Their curse might be broken, but big questions still lie ahead for the Sohma family. Now that Kyo is free to dream of his future, what will he make of it? Does growing up mean growing apart, or will his bond with Tohru only strengthen with time? Perhaps their first date will decide! And at long last, the meaning of Kyoko's ominous words "I'll never forgive you..." becomes clear. Fans of the series won't want to miss this thrilling conclusion!
In addition to the new translation and color illustrations this volume also contains over 150 pages of bonus material, including a never before published interview with Natsuki Takaya-sensei, character profiles, a timeline of the series, and much, MUCH more!!!
Natsuki Takaya (高屋 奈月 Takaya Natsuki, real name Naka Hatake) is the penname of a Japanese manga artist best-known for creating the series Fruits Basket. She was born on July 7, 1973; (Tanabata). Takaya is left-handed and once revealed that she wanted to be a mangaka since first grade, when her sister started drawing.
She was born in Shizuoka, Japan, but was raised in Tokyo, where she made her debut in 1992. She enjoys video games such as the Final Fantasy series or Sakura Wars, or working on her different manga series, such as Fruits Basket, which is the second best-selling shōjo manga ever in Japan, and the top selling shōjo manga in North America. Fruits Basket has also been adapted into a twenty-six-episode anime series.
In 2001, Takaya received a Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga for Fruits Basket.
According to Takaya (in a sidebar of a Fruits Basket manga volume), she enjoys drawing girls (girly ones) more than she does boys. Takaya also enjoys electronics and music, but dislikes talking about herself. Also revealed in a sidebar of Fruits Basket, Takaya broke her drawing arm (left) after Fruits Basket volume six was published. She had to go into surgery, and as a result, had put Fruits Basket on a brief hiatus. Takaya made a full recovery, but complains that her handwriting had gotten uglier, due to the surgery. During her hospital stay, she gained an interest in baseball.
Overall thoughts on this manga: I get the hype guys, I get it now. A fairytale-sort of arc in a high school environment with magic realism- is the only way to describe this. It had so much emotional developments- I used to wonder why is Tohru such an airhead and how is she even different when she is just another regular girl. Boi, I wasn't prepared. I absolutely love the siblings/family dynamics here, the wholesome friendships, breaking down of the "evil one" cliche and all the relationships, even the one with Akito. This was all done so well.
Fruits Basket definitely has a "romance novel" kind of ending, showing that Tohru and Kyo have a long, happy life together, with children and grandchildren to love. Maybe it goes a little too overboard with making sure practically every single primary and secondary character gets hooked up with someone.
The overblown comedy has been absent for a while, giving the manga a reflective, warm feeling in its final stretch. One objection that I had from the previous volume--Akito's getting blanket forgiveness from the Sohma clan--was at least partially addressed by Isuzu's rejection of the idea in one of the final chapters.
I like the idea that Takaya had the last chapter in mind from the beginning. It encourages rereading to get clues about some events that were surprises the first time around. This was my second reading, and there's no doubt that I'll read it again... probably all in one go rather than in bits and pieces over a few years, as I did this time. It does get rather flabby in the middle, but there are plenty of powerful scenes throughout the story, and its overall effect is heartfelt and moving.
Similarly to Jellyfish Princess' last volume, which I read not too long ago, this final collection features the story from the last single volume of Fruits Basket (v. 23), and the rest is taken up with bonus material. The bonuses are more substantial, here, and include a long interview with author Takaya, some selections from the Fan Book, and two timelines of the series. One timeline is the sequence of events in the story, and the other is an in-depth overview of the series' publication history in Japan, in serialization and collected volumes.
My favorite part of the bonus section was the list of the most popular or favorite quotes from the manga, with readers' reactions to those quotes that were collected from twitter. This is another manga that didn't exist until I was in my 30s, so it was nice to read the heartwarming responses from readers who were children or teens when it was serialized in Japan, and had fond memories of it years later. One or two readers said that FB had changed their outlook. That's the power of fiction!
I felt it was not quite wrapped in a happy bow (which is what I wanted), but did wish there had been a little more of Tohru. I'm not sure what I wanted, but I am deeply thankful she is seen and she is loved for herself. That is what I wanted to see all along.
Also, I am pretty shocked on how the mangaka made me ate my words on Akito. Still unjustifiable what was done, but forgiveness is a powerful thing.
Overall, naive and very repetitive. Can be fun at times, but generally rare. I probably should've just read the plot summary instead of skimming to the end and hoping it got better.
Nitpicks: * I really hate how the text formatting is not consistent !! * There were... ... too many... ... ellipsis... ... everywhere... ... but ellipsis... ... don't make boring... ... scenes more dramatic... * The art for faces wasn't the best so it was hard to tell characters apart and remember their names. * There was no character guide at the beginning of volumes like most other series, so there was nothing to refer to if you didn't remember who someone was. Usually I skip/skim these, but this was probably the one series that actually needed it, because a good third of the characters were somewhat unmemorable.
A quick thank you to Aune & Dawn for introducing & insisting I give Fruits Basket a try. Had a wonderful time with the series (aside from a few things I thought deserved a higher teen reader rating).
Thanks, you two!
Fruits Basket has been a wonderful companion, the characters forever friends, & I know that the Sohma home will be one I come back to from time to time, for the somen, love & laughter.
esto me dejo en el piso. nada dura para siempre aaaaaaa. dios mio no puedo explicarles todas las cosas que pienso sobre la soledad, la depresión, los singled out childs como Akito que crecen con mil issues y son una de las pipelines víctimas to victimarios más obvias. dios.
There was an unexpected pairing in here that didn't seem to have any backstory to it? The trauma from the build up of the series seemed to concluded quite easily as well... But the ending? I love it. Love it, love it. So, it gets a 4, still.
This volume, specifically was boring but I can see people who are more invested with this characters than me enjoying it. Nonetheless, Fruits Basket as a whole, was fine
This story is very emotionally charging. To an extent that, sometimes, I needed a break due to that. Which surprised me because I don’t get easily emotional. However, this is consequence of the themes within FB. Regardless of my disagreement with Takaya’s narrative structure, she skillfully conveyed emotionally heavy topics through the characters.
My issues with the story, as previously mentioned, is structure. Takaya does a lot of back and forth with some character arcs, making too hard to follow(sometimes remember) what’s happening. Towards the end, I got kinda disappointed with how she decided to wrap up the romance. Because some of them(Yuki and Shigure, specifically) seemed out of nowhere and difficult to believe in their sincerity beyond the “author needed to pair everybody”.
Another aspect, this is more personal, was her choice to erase any possible queer reading in the end. Obviously the lack of queer content and our hunger for it isn’t her fault but it would’ve been nice to keep things more blurred. Like, don’t give Ayame a girlfriend just for the sake of it and assigning Akito as female just to pair her with someone. The latter, specifically, negatively surprised me because of how relevant gender was to the plot and this choice didn’t quite fit was had been presented at that point.
Overall, the reading of FB wasn’t as enjoyable as I wanted to, but it was worthy. Especially if you’re not as familiar with shoujo demographic and are looking for a deep but also sweet story about love, regret, human connections and moving forward.
Tohru and Kyo Forever. <3 Overall, I really enjoyed this manga and I feel like I can see how popular it was. I feel like a lot of romance manga I've read (although not much) definitely has a lot of influence from Furuba. I think it was emotional and beautiful and sad. But also joyful and hopeful. A few things that I struggled with was the sheer amount of flashbacks that it was hard to keep track of the present time. And with the sheer amount of characters it was difficult for me to keep track. Also I still feel like I don't understand how the curse broke but {{shrug}}. I still think there was some beautiful aspects to this story and I enjoyed reading it. Now that I know how it ends, it almost makes me want to go back and start at the beginning.
three stars for volume 12 four stars for the series as a whole
this series really does hold a special place in my heart <3
my rating for the series as a whole is four stars, with the later volumes not holding up as well as i remember … i had a good time with them, however … i think the first few volumes did a better job balancing the fun and angst. the last few books focused a lot less on Tohru and Kyo which is a bummer because their relationship was a highlight of the series.
that being said, i'm glad i decided to revisit Fruits Basket. it really did bring all the nostalgic feels.
A review for the whole series, I just absolutely fell in love with the concept and characters from day 1, and will always recommend and rave about this manga. It might be silly but it truly focuses on relationships with different people and hardships in life. Yes I know they turn into their zodiac animals while hugging the opposite sex, but this manga explores so much more than the fantasy side might suggest. I really just want more Kyo and Tohru at the end of the day, 10/10!