Me: A mostly rational human being, who's been reading manga now for over 23 years.

Me as a Teenager reading Fushigi Yugi (OG): Pain. Food. Pain. Oh you really liked that character? More pain. Nope them too. PAIN FOR ALL. Maybe a cute moment at the end here, but not for the characters you liked.

Me as a 20something reading Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden: Fluffy! Cute! PAIN PAIN PAIN cute family moment did you really think this would last PAIN PAIN PAIN

Me as a 30something reading Fushigi Yugi Byakko Senki: Awww look how cute that gloomy child is. Surely she will be protected she's so young! PAIN. Ok but now she should be better right...oh shit she's a teenager...ok how much Pain should I expect? ;-;

Friends welcome back to the Universe of Four Gods, which is the third series in the FY Universe, but is actually chronically the adventures of the 2nd Priestess to come into the book. As always we were spoiled for what happens to Suzuno and her Celestial Warriors in the original FY series (spoiler: it ends badly! because only Miako got to have her cake and literally eat it too), but much like Genbu Kaiden (which is still my favorite) this is really more about the journey, not the destination.

Watase is doing what any fantasy author worth their ink does - she's embellishing upon previously known world lore to give her fans a bit more depth. And like many of the fantasy authors I've adored for years, her later efforts have proven FAR MORE INTERESTING in terms of characters.

I'm sorry I can't help it, I really have such a grudge against Tamahome and Miaka and truly Nuriko deserved better.

ANYHOW this is a review, not a dissertation on how much I think Miaka didn't deserve the happy ending she somehow manage to get. the overwhelming bitterness I feel here

For new readers this works about 70% of the time. The only things they miss out on are the who Takiko (and her father) are and her adventures (especially WHY her father took the drastic steps he did) as well as who Suzu (her father) and later the doctor are in relation to Taki's story.

For everyone else, Suzu is a very different sort of girl from Taki, Miaka or Yui. I wouldn't say she's passive so much as she had been pretty sheltered. Having been drawn into the World of Four Gods so young originally, and under such duress, it didn't help matters. She's prone towards gloomy self flagellation though of the verbal kind. She takes things VERY sensitively, though this isn't a product of her experience in the Book so much as apparently just a facet of her personality (she's like Ritsu, from Fruits Basket, if you get that reference).

Though its not here, nor do I remember it being available translated, who Ning-lan is (and who she crosses over with from the original FY series) is a fascinating one-shot. It also goes a long way to explaining her thought process here. They hint at some of what she had to deal with, but I think the bulk of her circumstances will be explained later (like when we learned about Nakago) and I sincerely hope she doesn't turn out to be...well awful. Redemption! PLEASE.

The art is, as always, beautiful and clean and detailed in the way that Watase's artwork is. Even when depicting an Earthquake that rocked Tokyo in the early 20th century or when Ning-lan decides to get her man-eating tendencies on. We learn relatively little about who is on the right side of history this time around - the ones who find Ning-lan and Suzu (Kasal and his brother Karm) belong to a group called the "Crow People" and are generally considered brigands. Obvious Racism is Obvious in this case however as the folk decrying Kasal and Karm's people are clearly the superior force while the so-called brigands are forced to live in the desert.

Overall, I'm so glad to have Watase back in my life. While I eagerly await Arata's return (they relaunched the unfinished series, which Watase explains is more of a re-imagining, then a continuation of the original story) and I attempt to not destroy my Genbu Kaiden volumes, I can't wait to see what Suzu's journey takes her.
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