Post by shindigbuster on May 8, 2007 19:15:21 GMT 10
Fruits Basket (フルーツバスケット, Furūtsu Basuketto?)
Fruits Basket (フルーツバスケット, Furūtsu Basuketto?) is a shōjo manga series created by Natsuki Takaya (pseudonym) serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese Hana to Yume (Flowers and Dreams) magazine, which is published by Hakusensha. It won the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo. Fruits Basket has also been adapted into a 26-episode anime series by Akitaro Daichi (director) on TV Tokyo. The word "Fruits" in the title is always plural.
The title is often shortened to Furuba, a portmanteau of the two parts in the Japanese pronunciation of the title, Furūtsu Basuketto.
Contents
Story
Fruits Basket follows the life of high school student, Tohru Honda, recently orphaned when her mother, Kyoko Honda, was killed in a car accident, (her father, Katsuya Honda, was taken by pneumonia soon after she was born). After that, Tohru lived with her grandfather, but when remodelling is needed on the house, Tohru resorts to living in a tent within a forest and holds down a job as a cleaning lady to support herself. Despite suffering many hardships, Tohru remains her optimistic self.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
One day, Tohru comes upon a house in the forest that she is temporarily living in which is the home of Shigure Sohma, Kyo Sohma, and Yuki Sohma,of the Sohma family. When the Sohmas discover that Tohru is living in a tent, they are quite surprised by her inner strength. The entire area is Sohma property, and Tohru pleads to live upon the property in her quaint tent (affectionately dubbed "her castle"). Feeling sorry for her, and desperate to end their days of filthy living conditions, the Sohmas offer her their spare room in exchange for cooking and housework. When her tent is buried that night in a landslide, burying her mother's picture and school clothes, she has no option but to accept.
Tohru soon discovers the Sohma family's secret, and the reason why Yuki is so private and secretive: thirteen members of the family are possessed by the 12 animal spirits of the Chinese Zodiac ("Jyūnishi" in Japanese) and the spirit of the cat who was left out of the Zodiac according to legend. They transform into animals when hugged by the opposite gender, or when they are under a great amount of stress. When she promises to keep their secret, the Sohmas allow Tohru to keep her memories rather than hypnotically erasing them, a fate that had previously befallen anyone not on the "Inside" of the Sohma family who had discovered the secret.
The story follows the lives of Tohru and the Sohma family, as they deal with each other and a society where neither quite fits in, as well as the feared Akito Sohma, head of the Sohma family.
It gets really good towards the end of the story =)
my recommendations
Fruits Basket (フルーツバスケット, Furūtsu Basuketto?) is a shōjo manga series created by Natsuki Takaya (pseudonym) serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese Hana to Yume (Flowers and Dreams) magazine, which is published by Hakusensha. It won the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo. Fruits Basket has also been adapted into a 26-episode anime series by Akitaro Daichi (director) on TV Tokyo. The word "Fruits" in the title is always plural.
The title is often shortened to Furuba, a portmanteau of the two parts in the Japanese pronunciation of the title, Furūtsu Basuketto.
Contents
Story
Fruits Basket follows the life of high school student, Tohru Honda, recently orphaned when her mother, Kyoko Honda, was killed in a car accident, (her father, Katsuya Honda, was taken by pneumonia soon after she was born). After that, Tohru lived with her grandfather, but when remodelling is needed on the house, Tohru resorts to living in a tent within a forest and holds down a job as a cleaning lady to support herself. Despite suffering many hardships, Tohru remains her optimistic self.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
One day, Tohru comes upon a house in the forest that she is temporarily living in which is the home of Shigure Sohma, Kyo Sohma, and Yuki Sohma,of the Sohma family. When the Sohmas discover that Tohru is living in a tent, they are quite surprised by her inner strength. The entire area is Sohma property, and Tohru pleads to live upon the property in her quaint tent (affectionately dubbed "her castle"). Feeling sorry for her, and desperate to end their days of filthy living conditions, the Sohmas offer her their spare room in exchange for cooking and housework. When her tent is buried that night in a landslide, burying her mother's picture and school clothes, she has no option but to accept.
Tohru soon discovers the Sohma family's secret, and the reason why Yuki is so private and secretive: thirteen members of the family are possessed by the 12 animal spirits of the Chinese Zodiac ("Jyūnishi" in Japanese) and the spirit of the cat who was left out of the Zodiac according to legend. They transform into animals when hugged by the opposite gender, or when they are under a great amount of stress. When she promises to keep their secret, the Sohmas allow Tohru to keep her memories rather than hypnotically erasing them, a fate that had previously befallen anyone not on the "Inside" of the Sohma family who had discovered the secret.
The story follows the lives of Tohru and the Sohma family, as they deal with each other and a society where neither quite fits in, as well as the feared Akito Sohma, head of the Sohma family.
It gets really good towards the end of the story =)
my recommendations