Customer Reviews

Fruits Basket, Vol. 4

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kyo protects Tohru at school with a move that is decidedly affectionate. It is the first day and Haru and Momitchi are now attending along with the other Sohma's. Haru immediately gets harassed because of the color of his hair and has to prove that it is the natural hair color. Then a bomb is dropped, Akito is there, and he has already encountered Tohru. When Yuki finds them the fear that he displays concerns Tohru, who later plans a badminton game with everyone to cheer him up.

Another member of the zodiac is introduced, this time it's Yuki's older brother Ayami. Ayami is quite charming and handsome, and whisks Tohru off to dinner to talk about the distance between him and Yuki. Later Momitchi tells Tohru of his sad past with his mother and younger sister, apparently his mom had to have her memories erased because she had rejected him. This fact saddens Tohru, who had such a great relationship with her mother before she died.

Tohru and everyone go to her mother's grave to commemorate the one year anniversary of her death. The happiness between Tohru and her friends on this sad day surprise Kyo and Yuki. Kyo begins to realize that a warm feeling to Tohru is gathering in his heart.

Again...I am hopelessly addicted. I'm going to stop telling people to read this anymore. If you have read all of my other reviews of the manga so far, you already know how much I love it. Go read it for yourself. It's wonderful.

In this volume, we meet two of the most fascinating (IMHO) characters in Fruits Basket- Akito, the head of the Sohma family, and Ayame, Yuki's extraordinary older brother.
The parts with Akito are wonderful and appropriately creepy- they set up his twisted, spoiled personality very well. He puts on a quite a show to act as polite and charming as possible towards Tohru- then does some subtle mental torture on Yuki- until you're left wondering- what's this guy's problem?
Ayame- flamboyant, amazing Ayame- is a character that grated on my nerves at first. (Much the same way he grates on Yuki) But he's a wonderful character- no one talks or acts quite like him. He's best friends with Hatori and Shigure- and together, they form the Mabudachi trio- my favorite characters in the manga...

It's volume four, and already we have an eleven-character cast introduced in the front of the book. Tohru, Kyo and Yuki are entering their second year of high school, and Haru and Momiji are entering their first. But Momiji shows up in the wrong uniform, and the student body president is a zealous keeper of the school rules. He declares the Sohmas to be major offenders, partly because Kyo and Haru have outlandish natural hair colors (orange and white), but the issue is resolved when Haru's "black" personality makes an appearance.

Yuki and Kyo are all worn out from keeping their younger cousins in line, when Akito, the crazy leader of the Sohma family shows up at school. Akito acts gracious, but seeing him smiling and grinning at Tohru is terrifying, especially knowing that he's incredibly violent. When he threatens Yuki with solitary confinement unless he comes to visit him, Tohru pushes Akito away from Yuki, and it's possibly the bravest thing she's done so far in the series, considering how frightened she is of Akito. Tohru senses that Akito hates her, but isn't sure why, since they haven't met before.

There's only one new Sohma in the volume; Ayame, Yuki's older brother. We learn that Ayame, Hatori, and Shigure went through all their school years together as a sort of three-musketeers group. Ayame wants to improve his relationship with his brother, but Yuki despises him and when he stays over for a few days, the resentment worsens. Ayame's a very over-the-top character who likes to draw attention to himself, and he makes Shigure look like a model of propriety by comparison. We also learn more about happy little Momiji's past, and find that he's really more like Tohru than anyone else in the cast--joyful despite a lot of sad past events.

Kyo gets more of a spotlight than Yuki in this volume. Kyo has trouble saying no to Tohru and she can convince him to do things he doesn't want, but this isn't bad, because he's a curmudgeon who doesn't do much of anything willingly. Kyo also defends Tohru in one important scene--some guys are talking badly about her and he just sort of imposingly arranges himself beside her, and the rude guys vanish. But though Kyo's appreciation of Tohru is clear, the narration makes a point of saying that none of the main characters are even close to falling in love, which makes sense, given their young ages and past traumas.

The only downside I can see to this volume is that, at this point, almost every character has commented on Tohru's indomitable positive thinking and her encouraging effect on Kyo and Yuki. The repetition is noticeable.

Most tragic Sohma family member: Yuki. He was chronically ill as a child, bullied by Akito, and also seems to have spent a lot of time locked in a dark room.

I enjoy the Fruits Basket anime series, and enjoyed the first three volumes of the manga. So, I checked out a copy of this volume to see how it compared to the anime.

In this volume, Tohru finally meets Akita Sohma, the head of the Sohma family, when he makes an unexpected appearance at her school on the first day of the school year. In addition to Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo, Hatsuharu and Momiji are now also attending the high school. In this volume, we also meet the flamboyant Ayame Sohma. He is Yuki's estranged older brother, and Ayame wants to rekindle his relationship with this brother. While Akita does not change into an animal, Ayame turns into a snake when he's hugged by a member of the opposite sex.

The anime does follow this manga volume rather closely. Although, I have to say that animated medium gives a lot more of an ability for Ayame's flamboyant personality to be utilized even more than it is in the manga. I would definitely recommend this manga volume if you have read and enjoyed the previous three volumes of the series.

I wrote this review after checking out a copy of this manga volume through the King County Library System.

No problems. Like new from the seller, came in at the 3rd business day. Good buy :).

Does that make me an addict? These books are wonderful and always put a smile on my face. They are definitely laugh out loud material.
This is the book where Tohru meets Akito, who at first appears to be nice, but is actually very controlling, in my opinion. He tried to brainwash Yuki! wtf??

Having introduced us to the rabbit, dragon (seahorse), rat, cat, dog, boar and cow of the zodiac, it's time to meet a few new people.

Specifically, it's time to meet the sinister head of the family, and the heretofore unknown snake of the zodiac. And while the fourth volume of "Fruits Basket" is extremely funny and kooky, Natsuki Takaya introduces us to some of the darker, more tragic dimensions of her characters.

Momiji and Haru have just entered high school with Tohru, Kyo and Yuki. The class president makes trouble for a gender-bending Momiji -- and almost gets throttled by "black" Haru -- but otherwise things are going well. Then Akito suddenly shows up, and while he initially seems friendly to Tohru ("You really are cute!"), his cruel streak is revealed when he sees Yuki.

Later on, Yuki and Tohru are gardening when a snake slithers into Tohru's clothes -- and it turns out to be Ayame, Yuki's flamboyant, flirtatious older brother. Problem is, Yuki can't stand the sight of him, and the more Ayame talks about himself the worse the rift between them grows.

When the anniversary of Tohru's mother's death rolls around, the Sohmas become involved in the lighthearted ritual at her graveside -- even having a raucous meal on it. But Hana hints at a dark connection between Tohru's mother and Kyo. And when Tohru is hanging out with Momiji, she finds out the saddening story about his own mother, and why she doesn't remember her own son.

The fourth volume of "Fruits Basket" is when Natsuki Takaya really starts balancing out her comedy with angst, rather than more straightforward romantic comedy. She doesn't lay on the dark stuff too heavily just yet -- a scene here, a line there -- but you can tell that things are getting less fluffy.

Most of it is still very fun and light -- Haru showing the class president that the, um, carpet matches the drapes, as well as generally abusing him ("That's incredible! Say something, GOD!"), the grave visit, Yuki's woes with new girls, and virtually any scene with Ayame. The flashbacks to Ayame and Shigure's teen years are especially funny ("Now please, lust after me!").

But Takaya shows her darker dimensions, hinting at Yuki's abusive past, and Kyo's possible involvement in Kyoko Honda's death. These are no more than glimpses, but her elegant artwork makes them chilling. And she ups the tragedy exponentially with Momiji's backstory. Despite his chirpy, sunny personality, we find out that he has a story even sadder than Tohru's. Good luck not crying during that chapter.

This volume also introduces us to Akito (well, up close) and Ayame, and Akito is about as nasty and creepy as you'd expect. But Ayame steals whatever scenes he's in -- flamboyant, flirtatious, socially inept, an astounding liar, and very arrogant ("Direct your passions at me!"). But we do get to see his more sedate side, and his real (though confused) desire to bond with his younger brother.

The fourth volume of "Fruits Basket" delves into darker territory without losing its comic edge, and introduces us to two important characters. And it only promises to get better.

I own this series in Japanese, and it is a wonderful read! It has all the important elements of a good shoujo manga: it is romantic, twisted, with a shoujo (in the traditional meaning of the word) involved in finding a new family and love triangles galore. It is just a very fun read, no matter the language!

it was wonderful sweet and momiji was positive cute.loved all the carters. got to read more. the best there is

I love Fruits Basket, I'm obsessed, my computer is decorated for it... I'm thinking of being Honda-san for halloween. She's just so innocent, and then Yuki and Kyo-kyo, so adorable. That in itself would be sweet, but throw in the comedic relif of our dear Shii-chan, Aya, and their keeper, Ha'ri... It's perfect. I started out addicted to the show, but the mangas are even better than the show, by far. (which I thought would be impossible... Shii-chan's voice *faints*...).

Anyway, FB is awesome, and the only excuse for not buying it is that you already have it!!! ^_~