Even for its time, it really wasnt very good. A lot of fans make it sound unique due to age but the truth is it was full of tropes even for the mid 90s. We had already seen these characters many times over in 70s and 80s anime/cartoons like Mazinger and Grendizer. The only difference here is they added more romance making it somewhat like a early Disney cartoon but taking place in Asian fantasy rather than Western. The characters however are the same and the plot was extremely shallow and romance groundless.
People look at the 90s as if we didnt have any quality anime prior. One of the best anime of all time (even today) came out of the 90s in Berserk and most of the trope characters in this show came from much earlier anime like Grendizer in the 70s, and Dragonball, Yamato, Macross and Robotech in the 80s. The setting may have changed, but the story has not and in terms of plot and character development, Fushigi Yuugi does a very poor job. Still its not the worst I have ever seen. Tenjou Tenge and Mad Bull are probably up there as the worst of all time for me.
People look at the 90s as if we didnt have any quality anime prior. One of the best anime of all time (even today) came out of the 90s in Berserk and most of the trope characters in this show came from much earlier anime like Grendizer in the 70s, and Dragonball, Yamato, Macross and Robotech in the 80s. The setting may have changed, but the story has not and in terms of plot and character development, Fushigi Yuugi does a very poor job. Still its not the worst I have ever seen. Tenjou Tenge and Mad Bull are probably up there as the worst of all time for me.