Manga Review: Fruits Basket Another, Volume 2, by Natsuki Takaya

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: November 2018

Volumes: 3+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Fan-favorite Fruits Basket is back with more Sohma-filled adventures! Except this time, it's set in the same world, years later. Find out more in this new volume!
School's no longer an endless pit of anxiety and solitary lunches for Sawa thanks to the Sohmas. She's joined the student council and made new friends who don't abandon her no matter how painfully awkward or useless she is-they don't even get angry when she screws up or starts blabbering gibberish! Though social interactions are still daunting, people don't seem to be as scary anymore-at least, until another Sohma appears?!

Review:

While I do like that Takaya has decided to visit this world again, I think this series is just not what people would like of a continuation. Because it's obvious that the characters are just a cheap imitation of the original cast. They're their kids, who all look very similar to their parents, and have the same kind of dynamic, and then we have an outside female protagonist with self-esteem issues. All of it is very familiar, and yet not as good.

We only get the ghost impressions of their parents, mentions and near-misses, but we never get to see them. And instead we're following their kids, and we get to see how the originals might have turned out, with a better upbringing. Which is the thing that makes these kids different—the original cast grew up and overcame things, and they learned how to be better people than their own parents. These kids have nice upbringings and an actually, healthily close family—for the most part, I believe.

We get to meet a few more characters in this volume—Ayame's kids, we get to see more of Momiji's kids and Hatori's, and then we meet Akira's son. There's an ominous shadow over everything, but I don't think it's leading to anything actually bad, this time.

This series is sweet, and I get it, but I honestly just want to see the original cast, all grown up and happy together. Thankfully this series is supposed to be short, at least.

Manga Review: Fruits Basket Another, Volume 1, by Natsuki Takaya

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: July 2018

Volumes: 2+

Spoilers?: Very light.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Sawa Mitoma, a shy and unconfident girl, has just started high school, and it's already not going well...until she makes friends meets the President and Vice-President of the student council. But little does she know, they're Sohmas!? It's Fruits Basket...again!

Review:

I was really wary of starting this book. On one hand, I was extremely excited to get more Fruits Basket. This is one of my absolute favorite series, and the idea of getting more makes me so very excited. But then I heard some iffy reviews of it, and I wasn't sure what to expect. As it started, I thought maybe she was just recreating the original story. But then it becomes apparent that this story is following the original cast's kids, and the ending of the original hasn't changed.

There's still some question of what happened in the Sohma household, and what everyone is up to now. It's unclear who all is together and how they're getting along, but it's also clear that they're happy.

Each kid looks very much like their parent, and whenever there's mention of them, it makes me unbelievably happy. We see Yuki's son Mutsuki and Kyo and Tohru's son Hajime, as they meet the protagonist Sawa. She has a lot of self-confidence issues, and the whole volumes starts very reminiscent of the original Fruits Basket beginning. Mutsuki and Hajime are extremely similar to Yuki and Kyo. I have mixed feelings about this, because they also seem a step ahead of where those two were at the beginning. These characters having a nice home background is a big change for them.

Reading this volume made me extremely happy. Even getting to hear about the original cast and that they're all doing good and doting parents now makes me giddy. At the end of the reprinted final volume, Takaya mentions that she intends for this series to be short, and to not show the parents. I really hope she does, though. Reading this only proved to me that I would rather have a continuation of the original. I want to see Yuki and Tohru and Momiji and everyone grown up and living their lives. Even a continuing 4-koma manga, where they're just going about their days, would delight me.