I first began to read Fruits Basket when I was but a tender adolescent. Just a few of the volumes had been released then but I had bought every one of them until the 12th one. After that point, I was slowly outgrowing the world of mangas and completely forgot the series before the following volume was ever published.

I’m 23 now, a year fresh from graduating university, and I had recently returned home to visit my family. My mother had informed me that she had packed up all my old things in boxes and as I was sifting through them, I found my Fruits Basket collection. Nostalgia overwhelmed me and I then decided to reread, and to finally finish, the series.

This is not a lie. I still, as I have back then, love the story that Fruits Basket holds. There are definitely some flaws but overall, the way the author weaved this story is captivating. I have not read many Shojuo mangas so I don’t have much to compare with, but I can now understand why this was once one of the top selling mangas back in its day.

However I do want to create this review with a more critical, but still APPRAISING, eye.

The Story: 10/10

The story, at face value, sounds very cliché. Kind of like this: “Girl, who recently loses parent decides to live with a few men in a house, but little does she know that they have a big secret and when she finds out, it’s gonna be a whole whirlwind of an adventure! Stay tuned!” Sure there’s that clever and interesting back story of the Chinese Zodiac and its curse but I remember raising my eyebrow as I read the plot. However, it didn’t turn out that way. The story is simply written beautifully and you’ll quickly find yourself being pulled into it. At its core, it is about forgiveness, growing up, acceptance, and most importantly, that true happiness is found when you love and have that same love returned. Yes, as an older person reading it now, I did find it somewhat annoying that every single person had a tragic story behind them (like a Telenovela honestly), but the way Takaya entwines everything with comedy and lightheartedness makes it bearable and you’ll find yourself bawling at times as the story unfolds.

The romance in this manga is also one that is written with as much care and thought; It does not rush through it nor does Takaya just throw the main characters at each other and nor is it predictable. The beginning Yuki x Tohru x Kyo love triangle was first introduced but that completely changes to something more deeper and stronger. Such as with Kyo and Tohru (god bless them), to put it plainly, their love for each other just makes sense. It isn’t like other stories where the author shoves two characters together and force them to make love and have the audience root for them as they fornicate, their love grows timidly and cautiously AND ITS JUST. SO. DAMN. BEAUTIFUL! (Onions everywhere!!!)

The Characters: 10/10

There are many characters in this manga and you will have your favorites (KYO!!), and your dislikes (Rin), and your don’t-really-care’s (student council people, meh), but that’s the power of this manga. There is a variety of characters with different personalities that play out with each other. I would like to defend our heroine Tohru Honda. Many people hold a deep love-hate relationship with her and I know that my younger-self never really approved of her as being the main character (omg it was Twilight all over again). I thought she was too plain, too boring, too flat, too gentle, too nice of a character to have THAT much effect on everyone she meets. This is of course coming from a raging little girl who thought herself akin to a strong, independent female. Still now, I do not prefer bubbly main characters in novels or mangas, but in Tohru, I find solace. I finally see her value in the story, as that girl, who in herself, is very flawed and needs as much gentleness and kindness and love as all the other characters she befriends. You will find yourself loving her, I promise.

For the rest of the characters, they are all very much fleshed out and written about carefully. The persons that they are when they are introduced are definitely not the persons they become at the end of the manga. This is definitely evident on the two main male characters, Yuki and Kyo, but also with our antagonist Akito. I truly did appreciate how each character, even the side ones, had their own personality, yet I also believe that Takaya did not intend this for the purpose of just having a slew of characters to add interest to the story, but instead each one had an effect or addition to the entire story line.

The Art: 8/10

I forgive Takaya for the art simply because the story trumps all the flaws and because her art matures as the manga progressed. However, I was not a fan of the art in the beginning of the series. There is such a thing as too-big-anime-eyes. I also did not like that some characters looked too similar, sometimes I only had to depend on the coloring of their hair to tell some of them apart. I also know that she notes several times that she adores drawing pretty girls, but that hurt her in her design of some of the male characters in the manga. Not that they were bad, I just wish she added more details and finishing touches in her designs when it came to the boys (biceps and abs galore). However her shading and expressions were some of the best I have seen. You can truly feel the emotions, either bad or good or funny, with some of the shading and expressions she put on her characters.

The Ending: 10/10

Satisfaction. Pure satisfaction is all I can say. Read the manga and find out but I guarantee you that you will finish it with a smile on your face.