Plot/Story

In a nutshell, Fruits Basket follows Tohru Honda and her life after the death of her mother. She is living in a tent in the woods until she is discovered the Shigure and Yuki Sohma. She soon, albeit accidentally, learns the tightly guarded secret of the Sohma clan, that they are possessed by the 12 zodiacs and turn into their zodiac animal when hugged by the opposite sex. Upon learning the Sohma's secret, Torhu is told that it is likely her memories will be erased, as no-one outside the family is meant to know about the Sohma's secret. Amazingly, the opposite happens and Torhu is given permission by the Sohma head to live with Shigure and Yuki, thus beginning the story.

The rest of the story follows Tohru as she meets the various members of the Sohma clan, developing friendships and bonds with the various members. We also follow Tohru, Yuki, Kyou amongst others on their journey through high school as they learn about growing up, self identity, self worth and of course, romance.

From my perspective, I saw Fruits Basket as 3 distinct stories within a story as follows:

1. Chapter 1-60 (approx.) The Beginning - Introduction to each of the 12 zodiacs, an insight into their personalities and building their relationships with Tohru. Although there is stuff happening within the story, spending time to get to know the characters in depth really enhances the story further on.
2. Chapter 60-120 (approx.) The Crux - The Nitty Gritty of the story, I found this middle section to get rather dark at times, a lot more mature than the first part of the story, Topics such as self-worth and self-value, even suicide are explored at this point. The pressure of being involved as part of the 12 zodiacs is explored deeply in this part of the story, with multiple characters wondering if their existence is wanted or necessary
3. Chapter 120-END (approx.) New Beginnings - I say this because Takaya-sensei closes the story really well. These final 3 volumes close of this particular narrative while emphasizing that this is really not the end, that new journeys will be beginning. I felt this gave a satisfactory conclusion to the story in a way that many mangas do no do nowadays.

Characters

A great thing about Fruits Basket is that there are so many characters that there is someone for everyone's taste, I can almost guarantee everyone will have a different favourite character. As said above, Takaya-sensei does a brilliant job of exploring each character thoroughly with few exceptions.

In particular, several characters are given flashback arcs so we understand why the characters behave as they do at the time of the story, which enhances how we as an audience interpret a character and their actions. Nothing was done without reason in this series.

Character development was something I have not seen in a manga before, in particular with love. Tagged as a 'romance' (there is some, don't worry), this series takes the time to explore many different types of love (parental, sibling, friends and romantic etc.). It really highlights the emotional development of characters.

One criticism I have is I felt Ritschan oddly enough is the only zodiac character I feel we don't get to know at a significant level.
Drawing Style

I absolutely love Takaya's drawing style. In particular with Fruits Baskets which is set over a three year period, Takaya-sensei changes the style of her characters to show their maturation from fresh teenagers to young adults on the cusp of exploring their worlds. In particular with Yuki, Kyou and Momiji, from their first to last appearances in the series you can compare and see the progression, something that is rare and unique to manga.

Takaya-sensei's drawing style also emphasizes the mood of the current scene that is being portrayed to the audience. The drawing and art style of the mangaka seamlessly transitions from comedy to drama and so on.

Enjoyment

To be honest, I didn't hold out much hope prior to reading Fruit baskets. Based on what I had seen from the brief summary and a few images, I was expecting light and fluffy. I'm glad I was wrong. The flow of the story was well thought out and suspenseful just at the right moments.

The amount of time spent getting to know each character really drew me into the story, it made me understand and empathize with what they were feeling. I feel a great manga, or a great story for that matter, should be able to draw these feelings out of you. This was the first series I have read that made me cry both out of happiness and sadness. I also laughed out lout on multiple occasions.

Finally, the ending...I hate a series that is long and has a terrible ending. This isn't one of them. Takaya-sensei had a plan on how to finish this series and did it well. As previously mentioned, the ending of this series is the ending of this narrative, and highlights how every end has a new start. In a way, it also gets you thinking about how one should go about taking those next steps in life (if you want to get real deep).

Overall

Overall, there is little to criticize. The story itself is solid, with few plot holes while also being enjoyable. The characters were well developed and were there for a reason (except Ritschan, which I felt who was just there to make up the numbers) and there was a lot of emotional depth to each character. The art was flawless, with the subtle changes to characters as they age, a rare feature that is often missing in manga. All in all, an enjoyable read for any shoujo lover.