Fushigi Yûgi.

2005/11/23 03:21

Are you familiar with the shjo manga called Fushigi Yûgi?

It’s over a decade old at this point but still very popular.

I doubt that there’s a woman from my generation who hasn’t heard of it.

Now, I’ve got something I want you to hear about this…

The other day, when I returned home after being out,

I found a large pile of something stacked in my apartment.

Fushigi Yûgi Genbu Kaiden.

Well, well.

It’s a shjo manga

as evidenced by the flowery, fantastic cover art.

Now, if one of my friends was to come over to hang out

and see these objects, it would be a life crisis of various sorts,

so I decided to have their rightful owner, Y-ko, come and retrieve them at once.

Me:.	Um, will you come take these home?
Y-KO:	Huh? What, those? No way.

Oh, you don’t want to take them… Huh?

ME:	Uh, did I just hear you say “no way”?
Y-KO:	Yeah, no way. Leave them here.
ME:	… Uh, well. Gosh. It’s kind of a problem.
Y-KO:	No, it’ll be totally fine. You’re fine, you’re fine.
ME:	It must be an incredibly fine reason for you to repeat that three times.
Y-KO:	I mean, the main character is a futanari.
ME:	Oh, cool. Well, in that case—

Well, in that case… Since it’s just a futanari… Uh…

ME:	No, that is definitely not fine!
Y-KO:	What? Why not? It just means she’s a hermaphrodite.
ME:	But if any of my friends come over and see that, they’ll be totally freaked out!!
Y-KO:	Hmm, actually, I’m not really sure if you’d call the main character a futanari after all.
	It’s a bit more subtle…
ME:	I don’t care if it’s subtle or not, don’t just ignore my side of the conversation!!

A conversation is like playing catch—you have to aim and toss at the other person’s glove!

This is a problem that could completely erode the friendships I have built in my life!

Perhaps my desperate pleas broke through, because she finally gave a sigh of acceptance.

Finally, she began to reveal the truth…

Y-KO:	Okay, fine. You’ve seen the covers for this manga. They’re like, really shjo-y, right?
ME:	Uh, yeah. That much pink is like poison for guys. What about it?

She looked at me like You still don’t get it? and said—

Y-KO:

I just think it’s kind of weird to have that lying around a twentysomething woman’s room, you know?

…

Oh yes. Yes, I do understand.

I understand this very well.

ME:	Okay. I see what you’re saying. But—

Using that logic,

leaving them in a twenty-something man’s room…

Okay, so I admit… Personally, I was a fan of Tasuki from the original series.

And I very nearly cried at the scene where Nuriko dies…

Yes, this is a secret I keep from all my friends.

It’s not something I’d bring up out of the blue.