The Touhou M-1 Grand Prix (東方M-1ぐらんぷり) is a series of CD/DVDs released by R-Note (formerly YELLOW ZEBRA) wherein the characters from Touhou perform animated manzai skits. The project is built around a mock manzai tournament, also hosted and judged by the characters from the series.
There are currently 9 editons of the M-1 Grand Prix and two remakes of the 1st and 2nd M-1 Grand Prix.
Tewi wants to start over in the Lunar Capital. Reisen scolds her and reminds her of the "Five Laws of Earth Rabbits". However, what Reisen says starts to sound suspicious.
Meiling does an anonymous interview with Patchouli, but Meiling goes too far by following everywhere she goes.
8th Touhou M-1 Grand Prix (Comiket 85)
Cover of the 8th Touhou M-1 Grand Prix
Judges: Yukari, Toyosatomimi no Miko, Satori/Koishi, Tenshi, Yuuka
Hosts: Rinnosuke, Shou
Losers Bracket Studio: Ran
Prize: Seed of Senka and 10 million Yen
Seiga and Kasen enact their reactions as if they were to win the Touhou M-1 Grand Prix. Seiga forces Kasen to overreact.
9th Touhou M-1 Grand Prix (Comiket 87)
Cover of the 9th Touhou M-1 Grand Prix, released on December 29, 2014
Judges: Mononobe no Futo, Byakuren, Shinmyoumaru, Raiko, Shikieiki
Hosts: Rinnosuke, Iku
Losers Bracket Studio: Wakasagihime
Prize: A year supply of sake and 10 million Yen
Suika signs up to recite the player's pledge at Youkai Olympics. She invites Reimu to follow her speech, though she makes her say ridiculous things over and over.
Miko suggests Kokoro should become a gourmet critic to improve her facial expressions. Kokoro acts harsh towards bad food, but Miko convinces her to lie about it so she can get paid a large ammount of money.
Seija wants to get rid of the "strong ones" of Gensokyo and assassinate them all. Nue helps to practice the murders by transforming into various characters. However, an elaborate plot reveals...
On June 2013, R-Note announced on their site they were working on a remake of the 1st Touhou M-1 Grand Prix, using their current animation style and voices.
The remake titled "1st Touhou M-1 Grand Prix R" was released at Comiket 84 on August 12. The script was rewritten in some cases and it also includes new characters, like Yuuka in the jury table.
On July 12, 2014, the remake for the 2nd M-1 Grand Prix was announced to be released at Comiket 86. Just like its predecessor, this edition will have Yuuka as an extra judge.
1st Touhou M-1 Grand Prix R (Comiket 84)
Cover of the 1st Touhou M-1 Grand Prix R
Judges: Ran, Kaguya, Lily White, Yuuka, Shikieiki
Hosts: Rinnosuke, Aya
Prize: The Hourai Elixir
NOTE: All manzai follow the same script as the originals, although some of them are slightly different in some parts.
Tewi keeps keeping wild animals as pets and wants to show them to Reisen. / Mokou interrupts TeiReisen's skit to defy Kaguya. Kaguya tricks Mokou into thinking she's a special guest for her own "TV show".
On October 12th, 2014; R-Note released a music album featuring their vocal arranges used for the credit-rolls in all the editions of the Touhou M-1 Grand Prix.
The album is titled Touhou M-1 Grand Prix ~Sound Collection~
Likewise, on March 28, 2015, they released a compilation album with voice tracks from all M-1 GP editions so far. It is titled Touhou M-1 Grand Prix ~Voice Collection~
Rinnosuke is the only character who has appeared in all editions, as a permanent host.
Shikieiki Yamaxanadu is the founder of the Touhou M-1 Grand Prix and the director of judges.
However, she only appears at the jury table once every two editions (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th).
Ran Yakumo and Toyosatomimi no Miko are the only characters who have appeared as hosts, judges, and in manzai; both in consecutive editions: (4th, 5th, 6th for Ran; and 7th, 8th, 9th for Miko).
Only Ran, however, has been a judge and appeared in manzai more than once; and has even appeared as the host at the losers' studio.
Marisa has done the most number of manzai: six (not counting the one with the fake Marisa; the bonus one with Rinnosuke from the 4th GP; nor the ones from the remake of the 1st M-1 GP).
Marisa and Reimu have appeared doing manzai in the most number of editions: four each (1st, 3rd, 6th and 8th for Marisa and 1st, 3rd, 6th and 9th for Reimu).
Also, they have changed partners more than once. Marisa has been with Alice, Reimu and Rinnosuke; and Reimu with Yukari, Marisa and Suika.
Moreover, they have been the only two characters that have appeared doing manzai even after having won a previous edition of the Grand Prix.
Marisa, Utsuho, and Orin are the only characters who have gotten into the finals twice.
Even though she has appeared as both a host and a judge, Sakuya has never appeared doing manzai at all. This is not a coincidence, as she even declares she is too busy doing her job as a maid. However, Shikieiki declares the truth is she didn't have a good partner.
Shikieiki didn't reveal who Sakuya's partner was at that time, but Sakuya is seen next to Koakuma at the losers' studio in the 8th and 9th Grand Prix.
The Ten Desires cast can be considered too; even though Yoshika has only appeared briefly in manzai from the 7th and 8th Grand Prix, and Mamizou faked to be Nue in the 9th Grand Prix
The UFO cast is also the one with the most number of losers: None of them have won a Grand Prix and only two have got into the finals.
On the other hand, the Subterranean Animism cast is the one with the most number of winners: four (Utsuho, Rin, Parsee and Yuugi). Satori and Koishi also got into the finals once.
MikoMiko Spark have been the only resurrected losers who have won a Grand Prix.
TeiResen have been the only couple to break the 10 minutes time limit.
In the 5th Grand Prix, Nue transformed in various characters: Reisen midway the TeiReisen manzai (you can tell by the different colors of her ears and you can see her silhouette when Tewi attacks her); Murasa that apppears during Nitori and Hina's manzai (you can see the different colour of the scarf); and Chen during the last judgings.
Likewise, the 9th Grand Prix saw Mamizou's first stage appearance, where she disguised as Nue in Amanojaku's manzai and revealed herself during the judgings
Amanojaku's manzai, specifically only Seija, has received the worst score ever by the judges: four zeros and a death sentence by Shikieiki.
In the 6th Grand Prix, the antenna placed on the TV which broadcasts Yorihime from the moon has the face of Kyubey from Puella Magi Madoka Magica printed on it.
Mima is the only character from the PC-98 era who has made cameos and has been mentioned by other characters.
Yuuka has become a recurrent character ever since she made her first cameo in the 7th Grand Prix, appearing in all editions afterwards.
Nitori, Hina, and Tewi are the only characters that have done a manzai in two consecutive editions.
Yukari and Akyuu are the only characters who have been judges in two consecutive editions. Komachi can be considered too as she replaced Shikieiki in the 3rd Grand Prix.
All the characters from Mountain of Faith appeared in the 3rd Grand Prix.
All the characters from Subterranean Animism, appeared in the 4th Grand Prix.
All the characters from Undefined Fantastic Object appeared in the 5th Grand Prix.
All the characters from Ten Desires appeared in the 7th and 8th Grand Prix.
The 7th Grand Prix was the very first edition that didn't feature any member of the Yakumo family (Yukari, Ran or Chen).
The 8th Grand Prix features the most number of characters doing manzai who are taken from Touhou mangas: four (Rinnosuke, Kasen, Akyuu and Kosuzu).
It is also the very first Grand Prix ever to feature two male characters doing manzai: Rinnosuke and Unzan (actually the only two Touhou male characters with official portraits).
Nitori, Hina, Okuu, Yuugi and Kasen are the only winners of a Grand Prix that haven't appeared as judges or hosts yet.
Since the 1st Grand Prix, Lily White has been known for being speechless, communicating only with the chirping sound she makes in Phantasmagoria of Flower View. Nitori invented a voice translator for her, using the voice of Hatsune Miku.
Warai no Uzume no Mikoto
Warai Uzume no Mikoto's censored face.
Warai no Uzume no Mikoto, one of the judges for the 6th Grand Prix, is an original character, which is probably why her face is censored. She is the goddess of laughter and comedy, and she might be based in Ame no Uzume no Mikoto, just adding "Warai" to her name which means "laughter".
She has won several Lunarian M-1 Grand Prix, and she is also a judge for the preliminary rounds of the "Kingdom of Gods M-1 Grand Prix". She is seen in the credits roll of the 6th Grand Prix next to her partner, who is a man probably based on Sarutahiko Okami, Ame no Uzume's husband.
Warai Uzume no Mikoto participating in the 108th Lunarian M-1 Grand Prix.
Go-Reisho Document
The Go-Reisho Document is a book written by the goddess of laughter herself. Whoever reads this book will gain as much skills for comedy as the gods.
Warning: Several spoilers below
During Kekkai Shoujou's judging in the 1st Grand Prix, Yukari asks Ran to get a human for her. At the end, Ran kidnaps Marisa for Yukari.
In the extra scene of the 2nd Grand Prix, Marisa reappears in front of Reimu. Marisa tells Reimu that she was able to steal the Go-Reisho Document, and that way, they would win the next Grand Prix easily.
Marisa officially comes back as Reimu's partner in the 3rd Grand Prix, however, Alice had used a fake doll Marisa as a replacement. When Alice sees the real Marisa coming, she explains herself saying that everyone had thought Marisa had been eaten by Yukari.
In the 6th Grand Prix, Warai Uzume, the goddess of laughter, appears as a judge, next to Yorihime and Yukari. The prize for this Grand Prix would be the Go-Reisho Document, which was won by Tokamak Club, but happened to be fake as Shikieiki's stated in an intermission. Then, Yorihime explained what really happened, just before Yukari fled:
Marisa exchanged the actual Go-Reisho Document for a fake one, the one that was used as the prize for the 6th Grand Prix. When Yukari kidnapped Marisa, she kept the actual Go-Reisho Document, erasing Marisa's memories. However, while nobody was at Yukari's house, Komachi had gone to get back the actual Document.
Shikieiki and Komachi, together as Binary Drop, then had to defend their property over the actual Go-Reisho Document in a final round against Tokamak Club, which they won with an unanimous decision by the judges.