Fushigi Yugi

Fushigi Yugi is a manga that was originally released in 1992. Manga is the term commonly given to Japanese comic books. This manga was created by Yuu Watase, a popular shōjo manga artist. Shōjo is the term used to refer to manga that was created for girls between the ages of 13 and 18. Fushigi Yugi is translated into Mystery Game or Mystery Play. It was first released in the popular Shōjo Comic magazine. It was turned into an anime in 1995 and lived through 52 episodes in two separate seasons. There were also two television specials and 13 OVA’s (Original Video Animation) created after Fushigi Yugi.

Synopsis

Miaka Yuki is a high school junior. She is determined to study hard enough to gain entrance into the high-class jonan High School. Yui Hongo, who is Miaka’s best friend, is going to be applying for Jonan High School and is extremely intelligent, and Miaka is afraid that she will not be smart enough to be able to go to the same school as her best friend. She instead wishes that she could go to Yotsubadai High School, which is a public high school and takes less work to get into. Miaka’s mother, however, wants her to get into Jonan High School and pushes her extremely hard every day. Miaka ends up attending a special study class every day after school, as much as she hates it.

One day, Yui is bringing a book back to the library. Instead of going with her, Miaka decides to go to the vending machines to get some food. She ends up dropping her coin and when she gets up, Suzaku is standing in front of her. Shocked, she follows her and finds a book that is in the restricted section of the library. Yui joins Miaka and the two open a book labeled The Universe of the Four Gods. As quickly as she was pulled into the book, Yui is spit back out and back to the normal Japan. Miaka, instead, is stuck in the feudal age of Japan.

Miaka wanders around the country side, trying to figure out what’s going on and where Yui went, when she gets into a difficult situation. A gang finds her and wants to sell her into a brothel, but a boy named Tamahome comes to her rescue and saves her. The saving only lasts for a little while, and both of them are tossed into the Emperor’s dungeon. The Emperor explains to Miaka that he believes she is the Priestess of Suzaku. The Priestess of Suzaku is in an old story of Japan, and is about a girl who will appear from another world and who will help the Celestial Warriors to summon the Phoenix God.

Miaka discovers that Tamahome and Hotohori, two men she has already met, are Celestial warriors and sets out to gathering the rest of them. Meanwhile, Yui finally finds a way back into Feudal Japan, only to get captured. She believes that she is raped and vows vengeance against Miaka, placing all of the blame on her. The series follows the girl’s stories in feudal Japan.