Manga Review: Fruits Basket vol.1

 

By Aliraluna

Story and art by: Natsuki Takaya

     Tohru Honda, an orphan girl living in the woods, suddenly sees a big, beautiful and peaceful house in which members of the Sohma family are living with an ancient curse and to her surprise Yuki Sohma, known in school as “Prince Charming”, is living there! Later on, when Yuki Sohma and Shigure Sohma are walking toward their house, they see Tohru walking by herself and they wonder where she lives as the whole place is theirs and they haven’t rented any part of the land to anyone. When Tohru Honda arrives to her “home” (which is really a tent) she finds that Yuki and Shigure were waiting for her! They take her to their home and she asks if they can rent her a place to camp until the remodeling of her grandpa’s house is done. But Shigure explains that a landslide could happen, and it does covering everything with a mountain of mud. Tohru now had to stay in the Sohma’s house as she got a fever from overworking but is really sad because she lost her mother’s picture and she explains to Shigure her goal of graduating from high-school as her mother didn’t do so. The next day Yuki gives her the surprise that he saved the picture of her mother but also that she’s welcome to stay in their house until the remodeling of her grandpa’s house is complete and, as she likes doing house-work, she should stay; besides the Sohma house needs cleaning! But just as she’s entering her room, from nowhere a boy comes out of a wall to pick a fight with Yuki, calling him ‘rat-boy’; and when he was about to attack Tohru tries to stop the boy and accidently hugs him… and he transforms into a cat! And that’s when Tohru Honda’s “normal” life changes by knowing the curse of the Sohma family. Is Tohru Honda ready to get involved in the magical world of curses and legends of the Sohma family?

 

   What is the curse of the Sohma family? For hundreds of years the Sohma family has been possessed by the twelve spirits found in the Chinese zodiac, but there’s the thirteenth spirit: the cat (in total, only thirteen members of the family are possessed). They can communicate with their respective animals, but for some unknown reason when they are very tired and/or hugged by the opposite sex they transform.

The legend of the Banquet: One day, God told the animals “I’m inviting you all to my banquet tomorrow. Don’t be late!” after hearing that the Rat lied to the Cat saying that the banquet was the day after the day it actually was. The day of the feast the Rat, Ox, Tiger and the rest of the animals; but the Cat, who had been tricked, feasted until the morning and so the Cat was never made a zodiac animal.