onie.marks - 2015-12-13 08:44:54

Fushigi yuugi is one of those animes that are so bad they're good. It has a really "fanime"-esque quality so if you enjoy a bit of schadenfreude you might love it. I have a lot of gripes with the anime but as an unintentional comedy it's pretty great.

Writing - Basically the plot of fushigi yuugi is the main character gets sucked into a book and gets way too invested in the lives of fictional characters. Fushigi yuugi has some HUGE plot holes, pacing issues, and historical inaccuracies (although the author did admit this was on purpose), also an inordinate amount of nude scenes/attempted rape which will make you especially uncomfortable because the main character is 14. 

The dialogue was pretty atrocious and that was one of the major things that made the anime so funny/cringe worthy. The anime makes many changes from the manga - some of them good and others bad. The anime skips out on a lot of content from the manga which detracts from what should have been really emotional character deaths. There was also a lot of drama for the sake of drama bull that made the series extra terrible. 

Characters - Terrible writing aside the characterization of the characters is actually pretty good. Watase's strong suit seems to be her ability to design memorable characters with distinct personalities. Although it is pretty rushed you do feel a real chemistry between the characters and the bonds they form seem almost tangible. There are a lot of characters in the series (the suzaku 7 + the seiryuu 7 + the byakko 7 + genbu 7 + minor characters) so it was kind of a lot to keep track of. 

The main character Miaka is pretty insufferable to be honest. She's a naïve glutton who hates studying and constantly changes her mind. Her best friend / antagonist Yui is in contrast intelligent and cool so it was kind of unbelievable that she had the wool pulled over her eyes the way it was. 

Animation - There were some parts where the animation was pretty nice but it was very inconsistent and some episodes looked just horrible. Considering that it's such a long series it is kind of to be expected but there were a lot of scenes that weren't animated - just static images. The art is also pretty bad compared to the manga. Some of the characters like Nakago and Hotohori look almost completely different than they do in the manga. The colour palettes that were chosen for some of the character's outfits were really hideous and I have to wonder what the animators were thinking.

Sound - The dub is the only way to go for this one I think. It's kinda weird but because the dub is actually kind of decent (other than Miaka who truly sounds like she is an adult who is trying to sound like a teenager). The character voices were pretty well-cast otherwise and I especially liked Nuriko with his effeminate voice and Nakago who actually had a really lovely buttery voice. Like inuyasha there's a lot of screaming of the main characters names and not a lot of much else. There were a lot of gay jokes about Nuriko which were actually pretty hilarious if you don't find them offensive. The soundtrack is mostly forgettable though there were some tracks that provided a really lovely romantic ambiance or helped to set the mood for a fight. There were also some insert songs that were pretty good.

All in all fushigi yuugi is a show that takes itself way too seriously and while I can't say it was good it was entertaining at least.