Fruits Basket

AUTHOR: Takaya, Natsuki

ARTIST: Natsuki Takaya (illustrator)

PUBLISHER: Hakusensha (Japanese); TOKYOPOP (English)

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION:Furutsu basuketto, 1998-2000, 2001-2006

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1999-2007 (English translation, 2004-2009)

Publication History

Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket was serialized in the Japanese biweekly girls’ manga magazine Hana to yume (flowers and dreams), published by Hakusensha, from 1998 to 2006, though Takaya took a year-long sabbatical from 2000 to 2001 because of a hand injury. The series was collected in book form and published by Hakusensha beginning in 1999. The English translation was first published in 2004 by TOKYOPOP.

Takaya first planned to finish the series in twenty volumes; however, she eventually expanded the story line and finalized it to fit into twenty-three volumes. Because of the series’ great success, three related books were published: a Fruits Basket character book (2001), Furutsu basuketto fan bukku (2005; Fruits Basket Fan Book—Cat, 2007), and Furutsu basuketto fan bukku—En (2007; Fruits Basket Banquet, 2007). The latter two were translated into English. An English book with Japanese annotation collecting chapters 1-3 of Volume 1 was published by Hakusensha in 2003 as a tool for Japanese readers studying English.

Plot

Although it employs a common plot structure of shojo manga, in which an ordinary teenage female protagonist seeks happiness while growing up and overcoming typical adolescent hardships, Fruits Basket explores some of the most serious problems in modern Japanese society: child abuse, child abandonment, bullying, dysfunctional families, and identity crises. The story focuses on the lives of three high school students: Tohru Honda, Yuki Sohma, and Kyo Sohma.

Tohru lives by herself in a tent, having been orphaned by the recent death of her mother (her father died when she was a child). Tohru’s classmate Yuki happens to see her living in the woods near his family’s residence. He invites her to stay in his wealthy family’s house, where she meets his cousins Shigure and Kyo and works as a housekeeper.

Tohru soon discovers that Yuki, Kyo, Shigure, and ten other members of the Sohma family have been cursed by animal spirits of the Chinese zodiac. As a result of the curse, when the Sohmas are embraced by a person of the opposite gender or feel sick, they turn into the animals that possessed them. Most of the cursed Sohmas were feared, neglected, or abused by their parents; therefore, Yuki and Kyo live away from their parents. Kyo is most deeply cursed and is destined to be imprisoned within the Sohmas’ “cage” after graduating from high school. The twelve other cursed family members use him as a scapegoat, discriminating against him and feeling superior to him.

Through Yuki and Kyo, Tohru meets the other cursed family members and learns how they cope with both general struggles and conflicts with Akito, the intolerant head of the Sohma family. Because Akito is admired as a “god” by the animal spirits, no one can disobey Akito’s orders. However, Tohru accepts the cursed family members as they are, which gradually eases their suffering. Knowing Kyo’s destiny, Tohru seeks a way to solve the curse and confronts Akito. However, she eventually realizes that Akito has been hurt by her mother and forced to live as a man, which is a crucial secret of the Sohma family and the reason for Akito’s cruelty. Tohru’s understanding and acceptance free Kyo, Yuki, and the other family members from the curse.

Volumes

• Fruits Basket, Volume 1 (2004). Tohru begins to live with Yuki and his cousins Shigure and Kyo, who are cursed by animals. She meets Kagura, who is in love with Kyo.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 2 (2004). Tohru meets Momiji and Hatori. Hatori tells her not to get involved with the Sohma family.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 3 (2004). Tohru meets Yuki’s cousin Hatsuharu, who tells her about Yuki’s childhood. Tohru, Yuki, Kyo, and Momiji go to a hot spring.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 4 (2004). Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo become sophomores, and Momiji and Haru enter Tohru’s high school. Tohru meets Akito and Ayame.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 5 (2004). Tohru meets Kisa, who is unable to speak because of being bullied at school.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 6 (2004). Kyo’s guardian and master, Kazuma, returns from his journey and meets Tohru. He tests her to determine whether she can accept Kyo as he is.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 7 (2005). Tohru meets Hiro, who is in love with Kisa. Arisa Uotani becomes Tohru’s best friend.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 8 (2005). Tohru meets Ritsu, and Yuki, Kyo, Haru, Ritsu, and Tohru try to tackle their problems.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 9 (2005). Yuki becomes the president of the student council and meets new members Machi and Kakeru. The story of Tohru’s psychic friend, Saki Hanajima, is revealed.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 10 (2005). Tohru, Kyo, Haru, and Momiji go to the Sohmas’ summer cottage and are joined by Kisa, Hiro, Shigure, and, later, Akito.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 11 (2005). At the cottage, Tohru meets Isuzu (or Rin), who is Haru’s girlfriend. Akito attempts to blackmail Tohru.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 12 (2005). Tohru secretly seeks a way to dissolve the Sohmas’ animal curse for Kyo, while Rin does the same for Haru.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 13 (2006). Yuki’s selfish mother irritates him during their meeting with his teacher. Tohru and her classmates make a school excursion to Kyoto.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 14 (2006). Rin’s past is revealed. During the activities of the student council, Yuki learns of Machi’s problems with her family.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 15 (2006). While talking to Kakeru, Yuki remembers his childhood encounter with Tohru. In the school festival, Tohru and her classmates perform a comedic “Cinderella” play.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 16 (2007). Kyo remembers Tohru’s mother, Kyoko, whom he met in his childhood. The story of how Tohru’s parents met is revealed.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 17 (2007). Tohru meets Kureno, who tells her the incredible truth about Akito.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 18 (2007). Rin is missing, and Haru desperately searches for her. Rin has been confined in a shed by Akito and is eventually rescued by Kureno.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 19 (2008). Tohru realizes her true feelings for Kyo, who will soon disappear. Yuki finds out about a fatal relationship between Tohru and Kakeru.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 20 (2008). Because of a quarrel with her unaffectionate mother, Ren, Akito stabs Kureno. Kyo confesses to Tohru the secret of her mother’s death.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 21 (2008). Tohru reveals her feelings to Kyo, who refuses her. She is later injured in a fall.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 22 (2009). When Tohru gets out of the hospital, Kyo tells her that he is in love with her. His curse is lifted, and the other family members are released from their curses.

• Fruits Basket, Volume 23 (2009). Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo graduate from high school. Tohru and Kyo find a new home together and live happily ever after.

Characters

• Tohru Honda, the protagonist, is an orphaned sixteen-year-old girl with dark brown hair and large round eyes. She is extremely polite and is characterized as unrealistically generous and optimistic. Toward the end of the manga, she realizes that she is in love with Kyo.

• Yuki Sohma, cursed by the rat, is Tohru’s classmate and later the student-council president. He has a feminine face and short silver hair and is called “Prince” by his admirers. Because of his curse, he isolates himself from those around him, especially girls. He was abandoned by his mother and abused by Akito, and he fears “opening the lid” of his childhood memories to resolve his trauma. Thanks to Tohru, he accepts his weakness and attempts to overcome it. When he ultimately overcomes his trauma and confesses his love for Machi, his curse disappears.

• Kyo Sohma, cursed by the cat, is Tohru’s classmate and Yuki’s cousin. A tall athlete with orange hair, he is short-tempered but warmhearted. He was raised by his cousin Kazuma after his mother’s suicide, for which his father blamed him. He feels his future is hopeless because he is to be imprisoned after high school. However, his outlook changes due to his love for Tohru. The curse leaves him when he overcomes his trauma.

• Shigure Sohma, cursed by the dog, is a twenty-seven-year-old cousin of Yuki and Kyo. A kind and easygoing novelist, he typically wears a kimono. He secretly uses Tohru to end the curse on the Sohma family so he can be with Akito, whom he has loved since his childhood.

• Akito Sohma is the head of the Sohma family. In her early twenties, she is a sickly, short-tempered, violent, and mysterious woman with short black hair and black eyes. She was raised as a boy and suffers from an identity crisis. Possessed by a zodiac god, she manipulates the cursed family members and has absolute power over them.

• Kagura Sohma, cursed by the boar, is an eighteen-year-old cousin of Yuki and Kyo and Kyo’s childhood friend. She has dark brown hair and is short, slim, and feminine; however, when she is excited, she turns tremendously violent.

• Momiji Sohma, cursed by the rabbit, is a fifteen-year-old cousin of Yuki and Kyo. He is half German and often speaks German. He has a sunny, childlike disposition and has short, curly blond hair and blue eyes.

• Hatori Sohma, cursed by the dragon, is a twenty-seven-year-old cousin of Yuki and Kyo and a close friend of Shigure and Ayame. He is tall, slim, intelligent, and reserved and works as the doctor for the Sohmas. He is nearly blind in his left eye. He has the ability to erase memories through hypnosis.

• Ayame Sohma, cursed by the snake, is Yuki’s older brother. He is a tall, handsome, talkative, and narcissistic man with long silver hair. He feels guilty for having neglected Yuki when Yuki asked him for help as a child.

Artistic Style

Fruits Basket uses an intricate narrative structure featuring changes of viewpoints and streams of consciousness, panels portraying flashbacks, flowers and animals as indicators of the characters’ mental states, and an exquisite balance of comedic and serious tones. For the most part, Tohru narrates the events from her point of view, often addressing her deceased mother or the reader. However, beginning in chapter 10, different characters often take over the narrator’s role, expressing their feelings toward Tohru or exposing their inner voices. These multilayered viewpoints facilitate the reader’s ability to identify with various characters.

One of the most prominent techniques Takaya uses is the insertion of a panel depicting vaguely drawn, dotted characters between the sequential panels, signifying a character’s memory of past sorrows or traumatic experiences. For example, a dark-colored panel or a sliced panel formed by thin lines in which Tohru’s mother is standing alone is inserted between panels that show details seen from Tohru’s point of view. Stream-of-consciousness narrative is interspersed with more realist forms of narration. The flashbacks are enigmas that are gradually unveiled as the story progresses.

Takaya also uses flowers and animals to signal characters’ emotions and the consequences of characters’ actions. A bird and red camellias drawn with Akito, for example, symbolize her desire to be free from her ambiguous gender identity; in Japan, camellias represent “outstanding beauty” and “beheading.” Animals and objects also appear in text bubbles to indicate who is talking: A text bubble with a rice ball signifies Tohru’s voice, while one with a cat signifies Kyo. This technique produces comical moments in the narrative. The change between a serious and a comical mode is often represented by the appearance of characters drawn in a simplified or deformed style.

Themes

The major themes of Fruits Basket are love, friendship, family, and coping with trauma. “Fruits Basket” is a popular children’s game in Japan in which players are assigned names of fruits and then form a circle. One player (oni) stands in the center of the circle. When the oni calls out a name of a fruit, those who were named that fruit must move to other chairs, while the oni tries to sit in a free chair. In the manga, Tohru is bullied by classmates who dub her onigiri (rice ball) in the game, and she waits in vain for her name to be called. This represents Tohru’s initial position in the story. Tohru has no family on whom she can rely and is an outsider among the Sohmas. Therefore, she seeks a home in which she belongs. Through her interactions with her friends and the cursed Sohma family members, she eventually realizes that she belongs with the people she loves.

The inserted anecdote “A Tale of a Stupid Traveler” symbolizes the way in which the characters should confront their hardships. In the tale, the traveler gives everything he has, from money to body parts, to those who beg him. In the end, after offering his eyes to a monster in the forest, he receives a piece of paper from the monster as a “gift”; the paper reads “Idiot.” The traveler is unable to see it without his eyes but feels happiness because of the monster’s thoughtful gift. This allegory represents Tohru’s altruism. Furthermore, it critiques the self-centered attitudes of Yuki, Kyo, and other characters who have blamed their hardships on someone else and have avoided facing their own traumas. Ultimately, the book asks readers to consider how devotion to someone serves to produce self-confidence and courage to confront suffering.

Impact

Fruits Basket became one of the best-selling shojo manga not only in Japan but also in the United States, Singapore, France, and Mexico. The series particularly appealed to young female readers who wanted to read romantic, emotion-centered stories or stories more realistic and relevant to their lives than those in many male-dominated American comics. In this sense, Fruits Basket helped popularize shojo manga in the U.S. market. The success of the 2001 anime adaptation also served to lead new readers to the genre. Fruits Basket is remembered for exploring serious adolescent issues with both sensitivity and humor.

Television Series

Fruits Basket. Directed by Nagisa Miyazaki. FUNimation Entertainment/Studio DEEN, 2001. This twenty-six-episode animated adaptation features the voices of Yui Horie as Tohru, Aya Hisakawa as Yuki, and Tomokazu Seki as Kyo. Laura Bailey, Eric Vale, and Jerry Jewell provide the voices for the English version. The show adapts Volumes 1-6 and parts of Volumes 7 and 8. It differs from the manga in several ways, including its treatment of Akito’s gender and Kyo’s secret identity.

Further Reading

Hino, Matsuri. Vampire Knight (2005- ).

Midorikawa, Yuki. Natsume’s Books of Friends (2005- ).

Takaya, Natsuki. Tsubasa: Those with Wings (1995-1998).

Bibliography

Choo, Kukhee. “Girls Return Home: Portrayal of Femininity in Popular Japanese Girl’s Manga and Anime Texts During the 1990’s in Hana yori dango and Fruits Basket.” Women: A Cultural Review 19, no. 3 (2008): 275-296.

Shamoon, Deborah. “Situating the Shojo in Shojo Manga: Teenage Girls, Romance Comics, and Contemporary Japanese Culture.” In Japanese Visual Culture, edited by Mark W. MacWilliams. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2008.

Spies, Alwyn. Studying Shojo Manga: Global Education, Narratives of Self and the Pathologization of the Feminine. PhD diss., University of British Columbia. 2003. https://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/15104.