Fushigi Yuugi (Mysterious Play)

During a visit to the National Library, Miaka Yuuki and Yui Hongo stumble upon a strange old book that casts a red light, sucking them inside its unfamiliar world. Upon arrival, the two encounter hostile slave traders and barely escape with the help of Tamahome—a powerful young man bearing a Chinese symbol on his forehead. But, a moment later, the red light returns and takes Yui away.

Desperate to reunite with her companion, Miaka asks Tamahome for assistance. However, the situation escalates when the pair encounters the land's emperor, Hotohori, who believes Miaka is the foretold priestess of the kingdom's protector god Suzaku. By gathering the god's seven Celestial Warriors, the priestess can summon Suzaku and have all her wishes granted. Hotohori hopes this will save his country, and since it appears to be a fitting solution to the girl's problems as well, he convinces her to accept the role.

Meanwhile, at the library, Yui realizes she has been brought back alone. Unable to intervene, she helplessly witnesses Miaka traversing through courageous trials as the mysterious book's heroine.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Despite presenting some disturbing imagery, Fushigi Yuugi was broadcasted at 6 p.m. during its airing in Japan, a timeslot that now no longer permits such content.

The series' English version was made available in DVD and VHS formats by Geneon Entertainment, formerly known as Pioneer, under the expanded title Fushigi Yuugi: The Mysterious Play. The DVDs were released as eight volumes between July 27, 2004 and September 20, 2005. It was also released as two box sets: Suzaku on November 30, 1999 and Seiryuu on December 12, 2000.

Seven years later, Media Blasters released another two DVD box sets and a collection with the entire series using the original title. The sets, Fushigi Yuugi Season 1 and Season 2, were released on June 19, 2012 and February 12, 2013 respectively. The collection was made available on April 28, 2015.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Fushigi Yuugi
Sequel:	Fushigi Yuugi OVA

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Tamahome

Main

Midorikawa, Hikaru
Japanese

Nuriko

Main

Sakamoto, Chika
Japanese

Tasuki

Main

Canna, Nobutoshi
Japanese

Yuuki, Miaka

Main

Araki, Kae
Japanese

Hotohori

Main

Koyasu, Takehito
Japanese

Chichiri

Main

Seki, Tomokazu
Japanese

Nakago

Main

Furusawa, Tohru
Japanese

Hongo, Yui

Main

Touma, Yumi
Japanese

Chiriko

Main

Kawakami, Tomoko
Japanese

Mitsukake

Main

Ishii, Kouji
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Kimura, Kyotaro

Producer

Kamegaki, Hajime

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Ishihara, Tatsuya

Episode Director

Motonaga, Keitarou

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

"Itooshii Hito no Tame ni; For My Darling" by Akemi Satou

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Ending Theme

	1: "Tokimeki no Doukasen" by Yukari Konno (eps 1-32,34-51)
	2: "Kaze no Uta" by Chika Sakamoto (eps 33)
	3: "For Epilogue…" by Yukari Konno & Akemi Satou (eps 52)

Reviews

Oct 11, 2008

ParaParaJMo

Recommended

Though by some standards today, the story may seem a bit cliché, but for its time in the mid-1990s, it wasn’t really that much of the norm. So the Alice in Wonderland concept may not be something that will appeal to everyone since you’ve already seen it in more semi-mainstream animes in comparison to this one such as 12 Kingdoms, Inuyasha, and Escaflowne which came out after Fushigi Yuugi though this was the anime that did it before it became something semi-common. Even though this is primarily shoujo, the well diverse but archetypical cast do have mass appeal.

Each character for the most part has ... their own unique use and contribution to the story and they are presented in ways you get to know them. The characters or heck, maybe even one character will grow on you as you watch from start to finish. I would explain this, but it would be a significant spoiler, and if you’ve seen this anime, you know what I’m talking about. Whether that character is good or bad, you’ll love them. Hell, my favorite character Nakago is the primary antagonist and even Yuu Watase, the original manga-ka has admitted that Nakago is her favorite character.

The anime will hopefully satisfy men and women. The story overall is very diverse with its appeal, but it went a little longer than it should have, but it ends in a way where everything is resolved and the characters wonderfully develop. It has romance, adventure, excitement, comedy and action, which I will further get into. However, what will annoy male and female alike is the interaction between Tamahome and Miaka when they really get romantic with each other. It kind of drags and we don’t need that much hugging even if we can appreciate how much they love each other.

Well, the character design today doesn’t really stand out in comparison to most shoujo out there for the most part. The costume designs are a little flamboyant for the setting, but even so, they still compliment the character designs very well where it helps make them stand out a bit more. The action is well coordinated, technical and raw which will appeal to male viewers. The city settings captures the heart of ancient China very captivatingly and truly represents their culture at that time period where they gathered to worship the emperor. However, with the modern day settings, you get a different approach to the school uniform with the blazer and ribbon design you see in lets say Evangelion, than the more mainstream sailor uniform which I thought was unique to anime in the mid-1990s with Magic Knight Rayearth and Sailor Moon being the rage back then with those designs, so its nice to see something different. It is also unique to point out in the real world in Fushigi Yuugi, nobody has crazy color hair, but in the book, you got the typical crazy color anime hair which was somewhat of the intention of Watase and the staff at Studio Pierrot. So overall, the art may be descent, but the character design 100% stand out, but the action, costumes, and scenery makes up for it.

The dub of Fushigi Yuugi does have some credible names, but I don’t think the dub was good. First off, Tamahome is played by David Hayter who you may know as the voice of Solid Snake from MGS. When you hear that voice in relation to Tamahome’s image, it just doesn’t match. He makes Tamahome sound gruffy, though it’s not the voice he uses for Solid Snake, but when he does scream, he does scream like Snake. This kind of casting is to me, for the sake of casting a big name and you’re giving him a character he’s not appropriate for. However, this was a role I thought perfectly suited his Japanese counterpart, Midorikawa Hikaru, the voice of Heero Yuy from Gundam Wing, and Rukawa from Slam Dunk. Granted Midorikawa has played character opposite from Tamahome, he had a different kind of cool that Snake has, but he still has that passion and soft side that really captures him. As a matter of fact, Watase actually wanted him to play Tamahome because he had him in mind when he created the character.

I also enjoyed Kae Araki the voice of Sailor Chibi Moon as Miaka. She does sound annoying with her high-pitched voice, but it was at a certain tone where it really captured the character with all of these emotions whether sad, happy, concerned, or excited. And Seki Tomokazu, my 2nd favorite seiyuu who has played Miyata in Hajime no Ippo, Domon in G Gundam, Kamui in X The Movie, and many others was great as Chichiri, my 2nd favorite character. He is so multi-talented and he demonstrates it very well when you get to know his character more. Overall, the cast is just top notch and they all have great chemistry. Even though the romantic tension between Tamahome and Miaka gets annoying, their seiyuus truly make it believable.

The opening theme song Itoshii Hito no Tame Ni does open with this more traditional approach and then at the right moment, transitions to a more energetic J-Pop song. It’s very unique to me because it captures the cultural and romantic atmosphere of the series. And the ending theme Tokimeki Doukasen has a different kind of energy that is generic but still catchy and semi sexually suggestive in a more innocent sense. The background music is well orchestrated in every sense. Such as traditional Chinese music, more traditional cinematic.

Anyway, I think this is an anime I believe you should try to give a chance even if it may not be your taste. There are all kinds of good qualities this anime has that does make up for its bad ones. Even so, the bad qualities are still there but if you concentrate and stick to what you like, you’ll forget about them. I remember during the days of VHS fansubs, I used to talk to people who cried watching this series. It has all of these great themes such as love, friendship, loyalty, and betrayal and they are presented in a very realistically approachable manner. And believe me, there are moments where you might and I’m not ashamed to admit I have watching this series. The only anime that has achieved me to react like this since is the Kimura vs Mashiba oav of Hajime no Ippo.

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Jan 5, 2018

Jennpocalypse

Mixed Feelings

First off, I'm going to start with the fact that I finished this anime, all 52 episodes and I'm still not sure why. I couldn't stand most of the characters, the art is outdated, the story is decent but there are so many stupid tropes and situations that I stopped watching it several times throughout the series.

But I returned to finish it. Why? Because despite the annoying characters, painful voice acting, and dumb tropes, it has a weird sort of charm. Maybe I'm just nostalgic for shows I watched in my childhood (mainly Inuyasha, actually) but I actually enjoyed it.

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Aug 17, 2010

Arw

Not Recommended

I see this anime has quite good notes, so i think I should add my opinion.

I've seen some anime by now, and I have to tell that they aren't a lot of series that were such a pain to watch like this one. I mean I'm not a big fan of shoujo or romance, but to be honest: it's not the point.

Story isn't bad. I like fantasy, magic, alternative worlds etc. Maybe it's not super duper complicated but I don't have too high expectations either.

Art
Well, let's say Pierrot.
But not Naruto-like, a little bit better than usually. Drawing was like you should expect from ...

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Poll: Fushigi Yuugi Episode 21 Discussion Gilraina - Nov 10, 2009	5 replies	by Emmuhzx »» Mar 31, 2:36 PM
Poll: Fushigi Yuugi Episode 9 Discussion meneope - Aug 24, 2009	11 replies	by Emmuhzx »» Mar 30, 3:33 PM
Poll: Fushigi Yuugi Episode 51 Discussion YukiPwns00 - Sep 29, 2010	9 replies	by suaee »» Jan 16, 12:57 AM
Poll: Fushigi Yuugi Episode 44 Discussion meneope - Oct 16, 2009	16 replies	by suaee »» Jan 15, 2:24 AM
Poll: Fushigi Yuugi Episode 43 Discussion YukiPwns00 - Sep 26, 2010	9 replies	by suaee »» Jan 15, 1:52 AM

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Fushigi Yuugi

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Fushigi Yuugi

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Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

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Ending Theme

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