At first glance, Fruits Basket will seem like the most stereotypical Shoujo manga in existence. An unfortunate orphan girl gets invited by her dashing classmate to live in his house and soon discovers a secret hiding in their family. Of course, she vows never to speak it to a soul and gets into a series of trouble. Can it get any more Shoujo than this?
Still, the series, with its diverse range of characters, unexpected twists, and a famous love triangle, has achieved worldwide fame. In fact, after the superb response from its 2001 anime, it was renewed for another 26-episode series in 2019.
Fruits Basket Manga Sold Over 30 Million Copies in 2018
Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya first debuted in the Hana to Yume magazine in 1998 and was serialized till 2006. To date, the manga has been one of the best-selling Shoujo series. By the time the manga had ended in 2006, it had sold over 2 million copies. But its popularity didn’t end there; by 2018, the manga had sold over 18 million copies in Japan and over 30 million copies worldwide.
Fruits Basket set an example for Shoujo manga worldwide and proved how popular the genre is despite the dominance of Shonen series. Volume 25 of the manga even rose to the 15th spot in the Top 150 Bestselling Books on USA Today. It is the highest ranking that any manga volume has achieved in the USA. In fact, the final volume of the manga was on the New York bestseller list for 12 weeks.
The manga was instantly popular after its release, and in 2001, it won the Kodansha Manga Award. Fruits Basket continues to be one of the best Shoujo manga of all time, with it being on the read list of every other otaku. The characters might not have superpowers, a lust for revenge, or the urge to become the strongest in the universe, but the emotional complexity portrayed in the series will always be one of a kind.
Why is Fruits Basket Such a Popular Shoujo Manga?
First of all, let’s begin with the characters of Fruits Basket. Tohru, the female protagonist, discovers that the 13 members of the Sohma household are each possessed by one of the animals from the Chinese zodiac. Under certain circumstances, they turn into their animal forms. But this isn’t the end all for the characters, as their personalities and backgrounds have been discussed in detail.
The unique art style of the manga is also liked by readers, and the anime adaptations have also done the series justice. The plot also has different elements of comedy, mystery, romance, and tragedy. Readers and watchers alike go through a whole range of emotions while experiencing the franchise. Fruits Basket is a slow-paced manga, which might bore some, but once you are into the plot, you won’t be able to stop unless it’s finished.
The protagonists are also extremely well-explored. Yuki Sohma is a calm, cool, and detached hero at first, but slowly, Tohru realizes that he has moments of vulnerability, and he is also volatile at times when he reveals his true self. All in all, if you are a fan of slow-burn romance and unlikely twists, you should give Fruits Basket a try.
The Fruits Basket manga is not available to read online, but the anime is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
