Fruits Basket – Manga Review… sort of

Title: Fruits Basket

 (フルーツバスケット, Furūtsu Basuketto) also abbreviated as Furuba or Fruba (フルバ)

Author: Natsuki Takaya

Genres: Fantasy, romantic comedy, slice of life

Original date: July 1998 – November 2006

In 2015, it began the Fruits Basket: Collector’s Edition (愛蔵版 フルーツバスケット) where 2 volumes were compiled into one. Same story. But there are now 12 volumes.

Hello, dearies! 🎆🎐

Welcome to a new rambling about a Manga. I finished Fruits Basket this month, and found it quite interesting.

What shocked me the most about reading and finishing the Manga was that I knew where it was going because I’d watched the anime (2019 version), but I was still into it, it didn’t feel like a repeat, but at the same, it was a sort of comfort read, I don’t know if you know what I mean, but it was nice. And I liked it of course.

It’s always good to read the Manga to understand the anime better because sometimes they take liberties when adapting, it happens with books and movies, and TV Shows, webtoons, K-drama, any adaptation, and while Anime are usually more faithful, it’s not always the case, the first version they did of Fruits Basket in 2001 being the proof of that, they re-did the whole story and completely mislead you in it.

Now, the Manga, so good, and…

Hold on, Spoiler alert here!

If you don’t know the story behind Furuba, then please jump to the end of this post.

You have been warned. ⚠️🚥

Fruits Basket Manga

So, the good thing about the Manga is that you get to see how the relationship with Kyo advances, it’s not as fast or crazy as in the Anime, it had their moments. Tohru actually goes through bits and bits of feeling something else, and not just one day oh I like him, no, it’s not like that. They have a lot of alone moments and details. I liked that, it made me say: ah nice that’s why.

Same for Akito and how the character evolves, we all know Akito is nuts, but there are more little things that made you go along to the big end and shock, it’s progressive while in the Anime I was shocked a lot more, and that might have been the point but it felt like something was lacking, and those details are in the Manga.

Shigure as well, I don’t like him all that much, sorry about it. I wanted to, but I really was torn with the character.

Saki-chan was also another character that felt short in the anime, and they didn’t want to show just how old Shishou actually was, I could tell. But at the end of the manga there they were. Don’t get me wrong, I loved that story, and Arisa and Kureno. But they were sort of trying to cut back on it.

And it shouldn’t have been a problem, considering how old anime and manga were before, take Card Captor Sakura (original), and how her parents met in high school, and Sakura’s dad being older, and then there’s the sensei Terada and Rika, but I won’t go there.

In any case, age-gap was a thing twenty years ago, and it probably is today, so why did they try to gloss over it in Furuba? Sorry it’s quicker to write Furuba than Fruits Basket.

Back to why we are here. I really liked this story, and I think I would have liked it years ago when it came out. Oh, I almost forgot, the one thing that I read the Manga for as well was to know what was the deal with Kakeru Manabe, it’s like they forgot in the Anime to tell us why he was asking about Tohru all the time, and they tell us who he’s girlfriend is too. I felt like I could breathe after knowing that.

Yuki and Machi was another relationship that I was glad it had just a tad more depth, I mean I like details, maybe that’s just me, but it’s always more engrossing when you know all the facts, and can say: I can see how that would happen. Just like Yuki asking Ayame about Mine, and if she knew about their secret, which she so did even if Ayame didn’t admit it.

I would like to know what they were thinking in the 2001 anime when they brought Yuki to talk Kyo out of his real form? And Tohru walking all over the forest before she even got to Kyo. As I watched that I could think was: huh?

End of Spoiler.

As I was saying before, I liked this manga and I recommend it. The stories in it, the way the author wrapped it all up and gave each character something to concern themselves with, was quite good. You could tell all the types of rejections and how people react to it. Haru went dark, but he was still caring. Momiji was smiling all the time but inside he was trying to keep it together.

Yuki was a complete mess. Shigure smiled while saying he was worthless. Tori was about to go off to the mountains and not talk to anyone ever again, frozen. Hiro and Saa-chan are kids so they are entitled to be more closed off. Ayame is Ayame. Kureno was way too nice, borderline on me wanting to slap him. Ritsu though, I would have liked a bit more for some reason that I cannot explain.

It has a variety, there’s something for everyone on Furuba.

Will I recommend Fruits Basket? Yes, from here on out. Ask me for a fantasy manga I will recommend this one. Ask me for a romance sports one? I’ll recommend Namaikizakari all the way. And ask me for an anime right now, and I’ll say Jujutsu Kaisen because come on. And if it’s Yaoi, then Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, it’s a classic at this point.

That’s all for now, dearies! I hope you enjoyed and sorry if there were spoilers you didn’t want, and if you did like them then awesome, thank you for reading and for sticking to the end. Don’t forget to visit my BookTok.

Update 2025:

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