Customer Reviews

Fruits Basket, Vol. 16

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This volume of Fruits Basket deals with the histories of several characters, both major and supporting.

First up, we get a long, four chapter summary of the romance between Tohru's parents - her juvenile delinquent mother Kyoko and eccentric but kind father Katsuya, who's eight years Kyoko's senior. Rescued from an abusive home life by Katsuya, Kyoko basks in her relationship until her pregnancy. Terrified that she'll be a horrible parent, she keeps her baby with the assurance that Katsuya will help her through any rough spots - but of course, as we already know, her worst nightmare sadly comes true...

The real kicker here is that their story is told not by Tohru, but by Kyo. Although it's been hinted that he had met Kyoko, it now turns out that he knew her quite well. But why hasn't he told Tohru that he knew her mother when it would obviously thrill her, and why is he haunted by Kyoko's death? We don't find out in this volume, but it looks like we - and Tohru - are eventually in for a bombshell...

Next is a chapter that seems to start taking Yuki out of the running for Tohru as he starts flirting with Machi. Although it's in her point of view and we get to know her mindset slightly better, the chapter's real significance is to show how very far Yuki has come with help from Tohru, Haru and Kakeru.

Finally it's New Year's Eve again - which means another decision to be made by Yuki regarding whether or not to go to the Main House for the holiday. He goes with intentions of forgiving Akito for his child abuse, but gets rewarded for his pains with another irrational, violent episode on Akito's part. The effort is not wasted though, as it leads to a very touching scene in which Yuki frees Hatori from the guilt he's been suffering for years because of the incident with Yuki's childhood friends - and quite possibly also because he did no more to protect Yuki than Aya or Shigure did.

As with the last volume, this entry largely sets up bigger things to come.

The stories behind Yuki's mysterious classmate and Tohru's idolized mother come to light in the sixteenth volume of "Fruits Basket." It's a rather sorrowful volume that shows off Natsuki Takaya's skills with messed-up people finding meaning in their lives, but she throws in some humor at the end.

Kyo looks back on his meeting some time ago with Tohru's mother, who told him her life story: her parents only cared for how she made them look, so she became a brutal, angry gang leader known as the Red Butterfly. But then she met a sweet, caring young student teacher named Katsuya Honda, and slowly fell in love with him.

When she failed to get into high school because of a savage beating, her parents disowned her -- and Katsuya proposed. Their life was full of happiness and love, especially when their daughter was born -- until Katsuya died unexpectedly. Overcoming his loss, and finding something to live for, was the greatest challenge that Kyoko ever dealt with.

On a school trip, the mysterious Machi shows another side of her personality to Yuki, and faces up to her growing feelings for the "Prince." And at the New Year's banquet, tensions are riding high when Hatori faces up to an old debt, and Yuki enrages Akito to violence. And finally, Momiji has an unusual New Year's present for Kureno...

As with many of the "Fruits Basket" volumes, Takaya gets your tears pouring, only to cheer you up with some comedy and healed wounds by the end of the story -- and along the way, she tells of a true love story against all the ods, which ended far sooner than it should have.

The first story is the darkest, especially since you know there can't be any happy ending for Katsuya and Kyoko, but the final one has a balance of darkness (Akito going berserk) and deliciously kooky moments; The scene where Ayame carries off Yuki, screaming that they vowed to die together by the Seine is priceless.

And Takaya's artwork only emphasizes the strength of her writing -- she brings scenes like Kyoko's crying fit and violent past or Kyo's bloodstained nightmare to life, in more detail than ever before. But there are some charming scenes too, such as baby Tohru, or the sight of Haru kissing a sleeping Rin.

Kyoko's not the only one whose past is revealed here -- we also get to see glimpses of how Machi became the quiet, introverted person she is, compared to her outgoing brother. But the regulars get some development as well: Yuki has obviously grown stronger and dmore confident, while Kyo's sense of guilt runs a lot deeper than anyone suspects.

The sixteenth volume of "Fruits Basket" is unusually dark, but is a brilliant exploration of the characters' pasts -- and the grief, hope and love that come with them. And it promises to get better.

I totally cried as I read this, the story of Tohru's parents is devastatingly adorable and romantic, but the eventual ending is enough to rip your heart out. But as always, Natsuki Takaya-sensei has composed a new chapter in Tohru's story that keeps you turning the pages.

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!

Kyoko's story is revealed in this book, and it's well-written and beautiful, yet also very saddening. It was also extremely interesting to finally meet Tohru's father - who is nothing like what we imagined he might be!
Also, we learn a little about Machi of the student council - and it turns out she's very interesting indeed! I'm getting really attached to her character, and I think a lot of the "quiet, good-grades, no social-life" kids out there can really identify with the poor girl and her situation. I hope there's even more of her in future books.

Book came in when it was suppose to. The book is near flawless, only some very minor corner lifting/bunching to one full (the front and back) corner side of book. I would buy more books from this seller.

Since I had read and enjoyed the previous fifteen volumes for Fruits Basket, I knew I just had to continue on and read volume sixteen.

In this volume, four chapters are devoted to learning about how Tohru's parents met and the birth of Tohru. However, this story is told by Kyo rather than by Tohru. It turns out Kyo had known Tohru's mother for a while before her death. However, Kyo hasn't told Tohru that he knew her mother. We also see Yuki begin to flirt with Machi, and we get to know Machi a little better. Yuki also begins to declare his independence from the actions of others.

What I really enjoyed about this volume was actually being able to see Tohru's father and to find out what kind of person he was, since we had never really learned much of anything about him prior to this volume. I thought Natsuki Takaya did a great job with the backstory for Tohru's parents, and felt that that section of the manga was very touching. I also enjoyed seeing Yuki's character evolving in this volume as well. If you've read and enjoyed the previous volumes of Fruits Basket, you should also read this one.

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

Warning: spoilers ahead!


What's nice about reading this series is how much you get to see not only the growth of the characters, but the author's growth as well. Number sixteen tells the almost tear-inducing story of Kyoko and Katsuya: a love story with a dark cloud looming over the enjoyment of the true happiness of their little family. When Katsuya helps Kyoko get over her distrust of people and eventually marries her when her parents disown her, the next chapter shows the easy transition they make into married life. Their joy increases twofold when Tohru is born. But, of course, just as we are acclimated to their joy, Kyoko receives the fateful phone call.

When I was told that Yuki and Machi would be together in the end, I couldn't see at all how this relationship could develop. 16 makes some major headway, getting inside Machi's head for the first time. While she has witnessed Yuki's personal growth, she still feels insignificant and dull. However, Yuki's friendliness towards her seems to give her morale a slight boost, although nothing else happens with them afterwards.

It's incredible that both of these plotlines are managed with ease, neither overwhelming the other even though they are both so important. This is a must-read for all fans of manga.

I gave up on Fruits Basket for a long time after reading Vol. 8 because I didn't want to read about anybody but the interesting and crazy Sohmas (vol. 8 was mostly about Uo-chan and her horrible childhood). Just found out the library has this series, so I've been reading them from there, and it's really getting to be depressing/annoying, how many 'children with horrible childhoods' are in this series! Is the mangaka famous for having been abused or neglected as a child, trying to work through the pain through this series? This is probably the seventh or 8th one about a misunderstood/neglected/abused child (and that doesn't even count the Sohma kids)!

I'm definitely not going to bother with the rest of these; they're just too depressing. I want to see the fun interactions between characters like Ayame, Shigure and Hatori, not read these long, involved, full-of-pain arcs (most of which concern characters that do not interest me: Uo-chan, Tohru's parents, blah, blah, blah).

I loved this book, and how it was so dramatic, from a romantic story, to a tragedy. Takaya did very well. I enjoyed the twist with Kyo meeting Kyoko. I could not put the book down. I cannot wait for the next book to come out.