Tag Dream is a Touhou Project fan Yonkoma series on Danbooru and Pixiv based heavily on Kinnikuman, and thus is centered around a tag wrestling tournament. It is one of the longest running Touhou doujinshi ever, with just over a thousand strips.
One day Yukari reads the wrestling manga Kinnikuman and is inspired to host a tag-wrestling tournament of her own. As news of the exciting new event spreads, alliances are quickly formed as the denizens of Gensokyo gather to brawl, be it for riches, glory, and excitement, or out of sheer boredom. The ring is manipulated by Yukari to disable powers and danmaku, the bread and butter of Gensokyo's combat. In a new battlefield with an unfamiliar battle style, which team shall be the last standing?
Despite being based on tag-wrestling, the 4koma is very accessible to non-wrestling fans due to its huge doses of comedy and Fanservice. in fact, a good portion of the strips are Slice of Life. True to Touhou fashion, almost all characters are quite sociable or at least non-hostile outside of the ring, and the long interludes between tournament rounds focus on the wacky hi-jinx the cast has going on.
Can be accessed on Danbooru
(translated to English) or Pixiv (Japanese).
The series, in addition to the usual Touhou Project tropes, contains examples of:
- Art Evolution: Because this is a very long running series, it is incredibly obvious. Compare [1]◊ with [2]◊.
- Berserk Button: Suwako lost it when Flandre almost killed Sanae and brushed it aside, leading to an unexpected Curb-Stomp Battle of Suwako going on a rampage, using Heel tactics, and mercilessly pummeling a helpless Flandre.
- Blood Is the New Black:
Yuuka goes in the ring wearing a white swimsuit which is dyed red by the time she goes out. - Butt-Monkey: Poor Aki Sisters have terrible luck. However they find welcome as announcers.
- Censor Steam: Present in the bathing scenes, though the doujin versions are hinted to have this removed.
- Cerebus Syndrome: Seen fleetingly in fights such as when Reimu and Marisa's teams fight, where not only does Marisa bleed heavily from consuming harmful substance for power, but gives a rousing speech about the unfairness of race dictating life in Gensokyo.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Reimu is human and doesn't have the level of super strength to break handcuffs, yet is portrayed as nearly unbeatable in wrestling anyways. May be justified as her Hakurei bloodline may give her an advantage beyond danmaku.
- Combat Commentator: Akyuu, Momiji, and after her initial fight, Yuuka serves in this role.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: While almost all matches seem to have the advantage shift back and forth, Reimu and Remilia's team in particular likes to attempt to No-Sell, followed by this trope.
- Fanservice: Every single competitor gets their own custom, often stripperific wrestling outfit. There are art of suits for non-competitors too! Of particular note is that Mokou's top (see center right of page image) seems to shrink every time she appears. And it barely covered her breasts to begin with.
- Fusion Dance: Koakuma invokes this to become Suika.
- Funny Background Event: After Mokou undergoes Training from Hell from Kaguya to cram everything about Kinnikuman into her head, Mokou is riding Tewi with the Muscle Inferno. A couple of following strips show Mokou is still riding Tewi over Gensokyo's skies all night long.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Despite pulling off every trick in the book, Marisa's determined efforts simply could not overcome Reimu's natural-born talents. Just like in canon.
- Heroic BSoD: Marisa's attempts to win over Reimu get compounded when it looks like she really cannot match up to Reimu at all, who had apparently taken minimal damage. Many comments on both Pixiv and Danbooru do not like what happened here.
- Immortal Immaturity: When the chronologically nearly 500 year old but physiscally 5 Flandre finds Marisa's dirty magazine and starts asking embarrassing questions, in front of an Enma.
- Morality Pet: Cirno and to a lesser degree Daiyousei is this to Yuuka. This trope is also the reason why the two can get away with actions that would normally result in the perpetrator get beaten to a pulp by Yuuka, like Cirno dropping directly onto Yuuka's head.
- Oh, Crap!: Frequent in turnabouts, but special mention goes to Meiling after she uses Shoryuken on Suwako.
- Power Limiter: The ring is one to prevent the characters from using their powers or danmaku.
- The effect varies depending on each character's specific powers, meaning that people with great physical strength (such as oni, godsnote and vampires) and those who have powers that can be internalized (like Sakuya's time manipulation) have a major advantage.
- Red Shirt: Koakuma is treated as such, to the point of being treated like an object initially.
- Running Gag:
- Disasters always strike wherever the Aki Sisters go.
- Okuu always thinks she's broken her arm after using the Reiuji God Chop. She's always wrong.
- Shout-Out
- Kinnikuman obviously given the series premise.
- Shou's outfit is a clear Tiger Mask reference.
- The Reiuji God Chop is an obvious shout out to the Exploding God Finger.
- Stripperiffic: The outfits the characters wear in the ring are essentially skimpier versions of the clothes they usually wear.
