Team Shanghai Alice (Drillimation)

Team Shanghai Alice (上海アリス幻樂団) is a development branch at Drillimation Studios that mainly develops the Touhou Project games and other projects at Drillimation. It is comprised of only one team member, by former Amusement Software founder Jun'ya "ZUN" Ohta, who does all the games' programming, music, and graphics. Despite developing the games, they have also marketed merchandise.

Before Team Shanghai Alice was founded, ZUN created the Driller Engine 1 Touhou Project games for the Famicom with the help of Amusement Software. After Amusement Software filed for bankruptcy in 1988, ZUN and the former developers of Seihou Project: The Autumn Frost Ball joined Drillimation Studios and finished the game there. Shortly after joining, the Touhou Project games became the property of Namco and Drillimation. ZUN continued developing the Touhou Project games starting with Touhou 6: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.

Name
The name Team Shanghai Alice was chosen to fit the overall theme of the Touhou Project. "Shanghai" (上海), according to ZUN, is a multicultural city where the East and the West meet. "Alice" can be a child living in the foreign concessions, but the name "Alice" also suggests a fairy-tale element. So together, "Shanghai Alice" encompasses the blend of oriental and western aesthetics along with fantasy. As for "Fantasy Band" (幻樂団), ZUN originally intended his team to be a musical ensemble, so he named his team as such.

Alice Margatroid owns a doll named Shanghai, an allusion to Shanghai Alice. Additionally, one of Hong Meiling's themes is titled Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17.