Fushigi Yûgi
Fushigi Yûgi (Japanese: ふしぎ遊戯, lit. "Mysterious Game"), also known as Fushigi Yûgi: The Mysterious Play or Curious Play, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuu Watase. It tells the story of two teenaged girls, Miaka and Yui, who are pulled into The Universe of the Four Gods, a mysterious book at the National Diet Library. It is based on the four mythological creatures of China. Shogakukan serialized Fushigi Yûgi in Shōjo Comic from December 1991 to May 1996 and later compiled the manga into eighteen tankōbon volumes.
| Fushigi Yûgi | |
Cover of the first tankōbon volume, featuring Miaka Yuki | |
| ふしぎ遊戯 (Fushigi Yūgi) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Yuu Watase |
| Published by | Shogakukan |
| English publisher | |
| Imprint | Flower Comics |
| Magazine | Shōjo Comic |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Original run | December 1991 – May 1996 |
| Volumes | 18 |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Hajime Kamegaki |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Yoshio Urasawa |
| Music by | Yusuke Honma |
| Studio | Pierrot |
| Licensed by |
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| Original network | TV Tokyo |
| English network |
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| Original run | April 6, 1995 – March 28, 1996 |
| Episodes | 52 |
| Original video animation | |
| Directed by | Hajime Kamegaki |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Genki Yoshimura |
| Music by | Yusuke Honma |
| Studio | Pierrot |
| Licensed by |
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| Released | October 25, 1996 – August 25, 1998 |
| Runtime | 25 minutes (each) |
| Episodes | 9 |
| Light novel | |
| Written by | Megumi Nishizaki |
| Illustrated by | Yuu Watase |
| Published by | Shogakukan |
| Original run | January 30, 1998 – September 26, 2003 |
| Volumes | 13 |
| Original video animation | |
| Fushigi Yûgi: Eikoden | |
| Directed by | Nanako Shimazaki |
| Written by | Hiroaki Sato |
| Music by | Ryo Sakai |
| Studio | Pierrot |
| Licensed by |
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| Released | December 21, 2001 – June 25, 2002 |
| Runtime | 30 minutes (each) |
| Episodes | 4 |
| Related works | |
Studio Pierrot adapted it into a fifty-two episode anime series that aired from April 1995 to March 1996 on TV Tokyo. The anime spawned three original video animation (OVA) releases, with the first having three episodes, the second having six, and the final OVA, Fushigi Yûgi: Eikoden, spanning four episodes. In North America, Viz Media licensed the manga series for an English-language release in 1999. The anime series was first licensed by Geneon Entertainment and re-licensed by Media Blasters in 2012.
A thirteen-volume Japanese light novel series, written by Megumi Nishizaki, followed Fushigi Yûgi. Shogakukan published the novels from January 1998 to September 2003. Watase also released two prequel manga series: Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden, which ran from March 2003 to February 2013, and Fushigi Yûgi: Byakko Senki, which began serialization in August 2017.
As of November 2015, Fushigi Yûgi had over 20 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time.