Product Details

• Format: Animated, Color, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
• VHS Release Date: November 14, 2000
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004Y572
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #439,043 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This OAV (original animation video) adventure brings back all the characters from the sprawling broadcast series--even ones who were killed. When Miaka, Tomahome (who now lives in the real world), Keisuke and Tetsuya go visit the grave of Takikio, the one-time priestess of Genbu, Tomahome mysteriously vanishes back into Universe of the Four Gods. Miaka and Yui join him there, causing the Warriors of Suzaku and Seiryu to reassemble. Their reappearance has been arranged by Tenkuo, the former master of the evil Nagako, who hopes to rule the alternate world. Yui summons all four Gods to seal him away and prevent any further contact between the two worlds--which also means Miaka and Tomahome must separate. The secondary characters remain more entertaining than the whiny Miaka, especially sorcerer-in-training Chichiri and mountain bandit Tasuki. Viewers should watch the broadcast series before the OAVs, or they'll be hopelessly lost. Each episode is followed by an omake, or extra: a chapter of "Fûshigi Yûgi Rest and Relaxation Bus Trip: The Tale of the Forbidden Women's Hot Spring Resort," an offbeat farce that features the characters as themselves and as actors playing those roles. It provides a welcome break from the turgid melodrama of the main episodes, much the way Kyogen comedies are traditionally performed with Noh tragedies in the Japanese theater. Rated 16 and up for nudity, sexual situations, risqué humor, and violence. --Charles Solomon

Product Description

Volume #1, Contains OVA Episodes 1-3. The Universe of the Four Gods, the mystical book that is also an incantation, was completed when Miaka made her last wish, or so everyone thought. However, old enemies strive from beyond the grave to reclaim their revenge, and this time it is Tamahome who is drawn into the book... to become one of the Seiryu Seven?! Once again the page is turned...

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cut short, March 1, 2001

By 

Carl Cheng (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fushigi Yugi - The Mysterious Play - Illusions (Vol. 1) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is the first volume including the 3 episodes of OAV 1. The next 2 volumes include 6 episodes from the OAV 2. These OAVs continue from the ending of the TV series so obviously don't watch these until you have seen the TV series first because it will spoil parts of the story.

I must say that the OAVs did not impress me as much as the TV series did. Well, with only a total of 9 episodes, how much can be said?

This OAV talks of the new life of Miaka and Yui. With circumstances not under their control they must return into the Universe of the Four Gods once again.

The animation quality is more mature than the TV series. Throughout the 9 episodes, they actually show some nudity so this may not be appropriate for younger viewers of the series. If you are a fan of the TV series, definately get this. I don't think anything I say will affect you not checking it out for yourself :)

Finally at the end of each episode they include these special mini-featurettes. In the first OAV they have this trip to the hotsprings where it's just pure comedy and laughter! Second OAV includes outtakes from the scenes that are sometimes funny but some I didn't understand too well.

Final note: Great TV series, okay OAV. Seemed too rushed in the OAV trying to tell bigger stories in too little time is a problem of magnitude. Another example of this: Escaflowne the Movie - A Girl in Gaea.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars TGI...more FY!, January 6, 2001

By 

"aqualace" (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fushigi Yugi - The Mysterious Play - Illusions (Vol. 1) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I had heard so much about the OAVs and was so dissapointed by only being able to read about them online... Then I found this video! The rumors about it being confusing were quite true, but this is due to the fact that there are 2 OAVs. Because the manga (~comic book) and the viedeos ended differently, when they made the video of the 2nd part of FY manga (the 2nd OAV) it didn't really make sense so they added this OAV in as a filler. So although it is confusing, it soon makes sense and sets the scene with our favorite characters and the age old question of if Miaka and Tamahome can be together. What i love about this video is that however shocking or sad an episode might be, after contidued a very funny side story! All in all, if you are a FY fan (especially you jade) you have to get this and the even better parts that follow!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, February 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Fushigi Yugi - The Mysterious Play - Illusions (Vol. 1) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a review for the dubbed version, although I have also seen a fansubbed version of the entire FY OAV series. All of the voide actors from the television series Pioneer dub have returned to do the voices, and I was relieved to find this out. This 1st original video series is a bridge to the 2nd series, or tapes 2 and 3. The story was very difficult to understand in the subtitled version I saw, but the dub adds little things here and there to flesh the story out more. Also, the video extras at the end of each episode contain the infamous Fushigi Yuugi Recreational Bus Trip to the Forbidden Women's Hot Spring and this dub is just as funny as the original, especially if English is your native language. As to the story, it's quite different from the television series, but it is worth watching just to see everyone again. Tasuki and Chichiri fans won't be disappointed. My only complaint is that the theme songs weren't subtitled this time around, only the end theme at the very end of each tape.