Bad Apple Explained: History and Analysis

Although I am Japanese, it is unknown what kind of 3D software and model was used for the shadow play PV. (Because there is no comment from the author "Anira" so far.) However, it is known that the model is completely self-made and the motion is a basic hand and some physics.

bad apple but played on this video

I don't know if it means anything, but the shadows, themselves, have shadows. ...that are grey.

I literally just found out about this video today, so it’s really cool to see the history of it! I sorta wrote it off as just another Vocaloid song or something, but finding out it was originally 16-bit is so cool! Thanks man :)

People wondering how to view it: like it then go to likes videos

Man, this has opened my eyes on the Tobi Fox community (and maybe his intentions) a little bit.

i dont understand why people like bad apple so much

Wow when I saw the translated song it really hit me deeply. It described exactly how I feel.

This stuff was all over the Internet and shared by youngsters on What CD. I've never heard it until now. All these versions are very brutal, and loudness war compressed like a machine gun firing. The anime girl vocalist us buried under the noise and cryin in pain for Ultraman to come and rescue her. I've downloaded some "eurobeat" compilations, and they go on and on like that. The Japanese should make melodic new age music like with old fantasy themed games.

So, Bad Apple in Touhou is just like Megalovania in Undertale, except much older

Yeah, didn't expect Touhou to be much older than Undertale...

And i didn't ever see the UT version of Bad Apple, despite being an UT fan

The first time I heard the song was in an Undertale remake of the original video, and it was quickly one of my favorite songs ever.❤

Idk about that song meaning tbh. For me, I believe the "main character" of the song is reimu. While the song itself is about her feeling like she's listlessly drifting through time (the multiple games of the series) and that both her feelings and words seem to have to not have an effect on the world around her. However, what does have an effect is her actually taking action. However, in taking action she feel sadness (hence the line 悲しむなんて疲れるだけよ Lit. All being sad does, is tire me out) and because of this she wonders if not feeling anything would be better (hence the line 何も感じず過ごせばいいの lit. Would it be better to go on not feeling anything at all) in the midst of all of this other people throw words at her "while her heart is in the sky" and simply walking foward becomes a task to hard and leaves her unable to feel for the people around her. Stating that anything she changes would turn to black.
Before the mid-break she says (こんな私も変われるのなら。もし変われるのなら白になる。lit. If even "this" me could change. IF i change then i would become "white") basically saying she would become someone who does things differently. After the break she starts wondering if she even really "is here" in this time and place (since more incidents keep happening even with her watching) and finally says "if you were so say 'me'. Then, to put it into words would be 'a good for nothing' (the distorted lyrics) Yet even with all this pondering and moping. nothing about how she feels changes, and in the next chorus, she declares, "If i could change everything, i would make it 'black.'"
Finally, at the end, she says "if i am to move, I'll destroy everything" and "if i were to grieve, would my heart turn 'white'". Continuing with a statement (most likely to whatever enemy she is facing) "i still don't know of you, me, i don't know of anything at all." Finally finishing with an acceptance of circumstances in a powerful tone (重い目蓋を 開けたのならば すべて壊すのなら黒になれ！！！ lit. If by opening my heavy eyelids, i were to break everything, then go ahead and turn it black!!!)

And to clear up some reasonings to this, the original game song "bad apple" is in the pc98 era. Which in touhou lore is a pretty chaotic and troubling time. Monster and magicians, demons and angels, all causing many incedents in gensokyo. Reimu, having yet to experience much as a shrine maiden, is troubled by the philosophies and inner feelings of this time. This is also why in windows era's first game (embodiment of scarlet devil), she seems used to and unaffected by the happenings around her.

And for the "black and white" well. In the very first game, which isn't a bullet hell, she weilds a prayer stick, seals, and a yin/yang ball as her weapons. So it is very likely literally just taken from the chinese philosophy of two opposing sides with balance being having both sides with a bit of each dabbed into each other (i.e. of the song: the fact she feels like she either does something and destroys everything, or does nothing and everything goes out of control).
So to me, this isn't a "sad song" per se, but one about finding the balance inside yourself while not being afraid to "turn everything black" when need be.

It's kinda funny. I only know the tiniest bit about the series, I was introduced to it via a fighting game that had a deckbuilder aspect, and hell if I can find that one amongst the older bullet-hell games. a translation patch was given to me, and I proceeded to get bodied by everyone else who played it, until I figured Sakuya out. knifemaid remains my favorite purely on that.

I think I first watched this video maybe a year ago? I had not seen Bad Apple before, and I have now seen it several hundred times in several hundred variations.

The first time I saw this was from the r/place mini animation and have been going through the rabbit hole

the tf2 ai version hits different

The Touhou Community Is Crazy

I always wondered why the shadows seemed familiar to me

What about the video being played on anything that has 2 colors?

Its the new doom: if it has a screen, it can run doom. if it can switch between two colours, it can play bad apple

off topic but its funny how the tf2 community made their own bad apple but with the mercs singing it with an actual animation connecting with it.

Well dang. This whole time I thought the video and song was a legit anime intro.

I can feel the pimples popping on your face and splashing all over the microphone, your keyboard and your screen. Jeez. Get a life fam.

bad apple is basically doom. if it has a screen, someone will get it to play.

Did Zun write the lyrics?

FeelsOkayMan

I've seen these characters around i had no idea they came from somewhere, i still don't more what toho is

apple lore

Once a year I like to watch this video to refresh my memory on everything. Hello for year 3.

don't forget all the "If it makes a sound it can play bad apple" covers on the most wild devices. from printers, washing mashines to whatever those lunatics stumble upon

What’s Touhou?

Definitely know the 'Dark is sad but interesting, light is painless butt boring' struggle...I refuse to be "normal", but it just gets so tiring living in constant pain.. Wish more ppl cared about feeling instead of just trying to make their own immediate lives better -.-

Bad Apple is literally DOOM of the world of videos/music videos/weeb fandom (pick what you prefere better). It has so many parodies and got played in so many environments

Ngl i think the transitions

If I wasn't already a weeb since the 90s this song would have made me one. That the smart lyrics containing a verse related to special relativity makes this song just perfect. Thanks to every individual who was part in creating this video!

I wish more creators would allow and encourage fans to use their IP to create fan work like this. The world would be a better place!

A great addition wouldve been to talk about people putting the bad apple animation and song on EVERYTHING! Like a TI calculator or the samsung smart fridge!

Es war hilfreich.Danke

I'm not a weeb, I barely know what Touhou is, I will probably never be a fan, but you talking about how thematic and well made Bad Apple is made me appreciate the franchise more. Game's lore seems pretty great, even if I normally wouldn't be into it that much.

Bad apple sounds alot like blue monday

1.2 Million views? Wow, does Megapig even know that it has this many views?

What's shocking is that reimu could BUY an apple

I know a version of the song played with traditional japanese instruments

the song sounds like the tetris theme but swapped around

Please extract the audio file from the vid open Audacity normalize it to 12 db then denoise it multiple times. And this video will become less ear hurting.

This music video introduced me to touhou, “koishi komeji’s heart throbbing adventure” turned me into a touhou fan