Ah, hello, this is ZUN. I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks for purchasing this book. I began this as a supplement to Gensokyo Chronicle, but I thought that it would be boring - page after page of character profiles - so I also included a symposium between characters. With that, it seems to have turned into a pretty unique book...

I know that outside the frame of the works, the characters do often get involved over themselves, but discussions among the elite don't happen every day. In Gensokyo, the stronger characters tend to avoid contact with one another. The reason for that can be understood from the end of this symposium.

From what can be discerned from these discussions, there is no large disorder that should befall us humans, as a great number of influential forces are keeping an eye on each other. At the same time however, should each of the influential powers start to band together, it could prove to be dangerous.

While I was writing the Gensokyo Chronicles, I unexpectedly realized that there were quite an amount of background on these characters (Look who's talking). In the games, they are just obstacles that shoot danmaku at you, after all, and the backgrounds for characters were created in order to design their danmaku, but in putting this sort of book together it feels like the characters really jump out from the game. There were even the ones who were working around by their will going out of my control causing trouble for me .......

The treatment of Subterranean Animism characters is a bit bad, but only because there is so little contact with them, since they are the characters living underground who are hated. And even if Satori were to come out and talk, it would just make the situation go weird, and a story of Okuu coming out wouldn't make much sense either.

Oh, and there were some characters that didn't make it in, and the ones were only touched upon by the newspaper articles. The original idea was to get to all of the characters, but due to the story, characters that Akyu, Kanako, Byakuren, and Miko wouldn't have had any contact with couldn't end up making it in.

But since that was a pity for them, I have included an explanatory interview with me inside as a bonus at the end.

At any rate, I'd like to thank those who did the illustrations: Masakichi, Asakura, Azuma Aya, Kitsune, TOKIAME, as well as Mr. Okonogi, who responded flexibly to everything until the very end.

Let's meet again somewhere, shall we? If possible, in a stylish bar.

Priest of Hakurei, ZUN