Fushigi Yuugi is a lukewarm anime series. Obviously compared to the shows of today...but even back then, I can't say that I was as enthralled by it as everyone else. Sure it has it's high points: Lots of action, dramatic tension and bishounen galore...but with all the cheesy canned romantic dialog and all the ill-timed [Sailor Moon-ish] humor seriously detracts from the show's dramatic intensity not to mention, total enjoyment from this show.
Art-Style
I would say say this is the typical 90's style animation...nothing too impressive but it wasn't boring or hideously drawn either. There are a bunch or errors and irregularities with the animation with the way things are supposed to move or fall also with the way characters run and pose. And there were definitely some corners being cut during the action scenes with some minor looping and also with freeze frames....not enough to complain about though, as I said this is very typical of animes from the early to mid 90's anime.
Sound
Expect some pretty dated music from this one. One of the BGM used for the some fight scenes actually sounds like the base track from the song “pump up the volume”. Some songs weren't too bad for their time tho, like Chiriko's song and the OP Theme. I actually like the very beginning for the OP because it sounds very majestic and then you see the lead female character [Miaka] all dressed up in her priestess robes looking refined. The show was watched in english and I must say that the voices actors did a really really good job on this show, no one had an annoying voice on this show. Best Voice Award goes to Nakago and definitely to that one creepy gay warrior with that kabuki make-up on his face and all the feathers sticking out of his head.
Story
The story has a good beginning and a great ending....but it kind of sags in the middle. Boring, annoying and definitly irritating with all this back and forth with Miaka and Tomohome. All this break up/Make up...Love me/Don't love me BS, very annoying and it spans too many episodes, like one of those epically annoying battle scene from DBZ that spans 14 – 30 episodes. The other conjoined story lines, like about her and Yui being in the Realm of the Four Gods or the individual dramas of the accompanying seven warriors [or 14 warriors if you count those of the Seiyu Clan] were definitely great and made watching this anime worth it. But also other drawbacks from this story were the excessive chibi use, the screwball Sailor Moon type humor that didn't fit with the high-tension moments and not to mention all the CORNBALL romance lines being used in the show.
Cast/Characters
The bishounen factor is very high [at a very solid 100%] with this series, there is also some SHOUNEN-AI and brief moments of MxM going on up in this anime....so there will be no character complaints coming from me......mmmmmmmmm, well actually Miaka is kind of a do-do head. Anyway they were all drawn very well and looked cute.
Worth it or NOT?
I know many people hold this series in high regard and so those who love it have already bought it. I wouldn't buy this though....for one, I hear Tomohome's name too much. She calls his name like every 5 seconds....and......it's reeeeeeeally annoying! If I played a drinking game based off of how many times I heard her call his name...Tomohome, Tomohome, I'd die of alcohol poisoning!!!
