Yet another great volume of Fruits Basket. This volume is one of my favorites. It gets more indepth with the characters and their past lives. We even get introduced to two new, no, make that THREE new characters. Though we do see more of two than three... yeah... I usually don't make sense when I do my reviews but hey, unless you want spoilers, then don't complain! Anyway, I really love this volume. The drama in this one was way more intense than it was with the first volume and it's only going to get more intense as the volumes go by!Takaya-sensei is such a cool mangaka. In this volume, I felt you got to know her a lot better because of the fact that she interacts directly with the reader through her messages that she puts at the beginning of each chapter. She really is a huge gamer and to see that she's a fan of Final Fantasy was just awesome to me. I'm a huge fan of the franchise myself and seeing that she spoke so highly of FFVII just made me tear up inside. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the plot for this volume. I love that she went into the past of her characters and really worked hard on developing Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo as well as introducing Momiji and Hatori (and Haru but we don't learn much about him in this volume). Really, Takaya-sensei is just an amazing person.
As I've said before, she managed to develop Tohru. Tohru in this one, although still very happy and gentle, you get to see a much more sadder side to her, too, because life is not always happy... it makes her seem more realistic and for that, I appreciated her all the more. The same thing could be said about Kyo and Yuki. You get to see their reasons for envying and wanting to be like one another. You understand why they fight each other so much. It's nice because it clears up that their fighting is not just some stupid rivarly that they have. It runs much more deeper than that. Plus, they get the approval of Hana and Uo and we all know they are the law! XD No, seriously, these two girls are just epic. They would do anything in order to protect Tohru. Anything. Hana's psychic abilities are so intriguing. I don't know how they work but damn, I wish I had them! XD (Shigure didn't do much in this volume but he does have some strange aura about him that... you just want to eat him in order to find out what that may be. XD Plus, I want to read his books... just because. XD)
We just met Momiji and Hatori! One of the cutest and coolest characters ever to come into existence! Momiji is adorable. I cannot express this enough! He's so sweet, cuddly, cute, and lovable! He accepts Tohru right away and welcomes her without any hesitation whatsoever. Plus, he's half German! How awesome is that? I loves me my Germans~ *Squeezes Cloud* Anyway, we don't know much about him yet. We'll get to see more about him in later volumes. The one we do get to know quite well is Hatori. I love this man. He's so kind, gentle, caring, and... *Frowns* ...his past is one of true tragedy. It'll bring you to tears what he had to go through and how he had no choice but to do what he had to do. It's so painful... but... Tohru makes it better, I feel. And the way his personality is, he was able to come to terms with himself and that leaves at least a bit of hope. I love this man so much... I hope that one day... he'll be able to find spring again. *Smiles faintly*
Yeah, like I said, one of my favorite volumes of the entire manga. I love the characters, the plot, the artwork. Everything. It's just so... I don't know how to say it... exquisite? Yeah, we'll go with that. X3 I really love how everything seems to flow so well. Takaya-sensei really knew how to balance this manga out very well. You have the comedy and the drama. The romance and the tragedy. The hopelessness and the hope. I love this manga. It's really worth the read. I believe you should pick this one up if you're a manga fan. Even more so if you're a shoujo fan! Trust me. The story and the characters are worth your time. *Nods*
