archiving internet-based things

[randomtangent]

i don't really know how else to title this one, sorry.

i've wanted some good archives of early Touhou and early Vocaloid/UTAU for a whiiiile now, i just vibe a lot more with old-school versions of those. perfect amount of chaos, dumbassery, all while rarely being gross (rare now)
i mean, now it's easy to think those two aren't even related at all -- but apparently if you liked one, then you sometimes were assumed to have liked the other? especially the amount of fan crossovers lol

i dunno.
a lot of early Vocaloid/UTAU things are being lost, while YouTube in general is suuper corporate so it ends up mostly favouring similar things. but i guess things like and Cirno's Perfect Math Class were originally flash videos? they have that kinda energy, and the only version of that one in particular on YouTube now is a FHD 16:9 1080p remaster.

i've already got some archived Vocaloid/UTAU tracks, but many i don't have but i reallyyy wanna get!! (like SPiCa)
the only remains of SPiCa i have with me is a silly screenshot i tried getting for a stamp a while ago and the fact it's still burned into my memories! that track still plays i loved it soo much, and the PV was so pretty too!
and i saw on a really old site (now it's being used a bit again but it's also being filled with modern stuff now) it had sooo much early Vocaloid/UTAU and Touhou stuff - even mentioning old characters like Gakupo and stuff. so many ships with Kaito x Gakupo, dumb MMD skits and all that.

again Vocaloid but i also don't have the PVs for most!! i'd love to get Dreamin Chuchu and SPiCa as i said lol among so many others.

edit number 2: changing how i worded this. tbh was tired and not very knowledgeable in hindsight!! too young to have firsthand experience with most!

[villain]

I don't have a lot of resources, but I can help with IOSYS, creators of Cirno's Perfect Maths Class and most of the super iconic touhou fan songs (Marisa Stole the Precious Thing, F.O.E. etc). You're quite right, they were all made as flash videos and used to be available to view (and I think download?) on their website back in the day. Having a quick browse around it now it doesn't look like they're still up (which I suppose makes sense with flash player's deprecation) but you may be able to find them on an old version of the site via the internet archive - or, failing that, they may be archived on the flashpoint database!

As far as other old Vocaloid MVs - you may already know most of these were originally uploaded to niconico douga and then reuploaded to youtube unofficially. Maybe searching a niconico archive rather than youtube might turn up what you're after?

[arcus]

Use yt-dlp (Github link) for downloading videos off YouTube, NicoNico, and Bilibili.

Code

yt-dlp --embed-subs --sub-langs "all,-live_chat" -S "ext"

This downloads all the subtitles and embeds them into the file. '-S "ext"' downloads the highest quality video, but it's optional. By default the quality is pretty good.

A word of warning: Many old Touhou PVs do contain fanservice. It doesn't seem like it because the most popular ones were tame.

For finding videos, check out the Legendary Vocaloid Songs and Touhou Arrange PV Link tags on NicoNico.

i mean, now it's easy to think those two aren't even related at all -- but apparently if you liked one, then you sometimes were assumed to have liked the other? especially the amount of fan crossovers lol

In the 2000s, YouTube wasn't popular in Japan. Instead, Nico Nico Douga (NicoNico) was. 2007 was the first full year for the site. That was also when Touhou 10 came out after a 2 year hiatus, and when Hatsune Miku was released. The lax fan guidelines made them both incredibly popular and the site was plastered with the two. Pixiv got popular around the same time, which is why there's so much Touhou and Vocaloid art there too.

but i guess things like and Cirno's Perfect Math Class were originally flash videos?

Yep. Some were only uploaded to NicoNico, but most were uploaded to their circle's sites. SOUND HOLIC has a series of DVDs with Flash videos that are still sold today.

Seconding what villain said, you can find them off their circle's sites by using the Wayback Machine and through Flashpoint. Make sure to search "touhou project" using the tag mode and not with smart search mode on the Flashpoint Database.

i've already got some archived Vocaloid/UTAU tracks, but many i don't have but i reallyyy wanna get!!

Try looking them up using their original titles.

edit: again Vocaloid but i also don't have the PVs for most!!    i'd love to get Dreamin Chuchu and SPiCa as i said lol among so many others

YouTube links: Dreamin ChuChu, SPiCa.

[randomtangent]

Use yt-dlp (Github link) for downloading videos off YouTube, NicoNico, and Bilibili.

Code

yt-dlp --embed-subs --sub-langs "all,-live_chat" -S "ext"

This downloads all the subtitles and embeds them into the file. '-S "ext"' downloads the highest quality video, but it's optional. By default the quality is pretty good.

A word of warning: Many old Touhou PVs do contain fanservice. It doesn't seem like it because the most popular ones were tame.

For finding videos, check out the Legendary Vocaloid Songs and Touhou Arrange PV Link tags on NicoNico.

In the 2000s, YouTube wasn't popular in Japan. Instead, Nico Nico Douga (NicoNico) was. 2007 was the first full year for the site. That was also when Touhou 10 came out after a 2 year hiatus, and when Hatsune Miku was released. The lax fan guidelines made them both incredibly popular and the site was plastered with the two. Pixiv got popular around the same time, which is why there's so much Touhou and Vocaloid art there too.

Yep. Some were only uploaded to NicoNico, but most were uploaded to their circle's sites. SOUND HOLIC has a series of DVDs with Flash videos that are still sold today.

Seconding what villain said, you can find them off their circle's sites by using the Wayback Machine and through Flashpoint. Make sure to search "touhou project" using the tag mode and not with smart search mode on the Flashpoint Database.

Try looking them up using their original titles.

YouTube links: Dreamin ChuChu, SPiCa.

ah okay thanks for that. to be fair i'm far too young to have had firsthand experience with most of these, so to be clear what i say may be innacurate!
also thanks for the heads up on fanservice.
that being said i did grow up on Vocaloid on YouTube, but the latter half of my childhood was basically when it went dormant so there wasn't much coming out then. i'll admit i'm a bit lazy for this all.