Crying about magical furries and horrible families: Tumblr's #1 problematic manga [FRUITS BASKET]

@Petra YES THAT

but I can't buy the most positive reading bc her mother STILL BRINGS UP HOW "BORING" MACHI IS AND HOW SHE HAS NO PERSONALITY ON A PHONE CALL THAT WAS PRESUMABLY JUST TO CHECK UP ON THE KID SHE'S ABANDONED

speaking of which, has anyone else here read Takaya's other series, Hoshi Wa Utau? bc if not you absolutely should I love every second of it (except I have weird feelings about the end, bc I'm so disappointed it didn't turn into a threesome)

 

Oh man, I'm rereading from the beginning because it's been years and it's bringing back all sorts of memories. Very happy that I started again.

 

I've got all the volumes... a-and the two fanbooks that were officially released. Time to reread!

 

YES... FRUITS BASKET... MY YOUTH.
What the heck, there's a sequel? But the old ending wrapped things up so well!

I have distinct memories of being in high school and trying to make sense of my emotions and consciously thinking, "Have I read about anything like this in Fruits Basket?"

 

Not a sequel-sequel... it's more a short thing Takaya is doing to celebrate Furuba? Starring a girl named Saya and all the next-gen Sohmas, who are wonderfully mostly well-adjusted emotionally healthy teenagers because their parents shattered that cycle of abuse.

 

it's furuba: tng and it's fantastic it's already made me cry twice and there are only like eight chapters out

 

GUESS WHO'S CRYING OVER THIS CHAPTER TONIGHT

 

So I used to be really into Furuba AMVs and I thought I'd post some of my teen self's faves in here for nostalgia's sake.



This one basically perma-sealed my association of this song with Akito. :')

 

Sorry to quote this but I'm catching up and SAME
I read the series I think when I was 12? 13? And so much of this stuff didn't register omg. I NEED to re-read it now.

 

I just bought volume 1 on the Japanese Kindle store because I'm going to turn my re-read into a study opportunity!!!!

Aah there's furigana thank god

 

OKAY SO. SO. Yuki's name is written as 由希. 由 means "a reason" and 希 means "hope". So I don't know about you but I'm interpreting this as meaning "a reason for hope" and FUCK ME.

 

Oooh! That's super interesting!

 

God I love interpretations of Japanese name kanji. I'm a sucker for that.

 

*pterodactyl screech* name meaning stuffs! I am totes here for that!

also, related note, I really love how all the male jyuunishi have feminine/unisex names. also, I love that Tohru has such a masculine name, and that all of her close friends use -kun rather than -chan

*flails* Takaya makes a lot of commentary on gender stuff and I'm upset that I'm missing out on a lot of it bc I don't know enough about that culture. but I do know enough to pick up that she's super supportive of gnc people. Hoshi wa Utau has a throwaway bit about one of the other classes having a crossdressing cafe for the cultural fair, and while tumblr would have gone apeshit over that it's not meant as a joke at all. like, the boys in maid outfits are clearly not making fun of anyone, they're having a blast trying something new

 

Fun fact, Takaya accidentally swapped the names of Momiji and... I wanna say Kureno? The jyuunishi are named based on archaic names for months their patron animals are associated with. But by the time she realized it, the chapter introducing Momiji had already been published, so she just had to roll with it.

 

That's so weird, I can't imagine Momiji with any other name. The sound of it suits him so well. Kureno sounds like the name of a much more serious person, to me.

 

I know, right? I think the mistake worked out for the best!

 

Panels that made me laugh on a long ass shinkansen ride bc their dumb faces


Yuki: ( ﾟдﾟ )

 

I'm at my parents' house for less than 24 hours to pick up my bike and organise some of my belongings and I just found my box full of Furuba. The only manga I actually got into enough to buy the volumes as they came out in England! I love these characters...

Re. Shigure: he is a terrible person. I love him in all his appalling, manipulative, Machiavellian glory.
(Out of all the characters he's not my fave, but I admit I love every scene he's in because I find all his relationships can't-look-away fascinating.)