Fruit Basket, by Natsuki Takaya

Fruit Basket, by Natsuki Takaya, is manga series consisting of 23 volumes in total and centers around a young high school girl named Tohru Honda. Faced by continuous tragedies, Tohru Honda lives her lonely life as an orphan never hinting anything to any of her friends. Then one day she meets the mysterious Sohmas, a family guarded by ancient secrets and magical curses of the zodiac signs. When the generous Sohmas take Tohru in as a part of their family, she gets a glimpse of a breathtaking extraordinary world.

After reading Fruit Basket, I now understand why it has received so much praise for living up to the qualities of a slice-of-life genre. This lighthearted graphic novel is a great way unwind after heavy reading because the effervescent main character sets the mood to be quite relaxing throughout the entire first volume. Even though the artwork lack character and the dimensions are quite poor, considering the time it was published, the manga still leaves a strong impact upon its readers.

Reviewed by Anonymous, Grade 12

Glendale Central Library