Review: Fruits Basket

Read Fruits Basket here

G'day mates! (*Please comment on this post once you've read it!*)

Fruits Basket is a very popular shoujo* manga that was even made into an anime. The anime is only 26 episodes while the manga is 23 volumes, so some of the characters that appear in the manga don't appear in the anime and it has a different ending from the manga. I rarely watch anime, so this review is about the manga.

Summary:
Fruits Basket is the story of a ridiculously cheerful and good-natured girl named Tohru Honda. After the death of her mother and some other circumstances, she is living alone in a tent and ends up taking shelter in the house of Shigure and Yuki Sohma. Yuki is the famous "prince" of her high school and she is excited yet shy to be living with him, but she doesn't expect to uncover a major secret -- the Sohma family is under a curse! Some members are possessed with the spirit of zodiac animals, and turn into those animals when physically weakened or when hugged by a member of the opposite sex! The story documents Tohru's encounters with the members of the zodiac and other characters, as she learns of the terrible implications of the curse and works to break it (falling in love along the way, of course!).

Yuki the rat and Kyo the cat. Our 2 possible love interests ;)

Characters:
Tohru is a little bit of an airhead, but she is so nice and kindhearted I want to protect her instead of smacking some sense into her. Her sugary-sweet outlook on life can be a bit grating on the nerves if you don't like the Pollyanna* type of personality, but the premise of the story is that her pure heart ends up being the key to break the curse. This series goes on for 23 volumes and there are a lot of characters, but let it suffice to say that they are all presented as flawed and/or complex enough that they end up being believable. They are all struggling with inner demons, even Tohru, but everything is presented well enough that you end up sympathizing with their angst rather than rolling your eyes at the overkill. With so many characters, you would think there'd be trouble keeping them all straight, but they really do have individual personalities and any lapses in memory will definitely not last.

Story:
In one word: melodramatic. I've honestly never seen such a cast of characters with painful histories caused by neglectful, cruel or dead parents, domestic abuse, bullying at school, and even more. How do so many unhappy people end up crossing one another's paths, and how does Tohru have enough kindness of spirit to accept and heal everyone else's problems while overcoming her own? While each character's individual troubles are believable, when placed in the context of the larger story it seems sort of improbable that so much unhappiness can exist in the same place. There are a lot of side plots woven into the main story, and that can be a recipe for disaster if done poorly. Fortunately, each side plot is addressed and explained in a way that I'm not left wondering about what happened to any of the characters at the end of the story. The character backgrounds are quite well presented, and in the end I do feel satisfied with how things turned out. The one complaint I have in this story is the explanation of how the curse was finally broken. The manga states that "when one who was never loved is loved, that promise made long ago nears its end". This might be enough justification for some, but since I like my mysteries all wrapped up I checked Wikipedia and you can see the explanation here. (Don't click that link until you've finished the story!)

What a cast of characters!

Overall:
As a final word: this manga is about humans and relationships. While the final aim of the story is the breaking of the curse, the real meaning comes from observing how the characters interact with one another and how their relationships develop and mature. The numerous side stories are not deviations from the main plot, but instead provide explanation of each character's motivations, emotions and how they got to be where they are now. With that in mind, if you choose to read it, please be patient as the story meanders along and wait for your questions to be answered in due time. Don't skip ahead to see what's happening next, and definitely don't read any spoilers! In the end, you will be rewarded with a warm fuzzy feeling and a general sense of goodwill and benevolence towards the entire universe ;)


Happy reading, and talk to you on Monday (don't forget to comment on this post!)


*shoujo: Japanese for "girl, this demographic indicates girls between 12-25. Shoujo manga refers to manga written towards that demographic.
*A super-optimistic person, who is cheerful and forgiving even in the worst of circumstances. For further explanation, see this TV Tropes Page