Fruits Basket vol. 1

Natsuki Takaya

Ah, the wonders of Engrish grammar. How can you not be intrigued by something called Fruits Basket? Especially when you think about the number of translators and proofreaders it probably came through to get to the publication stage. And yet, the plural of "fruit" still, somehow, retained an incorrect s.

Okay, so the story begins with Tohru. Tohru is an orphan. She's been living in a tent ni the woods while saving up money. She's discovered by the owner of the property on which her tent sits, and after a whole bunch of panels, invited to live with him and his two brothers (one of whom is a classmate of Tohru's) at their place as general housekeeper/cook/what-have-you. All well and good, except for that pesky family curse: when any of the brothers (or other family members) is embraced by a member of the opposite sex who's not a part of the family, they turn into creatures from the Chinese zodiac. (Speculation about generations of inbreeding ensues.)

Putting aside the general Deliverance-ness of where the story could go, the biggest problem this first installment in the long-running series has is that it starts off confusing. Part of the problem is that the three brothers are almost indistinguishable from one another, but more perplexing is the setup of the storyline. This, however, goes away by (roughly) the beginning of what was originally issue 3, so there's still more than enough time once you've figured everything out to get involved with the story.

It's cute, and interesting enough that I've got vol. 2 on hold from the library, but beware of some confusing moments at the beginning.