Fruits Basket Manga
Fruits Basket
by Natsuki Takaya
Status: Complete
myCollect: 20 books out of 23
Genre: Shojo/Supernatural/Drama
edited: 12 Sept 2008
I definitely want the whole series. I finished reading it online. Now that I know the story, the end to the mystery and the conclusion... I want to go back and read it!! Natsuki Takaya is super talented. The story was laid out well, with foreshadowing and surprises around every corner.
Fruits Basket -- or Furuba -- could be described as a story about being alone. It was also an excellent way to show that things aren't always what they seem. I can see this title helping many messed up and lonely teens realise they are not the only ones with problems. Despite the story's supernatural premise, at some point in the book, we and the characters learn about people in the 'real world', or "outside". An understanding is reached that bad things happen even to those who aren't held under true supernatural curses. And misunderstandings are a way of changing and growing and learning to look beyond yourself. Furuba wasn't too angsty and the art was excellent (nothing to compare to Minekura's pretty boyz, but still good ;-) )
Cast of characters: The main characters are Tohru Honda - a high school student a little klutzy and recently orphaned, Yuki Sohma and Kyo Sohma - cousins who are cursed and also do not get along, both the same age and year in school with Tohru, she lives in a house with these two and starts to heal their broken souls, and Shigure Sohma - 27-year-old owner of the house these four live in, also cursed, also being slowly healed. These four live in the same house and their interactions pull out nearly every emotion over the entire course of the series. But there is more: Tohru's two best friends, Arisa Uotani (a "Yankee thug") and Saki Hanajima (a "psychic freak"), who protect Tohru fiercely because she saved each of them from various situations. The other members of the cursed family of Sohma, many of whom also become friends with Tohru, appear with regularity throughout. It is because of this family that the story exists. More emotions than can be imagined get tugged and pulled and abused.
What it did to me?
Made me turn into a teenage girl that I never was ;-) Yeah, I fell for it all hook, line and sinker. Sucker. ... but I have to say, they hooked me with "I Love the Cat" >^,,^