Chuhou Joutai 2: Paraided!

Chuhou Joutai 2: Paraided!, officially known in Japan as Chuhou Joutai 2: Take Revenge! Oriental Journey for the Hakkero (中方状態２：復習され！八卦炉の東洋の旅) is an upcoming manic shooter being developed and published by Drillimation Systems. The demo was released on March 5, 2021 with the beta releasing on April 30, 2021, and the full game is scheduled for release on July 2, 2021. It will be the second installment of and sequel to Chuhou Joutai. The first trailer for the game was released to YouTube on November 30, 2020. It will be the fourth installment in the Drillimation Danmaku Universe, after the two Touhou Project NES demakes.

Taking place a few months after the events of the first game, Paraided! has players taking on the roles of the humanoid Susumu Takajima and youkai-born Kagami Ochiai as they search Eastern Kozan to retrieve a mythical object owned by the Kozanese Royal Family after it was stolen by SPASDOT in a raid, hence the name. The game's English subtitle is a pun on the word paraded, and unlike its predecessor, the game's overall theme takes on a more oriental approach as evidenced in the soundtrack and character designs.

Gameplay
The game is played pretty much like its predecessor. The main objective would be shooting at anything that moves and dodging enemy projectiles, as well as defeating the stage boss in order to progress onto the next stage.

Changes from its predecessor

 * The game utilizes a more realistic anime-inspired art direction. In addition, it will utilize a new color palette rather than the NES-inspired palette of its predecessor.
 * The tutorial is expanded into a whole short stage with Megumi Wasai teaching the player how to operate the action commands and even dueling her at the end.
 * All character sprites are much larger. To accommodate the larger sprites, the tile size is also larger. The color of their hitbox is yellow instead of red in its predecessor in order to avoid blending issues.
 * All stages have three cutscenes as opposed to two from the previous game (stages 2 - 8).
 * The maximum amount of HP and Bombs at the start of the stage has been capped to 100 HP and 10 bombs for balancing purposes.
 * In co-op mode, both players can now have 100% power as opposed to 50% in its predecessor.

New features

 * The game now includes an intermission segment between stages, allowing players to purchase incentives to get an advantage on the next stage.

Removed features

 * The time and danmaku bonus text after depleting one of a boss's segments has been removed.
 * The bonuses awarded for either not using bombs, getting KO'd, or even getting hit once have been removed and replaced with bonuses based on how many bombs the player is currently holding.

Plot
The game takes place a few months after the events of the first game. However, meanwhile at another SPASDOT stronghold, two Crimsonites, going by the names of Kazuo Ozawa and Kichiro Nakasone, are plotting to raid a bon festival and steal a "score." Hearthcliffe warns them if they encounter Susumu Takajima at the raid, he tells them not to attack him as he could possibly retaliate.

The game opens up at the Ochiai Clan's main facility, where Driller is overlooking Kozankyo and feels proud to live in a place where the eastern and western cultures meet. While gazing outside the window, Asuka Oguchi, Kagami Ochiai's grandmother, asks Driller to come downstairs for some "traditional American sushi." The main game begins with Driller eating rice for breakfast and while eating, Kagami Ochiai shows up and taps on his window, asking Driller to meet with Crown Princess Konata who is standing on his driveway. After he finishes eating, Driller becomes shocked about a mysterious youkai woman who had illegally trespassed onto the grounds of the Hakurei Shrine. The three go down to the Hakurei Shrine to meet up with the youkai woman, whom Hearthcliffe formally introduces to the duo as Maika Ohtake. Hearthcliffe falsely claims she is a Crimsonite and makes Maika challenge the duo to a duel, which she easily loses. After being defeated, Kumiko Uchida shows up and performs a sealing ritual on her while police are nearby. The three then head down to Kozankyo University's Dokutsu Commons to eat pizza for lunch.

The following week, Driller meets up with Crown Princess Konata in her Kozankyo University dorm room to talk about a bon festival she is hosting the next week and tells him about the youkai woman that the duo had previously defeated the week before appearing at the festival, which leaves Driller in shock. Driller then heads downtown to meet up with Kagami Ochiai who wants to take a bike ride around Kozankyo to find and snipe some Crimsonites who are coming by bullet train. The duo head down to Union Station and attack the Crimsonite that exits the station, who then becomes easily angered. The following day at the festival, Kagami shows off her brand new yukata she got for the occasion and while discussing their fashion, the same group of Crimsonites the duo had taken aim on appears and takes the festival attendees hostage, including the Crown Princess herself. At the start of the attack, Kazuo Ozawa says the hostages don't need to worry about anything and that they are going after the Mini-Hakkero, a mythical object owned by the Kozanese Royal Family. After Kazuo detonates an explosive to the door that holds the Mini-Hakkero, Maika pulls out a blaster and shoots Kazuo in an attempt to stop the raid but Maika in the end is killed by Kichiro Nakasone in retaliation.

With the Mini-Hakkero stolen, the duo, including the Crown Princess herself, begin a journey to search all of Eastern Kozan to find it. Their first stop is the Musou Island Amusement Park in the city of Kourindou which lies east of Kozankyo. When they arrive, they meet up with Kichirou Nakasone which they then duel and defeat, only to realize he doesn't have the Mini-Hakkero thanks to Hearthcliffe trolling them into thinking he had it. On the way back to Kozankyo, an angered Crown Princess Konata states going to Kourindou was a "lie," while a stranger by the name of Hinako Lina Mongrey approaches them and gives them a valuable tip to find the Mini-Hakkero, and they suggest going to Gairai to the west or Kinmyou to the south to find the Mini-Hakkero.

The trio travel to Gairai hoping to find the Mini Hakkero, where the Crown Princess spots him holding it during a kabuki performance. Driller intercepts, eventually dueling the Crimsonite whom Hearthcliffe reveals to be Takayuki Kuno. He then fools the trio into thinking they found the 'real' Mini Hakkero when it was just a prop. The trio then decide to spend the night in a hot spring at a nearby hotel. The next day, after Crown Princess Konata gets her toll tag to work, they travel to Kinmyou where they meet up with Naoko Shigematsu, a fully-trained geisha who is actually Ryuta Shigematsu's elder sister. Konata then tells Naoko after her defeat that somebody in Gairai suggested they get the guidance from a bhikku at a Buddhist temple within Kinmyou to find the Mini Hakkero. The trio then head down to the Seimori Grand Temple within the Risuoka ward of Kinmyou, eventually listening to the horror stories of Kinmyou involving youkai-borns from the area. Meanwhile, a tengu by the name of Risu Yokumaru overhears the conversation eventually duels them in an attempt to stop them from finding the stronghold that holds the Mini Hakkero, which the bhikku told them earlier.

Following Risu's defeat, The three head up to the stronghold located outside the town of Masa in Kozan province. When they reach the stronghold, they are stopped by Hearthcliffe who wants to try and stop them from entering. However, Crown Princess Konata jumps in by lashing her whip at Hearthcliffe, but in the end is kidnapped and taken hostage by fellow Crimsonite grunts. The remaining duo of Driller and Kagami defeat him, eventually getting access to the stronghold. Driller then proceeds to unhook Crown Princess Konata using a device that could essentially "grab it." The trio eventually enter the stronghold's main hall, leaving Fred Fawkes in shock. Eventually, Konata's father, who is revealed to be King Soujirou, enters and tells Driller that the king should be able to defeat Fawkes, but Driller denies the king from doing so with Driller and Kagami dueling Fawkes anyway. In the end, Fawkes is defeated with the Crown Princess taking back the Mini Hakkero, and King Soujirou kills Fawkes by impaling him in the chest with his sword.

In Kagami's endings, it is revealed that she wants to start training to become a geisha. In the post-credits scene that follows, Driller, Kagami, Crown Princess Konata, and Kagami's mother Kisumi Torisawa discuss how Kagami wants to be a geisha on their way to Kyoto, and that she would need to learn the Kansai dialect.

Returning characters

 * Damausagi, stage 3 midboss
 * Jack Fawkes, stage 7 midboss and boss, stage 8 midboss
 * Konata, Crown Princess of Kozan, non-playable character
 * Kagami Ochiai, playable character
 * Kisumi Torisawa, non-playable character
 * Kumiko Uchida, non-playable character
 * Megumi Wasai, non-playable character, mini-boss
 * Ryuta Shigematsu, non-playable character, appears in ending
 * Soujirou, King of Kozan, non-playable character
 * Susumu Takajima, playable character
 * Tatsuro Hozoshima, stage 4 midboss

Mentioned characters

 * Ayako Sugiwara, mentioned in stages 3 and 6
 * Hikari Uchida, mentioned in stage 2

New characters

 * Asuka Oguchi, non-playable character
 * Kazuo Ozawa, stage 2 midboss and boss
 * Hinako Lina Mongrey, possible boss
 * Hiroki Takajima, non-playable character
 * Kichirou Nakasone, stage 3 boss
 * Maika Ohtake, stage 1 boss
 * Meira Katsumoto, non-playable character
 * Naoko Shigematsu, stage 5 midboss and boss
 * Risu Yokumaru, stage 6 midboss and boss
 * Shigeru Ochiai, non-playable character
 * Takayuki Kuno, stage 4 boss

Development
Chuhou Joutai 2 was purportedly teased as a fourth-wall break after Fred Fawkes is defeated in Chuhou Joutai and as an April Fools' prank on Drillimation's website in 2020. The game was teased again in July 2020 when the Prophet Driller built a computer of his own as a "mystery game," alongside three musical tracks. In the demonstration video for the Touhou 2: The Story of Eastern Wonderland NES Demake, the Prophet Driller had confirmed the second game was indeed in development. The demake was designed to test the engine for the new Chuhou Joutai.

Even though pre-production began before Chuhou Joutai had even released, development on Paraided! began almost immediately after Touhou 2: The Story of Eastern Wonderland NES Demake was completed and released. The first trailer, under the name of Why is Chuhou Joutai Not the Only Danmaku Game For Us?, was released on November 30, 2020 and introduced two of the game's new characters, that being Kazuo Ozawa and Kichiro Nakasone. Two songs from the game were also present, being Sitting in the Ochiai Clan's Pagoda and Return to Kozan, although their names were unknown until the demo's release. On December 4, 2020, Drillimation uploaded another video that showed the Prophet Driller unboxing and setting up a new MIDI keyboard. The video included another new track, with it being Tune of the Retreating Crimsonite.

The official name for Chuhou Joutai 2 was officially unveiled on January 1, 2021 just half an hour after midnight Japan Standard Time in a tweet, along with the name in Japanese. One of the things Drillimation wanted to touch upon was to use a more realistic art direction rather than the cartoony one from the previous game. Upon the unveiling of the second trailer, the reactions to the new art direction turned out to be more positive and ended up sticking as a result. Another trailer was released on February 26, 2021 (officially listed as February 25, 2021 in some territories due to time zone differences), which showed some gameplay and gave more players a glimpse of the story. The demo was released on itch.io a week later.

In the official demonstration video, Drillimation announced that the game would be releasing in full on July 2, 2021. On April 16, 2021, Drillimation Systems announced in a bilingual statement that all stages were complete with the endings and achievement all being left. The beta was officially released on April 30, 2021, and on May 11, 2021, Drillimation announced the game's completion.

Soundtrack
As of the demo's release, the game currently has 16 songs, though only 13 can be played in the trial version's music room as the three other songs are jingles meant to denote the start and clearing of stages, as well as the game over theme. Three songs had their names shown in the video of the Prophet Driller building his workstation, that being Wrong Side of the Tokushima Line, Gatashima Provincial Thruway, and The Town of Gairai. Unlike the previous game, the soundtrack for this new game will take a mostly oriental approach; many of the songs that have been unveiled so far appear to be inspired by Japanese folk music, as suggested by the use of pentatonic scales.

Reception
Early reception has been overwhelmingly positive. Critics praised the improved art direction over the original, as well as the musical score. One player compared the game to a remaster of another game.

Behind the Scenes

 * This is the first Chuhou Joutai game to:
 * Use the current Drillimation art direction.
 * Use a new color palette.
 * Have the nationality of Susumu Takajima revealed.
 * Have the tutorial in the form of a stage.
 * Have a stage take place outside Kozankyo.
 * Have part of a stage take place at night.
 * Have different character sprites for each stage depending on its context.
 * Have a youkai-born as a boss.
 * Have the third and fourth stage bosses be male.
 * Have the fifth stage boss be female.