Fruits Basket (Japanese: フルーツバスケット Hepburn: Furūtsu Basuketto), sometimes abbreviated Furuba or Fruba (フルバ), is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese magazine Hana to Yume, published by Hakusensha, from 1998 to 2006. The series’ title comes from the name of a popular game played in Japanese elementary schools, which is alluded to in the series.
Summary : Tooru Honda is a high school freshman who is having a serious bout of misfortune. Not only was she recently orphaned with the tragedy of her mother’s death, but she also has nowhere to live and is currently residing in a tent! However, when her luck seems to be at its worst, she meets the Souma family and is invited to stay with them in exchange for taking care of the household chores.But it isn’t long before Tooru discovers the Soumas have a deep secret: the family is cursed by the spirits of the Chinese Zodiac, and some of the children born into the Souma family are possessed by these spirits. When possessed, they cannot embrace the opposite sex, or they transform into their respective Zodiac animal! Tooru promises to keep their secret and continues living with them, and her kind nature gravitates the Soumas to her. But the closer she gets, the deeper she becomes entangled in their true “curse”…
All Chapters
Title: Fruits Basketフルーツバスケット
Mangaka: Natsuki Takaya 高屋 奈月
US Publisher: Formerly TokyoPop, now Yen Press
Status: Complete.
Fruits Basket is a shoujo manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya.It first ran in Hakusensha's Hana to Yume magazine from July 1998 to November 2006. After the death of her mother, young Tohru Honda has been secretly living on her own in a tent.
Level: Middle School, High School
Fruits Basket was THE Shoujo manga that definied all other Shoujo mangas for me. I especially liked the insight you got into the characters, that the anime didn't quite pull off. The characters were rich in spirit, and you don't see a lot of that in manga today. Tohru Honda, an orphaned high school girl, is taken in by the wealthy Shigure Sohma when he realizes she has nowhere else to go. However, the Sohma family shares a secret, and it isn't long before Tohru discovers that there's a reason why her classmates, Yuki and Kyo Sohma, never let girls get near them, and never talk about. Despite a slow manga market, Fruits Basket remained the second highest overall selling manga series among the Bookscan companies in 2007. The final volume of the English adaptation was a New York Times manga bestseller from June 28 through July 25, moving from #2 to #1 in the list in the week of July 19–25.
Reader’s Advisory Tags: Grief, abuse.
Anime: 2001: Funimation, Hulu.
Manga Fruit Basket Indonesia
2019: Funimation, Crunchyroll.
Content Warnings: Discussions of mental and physical abuse.
Fruits Basket, commonly referred to as Furuba (フルバ), is one of the most beloved manga of all time. Like Ouran, Furuba is one of my absolute favorite manga series of all time, and one that I think is essential to a good manga collection. I thought now was the time to talk about Furuba because the new anime has just started airing in simulcast, so school librarians may get an influx of requests for it.
The premise of Furuba is initially relatively simple, but the manga has a complexity and undercurrent that really makes for compelling storytelling. It also has one of the most satisfying conclusions I’ve seen in a manga.
Tohru Honda is a young girl who has recently lost her beloved mother in an accident. When her paternal grandfather, her guardian, needs to live with his family while his home is being renovated, he asks her to stay with friends. Not wanting her friends to worry or be put into a difficult spot, Tohru opts to live out of a tent. The land she chooses to stay on turns out to belong to the Sohma family. Yuki Sohma is Tohru’s classmate, and he and his cousin Shigure live in the house on the property. When Tohru’s tent is buried in a landslide, they offer to let her stay in exchange for doing the cooking and cleaning (something they hate and Tohru loves). Tohru’s such a polite young girl they don’t have to worry about her hugging them out of nowhere- something they are desperate to avoid.
It’s all going very smoothly until Kyo Sohma bursts in through the ceiling, demanding to fight Yuki. Tohru goes to stop him, trips, and accidentally embraces him from behind. When she does so, the Sohma family secret is quickly discovered: when hugged by members of the opposite gender, they turn into the animals from the traditional legend of the Chinese Zodiac. Kyo is the cat, the one animal not included in the Zodiac.
Initially, the manga follows Tohru learning more about the Sohmas and their curse. As it progresses, the relationships among the various members are more parsed out, and it becomes clear that the curse isn’t all cute animal transformations and fun. Furuba ultimately is about healing and moving past grief. It’s about connection, both of the past and the future. It’s also a story of chosen families, escaping abuse, and breaking cycles. It’s a story about how bonds can sour, and how people need space to grow.
I’m going to say, emphatically, that Fruits Basket is a must-buy for a school librarian looking to build a collection of manga. It’s sweet and gentle. It can be quite dark, especially in later volumes, but there’s nothing inappropriate. The darkness comes more in the form of emotional torment and manipulation from the character’s pasts, and in the form of heavy doses of romantic angst as one of the boys falls for Tohru. It all ends, though, with healing and understanding. Everyone, even the perpetrator of much of the abuse in the series, breaks free of a cycle born out of misunderstanding and longing in order to build a fresh new future.
Some readers complain that Tohru, the main character, is a “doormat”. But personally, I’ve never interpreted it that way, and the newer translation is much clearer that Tohru’s weakness is that she’s self-sacrificing to a level that is harmful to her. Tohru has to learn to be more selfish as the series progresses. In my teens and twenties, I had a lot of the same traits as Tohru. I was the “mom” of my social circle, and eventually learned that this was not sustainable or healthy. When I originally read the series, it went over my head that I was in a similar mode and that I needed to learn to practice self care. In my reread of the series, the distance I now have helped me realize how similar my younger self was to Tohru, and that I could have possibly pulled some lessons from her progression.
To understand how beloved this series is, I’d like to point out that the new anime is a prestige anime with beautiful animation, simultaneous release in Japanese and English, and screenings in theaters. It’s basically all the otaku community was talking about since the press release that it was going to be released. The first anime was good for 2001, but it came out before many of the reveals of the series happened, so things were animated and voiced incorrectly. It ends well before the resolution of the plot. (We’re now four episodes in, and I have to say that it is absolutely perfect. The amount of care and love the series is getting from the production is wonderful.)
Manga Fruit Basket Indonesia Full
Anime adaptations like the original Fruits Basket are incredibly common. There are many series that you never got an adequate conclusion from if you didn’t go to pick up the manga. It’s very, very rare for a story to get a second shot in animation. It’s becoming slightly more regular, but mostly shōnen titles get that chance (exceptions being Sailor Moon and Here Comes Miss Modern). For so many resources to be put into the new Furuba is pretty big for the industry, and does a lot to value the impact of shōjo. And if anyone would like to ask, I have a list of other anime I think needs a remake- and others I think it would be a crime to touch.
Manga Fruit Basket Indonesia Price
In short, get this manga, if you don’t have it already. Students love it, and it’s a beautiful story. It’s about finding your place and connecting with others. It’s funny, sad, and thought-provoking.