Anime: Fushigi Yuugi

If you think isekai is a recent trend, you would be wrong, since there was a time when a whole bunch of anime were also about people transporting to magical worlds. And what do you know, almost all of them came out at the 90s period of the economic crisis in Japan. It’s as if these shows thrive at a time when people want to escape reality or something.

One of them was Fushigi Yuugi, and used to be very famous back in the day, along with the other anime by the same mangaka, Ayashi no Ceres. Nowadays very few remember them and even fewer talk about them, since when you break them apart, they are fairly average at what they are about. This one in particular is a generic reverse harem / fantasy adventure / melodramatic romance, and to its credit it came out when there weren’t many similar series to pose a challenge. Later on came Escaflowne, 12 Kingdoms, and even the quite recent Snow White with the Red Hair. Fushigi Yuugi doesn’t stand a chance before them.

Despite being average as a whole, it is below that when you see how it handles every genre. The romance is the done to death Young Adult type we all came to hate. You know what I’m talking about, if not, think of Bella from Twilight. Typical naïve teenage girl, surrounded by pretty boys with superpowers whom are all interested in her, and is soon revealed to be the chosen one of prophesy that will save the world with her virginity.

And I have to stress the virginity part since a big portion of the story is her and her best friend being constantly assaulted by men who want to rape them, until the pretty boys storm in and save them. Also, the romance is very farfetched, since the main duo fall in love pretty fast and without much time spent together to excuse it. That’s how most shojo work after all; the audience loves the idea of instantly falling in love with a handsome bad boy who will take them away from their boring lives.

Another issue is pacing, which is very slow and has many episodes that do not progress the plot even when they are not fillers. A whole episode is spent every time a new character is introduced and has to show off his superpower. There are dozens of them, none of which contributes to the main plot outside the main four. Setting that aside, the story as a whole is good. Not well written but entertaining for what it is, like a soap opera with magic, slapstick humor and some fan service.

There is a plethora of different character with different goals and demeanors and most of them change or mature or simply get killed. It’s nothing elaborate, since they all end up changing their minds and follow the priestess after a motivational monologue, while inhuman villains try to look sympathetic to us ten minutes before they kick the bucket. It’s crude and sudden to have gravity and as I said outside the main four, everybody else becomes fodder in a team and stalls the plot with battles that have nothing to do with advancing the story.

Despite that, it’s still full of twists, intrigue, and goes for that trick of ending most episodes with a cliffhanger so you will want to know what follows, even if in retrospect it wasn’t very important. It even has a solid ending, rare for anime, which is unfortunately ruined by the several OVA sequels that followed it and made a joke out of the few concepts it handled properly.

A third issue is the low budget, as expected from a show that was made during an economic crisis. Everything feels cheap, from stiff animation, to simplistic character designs that make most of in the cast to look as if it’s the same person with a different wig and uniform. It’s not like prettier colors would have made the script any better. People did not complain about it much, back when this was the norm for any show. The magical realm and the romance were enough to please the anime fans of the early 90s. It still makes it harder to watch once you are spoiled by later series with much better production values.

But you know what, eventually everything comes back to the quality of writing, which Fushigi Yuugi doesn’t have much of. Miaka is a bland self insert heroine who spends most of the time gushing around pretty boys before losing her clothes, getting chased around by rapists, and having to be saved by a hunk. Or, if that is not possible, activating her secret powers so she can survive no matter what happens. As for the bad guys they are basically the evil counterparts of the heroes. That’s bottom rank storytelling and it doesn’t have flamboyant visuals to pass as tongue in cheek funny. Especially when half the time the show expects you to take it seriously. Like, this is an actually dramatic story with actual tragic characters.

So to sum it up, it was fine for the time it came out but didn’t age well, and you can find similar and way better series out there.

SUGGESTION LIST
The Twelve Kingdoms
Vision of Escaflowne
Snow White with the Red Hair

Other than establishing the catchiest and most quotable line in all of anime, Fushigi Yuugi is, at its best, charming melodramatic trash. It combines two of my favorite genres and let’s face it: some of the characters, especially Tasuki, are very hard not to like. At its most abysmal, however, it’s annoying melodramatic trash. Let’s face it: the “romance” sucks and Miaka very much deserves her number two spot on my most annoying female anime characters list. Although it swings erratically from charm to suck and back again, there’s really no denying its appeal. It’s a fantasy. It’s a shoujo. Check. Check. It’s a soap opera of the highest order, but many seem to like it that way. It actually has a relatively decent story. But that aint important. What’s important is that there are cute dudes in it. Lots of em.

I’ve seen a lot of lame fan-service in my day, but Fushigi Yuugi really takes the cake. You know a series is the lamest of the lame when a character’s special abilities involve having sex. …when having sex weakens your “life force.” Doesn’t that sound like something from a hen-

“Miaka.”
“Tamahome.”

Sorry about that. Doesn’t that sound like something from a hentai? But what’s even lamer than that is the amount of sheer repetitiveness in this. This could make a great drinking game. How many rape attempts are there on Miaka? How times does someone save Miaka’s stupid ass? How many times (usually immediately after swearing to stay 2gether 4 eva) do Miaka or Tamahome feel that they can never be together due to some (usually superficial) reason? Man, I’ll be drunker than a mofo. Poor Fushigi Yuugi. It’s not really its fault; it’s Yuu Watase’s for not being able to write a decent romance to save her life. This, of course, brings me to my next point. Fushigi Yuugi has one of the most unconvincing, schmaltzy, and exasperating romances of all time. Let me break it down to you: Tamahome tells Miaka his name in the second episode. In the fourth, Miaka confesses her love. By the eighth, they become the famously disgusting couple we all come to loathe:

“Miaka!”
“Tamahome!”

In fifty-two episodes, it takes less than ten for our Romeo and Juliet to fall (excuse my French) “deeply in love.” Poor Fushigi Yuugi. It’s not really its fault. It’s Yuu Watase’s for not knowing that (ho ho) loves takes time....there should be…..oh you know….a lot of character interaction before love starts to blossom. But it does have an up on Ayashi no Ceres. Aya was in love with a brick wall named Toya. At least Tamahome has a little personality. A few so-called tragic things happen, but if you're anything like me, you won't give a rat's ass. Those particular characters were just about forgotten anyway. When the series isn’t being lame, however, it’s being, well, a lot less annoying. It has a beginning, middle, and end and the whole Chinese myth stuff aint half bad. And some of the humor (when it isn’t dreadfully out of place) is actually genuinely funny. There’s a great scene when Miaka cooks a meal. The others’ reactions to her cooking are very amusing. Fushigi Yuugi also happens to be relatively well-paced. For all its faults, it’s certainly not boring; it’s a fairly easy watch. And it’s the characters that are the glue-

“Miaka!!”
“Tamahome!!”

Gee, I don’t know what’s coming over me. Please excuse me. Where was I? Right. And it’s the characters that are the glue to Fushigi Yuugi. From Nuriko’s lovable fruitiness to Tasuki’s brash rudeness and to Hotohori’s amusing narcissism, there’s bound to be at least one character you’ll enjoy. My personal favorites were Tasuki and the twins. These characters are two dimensional (some don’t even have that), but only a fool would criticize the anime for that; it’s like trying to seriously criticize Golden Boy because it has no story. It doesn’t matter and it’s not the point. These characters have enough quirks to make them fun anyway. And in an anime like this, that’s all that matters. Last but not least, Fushigi Yuugi would have had a great ending… had it not been for the ending afterwards. I hate it when that happens. Man, I have this itch. I gotta do it! One more time!

(And say it with me now)
Say it with feeling. LIKE YOU MEAN IT!
Okay, here we go. 1-2-3

MI-A-KAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TA-MA-HO-MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

Animation
The actual animation is shoddy, even for its year. There’s a scene when Yui disappears into her own world. The animation for her disappearance consists of red marker covering her up. There’s another scene when Miaka is attacked by bats….or rather, black construction paper. The fight scenes suck, too. Stills, stills, stills. To the anime’s credit, the character designs are really something. Although all the faces look the same-both Tamahome and Tomo without his makeup look a lot alike- they still manage to be distinctive enough. Because of the costumes, you’ll have no trouble figuring out who’s who. And Hotohori and Tamahome still look good after ten years. Oh, as I mentioned in my Ayashi no Ceres review, I’m a big fan of Yuu Watase’s art-work. I really like how they have her actual drawings as videos for the ending theme.

Sound
The opening theme is a slow, catchy song that happens to be one of my favorites. The ending theme is more upbeat. It isn’t half bad, either. There were a few insert songs that I liked, as well. The voice acting is above average (avoid the dub at all costs, though). Tasuki has a fantastic seiyuu. Miaka is annoying as ever. Now that I’m on the subject, I am shocked that Tomokazu Seki is Chichiri. That doesn’t even sound like him and I usually recognize his voice immediately. Apparently, he actually has RANGE. Considering that he specializes in the loud, obnoxious role, he actually would have made a much better Tasuki.

Value
I hated this anime when I first saw it. Hated it hated it. Now that I came across it again, however, it’s not as bad as I originally thought. Fushigi Yuugi is a great starter anime and a decent shoujo. However, there are certainly others that are much, much better. If you want a better anime with a similar premise (and with a much better love story), watch Escaflowne. I also highly recommend Twelve Kingdoms. As a side-note, Ayashi no Ceres is the better work. However, if I had to recommend one, I would choose Fushigi Yuugi. It’s the more accessible anime….not to mention it’s also more charming and has better characters. Ayashi no Ceres had the better story, but let’s leave it at that.

Fushigi Yuugi is one of those rare series where the whole is a lot greater than the sum of its parts. Quite simply, there are a lot of flaws here, in almost all of its aspects, and yet it still remains a deeply enjoyable and interesting anime.

Story:
Miaka, a Japanese girl studying to get into the same high school as Yui, her more intelligent friend, is planning on attending, happens upon a wierd book in a restricted section of the National Library. Upon reading the book, Miaka and Yui get sucked into a world that resembles ancient China, and Miaka becomes the Preistess of Suzaku, destined to save the Southern quarter of the world from an impending disaster, and almost immediately falls in love with a Celestial Warrior, Tamahome. How is she, a normal girl with an inhuman appetite, supposed to save the Empire? Can she ever return home? Can she find a way to stay with Tamahome? Can she keep her figure despite eating more than a small army at every meal?

There were definitely some strong aspects to the story. It was interesting how they took the magical girl genre and applied it to an adventure series. Also, the series in general was simply fun to watch. Humor and drama were well-balanced, and the pacing was usually good, though a touch too slow during the first half of the series. The focus on the relationship between Miaka and Tamahome, while flawed in some respects, especially in the beginning, was still an effective way of bringing the story together.

At times, though, the story was a weak link of the anime. While it did a good job of bringing us along for the ride, there were two big drawbacks: first, it was a bit too long. Ultimately, the events that occur here could have fit better in around 45 episodes rather than 52. Or, to be more blunt, there was AT LEAST seven episodes worth of filler and dead time scattered throughout the series (in other words, WAY too much). It just felt at times like they extended things too much. Yes, it's good to spend time developing the characters, but they erred too far towards the side of making it longer rather than shorter. For 52 episodes, they should have cut out some of what they had, and used a couple episodes for something new.

Also, the ending seemed just a bit too predictable. Its presentation was effective, but it would have been better if they had done at least something to make it more creative.

The whole "magical girl" genre seems a bit overdone, but I though that their take on it was very good. To a degree, it is stereotypical, but they manage to find a way to write an interesting, involved story that, while not really that original, is still effective.

Character:
A mixed bag here. There are two big downsides here: lack of development for the more minor characters, and a very poor job setting up the Miaka-Tamahome relationship. The writers definitely could have spent a bit more time investigating characters other than Miaka and Tamahome. Yui, Nakago, Hotohori, Chichiri and Nuriko were developed a bit, but virtually everyone else was more or less ignored as far as development was concerned.

The Miaka-Tamahome relationship was interesting. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to buy the relationship from the outset, as over the course of only a couple of episodes the two go from complete strangers to lovebirds. If you're willing to ignore that problem, though, things do get a lot more interesting later on. The relationship between the two is the main storyline of the series, as even more than the outer conflict, the plot really revolves around the two of them. Ultimately, this is where the series really shines, as they do a very good job of dealing with this relationship, its evolution, and how it affects everyone around them. Watching Miaka and Tamahome try and hold on to their love, even when it seems that the whole world is against them, manages at times to strike a deep emotional chord that allows the series to have a stronger impact than it would seem at first glance to be capable of.

Also, the characters here really shine when they're fighting against adversity. In their normal lives, and before things get difficult for them, they aren't as interesting, but they shine through when faced with danger and suffering. As long as you're willing to overlook the mediocre job of setting up the characters in the first few episodes, things actually do get a lot better in terms of character development as the series goes on.

Animation:
Decent, nothing incredible or terrible. Ultimately, animation was more than good enough so that it didn't take away from anything else. The characters were well-drawn enough, the action scenes were okay, but nothing that really blew me away either.

Sound:
The sound in general was about the level of the animation, good but not incredible. I liked the way the voiced a lot of the characters (note: I watched the English dub here), as they seemed to do a good job of mimicking the people they were playing, especially the whiny voice of Miaka.

I really enjoyed the opening song, which is why it gets an extra point here. Besides just being well-put together, it seemed to do a good job of reflecting the general tone of the series, generally energetic and alternating between light and serious.

Value:
This is a series which was fun to watch, but it's too long for me to seriously want to watch it again any time soon. It was a good ride while it lasted, but its flaws, especially in terms of pace, become much more apparent during a second run-through.

Enjoyment:
Even with all of its flaws, Fushigi Yuugi was a very well-done series. I really enjoyed watching it, and I was always struck by its energy. It was honestly fun to watch, and even during the down points, there was always something about it that made me want to keep watching. Ultimately, if you're willing to overlook the occasional holes in the story, sometimes too slow pacing, and lack of development of minor characters, you'll actually find yourself enjoying a good anime that manages to distinguish itself, because the things that are good about it outweigh the things that are bad about it.

Yu Watase, the creater of Fushigi Yuugi, weaves an epic love story set in a fantasty world of medieval China. The story starts with two high school girls. Miaka, a hyperactive glutton and also the protagonist, and Yui, her overachieving best friend, gets sucked into a book and into a fantastic world which seems similarly to Ming Dynasty China, except the world is in turmoil, and on the brink of war. And they find themselves intertwined in the power struggle between the kingdoms.

As mentioned before, this is an epic story and the length of the series supports this. This series is made up of fifty two episodes, only four of them being truly fillers or recaps. But the story has so much to offer, the content justifies the length.

Animation
Decent for a syndicated television series of the times. It doesn't compare well with present animation, but doesn't slack off in quality for the period it was made in. The animation doesn't deteriorate or get in the way of the story - the true gem of this series.

Sound, aka Music
The opening and ending songs are decent, but the background music often tends to be repetitive. It's not enough to buy a seperate OST for it, but plays its role in setting the atmosphere and fits the emotions of the scenes well.

Characters
The strong personalities in FY drives this series. Each and every character is developed, giving them their own personal motivations, their quirks, and their purpose in the story. It tries very hard to make sure none of the characters falls-back as a minor detail in the story. You get to either truely love or hate each and every character - and some of the villins are VERY easy to despise and yet sympathize. Unfortunately, the protagonist can become dislikeable at times due to her personality and her romantic pursuits. As for the voice acting, it doesn't win any prizes, but there are no misfits to each relative character. The voices for Nakago and Chichiri, Tomokazu Seki (Van in Escaflowne, Kuraki in X TV) and Touru Furusawa (Knives[ in Trigun) respectively, may be the best voice talents present in the series.

Value
The DVD set for FY is great for any anime fan, and must have for collectors, but the value dipped due to the fact that the English dubbing is so far inferior to the Japanese counterparts.

Fushigi Yuugi may also be a comedy, drama series, action genre - but first and foremost, it is a soap opera, just set in a fantastic and ancient setting.

A note of warning. FY is the epitome of soap opera anime, and the cheesiness may turn off some people.

Can I say "soap operanime?" Yea, that's FY alright. One of my favorite romantics, this cute and adventurous story takes on a fantasy and a realistic approach, much like "The Neverending Story." (though its nothing really like that saga in any other way)

The story is about Miaka Yuki, a schoolgirl that loves to eat. She and her friend Yui are in a library and get sucked into this book. Soon they are in a world driven mostly by mythology. Yea, the animation is pretty cool because of the great drawings and depictions of "The Universe of the Four Gods." It doesn't become really fast-paced or vivacious, but it can get exciting. Emotions are described in the face drawings, and it can get a little "ecchi-ish" because quite often the characters will end up nude in embarassing situations (like it always turns out in real ecchi.)

The music was better-than-average. The opening theme I found kinda showy, but the ending theme was awesome. Ya it sounds like Japanese Madonna, but it grows on you really fast. Voice acting was average, funny when funny, sad when sad, etc. Unfortunately the expression wasn't active enough often to keep me interested.

Obviously the story is attractive. A mystical adventure, sought out for ultimate pleasures and giving purpose to each character. No...the story didn't complete that ecstasy either. Though it did complete itself, the natural feeling for more too see would explain why there are several OVAs following the TV series.

Character development was not substantial enough. It completed the story, but the most explored characters were Miaka and Tamahome. Though various forces caused other characters to develop throughout the story, there was no natural characterization during pointless love or comedy scenes.

Funny enough, I could watch this anime several times. This is awkward for its "soapy" storyline, yet I could still see more coming from the anime even when the OVA's were finished. In conclusion, if you like romance, watch this ;-).

I was very hesitant to get FY since it was so damn long. But when I started to watch, I finished all 52 episodes (and the two ova's) within 2 days, and I think of it as one of the most enjoyable series ever. One of my favourites.

When this series starts off, it'll remind you to a mixture of Slayers and Escaflowne, but nothing is less true. Fushigi Yuugi takes you to another world - a fantasyworld in ancient China - but still keeps the link to the current one we're living in.

It's true that the first episodes look very much like it'll become a fantasy-comedy as Slayers is (especially the food-freak Miaka), but while this series progresses, the atmosphere becomes darker and grim, making room for an entire different anime.
The reason why I like this one so much is because of the evolving storyline. From comedy to drama to drama and action, and all in a fantasy-world combined with the regular world.

Character development is done very well, and even though I have to admit that not every character gets developed well, most of them got a decent development. The bad thing might be that there are too many characters. Although it's easily to keep track of all of their names, perhaps it was too hard to develop them all, thus choosing only a couple to develop.

The animation itself is nothing much; it's normal and it doesn't involve any cool tricks or CG, so there's not much to say about that, except that it's done well.

And last ... well, if you like to see lovestories/romances where people have to get through a LOT of stuff (and not even knowing if they can keep going with the relationship) then this is definitely a series you want.

Also, after 52 episodes the series has a decent ending, leaving a few things open for the coming ova's, but still keeping a satisfied feeling after seeing 52 episodes.

Too bad they never changed the op/end songs ...