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Review: Fushigi Yuugi (ふしぎ遊戯) (1995-1996)
I was obsessed with Fushigi Yuugi when I was a teenager, but I hadn’t actually watched it (didn’t know how to find anime). Over ten years later, I am finally getting around to this anime. It was a solid shoujo/fantasy anime, in the sense that seemed to hit all of the tropes that one would want and expect of this genre. There were times when the tropes were too much for me, but nonetheless the overarching story was compelling enough to keep me watching. I would recommend this as an easy watch, a slower paced adventure anime with heavy romantic story lines.
Spoilers.
Story
This was a typical isekai anime, where our two Japanese schoolgirls Miaka and Yui were sent to a world in a book resembling Ancient China. The mythology of the land was based on the Four Symbols, four mythological creatures seen across East Asian culture. The four kingdoms in this world each had a representative being, and each kingdom needed to find a priestess “from another world” who would gather the respective seven warriors and summon their god, who would grant them three wishes.
Miaka agreed to be the Priestess of Suzaku. She had briefly returned to the normal world, at which point Yui was sent to the book world, where she was attacked. Nakago convinced Yui that she was raped, that Miaka had abandoned her, thus pitting the two friends against each other. The majority of the story was a race between Miaka and Suzaku warriors vs. Yui and Seiryu warriors to summon their respective gods, with the Seiryu warriors often using underhanded tactics.
In the original world, Yui had been reading the book to find out the happenings to Miaka, until she was sucked into the book. After both girls went into the book, Miaka’s brother Keisuke and his friend Tetsuya picked up the book, and then tracked down the Priestess of Byakko who was now an old lady.
Yui summoned Seiryu first. Her first wish was to seal Suzaku, and her second wish was to bring Miaka and her back to their original world. After finding out about Nakago’s manipulation, Yui’s third wish was for the seal of Suzaku to be removed, after which Miaka was able to summon Suzaku. Her first wish was to have Yui returned to her (Yui, who had been consumed by Seiryu after summoning him). Her second wish was to revive the dead Suzaku warriors, and her third wish was to return the world to how it had been.
The anime ended with Miaka and Yui entering high school. Miaka, who was always the ditz, had made it into her dream high school, while Yui, who was often acknowledged the smarter one, did not. However, they remained friends. As well, they met someone who claimed to have memories of a past life, who was revealed to be Tamahome.
The adventure part of this story was fine. There were a lot of small adventures, but that’s how you keep an adventure television series going. The romance between Tamahome and Miaka did get kind of annoying because they mulled over the same problems over and over again. I found the other relationships in this anime to be far more compelling, with varied dynamics more than just the ditzy innocent girl and the cool guy who would go through hell for her.
The dialogue was way too modern for this show to be any more immersive than just an anime. Several English loanwords were used by the people from the book, and that was just something that couldn’t really fly for me. So this was another one of the reasons that this show would never really go beyond anime for me.
One thing I did appreciate was that this show was clearly for the girls lol. In addition to the romantic story lines, with Miaka and Yui both having multiple love interests, the BL content really surprised me lol. There were several guys that showed interest in other guys (Tomo was gay, Nakago was bisexual, Amiboshi and Suboshi had their kiss).
That being said, this story was also surprisingly sexual at times, in a way that was a bit odd. There were entire story lines surrounding Miaka and Yui’s virginities, since they had to be virgins to summon the gods. It felt creepy at times that rape was used as an actual war tactic. Perhaps it was meant to be disturbing, but it was disturbed.
Overall the story surprisingly had a lot of parts to it. Like I said, there was adventure, there was romance, there were dark themes. And I can appreciate that.
Production
The animation for this anime wasn’t the best. One thing that almost put me off from continuing on in this anime in the first couple of episodes was the lazy animation. A technique I saw often used was that a still frame would be presented on screen, but the frame would move around to distract the audience so that they wouldn’t realize that the actions weren’t being animated. This was used a lot, but I started to realize that these techniques were also used in fighting scenes, where well-animated action can really elevate the tension. So that was a reason that I thought the animation was disappointing.
Some of the proportions in the drawings were just really odd. This was especially the case for Miaka, who would have exaggeratedly large eyes and an exaggeratedly small nose. Sometimes her face seemed compressed because of that.
The voice acting was also typical for what I would expect of an anime. Miaka had that really high-pitched female lead voice that really did get grating a lot, especially since she would be screaming in agony at many times in the show. Tamahome’s voice actor wasn’t quite as manly as I expected, but that’s not the end of the world.
Characters
Yuki Miaka
Our main character. She very much was a Tsukino Usagi archetype. However, I didn’t find her character that likeable, probably because she was well-liked by everyone. Usagi was acknowledged as annoying sometimes, but Miaka was worshipped by everyone, sometimes only on the merit of being the Priestess of Suzaku.
Miaka’s story line was likely supposed to be of her becoming strong and selfless. As Nakago mentioned, both Miaka and Yui were so invested in the Universe of the Four Gods because they didn’t like their own lives. For Miaka, this manifested into her wanting to spend the rest of her life with Tamahome who was a character in the book. Miaka never forgot her friendship with Yui and continued to try to convince her of her own friendship throughout the show. I think her strength in character was realized at the end of the show, when Miaka was able to summon Suzaku without both Shinzaho artifacts. As well, she used her last wish to return the world to normal, understanding that she and Tamahome were not meant to be.
Miaka and Tamahome’s story line got tiring after a while because it was the same conflict rehashed in different ways. Her story with Tamahome mirrored that of Suzuno and Tatara’s, who were fated to be apart, only united at their deaths. Miaka was ready to accept this when she made her last wish, understanding that destruction would come with people not being where they belonged. There was imbalance in the world when real people were in books and characters were in the real world. So Miaka accepted that she was right where she was in the original world. However, the story did still reward her with Tamahome in the real world, so that kind of defeated the purpose.
Now that I think about it, Miaka was more Mary Sue than I had thought, mostly because everyone loved her and her faults were never really acknowledged until close to the end.
Hongo Yui
In the first quarter of the show or so, I was firmly team Yui lol. I just thought that her calmer and more grounded demeanour, though with a hint of resentment, was more interesting than Miaka’s flat character. Yui was very serious, despite being Miaka’s best friend. She tried to hide her affection and attachment, though we can see it in her actions, such as wanting to go to the same high school as Miaka.
When Miaka first entered the book, Yui read along and would give her tips and encouragement at times. Thus, when Yui entered the book, she felt betrayed that Miaka did not do the same for her, not understanding that Miaka could not hear her because she had changed out of her school uniform. Yui was attacked, and when she came to, she was convinced by Nakago that she had been raped and that Miaka had abandoned her for Tamahome. This was so that Yui would agree to be the Priestess of Seiryu and go against Suzaku. While Yui did have a small crush on Tamahome, she came to believe that she was madly in love with him, as an outlet to show her yearning to be with another person, which really was Miaka, whom Yui had felt betrayed by.
Yui mostly followed Nakago’s lead. He manipulated her into going against Miaka, though the one promise he kept to her was not to kill Miaka. Otherwise, Yui found comfort with Nakago when she could not find comfort in anyone else. Yui summoned Seiryu, but only in the original world did Miaka convince her that Nakago had manipulated her all this time. Thus, instead of using her last wish to make Nakago a god, she used it to undo her first wish, to unseal Suzaku.
In the end, Yui did not get into the same high school as Miaka despite supposedly being the smarter one, and while it feels a bit unfair, I think it’s also a sign of Yui changing. While Miaka learned to be stronger, Yui learned to be softer.
Yuki Keisuke
Keisuke was Miaka’s older brother. When Miaka returned to the original world the first time, she confided in her brother about where she’d been. He thought she was just hallucinating from the stress. But he saw her sneaking out at night and followed her to the library. He caught her right when she disappeared into the book, and that was when he started reading. Keisuke ran into Tetsuya at the library and they started investigating the story together. They followed a few leads to get to Ohsugi Suzuno, the Priestess of Byakko. Keisuke was very moved by the story at times. As Miaka’s older brother, he also asked Tamahome to return to the book for the safety of Miaka.
At the final showdown, it was Keisuke who called on Chichiri and Tasuki to come and help Miaka in battle against Nakago. At the end, Keisuke reintroduced Miaka and Yui to Tamahome in their world.
Tetsuya
Tetsuya was Keisuke’s friend who he bumped into at the library. At first, Tetsuya thought Keisuke was just making stuff up about a wacky book to get away, but he also got invested in the story. Tetsuya was generally the more lighthearted and comedic half of the duo.
I read a spoiler that apparently in a later OVA, Tetsuya and Yui become a couple so that’s a thing I guess. I guess it makes sense why Tetsuya was made to catch Yui when she fell from Seiryu.
Tamahome
Tamahome was the main love interest, one of the warriors of Suzaku. When I was a teenager, I thought he was so handsome and I liked him too. But seeing him as a character now, he felt a bit stale because he was too perfect. His only purpose in the story was to be cool and to angst over Miaka. He did encounter challenges, such as learning of the death of his family and wanting revenge. As well, he did encounter the challenge of learning that he was only a character in a book. But again, so much of his character was wrapped up in Miaka that it was hard to see him as his own character unfortunately. His only personality trait is perhaps him loving money.
Hotohori
Hotohori was the emperor of Konan, also a Suzaku warrior. He was meant to be the second male love interest. He insisted that he’d fallen in love with Miaka before they ever met. His reasoning was that he knew that he would grow to fall in love with the Priestess of Suzaku because only she would understand his loneliness. So he basically pushed all of his love and affection onto Miaka to a point where it was overbearing at times, because Miaka had literally done nothing to return his affection.
In fact, I was actively rooting for a Hotohori and Nuriko romance because I thought it would have been a far more fascinating story line, of a concubine wanting to gain the attention and affection of an emperor who only had eyes for one he could not have. Since Nuriko was not his object of affection, Hotohori also just came off as more normal around them.
Speaking of normal, I felt that Hotohori could have been a really interesting character due to him being an emperor and a warrior. We didn’t get to see him as a politician very much as that wasn’t too big of a focus, but I did think it was interesting when he had to study or attend meetings and discuss things with his officials. I thought that the different facets of Hotohori’s personality (the politician, the romantic) made him more interesting because although he was deeply in love with Miaka, he also had a good sense of responsibility, as all emperors should.
Hotohori was away from the story for long periods of time. This was because as an emperor, he could not always just leave his post and join Miaka; he had to rule. While I really appreciated the story treating him as a proper emperor, it unfortunately didn’t really allow his character to become as well-rounded as he potentially could.
Nuriko
Towards the beginning, Nuriko said that they were a woman on the inside. As well, their voice actor was female. However, towards the end of the show, they said that they should start living as a man. As a result, I’ll refer to Nuriko with they pronouns.
Nuriko entered the story when they saved Miaka and Tamahome from a collapsed building. Their power was their super strength. Nuriko disliked Miaka because she had attracted Hotohori’s attention just by becoming the Priestess of Suzaku, when Nuriko had been trying to attract his attention all this time. They tried to trick Miaka a few times, but ultimately, they became friends.
After Nuriko was revealed to be a man, they were often described as a gay man, as opposed to a transgender woman. But as we know, knowledge on queer identities wasn’t so organized back then. Watase Yuu, the mangaka of the original manga, came out as X-gender a few years ago, so perhaps Nuriko was a character that was meant to explore their gender identity.
As a child, Nuriko had a younger sister who had died in an accident. Nuriko then took on more feminine characters in an attempt to keep the memory of her sister alive.
Nuriko became a confidant of Miaka. Nuriko often fulfilled the role of a mature older sibling for Miaka. As the story went on, Nuriko accepted their male identity, gave up on Hotohori, and became a gentle lover of Miaka, the kind of person who would love her from afar, even more distant than Hotohori. In their death, Nuriko’s heart was full of love for Miaka. While I thought that Nuriko’s love for Miaka was sweet and gentle, I thought that their story line streamlining to Miaka was a little odd.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed Nuriko’s character. I was really hoping for a Hotohori and Nuriko story line because I thought it would be interesting and sweet. Nuriko wasn’t portrayed as power hungry, just a concubine who wanted the attention of their husband. I also appreciated that as the team went on their journey, Nuriko acted as kind of an emotional leader. Hotohori was not there to guide them, and Tamahome and Tasuki were way too hot-headed to be leaders. Chichiri was probably the next closest to a leader, but I think Miaka and Nuriko shared a more intimate bond that allowed for Miaka to confide in Nuriko. Nuriko was also more in tune with other people’s emotions, seeing as how they went to Tamahome when they saw he wasn’t in a good mood. Anyway, Nuriko was an interesting character. I enjoyed them.
Chichiri
Low key possibly my favourite Suzaku warrior? I didn’t think anything of Chichiri when I was a teenager. After all, he wasn’t as hot as Tamahome or Hotohori. But I liked that his character was on the border between a serious and responsible person and a person who could be comedic relief from time to time.
Chichiri was a monk who often wore a smiling mask, to hide his scar. He had once killed a friend and their lover in a jealous rage and it haunted him, and kind of lived his life repentant. I liked that he often kept the peace among the team. I learned from Wikipedia that apparently Chichiri was the older Suzaku warrior. In addition to keeping the peace, he did also save the team when they were in a pinch, due to his strong magic. Chichiri had a chibi form that would sometimes come out in comedic times. I wonder if it was supposed to be an energy-saving form. Nonetheless, I found it cute :3 Keisuke called on Chichiri to help Miaka against Nakago in the original world, and of course he came to her.
Tasuki
Tasuki was formerly the head of a gang, but left the gang in the hands of his friend to be a Suzaku warrior. He had the power of fire, coming from his fan. As a wielder of fire, he was a hothead, and often butted heads with Tamahome for no reason. As such, he did provide comedic relief from time to time, to my enjoyment. Tasuki and Chichiri were the only two Suzaku warriors left alive towards the end, and he also joined Chichiri in coming to the original world to protect Miaka.
Mitsukake
Mitsukake was a healer. He held a tragic past, unable to heal his beloved, who went on to become possessed by a demon. Mitsukake was often accompanied by a cat, Tama, though Tama often followed Miaka. Mitsukake was soft-hearted, a gentle giant. In the war against Kutou, Mitsukake gave his life to save the injured.
Chiriko
Chiriko was a child genius who was the last Suzaku warrior. He was coming to the capital to write the imperial exams, when he saw an omen in the stars warning him of the danger that would befall Suzaku. Chiriko had been impersonated by Amiboshi, who took advantage of the Suzaku warriors letting their guards down. Chiriko was able to come in time to disarm Amiboshi’s flute with his own leaf music.
Unfortunately, Chiriko had very little to do in the story despite being a child genius, come to think of it. Chiriko really only came into the story at the end when he was possessed by Miboshi. Chiriko killed himself in order to kill Miboshi along with him.
Nakago
Nakago was a general of the Kutou Kingdom. He had blond hair and blue eyes and was visibly from a foreign tribe that had been ransacked and slaughtered by the Kutou.
Nakago was ruthless and cold, doing anything needed to kill off opponents and to summon Seiryu. He manipulated Yui and isolated her so that she would hate Miaka and agree to help Kutou. He also treated the other Seiryu warriors as pawns rather than allies (e.g. his disregard for Ashitare).
Nakago was discovered as a child when his home was ransacked by Kutou. He had killed everyone in his vicinity, including his mother, in a fit of rage and fear. He was kept under the wing of the Kutou emperor, though I think it was implied that he was sexually abused as well due to his good looks. As he grew up, Nakago was determined to become a god, to wield absolute power in a way he was never able to as a child.
I was a little surprised that Nakago seemed to show a little affection for Soi. She would sleep with Nakago to help him restore his energy. But he definitely did not love her the way that she loved him. Soi helped block a shot that would kill Nakago and it seemed he was grateful to her, to the point of carrying her body all the way into the palace as he was ransacking the place. I forgot when this happened, but I also think it was implied that Nakago was bisexual. He also kissed Tamahome at one point so there’s that.
Yui called Nakago to the original world, and he came to wreak havoc. It was in the original world that Miaka convinced Yui of Nakago’s manipulation. At that point, Suzaku’s powers had been sealed so Nakago was all powerful. However, Yui helped Suzaku, and Tamahome ultimately defeated Nakago.
As he died, Tamahome saw Nakago’s childhood and saw his pain. However, Nakago didn’t seem to think much of his memories. While some may have pitied Nakago’s past, I don’t think Nakago wanted to view that emotional side of him. He just treated it as a past to be stashed away and forgotten. But he died with at least one person knowing his pain, and maybe that was not the worst.
Suboshi
Suboshi was the younger twin, and he wielded meteor bells. He was more hotheaded than his older brother. While Amiboshi went undercover to deceive the Suzaku warriors, Suboshi stayed in Kutou and the two were able to share messages by writing on their skin. In Kutou, Suboshi fell in love with Yui. After Amiboshi fell in the river, Suboshi sought revenge by killing Tamahome’s family by flute, Amiboshi’s weapon of choice.
When Tomo was attacking Amiboshi for protecting Miaka, Suboshi came to Amiboshi’s rescue and killed Tomo. Amiboshi wanted to convince Suboshi to come with him to forget their memories and live a happy life. However, Suboshi declined as he had fallen in love with Yui. Suboshi put the leaves of forgetfulness in his mouth and fed them to Amiboshi by mouth (which absolutely caught me by surprise and I screamed when I saw that lol). Suboshi then delivered Amiboshi back to his new home and bid farewell to him forever.
Suboshi continued to stay by Nakago’s side. When Yui and Miaka were in the original world and Yui was still at odds with Miaka, Yui called on Suboshi to help her and attack Miaka. However, he was beaten by Tamahome. When he died, Amiboshi cried tears, though he didn’t know why.
I won’t lie, I am kind of into the whole twincest thing, especially with the younger twin being the hotheaded one. I wish Suboshi and Amiboshi’s relationship could have been explored more, but Suboshi just ended up being another love interest for Yui.
Amiboshi
Amiboshi first came to the story posing as Chiriko. His power was to control others through his flute music. When the Miaka first attempted to summon Suzaku, the warriors had to let their energy levels go down to zero, and Amiboshi took advantage of that to attack. He was thwarted by Chiriko, and fell into the river. At that time, Suboshi had lost track of his life force and thought he had died. Then, Suboshi had sought revenge for his sake.
Amiboshi appeared again as the adopted son of villagers. He helped Miaka, and appeared to have lost his memories. However, it was revealed that he hadn’t actually lost his memories, but he had just decided to live a peaceful life. Amiboshi was inspired by Miaka and Tamahome’s love, and he tried to help them unite.
Tomo attacked Miaka and Tamahome, and Amiboshi helped them. Suboshi came to kill Tomo and help his brother. Amiboshi tried to convince Suboshi to come away from them, but his love for Yui was too strong. I think this story line would have been more interesting if Suboshi’s love for Yui was more complex. His love for Yui seemed more like a puppy love crush and that’s fine. But I wouldn’t have expected that puppy love crush to take precedent over all that Amiboshi and Suboshi went through. They’d suffered from war, like many in Kutou. But it was Amiboshi’s wish to live a new life, and Suboshi gave him that. Nonetheless, Amiboshi and Suboshi were brothers, and when Suboshi died, Amiboshi felt it and wept.
Soi
Soi was a Seiryu warrior who controlled lightning, but was also able to control life forces through having sex. Soi was saved by Nakago as a young girl, and she grew to love him. In the present day, she would have sex with Nakago to help him restore his energy.
Soi launched a few attacks on the Suzaku warriors, though unsuccessful. She also teamed up with Tomo to launch an attack on Tamahome, in which Tomo would give her the appearance of Miaka and they would have sex, so that Soi could drain Tamahome’s energy. They were unsuccessful, as Tamahome’s commitment to hold off on sex until after summoning Suzaku was too strong.
Soi continued to be by Nakago’s side. It was Soi who revealed to Miaka that she had not been raped by Nakago, or else Soi would have been more jealous, and that was why she let her go. Soi eventually died blocking a shot meant for Nakago. It surprised Nakago a bit, and we see that he recognized her devotion to him, giving her a little bit of tenderness in death.
Ashitare
Ashitare was a wolf-man, part man, part wolf. He was tasked with stopping Nuriko from reaching the first Shinzaho. Though Nuriko technically won, it was Nuriko who died from their wounds, and Ashitare was able to run away, losing their human form but retaining their wolf form.
Nakago treated Ashitare cruelly, only seeing him for what he could do, and not as a living being. Thus, Nakago punished Ashitare cruelly when he had failed to take the Shinzaho from Nuriko. However, Ashitare was able to take the Shinzaho from Miaka after she had retrieved it from the cave, and Ashitare took it back to Nakago.
Tomo
Tomo was a Seiryu warrior who wielded the power of illusions. He was dressed in a Peking opera outfit and makeup.
Tomo first appeared in the story when he created an illusion of a city to weaken Chichiri, Tasuki, Mitsukake, and Chiriko. The Suzaku warriors would think that they were going about their day when in fact they were just sitting in the desert and eating and drinking nothing. Tomo then partnered with Soi to attack Tamahome as mentioned above, though the illusion did not work due to Tamahome’s resolve. Then Tomo attacked Miaka, hypnotizing her into believing she was in her own world and trying to rape her through a projection of himself into her illusion. It was at this time that Tomo revealed that he preferred men to women.
Amiboshi was unfortunately incapacitated by Tomo as he hypnotized Miaka. However, Suboshi came and killed him.
Miboshi
Miboshi was the final Seiryu warrior. He was a monk who would constantly move his soul into new bodies to stay alive. Currently he was in the body of a young boy. He appeared to fight off the Suzaku warriors as Yui obtained the second Shinzaho. Miboshi’s powers included summoning demons.
When the Suzaku warriors thought they had defeated Miboshi and saved Miaka, Miboshi was able to transfer his consciousness over to Chiriko’s body simply by making eye contact with him. Miboshi then used Chiriko to continue attacking the Suzaku warriors. Chiriko fought off Miboshi by killing himself.
Okuda Takiko
Takiko was the first Priestess, the Priestess of Genbu. Her father was the translator of the Universe of the Four Gods. Summoning Genbu took a huge toll on Takiko, so her father killed her to free her of her pain, and then killed himself.
Hikitsu
Hikitsu was one of the Genbu warriors whose soul remained to protect the Genbu Shinzaho. After Miaka was able to break out of his ice, he and Tomite let her have the Genbu Shinzaho.
Tomite
Tomite was another Genbu warrior whose soul remained to guard the Genbu Shinzaho. He was an archer, and also controlled ice.
Ohsugi Suzuno
Suzuno was the second Priestess, the Priestess of Byakko. She had fallen in love with Tatara while in the book, but returned to the original world after summoning Byakko as they could not be together. In the present day, she was seen as a loony old lady who was spouting nonsense.
Keisuke and Tetsuya came to Suzuno when Tatara was dying. As Tatara died, he came to the original world as an apparition, reuniting with a young Suzuno. They had a tearful reunion, and Suzuno passed at long last having seen her love.
Tokaki
Tokaki was a Byakko warrior and Tamahome’s teacher. He helped the Suzaku warriors when they were trying to stop Yui from summoning Seiryu. Tokaki and Subaru briefly became their younger selves in order to help them, but afterwards reverted to their older selves.
Subaru
Subaru was another Byakko warrior, and the love of Tokaki’s life. As mentioned, she and Tokaki helped the Suzaku warriors.
Tatara
Tatara was a Byakko warrior, and Suzuno’s lover. They were not meant to be, so he had stayed in the book while Suzuno went back to live her life. Nonetheless, they remained very much in love, and as he died, Tatara reunited with Suzuno once more.
Themes
Astrology
Astrology and the Four Symbols was one of the reasons I was so fascinated by this story when I was younger. Like with Takeuchi Naoko and space Sailor Moon, I feel like maybe Watase Yuu had a lot of fun with this premise. I guess the Four Symbols are mostly China-associated, and that was why Watase decided to set the novel world in an Ancient China-esque setting.
Escapism
The story within a story theme didn’t really hit me until the end, when Nakago pointed out the girls’ attitudes towards their world. Nakago pointed out that the girls didn’t care for their world, that they were so invested in the Universe of the Four Gods because they didn’t want to take care of their own world.
Miaka was probably too stressed from studying for entrance examinations. In the novel world, however, she held great power even just by virtue of being herself, a kind and lively girl. As well, she had a man who loved her deeply. But over the course of the novel, she realized that she did have the power to achieve things, she just failed to recognize her own capabilities. Kindness and earnestness was a virtue in the original world, just as it was in the novel world.
As for Yui, I think she too was tired from the stress of the real world. I think that low key she thought that she was always chasing after Miaka. It was only after Miaka said she wanted to attend Jonan High School that Yui decided she would try to go for that school as well. Meanwhile, in the novel world, she’d finally found a world where she didn’t need Miaka, because Miaka didn’t need her. She had Nakago and all of Kutou at her back, and she could have whatever she wanted, even Tamahome. However, she soon realized that power and capability wasn’t everything. She had Tamahome, but she didn’t really have him; a Tamahome who was under Nakago’s control and deeply in love with Yui was nothing like the real Tamahome that Yui had first loved. And she realized that Nakago was never her friend, he was just manipulating her and trying to deceive her of things that she knew to be true, that Miaka had always been her friend.
With the realization that Nakago was right, the girls realized that they’d ignored all of the things in the original world that they took for granted. For Yui, it was her friendship, and for Miaka, it was just, the entire world, everything in it. So Yui decided to help Miaka with her last wish, and Miaka decided to fix the world and maintain balance with her last wish. Both of them realized that their place was in their original world, that they could not outrun their problems and that they did in fact have the skills to overcome their problems (in Miaka’s case), or to accept defeat or mistakes (in Yui’s case).
Virginity
Virginity was a medium plot point in this story because the Priestess had to be a virgin in order to summon a god. As a result, there were story lines related to forbidden love in the sense that Miaka and Tamahome could not consummate their love and that they had to wait. There were also story lines related to rape as a weapon.
I have to bring it back to Sailor Moon again. In contrast, I don’t think that Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship was ever seen as forbidden or wrong. Usagi would never lose anything by being with Mamoru. In fact, they elevated each other, and Mamoru as Tuxedo Mask was basically Usagi’s hypeman.
I thought the portrayal of sex was a little disturbing at times in Fushigi Yuugi, and perhaps it was meant to be, seeing as how both Yui and Miaka at different times were distraught because they thought they had been raped. But it was revealed to both that they had not been. I guess the portrayal here was that virginity was something to be saved for a woman and her loved one, and to have that agency taken away from her is terrible. There was also the case where Miaka was convinced by Tomo’s illusion that if she had sex with Nakago, she could dampen his life force. That was honestly really dumb, it was just an excuse for Miaka to have her virginity taken away from her, again the threat of rape. I guess the way it was portrayed was a product of its time.
Overall
I did have gripes with the show, but I will this show was fairly complete and had a lot going for it. I can understand why it would have been popular.
Spoilers.
Story
This was a typical isekai anime, where our two Japanese schoolgirls Miaka and Yui were sent to a world in a book resembling Ancient China. The mythology of the land was based on the Four Symbols, four mythological creatures seen across East Asian culture. The four kingdoms in this world each had a representative being, and each kingdom needed to find a priestess “from another world” who would gather the respective seven warriors and summon their god, who would grant them three wishes.
Miaka agreed to be the Priestess of Suzaku. She had briefly returned to the normal world, at which point Yui was sent to the book world, where she was attacked. Nakago convinced Yui that she was raped, that Miaka had abandoned her, thus pitting the two friends against each other. The majority of the story was a race between Miaka and Suzaku warriors vs. Yui and Seiryu warriors to summon their respective gods, with the Seiryu warriors often using underhanded tactics.
In the original world, Yui had been reading the book to find out the happenings to Miaka, until she was sucked into the book. After both girls went into the book, Miaka’s brother Keisuke and his friend Tetsuya picked up the book, and then tracked down the Priestess of Byakko who was now an old lady.
Yui summoned Seiryu first. Her first wish was to seal Suzaku, and her second wish was to bring Miaka and her back to their original world. After finding out about Nakago’s manipulation, Yui’s third wish was for the seal of Suzaku to be removed, after which Miaka was able to summon Suzaku. Her first wish was to have Yui returned to her (Yui, who had been consumed by Seiryu after summoning him). Her second wish was to revive the dead Suzaku warriors, and her third wish was to return the world to how it had been.
The anime ended with Miaka and Yui entering high school. Miaka, who was always the ditz, had made it into her dream high school, while Yui, who was often acknowledged the smarter one, did not. However, they remained friends. As well, they met someone who claimed to have memories of a past life, who was revealed to be Tamahome.
The adventure part of this story was fine. There were a lot of small adventures, but that’s how you keep an adventure television series going. The romance between Tamahome and Miaka did get kind of annoying because they mulled over the same problems over and over again. I found the other relationships in this anime to be far more compelling, with varied dynamics more than just the ditzy innocent girl and the cool guy who would go through hell for her.
The dialogue was way too modern for this show to be any more immersive than just an anime. Several English loanwords were used by the people from the book, and that was just something that couldn’t really fly for me. So this was another one of the reasons that this show would never really go beyond anime for me.
One thing I did appreciate was that this show was clearly for the girls lol. In addition to the romantic story lines, with Miaka and Yui both having multiple love interests, the BL content really surprised me lol. There were several guys that showed interest in other guys (Tomo was gay, Nakago was bisexual, Amiboshi and Suboshi had their kiss).
That being said, this story was also surprisingly sexual at times, in a way that was a bit odd. There were entire story lines surrounding Miaka and Yui’s virginities, since they had to be virgins to summon the gods. It felt creepy at times that rape was used as an actual war tactic. Perhaps it was meant to be disturbing, but it was disturbed.
Overall the story surprisingly had a lot of parts to it. Like I said, there was adventure, there was romance, there were dark themes. And I can appreciate that.
Production
The animation for this anime wasn’t the best. One thing that almost put me off from continuing on in this anime in the first couple of episodes was the lazy animation. A technique I saw often used was that a still frame would be presented on screen, but the frame would move around to distract the audience so that they wouldn’t realize that the actions weren’t being animated. This was used a lot, but I started to realize that these techniques were also used in fighting scenes, where well-animated action can really elevate the tension. So that was a reason that I thought the animation was disappointing.
Some of the proportions in the drawings were just really odd. This was especially the case for Miaka, who would have exaggeratedly large eyes and an exaggeratedly small nose. Sometimes her face seemed compressed because of that.
The voice acting was also typical for what I would expect of an anime. Miaka had that really high-pitched female lead voice that really did get grating a lot, especially since she would be screaming in agony at many times in the show. Tamahome’s voice actor wasn’t quite as manly as I expected, but that’s not the end of the world.
Characters
Yuki Miaka
Our main character. She very much was a Tsukino Usagi archetype. However, I didn’t find her character that likeable, probably because she was well-liked by everyone. Usagi was acknowledged as annoying sometimes, but Miaka was worshipped by everyone, sometimes only on the merit of being the Priestess of Suzaku.
Miaka’s story line was likely supposed to be of her becoming strong and selfless. As Nakago mentioned, both Miaka and Yui were so invested in the Universe of the Four Gods because they didn’t like their own lives. For Miaka, this manifested into her wanting to spend the rest of her life with Tamahome who was a character in the book. Miaka never forgot her friendship with Yui and continued to try to convince her of her own friendship throughout the show. I think her strength in character was realized at the end of the show, when Miaka was able to summon Suzaku without both Shinzaho artifacts. As well, she used her last wish to return the world to normal, understanding that she and Tamahome were not meant to be.
Miaka and Tamahome’s story line got tiring after a while because it was the same conflict rehashed in different ways. Her story with Tamahome mirrored that of Suzuno and Tatara’s, who were fated to be apart, only united at their deaths. Miaka was ready to accept this when she made her last wish, understanding that destruction would come with people not being where they belonged. There was imbalance in the world when real people were in books and characters were in the real world. So Miaka accepted that she was right where she was in the original world. However, the story did still reward her with Tamahome in the real world, so that kind of defeated the purpose.
Now that I think about it, Miaka was more Mary Sue than I had thought, mostly because everyone loved her and her faults were never really acknowledged until close to the end.
Hongo Yui
In the first quarter of the show or so, I was firmly team Yui lol. I just thought that her calmer and more grounded demeanour, though with a hint of resentment, was more interesting than Miaka’s flat character. Yui was very serious, despite being Miaka’s best friend. She tried to hide her affection and attachment, though we can see it in her actions, such as wanting to go to the same high school as Miaka.
When Miaka first entered the book, Yui read along and would give her tips and encouragement at times. Thus, when Yui entered the book, she felt betrayed that Miaka did not do the same for her, not understanding that Miaka could not hear her because she had changed out of her school uniform. Yui was attacked, and when she came to, she was convinced by Nakago that she had been raped and that Miaka had abandoned her for Tamahome. This was so that Yui would agree to be the Priestess of Seiryu and go against Suzaku. While Yui did have a small crush on Tamahome, she came to believe that she was madly in love with him, as an outlet to show her yearning to be with another person, which really was Miaka, whom Yui had felt betrayed by.
Yui mostly followed Nakago’s lead. He manipulated her into going against Miaka, though the one promise he kept to her was not to kill Miaka. Otherwise, Yui found comfort with Nakago when she could not find comfort in anyone else. Yui summoned Seiryu, but only in the original world did Miaka convince her that Nakago had manipulated her all this time. Thus, instead of using her last wish to make Nakago a god, she used it to undo her first wish, to unseal Suzaku.
In the end, Yui did not get into the same high school as Miaka despite supposedly being the smarter one, and while it feels a bit unfair, I think it’s also a sign of Yui changing. While Miaka learned to be stronger, Yui learned to be softer.
Yuki Keisuke
Keisuke was Miaka’s older brother. When Miaka returned to the original world the first time, she confided in her brother about where she’d been. He thought she was just hallucinating from the stress. But he saw her sneaking out at night and followed her to the library. He caught her right when she disappeared into the book, and that was when he started reading. Keisuke ran into Tetsuya at the library and they started investigating the story together. They followed a few leads to get to Ohsugi Suzuno, the Priestess of Byakko. Keisuke was very moved by the story at times. As Miaka’s older brother, he also asked Tamahome to return to the book for the safety of Miaka.
At the final showdown, it was Keisuke who called on Chichiri and Tasuki to come and help Miaka in battle against Nakago. At the end, Keisuke reintroduced Miaka and Yui to Tamahome in their world.
Tetsuya
Tetsuya was Keisuke’s friend who he bumped into at the library. At first, Tetsuya thought Keisuke was just making stuff up about a wacky book to get away, but he also got invested in the story. Tetsuya was generally the more lighthearted and comedic half of the duo.
I read a spoiler that apparently in a later OVA, Tetsuya and Yui become a couple so that’s a thing I guess. I guess it makes sense why Tetsuya was made to catch Yui when she fell from Seiryu.
Tamahome
Tamahome was the main love interest, one of the warriors of Suzaku. When I was a teenager, I thought he was so handsome and I liked him too. But seeing him as a character now, he felt a bit stale because he was too perfect. His only purpose in the story was to be cool and to angst over Miaka. He did encounter challenges, such as learning of the death of his family and wanting revenge. As well, he did encounter the challenge of learning that he was only a character in a book. But again, so much of his character was wrapped up in Miaka that it was hard to see him as his own character unfortunately. His only personality trait is perhaps him loving money.
Hotohori
Hotohori was the emperor of Konan, also a Suzaku warrior. He was meant to be the second male love interest. He insisted that he’d fallen in love with Miaka before they ever met. His reasoning was that he knew that he would grow to fall in love with the Priestess of Suzaku because only she would understand his loneliness. So he basically pushed all of his love and affection onto Miaka to a point where it was overbearing at times, because Miaka had literally done nothing to return his affection.
In fact, I was actively rooting for a Hotohori and Nuriko romance because I thought it would have been a far more fascinating story line, of a concubine wanting to gain the attention and affection of an emperor who only had eyes for one he could not have. Since Nuriko was not his object of affection, Hotohori also just came off as more normal around them.
Speaking of normal, I felt that Hotohori could have been a really interesting character due to him being an emperor and a warrior. We didn’t get to see him as a politician very much as that wasn’t too big of a focus, but I did think it was interesting when he had to study or attend meetings and discuss things with his officials. I thought that the different facets of Hotohori’s personality (the politician, the romantic) made him more interesting because although he was deeply in love with Miaka, he also had a good sense of responsibility, as all emperors should.
Hotohori was away from the story for long periods of time. This was because as an emperor, he could not always just leave his post and join Miaka; he had to rule. While I really appreciated the story treating him as a proper emperor, it unfortunately didn’t really allow his character to become as well-rounded as he potentially could.
Nuriko
Towards the beginning, Nuriko said that they were a woman on the inside. As well, their voice actor was female. However, towards the end of the show, they said that they should start living as a man. As a result, I’ll refer to Nuriko with they pronouns.
Nuriko entered the story when they saved Miaka and Tamahome from a collapsed building. Their power was their super strength. Nuriko disliked Miaka because she had attracted Hotohori’s attention just by becoming the Priestess of Suzaku, when Nuriko had been trying to attract his attention all this time. They tried to trick Miaka a few times, but ultimately, they became friends.
After Nuriko was revealed to be a man, they were often described as a gay man, as opposed to a transgender woman. But as we know, knowledge on queer identities wasn’t so organized back then. Watase Yuu, the mangaka of the original manga, came out as X-gender a few years ago, so perhaps Nuriko was a character that was meant to explore their gender identity.
As a child, Nuriko had a younger sister who had died in an accident. Nuriko then took on more feminine characters in an attempt to keep the memory of her sister alive.
Nuriko became a confidant of Miaka. Nuriko often fulfilled the role of a mature older sibling for Miaka. As the story went on, Nuriko accepted their male identity, gave up on Hotohori, and became a gentle lover of Miaka, the kind of person who would love her from afar, even more distant than Hotohori. In their death, Nuriko’s heart was full of love for Miaka. While I thought that Nuriko’s love for Miaka was sweet and gentle, I thought that their story line streamlining to Miaka was a little odd.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed Nuriko’s character. I was really hoping for a Hotohori and Nuriko story line because I thought it would be interesting and sweet. Nuriko wasn’t portrayed as power hungry, just a concubine who wanted the attention of their husband. I also appreciated that as the team went on their journey, Nuriko acted as kind of an emotional leader. Hotohori was not there to guide them, and Tamahome and Tasuki were way too hot-headed to be leaders. Chichiri was probably the next closest to a leader, but I think Miaka and Nuriko shared a more intimate bond that allowed for Miaka to confide in Nuriko. Nuriko was also more in tune with other people’s emotions, seeing as how they went to Tamahome when they saw he wasn’t in a good mood. Anyway, Nuriko was an interesting character. I enjoyed them.
Chichiri
Low key possibly my favourite Suzaku warrior? I didn’t think anything of Chichiri when I was a teenager. After all, he wasn’t as hot as Tamahome or Hotohori. But I liked that his character was on the border between a serious and responsible person and a person who could be comedic relief from time to time.
Chichiri was a monk who often wore a smiling mask, to hide his scar. He had once killed a friend and their lover in a jealous rage and it haunted him, and kind of lived his life repentant. I liked that he often kept the peace among the team. I learned from Wikipedia that apparently Chichiri was the older Suzaku warrior. In addition to keeping the peace, he did also save the team when they were in a pinch, due to his strong magic. Chichiri had a chibi form that would sometimes come out in comedic times. I wonder if it was supposed to be an energy-saving form. Nonetheless, I found it cute :3 Keisuke called on Chichiri to help Miaka against Nakago in the original world, and of course he came to her.
Tasuki
Tasuki was formerly the head of a gang, but left the gang in the hands of his friend to be a Suzaku warrior. He had the power of fire, coming from his fan. As a wielder of fire, he was a hothead, and often butted heads with Tamahome for no reason. As such, he did provide comedic relief from time to time, to my enjoyment. Tasuki and Chichiri were the only two Suzaku warriors left alive towards the end, and he also joined Chichiri in coming to the original world to protect Miaka.
Mitsukake
Mitsukake was a healer. He held a tragic past, unable to heal his beloved, who went on to become possessed by a demon. Mitsukake was often accompanied by a cat, Tama, though Tama often followed Miaka. Mitsukake was soft-hearted, a gentle giant. In the war against Kutou, Mitsukake gave his life to save the injured.
Chiriko
Chiriko was a child genius who was the last Suzaku warrior. He was coming to the capital to write the imperial exams, when he saw an omen in the stars warning him of the danger that would befall Suzaku. Chiriko had been impersonated by Amiboshi, who took advantage of the Suzaku warriors letting their guards down. Chiriko was able to come in time to disarm Amiboshi’s flute with his own leaf music.
Unfortunately, Chiriko had very little to do in the story despite being a child genius, come to think of it. Chiriko really only came into the story at the end when he was possessed by Miboshi. Chiriko killed himself in order to kill Miboshi along with him.
Nakago
Nakago was a general of the Kutou Kingdom. He had blond hair and blue eyes and was visibly from a foreign tribe that had been ransacked and slaughtered by the Kutou.
Nakago was ruthless and cold, doing anything needed to kill off opponents and to summon Seiryu. He manipulated Yui and isolated her so that she would hate Miaka and agree to help Kutou. He also treated the other Seiryu warriors as pawns rather than allies (e.g. his disregard for Ashitare).
Nakago was discovered as a child when his home was ransacked by Kutou. He had killed everyone in his vicinity, including his mother, in a fit of rage and fear. He was kept under the wing of the Kutou emperor, though I think it was implied that he was sexually abused as well due to his good looks. As he grew up, Nakago was determined to become a god, to wield absolute power in a way he was never able to as a child.
I was a little surprised that Nakago seemed to show a little affection for Soi. She would sleep with Nakago to help him restore his energy. But he definitely did not love her the way that she loved him. Soi helped block a shot that would kill Nakago and it seemed he was grateful to her, to the point of carrying her body all the way into the palace as he was ransacking the place. I forgot when this happened, but I also think it was implied that Nakago was bisexual. He also kissed Tamahome at one point so there’s that.
Yui called Nakago to the original world, and he came to wreak havoc. It was in the original world that Miaka convinced Yui of Nakago’s manipulation. At that point, Suzaku’s powers had been sealed so Nakago was all powerful. However, Yui helped Suzaku, and Tamahome ultimately defeated Nakago.
As he died, Tamahome saw Nakago’s childhood and saw his pain. However, Nakago didn’t seem to think much of his memories. While some may have pitied Nakago’s past, I don’t think Nakago wanted to view that emotional side of him. He just treated it as a past to be stashed away and forgotten. But he died with at least one person knowing his pain, and maybe that was not the worst.
Suboshi
Suboshi was the younger twin, and he wielded meteor bells. He was more hotheaded than his older brother. While Amiboshi went undercover to deceive the Suzaku warriors, Suboshi stayed in Kutou and the two were able to share messages by writing on their skin. In Kutou, Suboshi fell in love with Yui. After Amiboshi fell in the river, Suboshi sought revenge by killing Tamahome’s family by flute, Amiboshi’s weapon of choice.
When Tomo was attacking Amiboshi for protecting Miaka, Suboshi came to Amiboshi’s rescue and killed Tomo. Amiboshi wanted to convince Suboshi to come with him to forget their memories and live a happy life. However, Suboshi declined as he had fallen in love with Yui. Suboshi put the leaves of forgetfulness in his mouth and fed them to Amiboshi by mouth (which absolutely caught me by surprise and I screamed when I saw that lol). Suboshi then delivered Amiboshi back to his new home and bid farewell to him forever.
Suboshi continued to stay by Nakago’s side. When Yui and Miaka were in the original world and Yui was still at odds with Miaka, Yui called on Suboshi to help her and attack Miaka. However, he was beaten by Tamahome. When he died, Amiboshi cried tears, though he didn’t know why.
I won’t lie, I am kind of into the whole twincest thing, especially with the younger twin being the hotheaded one. I wish Suboshi and Amiboshi’s relationship could have been explored more, but Suboshi just ended up being another love interest for Yui.
Amiboshi
Amiboshi first came to the story posing as Chiriko. His power was to control others through his flute music. When the Miaka first attempted to summon Suzaku, the warriors had to let their energy levels go down to zero, and Amiboshi took advantage of that to attack. He was thwarted by Chiriko, and fell into the river. At that time, Suboshi had lost track of his life force and thought he had died. Then, Suboshi had sought revenge for his sake.
Amiboshi appeared again as the adopted son of villagers. He helped Miaka, and appeared to have lost his memories. However, it was revealed that he hadn’t actually lost his memories, but he had just decided to live a peaceful life. Amiboshi was inspired by Miaka and Tamahome’s love, and he tried to help them unite.
Tomo attacked Miaka and Tamahome, and Amiboshi helped them. Suboshi came to kill Tomo and help his brother. Amiboshi tried to convince Suboshi to come away from them, but his love for Yui was too strong. I think this story line would have been more interesting if Suboshi’s love for Yui was more complex. His love for Yui seemed more like a puppy love crush and that’s fine. But I wouldn’t have expected that puppy love crush to take precedent over all that Amiboshi and Suboshi went through. They’d suffered from war, like many in Kutou. But it was Amiboshi’s wish to live a new life, and Suboshi gave him that. Nonetheless, Amiboshi and Suboshi were brothers, and when Suboshi died, Amiboshi felt it and wept.
Soi
Soi was a Seiryu warrior who controlled lightning, but was also able to control life forces through having sex. Soi was saved by Nakago as a young girl, and she grew to love him. In the present day, she would have sex with Nakago to help him restore his energy.
Soi launched a few attacks on the Suzaku warriors, though unsuccessful. She also teamed up with Tomo to launch an attack on Tamahome, in which Tomo would give her the appearance of Miaka and they would have sex, so that Soi could drain Tamahome’s energy. They were unsuccessful, as Tamahome’s commitment to hold off on sex until after summoning Suzaku was too strong.
Soi continued to be by Nakago’s side. It was Soi who revealed to Miaka that she had not been raped by Nakago, or else Soi would have been more jealous, and that was why she let her go. Soi eventually died blocking a shot meant for Nakago. It surprised Nakago a bit, and we see that he recognized her devotion to him, giving her a little bit of tenderness in death.
Ashitare
Ashitare was a wolf-man, part man, part wolf. He was tasked with stopping Nuriko from reaching the first Shinzaho. Though Nuriko technically won, it was Nuriko who died from their wounds, and Ashitare was able to run away, losing their human form but retaining their wolf form.
Nakago treated Ashitare cruelly, only seeing him for what he could do, and not as a living being. Thus, Nakago punished Ashitare cruelly when he had failed to take the Shinzaho from Nuriko. However, Ashitare was able to take the Shinzaho from Miaka after she had retrieved it from the cave, and Ashitare took it back to Nakago.
Tomo
Tomo was a Seiryu warrior who wielded the power of illusions. He was dressed in a Peking opera outfit and makeup.
Tomo first appeared in the story when he created an illusion of a city to weaken Chichiri, Tasuki, Mitsukake, and Chiriko. The Suzaku warriors would think that they were going about their day when in fact they were just sitting in the desert and eating and drinking nothing. Tomo then partnered with Soi to attack Tamahome as mentioned above, though the illusion did not work due to Tamahome’s resolve. Then Tomo attacked Miaka, hypnotizing her into believing she was in her own world and trying to rape her through a projection of himself into her illusion. It was at this time that Tomo revealed that he preferred men to women.
Amiboshi was unfortunately incapacitated by Tomo as he hypnotized Miaka. However, Suboshi came and killed him.
Miboshi
Miboshi was the final Seiryu warrior. He was a monk who would constantly move his soul into new bodies to stay alive. Currently he was in the body of a young boy. He appeared to fight off the Suzaku warriors as Yui obtained the second Shinzaho. Miboshi’s powers included summoning demons.
When the Suzaku warriors thought they had defeated Miboshi and saved Miaka, Miboshi was able to transfer his consciousness over to Chiriko’s body simply by making eye contact with him. Miboshi then used Chiriko to continue attacking the Suzaku warriors. Chiriko fought off Miboshi by killing himself.
Okuda Takiko
Takiko was the first Priestess, the Priestess of Genbu. Her father was the translator of the Universe of the Four Gods. Summoning Genbu took a huge toll on Takiko, so her father killed her to free her of her pain, and then killed himself.
Hikitsu
Hikitsu was one of the Genbu warriors whose soul remained to protect the Genbu Shinzaho. After Miaka was able to break out of his ice, he and Tomite let her have the Genbu Shinzaho.
Tomite
Tomite was another Genbu warrior whose soul remained to guard the Genbu Shinzaho. He was an archer, and also controlled ice.
Ohsugi Suzuno
Suzuno was the second Priestess, the Priestess of Byakko. She had fallen in love with Tatara while in the book, but returned to the original world after summoning Byakko as they could not be together. In the present day, she was seen as a loony old lady who was spouting nonsense.
Keisuke and Tetsuya came to Suzuno when Tatara was dying. As Tatara died, he came to the original world as an apparition, reuniting with a young Suzuno. They had a tearful reunion, and Suzuno passed at long last having seen her love.
Tokaki
Tokaki was a Byakko warrior and Tamahome’s teacher. He helped the Suzaku warriors when they were trying to stop Yui from summoning Seiryu. Tokaki and Subaru briefly became their younger selves in order to help them, but afterwards reverted to their older selves.
Subaru
Subaru was another Byakko warrior, and the love of Tokaki’s life. As mentioned, she and Tokaki helped the Suzaku warriors.
Tatara
Tatara was a Byakko warrior, and Suzuno’s lover. They were not meant to be, so he had stayed in the book while Suzuno went back to live her life. Nonetheless, they remained very much in love, and as he died, Tatara reunited with Suzuno once more.
Themes
Astrology
Astrology and the Four Symbols was one of the reasons I was so fascinated by this story when I was younger. Like with Takeuchi Naoko and space Sailor Moon, I feel like maybe Watase Yuu had a lot of fun with this premise. I guess the Four Symbols are mostly China-associated, and that was why Watase decided to set the novel world in an Ancient China-esque setting.
Escapism
The story within a story theme didn’t really hit me until the end, when Nakago pointed out the girls’ attitudes towards their world. Nakago pointed out that the girls didn’t care for their world, that they were so invested in the Universe of the Four Gods because they didn’t want to take care of their own world.
Miaka was probably too stressed from studying for entrance examinations. In the novel world, however, she held great power even just by virtue of being herself, a kind and lively girl. As well, she had a man who loved her deeply. But over the course of the novel, she realized that she did have the power to achieve things, she just failed to recognize her own capabilities. Kindness and earnestness was a virtue in the original world, just as it was in the novel world.
As for Yui, I think she too was tired from the stress of the real world. I think that low key she thought that she was always chasing after Miaka. It was only after Miaka said she wanted to attend Jonan High School that Yui decided she would try to go for that school as well. Meanwhile, in the novel world, she’d finally found a world where she didn’t need Miaka, because Miaka didn’t need her. She had Nakago and all of Kutou at her back, and she could have whatever she wanted, even Tamahome. However, she soon realized that power and capability wasn’t everything. She had Tamahome, but she didn’t really have him; a Tamahome who was under Nakago’s control and deeply in love with Yui was nothing like the real Tamahome that Yui had first loved. And she realized that Nakago was never her friend, he was just manipulating her and trying to deceive her of things that she knew to be true, that Miaka had always been her friend.
With the realization that Nakago was right, the girls realized that they’d ignored all of the things in the original world that they took for granted. For Yui, it was her friendship, and for Miaka, it was just, the entire world, everything in it. So Yui decided to help Miaka with her last wish, and Miaka decided to fix the world and maintain balance with her last wish. Both of them realized that their place was in their original world, that they could not outrun their problems and that they did in fact have the skills to overcome their problems (in Miaka’s case), or to accept defeat or mistakes (in Yui’s case).
Virginity
Virginity was a medium plot point in this story because the Priestess had to be a virgin in order to summon a god. As a result, there were story lines related to forbidden love in the sense that Miaka and Tamahome could not consummate their love and that they had to wait. There were also story lines related to rape as a weapon.
I have to bring it back to Sailor Moon again. In contrast, I don’t think that Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship was ever seen as forbidden or wrong. Usagi would never lose anything by being with Mamoru. In fact, they elevated each other, and Mamoru as Tuxedo Mask was basically Usagi’s hypeman.
I thought the portrayal of sex was a little disturbing at times in Fushigi Yuugi, and perhaps it was meant to be, seeing as how both Yui and Miaka at different times were distraught because they thought they had been raped. But it was revealed to both that they had not been. I guess the portrayal here was that virginity was something to be saved for a woman and her loved one, and to have that agency taken away from her is terrible. There was also the case where Miaka was convinced by Tomo’s illusion that if she had sex with Nakago, she could dampen his life force. That was honestly really dumb, it was just an excuse for Miaka to have her virginity taken away from her, again the threat of rape. I guess the way it was portrayed was a product of its time.
Overall
I did have gripes with the show, but I will this show was fairly complete and had a lot going for it. I can understand why it would have been popular.