I am usually humming the rhythm of one of my favorite boss themes. In class, I am still replaying the same theme over and over in my head. As I eat lunch, I might have moved onto a different tune, or remained with the same one. You should see me when I am listening to ZUN's music on headphones while lying in bed - I seem to have acquired the skill to "get down" on par with Nitori.

Ever so curious, I also delved into the games themselves. I am not as enthusiastic about them as the music, but they are entertaining in a masochistic sort of way. Then, I watched some Touhou PVs on YouTube. Some of them were fun to watch, but most of them... were just weird and confusing. Perhaps too otaku for a noob like myself. However, I love reading Touhou doujinshi because they are usually very well-drawn, appropriate for most ages, and have engaging plots behind them. I have yet to read all of the ones I have acquired, but they have almost replaced all other manga I used to follow. In summary, I love the music and doujinshi, play the games on occasion, and don't understand all the strange videos. Even now, when I can identify all the characters up to Subterranean Animism, I still can't see the value in of some of the Touhou videos on YouTube. I guess Touhou fans are just weird people - myself included.

[iamsymmetrical]

I just would hear all kinds of things about "touhou" but there were like too many downloads and stuff so I didn't  try it. In 9th grade I think I saw the bad apple video and at the reisen and aya part I was like "wow these characters look fascinating what is this" and the. I got hooked ahah

[danyun]

For me I saw a Let's Kinda Play of EoSD. My brother got it and we played it all day long....we really sucked though. XD

[PrometheusZero]

For me I heard some music on old kawaiiradio.net (RIP), they always put up artwork for the album for whatever song was playing. I saw the cover for IOSYS's Touhou Maidens Orchestra and was mesmerised by these three beautiful girls.

A year later, I play the games, have exclusively Touhou music on my phone and dream of owning a deka fumo at some point in the future!

[labeth]

I think the first I heard of it was when AMV Hell 4 used Marisa Stole the Precious Thing. I was curious as to what in the heck that was, so I checked it out on Youtube, then started clicking on the links on the side... 

However, my husband is also really active on danbooru (and has been for a long time), so a lot of our early exposure to Touhou also came from seeing a ton of fanart. I don't know which of these things happened first.

[gammaraptor]

A year later, I play the games, have exclusively Touhou music on my phone and dream of owning a deka fumo at some point in the future!

Darn, I want one too =w=.

[Soga no Tojiko]

One of my friends shoved it in my face. That's not how I loved it, though. That's how I hated it. I, myself, decided to look up Touhou six months after him shoving it in my face. I used to dream of this sort of stuff when I was a little kid, so that's what attracted me. Plus, the music was catchy. I loved it. I will probably love Touhou for the rest of my life just because it had filled my childhood dreams.

[NONAGGRESSION]

I first came into contact with Touhou a couple years ago, somewhere in '10. I was watching the 'McRoll'd' video and I was curious where the music was from, then I was led to 'U.N. Owen was Her?'. Then things escalated to there.

I was initially skeptical and very negative about Touhou, mainly for all the crossover stuff I kept coming across. Once I said 'enough is enough!' and got me the Imperishable Night demo and started playing it. I was amazed at the gameplay, since I hardly (if ever) paid attention to the Shmup scene, and the difficulty. So naturally, I just started accept Touhou and began playing the series for kicks.