Fruits Basket Manga (warning, spoilers and swearing)
The series started off wonderfully. I loved it and was hooked rather fast. I actually bought the first 12 volumes for a steal on eBay.
The plot sounds lame, but the characters are quite likable. Basically, Tohru is living alone, has nowhere to go, and she happens across the Sohma family, and they take her in, only for her to find that many of the Sohmas are cursed and change into animals when they come into close contact with people of the opposite sex. This last part always sounded ridiculous to me, so I avoided the series until Herro asked me to watch the anime with him online once.
I also avoided it because Tohru's eyes are freaking huge and scary! Pic from this site.
If you can get past this plot element, the series is rather interesting as you get to know the characters and their struggle with the curse. It starts off rather comedic (haha you can turn into a bunny!), but there are many times in which the story gets dark and leaves you in suspense.
Haha, Yuki turns into a stylized rat. From the anime. Pic from this site.
The big mystery: who -is- this mysterious Akito, the one who has so much power over all the Sohmas?
I'm evil, can't you tell? Pic from this site.
Anyway...
The series hasn't been completely brought over to North America yet, but I got impatient when someone linked me to an online scanlation, and so I finished it there.
Much to my disappointment.
LAME ENDING. LAME. HARRY POTTER LAME.
If you don't want spoilers, or don't want to see me upset/swearing, please stop reading now.
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Akito x Shigure? WHAt The FUCK!!??
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
EWWWWW
ewwwwwwwww
EWWW !!!
EWWWWWWWWWWWW
*copypasta more ewws*
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
EWWWWW
ewwwwwwwww
EWWW !!!
EWWWWWWWWWWWW
Phew.
That's just freaking disgusting. Shigure did Akito's mom, Ren, for God's sake! I'm not joking! And now he's with the daughter?
And didn't Shigure say like 5 books before that he ''loved'' Akito so much that he wanted to crush him/her.
Argh. Just argh. Akito & Shigure....
That's what bothered me the most.
But there were other little things. The fact that it was made into a "happily ever after" fairy tale type ending, and -everyone- got together with someone (except Momiji the bunny because no one cares about him. He wasn't even given closure with his sister and family AT ALL).
The bunny is the best character and most neglected. Pic from this site.
Even Doc Hatori got together with Shigure's editor, and you know I had no freaking idea that they even knew each other before hand. It's like, oops, I never finished his story, oh wait, I got this extra girl character here....
Why did he not get with the schoolteacher who used to date Shigure? That makes a lot more sense to me, really.
No, not that Doc Hattori! Pic from Japan Times Online.
I like Doc Hatori. Probably because his name reminds me of the other one. Pic from a stupid imeem quiz.
Argh Shigure and Akito... argh.
Thank God I didn't buy the last books (not that they're out, but you get the idea).
And the whole Kyo & Tohru don't know if they love each other crap was so long and drawn out. Freaking emo trip, too. It was all I could do to keep reading it. It seriously took me 10 minutes to read the manga on Kyo telling her about his role in her mom's death (i.e. I skimmed the whole thing).
Aren't they sooooo kyooot together? No, seriously. I nearly barfed trying to find a decent non-makeout pic of the two together.
I -would- have liked this couple. Really, I would have, if it didn't take the whole damned series to get them together. Instead, they tip-toed around each other as if they were made of glass.
And Kyo's foster dad ended up with a teenager in high school (Shishou and Hanajima). Pedo much? No, no, she wanted him, so it's like Kodomo no Jikan. Okay, maybe not quite that bad, but still, you see how I feel about this. And the author had another couple like that, too (Kureno and Uo). What is with this?
WAIT. That makes three completely different couples end up as young girls with a much older guy.
Arghhhh.
Oh, and incest (!!) thrown in for good measure. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but a few many couples were Sohma family members with other Sohma family members. Rin and Haru, Kisa and Hiro, Akito and Shigure....
Actually, I don't object to Haru and Rin. They fit together well. Pic from here.
Furry porn. FUCK NO. By the way, Kisa is in ELEMENTARY school! Pic from some stupid, stupid people.
ARGH Akito and Shigure..... I am NOT finding pics for that coupling!
Even Kakeru and what's-her-name (his girlfriend) were cousins (some random other unimportant characters). I paid enough attention to that story arc to notice that.
Oh yeah, and as for the plot, and it was all "the bad guy suddenly realized he was bad and became good all of a sudden" type plot. What? I was expecting more blood! BLOOD. (I have a thing for overdoing blood in my sprite comic). Book 20 was so good! It set up an "I can't wait to see what happens next" type of anticipation (did Kureno, the rooster, -really- die?), only for the next book to fail me completely and remorselessly. Nope. No one dies, no matter how hurt they get. I really hoped Kureno died. That would've been a great way to advance the plot. But the plot didn't really advance. It sorta stagnated instead.
If only Kureno the cock really died. Pic from the manga itself.
Oh yeah, and Kureno did Akito once, too. More incest! Yeah, NO. And I found fanart of it MY EYES ARGH.
One part I did like was the truth about the zodiac origin story. In the original story, the rat tricked the cat into missing God's feast, and so that's why Kyo and Yuki fight all the time (cat vs. rat).
The Zodiac animals. Pic from Animefringe.
But in the real story, God (a normal human) made friends with normal animals, but then the cat died of old age. And God was sad, so he made some food thing that would make all the animals be reborn over and over so that they could, in essence, live together forever. And he made the cat's dead corpse eat it. But when the cat was revived, it told God that it didn't want to be continuously reborn, and all the other animals got angry at him for this, seeing it as a betrayal, and so that's why -everyone- in the manga didn't like Kyo and thinks he's worthless.
DO NOT WANT. Pic from the manga itself.
No one knew this true Zodiac story until the very end (or so it seems). It's also why Kyo has a monster as his alternative form. I'm guessing the curse could only be finally broken when the Cat found someone to truly love him and not pity him, or some shit like that. Sounds like a plot I'd use, hahahah.
Okay, so, in book 5 Kyo is forced to reveal to Tohru the fact that he has the potential to turn into a monster.
Someone's fanart of Kyo-monster. Pic from someone's Photobucket.
Scary huh?
And you know what, that moment is the -only- time he -ever- transforms like that! I was totally expecting some emotionally-charged moment when he'd transform into the monster and cause problems (perhaps in a fight versus Akito. That would have been awesome) and make Tohru fall in love with him even more as a result. But no! It's like the author just forgot and made a footnote on it.
Oh, the curse suddenly broke.
For everyone.
The end.
Fucking A.
So, if you want to enjoy this series, read the first ~15 books, and then make up your own ending. Just like Harry Potter. Read the first 5, make up the last two ;)
That's what I get for reading a Shoujo manga....
Originally posted on 2009/05/25
Heh. Herro hates this post.
ReplyDeletehahahahahaha!!!! :D
ReplyDeletethats a freaking hilarious review lol xP
um hey... i think hatorri did get with the school teacher Mayo, n she cut her hair n stuff for him as well.. the editor got together with Ritzu the monkey.. i mean they didnt really get together but it was hinted at the end that they might.
ReplyDelete