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There was an error (dating of Gagarin's flight) that has been corrected and re-uploaded. The original post has been deleted.

Thanks u/TWNW !

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Урааааа!!

Workers and students who are fans of Touhou from all over the world, unite!

This time, I've attempted to interweave the history of the Soviet Union's space program with the Touhou Project. I had heard long ago that the word "Vostok," famous for the Vostok program, means "East" in Russian, which appealed to my love for wordplay, and I've always wanted to draw it. The space race during the Cold War is full of interesting stories perfect for manga material, but I had to sacrifice many ideas to condense this into one page. I hope there will be another opportunity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_programme

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1

Additionally, the panel layout in this work might be a bit difficult to follow, and the dialogue is quite crammed. As always with Japanese manga, please read from right to left. I've also included some Russian language easter eggs (like Sakuya Alekseyevna Izayoi), but I must confess my knowledge of Russian is nonexistent, so I can't vouch for its accuracy.

Given the current international climate, I'm a bit concerned about portraying anything related to the Soviet Union too positively. However, I actually like the retro and unique atmosphere of the Soviet Union as a fashion statement. Therefore, I've depicted the Soviet Union in this piece with affection. I would be delighted if my readers enjoy it.

While I do like America, this manga has the Soviet side as the protagonists, so the American camp appears as the antagonists. I depicted Clownpiece with the concept of a 'cheeky young girl'. I've heard that about half of Reddit's users are American, and it's no secret that some non-Americans find the USA a bit irritating, so if they can have a little chuckle, I'll consider it a success. And to the Americans, I hope you find delight in this quirky portrayal of yourselves.

There's a strange time paradox in this manga. Clownpiece wears a costume with the American flag, which she began wearing after being inspired by the US flag planted on the moon during the Apollo missions. It would be impossible for her to wear that costume before the Apollo program, but as this is all in jest, I ask for your indulgence.

However, this leads to an interesting association. While I treat Clownpiece as a personification of the United States—like a female version of Uncle Sam—in reality, she's a fairy originating from ancient Greece and not a representative of America. Yet, I find it hard to imagine Clownpiece without her star-spangled outfit. It's like Italian cuisine without tomatoes, Chinese cuisine without chili peppers, or German cuisine without potatoes. These ingredients were brought from the New World, so ancient Italians once ate 'tomato-less Italian cuisine', but I can't imagine what that would be like.

By the way, while in English, astronauts are said to navigate between the stars, the Russian word космонавт (kosmonavt/cosmonaut) implies navigating the cosmos. The Japanese term for astronaut is 宇宙飛行士(Ucyuu-hikoushi) and it means 'Space Flyer'. So it might be closer in sentiment to the Russian. The cultural and unconscious contexts behind the creation of these new words make for an interesting comparison.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut

Regarding Sakuya's name, I added a middle name, a practice known as patronymics. Russians include their father's first name with a gender-appropriate suffix as a middle name. Here, I've used Yuri Gagarin's patronymic as a basis. For men, it's Alekseyevich, but for Sakuya, a woman, it becomes Alekseyevna. However, this implies that Sakuya's father is Alexei Izayoi. Since Izayoi is a Japanese surname, if we assume Sakuya's paternal grandfather was Japanese and he married a Russian woman, it would make sense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patronymic

In any case, don't take my Russian too seriously. If there are any mistakes, I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will comment.

Source: https://reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1ay5ago/comment/krse0r1/

Oh, yeah. One more thing. Note that the abbreviation for the Soviet Union is CCCP, but translating United Socialist Scarlet Residence into Russian does not make it CCCP.

Source: https://reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1ay5ago/comment/krsfr4e/