Fushigi Yuugi Redux
Apr. 12th, 2006 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieFushigi Yuugi is crack.
Seriously.
Not only did it take over a week of my life a few months back, but last night, after Veronica Mars ended, I was waiting for my husband and didn't feel like reading my book. So I decided to put in a random ep of FY (it was the ep where Tamahome, under Nakago's control, comes to kill Miaka and he and Hotohori fight) and guess what? Within minutes, I was sucked back in, and now I simply must rewatch the whole series. Not only that, but this morning, before going to work, I watched FY's end (which still makes me gasp and squee and faint) and, to my not-so-everlasting shame, I ended up watching the music videos in extras, which I'd already seen before. Well, not all of them, because there are 20+, but the first three (an early events one, a Miaka-Yui-Tamahome one (interestingly it's Miaka who has to chose between the two) and a Tamahome one). Yup, I am a goner.
But watching the scene in the Tamahome video where he breaks through Nakago's magic barrier to get to Miaka (who is about to be painfully offed by Nakago and Yui) made me understand Yui, just a bit. I still think she is a whiny emo kid who needs to pull it together, but I can understand her thinking that it's unfair: Miaka had a good time in this world. She has been the guest of the Emperor. She didn't get raped in the back alleys (though she would have been if Tamahome didn't interfere). For her to have this gorgeous guy willing to do these amazing things for her, Yui probably thinks, is too unfair. If she, Yui, had Tamahome instead, this would even things out a bit.
Of course, what Yui doesn't realize, as she envies Miaka having someone willing to risk everything and do amazing things for her sake, is that she has someone like that. Only in her case, it's not a hot young guy, it's her best friend, Miaka herself. While Miaka has no strength (or need) to break through magic barriers, what she is willing to do to save Yui, and what she does do, is definitely just as huge. But of course Yui is caught up not only in her resentment (when you've had such bad luck, it's not unnatural to be resentful of the lucky ones. Though seeing Miaka's tribulations throughout the show, I'd argue she had more horrible stuff happen to her than Yui, but it's how you deal with the bad things that is most important), but in her desire to be first to someone. To always come first to just one person is tied in with her 'rape' as she thinks that if she is the most important person in the world to someone, that would prove her worth. After all, there is no doubt that for Tamahome, Miaka always comes first, and Yui is frustrated she can't have that. She thought Miaka could be that person, and realizing (wrongly) that she is not first for Miaka, that Tamahome is, is what leads her to go evil completely. (Interesting magical parallel to a very real world situation where long time friends often feel left out when their friend gets a boyfriend). It is a wrong perception, IMO. True, Miaka loves Tamahome. And there is no question that she choses him over Yui later on. But by that point, Yui has gone over to evil and has been approving nasty things that hurt her friends. Even then, Miaka tries to save her. The question that Yui should be thinking about (and what she finally realizes) is that she shouldn't be thinking about 'Does she care about me more than about anyone else?' but 'how much does she care for me?' And, after all, Miaka and Tamahome grow much closer with their shared experiences and Miaka and Yui grow estranged because of their enmity. If she had to pick who is most important to her at the time Yui goes over the Dark Side, I don't think Miaka's answer would have been as clear-cut.
Also, Yui doesn't treasure when she does come first to someone. Because there is a person in FY to whom she is number 1 priority: Suboshi. Yet Yui seems to care for that fact as much as I would for a stick of wood. Ultimately, all of this is just hollow substitute for proper healing for her emotional wounds and getting her head on straight.
So yeah, before I ramble more, I should stop. And yeah. Fushigi Yuugi is crack.
Seriously.
Not only did it take over a week of my life a few months back, but last night, after Veronica Mars ended, I was waiting for my husband and didn't feel like reading my book. So I decided to put in a random ep of FY (it was the ep where Tamahome, under Nakago's control, comes to kill Miaka and he and Hotohori fight) and guess what? Within minutes, I was sucked back in, and now I simply must rewatch the whole series. Not only that, but this morning, before going to work, I watched FY's end (which still makes me gasp and squee and faint) and, to my not-so-everlasting shame, I ended up watching the music videos in extras, which I'd already seen before. Well, not all of them, because there are 20+, but the first three (an early events one, a Miaka-Yui-Tamahome one (interestingly it's Miaka who has to chose between the two) and a Tamahome one). Yup, I am a goner.
But watching the scene in the Tamahome video where he breaks through Nakago's magic barrier to get to Miaka (who is about to be painfully offed by Nakago and Yui) made me understand Yui, just a bit. I still think she is a whiny emo kid who needs to pull it together, but I can understand her thinking that it's unfair: Miaka had a good time in this world. She has been the guest of the Emperor. She didn't get raped in the back alleys (though she would have been if Tamahome didn't interfere). For her to have this gorgeous guy willing to do these amazing things for her, Yui probably thinks, is too unfair. If she, Yui, had Tamahome instead, this would even things out a bit.
Of course, what Yui doesn't realize, as she envies Miaka having someone willing to risk everything and do amazing things for her sake, is that she has someone like that. Only in her case, it's not a hot young guy, it's her best friend, Miaka herself. While Miaka has no strength (or need) to break through magic barriers, what she is willing to do to save Yui, and what she does do, is definitely just as huge. But of course Yui is caught up not only in her resentment (when you've had such bad luck, it's not unnatural to be resentful of the lucky ones. Though seeing Miaka's tribulations throughout the show, I'd argue she had more horrible stuff happen to her than Yui, but it's how you deal with the bad things that is most important), but in her desire to be first to someone. To always come first to just one person is tied in with her 'rape' as she thinks that if she is the most important person in the world to someone, that would prove her worth. After all, there is no doubt that for Tamahome, Miaka always comes first, and Yui is frustrated she can't have that. She thought Miaka could be that person, and realizing (wrongly) that she is not first for Miaka, that Tamahome is, is what leads her to go evil completely. (Interesting magical parallel to a very real world situation where long time friends often feel left out when their friend gets a boyfriend). It is a wrong perception, IMO. True, Miaka loves Tamahome. And there is no question that she choses him over Yui later on. But by that point, Yui has gone over to evil and has been approving nasty things that hurt her friends. Even then, Miaka tries to save her. The question that Yui should be thinking about (and what she finally realizes) is that she shouldn't be thinking about 'Does she care about me more than about anyone else?' but 'how much does she care for me?' And, after all, Miaka and Tamahome grow much closer with their shared experiences and Miaka and Yui grow estranged because of their enmity. If she had to pick who is most important to her at the time Yui goes over the Dark Side, I don't think Miaka's answer would have been as clear-cut.
Also, Yui doesn't treasure when she does come first to someone. Because there is a person in FY to whom she is number 1 priority: Suboshi. Yet Yui seems to care for that fact as much as I would for a stick of wood. Ultimately, all of this is just hollow substitute for proper healing for her emotional wounds and getting her head on straight.
So yeah, before I ramble more, I should stop. And yeah. Fushigi Yuugi is crack.
