Pam's Book Log

23 January, 2003

NB: This is a Japanese comic which I read in French. It's not available in English.

Honda Tohru is a sixteen-year-old Japanese high school student. Since her mother died (several months ago), she's been in the care of her paternal grandfather (her father died when she was three). However, Grandpa's house needed repairs, and he and Tohru had to move out for a while. Grandpa went to live with his daughter, but they didn't have space for Tohru, and asked her to stay with friends for the several weeks it would take for the repairs to be completed. However, Tohru didn't want to put her friends out, so she's been secretly living in a tent in the woods. One day, she's discovered by her classmate, Sohma Yuki, whose family owns the land where Tohru's camping out. Yuki and his grown-up cousin Sohma Shigure offer to let Tohru stay in their spare room, until she can go back to her grandfather's. Shortly thereafter, they're joined by a third Sohma cousin, Kyo.

However, Tohru's in for a shock. She soon discovers that her new housemates are not ordinary people, in the least. Each of them is subject to the Sohma family curse-- when they're in poor physical condition, or when they're embraced by a member of the opposite sex, they transform into one of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Yuki is the Mouse, Shigure is the Dog, and Kyo is the Cat. (Technically, there's no cat in the Chinese Zodiac. This is the subject of a legend which I won't go to the trouble of relating.)

This premise has obvious comic possibilities, and indeed, Fruits Basket has its fair share of humor. However, it's much more than a simple comedy. Takaya does an excellent job of exploring the dark side of the Sohmas' crazy transformation situation. Most of the cursed Sohmas have serious psychological problems which derive from their curse, and the author doesn't shirk from treating these problems seriously.

Most of he comics I read are plot-driven affairs. The protagonists run about trying to save the world, or explore mystical realms, or exact revenge upon their enemies, or fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. The characters themselves tend to be secondary. Fruits Basket, on the other hand, is very much a character-driven story. In spite of the fantasy trappings, this comic is about the inner emotional lives of the characters, and how they are affected by their relationships with one another.

This first book focuses on the teenagers-- Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo-- and to a lesser degree on the elder Shigure (who's in his late 20s). She's a nice girl, who really doesn't deserve all the unpleasantness which has befallen her (losing her parents, living in a tent, and so forth). She's not, however, a completely stereotypical shiny-happy girl fallen on hard times. When she was a little kid, the fact that she was kind of "slow" made her an easy target for the other kids to pick on and tease. Because of this, she feels like an outcast; she only has two close friends, who are also "lost souls"-- an ex-gang member and a psychic Goth-girl. She's not even close to most of her family. (This is probably because of her parents; her mom was very rebellious and unconventional, and her father's family didn't approve of his choice of wives.) Being taken in by the Sohmas means more to her than just having a roof over her head; as she becomes integrated into their weird little family, she feels that she's finally found a place where she fits in and plays an important role.

Sohma Yuki is, on the surface, a perfect young man. He comes from a wealthy family, he's attractive, athletic, intelligent, and has good manners. His classmates refer to him as "the Prince," not mockingly, but in awe. He's got his own fan club of wanna-be groupies. Girls want him, boys want to be him. (Actually, he's such a pretty-boy that the opposite is sometimes true, as well.) In spite of all these enviable qualities (or perhaps because of them), he doesn't have any real friends. He projects an aura of inapproachability, seemingly holding himself above his peers. To the reader (at least, this one), he initially comes off as an arrogant jerk. The author does a really good job of slowly humanizing him, revealing that far from thinking he's better than everybody else, he's seriously emotionally damaged and socially inept. His manners are impeccable simply because good manners provide a set of guidelines for getting along with people without having to understand them.

Sohma Kyo is, in many ways, Yuki's complete opposite. Where Yuki is reserved and polite, Kyo is loud, rude, and overly-excitable. As the Cat, he's the official outcast of the Sohma family, and one gets the impression that his family has treated him cruelly his entire life. His social skills are in many ways even worse than Yuki's. Moreover, Kyo and Yuki get along like fire and gasoline-- they can't even be in the same room without fighting.

Tohru's presence in the household has a definite positive effect on the two boys. She's determined to befriend both of them, and this determination, along with her willingness to accept and like people for who they are, leads them to open up to her in a way that neither of them had previously been able to do with anybody.

Anyway, this comic is very touching; the author did a great job of making me really care about the characters. I hope this series does well enough in France for them to continue publishing it (or, even better, that some English-language publisher will pick it up), so that I can find out what happens.

Although I think this comic is great, I don't see any point in recommending it in general, at least not to anybody who doesn't live in France or Japan. The animé; is being translated into English; it's worth checking out, if you're into that sort of thing.