Customer Reviews
Fruits Basket - By: I. Thackrah, 16 Jun 2006 
Fruits Basket follows the life of orphaned high school student Tohru Honda. When her mother is killed in a car crash she is forced to go & live with her Grandfather. We join the story when she has had to temporarily leave her grandfather's house, unwilling to impose on any of her friends she opts to live in a tent. Despite working herself into the ground she remains cheerful & one day stumbles across a house in the woods in which live some of the mysterious of Sohma family. Feeling sorry for her (after the loss of her tent/home) they invite her to stay & immediately put her to work cleaning up the male dominated household.
Tohru soon learns that the boys of the house are not quite what they seem, they are possessed by the spirits of the zodiac. The story follows the lives of Tohru & the Sohma family, as they deal with each other & a society where neither quite fit in.
Fruits Basket is now finished in Japan & is collected into 20 volumes. In 2003 Tokyopop was urged under huge consumer pressure to translate the series for the U.S. audience & was first translated in 2004. By the fifth issue the manga had taken the title of 'Best Selling Shojo Manga' a worthy credit to this incredibly popular series. This series would form the backbone of any collection & while I'm no where near completing the set I would imagine that I'll collect them alll.
Vol.9...
Finallly summer has arrived! While Tohru struggles through bipolar days of hope & anxiety, what will happen when Yuki comes face-to-face with the new member of the student council?! And... is Uo-chan crazy in love?! Who's that she's hanging out with?! Plus, Hana-chan's past is finallly disclosed in a bonus feature! Come join the party in the 9th volume of the super-popular Fruits Basket!
Another hit for the Furuba series - By: Saiorse, 23 Jun 2005 
I'll start of by saying that I love the fruits basket series. I have alll of them that have been published in english & can't wait for the next ones.
Now on to this Volume. Volume 9 contains what we as furuba fans have come to expect. Funny moments, touching moments & shocking revelations. So why only 4 stars? Although it is a great book, this volume is a little too hap-hazard for my liking. There are a few different story sections in the one book that have no relevance to each other. But they are good stories, especiallly Saki-chan's bit. The artwork is, as usual, amazing & the style of volume 9 is the same lovable series that we have come to love!
In conclusion BUY THIS BOOK! If you are a furuba fan then your collection will not be the same without it. (plus you will never find out who the red hat boy was!!)
Four = Five - By: , 03 Jun 2005 I think I probably have high standards for Fruits Basket, because a four star here would be a five star anywhere else. However, this volume is composed of single stories that appear totallly disconnected: Hana's past, A Kyo & Tohru moment, Uo's new crush, Yuki preparing to be Student Body President, & finallly an appearence by Momiji & the usual chaos he brings. I think the problem is there were a lot of new characters introduced, but nothing explained. Argh!
As usual, the art is fantastic. One of the (many) reasons I love teh art is because the build of the characters changes as they age - Kyo & Yuki are getting noticably talller than Tohru, as they're now 17. Even Momiji!
For Fruits Basket fans, this is the usual amazing stuff expected. Also, there are two new(ish) Zodiac members...
