Fruits Basket

So what is Fruits Basket?

Fruits Basket is a manga series (Manga are sort of like the Japanese equivalent of our comic books, where the story is told through images) about a young girl named Tohru Honda who is orphaned, and finds herself through an unusual series of circumstances living with a couple of members of the Soma Family, Yuki and Kyo are two of them. The Soma family is fairly well-to-do, and quite large. Over the course of the story, Tohru meets several cousins and other relatives.

The Soma family is keeping a secret - which Tohru learns - each one turns into an animal of the Chinese Zodiac when hugged by a member of the opposite sex! How embarrassing!! As the story evolves, we learn there is a story of the Chinese Zodiac about the cat (which is NOT one of the animals of the zodiac, however it is the animal that Kyo turns into.

Why this curse afflicts them isn't made entirely clear in the anime, but my understand is tha the manga tells the story much better and expands many themes that were glossed over or omitted in the anime, probably due to time constraints.

This is one of my favorite anime series, because its so funny to see Tohru coping with the eccentric members of the Soma family, and helping Kyo deal with his anger at being the outcast (because he is the Cat). The anime concludes with an emotional transformation and yet still leaves many questions unanswered.

I have the complete 4-disc DVD set, and my daughter has some of the Manga. One of these days when I have the time (how many time have I said THAT, I know) I want to read the Manga series to see how the story really ends.

Learn more about Fruits Basket at Wikipedia

or learn more from the Internet Movie Database. "Fruits Basket"

, sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese manga series by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese magazine Hana to Yume, published by Hakusensha, from 1999 to 2006. The series was also adapted into a 26-episode anime series, directed by Akitaro Daichi. The series tells the story of Tohru Honda, an orphan girl who, after meeting Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure Sohma, learns that thirteen members of the Sohma family are possessed by the animals of the Chinese zodiac and are cursed to turn into their animal forms if they are embraced by anyone of the opposite sex.

The word "Fruits" in the title is always plural; the spelling originates from the transcription of the English word "fruit" into Japanese, where because there is no "tu" sound, "tsu" is used instead. The title comes from the name of a popular game played in Japanese elementary schools, which is alluded to in the series.

The name spellings used in this article correspond to those given in the official Region 1 DVD and English manga releases. Romanization style names are given in Western order, with the family name last.

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