Fruits Basket

    (Tokyopop, 2004-2009)
™ and © 2004 Natsuki Takaya
Right to left reading format; black and white series

Both the broken English title and the very concept—family changes into animals of the Chinese zodiac—made me initially swerve around this one, but it’s definitely more than just a Ranma 1/2 knock-off. High-schooler Tohru, homeless after the death of her mother (are there no social services in Japan?) becomes the live-in housekeeper to the transformation-challenged Sohma Clan. So far, so familiar, but, as high as the concept is, instead of playing it as a goofy romantic comedy, it’s treated fairly seriously with only a few obligatory laughs along the way. (It’s a bit as if you revived The Addams Family as family drama.) It’s got solid characters and strong art, though one wonders how long Takaya can sustain the conceit with new characters and complications—but it helps that, by the end of Vol. 1, we still have no idea how the Sohmas got that way and haven’t even met half of them yet.

— S.A. Bennett
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  NotesWriterArtist
#1

February, 2004
Cover Price: $9.99
1 copy available for $11.99 		Natsuki TakayaNatsuki Takaya
#9

June, 2005
Cover Price: $9.99
1 copy available for $7.98 		Natsuki TakayaNatsuki Takaya