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Genbu Kaiden was a... breathtaking journey.

Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden is the prequel to Fushigi Yuugi and tells the story of the first Priestess, of Genbu, and the Genbu Seishi (celestial warriors). I had read the original first and while heading into this, expected a similar plot, same atmosphere and copied themes and tropes. But I got sooo much more.

Story: 10
The story is an easy 10. I'm going to try not to compare it too much to the original as it deserves to be its own standalone. The manga starts on our MC Takiko Okuda whose mother has recently died and father hates her. ... She gets transported to the universe of the four gods and immediately meets our male lead, Uruki, who can I just say is a beautifully written character (but more about that later). She journeys to find the seven seishi and encounters many obstacles on her way. At the start it seems more or less like the original but rewinded a few hundred years and modified slightly. It seems all happy-go-lucky and normal. BUT IT REALLY ISN'T. We get some interesting twists. The story takes a deep turn and the themes are mature and we explore some interesting politics of their world and the character relationships are meaningful and the story takes advantage of this. Twists seem planned and not shoe-horned and it all flows perfectly. The thing is though, if you've read the original, you know pretty much everything about the ending, but you don't know HOW it goes up until there and it manages to keep you hooked. And then when you near the end and you know what's gonna happen but you don't want it to... its heartbreaking. It's beautiful.
The story was so articulately written. Watase has come far.

Characters: 10
I give characters a frickin' 20 million out of ten. I can't stress how much I fell in love with them. I cared for them. So. Frickin. Much. One by one. I'm gonna talk about them one by one. First, Takiko Okuda. This is our MC, our Priestess and I can say without second thought that she is the BEST priestess. She becomes the priestess because she was finally needed by someone in her life, not because she wanted the wishes. Heck, she didn't even know about the wishes. She also fights really well with a naginata (like an elongated sword) and her WILL is so strong. Then we have Uruki, or Rimudo, who is has amazing progression. Without spoiling too much, he has a lot on him and meeting Takiko noticeably changes him and when he goes through a traumatic thing, it changes him again. He is just an all-around well written character, props to Watase again. The other characters, Tomite, Hatsui, Inami, Hikitsu, Naname, Haagasu and Temdan are all defined and progressed and clarified through the story. They all have their stories separate to the main plot, and stories THAT MATTER, not just tossed in backstories. They have motivations (not blind obedience, like what happened in the original) and their own trials and relationships. They matter to the story and when things affect them, we CARE. And this matters. Great character writing.

Art: 9
Its clear that Watase tried to change up her drawing to fit the new atmosphere of this series better, but it's also improved in certain aspects, though I'm not really the expert to be saying this. It's funny though, that when I went back to read the cameos of Tomite and Hikitsu in the original, they looked... different. And they look better in their own series, no insults intended to original. Their faces are more shaped and hair positioned more accurately. The drawing was pleasant, never boring and always find the mood as required. No complaints, in fact I enjoyed it a lot. So, 9.

Enjoyment: 10
An obvious 10, seeing as what I've said above. I got so emotionally attached and though I knew the outcome from the outset, it was so gripping, that I forgot for a second what was going to happen. I kinda think revealing the ending from the start almost makes it more precious in a sense. You learn to savour every moment as much as you need to because of it and I thought it was a unique, fun experience. If it wasn't obvious I LOVED IT. And anyone up for a historical fantasy/romance/adventure should totally read this.

Overall: 10
Because it really really deserves it.

This is my first review so, here we go...

This manga was right up my alley. I really enjoy strong female leads, gradual but concrete relationships and relaxing Slice of Life settings, so if you're also interested or like any of those you would like to check it out. The story revolves around Tokeida Airi, her best friend Sahara Taki, her sister Nako and the incidents in their school caused by a mysterious group called F.

The story is not entirely unique. A popular student, a strange group plotting against them. There were enough plot twists to keep my hooked, and most of them were fluid enough ... to make the whole plot seem unforced. Overall, the story was pretty good, so I give it a 7.

The art, though I'm not enough of an expert to be commenting on it, is pretty average. Nothing about it stuck out as extraordinarily good or horribly bad, but that's just me looking from a common person's perspective. So I give this a 7 also.

The characters, were by far my favourite part of the manga. The main characters were well-defined and established. I fell in love with Airi and Taki and their chemistry together and with other characters as well. Airi had multiple sides to her personality and was an even balance of good and bad traits. She was strong physically, brave and determined, but also allowed herself to sometimes shy away from things and mentally collapse in front of Taki. Sometimes, with the side characters, Iseya, Michiru and Hatori, their character progression and changes were very shoe-horned and were quite jarring. However if you can get past that, or are genuinely not concerned about what the side characters do (like me), then you will be fine. I give the characters a 8.

For enjoyment, because I'm that petty kind of person who fan-girls over character relationship progressions, I really enjoyed this manga. It was a fun ride and I was quite sad when I realised I had finished it. It really got me engaged and watching the main couple have fluffy moments or developments gave me a creepy otaku smile. The fluff was VERY well done. Applauds to the mangaka for that. I give enjoyment a 9.

Overall I was very pleased with what I read and I highly reccomend it to anyone who is debating it, or looking for a fluff. So the overall score for this review is a 9.

Pretty good, huh?