Team Shanghai Alice
Team Shanghai Alice, formerly known as ZUN Soft, is a Japanese dōjin game developer. Since 1995, the sole member of the group, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed and self-published the Touhou Project, a bullet hell shoot 'em up series, as well as collaborated with other circles to produce related print works and music albums.
Name
"ZUN Soft" was originally created as a generic developer name for each Touhou Project game. After Touhou's PC-98 era, ZUN changed the name of the team to "Shanghai Alice". According to ZUN, this name was chosen to fit the overall theme of the Touhou Project. "Shanghai", to him, is a multicultural city where Western and Oriental styles meet, and "Alice" evokes a feminine or gothic lolita feeling. "Fantasy Ensemble" stems from ZUN's unsuccessful attempt to register the group as a music circle for Comiket 61 in December 2001; he decided to keep the name while applying as a game circle for Comiket 62, where he would release Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.Productions
Games
As ZUN Soft:| Title | Genre | System | Release date | Developer | Ref |
| Highly Responsive to Prayers | Block breaker | PC-98 | ZUN Soft Amusement Makers | ||
| Story of Eastern Wonderland | Shoot 'em up | PC-98 | ZUN Soft Amusement Makers | ||
| Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream | Shoot 'em up | PC-98 | ZUN Soft Amusement Makers | ||
| Lotus Land Story | Shoot 'em up | PC-98 | ZUN Soft Amusement Makers | ||
| Mystic Square | Shoot 'em up | PC-98 | ZUN Soft Amusement Makers |
As Team Shanghai Alice:
Music CDs
ZUN's Music Collection- Dolls in Pseudo Paradise
- Ghostly Field Club
- Changeability of Strange Dream
- Retrospective 53 minutes
- Magical Astronomy
- Unknown Flower, Mesmerizing Journey
- Trojan Green Asteroid
- Neo-traditionalism of Japan
- Dr. Latency's Freak Report
- Dateless Bar "Old Adam"
- Rainbow-Colored Septentrion
- Taboo Japan Disentanglement
- Akyu's Untouched Score vol.1
- Akyu's Untouched Score vol.2
- Akyu's Untouched Score vol.3
- Akyu's Untouched Score vol.4
- Akyu's Untouched Score vol.5
- Immaterial and Missing Power OST
- Scarlet Weather Rhapsody OST
- Touhou Hisoutensoku OST
- Hopeless Masquerade OST
- Urban Legend in Limbo OST
- Urban Legend in Limbo OST 2
- ''Antimony of Common Flowers OST''
Member
Team Shanghai Alice consists of a single member, ZUN, who serves as the programmer, writer, artist, and composer for the group's productions. His real name is Jun'ya Ōta; he picked the pseudonym due to its similarity to his given name. He was born on March 18, 1977, in Hakuba, Nagano, and is well known among fans for his fondness of beer and his penchant for wearing flat caps. He has sometimes playfully referred to himself as the "Hakurei Kannushi". In 2012, ZUN revealed that he had recently married a programmer, with whom he has 2 children.His interest in creating music began in elementary school, when his parents gifted him an Electone as a birthday present. In junior high school, he played the trumpet in a brass band and began composing his own music. In 1995, he began developing a series of bullet hell video games under the name "ZUN Soft" while studying mathematics at Tokyo Denki University. The games, which would become the first five entries in the Touhou Project series, were developed for NEC PC-9800 personal computers and published by Amusement Makers, a student video game development club:
- Highly Responsive to Prayers
- Story of Eastern Wonderland
- Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream
- Lotus Land Story
- Mystic Square
During this period, he contributed soundtracks to several games developed by his junior classmates in Amusement Makers, notably the Seihou Project, a series of bullet hell games for Microsoft Windows by Shunsatsu sare do?. The series was intended as a counterpart to the Touhou Project, featuring highly similar gameplay as well as cameo appearances by Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, and Yuuka Kazami:
- Shuusou Gyoku - part of the Seihou Project
- Torte Le Magic - a bullet hell game by Pietoro based on the manga '
- Kioh Gyoku - part of the Seihou Project
- ZUN's Strange Works - a collection of six MIDI tracks for the Roland SC-88 Pro, including unused music from Shuusou Gyoku
In addition to the Touhou Project games, ZUN has provided writing for several official Touhou Project print works, produced in collaboration with various illustrators and publishers:
- Touhou Project#Print media
- Touhou Project#Print media, which consists of:
- *Eastern and Little Nature Deity
- *Strange and Bright Nature Deity
- *Oriental Sacred Place
- *Visionary Fairies in Shrine
- Touhou Project#Print media
- Touhou Project#Print media
- Touhou Project#Print media
- Touhou Project#Print media, which consists of:
- *Silent Sinner in Blue
- *Cage in Lunatic Runagate
- *Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth
- Touhou Project#Print media
- Touhou Project#Print media
- Touhou Project#Print media
- Touhou Project#Print media
- Touhou Project#Print media
- Touhou Project#Print media
- Touhou Project#Print media
- Touhou Project#Print media
- Touhou Project#Print media
Rarely, ZUN has collaborated in the production of unofficial Touhou works, creating tracks for two fangames and four dōjin albums: