Fruits Basket (Japanese: フルーツバスケット, Hepburn: Furūtsu Basuketto), sometimes called Furuba or Fruba (フルバ), is a Japanese manga written and drawn by Natsuki Takaya. It was published regularly in the twice-monthly Hana to Yume magazine, which is made by Hakusensha, from 1998 to 2006. The name of the series comes from a popular game played in Japanese elementary schools, which is mentioned in the story.
The story follows Tohru Honda, an orphan girl who meets Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure Sohma. She learns that 13 members of the Sohma family are cursed to turn into animals from the Chinese zodiac when they are weak, stressed, or hugged by someone not part of the Sohma family. As the story continues, Tohru discovers the challenges faced by the Sohma family members. Her kind and caring nature helps them heal emotionally. Through her journey, Tohru also learns more about herself and the people who care for her.
In September 2015, Takaya started a sequel called Fruits Basket Another. In April 2019, she released a spin-off series titled The Three Musketeers Arc. The original manga was adapted into a 26-episode anime series in 2001. This version was produced by Studio Deen and directed by Akitaro Daichi. A second anime series, made by TMS Entertainment and directed by Yoshihide Ibata, began in April 2019. Its first season aired from April to September 2019, the second season from April to September 2020, and the third and final season from April to June 2021. The reboot anime was first created by Funimation, which partnered with Crunchyroll to release it. Later, Crunchyroll took full control of the series. A movie called Fruits Basket: Prelude was shown in theaters in Japan in February 2022. It was later released in the United States and Canada in June 2022 and in the United Kingdom in July 2022.
By December 2018, the manga had sold over 30 million copies worldwide. This made it one of the most popular manga series ever, as well as one of the best-selling shōjo manga series. Academic works have called it "a classic fan favorite in shōjo manga around the world."
Plot
When Tohru Honda's mother dies in a car accident, Tohru is taken in by her grandfather. A few months later, her grandfather decides to renovate his home and asks Tohru if she can stay with one of her friends until the work is finished. Tohru does not want to bother her two best friends, so she buys a tent and begins living in a forest near her school.
While exploring one day, Tohru finds a nearby house where her classmate Yuki Sohma lives with his cousin Shigure. Soon after, a landslide damages her tent, and the Sohmas invite Tohru to stay in their home. As Yuki and Shigure show Tohru her new room, they are interrupted by Kyo Sohma, Yuki and Shigure's cousin, who crashes through the ceiling and challenges Yuki to a fight.
Tohru tries to stop him, and accidentally falls into him, causing him to change into a cat. This reveals the Sohma family's curse: twelve members of the family, except Kyo, are controlled by the spirits of the Chinese zodiac (十二支, Jūnishi). These family members change into their zodiac animal when they are weak, stressed, embarrassed, or hugged by someone of the opposite gender. Kyo is controlled by the cat, which was not part of the zodiac, and is cursed to be treated badly by the family.
When Tohru learns the Sohma family's secret, she promises to keep it a secret and is allowed to stay with them. Even though the Sohma curse is more serious and darker than Tohru first believes, her presence and acceptance of them have a positive effect on those controlled by the zodiac. She tries to end the curse and meets the Sohma family's angry zodiac spirits, including their leader, Akito, who is like "God" in the Chinese legend and holds the family together while also trapping them to their spirits.
Production
The name of the series comes from a children's game called Fruits Basket (フルーツバスケット, furūtsu basuketto). In this game, players sit in a circle, and the leader calls out the names of different fruits. When a child's assigned fruit is called, that child must find a new seat. When the main character, Tohru Honda, first plays this game in kindergarten, her classmates do not give her a fruit. Instead, they assign her the name "onigiri," which is a type of rice ball. Tohru believes onigiri is delicious and does not realize her classmates are intentionally leaving her out of the game. After all the other children have been called and have found new seats, Tohru discovers that onigiri is not a fruit and realizes she does not belong.
Tohru later connects this game to the Sohma family, feeling she does not fit in with them, just as onigiri does not belong in a basket of fruit. In the first volume of the manga, after Yuki and Kyo take Tohru to their home from her grandfather's house, she begins to feel she belongs with the Sohma family. She then imagines herself as a child hearing "onigiri" called in the game, which symbolizes that she has finally found her place.
The creator of the manga, Natsuki Takaya, named most of the twelve Sohmas cursed by zodiac animals after old names for months in Japan's former lunisolar calendar, which match their zodiac animal. Exceptions include Kureno and Momiji, whose names were accidentally swapped. Kyo, who represents the cat, is not part of the official zodiac and does not follow this naming rule. Yuki's name also does not follow this pattern because Takaya created it before deciding the other names.
Media
The 136 chapters of Fruits Basket were first published in Japan in the magazine Hana to Yume by Hakusensha from July 1998 to November 2006. These chapters were later collected into 23 tankōbon volumes, released between January 1999 and March 2007. On September 4, 2015, the first two volumes of Fruits Basket: Collector's Edition were released in Japan under the Hana to Yume Comics Special imprint. The final volume of this edition was published on July 20, 2016.
The series is available in English in North America and the United Kingdom through Tokyopop and in Singapore through Chuang Yi. The Singapore version can be imported to Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. All 23 English-language volumes have been released in North America and Singapore. In 2007, Tokyopop released a box set containing the first four volumes. They later began re-releasing earlier volumes as "Ultimate Editions," which combined two volumes into one larger hardcover book with new cover art. However, the first Ultimate Edition received mixed reviews because it did not fix errors or update page numbers. By June 2008, six Ultimate Editions had been released, covering the first 12 volumes. After Tokyopop stopped publishing, Yen Press took over the license and planned to release the series as 12 omnibus editions, matching the collector's editions. Starting in June 2016, Fruits Basket: Collector's Edition was released in English by Yen Press.
On September 4, 2015, a new series titled Fruits Basket Another began appearing in HanaLaLaOnline. In August 2017, it moved to Manga Park. Originally, it was expected to finish on December 3, 2018, but in March 2020, it was announced that the series would return with "chapter 13" (split into three parts) on April 20, 2020 (originally scheduled for April 6). The second part of "chapter 13" was published on May 4, 2020, and the third part was published in September 2020. The author, Takaya, stated this would be the final chapter. The first collected volume of Fruits Basket Another was released on August 19, 2016, and the series concluded with its fourth volume on February 18, 2022. Yen Press acquired the rights to the series in November 2017.
A three-chapter series titled Fruits Basket: Three Musketeers Arc was published in Hana to Yume on April 20, June 5, and July 5, 2019. A "second season" of this arc began on April 20, 2020, with the second chapter published on June 20 and the third on August 5, 2020. These chapters were collected into the fourth volume of Fruits Basket Another. Yen Press digitally released the series, with chapters published on April 23, June 6, and July 9, 2019. The first chapter of Fruits Basket: The Three Musketeers Arc 2 was released on April 28, 2020, followed by the second chapter on June 22, 2020, and the third on August 5, 2020.
The Fruits Basket anime series, directed by Akitaro Daichi, was produced by Studio Deen and co-produced by NAS and TV Tokyo. It aired on TV Tokyo from July 5, 2001, to December 27, 2001. Some story elements differed from the manga, such as the portrayal of Momiji and Shigure's behavior. The opening and ending themes were performed by Ritsuko Okazaki. The English dub version used "For Fruits Basket" by Meredith McCoy as the opening theme and "Chiisana Inori" by Laura Bailey and "Serenade" by Daphne Gere as ending themes.
The anime was released in Japan on nine DVD volumes by King Records, with each volume containing three episodes except the first, which had two. The first volume was released on September 29, 2001, and subsequent volumes were released monthly until May 22, 2002. A box set containing all 26 episodes, a message card from Natsuki Takaya, a 60-page booklet, and a bonus soundtrack CD was released on April 25, 2007.
Funimation aired the English-dubbed version on their channel and Colours TV, and released it on Region 1 DVDs in four volumes. They re-released the series in 2007 as part of their Viridian line and later on Blu-ray in 2017. In the United Kingdom, MVM Entertainment initially distributed the series, but Revelation Films took over in 2006. Revelation re-released the four volumes and a box set in 2007. MVM reacquired the license in late 2011. In Region 4, Madman Entertainment released the series as a box set on October 15, 2003.
A new anime adaptation was announced in November 2018 and began airing in April 2019. This version included the entire manga and featured new cast and staff, with TMS Entertainment handling production. Yoshihide Ibata directed the series, and Taku Kishimoto and Masaru Shindou worked on the script and character designs, respectively. The first season aired 25 episodes from April 6 to September 21, 2019, on TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, and TV Aichi. The first opening theme, "Again" by Beverly, was used for episodes 1–13, while "Chime" by Ai Otsuka was used for episodes 14–25. The first ending theme, "Lucky Ending" by Vickeblanka, was used for episodes 1–13, and "One Step Closer" by Intersection was used for episodes 14–25.
A second season aired from April 7 to September 22, 2020. The third opening theme, "Prism" by AmPm ft Miyuna, was used for episodes 26–38, and "Home" by Toki Asako for episodes 39 onward. The third ending theme, "ad meliora (acoustic mix)" by The Charm Park, was used for episodes 26–38, and "Fru" (a compilation film) was released in 2022.
The 20
Reception
The Fruits Basket manga series is one of the most popular manga series in Japan and the United States. Over 18 million copies have been sold in Japan, and 30 million copies worldwide. It is Tokyopop's top-selling manga series, with more than 2 million copies sold by 2006. The fifteenth volume of the English version reached the fifteenth position on the USA Today Top 150 Bestselling Books list, which is the highest position ever achieved by a manga volume in the United States. The eighteenth volume debuted at the top of the Nielsen BookScan sales list, and the nineteenth volume was the second best-selling graphic novel in March 2008. Even though the manga market was slow, Fruits Basket remained the second highest-selling manga series among BookScan companies in 2007. The final volume of the English version became a New York Times manga bestseller from June 28 to July 25, moving from second to first on the list during the week of July 19–25. The volume dropped to second place the following week and then to fourth place the week of August 8. The final volume stayed on the bestseller list for 12 weeks.
The Fruits Basket manga received the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award for the shōjo category and the "Best Manga" award at the 2007 American Anime Awards.
Critics praised the story in Fruits Basket as thoughtful, with the first volume hinting at deeper, darker themes that make readers "question everything that happens." Some critics felt later volumes included too much sadness and questioned the large number of troubled parents in the series. One reviewer said, "In the world of Fruits Basket, good parents are as common as penguins in the Sahara—every single one is either neglectful, smothering, unfeeling, abusive, misguided, or dead."
Takaya's artwork has been praised for detailed art, shadows, and shading that show characters' emotions without using dialogue.
In Manga: The Complete Guide, Jason Thompson gave the manga three and a half out of four stars. He called the series "surprisingly sad" and praised the clearly developed characters, though he noted the artwork was not especially detailed or witty. He described the series as "a fascinating manga, like a sweet, melancholy dream." A reason for its success in English-speaking countries was that the books were sold in bookstores, which are mainly for males, rather than comic book shops.
The first Fruits Basket anime adaptation was well received, ranking third on Anihabara's list of top televised anime series in Japan for February 2002. In the June 2002 issue of Animage magazine, the series was first on a list of the best twenty anime series in Japan. In 2001, the anime won an Animage Anime Grand Prix award. In 2006, five years after the series ended in Japan, it was ranked 93rd in TV Asahi's list of Japan's 100 favorite animated TV series. Animerica reviewers compared the anime to Ranma ½ in terms of story and music. Julie Davis described the characters as "superficially pretty" and "so clean they look almost like paper cutouts" with "gigantic eyes," though she noted the zodiac animal forms were "cute and cuddly." Another reviewer, Urian Brown, said the characters were "sleek and stylish" and praised the animation as "refined." Critics felt the ending left room for future stories while showing that Sohma and Tohru still had challenges, such as the curse and Tohru's future choice between Kyo and Yuki. While some thought the plot lacked development, others praised the strong relationships between characters. Allen Divers of Anime News Network called the series a "true emotional roller coaster" that hides "deep and heartfelt drama" behind humor and explores many "aspects of emotion."
In April 2005, Funimation Entertainment asked convention attendees to help fold 1,000 origami paper cranes. In Japanese folklore, folding 1,000 cranes grants a wish. After reaching 1,000 cranes, Funimation sent them to Studio Deen and Hakusensha to request a second season of the anime. Fans successfully completed the goal by the end of the 2005 convention season, starting a 13-year gap that ended with the announcement of the new Fruits Basket anime in 2018.
The 2019 version also received positive reviews. Thrillist included the 2019 series among the best anime of the 2010s. At the 4th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2020, the anime was nominated for three awards, including Best Drama. Its second season won Best Drama, and Akito Soma was nominated for Best Antagonist at the fifth edition. The final season was nominated for four awards, including Best Drama and Best Romance, at the sixth edition. In February 2022, Fruits Basket: The Final won three awards, including "Anime of the Year" at the 8th Anime Trending Awards.