Josh’s Anime Blog

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

The Essentials

Name: Fushigi Yuugi, The Mysterious Play
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Episodes: 52
Released: April 4, 1995 - March 28, 1996
Based On: Fushigi Yuugi manga by Yuu Watase
Director: Hajime Kamegaki
Produced By: Studio Pierrot, TV Tokyo
US Distribution By: Pioneer/Geneon

Major Japanese Cast

Miaka Yuuki: Kae Araki
Tamahome: Hikaru Midorikawa
Hotohori: Takehito Koyasu
Yui Hongo: Yumi Touma
Nuriko: Chika Sakamoto
Chichiri: Tomokazu Seki
Tasuki: Nobutoshi Hayashi
Nakago: Tohru Furusawa
Mitsukake: Kouji Ishii
Chiriko: Tomoko Kawakami
Taiitsukun: Hisako Kyouda
Keisuke Yuuki: Shinichiro Miki
Tetsuya Kajiwara: Ken Narita
Soi: Atsuko Tanaka
Amiboshi, Suboshi: Yuji Ueda

Major English Cast

Miaka Yuuki: Ruby Marlowe
Tamahome: David Hayter
Hotohori: Sean Thorton
Yui Hongo: Wendee Lee
Nuriko: Melissa Williamson
Chichiri: Sean Mitchell
Tasuki: James Penrod
Nakago: Michael Gregory
Mitsukake: Richard George
Chiriko: Sandy Fox
Taiitsukun: Catherine Luciani
Keisuke Yuuki: Derek Stephen Prince
Tetsuya Kajiwara: Bo Williams
Soi: Melodee M. Spevack
Amiboshi, Suboshi: Steve Cannon

Scores

Animation: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Story: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Music: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 9/10 (x 2 = 18 pts)
English Dubs: 7/10 (x 1 = 7 pts)
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 5 = 40 pts)

Total: 165/200 (82.5%)

Review

Fushigi Yugi is a show about two middle school friends - Miaka and Yui - who happen upon a mysterious Chinese book in the restricted area of the National Library. The two start reading the book only to get sucked inside the book. The two girls, who both fall in love with the boy, Tamahome, who saved them when they first arrived in the land end up becoming rivals. The two strive to become the Priestesses of two best gods which protect two rival nations - Miaka attempts to become the Priestess of Suzaku, which protects the land of Konan while Yui attempts to become the Priestess of Seiryu, which protects the land of Kouto.

The story largely focuses on Miaka’s attempts to gather the Suzaku Seven - a group of celestial warriors which must all be present when Suzaku is summoned - as well as on Nakago, the leader of the Seiryu Seven, and the man who has tricked Yui into becoming the Priestess of Seiryu, and his attempts to disrupt Miaka’s plans. The Priestess, upon summoning their respective beast god, is given three wishes to be granted. Yui strives to use her wish to get Tamahome, while Miaka wants to use her wish to get Yui back as a friend and to return both of them to their own world.

I thought that this was a pretty enjoyable series, though I think it drags on a little more than it needs to. Some sub-arcs in the story take 2 or 3, or even 4 episodes or so when only 1 or 2 episodes were needed, with the time in between taken up by characters cackling or remarking at how brilliant their plan is or Miaka worrying about Yui or Tamahome for the millionth and a half time.

There are enough twists and turns to make the story compelling through most of the 52 episodes, however. At times things that are blatantly obvious to the viewer appear to be lost on the characters, or characters are being overly stubborn, though, and sometimes you feel like grabbing them through the screen and slapping some sense into them.

The series also includes a good mix of suspense, action, comedy, romance, and drama, and while some viewers may think that the drama and romance part may go overboard, while others may think that the suspenseful parts drag out a tad too long, I think the mix of all of those factors balance out reasonably well.

Given that the series was created in 1995 and 1996, the animation is pretty good I thought and appears to be rather comparable, if not better, than some other shows that I’ve seen that have been released at roughly the same time. The music is also pretty good, I thought, again for the time period, and fit the mood and situations well. My only real complaint with the series is the English dub. The dub isn’t bad, and I think is still good enough to be able to listen to without flinching or anything, but I think it is clearly it’s weakest point.

This isn’t a series that would be for everyone, I don’t think. I think most people will find it entertaining, at least for a while, but some may find some aspects of it tiresome before they get to the end of all 52 episodes. Some pure fantasy fans may tire of the romance between Miaka and Tomahome while others may think that 52 episodes is just too many. However, overall, I still think i was a reasonable enjoyable series.

First Watched: August - October 2006
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes