Fruits Basket Volumes 17-21
Because I had finished the series in Japanese (w/ translations) before I left for Japan (Hell, I even gave an academic paper on it at the Pop Culture Association's annual meeting when it was in Boston), I've taken my time in acquiring back volumes of the series or buying any of it at all since I came back. I think I've also been a little irritated with Takaya-sensei for Hoshi. It's not a bad series, but it doesn't have the sheer AMAZING factor of Fruits Basket. Reading Hoshi has made me think, "well, maybe I've exaggerated my love for Fruits Basket because it was the first series I got hooked on."
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Rereading volumes 17-21 in English these past couple of days has been a beautiful experience. Last night when I finished, I was talking to Hodsthorn about why I think the message of Fruits Basket is so important. First of all, the story is quite clear in stating that every single person has personal demons that plague them--the only variable is how bad they are, not IF they are there. So far, that could describe nearly every shoujo series out there. Where I think Fruits Basket is different is that in the end it required the characters to move beyond themselves. The curse affected the Souma, but the Souma weren't the only characters "cursed" in the story. What you start out with is a whole lot of selfish, self-centered people who are exposed to someone who is unselfish in a rather damaged and tragic way. While she has to learn to be a person who is allowed to have her own happiness and not subsume her will to the "happiness" of those around her, every other character has to learn that making happiness for others is what will bring them to any sort of mental normality. With such a big cast, what's cool about the stories is how every character does have their own path to that point, and it's not as though they all end up saints. No, it's that all the important characters are changed somehow, and I would argue for the better.
Obviously, volume 21 is two volumes from the end, but all the important stuff has been resolved. All that's left is the final breaking of the curse and the resolution of that.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Rereading volumes 17-21 in English these past couple of days has been a beautiful experience. Last night when I finished, I was talking to Hodsthorn about why I think the message of Fruits Basket is so important. First of all, the story is quite clear in stating that every single person has personal demons that plague them--the only variable is how bad they are, not IF they are there. So far, that could describe nearly every shoujo series out there. Where I think Fruits Basket is different is that in the end it required the characters to move beyond themselves. The curse affected the Souma, but the Souma weren't the only characters "cursed" in the story. What you start out with is a whole lot of selfish, self-centered people who are exposed to someone who is unselfish in a rather damaged and tragic way. While she has to learn to be a person who is allowed to have her own happiness and not subsume her will to the "happiness" of those around her, every other character has to learn that making happiness for others is what will bring them to any sort of mental normality. With such a big cast, what's cool about the stories is how every character does have their own path to that point, and it's not as though they all end up saints. No, it's that all the important characters are changed somehow, and I would argue for the better.
Obviously, volume 21 is two volumes from the end, but all the important stuff has been resolved. All that's left is the final breaking of the curse and the resolution of that.