Due to the incredibly cliched start, I tried this series twice before I was finally hooked into it. The book adaptation failed to impress and the first episode exasperated me. However, if I had let that stop me, I would have missed out on an incredibly creative and inspiring anime. To see the treasure, you must be patient. In the end my complaint is that it does not go on long enough (there is one character in particular whose fate is painfully ambiguous ---- luckily there is the book series). When all is said and done, the stories will haunt you.

In particular, I would recommend this anime to those who are fans of the movie The Last Unicorn, Saiunkoku Monogatari, Inuyasha, Robin McKinley, Tamora Pierce, Anne McCaffrey, or Mercedes Lackey. It has a very strong "best of 90's romantic fantasy" vibe (see this post for a definition). The music is likewise nostalgic. Trust me, you won't get to them right away, but there are MAGICAL UNICORNS. And how. It gets deliciously weird.

True to genre, Youko starts out an innocently childish, weak heroine thrust into a strange and frightening situation beyond her understanding....and she remains that way for some time. But what is remarkable about this story is how seriously it takes Youko's confusion and helplessness as a stranger in a hostile and alien feudal land. Nothing comes easily to her or her modern companions. The danger and difficulty is real. Youko isn't rescued. Indeed, her first task is to rescue the very man who delivered her call to action! After a period of being taunted and harried by her fears, Youko deliberately sets them aside to face her challenge, and grows mentally and physically strong. She finds her place and fights for it. As she did so, my respect for her as a character grew and grew.

Youko kicks off the series, but she is not the only protagonist in this strange world. If you can't stand her story, skip ahead and go back for her later. The "stranger in a strange land" theme permeates the entire work. Youko is a literal foreigner, but the series explores several other characters whose position to their society and the world around them is equally fraught due to their position or birth and their own psychology. Circumstances are one thing; how one responds to and the attitude one brings to those circumstances is quite another, and can make the difference between a bitter life and a hopeful life. Not all endings are happy, but that is precisely what makes this series' treatment of the theme such a satisfying and compelling exploration.