Once again this is going to be a terribly long review so I might put it up in parts, but I’m not sure just yet. We will see. Well, as I promised I am going to do a Fushigi Yugi review, it definetly deserves one! Format and procedure is still the same, I will try to make the summary bits spoiler free, with the character bits containing spoiler, and put some pictures up in the end.
Technically I have already written a lot about fushigi yugi but it isn’t a proper review, so I really want to do this as to make it proper. (so some stuff may have already been on my blog)

Basic data
Title: Fushigi Yugi (I think it is translated to the mystery play or something like that, which is not really accurate, as it should be something like ‘the dangerous game’ or ‘the dream like game’ or something like that. Because Fushigi is written in hiragana, but Yugi is in kanji, and the author actually wrote yugi as game).
Author: Watase Yuu
18 volumes of manga, 52 episodes of Anime and three sets of OVA.

Origin
My sister got the manga and anime from her friend, who remembered seeing this in Taiwan when she was really little. One day I started to read it and once I did I was really hooked, so I actually finished the whole 18 manga at one go, although I had to re-read the later ones as I read it a bit too fast. But I didn’t get to finish the anime until way later. Since I recently finished all the anime and OVA I thought I’ll finally do the review.

Basic story (spoiler free- I think)
The story centres on Miaka (A 15 years old Japanese girl) who ended up in an alternative universe through a book. This world is very much like ancient China during the feudal time. Once there, in the kingdom of Konan, she is hailed as the priestess of Suzaku, and must find the seven celestial warriors whose job is to protect her, in order to summon the god Suzaku, who would grant her 3 wishes. Initially the story is rather light hearted, Miaka only want to have the three wish for the sake of passing her high school exams, although the emperor of Konan shows the more serious idea of summoning Suzaku to protect his country. As Miaka travels to find her quest, things become worse when her best Yui arrives in the world and become the priestess of Konan’s rivalling country: Kutou, and Miaka also faces fallen in love and have people in love with her. As the story progress, it becomes more serious.

The story is very heavy with Chinese influence- the four gods in the story are all mythological figures in Chinese legends, and the celestial warriors take their names from the twenty eight constellations. If you want to understand more then please go to wikipaedia.

Ok…I think all the rest bits would have spoilers of some sort.

The second story arch have Taka being born into Miaka’s world and everything seem to be well, until one day when Miaka is told by Suzaku that she must go back to the world inside the book (the universe of the four gods) as there is this being Tenkou, who wants to destroy the world. In order to stop him, Miaka and Tamahome must travel with their companion as well the spirits of their companions, and find the stones that contain Tamahome’s memories. By doing so, many of the celestial warriors have to deal with their past, or what their actions has caused in the present.

Manga
there are 18 books, although there are two story arches. The original story really ends after volume 13 but due to reader’s demand, the author drew another story which took 5 books. Personally I like the manga better then the anime because the drawing style of the manga is more beautiful, and I feel the anime focuses on Miaka and Tamahome way too much at the expenses of many other characters. I only like the first half of the first story arch, and some part of the second half because later on my favourite character, Hotohori, faded to the back ground- becoming a minor character instead of a very major character.

Anime
There are 52 episodes the first half deals with what about the first six books? While the second half deals with the rest (Stopping at volume 13). I think the anime was made before even volume 14-18 was published. The anime is good as it sticks to most of the plot without much additional new bit, but as I said before, they left some vital bits out and focused too much on Miaka and Tamahome. The drawings of the anime simply lack some of the beauty the drawing in the manga had, which is a big pity, but I think it is just because Watase Yuu’s drawings are simply more beautiful on paper and due to how she colours it- I read some where that she does the colouring by hand even though many other artists does it by computer nowadays. Well, there are three things that I really dislike about the anime.
1- they made Hotohori’s hair a ugly brown when it should be black. I know it is a very simple thing but I really don’t like it.
2- Nakago’s death is done really bad, for me it kind of shifts from focusing on Nakago to focusing on Tamahome instead. In the manga there is a hint that Nakago actually finds peace because we see him seeing Soi and his mother when he is dying, Soi is reaching to him. There is a strong hint that he would find peace, but the anime just shows him dying, I am really angry with that because I truly think that is a very important bit. The author shows that he is wrong, but not completely evil, and in the end he actually choose to die (not that obvious in the anime) and is suppose to be rewarded by finally having peace.
3- they made Miaka so much more noble, too noble. As in the manga her third wish is actually for her own happiness- to be with Tamahome forever, as opposed to the anime- where her third wish is to heal the damages done to Tokyo.

OVA 1- 3 episodes.
This is meant to deal with what happens in volume 13-18 but I find this OVA completely pointless and there is seriously no point in watching this unless you are a big Tamahome fan, because to put it bluntly, for the first half of the ova all you see is Tamahome wondering around in a sense of confusion. I suppose I am biased because my favourite character didn’t even come out until the last 10 minute of the last episode. But the ironic bit is that even though there is absolutely no point in having the story- they decided to kill two other important and popular characters. Once again, the death of Amiboshi is really unnecessary especially when the manga hint that he finds peace. The only reason I’ll recommend watching this anime is due to the comical twist at the very end or beginning of the ova. It’s a very comical twist of what happens when the main casts go to a hot spring, and at one point we get to see what seems a behind the scene of the voice recording, with the voice actors drawn as their character.

OVA 2- 6 episodes
I actually quite like the second OVA, as I think it really shows the second story arch really well, although the funny thing is that the OVA actually shortened the story slightly- it doesn’t contain as much detail as the manga- usually it is the opposite. Like the manga, all the suzaku warriors are focused in relatively depth with one or two exceptions. But I really like the second OVA series as it illustrates the relationship of Hotohori and Houki so much better.

Novel (not by Watase Yuu)
I don’t really know how many novels there are, but I think probably over seven at least? It focuses on some characters’ past, usually the missing bits of the manga and anime, and there are some that shows what happened after the main story. I found some copies on the internet but I have only read one, because well… I am mainly interested in Hotohori’s story. His story is very interesting as it deals with his past and even some bit of the present, what he was doing in the bits of the manga/anime that he doesn’t come out in. The novel also focuses on Houki at a lot of the time. I read it but much to my surprise, I don’t like it as much as I thought I would, considering that it solely focuses on Hotohori. I think my main criticism of the novel is that it seems so fast paced, and too much action instead of showing what each character is thinking. I probably didn’t like the translator’s translations that much either, so if I could find a proper copy in Taiwan I would buy it, and I think it would be better then the version I have read..

OVA 3- 4 episodes.
The OVA focuses on what happened in the novels. Personally I don’t really like the idea of OVA 3- how there is a new evil in the land which works when this new girl enters the book once again. But the 3rd OVA is definitely worth watching even if it is only for the sake of hearing Houki telling the story of her and Hotohori. When I watched this I decided that it must be the novel’s style because seeing their story in the ova really touched me. If all else, watch the bit when Houki retells the bit in the novel (either episode 2 or 3, I think it is 3), as well as the last bits of the last episode when Hotohori finally get to see his family properly. Also, Houki is drawn really beautifully in the OVA 3.

Alright, it seems that I will need to put this up in parts. Hopefully someone would enjoy reading this and no matter what, please leave a comment! I will try and put up the next bit up soon, since it is almost finished. Next bit is charcters…
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