Fruits Basket

[Fantasy Dreamer]

I was thinking about looking into the Fruits Basket manga. I've heard a lot about it and it sounds interesting, but since I can't get the anime I wanted to check out the manga. First, I want some opinions on it. Give me the good/bad things about the manga, and how it compares to the anime.

[Sai]

Fruits Basket is one of my favorite manga(s). But yeah, I would say some of the bad things about it are that Kyo has a big pody mouth, two of the characters act gay even if they arent, and some of Aya's stories are a bit out there. The good, I suppose it would Tohru's attitude towards everything. She is kind to everyone, and isn't selfish. Oh yeah, there is a bit of nudity, but when the boys transform a cloud covers them and for the girls, its rather undetailed. So yeah.....

[Nate]

I'm not a big fan of the Furuba anime, I'll go ahead and say it outright. However, it IS fairly true to the manga (aside from the ending). As far as the manga goes:

Kyou - light swearing, nothing too horrible, "d's" and "h's" and "b*****d" mostly

Yuki - he's forced to wear a dress in one chapter, but it is against his will

Shigure - he makes slightly off color remarks sometimes, but he never actually does anything

Haru - all I will say is there is one scene in particular where somebody challenges Haru's natural hair color

Ayaa - he isn't gay, but he very much acts like it sometimes, including one time when he reminisces about how he got a bunch of students out of trouble on a school trip. I don't think he was being serious, but it's still there.

Ritsu - it isn't much of a spoiler, but I'll put it in tags anyway

[SPOILER]He's a cross-dresser.[/SPOILER]

Hanajima - is mentioned to have some sort of psychic powers many times

That's all I can think of for the specific characters. There is pretty much no violence, and the nudity there is is covered by smoke clouds (there is an exception in the case of one character in volume 11; she is covering herself, and you can't really see anything, but she's still very visibly nude).

The curse is what is the biggest thing, they are all under a horrible curse which causes them to transform into animals, but there's more to it...which I won't get into. However, I will give a slight spoiler about Akito (not the BIG spoiler, it's about the curse), which some people may find troubling.

[SPOILER=Akito's role in the curse]Akito is the "godhead" of the curse. In the story, the god invited the animals to the party, and Akito is the representative of the god much like Momiji is the representative of the rabbit. Akito is NOT really a god, but Akito often flaunts the status of the representation over the other members, saying "I am the closest to a god they will ever have" and such.[/SPOILER]

I don't think I missed anything, and I hope that helps. ^^

[Kisa]

This is one of my absolute favorite series ever! You will love it and Kae basically covered anything you'd need to watch for, even though its very little in this series. You must get it!

[Shao Feng-Li]

Out of a 13 (+?) volume series, that's not a lot... I'll have to get it.

[Fantasy Dreamer]

I don't know if I could buy in good conscious knowing that that's in there. Now if I could borrow it from somebody or watch the anime while it plays on CN (not that it is) or something like that, I'd probably be okay to check it out just to see what its like. I don't know. I'll have to think about it. I'll pick up the manga next time I'm in a bookstore and skim through a few volumes to see how bad it is.

By the way, why is the one character a cross dresser? Is it grossly so, or what? Is that character homosexual?

[Nate]

By the way, why is the one character a cross dresser? Is it grossly so, or what? Is that character homosexual?

Cross-dressing was something he did even when he was a child, and because of this his parents were ashamed and often apologized a bit too much to other people. He felt as if he was a disappointment, which only made him more insecure, which made him more afraid to dress more like a "normal" man.

No, he's not homosexual in the slightest, he just dresses in women's clothing. Not sure what you mean by grossly so...I think he just dresses in kimono's that are normally considered to be feminine? Someone help me out on that.

However, he really only shows up in one chapter, at least so far.

[Lynx]

since everyone else has focused on the the content i'll tell you my opinion of the overall quality of the anime vs. the manga. Both are extremely well done, but if i had to pick on to go for i'd go for the manga. The anime just sort of... ends. it doesnt really tie up some of the loose ends of the plot. i think they did as much plot as they could from the manga that was out at the time. the anime and manga are very similar, but the anime ends in a weird spot and the manga continues with the story.

[Kawaiikneko]

I'd say Furuba is pretty clean. Keep in mind Kae pretty much pointed out EVERY possible offensive thing in the series and that's a pretty small amount spread across 15(+) volumes. It is a personal conviction issue though... If all else fails, do a sit and read at your local bookstore and read through the first volume to see if it strikes your conscience or not.

[Fantasy Dreamer]

Oh, I've thought about that before. The problem with that is, I live in a pretty small town, and we don't have many bookstores. The ones we do have don't carry manga anything. The cloesest GOOD bookstore is out of town an hour away. And when we go, its rarely and only to find a book my dad wants/need. Once its found we pay for it and leave. So I'm given about thrity minutes most sometimes a little longer.

I'll TRY to read through it next time we go. I'll have to request we go to a mall or something with a bookstore soon. We're going to my Grandma's over the weekend, and she has a Books-A-Million and Barns & Noble near her house. Pluse Walden's books in the mall. Maybe I can get someone to take me so I can look. Maybe... hopefully?

[Kawaiikneko]

I'd suggest Barnes and Nobles.... they have nice chairs

[Hoshika]

Oh, I've thought about that before. The problem with that is, I live in a pretty small town, and we don't have many bookstores. The ones we do have don't carry manga anything. The cloesest GOOD bookstore is out of town an hour away. And when we go, its rarely and only to find a book my dad wants/need. Once its found we pay for it and leave. So I'm given about thrity minutes most sometimes a little longer.

I'll TRY to read through it next time we go. I'll have to request we go to a mall or something with a bookstore soon. We're going to my Grandma's over the weekend, and she has a Books-A-Million and Barns & Noble near her house. Pluse Walden's books in the mall. Maybe I can get someone to take me so I can look. Maybe... hopefully?

Content= PG13 like already stated this is pretty much a clean series.

Manga vs Anime- Definately read the manga. The anime does a good job of presenting the story and characters, but you get more out of reading the manga.

Previews- Check out Amazon.com for that. They have a feature that allows you to read the first pages of most of the books they carry.

[Fantasy Dreamer]

K, so I was in the bookstore Saturday, cause my mom's side of the family had a reunion that we went up for Friday. We stayed at my grandma's and she has a books-a-million near her. That's the store we went to.

Anyway, after I walked all over the dang store (couldn't find the manga section, it was in the back), I found the next two volumes of FMA (yay! ) and bought them, but that's besides the point. I found Fruits Basket... grr, but they didn't have volume one!! *fumes* so I didn't get to check it out. I figured, why start in the middle? And plus, all my family was there, and they wanted to leave just as I picked up the Rurouni Kenshin volume one to look through it to see if I wanted to buy it too. Dang it, I should have! I wish I had, cause I just finished the third volume of FMA! CRAP! Now I'm mad at myself...

but anyway, like I said, didn't have volume one. Couldn't check it out. Could ya'll tell me some of the good things? Maybe I'd feel more comfortable buying it if the good greatly out weighed the bad.

[Destroyer2000]

FMA really seems more offensive than Fruits Basket, but as they said, it's a personal conviction thing.

[Nate]

Yeah, seriously, if you read FMA, you would totally have NO problems with Fruits Basket.

QUICK EDIT: Well, yeah, like Destroyer2000 said, personal conviction, but I personally wouldn't see someone who likes FMA to be offended by Furuba.

[Fantasy Dreamer]

Yeah, but FMa doesn't have crossdressers in it... again, personal conviction.

But, what do you guys love about it?

[Nate]

It's hard to explain why I love it, really. I think part of it has to do with the excellent storyline.

The curse has in one way or another screwed up each of the juunishi's lives. It isn't their fault, but they have to deal with the horrible effects, such as Momiji or Hatori. It's also one of those stories that keeps you wondering, "What IS the deal with this person? Why are they who they are? What happened to them?" In fact, a great deal of the interest is in wanting to see the new juunishi as they show up. "Boy, I can't wait to see the dragon!" for example.

I know that even though I thought the anime was average at best, I personally became hooked on the manga because the horse and the rooster were not in the anime, and I wanted to see who they were.

I dunno, it's just really well done, honestly. And again, pretty much one of the cleanest manga series you'll ever see.

[Sai]

I have a slightly altered opinion, as of late, on this manga. I about upchucked while reading it all. I also dont know how to use spoiler tags so yeah.... I'll just say that it plummeted on my fav manga list. Just wanted to warn you.

[Fantasy Dreamer]

to use spoiler tags, put the word 'SPOILER' inbetween brackets, then type after it, and to end, put '/SPOILER" in between two more brackets.

What do you mean? Pleas explain.

[Nate]

I PMd her about it. I think I have an idea of what she may be talking about, but if I'm right, then it involves the GIANT Akito spoiler. I'll put in spoiler tags what she may be talking about, but I won't give away the giant Akito spoiler.

[SPOILER]I think she may be referring to Akito and Kureno's relationship. That's my theory, anyway...[/SPOILER]

When she PMs me back I'll be sure to tell you.

[Fantasy Dreamer]

thanks, kaemmerite!

[Nate]

Okay. I have her answer.

WARNING: THE TEXT I AM ABOUT TO POST CONTAINS THE GIANT AKITO SPOILER. BE WARNED, THIS WILL RUIN A GREAT SECRET OF AKITO AND THE FRUITS BASKET MANGA.

This spoiler also contains slightly mature content. Please be responsible.

[SPOILER=Giant Akito spoiler, and...]Akito is a woman. Shigure had a dream about Akito when she was born, and ever since has wanted to be with her. When Akito slept with Kureno, Shigure got angry. To get back at Akito, Shigure slept with Ren, Akito's mother. This, from what Frubafan has told me, leads to a giant argument between Shigure and Akito, which ends with the two of them sleeping together.[/SPOILER]
And...there ya go. ^^;;

[shooraijin]

?!

[Fantasy Dreamer]

*gasp* ........ I don't know what to say about that... WHY?!

[Kisa]

LOL yea more of the dark innerworkings of some of the zodiac members minds.....

[Heart of Sword]

[spoiler=Akito's role in the curse]Akito is the "godhead" of the curse. In the story, the god invited the animals to the party, and Akito is the representative of the god much like Momiji is the representative of the rabbit. Akito is NOT really a god, but Akito often flaunts the status of the representation over the other members, saying "I am the closest to a god they will ever have" and such. [/spoiler]

No...it wasn't that "a" god invited animals to a party, it was God. Not a god. At least, that's what I remember.

[shooraijin]

HoS, I edited your post to maintain the spoilers. Please be careful about that.

[Nate]

No...it wasn't that "a" god invited animals to a party, it was God. Not a god. At least, that's what I remember.

According to all the sites I've seen about the Chinese Zodiac, it was the Jade Emperor of the Heavens. Other sites say "the gods" plural. Either way, they're not referring to the Judeo-Christian God.