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| Tomo of the Seiryuu Seven from Fushigi Yuugi in Anime (left) and Manga (right) format. Identical! |
Quick Info
Seishi Name: Tomo
Real Name : Ruo Chuin
Age : 21
Birthdate : 10/13
Height : 184cm ~ 6'0"
Blood Type : AB
Star Pattern: Libra
Hair color : Greyish-black
Eye color : Brownish-gold
Seishi power: Causing hallucinations and illusions using "shin" (hard clam)
Character : Root
Location of character: Lower right side of abdomen
Occupation: Theatrical Opera Actor and Dancer
Hobbies: Threatening and picking on others. Sadism, but hardly hurts anyone.
Orientation: Gay
Really good Tomo info here: Fandom Wiki -- Tomo Character Page
The Beginnings of a Tomo Fan (lol)
When I was an elementary school kid back in the summer of 1998, I thought Tomo looked unusual with his face paint and outrageous costume. But underneath all of that ridiculous hullabaloo, he had a very calm and beautiful voice (thanks to the amazing voice work of Tobita Nobuo). I could listen to him all day. If anything, that’s probably the reason why I fell in love with him and started to see him more attractive after one episode to the next, even though he was a very evil villain. I also loved his high pony tail and thought his illusionist powers were really cool. And his cackle!!! To be honest, I was very much in love with him. Of course, I didn’t want to admit it because I didn’t want to reveal that I love a bad guy with a really ugly face and stupid outfit (I didn’t know what he looked like underneath all of that getup at the time).
The times I went to Asian Garden Mall (Phước Lộc Thọ) in Garden Grove or the Anime cart at Ontario Mills, I would always ask for Fushigi Yuugi merch. Keep in mind that anime merchandise was a rarity at the time, so I get super excited over those things. Anyway on the surface, it seemed as if I was infatuated by the series. In truth, I just wanted to find things that have Tomo in the picture. The time when I bought a second set of Fushigi Yuugi playing cards at Asian Garden Mall for a whopping $8 (to me as a child I thought that was kinda pricey, also it was 1998 money), I was very much excited that not only one, but two cards, have Tomo in it! I was so happy having to own this set. Out of the 54 cards, my favorite ones have my favorite character in it, naturally. I would listen to my favorite Celtic music (it was my favorite genre at the time) and just stare at these cards everyday for almost about an hour—it probably drove my parents nuts!
And then a few months later I found a third set of FY cards at Asian Garden Mall, all in manga style that were drawn by Yuu Watase (the previous was all in anime style). I looked through the cards and I was in Cloud 9 when I saw Tomo in manga style for the first time. As I flipped through the cards, there’s another picture of Tomo. Of course I had to buy this set too—I was secretly building a Tomo collection!
And then going into South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, there was a video store called Suncoast (not around anymore) that had an issue of Animerica magazine. I flipped through the pages and it had an ad on Fushigi Yuugi. Guess who’s also in this picture? Tomo! Because it was a picture I had never seen before, I had to buy it lol. Yup, building a Tomo collection. Also, this magazine opened new doors for me when checking out on other anime titles.
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| Fushigi Yuugi anime Playing Cards set (I forgot how the box cracked). Miaka on the shimmering cover. Very pretty! |
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| Tomo on a Joker card along with Yui, Nakago, Amiboshi, Suboshi, Soi, Ashitare, and Miboshi. Part of the anime Fushigi Yuugi playing card set. |
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| Tomo looking cool with his Shin shell on an Ace of Hearts card along with Yui, Amiboshi, Suboshi, Soi, Ashitare, Miboshi, Seiryuu and Nakago's blue eyes. Part of the anime Fushigi Yuugi playing card set. |
And then a few months later I found a third set of FY cards at Asian Garden Mall, all in manga style that were drawn by Yuu Watase (the previous was all in anime style). I looked through the cards and I was in Cloud 9 when I saw Tomo in manga style for the first time. As I flipped through the cards, there’s another picture of Tomo. Of course I had to buy this set too—I was secretly building a Tomo collection!
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| Tomo head bust on a 7 spades card along with head busts of Yui, Nakago, Amiboshi, Suboshi, Soi, Ashitare, and Miboshi. Part of the manga Fushigi Yuugi playing card set. |
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| Tomo holding his Shin shell on a 6 hearts card with Nakago and a naked Yui. Part of the manga Fushigi Yuugi playing card set. |
And then going into South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, there was a video store called Suncoast (not around anymore) that had an issue of Animerica magazine. I flipped through the pages and it had an ad on Fushigi Yuugi. Guess who’s also in this picture? Tomo! Because it was a picture I had never seen before, I had to buy it lol. Yup, building a Tomo collection. Also, this magazine opened new doors for me when checking out on other anime titles.
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| Fushigi Yuugi ad. There's TOMO! Also included here are Tamahome, Hotohori, Nuriko, Chichiri, Tasuki, Mitsukake, and Chiriko on the Suzaku side. Seiryuu side with Yui, Nakago, Amiboshi, Suboshi, Soi, Ashitare, and Miboshi. |
I notice at the time that when they made Suzaku/Seiryuu picture counterparts, they either make Nuriko or Chichiri as Tomo’s foil. Chichiri made sense to me at the time because he’s a mage type like Tomo. Nuriko somewhat made sense because Tomo had a soft/effeminate air to him (at the time, I didn’t know he was gay because I was too young and the show wasn’t particularly the most blatant about it).
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| Tomo is Nuriko's foil in these two pictures. |
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| Tomo is Chichiri's foil in these two pictures. |
I've been crushing on Tomo for about a year, and then Final Fantasy came by and that got me super preoccupied...until 2 years later.
The Second Phase of Being a Tomo Fan
The Second Phase of Being a Tomo Fan
Tomo was out of my mind until autumn of 2000 when I rediscovered him on the Internet. Dialing on AOL and visiting anime webrings, I eventually landed on the listing for Fushigi Yuugi fan sites. The first site that I went to and it was a really good one was Tasuki No Miko's Fushigi Yuugi Page. There was a section that has the stats of each character. I clicked on the Tomo one, and read his bio enthusiastically. Wow, I didn’t realize he was only 21 years old (barely legal lol), 4 years younger than Nakago lol. Nevertheless I was still excited to find out more about my favorite anime character at the time. Abandoned as a child? Sad! Raised as a dancer? Wow, I wanna see him dance (I didn’t know what he was supposed to be when I first watched FY)! Shy? How cute! Gay? HOLY SHIT THATS SO COOL!!! Absolutely IN LOVE with NAKAGO?!?!? THAT’S HOT!!! Rivals with Soi (because she also loves Nakago)?!!??!!! How Funny!!!
Because this was the Internet, there was a gratuitous amount of official anime and manga images of Tomo. I was reliving my secret fandom at this point (and I was still just a child during this time). Instead of just getting 1 or 2 tiny pictures at a time, I’m getting a whole bunch all at once on the computer! And his face isn’t the size of a penny on a card!!! I felt like I hit the jackpot and I got to collect them all! The best part was finally having to see his face without that garish makeup and crown! He was absolutely GORGEOUS!!!! Just look at that!
And what is this?! Tomo animated on a funny scene and turned super deformed chibi?!?? What is this?!?!?! It’s the Omake! I wanted to watch it so bad! I wanna see him in comedy relief! And what what what?!?!! He appeared again in the first OVA?!?! Though at the time, I heard it was a major disappointment and it was hella confusing. Plus it wasn’t canon because it had no manga basis. Nevertheless, I was still curious about this and the Omake, but didn’t have the money to buy the vhs tapes/dvds.
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| Tomo and Miboshi having a great time in the Fushigi Yuugi omake. |
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| Tomo in the Fushigi Yuugi OVA. |
Best feeling of all pertaining to this, I was happy that I wasn’t the only one who loved Tomo. There were others out there who have complete crushes on him! There were a couple of fan sites dedicated to him, essays about his character, fanart, fan fiction (that were very good and fun to read), and other great stuff. I especially like the comedic stories. For some reason the fanfic writers like him to be closest with Nakago, Soi, and Miboshi (a lot has to do with the influence of the Omake obviously). Some stories painted him as a sympathetic character (which I thought were great at the time). I’m not going to lie, I think Tomo led me to a precursor to Yaoi lol. A lot of the fan art I’ve seen mostly had him without his makeup (not complaining haha) and paired him with Nakago. Funny thing, even though I was relatively new to the whole Internet thing at the time and was still just a child, I could immediately tell what is considered to be fan material (sites) and what is official. Speaking of sites, check out these neat Tomo shrines (I'm really shook that some of these sites are still extant after 20 years without being archived) :
Tomo No Miko's Fushigi Yuugi Page
Tomo No Miko's Fushigi Yuugi Page
I became Tomo crazy briefly during this time, perhaps for only about 2 months at most...and then life and other fandoms took over my mind from there. Tomo didn't cross my mind until almost 2 decades later.
Third Round, Being an Adult Fan, Personal Analyses Galore
Third Round, Being an Adult Fan, Personal Analyses Galore
My love for Tomo came back this year on February 2019 after watching Fushigi Yuugi again on Amazon Prime. I finally got to watch the Omake and I enjoyed it immensely. I watched the first OVA and it was totally awful lol. I read the Fushigi Yuugi light novel Seiran Den and Tomo was quite amusing in it (still very wicked, but amusing nonetheless). Tomo also made a small appearance in Sanbou Den. Found out that there was a Fushigi Yuugi musical that took place quite recently as of 2018 and I was shook (Tomo looked great!). And what? He's in Fushigi Yuugi: Suzaku Ibun...a VIDEOGAME!!! WHOA!!!! Yup, the love is back, but I cannot say it’s a crush this time—more like a fascination to his character history and personality.
I've been reading up on his character bio again. As an older person now, I didn’t realize how fleshed out his character was (or basically all of the Fushigi Yuugi characters), stating his stats and giving him some sort of backstory. Even for a character that appeared for only 6 episodes in the original anime, he had a relatively rich background story that wasn’t mentioned in the main plot. Or at least it’s relatively rich compared to other anime/manga characters outside of Fushigi Yuugi. Wow, this show isn’t popular anymore, but the lore is rich.
Over the years, it seems that there are some new material of Tomo. A few new artwork made by Watase Yuu, giving him a more softer look due to her evolved style. She even made a 2016 remake of his character—instead of giving him a high long ponytail, she gave him two low hanging hair loops, making him more feminine looking. Watase Yuu mentioned about his flashy ring and that the “hentai” degree has risen in this version (lol). I have to admit, I actually dig this style a lot!
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| Tomo! He looks "softer" here. I realized that those ball things on top of his crown are actually fuzzy like in the actual Beijing Opera costumes. |
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| Seiryuu, Genbu, Byakko, and Suzaku group pic in snazzy suits and dresses (obviously drawn while Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden was still being worked on)! Tomo looks normal and handsome here! LOL at Ashitare being "reformed." Miboshi looks confused ( Byakko Ibun was not published yet). |
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| Neat Seiryuu group shot. Tomo looks "meh" lol. Lineart version here: https://twitter.com/wataseyuu_/status/764813061991440385?s=21 |
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| Yuu Watase's 2016 remake of Tomo! I'm really digging this new look a lot! Twitter source: https://twitter.com/wataseyuu_/status/764835676541980672?s=21 |
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| Super duper awesome Seiryuu group pic that was drawn by Yuu Watase as recent as 2018, mostly to promote the Fushigi Yuugi Musical stage play!!! Twitter source: https://twitter.com/wataseyuu_/status/1055401368691724290?s=21 |
I've also found some old official anime artwork with Tomo in it. I've never seen these before so I might as well post them here. I found them on various FY facebook pages and groups, but I forgot which ones!
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| Suzaku VS Seiryuu. Can you spot Tomo? |
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| Team Seiryuu. Everyone is here except for Ashitare and Miboshi. |
As an older person, I started to have my own interpretations and analyses of Tomo based on what I’ve read about him. Because he was part of a theatrical group, I was thinking that this may be a cliché because a lot of gay men are in theatrics... or at least in an American perspective; it might be different outside of the states. Then again, I'm probably not too far off the mark. Read how Yuu Watase created Tomo here: https://fytomo.blogspot.com/2019/05/how-yuu-watase-created-tomo.html
But yes, I do have my own thoughts about his theatrical background and past, character representation within the Fushigi Yuugi story, importance within the Seiryuu group, the differences between his anime and manga portrayals, his totally evil yet complex personality (for serious, he IS a VERY MESSED UP character), the extent of his powers, his place in the fandom, etc. But I'll discuss all of that in separate entries. Otherwise, I think the below links have some really good analyses:
Tears of Amber
Tomo No Miko -- FY Mysteries
Etherella -- Tomo Character Analysis Page
Etherella -- Nakago Character Analysis Page
Etherella -- Yui Character Analysis Page
Cloud Haven -- Tomo Character Analysis
Fushigi Yuugi - Fire of Suzaku's Wings -- Tomo Character Analysis
https://hated-character.livejournal.com/214407.html
I also joined a very active and popular Fushigi Yuugi Facebook group and really enjoyed the fan content on there. The fans, mostly from the Philippines, are very passionate about this series. I really love the vibe from that group.
What to expect from this blog? Lot's of ramblings on Tomo and other Fushigi Yuugi characters...but mostly of Tomo lol. I'll probably dump some of my fanart here. Funnily enough, even though I’ve been a lifelong artist, I hardly make any fanart of him after all these years. I don’t know why. There will also be some meme-worthy shenanigans here, just to let you know. If anything, I don't know how long my fascination for Tomo will last. I don't intend it to be long, even though it's been close to three months now. But until then, hope readers will enjoy my blog!
Other Great Links (both old and recent)
Fushigi Yuugi on Wikipedia -- Character Focus
Celesstar -- Tomo Character Page
TV Tropes -- Fushigi Yuugi Characters
Tasuki No Miko's Fushigi Yuugi Page
EX Online Anime Magazine
How Yuu Watase Came up with Tomo
Suzaku Ibun Translations
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