ssjakira1's Full Review: Fushigi Yugi: The Mysterious Play Vol. 1 - The Uni...
Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.
I forget just how I found out about Fushigi Yuugi, but as I have connections, a friend of mine said she would lend me her tapes. How nice of her! Especially since I haven’t gotten Hellsing quite yet and I have to wait on Ah! My Goddess.
Watase Yuu is responsible for this, what has been labeled as, girls’ anime (and so far it looks that way). I’m not familiar with anything else she’s done, but if you like you can look her up on the internet and see if there’s anything else you’d be interested in.
All right, well let’s take a look see at the four episodes that are in this volume. However, seeing how each episode slips right into the next one, the info I give you is going to be pretty basic, seeing as I don’t like dishing out spoilers.
Episode 1: Miaka Yuuki and her best friend Yui Hongo are just two young girls hoping to get into the high school of their choice (as it is in Japan). Miaka loves food and slacks in her classes, Yui is sensible and a careful studier. One day after school Yui decides to visit the library and asks Miaka if she’d like to come along. Sure! Why not? While Yui is off checking up on something, Miaka is looking forward to something to drink out of a vending machine. However, she drops her coin and her life would have moved on normally – had she not seen a shining red bird flying up the stairs. She follows it into a room shut off to the public, and it is there she and Yui find a book called The Universe of the Four Gods, and this is where their adventures begin.
Episode 2: The strange boy that helped the girls before is now being, er, hounded by Miaka. Poor guy. Naturally she doesn’t have a clue about where she is or how to act, so she’s getting him into all kinds of trouble…
Episode 3: Priestess of Suzaku? Seven Warriors of Suzaku? Now that we know who two of them are, where are the rest?
Episode 4: I don’t think the phrase “love triangle” does this episode justice… And how many times can Miaka get attacked?
Righto then.
This is an older series, so the music makes me giggle. No, really, it does. Kenny G anyone? There’s some sax, and other components that just make you think “definitely not made today.” The animation is very nice, and Tamahome and Hotohori are pretty cute – and it really is your typical girly anime. Girl gets rescued by guy, beginnings of unrequited love, and of course the girl is always A.) about 15 (so unfair…), B.) has her ditzy/clutzy moments (not unlike Sailor Moon, whom she mimics a couple of times, saying nothing of how Yui totally looks like Sailor Uranus), and C.) always in her school uniform. For once can’t she change into something else? Honestly, if I got sucked into an alternate universe the very next day I’d be wearing more appropriate clothing. Sheesh.
Considering how I’ve begun ranting a little about Miaka, let’s do move into the area of characters and voices. So far each character is pretty intriguing, especially with Hotohori’s amount of beauty (“I’m so beautiful, I scare myself sometimes”), Tamahome’s rambunctiousness, Nuriko’s ah, I guess you could call them actions, and Miaka is dumb but still a nice girl. There have only been four episodes but all ready there have been some huge revelations which may have the viewer thinking things like, “What??” or “Okay, that was, uh, really fast.” Hey, Romeo and Juliet did it so why not – ah no, no, I’m not gonna say!! As for the voices, well, as these tapes are a bit older and are just dubbed, I can’t compare – just judge. Out of all the characters I’ve heard so far (major and minor), I like Nuriko the best, and I got all excited when I heard Steven Jay Blum (who has about a million pseudonyms for some reason) of Mugen/Samurai Champloo and Spike/Cowboy Bebop – even if he was a common thug. I’m sort of getting used to Miaka’s ad Tamahome’s voices. For some reason they almost fit, but not quite, like they’re off the mark by just an eensy bit. But I’m sure I’ll grow into them as the series continues.
A brief warning for all you parents out there – I don’t know what you allow your child to see and not see, so I’ll just point out that there is a tiny bit of swearing, a bit of implied nudity (such as Miaka practically naked and getting walked in on), and a bit of crossdressing (and at another point, mistaken male/female identities). So really, it’s up to you. I’m sure a 15-year-old can handle it (Miaka is supposed to be 15 and Tamahome 17 – which also may be a reason for my moot concerns about voices), but that’s not up to me.
There are also 52 episodes so I can’t say for sure how serious events will get, though I have my money on some interesting concoctions. Yes, 52 episodes on a total of 16 volumes. Glad I’m borrowing these, because I’m too cheap to shell out that much cash. Besides, I’d get the DVDs anyway just to get my hands on the subtitled version. I like to compare.
All in all, yes, it will be girly, yes, it is fantastical (which adds to the girly part – hey, before I’d ever heard of this series I’ve always dreamed of hooking up with a guy from some kind of fantasy world…I still do, but that’s another story), and yes, there is a lot of comedy relief, even in some situations you wouldn’t exactly expect it. But things look very promising, so be ready for more!
NT
Volume 1:
1. The Girl of Legend
2. Priestess of Suzaku
3. The Seven Stars of Suzaku
4. Missing Love
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.