Cirno

About

Cirno is a recurring character from the Touhou Project series of vertical bullet hell shoot-’em-up video games. As one of the most popular side characters in all of Touhou, she has inspired numerous memes and in-jokes among fans of the series.

Origin

Cirno first appeared in the sixth installment of the Touhou series, Embodiment of Scarlet Devil as the boss of the game’s second stage. In the game’s bonus material, she is described as a girl who, despite her powers over the cold, is idiotic and childish. She is the strongest fairy in the series, but because fairies are generally weak, she is rarely considered a threat. She later appeared as a midboss in Perfect Cherry Blossom and Double Dealing Character and as a playable character in several games, including Phantasmagoria of Flower View, Touhou Hisoutensoku, and even her own spin-off game, Fairy Wars.^[1]

Spread

Cirno is considered an overall popular Touhou character; though her placing has gone down in recent years, she often places fairly high in the annual character popularity poll held by the Japanese THWiki.^[2] Cirno’s popularity can be seen on various art websites as well; a search for “Cirno” returns over 96,000 results on pixiv, over 20,000 on Danbooru, and over 17,000 on DeviantArt.^[3]^[4]^[5] The subreddit /r/TheStrongest9Ball is dedicated to Cirno.^[6] The Twitch steam Cirno TV, which has been viewed over 6 million times and has over 100,000 followers, is named after the character.^[7]

Related Memes

⑨

⑨, pronounced “Nineball”, is a running joke among Touhou fans involving Cirno, originating from a description in the instruction manual of Phantasmagoria of Flower View which labelled her, on a list of 9 things, as “⑨: Idiot”. Cirno is typically seen with various versions of the number 9 in a circle because of this. Her name may also be used as a replacement for “idiot” or “baka” in some cases. Team ⑨, a group of low-level bosses often put together and often lead by Cirno in fanworks, derives its name from this meme.^[8] On English-speaking imageboards such as 4chan, Cirno is often used in GETs featuring repeated 9s, leading her to be dubbed the Queen of GETs by some.

“I’m The Strongest”

“I’m The Strongest” is a quote originally said by and typically associated with Cirno in Phantasmagoria of Flower View. This is considered ironic, as Cirno is a generally weak character. She is sometimes called “the strongest” by fans because of this.

Tomboyish Girl In Love

Tomboyish Girl In Love, sometimes called Beloved Tomboyish Girl, is Cirno’s theme music, which debuted alongside her in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. The song is a popular Touhou track to arrange; notable arrangements include “Cirno’s Perfect Math Class” by IOSYS, which has over 6 million views on the video sharing website Nico Nico Douga, and “Chirumiru Cirno” by Conagusuri.

Ice Sign “Icicle Fall” Easy

Ice Sign “Icicle Fall” Easy (incorrect title due to Textile formatting restrictions) is of Cirno’s spell cards from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, which, on easy mode, has an infamously large blind spot right in front of her. The name “Icicle Fall” is jokingly given to other spell cards by fans which may also have similar blindspots because of this. Videos demonstrating these blind spots often replace the game’s original music with “Tomboyish Girl in Love” to solidify the reference.

Alternate Versions

Cirno has several alternate versions created by fans; the most notable of these are Advent Cirno, a mix of Cirno with Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII who originating in a parody doujin created by the doujin group One Night Stand, Cirno-nee, an adult version of Cirno popularized by videos produced by the Nico Nico Douga user Ricia, and Achi Cirno, a version of Cirno which replaces her powers over the cold for that over fire.^[9]^[10]^[11]