# Night Of Nights Night Of Knights > Night of Nights is a 2007 Touhou arrangement by BeatMARIO based on Sakuya Izayoi's theme that exploded into thousands of MAD videos and remixes on Nico Nico Douga and YouTube. "Night of Nights" (ナイト・オブ・ナイツ) is a high-energy Touhou Project fan arrangement that became one of the most remixed and covered songs in Japanese internet culture. Created by BeatMARIO of the doujin circle COOL&CREATE and released in May 2007, the track is based on Sakuya Izayoi's theme "Flowering Night" from the bullet hell shooter Touhou: Phantasmagoria of Flower View. After hitting Nico Nico Douga in mid-2008, it exploded into thousands of MAD videos, YouTube Poop Music Videos, and musical covers, making it a gateway track for Touhou fandom worldwide. ## Origin The original source material is "Flowering Night" (フラワリングナイト), composed by series creator ZUN for Sakuya Izayoi's appearance as a boss character in Touhou: Phantasmagoria of Flower View[2]. In his composer notes, ZUN described the piece as an attempt to show Sakuya's more human side, contrasting with her harder themes from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. He noted the melody had a strange quality to it: "If you think it's going to be an Asian piece, it sounds like it, but treat it as Western and it sounds like that too"[2]. BeatMARIO, a member of the popular doujin music group COOL&CREATE, arranged the remix and included it in a three-disc compilation album titled "花詠束 – hanataba –" (Bouquet)[1]. The album was released at Reitaisai 4, a major Touhou-specific convention in Japan, on May 20, 2007, under the collective Unionest.NET[3]. - **Platform:** Reitaisai 4 convention (album release), Nico Nico Douga (viral spread) - **Creator:** BeatMARIO (ビートまりお) of COOL&CREATE (arranger), ZUN (original composer of "Flowering Night") - **Date:** 2007 ## Overview "Night of Nights" is a frenetic, piano-driven remix of "Flowering Night," the stage theme for maid character Sakuya Izayoi from Touhou Project's ninth installment[3]. The arrangement cranks up the tempo and layers rapid-fire piano runs over the original melody, creating a track that sounds like someone trying to speedrun a classical recital. Its breakneck pace and infectious energy made it perfect raw material for the Japanese MAD video scene, where creators chop, remix, and synchronize songs with animation and other media. The song is often confused under two names. "Night of Nights" is the official title of BeatMARIO's arrangement, while "Night of Knights" and "Knight of Knights" are common misspellings and alternate romanizations that stuck through years of fan uploads[3]. ## How It Spread The song sat relatively quiet for over a year before hitting Nico Nico Douga on July 20, 2008[3]. That first upload pulled in over 518,000 views. A second upload roughly two months later became the dominant version, racking up more than 2 million views by July 2013[3]. Following the path blazed by earlier Touhou viral hits like "U.N. Owen was Her?," Night of Nights quickly became a go-to resource for MAD remixers. The first known mashup was a derivative of the Futae no Kiwami series, uploaded to NND on August 7, 2008[3]. But the video that really kicked off the remix wave landed on August 16, 2008, as a branch of the Enemy Controller MAD series[3]. That clip pulled over 1 million views before getting hit with a copyright claim and taken down. By July 2013, more than 3,100 videos using the song had been uploaded to Nico Nico Douga alone, spanning MAD videos to full musical covers[3]. The song also crossed over to YouTube as NND content got reposted, catching on with the YouTube Poop Music Video (YTPMV) community. Over 58,000 YouTube videos related to the song existed by the same date[3]. ## How to Use Night of Nights works as remix fodder more than a traditional meme template. Common uses include: - **MAD videos:** Sync clips from anime, games, or other media to the song's rapid piano runs, cutting on every beat - **Musical covers:** Perform the song on piano, guitar, recorder, or increasingly absurd instruments. The high difficulty of the piano part makes it a popular flex for musicians - **YTPMV remixes:** Chop voice clips and sound effects to recreate the melody, turning dialogue into music - **Raging X animations:** Draw characters frantically dancing to the track in a hand-animated style (see Derivatives) - **Background music:** Drop it into gameplay clips, speedruns, or chaotic moments to signal intensity The song typically gets paired with fast, overwhelming, or absurdly intense visual content. The tempo does most of the comedic heavy lifting. ## Cultural Impact Night of Nights played a significant role in spreading Touhou Project's popularity outside Japan. As NND videos got mirrored to YouTube in the late 2000s, the song introduced Western audiences to both the Touhou franchise and the Japanese MAD video tradition[3]. It sat alongside "U.N. Owen was Her?" and "Bad Apple!!" as one of the Touhou tracks most likely to pull non-fans into the fandom. The song's popularity on rhythm game simulators and fan-made rhythm game charts also helped it circulate in gaming communities. Piano covers became their own mini-genre on YouTube, with players treating the piece as a technical challenge. ## Fun Facts - ZUN, the original composer of "Flowering Night," admitted that Sakuya's theme had a strange duality: it sounds both Eastern and Western, both childlike and mature, depending on the listener's expectations[2]. - The album "花詠束 – hanataba –" that contained the original track spanned three discs with a total runtime of 3 hours, 8 minutes, and 39 seconds[1]. - The "Night of Knights" misspelling is so widespread that many fans don't know which version of the name is correct[3]. - BeatMARIO's COOL&CREATE is one of the longest-running and most prolific Touhou doujin music circles, active since the early days of the fandom. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Night of Nights? Night of Nights is a fast-paced Touhou Project fan arrangement by BeatMARIO of COOL&CREATE, based on Sakuya Izayoi's theme "Flowering Night" from Phantasmagoria of Flower View[3]. ### Where did Night of Nights come from? It was released on May 20, 2007, as part of the three-disc album "花詠束 – hanataba –" at the Reitaisai 4 Touhou convention in Japan[1]. ### What does Night of Nights mean? The title is a play on the character Sakuya Izayoi, whose name contains the kanji for "night." "Night of Knights" is a common alternate spelling, with "Knights" referencing Sakuya's role as a servant/maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion[3]. ### How do you use Night of Nights? Most people use it as source material for MAD videos, musical covers, YTPMV remixes, or as background music for chaotic or intense content[3]. ### Is Night of Nights still popular? As of 2013, the song had generated over 58,000 YouTube videos and 3,100 Nico Nico Douga uploads[3]. It is widely considered a classic of both the Touhou fandom and Japanese internet music culture. ### Who composed the original theme that Night of Nights is based on? ZUN, the sole creator of the Touhou Project game series, composed "Flowering Night" as Sakuya Izayoi's stage theme for Phantasmagoria of Flower View[2]. ### What are the Raging X videos? A series of hand-drawn animations showing characters dancing wildly to Night of Nights, started by "Crazy Raging Reimu" on NND in January 2009. On YouTube, they're often titled "X on drugs"[3]. ### Why is it called both "Night of Nights" and "Night of Knights"? "Night of Nights" is the official title. "Night of Knights" and "Knight of Knights" are persistent misspellings that spread through fan uploads and became equally recognized[3]. ### What is a MAD video? MAD videos are a Japanese remix tradition where creators edit and synchronize clips from various media to music, similar to YouTube Poop Music Videos (YTPMVs) in Western internet culture[3]. ### What Touhou game is Flowering Night from? Flowering Night is from Touhou: Phantasmagoria of Flower View, the ninth game in the series, where Sakuya Izayoi appears as a playable and boss character[2]. ## References 1. [花詠束 -hanataba- - Touhou Wiki - Characters, games, locations, and more]() 2. [Phantasmagoria of Flower View/Music - Touhou Wiki - Characters, games, locations, and more]() 3. [Night of Nights / Night of Knights - Know Your Meme]() 4. [List of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon games and sketches]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/night-of-nights-night-of-knights Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library