Thursday, April 21, 2011

Fruits Basket Vol. 1 by Natsuki Takaya


Book Jacket

A family with an ancient curse...And the girl who will change their lives forever...

Tohru Honda was an orphan with no place to go until the mysterious Sohma family offered her a place to call home.  Now her ordinary high school life is turned upside down as she's introduced to the Sohma's world of magical curses and family secrets.  Discover for yourself the Secret of the Zodiac, and find out why Fruits Basket has won the hearts of readers the world over!

Review

This is as good a time as any to explain how I got into manga.  I'd always been interested, because seriously, the artwork?  Phenomenally beautiful.  But I was afraid of the social stereotypes, so I never pursued it.  My junior year of college, a new girl moved into my dorm.  She was hugely into manga and anime, so under the pretense of getting to know her, I asked what I should start with.  She suggested Fruits Basket.

I watched the first couple episodes by myself.  My other two roommates walked through the living room and made fun of me.  But each time they passed by, they paused a little longer.  By the sixth episode, all four of us were crammed onto the couch, laughing hysterically at Kyo and sometimes crying at the unexpectedly emotional episodes.  We spent three nights avoiding homework so we could watch the entire season.  Then we watched it again a couple weeks later.

Obviously, this is good stuff.  I hadn't read the manga that inspired the show until just now.  It is fun to relive the stories I've already seen, but mostly I'm just really excited to get to the volumes that go further than the show.  I'm invested in these crazy characters, and I want more!

None of that tells you anything about the series.  You will have to read it yourself.  Or wait until I read volume 2, at which point I will need something new to talk about in my review.

Four out of five decorated eggs.

Release Date:  February 2004
Reading Level:  Grade 7+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection:  GRAPHIC TAK


Don't believe me?  Check out these reviews of Fruits Basket Vol. 1:

Girls Love Graphic Novels
Well Read Reviews

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