Name: Fruits Basket
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Tankoubon: 23
Serialized In: Hana to Yume
Released: July 1998 – November 2006
Story & Art: Natsuki Takaya
Published By (Japan): Hakusensha
Published By (US): TokyoPop

Scores

Story: 9/10 (x 3 = 27 pts)
Art: 8/10 (x 3 = 24 pts)
Gut Score: 10/10 (x 4 = 40 pts)

Total: 91/100 (91%)

Review

Fruits Basket is about a girl, Tohru Honda, who happens to be living in a tent after her mother died.  However, 2 members of the Sohma family, Yuki and Shigure, find Tohru one afternoon (she’s was camping on Sohma family property), and they end up having her live in their house after Tohru’s tent is buried in a landslide.  Soon after, another boy, Kyo Sohma, suddenly busts through the roof to challenge Yuki to a fight.  However, as Tohru tries to stop Kyo, she accidentally bumps into Kyo, Yuki, and Shigure, turning them into a cat, rat, and dog, respectively.  The three has to explain that certain members of the Sohma family are afflicted with a curse where they are possessed by a spirit of one of the animals of the Chinese zodiac (plus the cat), an they transform into their respective animals if they hug or bump into someone of the opposite sex or get weak.  However, Kyo, being possessed by the cat, who was tricked by the rat out of attending the zodiac banquet in the zodiac origin story, hates Yuki, who is possessed by the rat and continuously vows to eventually defeat him someday.

However, Tohru also sometimes has problems of her own, but she is often able to work through them with the aid of her two unusual, overprotective, but very good friends at school: Arisa Uotani, an ex-gang member who was “saved” from her gang life by Tohru and her mother, and Saki Hanajima, who was easily accepted by Tohru despite her ability to sense and send out psychic waves.

At first, Tohru is just living with Kyo, Yuki, and Shigure, as well as meeting other members of the zodiac, with the curse being more of a curiosity more than anything else.  However, over time, Tohru slowly uncovers the disturbing tale of what the curse of the zodiac actually is, as well as what will eventually happen to those who are cursed, in particular Kyo the cat, whom Tohru takes an immediate liking to (even if she doesn’t realize it herself).  Despite not knowing how, Tohru vows that she wants to break the zodiac curse once and for all.

Fruits Basket can probably be described as a romance comedy to start with, which slowly progresses more into a darker and mysterious story as the series progresses as Tohru learns more about the Sohma family and the curse, though the story continues a certain level of humor all the way through.  The reader is also always reminded about the curse which, even if it isn’t the topic of the story at any particular moment, is always festering just beneath the surface.

The story is also largely character driven, which many of the characters having quite a bit of depth.  With each layer that is exposed about each character, another layer always seemed to lie underneath it.  If there is one thing I didn’t necessarily like about the character background stories, it’s that many of them were so similar.  For the family background stories for the Sohma family members, that wasn’t necessarily a problem, but many of the other characters also seemed to have somewhat similar family problems as well, to the point that it made one wonder whether anyone but Tohru actually was raised in a non-dysfunctional home.  However, this problem isn’t really something that harms the story too much, I don’t think.

The art seemed to be pretty much OK to me.  I haven’t read enough manga to really know what I should consider to be “good” or “bad” art quality necessarily, but I thought it did a sufficient job at helping portray the attitude of a particular scene.  The main complaint I have here is that many of the later character designs often either looked similar to each other or similar to earlier characters.  The early characters didn’t really have this problem.  It should be noted that the mangaka did have surgery on her drawing hand and arm in the middle of making this manga, so whether that had anything to do with it, I’m not sure.  However, there were times when I wasn’t exactly sure what character I was looking at.  Also, and I’m not sure whether this is a problem with the dialouge bubbles or with how the translation was handled, but I think it was occasionally difficult to figure out who exactly was saying what, though that was more of a minor problem.

Overall, Fruits Basket was a very entertaining and satisfying manga series to read (if not rather dense, in the sense that it typically took me a full hour to read one volume, which is unusually long for me).  It is somewhat long at 23 volumes, but if you’re not intimidated by the length, and you aren’t put off by a shojo series, then I would definitely recommend giving Fruits Basket a try.

First Read: December 2005 – August 2009
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes

Name: Cardcaptor Sakura, Cardcaptor Sakura: Master of the Clow (2nd half)
Genre:: Fantasy
Tankoubon: 12
Serialized In: Nakayoshi
Released: May, 1996 – July 3, 2000
Story & Art: CLAMP
Published By (Japan): Kodansha
Published By (US): TokyoPop

Scores

Story: 8/10 (x 3 = 24 pts)
Art: 10/10 (x 3 = 30 pts)
Gut Score: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)

Total: 90/100 (90%)

Review

Cardcaptor Sakura is about a girl, Sakura, who accidentally releases the 19 Clow Cards from the magical Clow book. As a result, she is tapped by the book’s Beast of the Seal, Keroberos (whom Sakura calls Kero for short) to recapture the lost cards.

Along the way, she’s helped by her best friend Tomoyo, and challenged by Syaoran Li, who arrives from Hong Kong so that he may collect the Clow Cards for himself.

In the second half of the series, Sakura has already collected the Clow Cards, but how is forced to change them into new cards using her own magic due to new, mysterious magical happenings occurring in the city.

Perhaps one of the biggest issues some people may have with this series is that it is very shoujo…even more so than the TV series, really. However, if one can get past that, I think one will see a very well done manga series which has a pretty good story and excellent art. The story is also character-driven a good deal, despite the emphasis on the magical elements of the story.

If you’re not afraid of shoujo or magical girl manga, then Cardcaptor Sakura may be a good read for you.

First Read: May 2006 – October 2007
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes

Name: Ai Yori Aoshi
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Tankoubon: 17
Serialized In: Young Animal
Released: 1998 – 2005
Story & Art: Kou Fumizuki
Published By (Japan): Hakusensha
Published By (US): TokyoPop

Scores

Story: 9/10 (x 3 = 27 pts)
Art: 9/10 (x 3 = 27 pts)
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)

Total: 86/100 (86%)

Review

Ai Yori Aoshi is about Aoi Sakuraba, the daughter of the head of a rich conglomerate, and her secret fiance-to-be Karou Hanabishi. When the two were little, their marriage had been arranged as Karou was himself the heir to another major conglomerate. However, Karou was only adopted, and after witnessing the treatment of his mother, especially after she died, Karou ran away from the Hanabishi clan to live on his own.

As a result, the marriage was canceled. Aoi remained determined to marry Karou despite this and goes to Tokyo to see him. After not realizing who each other were at first, they each realize that they are in fact the couple who were put together when they were young, and Aoi decides to start living with Karou. However, Aoi’s caretaker, Miyabi, shows up to take Aoi back home. Aoi refuses and Miyabi, reluctantly at first, arranges things so that Karou and Aoi can live together at one of the family’s estates.

Soon, Karou runs into his old college friend Tina, who went away for a year or so to travel the world. Soon another girl, Taeko, joins the photography club that Karou is part of, and both Taeko and Tina end up living along with Aoi and Karou due to certain circumstances.

Ai Yori Aoshi is, centrally, about the growing love that Aoi and Karou have for each other, but is also largely a comedy as the other girls who live with or otherwise know Karou often end up getting in his way or even want Karou for himself. There is also some added drama as well as Aoi’s parents are against her staying with Karou while the Hanibishi clan attempts to come up with a way to still have Aoi marry into their family.

At 17 volumes, Ai Yori Aoshi is a pretty long read, but the story still seems to keep itself relatively fresh through, exploring all of the characters feelings and motivations along the way. I should also note that this manga is quite ecchi, and is rated for Older Teens (except the final volume which is rated 17+).

If you’re looking for a good romance/comedy with some dramatic plot arcs thrown in, then you may enjoy this series.

First Read: December 2005 – October 2007
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes

Name: Midori Days
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Tankoubon: 8
Serialized In: Shonen Sunday
Released: January 28, 2003 – July 21, 2004
Story & Art: Kazurou Inoue
Published By (Japan): Shogakukan
Published By (US): Viz

Scores

Story: 7/10 (x 3 = 21 pts)
Art: 8/10 (x 3 = 24 pts)
Gut Score: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)

Total: 73/100 (73%)

Review

Midori Days is about a high school delinquent, Seiji, who is known for his “devil’s right hand” due to his beating up gangs, who suddenly finds that a girl named Midori has taken residence on his arm in place of his right hand. Midori, meanwhile, has had a crush on Seiji for a long time, but only from a distance, as she doesn’t attend the same school. However, she’s more than happy to take up residence on his arm. In the meantime, the “real” Midori has fallen into a coma, and it seems that she’ll only awaken when the Midori on Seiji’s arm wants to return.

Of course, having a girl literally stuck on your arm immediately means hilarity ensues. How does Seiji hide this from everyone, especially since several games are out to give revenge on him? What happens when someone DOES find out about her?

This certainly creates some comedy at the start, but after a while it just seems to drag on, with the same gags largely being replayed over and over and over again by the end. After about the 2nd or 3rd volume, you’ve already seen most of what you’re going to see out of the series, except for perhaps the final volume. Perhaps the saving grace of the series is that it is relatively short at 8 volumes.

If you like the gags that come in this sort of manga, and don’t mind that they repeat quite often, then you may like this book, but I’m not sure it’s worth reading all the way through.

First Read: December 2005 – October 2007
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Indifferent

Name: Kashimashi
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Tankoubon: 5
Serialized In: Comic Dengeki Daioh
Released: May 21, 2004 – March 21, 2007
Story: Satoru Akahori
Art: Yukimaru Katsura
Published By (Japan): MediaWorks
Published By (US): Seven Seas

Scores

Story: 9/10 (x 3 = 27 pts)
Art: 8/10 (x 3 = 24 pts)
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)

Total: 83/100 (83%)

Review

Kashimashi is about Hazumu, a boy who confessed his feelings to his crush Yasuna, but was turned down, and ends up wandering around a nearby mountain in a depressed stupor. However, while I he is on the mountain, a spaceship sent by an alien race to study the earth malfunctions and crashes…right on top of Hazumu. The aliens are able to revive Hazumu, but accidentally change his sex, turning him into a girl.

At first, Hazumu’s friends, especially now her childhood friend Tomari and best guy friend Asuta, don’t know how to handle Hazumu’s change in gender. However, Hazumu seems to take it in stride, pretty quickly accepting what she now is. This also plays as a good set-up some some yuri relationships, as Yasuna and Tomari both secretly loved Hazumu before when he was a guy.

Kashimashi is an excellent gender-bending manga and largely deals with the confusion that such a gender-switch has on Hazumu’s friends, and how Hazumu tries to deal with her relationship with Yasuna and Tomari, especially since both of them are now same-sex romantic relationships. And, of course, all of this brings along a good deal of comedy as well.

Some might wonder if the manga is trying to make the same-sex relationship “acceptable” by having Hazumu as a guy originally, making it so that it really “doesn’t count,” but that isn’t really what the manga does. In a way, it does the opposite, it’s showing that same-sex relationships can be like any other relationship and uses the means of the sex change to illustrate that fact: that Tomari and Yasuna loving Hazumu when he’s a girl is no different from when they loved him as a boy.

If you’re looking for a good romance comedy with a different twist, then you should consider checking out Kashimashi.

First Read: January 2007 – April 2008
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes