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Fushigi Yuugi
Miscellaneous:
Tragedy in Fushigi Yuugi
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!
Stephen-kun gave this essay to Sharla-chan
for a Christmas present. Because of its nature as a gift, this may
not be posted elsewhere without the permission of BOTH Stephen and
Sharla-chan. Thank you!
For Sharla-dono
Stephen Congly
Historically, plays have
been classified into three major groups: comedy, history and
tragedy; comedy and tragedy being the two more prevalent classes.
Watase Yu's work Fushigi Yuugi reflects this trend; there are
elements of both comedy and tragedy in the work. However, it seems
as if tragedy is the more prevalent of the two modes in this
"mysterious play."[1]
Every major character that deals with Miaka or Yui suffers through
tragedy including, but not limited to death. In addition, a fair
number of the seishi,[2]
as indicated throughout, suffer tragic events in the actions
preceding the story. Tragedy and its effects punctuate Fushigi
Yuugi.
This paper will try and
examine tragedy in Fushigi Yuugi through a systematic examination
of the characters that most experience tragedy. Particular
emphasis will be placed on the unifying aspect of the tragedy
(where applicable) as well as how the tragedy is used to affect
the characterisation. As one would expect from a paper of this
sort, spoilers will undoubtedly abound. Reader discretion is
advised.
As the entire story revolves
around Yuuki Miaka, it should be no real surprise that tragedy
does as well. She, like Yui, is tossed into a world resembling
ancient China and is quickly forced to effectively make a decision
between Konan and her own wishes; state vs. the individual. It is
somewhat tragic, that due to circumstances, a young girl is forced
into such a position. Miaka chooses Konan and to become Suzaku No
Miko albeit for less than altruistic motives. As time progresses,
this fateful decision helps illustrate the development in Miaka's
character; she is able to see the larger picture and is willing to
sacrifice her love for Tamahome in order to save Konan as
demonstrated by Miaka attempting to isolate herself from
Tamahome's love.
Some would probably consider
the fact that Miaka is frequently separated from Tamahome as being
indicative of tragedy while others obtain great amusement at these
events. Nonetheless, it seems quite clear that Watase feels that
Miaka and Tamahome have a "true romantic love"; hence, this
parting should really be considered tragic. One may note that
cynics feel that Miaka's love is based on her thighs rather than
her heart. If one accepts this interpretation, it is clear that
the separation would probably be even more tragic for Miaka. There
are two effects as a result of these separations. Firstly, both
Tamahome and Miaka become stronger by their separations since
these help mature the two from their original personalities at the
start of the story. Secondly, the love between the two is
strengthened. One never truly can value what one has until it is
lost; departure in this case makes the heart grow fonder.
The final aspect of tragedy
directly affecting Miaka is her schism with Yui. Yui and Miaka
have been childhood friends for many years. However, the events
that take place crush the once vibrant friendship; this is a minor
tragedy. Miaka is devastated by the friendship crumbling and it
seems possible, but not necessarily probable, that Yui harbours
similar feelings. Miaka always maintains the belief that she and
Yui can be friends up until the very end; this demonstrates
Miaka's tenacity. After the situation is resolved, Miaka and Yui's
friendship is stronger than before due to Miaka's refusal to let
the friendship die; the tragedies faced draw Yui and Miaka closer
together.
Tamahome suffers through two
major types of tragedy. The first type is the continual separation
from Miaka forced upon him. The effects of this tragedy have been
discussed above. The more significant tragedy that Tamahome has to
face is the violent deaths of his family members at the hands of
Suboshi. This event utterly devastates Tamahome who is overcome
with a sense of guilt; his family dies because of him. These
deaths strike hard in Tamahome's conscience; he feels responsible.
As a result of this event, Tamahome's hatred towards the Seiryuu
Seishi, especially Nakago and Suboshi, is fixed. Additional
repercussions of this event are that Tamahome is able to tap into
his "second level" of chi energy (as shown by the kanji for
Tamahome appearing on his forehead in cursive) during his fight
with Suboshi. Directly related to this event is the first
indication that Tamahome is able/willing to use lethal force.
Without Soi's intervention, it seems as if, from the evidence
given, that Suboshi would be dead. As well, the relationship
between Miaka and Tamahome is strengthened even more than it
already is; the two draw closer to each other for comfort since
Miaka appears to serve as a mother figure when Yuiren is ill.
The situation facing
Hotohori and Nuriko possibly lends itself to tragedy. Firstly, the
conflict that the two face over Miaka by its very nature leads to
there being only one winner (barring any unusual twists). It is
somewhat tragic that there is no possible resolution without there
being hurt coming to the various parties involved. However, both
Hotohori and Nuriko mature from Miaka's technical rebuff of the
romantic interests of the two. The two progress in their
development by obtaining a greater understanding of what exactly
their feelings are towards Miaka. Through this, it may be possible
that Hotohori and Nuriko better understand love. Secondly, there
is possible tragedy in the interaction between Hotohori and Nuriko.
However, to see this aspect, one must interpret there being a
romantic interest between the two. For the sake of argument, this
paper will accept this interpretation. The fact that the two are
unable to really have a relationship due to society's expectations
could easily be taken to be tragic. It is very difficult to
observe any real effect on the two as a result of this particular
tragedy. Most likely, both Hotohori and Nuriko mature as
characters and possibly understand the nature of love somewhat
better. The latter is possibly a reasonable conclusion judging
from the actions of the two (Nuriko's claim of love for Miaka and
Hotohori's marriage to Houki). Again, it should be noted that
there is a significant of debate over the nature of Nuriko and
Hotohori's relationship. A more detailed discussion of this issue
is presented in "Love in Fushigi Yuugi." [3]
During the story, the Suzaku
seishi are faced with losses among their own ranks. At the end,
4/7 of the Suzaku seishi have perished: Chichiri, Tasuki and
Tamahome remain. As each seishi dies, the remaining seishi are
emotionally and mentally hurt/strained by the loss. The two
general effects of the deaths are strengthening the characters by
their ability to cope with the loss as well as increasing their
resolve to continue the war against the Seiryuu. A sideline effect
is for the Suzaku Seishi to draw closer to each other for the most
part. This is probably to be expected; support groups have
consistently been seen to be effective in dealing with tragedy.
The one who undoubtedly suffers the most is Miaka who is guilt
stricken, as seen throughout, at having the seishi's deaths on her
head; the seishi die to protect her and her cause. Miaka and the
effects of tragedy on her are discussed above.
Tragedy for the characters
is not only limited to the events of Fushigi Yuugi; the action
preceding the story also holds tragedy. Most of the Suzaku Seishi
face tragedy before the story even begins. The two elder seishi,
namely Mitsukake and Chichiri both lose their lovers in tragic
circumstances (Shouka dies due to illness and Kouran is swept away
by a flood). As well, these two both lose family due to a flood.
Chichiri and Mitsukake are not the only characters to lose a loved
one in the action preceding. Hotohori loses both of his parents,
Tamahome loses his mother while Nuriko loses his sister. This
shared type of tragedy possibly draws the seishi together although
it is unclear as to whether this is intentional on the part of
Watase.
Another type of tragedy the
characters face in the events preceding is the loss of childhood.
Tamahome and Hotohori are forced to assume large responsibilities
at a young age. Tamahome is forced to provide for his family due
to his father's illness while Hotohori is forced to take over the
throne of Konan. Of the two, Hotohori loses the most of his
childhood; he deals with court intrigue and a manipulative mother;
his life is the state's from an early age. Watase supports this
idea in the manga.[4]
Finally, in the eyes of some, Tasuki's formative years in a
household dominated by strong women might be tragic; however, the
effects of this experience are quite apparent. Tasuki exhibits a
misogynist like attitude although one could debate whether this
attitude is a façade or not. All of the tragedy faced in the
action preceding seems to have one major effect: it hardens the
characters and destroys any final vestiges of naivete. One could
argue that these tragedies were designed (designed being the key
word) to prepare the Suzaku Seishi for their war with the Seiryuu,
but there is no evidence to suggest this is the case.
An aspect of Watase's
writing in Fushigi Yuugi is that the 'villains', as presented in
the Seiryuu Seishi invoke a sense of pathos in the work. These
individuals suffer tragedy in the work and in the events
preceding. It is quite easy to argue that of the two sides
presented, the Seiryuu characters experience more tragedy although
the tragedy has less of an overall effect on the characters.
The first Seiryuu character
that is always thought of regarding tragedy is Nakago. In the
action preceding the story, Nakago watches his mother being raped,
kills his mother through his chi blast and is most likely sexually
abused by the Kutou emperor at a tender young age. This affects
Nakago significantly; his whole agenda is as a result of these
tragic events of his life. It could be argued that the only reason
that Nakago is the de facto leader of the Seiryuu is to accomplish
his two goals: to obtain a safe place for himself and to humiliate
and kill the Kutou emperor; he probably could not accomplish these
goals any other way. These events in the action preceding have
hardened Nakago to the world. One could see tragic elements in the
fact that Nakago did not obtain the place he desired. Nakago takes
this turn of events pragmatically as he does his death.
Soi, when compared to Nakago,
generally suffers a lower level of tragedy that he does. In the
action preceding, Soi is forced to turn to prostitution as a child
to survive until Nakago rescues her. In the present, Nakago
apparently does not reciprocate Soi's utter devotion/loyalty/love
to him. Instead, Nakago uses Soi's body as a tool and seems to
consider her more an object than a person. Finally, and perhaps
most significantly of all, Soi dies to save her love Nakago. One
does not really see the effects of Soi's childhood experiences in
her character (other than the devotion to Nakago) due to the fact
that her personality is very guarded; it is probable that this
facet is in fact a result of her experiences though.
It is obvious that Yui's
experiences in the "Universe of the Four Gods" have significant
tragic elements. Firstly, on her second entry into the universe,
she is accosted and she believes raped by a group of men. Filled
with shame, Yui attempts to take her life until Nakago stops her.
As a result of this event and Nakago's suggestions, Yui believes
that Miaka is to blame for Yui's misfortunes (which may have some
merit, but that is a different argument altogether). Hence, Yui
and Miaka become sworn enemies, which is tragic, for reasons that
are mentioned above. The major effect of all of this tragedy on
Yui, when all is said and done, is that she realises just how
loyal Miaka is as a friend as well as appreciating the value of
friendship more.
Tragedy plays a very minor
role in the life of Ashitare. He is considered like an animal by
essentially everyone and is treated like one by Nakago as seen
through Nakago's whipping of Ashitare. It is somewhat saddening
that a person/thing is judged on its appearance rather than on its
character. However, it should be considered that Ashitare
expresses/has little personality; he is more animal than human.
Normally, other than his
death, it seems as if there is little tragedy in Tomo's life.
However, a recent paper by S. Laird[5]
presents circumstantial evidence suggesting that Tomo, in the
action preceding, is abused as a child. The crux of Laird's
argument is that many of Tomo's characteristics seem to be
directly connected to childhood abuse including the ideas that
Tomo's makeup is a mask to separate himself from his feelings as
well as Tomo's controlled actions. A commentator wishing to
examine this issue further should take great caution: if an idea
is not stated or demonstrated directly anywhere (in the work, or
by the author), it is speculation. Literary analysis does not
permit speculation in criticism.
In comparison to the Seiryuu
Seishi, the Suzaku Seishi do thrice as well concerning survival
rates; only Amiboshi survives the Konan vs. Kutou war for the
Seiryuu side. Typically, there seems to be really no effect on the
other Seiryuu Seishi when one of their members dies. Unlike the
Suzaku side, there is no coming together. No one shows any real
emotion with two exceptions: Nakago at Soi's death as shown by him
carrying her body and Amiboshi at his brother's death as seen by
Amiboshi seemingly losing a part of himself.
The last pair of characters
that are affected by elements of tragedy are Miisu and Ren. First
of all, their love for each other can never be. This is because
they are brother and sister and incest is taboo in almost every
culture in the world. More tragic though is the fact that the two
are coerced into evil by Tenkou who uses them as if they are
disposable objects. In the end, Tenkou shows great amusement in
killing the two; it is very saddening for humans to be used as
objects instead of being treated like people.
In conclusion, tragedy plays
an overwhelming role in Fushigi Yuugi. Through the tragedy, the
characters are transformed irrevocably as a result of dealing with
the tragedy. Almost every major character is affected by tragedy
in one form or another with many suffering tragedy in the action
preceding. Tragedy, through the waste of human lives is also used
by Watase to illustrate the folly of war. Again, it is very clear
that tragedy is one of the foundations to the plot of Fushigi
Yuugi.
* * * * *
1 It is
noted that 'yuugi' should be translated in the context of playing
a game; however, many use this interpretation of play and it seems
to fit well.
2 This contraction of "shichiseishi" will be used
throughout.
3 Congly S.E. (2000). "Love in Fushigi Yuugi"
<http://congly.freeservers.com/anime/fy/lovefy.htm>
4 Watase Yu. "Fushigi Yuugi" trans. Yuji Oniki in
Animerica Extra 3(6) June 2000, 108.
5 Laird S. (2000). "An Essay about Tomo" E-mailed
to fyml@fushigiyuugi.com; fyfan@egroups.com 12 May 2000. This
paper takes as its inspiration the paper "Virginity of Trowa"
<http://www.trowa.net/analysis/analysis1.html> (mentioned by
request of S. Laird).
* * * * *
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 and Sharla-chan.
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