The mysteriously stupid play

I got 35 episodes into Fushigi Yuugi before I realized how deeply stupid the heroine is. Mostly it is her fault for being dumb; sometimes the author throws her the Idiot Ball; sometimes the author bends space, time, and plausibility to make the heroine extra-stupid.

I plan to tough it out and watch this stinker to the end. However, unless you’re deeply committed to watching shows about stupid protagonists, don’t waste your time. Learn from my fail.

This is from the same author who gave us Ayashi no Ceres, which was not this bad, and which ended more promptly.

The Mysterious Play

Fushigi Yuugi is actually surprisingly mature in some respects. The characters, unfortunately, are playing catch with an “Idiot Ball.” That is to say, they are fairly normal in mental capacity most of the time, until the plot requires them to make an insanely stupid decision. Whereupon the character in the spotlight catches the Idiot Ball, and proceeds to act like an idiot until some other character is getting too close to plot-wrecking rationality – at which point the ball is thrown and caught.