Summary: >

Miaka was your average school girl who wasn't particularly good at anything save eating. The good news is that she has her whole life ahead of her to develop more talents =P Miaka's life changed however when she and her friend stumble upon a strange book in the library written in old Chinese. Miaka is mysteriously thrown back to ancient China where she is said to be a high priestess.

Miaka also manages to obtain a love interest named Tamahome in her voyage.. until she is transported back to her normal life. Over time Miaka is transported back and forth between places which is hard enough. But her relationship with Tamahome is often strained. The most difficult thing of all is her friend siding eventually against her. This and many more dramatic themes all contained within the mysterious play.

Thoughts: >

This is one of those points where guys don't get it in my opinion. And don't get me wrong because I'm strangely a closet shoujo fan to some extent, but as for this title, I don't get it. But I don't get soap opera's either, and Fushigi Yuugi really is an anime soap opera. But I mean women go CRAZY over this title. Before it was even released fan subbers were fighting over this title. It was (maybe still is) one of the most popular series to create web pages for. And when this landed in my hands how could I not wonder what it would entail.

And I watched the first volume, and actually made a review about it thinking that it gets better. But then I watched volume after volume. Somewhere along the line the light bulb above my head dimly turned on and I realized... this is it. All of this hype over a title that is pretty much average. To me the entire series just dragged. It seemed like something cool was going to happen, then it just went in a stupid direction. And that's about all I could deduce from this series after a good 12 episodes. There's 52 episodes in all, but there has to be a cut toff point where I gave it a chance.

So anyway, from a guy's prospective it's tough to make much out of this title. What do I think Fushigi Yuugi has to offer females that makes them such big fans of this anime? Hope. Hope that if a girl as dumb as Miaka can have two hot guys fighting over her, then maybe it could happen to them. You know as far as anime girls goes, Miaka isn't that bad - I'd do her, but this girl certainly has no qualities that makes her the object of rabid desire. But then again she isn't chased by real guys, she's chased by SHOUJO anime guys. Beings that appear male but do things women like and have "deep" thoughts. Pffftt! Yeah right. Sheer craziness I say.

So the breakdown is this, and you might laugh at my suggestions, but I honestly challenge you to prove me wrong. If you like melodramatic shoujo anime then I would recommend this title. If you are FEMALE and like shoujo anime, then this is a must watch title. If you are male - and probably strait - then I'd probably avoid this one.

Screen Caps: >