- Fruits Basket -
Storyline
One day, Tohru comes upon a house in the woods which is the home of Shigure Sohma and Yuki Sohma (a first year at her school with an unwanted fan club) from the Sohma family. When the Sohmas discover that Tohru is, in fact, living in a tent in the woods, they are quite surprised. The entire area is Sohma property, and Tohru pleads to stay, offering to pay a rental fee for living on their land. Feeling sorry for her, and desperate to end their take-out eating habits and filthy living conditions, the Sohmas offer her their spare room in exchange for cooking and housework. When her tent is buried that night in a landslide, she has no option but to accept.
Tohru soon discovers the Sohma family's secret, and the reason why Yuki is so private and taciturn: thirteen members of the family are possessed by the 12 animal spirits of the Chinese Zodiac ("Jyūnishi" in Japanese) and the spirit of the cat who was left out of the Zodiac according to legend. They transform into animals when hugged by the opposite gender, or when they are under great amounts of stress. When she promises to keep their secret, the Sohmas allow Tohru to keep her memories rather than hypnotically erasing them, a fate that had previously befallen anyone not on the "Inside" of the Sohma family who had discovered the secret.
The story follows the lives of Tohru and the Sohma family, as they deal with each other and a society where neither quite fits in, as well as the feared Akito Sohma, head of the Sohma family.
Characters
Tohru Honda
An orphaned high school student, Tohru ends up sharing house with Shigure, Yuki and Kyo Sohma. She loves to cook, is an excellent housekeeper and has an after school job as a janitor to help pay her tuition fees (since she doesn't want to be a burden on her grandfather). She's always polite, and is extremely kind and selfless; in fact, the other characters sometimes have to tell her that she needs to look out for her own interests. She wishes to break the curse that binds the family.
Yuki Sohma
Yuki, the "Prince of Kaiwaia High" is attractive and popular. So popular, in fact, that he has his own fan club run by girls of the high school. But he does not let any girl get close to him, and for good reason. Clever and quick witted, Yuki's natural charm and sharp, witty demeanor make him an appealing friend. Ever curious, Yuki welcomes a challenge. Born on the year in the rat, Yuki's biggest rival is Kyo (the cat).
Kyo Sohma
Kyo spent months perfecting his martial arts skills desiring to finally defeat Yuki, a goal that consumes him like noting else. A member of the Sohma clan, Kyo too transforms into an animal-the cat. The difference is that the cat is left out of the Chinese Zodiac. He is foul tempered, brash, rough, and rude, but deep down some believe he is not as bad as he pretends to be.
The Sohmas
The Student Council
Tohru's Friends
The Anime
The Fruits Basket anime is a 26-episode series adapted by Akitaro Daichi. It aired on TV channel TV Tokyo from July 5 to December 27, 2001, at 18:00 on Thursdays. It currently airs as part of the FUNimation programming block on CoLours TV. The beginning and ending songs are "For Fruits Basket" and "Chiisana Inori" (Little Prayer).
The anime series follows the manga up to approximately the middle of volume 8 of the collections.
Following the series release in North America by FUNimation, a grassroots effort has been mounted by the fan base to have a second season of the series produced in Japan. Funimation has had a sizable hand in this effort, organizing origami crane folding events at various anime conventions. These cranes were then sent to Japan as a form of petition for the production of a second season. At the beginning of 2006, however, Natsuki Takaya and Daichi Akitaro announced in two separate interviews that there will not be any more work on the anime for a number of reasons.
The Manga
Fruits Basket has finished its run in Japan; chapter 136, the final chapter, was published on November 20, 2006.
Twenty-one collected volumes have been released in Japan, and the final two are expected to be released next year around January and May. In 2003, the manga was licensed for United States distribution by TOKYOPOP after it topped a poll of requested manga on their website. The first translated volume was released in February, 2004. In Singapore, an English translation is adapted by Chuang Yi, and the Singaporean translation is imported to Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. Meanwhile, in Europe, the French translation of the manga is available up to volume nineteen, as of September 2006. In Brazil, the Portuguese translation is published by Editora JBC since April, 2005. A runaway hit, by volume five in the U.S, it had taken the title of "Best Selling Shōjo Manga in 2004."
Volumes
The volumes each feature a specific main character on the cover. They are, in order:
1. Tohru Honda
2. Yuki Sohma
3. Kyo Sohma
4. Shigure Sohma
5. Kagura Sohma
6. Momiji Sohma
7. Hatori Sohma
8. Hatsuharu Sohma
9. Ayame Sohma
10. Kisa Sohma
11. Hiro Sohma
12. Ritsu Sohma
13. Isuzu "Rin" Sohma
14. Kureno Sohma
15. Akito Sohma
16. Arisa Uotani
17. Saki Hanajima
18. Kazuma Sohma
19. Kakeru Manabe
20. Machi Kuragi
21. Ren Sohma
Japanese Volumes to date: 21
English USA Volumes to date: 14
English Volume 15 scheduled for release December 12, 2006
English Singapore/Australia Volumes to date: 20
French Volumes to date: 19
Currently (September 2006[6]), no official date for French Volume 20 yet.
Spanish volumes to date: 17 (Mexico)
Credits goes to WIKIPEDIA =D
What do you guys think about Yuki and Machi?
They're my favorite couple
anyway .. GREAT anime & manga. i wish they would continue the anime .. it just kind of stopped in the middle of nowhere
