Fruits Basket is a game.
Basically, each person in the game is represented by a fruit. A person
stands in the middle of a circle of chairs (with people sitting on them)
and calls out the name of a fruit. The person corresponding to that
fruit has to catch the other person before he sits on their chair. If
the person being chased yells out "Fruits Basket," then
everyone has to leave their seats and find another chair. In the end,
the person without a chair returns to the center and thus the game
is repeated.
The anime/manga is called Fruits Basket because Tohru was always the
"onigiri" (rice ball) during the game, and so she was never
called upon to become actively involved in the game. With the death of
her mother, Tohru experiences the pain as an "onigiri" again.
This also provides a linkage to the Souma's' -- with them,
she finally feels like she belongs somewhere.
What's with
all the different spellings?
There are two spellings in Fruits
Basket. One is the literal Japanese-to-English spelling. The other is
the English idiom spelling. Although you only find one official English
spelling, in fact both spellings are correct. The alternative is simply
a direct translation from the hiragana. For example, the
official merchandise calls the cursed family the Sohma's', instead of
the literal translation, the Souma's.' And just for your interests, I
use both spellings on this site.
How is the
anime different from the manga?
The anime is rather
faithful to the manga. Take a few subplots from the manga and then give
it a few new scenes, and you'll have the anime. Unlike the manga, at the
end of the anime not all of the Jyuunishi were revealed.
How many
episodes of the Fruits Basket anime are there?
There are 26
episodes. There are currently no movies or OAVs.
Will there be a
second season?
There has yet to be
an official announcement regarding this issue.
Was episode 26
the end of the series?
The Fruits Basket
anime follows the manga up to the middle of vol. 8. There are a lot more
characters and storylines in the manga.
How many
volumes of the manga are available?
As far as
my knowledge is concerned, there are 9 mangas and still more to come.
Is the
manga over?
Like I
said in the previous question, there are still more to come. New
chapters are being published in Hana to Yume all the time.
What is Hana
to Yume?
Hana to Yume is a bi-monthly comic
magazine geared towards young, teenage girls and, to a certain degree,
young adults. Hana to Yume is famous for serializing popular shoujo
manga that are later turned into anime. They often come with other
goodies such as stickers, photos or other gimmicks. Unlike 'gay' western
magazines, these goodies are often collectables that could amount to
large sums of Yen. Indeed the Japanese teenage craze is very
vacillating.
What has
FUNimation done?
As far as my
knowledge is concerned, nothing! Nothing at all! No translations, no
dubbing, no nothing! There are a few fan sites here and there with rough
translations of the manga. But as far as I know, no fan site has
translated the entire manga.
However, a few
unidentified sources have in fact informed me of a DVD release by
FUNimation. I have to examine this news closer before I can correctly
determine its legitimacy.
