Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket is a very popular manga and anime series created by Natsuki Takaya.  In the series, a teenage girl named Tohru stays with members of the Sohma family (lifelong rivals Kyo and Yuki and their older cousin Shigure) when she has no other place to go.  She inadvertently finds out the family's secret curse which is that certain members of the family turn into animals when hugged by a member of the opposite sex.  Instead of getting her memory erased, Tohru is allowed to keep the secret and soon affects the lives of the family.

The anime version of Fruits Basket is one of my all-time favorites and the original manga is very good.  Although you'd think the story would be a wacky comedy (and it indeed does have plenty of laughs), it can be dark and dramatic at times.  The author really explores the negatives of the curse (imagine a mother never being able to truly hold or hug her son) to good effect.

Artwork from both the manga and the anime are featured in today's post.  The manga is available in the U.S. from Tokyopop while the anime is available from Funimation.  Both are highly recommended.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

Image Archive (.zip):  RS or MF