|
Fushigi Yuugi Miscellaneous:
Love in FY
This essay was posted with
the permission of my good friend (the author),
Stephen Congly. Many thanks go to him for allowing me
to post his wonderful essay! Any questions or comments can be
directed to Stephen. You can also check out his
homepage for other great stuff!
* * * * *
It can be argued that love is the most
commonly cited theme by commentators. This is not at all
surprising since the concept of love has been recognized as being
a necessary part of the human condition. As artistic works serve
as a reflection of the human spirit, it should be expected that
love is an underlying message of many works. Watase Yuu’s work
Fushigi Yuugi is no exception. The theme of love is perhaps the
most prominent of all; one might describe the series as being a
love story between Tamahome and Miaka (though detractors may call
it lust) but by doing so, much would be omitted.
Love appears in different forms in
Fushigi Yuugi. The specific forms that will be discussed include
that of romantic love, apparent one-sided love, the love for
family, aspects of platonic love of the Seishi for their Miko
(though this may blur at times) and finally pseudo-love; feelings
of a false love if you will. These forms will be addressed with
specific reference to the Suzaku and Seiryuu Miko and Seishi.
The romantic form of love, which is what
most people think of first, is the major form of Fushigi Yuugi.
The one relationship that immediately comes to mind, to anyone who
has followed the series, is Miaka and Tamahome; the focus of the
series. Many of the plot events are as a direct result of this
love. This concept is best seen in the character of Miaka.
Throughout the series, Miaka, in her attempts to demonstrate her
love for Tamahome, runs off in spite of the fact that this
actually is harmful to the Suzaku cause. Probably the best example
occurs when Miaka runs off to Kutou by herself so that Tamahome
does not have to risk getting himself hurt. Miaka suffers greatly
due to her need to balance her own personal interests along with
the duties of being Suzaku No Miko; this strain helps to highlight
her character and show her maturing slowly as time progresses.
Complications also result early in the story due to Miaka’s
confused feelings towards Hotohori; there is very likely aspects
of love shared between both Hotohori and Miaka which conflict with
her feelings towards Tamahome. In spite of everything, Miaka and
Tamahome still manage to end up together. Watase may be trying to
illustrate that the dream of meeting the perfect man is possible
and perhaps suggesting that much suffering is necessary for
happiness.
Love for family members plays an
important role in characterization. Nuriko, the two twins, and
Nakago all are affected by the love for their family but in
slightly different ways. Nuriko is affected by family love in the
most unique manner of the four characters mentioned. Nuriko’s love
for Kourin is so strong that he tries to become Kourin in response
to his inability to prevent her death; however, this love is quite
harmful to Nuriko’s psyche. This devotion illustrates the guilt he
feels and furthermore, makes one question where Nuriko’s
personality begins and that of Kourin ends. This conflict in
personality is one of the major struggles that Nuriko has to deal
with which complicates Nuriko’s feelings even more. As time
progresses, Nuriko slowly begins to develop a less harmful love
towards his sister in which he has come to terms with her death;
the effects of this are never totally revealed though due to
Nuriko’s death.
The brotherly love of Amiboshi and
Suboshi is one of the strongest forces in Fushigi Yuugi, save for
Miaka and Tamahome’s love. Even after Amiboshi’s defection, in all
but name, from the Seiryuu Seishi, the two are close. Amiboshi
cares for his younger sibling Suboshi throughout the story and
places Suboshi’s welfare above that of his own. This may be seen
when Amiboshi offers Suboshi the opportunity, which Suboshi
refuses, to forget the pain of the war by drinking the potion.
Later on, Amiboshi donates his body to allow Suboshi to protect
Yui. This is not to say that Suboshi does not have brotherly
concern for Amiboshi though; Suboshi cries at Amiboshi’s apparent
death. Conflict between family and duty arise tearing apart
Suboshi; however, family eventually wins out.
One of the factors that greatly
influences Nakago’s actions is his love for his mother. Nakago was
forcibly parted from his mother at a young age which traumatized
him and caused his Seishi powers to emerge. This trauma has given
Nakago the goal of finally finding a place of his own where he can
get revenge on those who harmed him and his mother. This love for
his mother is not visible as such, but is rather implied through
the memory he holds of her and the fact that all of his resources
are dedicated to achieving his goal; it seems as if this quest is
dedicated to his mother. Nonetheless, it is certain that losing
his mother affected Nakago greatly.
Apparent one-sided love is less visible
than the obvious Miaka/Tamahome pairing, but still are protrusive
throughout Fushigi Yuugi. The key examples are Nuriko and Hotohori;
Soi and Nakago and finally Suboshi and Yui. In each of these
relationships, there is one active party (mentioned first in the
pairings above) and one passive party (who is not interested in
the relationship).
The situation of Nuriko and Hotohori is
perhaps the interesting of the one-sided pairings for the simple
reason is that many have argued that Hotohori is in fact
interested in Nuriko and that it’s not certain whether Nuriko is
truly interested in Hotohori. To support the idea of Hotohori in
fact being sexually interested in Nuriko the argument made is that
Hotohori is being restrained by his role of Emperor and if that
was not in the way, there would be a relationship. However, upon
examination of the series, there appears to be little to no
evidence whatsoever that Hotohori is sexually interested in Nuriko;
Hotohori calls Nuriko attractive, but it should be noted that
Hotohori is probably commenting from an aesthetic point of view;
Hotohori insists that his court must be beautiful. In fact,
Hotohori is attracted to himself although little can be concluded
from this observation. Thus, the Nuriko/Hotohori relationship
should be considered of as being one-sided if Nuriko is truly
sexually attracted to Hotohori. Complexity in Nuriko’s character
is developed by both this apparent relationship and the effects of
Kourin’s death. Is Nuriko expressing his true feelings or
projecting what he feels would be Kourin’s feelings? This answer
to this question is still being discussed; Nuriko’s character is
fairly complex. [1]
In the relationship between Nakago and
Soi, a darker side of love is illustrated. In their relationship,
Soi sacrifices everything in order to make Nakago happy. This
relationship most likely resulted out of an initial sense of
obligation from Soi towards Nakago after he rescued Soi from being
sold into prostitution and eventually became a sense of love which
many today might typically consider flawed. There is a
submissive/dominant relationship between the two that adds depth
to Soi’s character in that she,for the most part, is a very strong
willed woman. Only with her dealings with Nakago is the weaker
facet of her personality illustrated which perhaps indicates that
her usual veneer is just a facade to cover up the trauma she
suffered in the past. Watase invokes a sense of pathos though the
fact that Soi’s feelings towards Nakago are not reciprocated for
the most part; her quest is hopeless. Throughout Fushigi Yuugi,
Soi puts aside her own wishes in order to serve Nakago and might
be considered as being representative of a Madonna/martyr image.
Nakago just seems to take this behaviour for granted almost as if
he expects this treatment. Only at Soi’s death is there any
suggestion of Nakago’s concern for Soi. It seems as if Nakago does
in fact care for Soi, but this care is eclipsed by Nakago’s
personal goals/needs.
Sharing several parallels with the Soi/Nakago
relationship is the Suboshi/Yui one. Again, this seems to be a
hopeless quest in the fact Yui consistently rebuffs Suboshi’s
advances; Yui will never open herself up to Suboshi due to her
somewhat cold personality and in the fact that she is interested
in others. In spite of this, Suboshi maintains his love for her to
the bitter end when effectively dies twice to protect her.
The love of the Seishi for their Miko
does in fact play a fairly large role in the events of Fushigi
Yuugi. The Suzaku Seishi, and to some extent the Seiryuu Seishi do
have a love for their Miko. This love helps to keep the groups
working together and develops some tension due to conflict as a
result of this love. As seen in the relationships between
Hotohori,Tamahome, Miaka and Nuriko, this can lead to serious
conflict such as the duel between Hotohori and Tamahome. This love
for the Seishi by the Miko often leads to confusion among certain
Seishi in attempting to discern their true feeling for the Miko;
examples include Nuriko, Hotohori and Tasuki. It is this same love
for the Miko (though some may be able to argue that it is instead
a love for Suzaku or the other Seishi) that allows four of the
seven Suzaku Seishi to die for Miaka’s cause. This sense of
martyrdom does not seem to apply to the Seiryuu Seishi; the
Seiryuu Seishi are not really attached to their Miko. Watase
typically paints their deaths as being the result of being ‘beaten
by the better’ perhaps suggesting that their deaths were deserved
and hence could be suggesting the importance of loyalty through
their deaths.
The final aspect of love addressed by the
series is that of false love; there are several examples in
Fushigi Yuugi. The earliest example involves Yui and Tamahome; Yui
tries to seduce Tamahome by placing his hand on her breast. This
apparent love by Yui seems real to her at the time, but in reality
is actually false. This action is due to an conscious attempt to
gain revenge upon Miaka for Miaka’s apparent betrayal. However,
Yui also tries to delude herself into believing that the love is
real. This relationship doesn’t qualify to be discussed in the one
sided love section in that it is quite questionable whether Yui
truly has feelings for Tamahome; it seems more as if Tamahome is
just an object to be possessed in Yui’s mind.
It seems as if Yui’s relationship with
Nakago might also be considered a type of pseudo-love. It seems
clear that Yui did not love Nakago as such,though it is apparent
that she does care for him. Yui seems to be using Nakago as a sort
of crutch in order to help come to terms with her trauma, although
Yui somewhat deludes herself into believing she has romantic
feelings for him. Hence, Yui uses Nakago in much the same way that
Nakago uses Yui in order for his dream to be met; love in the
traditional form does not occur between the two.
Before his death, Nuriko proclaims a love
for Miaka to Tamahome but then states that he’ll just let the two
(Miaka and Tamahome) live alone. The question now remains whether
Nuriko truly means this statement. Again, the answer to this
question lies within Nuriko’s sexual orientation; is he just
trying to act to society’s conventions or are his feelings for
Miaka true? There is little evidence in Fushigi Yuugi to
definitively indicate either option as being correct; the matter
is confused further with the difficulty in distinguishing Nuriko
from Kourin. Nuriko’s feelings for Miaka for most of the series
seem to be that of a sister/brother; the turbulence in Nuriko’s
mind is accented by this proclamation, valid or not.
One may argue that Tasuki’s attempt to
have sex with Miaka is indicative of the false/pseudo love idea.
This is not quite the same as in the previous examples because in
this case, Tasuki is influenced by outside powers; however, it
again shows the unconscious desires of the character. Tasuki’s
apparent dislike for women (due to being raised in a household of
strong females) is opposed by his feelings of concern for Miaka.
Tasuki cares for Miaka as a little sister but as demonstrated with
his attack, does have some sexual feelings as well buried
unconsciously. One might be able to interpret Tasuki’s actions
through Freudian analysis on Tasuki, but this is most certainly
over-interpretation.
The final pairing that should be
considered as being an example of false love is that of Kouji/Tasuki.
In spite of what many fanatics of the series may believe, there is
no discernible evidence in Fushigi Yuugi indicating that the two
are romantically attached to each other. It is conceded that the
two are good friends with each other, but it does not logically
follow that there is any sexual relationship. One could use the
circumstantial argument about male/male pairings occurring among
warriors/bandits at the approximate period in China that Fushigi
Yuugi is based on [2] but the case is weak nonetheless. This
relationship is classified as being that of pseudo-love because it
seems that many erroneously interpret this friendship as being
more than a friendship. However, it must be admitted, that there
is still some slight ambiguity in the relationship.
In conclusion, the theme of love
permeates throughout Fushigi Yuugi. Conflict, character
development and plot delineation are all affected by love. Fushigi
Yuugi serves as a reminder to its audience that the traditional
Western form of love (specifically that of romantic) is not the
only form that exists in spite of its prevalence in Western
society today.As the characters deal with love, audience members
can see aspects of themselves and their own personal situations
play out; like it should, art reflects reality.
[1] Please consult the paper “Is Nuriko
Gay?” by Kichiri for a more detailed examination of this issue.
[2] It is noted that Watase did not use a
specific period of history for Fushigi Yuugi.
* * * * *
The contents of this page were
posted with the permission of the author, and may not be copied or
distributed without the approval of
Stephen Congly.
|
