Fushigi Yûgi

Fushigi Yûgi (ふしぎ遊戯, lit. "Mysterious Game"), also known as Fushigi Yûgi: The Mysterious Play or Curious Play, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuu Watase. It tells the story of two teenaged girls, Miaka and Yui, who are pulled into The Universe of the Four Gods, a mysterious book at the National Diet Library. It is essentially based on four mythological creatures of China. Shogakukan serialized Fushigi Yûgi in Shōjo Comic from December 1991 to May 1996 and later compiled the manga into eighteen tankōbon volumes.

Studio Pierrot adapted it into a fifty-two episode anime series that aired from April 1995 to March 1996 on TV Tokyo. The anime spawned three original video animation (OVA) releases, with the first having three episodes, the second having six, and the final OVA, Fushigi Yûgi: Eikoden, spanning four episodes. In North America, Viz Media licensed the manga series for an English-language release in 1999. The anime series was first licensed by Geneon Entertainment and re-licensed by Media Blasters in 2012.

A thirteen-volume Japanese light novel series, written by Megumi Nishizaki, followed Fushigi Yûgi. Shogakukan published the novels from January 1998 to September 2003. Watase also released two prequel manga series: Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden, which ran from March 2003 to February 2013, and Fushigi Yûgi: Byakko Senki, which began serialization in August 2017.

As of November 2015, Fushigi Yûgi had over 20 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time.

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

Light Novel
Over a series of five years, Megumi Nishizaki (西崎めぐみ, Nishizaki Megumi) wrote thirteen Japanese light novels based on Fushigi Yûgi. Illustrated by Yuu Watase, Fushigi Yûgi Gaiden primarily explores the lives of the various Celestial Warriors before they are seen in the manga. The only two novels to be set after the manga, Eikō Den (Jōkan) and Eikō Den (Gekan), later became the basis for the third Fushigi Yûgi original video animation, Fushigi Yûgi: Eikoden. Originally published by Shogakukan, none of the novels have been licensed for English release.

Manga
Written and illustrated by Yuu Watase, Fushigi Yûgi originally appeared in serial form in the semimonthly manga magazine Shōjo Comic. It premiered in January 1, 1992 ( No. 1) issue, released in December 1991, and ran for over five years, ending in the June 5, 1996 ( No. 12) issue, released in May 1996. The series was simultaneously published in eighteen collected volumes by Shogakukan, with new volumes being released on a quarterly schedule.

In 1992, Viz Media licensed the manga for an English-language release in North America. The series was originally released in a flipped trade paperback format, starting in August 1998. Several characters have both Japanese pronunciations and Chinese pronunciations. In 1998, Watase visited the United States and met with Viz staff members at their San Francisco headquarters. Viz kept the original Chinese names of the characters at her request. Bill Flanagan, the editor of the English version, asked Watase if he should use Chinese names for popular characters such as Tai Yi-Jun (Taitsukun), and she also asked for the Chinese names to be used there. The characters with names remaining in Japanese in the English version are the characters such as Tamahome who have Japanese pronunciations of ancient constellations; there was never any intention of them having Chinese names.

This caused some confusion for fans as the anime version uses Japanese names. For example, in the manga, Hotohori's country is named "Hong-Nan" rather than the "Konan" found in the anime series. After eight volumes, Viz stopped publication of Fushigi Yûgi, reviving it in June 2003 when it released the first two volumes in unflipped standard manga size volumes. The remaining volumes were released on a quarterly schedule, including the remaining ten volumes. The final volume of the series was released in April 2006. The dates and ISBN numbers given for the first eight volumes in the table on the link above are for the second edition releases. Viz also serialized Fushigi Yûgi in their manga anthology magazine, Animerica Extra, starting with the October 1998 debut issue and running until the December 2004 issue, the magazine's final issue. In 2009 and 2010, Viz re-released the series as part of their "VIZBIG" line, combining three individual volumes of the original release into each single, larger volume.

Character
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Trivia
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