Team Shanghai Alice has approved an authorized commercial e-book channel for Touhou Project fan comics through BookLive's Crossfolio Publishing, with submissions open since October 1, 2026. The circle's derivative works guidelines remain unchanged, and its ending-streaming restriction still applies to players.
Team Shanghai Alice, the circle behind the Touhou Project, spent the second half of 2026 tightening how two parts of the franchise reach audiences. In early September, through the official Shanghai Alice Reprise X account, it reminded fans that the derivative works guidelines prohibit publicly releasing the endings of the original games. The guidelines were not changed for the remake's release, but they list that act as prohibited. Individual streaming is generally treated as fan activity with no major restrictions, apart from the ending rule, and players who post Let's Plays are told to cut ending segments.
The reminder came days before Touhou Koumakyou: New Classic, the remake of the 2002 Windows game Touhou Koumakyou, launched on September 10, 2026, developed by Shanghai Alice Reprise and released by Alliance Arts. The remake adds high-resolution graphics, rearranged music by ZUN, Life Infinite Mode, and a Classic Version reproducing the original. On Steam it drew 1,732 reviews within half a day, 98 percent positive, for an Overwhelmingly Positive rating; Steam Scout data put 41.58 percent of reviews in English at a 99 percent positive rate and 28.73 percent in Simplified Chinese at 98 percent.
Then the circle extended its reach over fan works on the commercial side. BookLive announced on October 1 that its Crossfolio Publishing service will sell Touhou Project derivative fan comics as commercial e-books with Team Shanghai Alice's approval. Submissions opened the same day and cover book-format works: comics, illustration collections, novels, picture books, and photo books. Creators receive up to a 75 percent royalty rate, raised to 80 percent for the first year on works registered by November 3.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the cited Yomimono stories below, each itself
sourced, then editorially reviewed. Every
fact links the story it came from.
Oct 5
BookLive announced on October 1 that its Crossfolio Publishing service will distribute Touhou Project derivative fan comics as commercial e-books with the approval of original creator Team Shanghai Alice. Submissions opened the same day and cover book-format works including comics, illustration collections, novels, picture books, and photo books. Creators receive up to a 75 percent royalty rate, raised to 80 percent for the first year on works registered by November 3.
Sep 10
Touhou Koumakyou: New Classic, developed by Shanghai Alice Reprise and released by Alliance Arts on September 10, 2026, drew 1,732 Steam reviews within half a day, 98 percent of them positive, for an Overwhelmingly Positive rating. Steam Scout data shows 41.58 percent of reviews in English and 28.73 percent in Simplified Chinese, with positive rates of 99 percent and 98 percent.
Sep 4
Team Shanghai Alice, the circle behind the Touhou Project, reminded fans on September 4 that publicly releasing the endings of the original games is prohibited under its derivative works guidelines, just days before the September 10 launch of the remake Touhou Koumakyou: New Classic. The reminder came via the official Shanghai Alice Reprise X account, which posted links to the Guidelines for Posting to Video Distribution Services and the Touhou Project Derivative Works Guidelines. These guidelines were not changed for this release, but they explicitly list acts of publicly releasing original game endings as prohibited. Under the video distribution guidelines, streaming by individual players is generally treated as fan activity and faces no major restrictions, yet the ending restriction still applies. Players who plan to stream or post Let's Play videos are advised to keep ending segments out of their broadcasts or cut them through editing. The remake updates the 2002 Windows Touhou Koumakyou with high-resolution graphics, fully rearranged music by series creator ZUN, a new Life Infinite Mode for less experienced players, and a Classic Version that reproduces the original game. The game launches September 10 on PC via Steam, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.