YMMV / Fushigi Yuugi

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Most of the bad guys have gotten this at some point.
  • Nakago can be your average revenge-driven Big Bad, or he can be mentally unhinged. The second is highly plausible, considering what he had gone through.
  • Is Nuriko really Transgender, or did he just pick up a female personality to be like his dead sister, and the manly personality from volume 9 onward was his real personality? Are his feelings for Miaka platonic or romantic?
• Angst? What Angst?: Miaka shows remarkably few psychological aftereffects from the multiple sexual assaults she endures over the course of the series, although one could argue she expends enough angst over Tamahome that she doesn't have any left to spare.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Nakago has proved to be an extremely controversial character on even this very wiki. He's a Magnificent Bastard and sympathetic Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds for some, a vile Invincible Villain for others. There's very little in-between, and him being the Creator's Favorite doesn't help.
  • Madoka Ohtori from the Suzaku Ibun game, for the few who have played the game. Some complain that she's few more than a bland self-insert. Others say that since she's more savvy and sensible, she's much better written than Miaka ever was.
  • And on the Seiryuu side, we have Yui, Miaka's Evil Counterpart. She is interpreted by some viewers as a poor girl who was manipulated by others into joining evil, as well as being understandably confused by being trapped in a strange world with no clue of what to do. On the othr hand, her detractors dislike her tendency to cling to the Jerkass Ball and believe everything Nakago tells her despite supposedly being intelligent, as well as her breaking off her years-long friendship with Miaka over a guy she had just met and drugging and kidnapping said guy into loving her.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: There are still a lot of people who remember the series only for the copious amounts of Fanservice and gratuitous nudity.
• Broken Base: The ending has Nuriko reincarnated as a little girl who seems to be friends with an also-little Hotohori. While many fans love this as Nuriko now can be with Hotohori, just as many fans aren't pleased since they were impressed with Nuriko when he was being manly, and feel that by making him reborn as a girl, it destroyed all his efforts to leave behind his little sister's shadow and forced him into the stereotypical Uke role. Let's just leave it at that.
• Complete Monster: The Emperor of Kutou is a draconian ruler who leads his armies on campaigns of extermination and conquest, having done so to Nakago's village where Nakago's people were slaughtered and his beloved mother raped by the Emperor's soldiers. Seeing potential in Nakago after his power allowed him to slaughter the Emperor's soldiers, the Emperor opted to turn Nakago into his own lethal weapon to cause more bloodshed. Worse still, the Emperor also turned the boy into his own personal Sex Slave after being captivated by his beauty, warping the mind of the child who would become the series's Big Bad.
• Crosses the Line Twice: The infamous "Nyan-Nyan insults Nuriko and gets punched into the skies for her trouble" scene.
• Cry for the Devil: Nakago, again, if you buy his Freudian Excuse.
• Damsel Scrappy: Miaka, due to her idiocy constantly getting herself and others into trouble. Because of this, Miaka was one of the most hated female characters in anime/manga — to the degree that fans used a "Level of Suck" meter to measure other shoujo heroines ("At least she's not a Miaka").
• Designated Heroine: We're meant to sympathize with Mayo? Really?
• Draco in Leather Pants:
  • Nakago has done atrocious deeds, but lots of fangirls love him and handwave his evil actions just because he's OMG SO PRETTY. The fact that he's Watase's personal favourite character doesn't exactly help.
  • Suboshi also gets this treatment due to several woobifying events in his background. His more rabid fans seem to think that the fact Nakago manipulated him means that he can be absolved of any real fault for his murder of Tamahome's family...
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Chichiri, who's easily one of the most popular characters in the story by a long shot. Nuriko and Tatsuki also gained a considerable amount of popularity from fans.
  • Amiboshi the Seiryuu warrior is also quite well-liked, as despite being The Mole, he is truly sympathetic and is the only one on team Seiryuu who wants to redeem himself for his wrongdoings and do good for his country and universe.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Eikoden and the first OAV series are basically regarded as non-canon by fans. The character novels are also highly unpopular with fans, largely due to accusations of retconning.
  • To an extent, the second part of the manga including the rest of the OVA are seen as this due to being seen unnecessary that only serve to cash in the series longer than it needed to be.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Suboshi is far more popular a love interest for Yui than Yui's canon boyfriend, Tetsuya.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the first volume, Nuriko was madly in love with Hotohori, and hated Miaka enough to attempt drowning her. Also, he claimed that he had the heart of a woman despite being a man. Eight volumes later, Nuriko cut his hair, ditched his female side and behaved so manly that even Miaka was impressed. He then stated that his male side just sees Hotohori as a friend and the one he loved now was Miaka. And he was mature enough to let Miaka and Tamahome be happy together, unlike how crazily jealous he was before. This guy's Characterization Marches On and Character Development is just pure awesome.
  • Toki, the caretaker of Suzuno, bears an amusingly strong resemblance to Saitama in some shots in the anime.
• Ho Yay:
  • Nuriko's feelings for Hotohori and Tomo's for Nakago, both canon. Plus, the aforementioned Tamahome/Nakago.
  • And there was apparently enough Tasuki/Nuriko going on that they became the basis for one of the earliest yaoi doujinshi out of the gate. It doesn't really help either that their English seiyuu got married.
  • Suboshi/Amiboshi, even lampshaded when Miaka sees them together and compares it to a romantic movie with the same person playing both parts.
  • There's also that scene where Taka and Tasuki inexplicably go take a nap together.
  • How about Miaka's brother Keisuke with Tamahome? Just look at how the former gushed at the latter once he woke up.
• Magnificent Bastard: The brilliant, ruthless Nakago was once a boy named Ayuru Gi who was taken by the Kutou Emperor after his tribe was destroyed. Used as a Sex Slave, Nakago gained the Emperor's trust and eventually became a general of Kutou. Manipulating the priestess of Seiryuu, Yui Hongo, to his side and winning the loyalties of the legions of Kutou as well as his Seiryuu warriors, Nakago tricks his own subordinate into killing the family of hero Tamahome and often stays a step well ahead of the heroes. Eventually overcoming the Emperor and launching a coup that makes him ruler of Kutou, Nakago comes within a hairsbreadth of having Seiryuu summoned to make himself a god above all gods, even managing to absolve himself of his sins to pass to heaven in his final moments.
• Memetic Mutation: "TAMAHOME!" "MIAKA!"
• Moe: Nyan-Nyan, Boushin, Chou Kourin and Yuiren.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Suboshi violently killing Tamahome's father and little siblings.
  • Nakago encouraging Suboshi to kill Tamahome's family (which keeps being forgotten/handwaves by his fans) and, at different times, making Yui and Miaka believe they had been raped.
  • In Eikoden, Mayo stealing Miaka's unborn baby and trying to erase her from existence.
• Narm: With its own page, even!
• Narm Charm: A lot of moments in the English dub of the anime come across as either of these two. The main two that come to mind are Episodes 4 and 5 of the second OVA: Tasuki's Near-Rape Experience with Miaka is dramatic until you remember what other roles Daran Norris has had, and Hikou's death is an absolute Tear Jerker... right until you hear the sound effect they use. In fact, the whole scene can be seen as Narm because of the music they're using.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Mayo Sakaki, the protagonist of Eikoden, was so utterly detestable she retroactively did this for Miaka AND Yui.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • It might be a surprise to you to learn that this is one of the earlier voice-acting gigs of David Hayter... as Tamahome. Who has his bouts of goofiness. You know him better as the gruff badass voice of Solid Snake.
  • Hey, Tasuki is Cosmo!
• Ron the Death Eater: Miaka's hatedom just loves to do this to her so they can pair themselves/their OC with Tamahome instead. The Eikoden OVA ends up starring a character who literally does this in canon.
• The Scrappy: Miaka. While the manga portrays her in a more realistic manner, the anime adaptation made her come across as having Incorruptible Pure Pureness, which immensely turned off viewers. In both mediums, she is hated for being a distressed damsel who constantly gets herself and others in trouble and screaming for Tamahome to rescue her constantly.
• Special Effect Failure: The CGI Suzaku in Eikoden has some Birdemic levels of unnatural bird movement.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Many fans were so impressed by how manly Nuriko could actually be when he wanted to, so they were not amused when he had to die first. The fans expressed that they would love to see him behaving like a man more and get more cool moments.
• Trapped by Mountain Lions: Poor Chichiri, Tasuki, Mitsukake and Chiriko get shuffled off to one of Tomo's illusions for a few episodes while Miaka and Tamahome carry on with the main plot.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Nakago is supposed to be seen as a victim of circumstances that drove him to evil, and as a result, the intent is to make him come across as pitiable and worthy of forgiveness. Because of the horrific atrocities he commits, like driving Suboshi to murder Tamahome's family and attempting to rape Miaka, this doesn't work so well: by the time his Dark and Troubled Past comes to light, many readers had lost all ability to sympathize with him.
  • Mayo from Eikoden also gets this reaction, as stated under the Designated Hero example above.
• Values Dissonance: Nuriko got hit hard with Trans Equals Gay and other '90s misconceptions about LGBTQ characters. Additionally, as an example of cultural values dissonance at the time of the show's release, the English dub changed or softened some of the homophobic/transphobic comments directed at Nuriko by other characters.
• Values Resonance: Tamahome's reaction to Miaka after the latter thinks she has been raped. She considers herself Defiled Forever and engages in a great deal of self-blame for the situation. Tamahome assures her that it wasn't her fault, that it changes nothing about how he sees her, and that they'll get through it together — all downright refreshing attitudes that stand up especially well in light of the #metoo movement.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Averted in The United States and Europe where the manga was rated "Older Teen/16+", however played painfully straight in South and Southeast Asia. When the anime aired in that part of the world in the mid-2000s, it was classed as "appropriate for children/all ages" thanks to the Animation Age Ghetto. This resulted in a generation of kids being squicked and traumatized because they were exposed to graphic sexual material at an age when they were too young to witness it.
• The Woobie: Practically everyone in the Suzaku group has had a difficult life.
  • Miaka may have made a lot of dumb decisions throughout the story, but it's hard not to feel bad for her at times. Especially since she was already having a hard time before she got trapped in the book. Her parents are divorced and she seems to have no contact with her dad, her mother pressured her into applying for a prestigious high school even though she didn't want to go there, and despite her best efforts to study hard in order to pass the entrance exam, her mother finds Tamahome's name doodled in a notebook and invalidates Miaka's work before slapping her.

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