Copyright ©1995 Watase Yuu/Shogakukan Shoujo Comics

One of the most unassuming, underground fan favorite anime titles has been released by an American company. Many fans of FUSHIGI YUGI will probably be able to tell you exactly where they were when they first heard that Pioneer was going to be releasing this story of a lost girl in an enchanted kingdom. And let's face it, while everyone likes TENCHI, Pioneer needed a new (and different) release in their stable of titles so they wouldn't become "The Tenchi Company."
As many fans are already familiar with the series, we shall dispense with the obligatory plot summary. Those who are unfamiliar with FUSHIGI YUGI should read the feature article we did on it some time ago.
First, the good news, Volume one (which isn't called Volume one) contains the first four episodes. Even though the series gets off to a bit of a slow start, by the fourth episode, viewers will find themselves wanting to know more about these strange people that Miaka meets. Subsequent volumes are going to have three episodes to a tape. The video quality is good, with vivid colors, sharp images, and no color bleeding. The subtitles, too, are nice and clear. Time to throw away those third-gen fan subtitles, folks.
The voices were interesting, and the actors did a capable job of trying to bring these characters to life with English voices. Fans of other Pioneer dubs will no doubt note the recurrence of some of the actors who voiced characters in EL HAZARD, but fortunately Pioneer does not succumb to the "Let's use the same six actors for all our shows" philosophy. They wisely tried to diversify their stable of actors for this project. And with as many characters as the show has, that will be no small task. And of course, some of the voices are more successful than others, and while most of them are good, a couple seem a little jarring. For many fans, however, the original voice actors are a large reason for their enjoyment of the show, so it will be interesting to see how the dub is received by fans.
Releasing this show is an experiment for Pioneer. As one of the longer-running television series in recent memory (more than double the typical 26 episode format that currently reigns supreme), FUSHIGI YUGI is also one of the longest-running series to be released domestically (aside from the various Takahashi series). It's a gamble, too, because if Pioneer doesn't do well with this series, the entire series may not be released. So, like Miaka, Pioneer finds itself in a strange, new place, unsure of what will happen. But at least they're trying.
There really isn't a lot more to say about FUSHIGI YUGI that hasn't been said before. Those who enjoy romance and shoujo-oriented stories will probably find FY to be some of the better anime of that genre out there. Those who are more interested in sword and sorcery or just seeing people fight each other "just because" will most likely not find this to their liking.

Fushigi Yugi Released by Pioneer Entertainment
PIFY-001S (subtitled) $29.95
PIFY-001D (dubbed) $24.95
100 minutes
Available Now