Garteam
Smash Master
Touhou kind of reminds me of pre-David Productions JoJo. It's massive in Japan and has had a significant impact on Internet culture, but a lot of people have not heard of the series and couldn't explain where the jokes they are referencing emerged from.
That being said, I feel kinda mixed on Reimu's chances. I do think she's still a viable option due to Touhou's influence on both Indie games and Japanese game development as a whole. However, the reality is she would also be the most Japan-centric third party ever added to Smash, something that might scare off Sakurai due to his more cosmopolitan attitude to character additions nowadays. Like a lot of characters who have a lot going for them but a major roadblock in terms of precedent, I kinda put her in the "Could happen, wouldn't bet on it" category.
Also, I don't think Nintendo and ZUN's clashing philosophies on doujin are going to impact Reimu's chances. Yeah, Nintendo's historically been seen as a hindrance to fan projects (IIRC, Nintendo had a Pokemon doujin artist publicly arrested in the 1990s for the sole purpose of making an example out of them), but they also didn't bat an eye at Sega and Capcom supporting and sometimes outright adopting Sonic and Mega Man fan games. It's unlikely Sakurai will give Touhou's canon doujin entries a shout-out, but that won't stop the character from happening altogether.
That being said, I feel kinda mixed on Reimu's chances. I do think she's still a viable option due to Touhou's influence on both Indie games and Japanese game development as a whole. However, the reality is she would also be the most Japan-centric third party ever added to Smash, something that might scare off Sakurai due to his more cosmopolitan attitude to character additions nowadays. Like a lot of characters who have a lot going for them but a major roadblock in terms of precedent, I kinda put her in the "Could happen, wouldn't bet on it" category.
Also, I don't think Nintendo and ZUN's clashing philosophies on doujin are going to impact Reimu's chances. Yeah, Nintendo's historically been seen as a hindrance to fan projects (IIRC, Nintendo had a Pokemon doujin artist publicly arrested in the 1990s for the sole purpose of making an example out of them), but they also didn't bat an eye at Sega and Capcom supporting and sometimes outright adopting Sonic and Mega Man fan games. It's unlikely Sakurai will give Touhou's canon doujin entries a shout-out, but that won't stop the character from happening altogether.