She was my cheerful protector it never occurred to me that she could die (Fruits Basket: Vol. 1 - Natsuki Takaya)

Member Name: chaobreeder16

Product:	Fruits Basket: Vol. 1 - Natsuki Takaya
Date:	19/01/09 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: involving plot,art really easy on the eyes, cute, adictive,lovable characters

Disadvantages: Nothing it is a pleasure to read

"What exactly is fruits basket? It dosent fit into the ordinary manga categories, but then, it's not an ordinary manga. Take two parts drama, one part comedy, add a spoonful of romance a pinch of magic and you're partway there, but... something about fruits basket is special. What that special ingredient is...you'll have to discover for yourself..." Tokyopop manga Los Angeles.

Fruits basket is a great little title initially a shojo or girl manga aimed at the teenage female market it then proceeded to become an anime or Japanese animated tv program with twenty six episodes and became popular among both the female and male otakus or manga enthusiasts a like. This is probably because everyone can identify with the characters in some way or another.

Our main protagonist is a a sixteen year old high school student called Tohru Honda which is quite comical to begin with as the name Tohru is more commonly a boys name.
However her life story is a little more serious and endearing, from the first volume we find out that only a small while ago her mother and only parent died in a car crash and Tohru feels great guilt for this. She states that every day before her mother went to work that she would say goodbye and take care but the morning of the crash she slept in and didn't have a chance to do so.
She was living with her grandfather after this but he needed to renovate his house so that the other side of the family could move in and look after him in his old age leaving Tohru homeless.

She took to living in the forest in a tent so that she could still attend school, a week or so after a young and very handsome man from her class called Yuki Sohma finds out where she is living and him and his older cousin Shigure insists that she lives with them, Tohru turns them down however in the end she has no choice as a landslide envelopes her tent and all her possessions.

After this the story jumps from comedy to philosophy, romance,fantasy,drama and mild violence and gore.

After a series of unusual events including another male cousin (Kyo) falling through the ceiling into Tohru's new room and all three of these very attractive young men turning into various animals, rat cat and dog the mood of the manga seems to lighten greatly.
The Sohma family have a curse that the members from the direct line turn into the 12 animals of the zodiac plus the cat whenever the feel stressed,are very sick or are held by a member of the opposite sex. Then when they transform back they are naked! which results in lots of fan service. However nothing explicit is ever shown and they are largely covered by transformation clouds of smoke.

However every so often one of the older members of the family comes out with a large and occasionally philosophical analysis of the human psyche which is really quite impressive and touching as it relates to every reader. Most of these are also carried through to the TV series also which is why it is so popular.

The characters all have problems which everyone can really identify with and its really easy to sympathize for them, I am not ashamed to admit that at a few points of this series I was in tears as it does move you. Tohru lost a family member, Yuki Sohma suffered bullying from older family members both physical and mental and so dosent really open up to anyone in the beginning, Kyo since he was born in the year of the cat was shunned and isolated from the rest of the family as the cat is not in the Chinese zodiac.

I also liked the fact that in this manga the artist wrote random notes and thoughts about what she is thinking on maybe every ten or so pages along the sides, which lets you get to know the creator also. The back of the book also includes fan work which people have sent in, an interview and descriptions of the Chinese zodiac and the characteristics of the year.

I would say that the cute cover gives an appropriate vibe and the age rating of 13+ is pretty fair,though it dosent represent the seriousness of some of the plot.

The first volume mainly establishes the bond between Tohru, Kyo and Yuki, though it does introduce us to Tohru's rather unusual school friends also and a girl who seems to have claimed Kyo as her fiance though he seems to greatly disagree with this and tries to run away from her a lot. Though the two younger men of the house Kyo and Yuki soon become protectors of Tohru and all three of the teenagers start to have mixed feelings when its time for Tohru to go home.

The artwork is pretty cute and falls in line with the typical shojo girl comic style although this dosent seem to really matter as the plot and and character development is so well done.

This manga reads from right to left like traditional manga but has English text it also contains other Tokyopop Title adverts at the back.

Summary: One of the must reads in manga