Fushigi Yuugi (translated Mysterious Play) started out as the first manga written by Yuu Watase, who has since gone on to write other successful manga such as Ayashi no Ceres. Fushigi Yuugi went for 18 volumes, but I believe at the most only 15 were written when they began the TV series, which ended up running for 52 episodes and covering 15 volumes of the manga. Because of its popularity, a 3 episode OVA series, which is not based on any of the manga, was made (with a very hilarious set of bus extras, that are losely based on the one manga arc not covered in the TV series). Once the manga was finished, the second OVA series, which is 6 episodes, was based off the remaining 3 volumes of manga.

All of the anime got commercially licensed for release in the US by Pioneer. You can buy VHS cassettes either dubbed into English (called Mysterious Play) or subtitled (called Fushigi Yuugi) or on DVD in the form of three box sets. The manga has been licensed for English release Viz.

In addition, a set of Fushigi Yuugi novels were written to complete the story and fill in background information on certain characters.

• Fushigi Yuugi Gaiden 1 Genrou Den, the Tasuki novel
• Fushigi Yuugi Gaiden 2 Shoryuu Den, the Chichiri novel
• Fushigi Yuugi Gaiden 3 Yukiyasha Den, the Nuriko novel
• Fushigi Yuugi Gaiden 4 Ryuusei Den, the Amiboshi and Suboshi novel
• Fushigi Yuugi Gaiden 5 Suzaku Hi Den, the Hotohori novel
• Fushigi Yuugi Gaiden 6 Seiran Den, the Nakago novel
• Fushigi Yuugi Gaiden 7 Eikou Den Vol.1
• Fushigi Yuugi Gaiden 8 Eikou Den Vol.2
• Fushigi Yuugi Gaiden 9 Shugyoku Den, the Tamahone novel
• Fushigi Yuugi Gaiden 10 Oumei Den, the Mitsukake novel
• Fushigi Yuugi Gaiden 11 Yuuai Den, the Chiriko novel

Because of Fushigi Yuugi's recent popularity in the US, Pioneer coproduced a third 4 episode OVA series based off the two Eikou Den novels (which continue the story). Because of that OVA series, the manga has been rereleased in Japan, this time in larger volumes with some color pages at the beginning of each volume.

There is also a new Fushigi Yuugi manga series coming out now, which chronicles the story of Takiko, the Gembu Priestess. It's called Fushigi Yuugi Gembu Kaiden (or Mysterious Play Gembu Opening Tale). The Byakko Priestess, Suzano, also made a brief appearance (though she is only about 5, which is much younger than when she becomes the Byakko Priestess), so it is possible her story may get told eventually as well. So far there are 2 volumes of this manga. It will be interesting to see how this manga series goes, since readers of the original Fushigi Yuugi series already know what happens to both Takiko and Suzano in the end.

The basic premise of " Fushigi Yuugi" is that Miaka Yuuki and her best friend, Yui Hongo, get sucked into this book called the Universe of the Four Gods. In this book there are four countries and each country worships a different animal god. Each god possesses shichiseishi (seven celestial warriors), who possess special powers and a character somewhere on their body that glows when they are using their power. Their main job is to protect the priestess of their god and help summon that god, which will give the priestess 3 wishes.

After entering the book world, both girls fall in love with Tamahome, one of the shichiseishi of the god Suzaku. In the process, Miaka ends up becoming the Priestess for Suzaku, the god of the country Konan and Yui ends up becoming her enemy, the Priestess of Seiryuu, the god of the country Kutou.

The animal god religion is actually based on what was a real Chinese religion, so you may see the basic animal gods appear in other anime. It's based on constellations, which is why every single Shichiseishi name ends in the same Japanese character, shuku (which means constellation house in this context.) An incomplete list of the Gods and various information about them is shown below.

God	Season	Direction	Country	Meaning
Seiryuu	Spring	East	Nakago (心宿) Amiboshi (亢宿) Suboshi (角宿) Soi (房宿) Ashitare (尾宿) Tomo (氐宿) Miboshi (箕宿)	heart/mind high spirits angle tassel tail root basket
Suzaku	Summer	South	Tamahome (鬼宿) Hotohori (星宿) Nuriko (柳宿) Chichiri (井宿) Tasuki (翼宿) Mitsukake (軫宿) Chiriko (張宿)	ogre star willow water well wing sad spread
Byakko	Fall	West	Tokaki (奎宿) Tatara (婁宿) Ekie (胃宿) Subaru (昴宿) Amefuri (畢宿) Toroki (觜宿) Kagasuki (參宿)	star, god of literature frequently, tie stomach Pleiades end beak nonplussed, three, going, coming, visiting, visit, be defeated, die, be madly in love
Genbu	Winter	North	Hikitsu (斗宿) Inami (牛宿) Uruki (女宿) Tomite (虚宿) Umiyame (危宿) Hatsui (室宿) Namame (壁宿)	(measure of volume) 18 liters cow woman emptiness danger room wall

For more information, see the following site: http://www2.gol.com/users/stever/charts.htm. In addition to the names of all the seishuku, it lists what the characters mean, the constellations' primary stars, and shows the various constellations.

Fushigi Yuugi is not one of the best anime series out there, but still it is one of my favorites (and has been for a long while.) Some people find Miaka very annoying, and don't like the amount of dialog that consists of Miaka and Tamahome saying each other's names, or any other number of Miaka-related reasons. On one hand, I can understand why some people might be annoyed with her, but on the other I don't think she deserves the amount of bashing she gets for the following reasons:

1. This is a story aimed for girls around 11-12 years old. Miaka is meant to be someone they can relate to. If you don't fall in the target audience, it's likely you won't relate to her as well (or in some cases, not at all).
2. One of the major themes of the story is a right of passage for Miaka. As such, she may start out pretty childish and stupid at the beginning of the series, but by the end of the TV series you can see a definite sign that she has grown up as a result of what she's gone through.

Personally, I think that Yuu Watase should have stopped the story back at manga 15. The story seemed complete at that point with no need to delve any further. I do admit that the novels on the characters' backgrounds are nice, and I do not mind them, but the story about Taka in manga 16-18 seems somewhat inconsistent with the earlier volumes (but still not THAT bad), and the Eikouden novels seem to have a very dumb plot (to me.) At the very least, they should have made Miaka's shinzahou be that teddy bear she gave to Hotohori (and never took back with her to the real world), rather than her and Taka's child.

As far as the anime goes, the TV series sticks very closely to the manga. There are some minor plot changes, and one arc that was cut out. My only complaints with the TV series are that the super deformed characters are much cuter in the manga. The first OVA, which has no basis in the manga, is very very confusing (apparently it is slightly more clear if you watching it immediately after finishing the series). All in all, the only thing I enjoyed about it was the bus extras included at the end of each episode, which was losely based on the arc that was missing from the TV series. I liked the plot for the second OVAs much better, but found them very rushed (compare 1 hour per manga in this OVA to approximately 1.5 hours per manga in the TV series). Also, they have too much fanservice for my liking (such as one scene where the entire screen is taken up by a woman's chest). These also had some funny shorts at the end of each episode, but they were not as good as the bus ones at the end of the first OVA, even if these were taken directly from the manga, while the bus ones were not. Because I have not seen the third OVA, I cannot comment on it.

With Fushigi Yuugi Gembu Kaiden, so far the main heroine seems less soppy than Miaka and has even gone so far as to acquire her own weapon to fight with. So, she may be more appealing to readers than Miaka was. At any rate, as this is still going I can't give my full opinion on this yet.

In conclusion, I highly recommend the manga and TV series, but think that you can give the OVAs a miss and not be deprived of anything, aside from the hilarious bus trip extras with the first OVAs. If the OVA DVD box were cheaper, I might consider getting it just so I can have a copy of those extras.