I'm writing from the perspective of a person who normally watches/reads all of the things with action - vampires, bounty hunters, ninjas. A lot of fighting and no mushy feelings. That's what I typically like. And I thought I'd read Fruits Basket because I thought the anime was really sweet, in that kind, sensitive yet still a little funny way. A cool break.

The immediate faults that came to mind were that sometimes the speech bubbles got confusing, not knowing who was saying what and in what order, but it's not enough to really distract anyone, at least I wouldn't think. Also, in the beginning, it appeared to have the same faults as the anime as well. Tohru - the main protagonist - was far to air-headed to truly be cared about, someone who somehow solves everyone's problems yet can't stop crying or being a klutz. Really a Mary Sue character. To stop an abuser with her words? Highly...unlikely.

However, the manga, as I should have known, dug even deeper. The main girl is no longer a Mary Sue, at least not in the later chapters. You see why she gets involved with the cursed boys the most and how she's not doing it to simply be "nice" to them, but because of other feelings as well. You see her and so many other members of the cast evolve over their high school years. You see people letting go of what they were dependent on to grow into true adults. You see backgrounds that previously weren't established which brought a whole new light to their dimensions.

The one issue I won't forget is when you see the backstory for "Hana". Exiled as a sort of witch, given power she can barely control. In a way, it kind of reminded me of Marvel's X-Men. Out of all the heart-warming Fruits Basket volumes, that one chapter is the only one that literally brought me to tears.

The artwork and bubble-placement was so confusing for me reading this, but the overall story was outstanding. I'm sorry the anime only got so far in the storyline because there was a lot more for them to deliver. The mere depth of each character is amazing and I'm sure anyone would enjoy this.