Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden

This one wasn't particularly deep either. But there are definite lines in the sand being drawn. I'm not sure why both girls are so fixated on Tamahome, but he seems to be awfully popular.

This one is a little better than the first one in that we actually get a teeny bit of character development. I'll give it four stars. Miaka's resolve has started to really form and we're starting to learn actual personalities of the characters. The art is consistent with the first book, which is pretty on it's own. They keep referring to Nuriko's sexual preference as a perversion, but that might just be because it's translated that way from Japanese and the translator just went with that for all of it's appearances. It bothers me a little, because I recall really liking Nuriko later in the series.

The characters continue to become deeper and deeper, which is really nice. I had forgotten about the twist with Chiriko/Ameboshi. (This is my second read through of the book.) And the art continues to be lovely.

This is actually my second read through and this book has the first scene I actually remember. The characters' relationships are finally being tested, which is nice. It makes for good character growth. A lot of the relationships are still really shallow, but it's something that can be built upon. The thing I don't get is how Yui could blame Miaka for being raped. Even with the time difference between the book and the real world, there's no way Miaka could have done anything after escaping the book. By the time she got back, Yui would probably have been attacked already and Miaka probably couldn't have done anything. If two hours was months in the world of the old gods, I don't think she would have made it to Yui in time no matter what.

Yui's learning to be careful what she wishes for while Miaka collects her constellations. Six down, one to go! I really love how consistent and pretty the art is. It's very refreshing.

I really feel like the series should have ended with the 13th volume. This just seems like Yuu Watase is stringing on a series that didn't need it. The end of the 13th volume was just a perfect ending. This just taints that.

Finally, the culmination of all the plot lines and all the love triangles and all the character development comes to a climax and the real world becomes the only world. It's great that Tamahome is in the real world now and gets to experience all of that with Miaka.

This one is pretty much just relationship drama. I'm still really bothered by Nuriko getting called a fag all the time, but that might just be the translator again. Still, it makes the story less fun when one of the supporting characters is being put down constantly for being gay/transgendered. (I really do believe that Nuriko would have a sex change if she were in the real world.)

This volume got dark pretty fast and had more heart breaking moments than not. The art is lovely and holds up across the different chapters. I loved all the additional drawings outside of the main story. I can't wait to get my hands on further volumes so I can finish the story.