TB's Touhou Doujin recommendations

Zounose, aka Yakumi Sarai ('Hunting Dog's Fangs'): Zounose's probably my favorite 2hu doujin manga author of all time, and given how many 2hu doujin's I've read and the high quality of a lot of them, this speaks to just how much I like Zounoe's stuff. On top of the excellent art, Zounose has a way of digging up characterization from beloved 2hu characters by putting them against extreme conditions that force them to deeply reconsider some of their most central beliefs. Things like, what if Sanae had to choose between obeying her goddesses and sacrificing the life of an innocent human boy? How does Sanae react? What about Kanako and Suwako? Or Keine, isn't she all about protecting Gensokyo's humans? What about Reimu, whose job you might think is to slap around anything in Gensokyo that threatens humans? Not an easy question for the characters to answer, andtheir answers might surprise you.
Nor are these premises edgy tryhard material, either--there's one story where Gensokyo's denizens sit around and discuss the topic of youkai consuming humans who wander into Gensokyo from the outside world. This isn't some edgelord's grimderp 2hu story, -people getting eaten and canon youkai characters commenting positively on it is something that actually happens in the canon Touhou material.- In any case, it's this sort of characterization done by submitting characters to extreme conditions that really draws me to Zounose's work: stark, dark, but ultimately revealing and meaningful. Just the way I like it.
You can find Zounose's scanlated works in .rar form here: http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Yakumi_Sarai
On danbooru here: http://danbooru.donmai.us/pools?commit=Search&search%5Bname_matches%5D=zounose&search%5Border%5D=updated_at&utf8=%E2%9C%93

-

Vivit Gray, aka Shinoasa ('Sunny Charakas'): Vivit Gray is mostly known for Keine x Mokou stories that give you fatal diabetes. If life is getting you down and you want to read heartwarming romcoms about a fussy were-demon school teacher and an immortal fire mage, look no further than Vivit Gray. Given that Mokou is one of my most favorite 2hus, you can see why I might like Vivit Gray a lot. The art is also very expressive, and although Mokou x Keine makes up the vast majority of Vivit Gray's works, every story somehow feels different enough such that they never feel repetitive.
That said, I list 'Sunny Charakas' as my favorite Vivit Gray story because I really enjoy how Vivit Gray takes on the Marisa-Alice-Patchouli trio, and said trio is probably my most favorite group of 2hus. Alice, Marisa, and Patchouli are interesting enough on their own, but when you put them together and arrange their personalities, thoughts, and approaches to signature craft (magic) so that they compare and contrast with one another, you have a trio that's much, much more than the sum of their parts. Vivit Gray's 'Sunny Charakas' does this quite well, telling a story about a picnic trip from the perspective of Patchouli. Each of the magicians feels different, yet you can also see why they keep hanging out with one another despite all of them having a bone to pick with one another (well, mostly between Alice and Patchouli vs Marisa).
Read Vivit Gray if you want some well-drawn heartwarming discussions on the relationship between Keine and Mokou, or if you want to read a particularly well-done story about the three magician girls.

.rar collection: http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Vivit_Gray
Danbooru: http://danbooru.donmai.us/pools?commit=Search&search%5Bname_matches%5D=shinoasa&search%5Border%5D=updated_at&utf8=%E2%9C%93)

-

Carcharias, aka Cercis ('Soga no Tojiko Will Not Talk' series): I have to confess, I don't like ALL of Carcharias' work. Their Soga no Tojiko series is kind of its own thing, with the rest of their manga taking on a starkly different tone. Now, their non-Tojiko stuff isn't bad, but the surreal sense of humor might not work with everyone. That said...
I have a lot of difficulty getting into characters from the later Touhou games. As the series goes on, I find myself liking fewer and fewer characters from each new game--for example, I like just about everyone who shows up in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, but I look at Double Dealing Character and I'm like "Yawn." The same applies to the majority of the new cast from Ten Desires.
However, this is largely a product of me not being interested in ZUN's writing. Strangely, although I love 2hu, little of it is derived from things ZUN himself made. I like his music, but the writing of the games kinda bores me, and his art...well. Instead, when I want enjoyable writing I turn to the doujin scene.
The result is that I tend to warm up to these later characters when I read good doujin for them. I wasn't terribly interested in Suwako and Kanako until I read Iyokan's 'As The Wind Cries', for example (which I will be talking about later), and I didn't care much about Shikeiki until I read Giselebon's 'Days of Judgment' (which I will also discuss later).
Likewise, 'Soga no Tojiko Will Not Talk' made me interested in the Ten Desires crew at a time when I gave no fucks about them at all.
Carcharias draws some really pretty stuff, but more than that they write a very interesting drama. It's a fantasy court drama, more or less, and we follow the tale of sweet, gentle Soga no Tojiko--who's just a 19 year old girl at this point--and how things go very badly for her. We also get to see their takes on Miko and Futo, and I've always enjoyed how Carcharias portrays Soga and Futo's rivalry. (Hint: it won't be what you think it will be.)
.rars: http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Carcharias
http://danbooru.donmai.us/pools?commit=Search&search%5Bname_matches%5D=carcharias&search%5Border%5D=updated_at&utf8=%E2%9C%93 (Most of Carcharias' doujin have not been uploaded to danbooru.)

-

Giselebon ('Days of Judgment'): Giselebon, on top of having some lovely coloring in everything he produces, is a master manipulator of emotions. His stuff runs the gamut from light-hearted comedy to stark, impactful drama, often right in the same story over the course of just a few pages, and in so doing characterizes the cast to a degree rarely seen in other doujin authors. 'Days of Judgment' is only 6 pages long, but in those 6 pages we delve into someone torn between her love of humanity and sympathetic disappointment towards sinners, and her need to do her duty as a judge coldly and without remorse. From the games and comedy doujins it's easy to see Shikieiki as just a holier-than-thou, nosy, judgmental (heh heh) person who constantly nags at you. At least Mormons want to tell you how much they love God on top of moralizing at you--Shiki, apparently, just wants to tell you how terrible you are and how you're going to go to hell. Like some sort of one-woman Westboro Baptist Church or something.
Giselebon goes far in dismantling those kinds of notions in just 6 pages.
Giselebon is also the other reason why I've come to like the Ten Desires crew. His portrayal of Toyosatomimi no Miko is very different and -fascinating-. Not often do you see Prince Shotoku portrayed as a naive, energetic kid who loves pastries and hanging out with her friends, while at the same time a shrewd and ambitious politician. His more dramatic Ten Desires stories are about a devoted Prince(ss?) and how her actions--done in the name of her beloved country--bring about her own downfall instead, and how one of her friends (Soga) feels increasingly helpless despite getting increasingly worried over the Prince's newly secretive nature, while another friend (Futo) resolves to support the blind Prince however she can, no matter what. It's here that Giselebon switches back and forth between light-hearted comedy and a drama that kicks you straight in the feels. Speaking of which, have some: http://danbooru.donmai.us/pools/2533
D'awww.
.rars: http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Giselebon (very few of Giselebon's stuff have been "officially" scanlated and put into .rars)
Danbooru: http://danbooru.donmai.us/pools?commit=Search&search%5Bname_matches%5D=giselebon&search%5Border%5D=updated_at&utf8=%E2%9C%93

-

Iyokan, aka Hota ('As The Wind Cries'): Iyokan's stuff overall is alright, but you know how some artists really hit out of the park every once in a while? Iyokan's 'As The Wind Cries' is just that. It's a dramatic story about Suwako's past as a goddess, how she met Kanako, and how we ended up with Sanae. More than that, it's also a story about what Suwako thinks about her status as a goddess in terms of her relationship with the humanity that worships her.
It's an emotional rollercoaster. The story does an excellent job in taking you through Suwako's journey from crushing apathy to enjoying life and other people again. You get to see Suwako's highs and Suwako's lows, exploring her character to a depth I've yet to see in any other Touhou fanwork, seeing what she thinks about being a goddess, what she thinks about no longer being a goddess in anything but name, what she thinks of life and living in general. It's also an interesting take overall on the events within Suwako's backstory--the bit where Suwako fights Kanako and loses, thereby losing her entire territory to the uppity snake goddess? The happenings haven't even begun, shit's just the catalyst that kicks off everything. In any other story the Suwako-Kanako fight might have been the climactic battle scene, but here the climax is reserved for something even more meaningful and emotional.
.rars: http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Iyokan
Danbooru: http://danbooru.donmai.us/posts?tags=hota (Iyokan's 2hu doujins aren't really uploaded onto danbooru)
-
The recommendations from here on out will be less...meaty than the previous ones. None of these are bad in any way, it's just that I have much less to say about them other than "they're good, read them":
Saku Saku Tei, aka Hikawa Shou: Mostly light-hearted comedy stuff. Hikawa Shou is quite adept at drawing cute girls. Incidentally, Hikawa's become a professional author now: http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/shinozaki-san-ki-wo-ota-shika-ni-r9177
.rars: http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Saku_Saku_Tei
Danbooru: http://danbooru.donmai.us/pools?commit=Search&search%5Bname_matches%5D=hikawa+shou&search%5Border%5D=updated_at&utf8=%E2%9C%93
-
Morino Hon (Omoito series): Excellent illustrations, one of Morino Hon's stories is a good drama about a pair of characters rarely delved into--Shanghai and Hourai. It's one of the several "what if the dolls became sentient" stories out there, but Morino Hon takes things much further than most of them. Like Hikawa Shou, Morino Hon is also now a professional-level manga artist: http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/black-bullet-r7379
.rars: http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Morino_Hon
Danbooru: http://danbooru.donmai.us/pools?commit=Search&search%5Bname_matches%5D=morino+hon&search%5Border%5D=updated_at&utf8=%E2%9C%93

-

And the last batch of recommendations:
Haniwa's Store ('Miki Miko Suika' series): The main thing of note here is the 'Miko Miko Suika' series, fun little comedy series where Suika decides to dress up as a Hakurei shrine maiden and Reimu's too lazy to do anything about it. Hilariously, the drunk Suika ends up being a devastatingly more effective miko than Reimu.
.rars: http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Haniwa%27s_Store
Danbooru: http://danbooru.donmai.us/posts?utf8=%E2%9C%93&tags=haniwa_%28leaf_garden%29+ (none of Haniwa's doujins appear to be uploaded to danbooru.)
-
Fantasy Engineering Works, aka Gensoukoumuten ('Days Woven With Illusion ~The Unmoving Great Library~'): Fantasy Engineering Works mostly does stories set in a futuristic AU Gensokyo where humans and youkai live in peace. Despite the new setting, however, the stories are almost entirely character-focused, following the lives of the various characters as they go through life in a society that's great, but not quite perfect. Primarily comedy with a touch of drama (except for 'Tiny Tiny Daiyousei', which is mostly drama), along with a bit of mundane advice, like how to make good pasta: http://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/1672655?pool_id=8744
.rars: http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Fantasy_Engineering_Works (More of Gensoukoumuten's works are uploaded onto Danbooru than were made into .rars)
Danbooru: http://danbooru.donmai.us/pools?commit=Search&search%5Bname_matches%5D=gensoukoumuten&search%5Border%5D=updated_at&utf8=%E2%9C%93
-
Karaagetarou, aka Karaage's Shop: I need to read more of these--they're funny and overall excellent, but I keep getting sidetracked. Great comedy stories with an alternate art style.
.rars: http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Karaage%27s_Shop
Danbooru: http://danbooru.donmai.us/pools?commit=Search&search%5Bname_matches%5D=karaagetarou&search%5Border%5D=updated_at&utf8=%E2%9C%93
-
And that's about it for now, I think. There's a couple more I could recommend, but I think I've spammed everyone's ask.fms and Twitters too much, already.