This is THE SHOUJO MANGA.

Forget about teenagers that endlessly stop and restart dating each other during high school.
In Fruits Basket you see the whole spectrum of feelings and all of them feel 100% genuine. At first it seems that it's about the Sohma family and their transformations in the 12 zodiac animals, but that's only what makes the story stick together. What this really is about is how to fight loneliness, misfortune, envy, mistreatment... with tender love, gentleness and selflessness; and that's a great life lesson.

There's almost no character in this manga that's not scarred emotionally or has some trauma. And it's wonderful to see how they end up healing and soothing one another along the story, giving each other confidence when they are at in their weakest state.

Of course, the central piece of all this is the seemingly plain and frail Tohru Honda, which gives strength to all the Sohmas(and to the rest of the people too) to overcome their curse little by little and make amends. But apart from her, there's a lot more character development with deep complexity, which makes the story never boring and easy to read.

One of the other things that I love about furuba is that the ending doesn't even feel a bit rushed and there's not many loose ends, which gives a satisfying feeling of resolution when you finish it.

In conclusion, a must read drama about real life issues.

Also, don't go for the anime. It leaves out the best parts of the manga

... Last updated on April 16th, 2012, 11:50pm

Fruits basket is the epitome of real shojo.It's beautiful, heartbreaking yet warm at the same time. This is one of the few mangas that actually deserves it's reputation. It is one of the very few mangas that actually made me cry. I know the whole "changing into zodiac animals" concept might sound childish but it's not. The stories and consequences of those transformations, and each member of the sohma family slowly growing and accepting their ugliest sides is what it's really about.

I will admit that I wasn't the biggest fan of Tohru Honda myself. There were times when she seriously aggravated me but thankfully the manga isn't about her. It's about the sohma family and how they gradually heal and love themselves. It teaches so many wonderful lessons and it really moves you. Very few manga manage to achieve that.

As unbelievable as it sounds with Tohru and the entire supernatural concept, this manga is actually relatable. The sheer variety of personalities in the sohma family makes it easy to identify with at least one of them. I think that's why it's even more tragic because it hits you where it hurts and you genuinely feel sad for the characters, and also really glad when they all find love and happiness.

This is one of the rare mangas where the ending is perfect. It has a 2 volume ending and manages to tie up all the loose ends without being too cheesy. Everyone finds their destiny and you feel emotionally drained when you finish it, but in a good way. I don't think any manga has made me feel so connected to the characters as this one. It's hauntingly beautiful and one of the BEST shojo manga ever created.

... Last updated on March 29th, 2012, 7:15am

It starts off as a cute, funny read...but don't be fooled. It will send you sobbing buckets half way though. It has humor in patches after the sob fest begins. Don't let the fact that you might hate dramatic mangas deter you from reading this, as I usually hate whiny mangas. Tohru may not be the brightest heroine, but her sweet nature is really needed for this manga. I loved the characters (and in the Anime, Ayame tops all), and the plot is long, but does not drag.
This is my all time favourite! It's cute, romantic, magical, and has you heartbroken and loving it all at the same time. This is a beautiful work that had me crying and giggling. My highest reccomendation. This even tops Kuragehime, which is my #2. This is the one that started it all for me, only last year at 15. As soon as I read this manga, it started me reading more. It was my second, but it was the one that had me hooked. Read it, love it, and then dream about this one for days! It certainly stuck with me

... Last updated on January 26th, 2012, 5:18pm

I watched this anime when I was 6. It is my very first anime, that's why I believed it was the best anime ever. I only started to read this manga when I was 12 (when I was exposed to the wonders of internet). That's when I realized how lacking the anime was. I like how this manga contains heart-breaking plots. I believe that it is easy to make people say "sweet", "cute" and "nice", but I think it is difficult to make people cry. Even though this manga contains something that does not happen in real life, the story is very convincing as it does not just revolves around the curse, it revolves around humanity too. I love the manga but the ending makes me cry for a sequel. It's not that the ending is bad, but I want something not just entirely "happily ever after", I want more details about the friendship they all share.

... Last updated on January 17th, 2012, 7:11am

I really Love this manga its nothing like the so all-day-shojo you get to read its something really new and the female mainlead aint as weak as all the other. i really like it especially the ending. I really Recommend to read it <3

I remember reading this for the first time around 2006, it was the second manga I've ever completed! Now it's 2011, and I can still remember bits and pieces of it. It's one of those feelgood mangas even though it possesses dark elements. The art isn't spectacular but it grows on you, and you truly develop a sense of community from the characters. I tried reading this again a few times but I think it's one of those mangas that should be kept in my memory. Even though it's shoujo, it's truly one of the best out there!

This was the first manga I've EVER read, and it's been years and I really liked it the first time I read it, and this time I'm seeing it in a whole new light. I think the author really understood human nature and how to be happy, and some of the things Tohru and her mom say are so amazing and optimistic. There are some real life lessons to be learned, and even the darker parts of the story carry good lessons with them.

I've heard tons of rave reviews about this manga, but to be completely honest, I've never been able to finish it. Even my guy friends tell me how good it is, and I just don't get it. So I finally sat down and said "Alright! I will get through it this time!" and finally did.

There are lots of good things about this manga. The characters grow, change, figure out their flaws, try to fix them, and are generally likeable. The plot is more or less interesting and the interaction is great. The romance is also there (in great heaping dollops.)

What bothered me to no end, though, were a lot of really basic things that I can't help but feel should have been gotten right somehow.

A) The dialogue is horribly disjointed. I don't know if this is a scanlation thing or a style thing, but it's all over the place. Towards the end, I could barely tell who was saying what, and the mangaka's love of word bubbles with stuff like "this--" "happiness--" "and my--" "feelings--" "toward--" "that person's--" "anger at them--" is really hard to make any sense out of (especially because she usually doesn't indicate who's saying it, which makes it even worse.) That really took away from my enjoyment of the story.

B) It gets really hard to tell the characters apart. Fruits Basket has a horde of characters and a terrible case of Only Six Faces. To make things worse, several of them have similar hairstyles, or they cut/change their hair and clothing halfway through the manga, which really throws you off. There's "growing up", and then there's "becoming unrecognizable", and it mostly does the latter. (Kagura, for instance, starts out as a frilly, toy-carrying whirlwind, and toward the end chapters she shows up in a shirt and pants with her hair tied back. Gyah!)

C) Holy moly the angst. It's everywhere. The angst is everywhere. The whole Sohma family is comprised of people with angst. Combine that with disjointed dialogue, and I'm surprised it turned out as gripping as it did. This mangaka sure knows how to tug at heartstrings.

(Also, speaking of the whole Sohma family, all the intra-Sohma romances did end up feeling slightly incestual. But I guess when your family is the size of a small village, that sort of thing can't be helped.)

Overall, it's a good manga. It takes a bit to plough through the middle part (there were 50 chapters or so that just dragged), but it starts well and does get good, so if you're into enormous love stories where everyone lives happily ever after you might want to give this a shot. At it's core, though, surprisingly, Fruits Basket is neither about zodiac animals, romance, or hot men living in a house. It's about parenthood, more or less. It's all about parenthood.

... Last updated on November 2nd, 2011, 9:53pm

No, this will not be a rant about Tohru, a rave about Kyo or Yuki, or about Akito. Yup, they're our main characters, but they're not actually what made this manga stand out for me.

I am going to honour those who kept their wit in the midst of insanity, those who braved the storm that was the rules of the Zodiac. The characters that nearly made me cry were Momiji the Rabbit, Hiro the Ram and Shigure the Dog. Tohru's mom Kyoko, Ritsu the Horse and Hatori the Dragon deserve mention, too.

If you've followed the series, you'll notice something about the characters I picked out. Yes: it's sacrifice. In fact, the whole story sings of sacrifice for the sake of selfishness: guilt and vindictiveness pervade the whole cast, and only Momiji and Tohru truly stay clean. And that's where Momiji comes in. We're led to believe that Momiji's really just a spoilt brat (though cute), but that impression is quickly shattered when we learn his true story - that he has had to abandon his mother and sister for their own well-being. This has virtually meant losing his father, as well. But Momiji takes that loneliness head-on, cries painfully, and moves on, and this courage warms the heart of every reader.

Again with Hiro: we see a brash and prickly exterior, who's all set to be the new antagonist. He's not even cute like Momiji. Yet, his fangs have evidently been sharpened by circumstance - he's this way because he knows no other way. And we learn, too, of his sacrifice for Kisa, later on. In a story full of repression, where home is more like jail, Tohru perhaps has it easiest as the only one who's free to live out her own life.

Explicit sacrifice pervades the entire tale, but every character has their own pain, and the hidden hurts rankle most of all, especially for the lack of sympathy. Shigure has been there, right from the beginning - a fun-loving and seemingly happy writer prone to laziness and providing comic relief. He does have a serious side when protecting our youthful, innocent cast from the Main House, but otherwise remains the cheerful dog we know. Yet, later on, we slowly catch on that he's had history with Akito, and while it's never really said explicitly, it's quite clear that Shigure has suppressed his own wanting to be loved for the best interests of those he does love.

A manga crying for love and belonging. From start to end it's about a family, and the most painful irony is that this family knows nothing about being a real family, and rejects anyone who tries to teach it so - brutally. They go mad, like Momiji's and Kyo's mother; they get hurt, like Hatori's fiance Kana. Perhaps the art could be tweaked, and perhaps a little more normality could be injected - as Kimlinger commented, "good parents are as common as penguins in the Sahara—every single one is either neglectful, smothering, unfeeling, abusive, misguided, or dead". The storytelling, however, is top-notch, and the characters can only continue growing on you even after 23 volumes. This is, undoubtedly, shoujo emotion evocation at its best. Prepare tissues.

... Last updated on October 24th, 2011, 10:53am

I liked this one, not really a 'favorite' but it was a good pass time. Everything was good, plot to artwork and if something wasn't really that great it was close. This mangaka had a different style of artwork compared to others in her time, and thats what I think amazing about her.