While I didn't get a copy of the first volume, Fushigi Yugi had enough stereotypical anime characters and themes that I think I got the major highlights pretty well covered. It's a story of a teenage gal, Miaka, who finds an old book of magic and is propelled to another place and time (sort of like Alice In Wonderland) along with her friend, Yui. The place is called the Universe of the Four Gods and time flows much faster there so a few minutes in Miaka's world (Earth) ends up being months in that parallel place. Miaka made it back home with the help of a mysterious stranger, Tamahome, that both gals immediately fell head over heels for (sadly for them, he didn't return their desires). Miaka made it back home but Yui didn't and everyone becomes concerned for her well being (Miaka keeping it all a secret until well into this volume).

To further complicate things, both gals are mistaken for priestess' and the land is in the middle of a large war that relies on magic, warriors, and all the usual trappings of such stories to fight one another. Miaka goes back to "save" her friend but soon finds that being saved is not on Yui's agenda; she wants to stay. The universal themes of friend pitted against friend and polar opposites get a thorough workout in the six (that's right, SIX) episodes included on the DVD. The six episodes in order were, 8) Brief Parting, 9) Enemies Unseen, 10) Looking For Yui, 11) Priestess of Seiryu, 12) Only You, and 13) For Sake of Love. Over the course of the episodes, Miaka makes it back to the mythic land, is hunted by an assassin, finds her friend and a place for herself in the new world, and sees that even friends can be twisted by forces beyond their control (or by choice, depending on how you look at it).

Okay, the romance angle was a bit much at times with Miaka pining over her hero but aside from that and a very slow pace (man, this could've been edited down to two episodes), it was very interesting to watch. If I get a chance to see the first volume, and therefore understand more of the subtleties of the show, I'll revisit this review and expand on my comments but as it is, I'll be looking for later volumes too. There was enough crossover material to keep the sword and sorcery crowd happy (as long as they have a scan button on their DVD player), and the romance angle was plentiful for the Shojo crowd. I'm going to rate this as a Rent It for now but I can see how it gained a large audience when it was first released. I'd strongly suggest you watch the first volume before this one since there were a lot of gaps in what took place prior to these episodes but check it out if this kind of thing appeals to you.

Picture: The picture was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color that it was made in nearly ten years ago. For the most part, the colors were accurate, the animation itself solid and the visual aspects in general very decent for such an older show but the limitations of age showed up too. There was a bit of pattern noise and some minor compression artifacts that weren't cleaned up from the original release though you'd be hard pressed to say there was enough to fuss about. Given how many episodes were included on this single disc, I'd have to applaud Geneon (formerly Pioneer) for how good the original looked that it didn't have to be remastered.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of the original 2.0 Dolby Digital Japanese track with optional English subtitles or an English dub version (where you could also leave the subtitles on if you wanted, although why you'd do so escapes me). While Geneon's current dubbing crew has a lot of talent, both the voice actors and the technical people, such was not always the case when this was first released and the age of it shows a lot. Happily, the Japanese track was so good that even a guy like me who routinely listens to both tracks found it well done and clear. The music, vocals and sound effects were all properly mixed and I didn't hear any of the major problems plaguing some recent releases by the major companies (although you rarely hear such problems publicized; maybe other websites overlook audio problems…).

Extras: With a full six episodes on the DVD, you really can't expect a lot of extras and the only thing even approaching an extra would be the double sided DVD cover and paper insert.

Final Thoughts: Okay, there were no extras of merit but the inclusion of twice as many episodes as you'll find on most releases these days is just too much to ignore in terms of value. I think the show will likely be on my recommended list before all is said and done since the anime style, the pleasing technical aspects and the content itself were pretty good but I can't in all honesty suggest this as a stand alone DVD since the soap opera aspects of the story build on one another so much. I'm hoping to change my mind as time goes on but feel free to email me with spoilers that might help me understand more of what's going on if you already have the show.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime article!