Title: Fruits Basket Volume(s): 14+ Creator(s): Natsuki Takaya Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left Publisher: Tokyopop MSRP: $9.95 Genre(s): Romance/Comedy Rated: Teen (13+)

There’s a reason why I hate romance, just like there’s a reason why people make fun of manga. For girls, most romances are fairy tales where in the end the girl gets to live as a princess with her “true love”. For women, most romances are soap operas where everyone is trying to make each other jealous. Even in manga where it isn’t like that, like Please Save My Earth, I feel that the romance weighs down the story. I admire authors like Shannon Hale and Robin McKinley because their heroines are NOT flippantly bubbly and ditzy airheads, but instead real girls who have to discover for themselves what kind of people they are before worrying about their love interests. It’s no surprise I have no plans to get married in the future or to even plan dates. In fact, the ONLY comic and shows that I like with romance are Teen Titans and W.I.T.C.H., which capture not just teenage girls’ emotions perfectly, but balance it with action and humor.

Fruits Basket is one of the reasons why people make fun of manga. It’s not so much that it’s a bad manga; it’s more that it has a huge fan-base despite its mediocrity. Sure, there’s also Pokemon, but if you think about it, all the other animes and mangas that Americans know about are good. Sailor Moon, one of the first anime hits in America, had not only the coolest fantasy story when it aired, but also heartbreaking scenes, touching humor, and memorable heroes and villains. Even though DiC and Cloverway changed enough of the show to anger hardcore fans, some of the show’s original brilliance shone through. The reason why One Piece failed as an anime was because fans knew about the original story through Shounen Jump manga and fan-subs. The head of our anime club at school’s favorite show was Card Captor Sakura. If you have seen even one episode or have read one mere volume, then you have tasted the combination of romance, cuteness, and drama.

I beg people not to send me hate mail, because I have good reasons for disliking the series. For one thing, it has the cheesiest dialog you’ll ever find. The main character keeps going “I’m at your mercy,” for example. It may just be a translation error, but then wouldn’t that contradict the “100% Authentic Manga” label on the back? I wonder how Tokyopop could’ve picked up the license for this without improving upon the dialog at least. What is Fruits Basket about anyway? I’m not going to go into a long summary because Kevin has already done that, and believe me when I say that it would be a waste of my time and yours, but it’s essentially how a girl named Tohru Honda comes to live with the strange Sohma family. Why is the Sohma family strange? Because every time a member of the opposite sex hugs them they transform into an animal of the Zodiac. (Also they are strange because two cousins in the family keep fighting and destroying portions of the house, including the paper door.) It’s not till the end of the first volume that we learn why the series is called Fruits Basket, but even then it doesn’t make that much sense! It reminded me of how I Am the Cheese related to the disturbing novel by Robert Cormier, but at least I Am the Cheese made perfect sense for a title! On one hand I can see why people might like this series. It has some interesting characters, potential romance, spots of comedy, and a likable protagonist. On the other hand, I can’t understand why people don’t spot the multiple flaws and get burned out. First of all, Tohru is not the greatest protagonist. Sure, she’s happy and tries to be selfless, but other than that she is as bland as oatmeal without sugar. At least in other shoujo manga the main characters had additional characteristics: Sailor Moon’s Usagi Tsukino was a crybaby and a klutz who always failed school; Card Captor Sakura’s title character is an athlete who steps on her older brother’s foot when he calls her “monster” (which an affectionate term, by the way); even Othello’s Yaya Higuchi, whose personality is almost identical to Tohru’s, is more interesting because of the way people take advantage of her kindness and naivety until Nana steps in and retaliates. Yaya also isn’t happy with the way her life turned out, which is rare to find in shoujo series.

I do not plan on continuing the series after the first volume. Normally I do, but I don’t feel the motivation to, especially after the way the first volume ended. What happened what that the remodeling at her grandfather’s house was finished, so Tohru could go home. (The reason why she had to live with the Sohma family was because her grandfather’s house was getting remodeled and she was living in a tent.) When she did go home, her grandfather basically said, “I know you stayed with the Sohma family. Will you be happier here or with them?” That’s when the Sohma boys show up and escort Tohru back to her house because they realize that she won’t be happy living with her grandfather. If I was her grandfather, I’d have first made arrangements and double-checked where she was staying while the house was getting remodeled. Then, if I had learned that she had stayed with the Sohma family, which comprises mainly of boys, I would’ve talked to the family and made sure that nothing happened. Why give her the option to go back? That’s like allowing a child to sleep over at Michael Jackson’s ranch! Even though the Sohma family did treat Tohru nicely, probably nicer than she’s ever been treated except by her mother, I think that her grandfather should’ve taken more responsibility in regards to her safety (as well as stop calling his granddaughter by her mother’s name). He has good intentions, but they say that good intentions pave the road to hell. There are a few moments that were actually funny and moments where the dialog was actually intelligent. There was this two-page scene where the head of the house is talking to Kyo, this guy who constantly picks fights with his cousin and treats Tohru with hostility. His Zodiac animal is the cat. The head is telling him that he can’t keep avoiding people in the real world; he needs to learn how to be social. I related with this scene a lot because I can be antisocial at times, and up until recently I didn’t have more than one friend in school. In fact, Kyo is the most interesting character in the first book. Add to the fact that the cat isn’t technically part of the Zodiac and you sympathize with him a lot, even though he is also the meanest character. I wish that the first book were more about him than Tohru.

The art makes the story even worse. Most of the characters’ faces have eyes that take up half their face. It doesn’t look natural even by manga standards. It also doesn’t allow much personal expression. All the guys have weird smiles. Whenever the flowers show up that are used to show a happy scene, they look like Takaya-sensei had drawn them on the computer. The same is when the background is distorted to depict an angry moment. I’ve given up trying to memorize who is who at Tohru’s school and at her job. I admit that the art is also cute. But as Jon once said to Garfield, “I am not going to give you my lasagna because you look cute.” The same rule applies here: Cute as it may be, it lacks in other important artistic qualities of manga. Not to mention that it’s a pain to look at. I haven’t read anything bad by CLAMP yet, but even their artwork is good most of the time. Takaya-sensei shouldn’t be this bad to begin with. According to the introduction she has written two other manga series that sound a lot more interesting than what I’ve been reviewing right now. Maybe she was just slumping. Or maybe she was too busy playing the video games that she discusses in the rants that are included with the manga. Whatever the reason, she surely could’ve put a better effort than this. It doesn’t help that Tokyopop, in an effort to promote the manga, has decided to include stuff like interviews with the English voice actors and history on the Zodiac. The preparation only supports people’s beliefs that manga is trash, for kids, and a commercial franchise. I can think of five manga that are better than Fruits Basket, six actually, and are worth your time. Not all have been reviewed on the site, but they are worth reading. Their names are Card Captor Sakura, Othello, Tsubasa, Please Save My Earth, Chobits, and Fushugi Yugi.

- -Review By Jaya Laksmhi - -