The Essentials

Name: Fushigi Yuugi, The Mysterious Play
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Episodes: 3 (OVA 1), 6 (OVA 2)
Released: October 25, 1996 – February 25, 1997 (OVA 1), May 25, 1997 – October 28, 1998 (OVA 2)
Based On: Fushigi Yuugi TV series
Director: Hajime Kamegaki
Produced By: Studio Pierrot, Bandai
US Distribution By: Pioneer/Geneon

Major Japanese Cast

Miaka Yuuki: Kae Araki
Tamahome/Taka: Hikaru Midorikawa
Tenkou: Juurouta Kosugi
Ren Shigyou: Akira Ishida
Tasuki: Nobutoshi Hayashi
Chichiri: Tomokazu Seki
Yui Hongo: Yumi Touma
Keisuke Yuuki: Shinichiro Miki
Tetsuya Kajiwara: Ken Narita
Taiitsukun: Hisako Kyouda

Major English Cast

Miaka Yuuki: Ruby Marlowe
Tamahome: David Hayter
Tasuki: James Penrod
Chichiri: Sean Mitchell
Yui Hongo: Wendee Lee
Keisuke Yuuki: Derek Stephen Prince
Tetsuya Kajiwara: Bo Williams
Taiitsukun: Catherine Luciani

Scores

Animation: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Story: 6/10 (x 4 = 24 pts)
Music: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: N/A
English Dubs: 7/10 (x 1 = 7 pts)
Gut Score: 6/10 (x 5 = 30 pts)

Total: 121/180 (67.2%)

Review

The first two Fushigi Yūgi OVAs are so closely linked, so I’ll be reviewing them together. The first OVA is three episodes long and deals with Tamahome being sucked back into the book and immediately being put into an illusion by the now revived Tomo. Tomo, however, is now under the employ of Tenkou, a new villain who is out to conquer the world himself, and hopes to use the Universe of the Four Gods to do so.

The second OVA deals with Miaka and Taka – Tamahome’s new and separate identity outside of the Universe of the Four Gods – having to return to inside the book to search for Tamahome’s seven memory stones in order to restore Tamahome’s memories to Taka. However, Tenkou returns to stop them, and this time he is armed with a new power – the ability to gain strength from other people’s negative emotions, and hopes to use these to finally realize his quest to conquer the world.

Both of these OVAs seemed to have some serious problems, I thought. The first OVA was largely to just establish the character of Tenkou, but did little more and, I think, could have just as easily been the first episode in a single OVA series. The 2nd OVA, meanwhile, largely consists of a set of independent stories, focusing on one of the main characters, with Tenkou popping up and causing problems along the way. While it may be nice to learn more about some of the characters, I think we had more than enough time for character-centric episodes during the original TV series, and I think the OVA wastes it’s precious time by focusing on characters than moving the ultimate plot in the series. Of course, there is a point in the series doing what it did, but I think it could have been done more efficiently.

As far as technical aspects, I don’t think there was much either better or worse than in the TV series. The animation quality seemed to be about the same, and I think they pretty much used the same soundtrack. The dub work is about the same as well.

Overall, if you’re a big fan of the TV series, you may like the OVA since it continues the character’s stories. However, if you’re watching the OVAs independent of the TV series, or didn’t like the TV series, chances are you won’t like the first two OVAs either.

First Watched: October 2006
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: No