Which I never got around to finishing the crappy review I made >.>
Anyways, let's try again, shall we?
---btw, then photobucket stops being a pain, I'll upload pics XD-------
FRUITS BASKET
This endearing tale tells of a vortex of emotions such insecurity, loneliness, betrayal, abuse, depression and love. I love it that anyone is able to relate to one of the characters, because of the depth of realness it contains.
Wiki says
Fruits Basket (フルーツバスケット Furūtsu Basuketto?) is a shōjo manga series created by Natsuki Takaya (pseudonym) serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese Hana to Yume (Flowers and Dreams) magazine, which is published by Hakusensha. It won the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo.
This 23 volumes series is written by Natsuki Takaya. The series spanned from 1999 to 2006, a total of 7 years. There is also a 26 episode anime, which in my opinion is worth watching for the humor it contains, but needs to be followed up by the manga. The anime is was completed when the manga was still on-going, and thus contains an abrupt ending in the midst of volume 8 of the book. Hence, a lot of characterisation and even crucial characters in the series did not managed to make it into the anime.
It starts with the life of Tohru Honda. An orphan, when her mother was killed in a car accident, she moved in with her grandfather. She is shown to be living in a tent and working to support herself when she has to move out when her grandfather's house needed some remodelling work to be done.
Unknownly, she had ventured to camp on Sohma owned property. When she gets discovered, she is offered a spare room in exchange for cooking and housework by Yuki Sohma (her classmate) and Shigure Sohma (a distant cousin of Yuki's). Kyou Sohma soon joins them in the house.
She then stumbles upon a deep dark family secret in which the 3 Sohma are a part of. A curse of the 13 jyuunishis. (zodiac) The usual 12 animals and the outcasted cat. The bond in which the curse weaves upon them and their God.
13 members of the Sohma family are possessed with the spirit of the 12 zodiac and the cat. When hugged by an opposite gender, they will turn into the animals they are possessed with.
Isolated by constantly maintaning a safe distance between them and other people, most of the jyuunishis are emotionally insecure and are unable to learn how to express themselves.
The title, Fruits Basket is further illustrated by the main character, Tohru.
The series is named after a game, Fruits Basket, in which everyone sits in a circle, and the leader of the game names each person after a type of fruit; when the name of a child's fruit is called, that child gets up and has to find a new seat. When Tohru first played this game in kindergarten, she was assigned "Onigiri" (rice ball), which was fine with her, since she always thought that onigiris are delicious. However, everyone but her was called, and she was the only one left sitting when she realized that an onigiri isn't a fruit and that she'd never be called. She was purposefully excluded from the game; another of the mean tricks that other kids used to pull on her. She realizes that an onigiri can never belong in a Fruits Basket. Then Tohru starts feeling like she belongs in the Sohma clan. There is one part where onigiri is called and she runs up to play with her classmates. It means she starts feeling like she isn't the onigiri that is left out, but somebody that actually has a place where she belongs, hence the name Fruits Basket.
~ wikipedia
How symbolical that Tohru would become the very person who will provide the other jyunishis a place they will belong. As unrealistic as it is, to have a person who is also Goddess-like in her willingness to accept everything and everyone, she becomes the light of their lives.
Also, there is that constant love triangle between Tohru, Yuki and Kyou. A triangle which provides both pairings equal lovey dovey scenes, which will have you rooting for one couple or the other. It is only solved much much later in the series. =P
The art is very clean and neat. Not your usual shoujo art, with bright sparkly eyes, nopes. In fact, Takaya sensei has a very distinguishable art. You'll also notice the difference in her artwork as the series progresses, because she underwent a hand surgery during that period.
Each character has their own distinct style of clothing, and you can notice the various fashions as you read on. It's amazing, how much effort is put into designing new clothes, as the characters never seem to be wearing the same thing each time.
I love the fact that Takaya sensei made the effort to show us how much the characters grow from who they were before. Not only do they learn to love and be loved, they also matured in terms of age. this can be seen by the change in clothings and height as the series progresses.
There are various other characters, other than the jyuunishis, and all of them play a part in the story. You'll grow to love the other couples which emerges from the story as you read on the understand their past.
It is the sense of reality that we share with the characters. There are a lot of sad scenes in the story, which will make you feel like crying. I would know, because I actually did cry. ;o; But don't worry, there is an equal amount of joyful scenes as well.
I've followed this story from 2002. A total of 5 years, seriously. Much thank you for Reiki for intro-ing it to me. XD Because I love this story so so much.
I joined a forum because of the series and even though that forum is now gone, it was a life changing experience, because I met a lot of friends there. Truly memorable, even as I've lost contact with them.
PS- Did you know my nick originated from this series? XD Well, now you do.
PSS- The opening and ending song of the anime is sung by the late Ritsuko Okazaki
TIME (magazine): What do you want your readers to feel or understand from reading your manga?
NT (Natsuki Takaya): Above and beyond drawing my creations, I try to incorporate some kind of message. I try not to end as merely a question but try to provide a conclusion within the work. Furthermore, I try not to supplement this understanding outside of the work. This is because I believe that readers are free to respond to the work in their own way and that this is part of the pleasure... Of course, there are unintended misunderstandings and the occasional thing that completely confuses, but as much as possible, I want to value the sensitivity of all readers.
from this interview
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