Volume 20!

Of all mangas/animes, I feel that Fruits Basket has recieved the biggest production and purchase rates around the world. The storyline is complex and definitely twists in unexpected ways. There is a peculiar cast of characters within these pages, where each member of the Sohma family represents an animal in the Chinese Zodiac. Living among the Sohmas is a young and kindhearted girl named Tohru Honda, who is simply adorable and responsible for herself and others. She has discovered the Sohma family's "curse" and is trusted to not let anyone else know. Tohru, being herself, keeps her promise (as of volume 20, anyway) and doesn't share anything about this secret with anyone else.

I'm not a manga fan at all, but I currently own all 20 volumes of this series, and absolutely love each and every panel of every page. I also think the book provides life lessons to younger readers, but still maintains a level of maturity for the older readers to get into.

These mangas were introduced to me from a friend, and I'm 100% pleased she forced me to read the first volume. Since that day, I haven't put down the books until I ran out of pages, only to wait for the following volume to be released. If you're a hardcore manga fan, buy and read this. If you know someone who is in manga/anime books, I suggest this as a gift. Before you know it, you'll be buying the other 20 volumes, too! =D

Fruits Basket is coming to a close and there are a lot of storylines to tie together and clear up. Volume 20 was a little jarring as it tried to incorporate these storylines, flashbacks, and characters' personal thoughts and feelings. It reveals important back-stories for Kyo and Akito, while leaving us with some cliff-hangers. As I read it, I found myself needing to go back every few pages and review as sentences were broken up by panels of memories or inner thoughts. It was a little annoying, but part of that is that the pacing is so fast, you can't help but quickly flip to the next page and keep reading, even if you aren't absorbing it all. It's an emotional volume and serious (even Takaya comments in the two side columns that the mood shouldn't be interrupted), and requires some reflection afterwards.

Okay, so down to business! This part has spoilers, so watch out! The opening was a little weak - Tohru's still struggling with her feelings for Kyo replacing her feelings for her mother, and the fear that she'll disappear if Tohru lets herself really love Kyo. Kagura avoids Tohru at first, but when Rin and Tohru talk about these feelings, Kagura can't help but burst in and fight with Tohru, ordering her to tell Kyo. This felt out of place, but it did show that Tohru isn't willing to apologize to Kagura after the fight, so we've seen that she's grown a little stronger.

The meat and potatoes of this story deals with Ren and Akito's past, particularly involving Akira's love for his wife and his daughter. We get an idea of just how warped Ren is - she was jealous of Akito before she was born, when the zodiac first called attention to the pregnancy. Ren didn't have an easy marriage or pregnancy, but she also never gave Akito a chance. We also get to see the involvement of the old woman (does she even have a name?) who's watched over Akito and the Sohma household since Akira was around. She was the one to Akito the mysterious box she treasures and we learn its history. In an act that could have been kind and meant to comfort, she did a great deal of damage to Akito after her father's death. Fruits Basket seems to live off of those moments of potential kindness that only hurt people more when that hope is taken away.

In the midst of learning Akito's history, Momiji is freed from the curse - it's not the happy moment we all expected, but rather one of sadness, because now Momiji doesn't belong anywhere. His immediate family doesn't recognize him and he's no longer a part of the zodiac. He still loves Tohru, but he doesn't get in the way of the love Kyo and Tohru feel for each other. And yet, you still feel that if anyone of the Sohmas has a chance at happiness, it's Momiji. Unfortunately, this means confronting Akito. Momiji no longer feels the bond, and that sets Akito off, resulting in one of the cliffhangers - dum dum dummmm. Even as we leave Akito, we see another member of the zodiac's curse breaking, with mixed feelings.

Towards the end, we pick up with Kyo and Tohru. Both have been urged, by Momiji and Kagura, to confess their feelings to each other. But before that, Kyo must tell Tohru a secret he's been harboring since the beginning of the series (and it makes things make SO much more sense). Not only did he know her mother, but he was also connected to her death. Kyo could have prevented her from dying, but at the risk of exposing the family secret. And thus, another cliffhanger.

So now we wait another couple of months before the next Fruits Basket. Time to reread the old volumes! Man, this was a long review!

You can really tell when a series is finally starting to wind down, and the plot threads are being tied off one by one.

Such is the case in the twentieth volume of "Fruits Basket," where Akito's dark family legacy and malign mother are finally exposed completely, and the curse comes further unraveled. There's a little romance around the edges, but not much comedy here -- only a lot of heartrending loneliness, and a bloody secret that has been torturing poor Kyo for years.

The whole story of Akito's mysterious box is revealed, as we see how Akito's parents -- beautiful, sheltered invalid Akira and his seductive maid Ren -- met and married, despite the family's protests. When Akito was born, Ren rejected her out of jealous hatred, and Akito clung instead to her loving father until he died -- leaving her a wooden box. Just what is in the box, and how far will the maddened Ren go to find out?

But her mother is not Akito's only worry -- as Shigure predicted, the curse is coming unraveled, and two more members of the zodiac are freed. Even worse, she turns against the one person who has always been there for her, when he tries to leave her for her own good.

Meanwhile, Tohru is struggling with her feelings for Kyo, with a few of her zodiac friends egging her on to just say how she feels (in particular Kagura, who is understandably annoyed by this). But when she finally confronts Kyo, he reveals a secret he's kept since before she came to live with the Sohmas -- a tragic story about the day her mother died.

"Fruits Basket" is often classed as a romantic comedy. But there's not much romance or comedy in the twentieth volume -- the love is painful or even illusionary, and the comedy is almost nonexistant. There are admittedly a few cute moments, like Kagura whacking Kazuma in the head, but more often the humor is dry and weird, such as when Shigure tells Ren why he slept with her.

But most of the time, Natsuki Takaya cloaks the story in a feeling of bitter reminiscence, and sorrowful loneliness -- of the broken curse, of being an outcast, of being rejected, or of being unloved. The flashbacks to Akito's childhood are both beautiful and tragic, especially the story of poor Akira and the revelations about how Akito became such a neurotic. And the final chapters are outright painful in their naked emotion, especially Kyo's despairing final lines.

Even the moments when certain people lose their curses are bittersweet. They are suddenly free, but they've also lost the connection that has been with them all their lives. Takaya doesn't resort to flash or dramatics, and her elegant, clean artwork only adds to the feeling of beautiful loss.

In a way this is Akito's story -- we get to see her from birth to the present day, and see how Ren's hate has warped her. Ren herself seems like a manipulative bunny-boiler, who hates all women -- including embryos -- and can't stand the idea of her sweet, tragic husband loving anybody but her. The scene where she stalks into Akito's room with a knife is pretty creepy.

And poor Kyo's much-foreshadowed grief is finally explained. Suddenly all his weird feelings, past breakdowns and gory dreams make sense, and you can see why the poor guy thinks Tohru couldn't love him.

The twentieth "Fruits Basket" takes the story into one of its darkest places, with a jealous Mommy Dearest and a crumbling curse. Not to be missed.

Fruits Basket heads towards it's end at breakneck speed with almost too many events to take in as the story of Tohru's confidant and closest male friend reaches it's climax and the volume ends with not one but two huge cliffhangers.

With zero hour approaching for Kyo, some readers might be wondering why Kagura hasn't been around as he prepares to face a terrible crisis. Unfortunately, her appearance turns into an unseemly, ridiculous catfight between herself, Tohru and Rin that really doesn't fit in at this late stage. The rest of the volume, thankfully, makes up for it.

Few characters in Fruits Basket deserve a happy ending more than Momiji; but as the series nears it's end his mother is still lost to him, his hope of being a violinist is still on hold, and his chance to connect with Momo before her adulthood is slipping further away every month. In fact, it isn't that much of an exaggeration to say that nothing has gone right for him in the whole series except for meeting Tohru; and considering that their comfort level with eachother is through the roof he wouldn't be human if the hope didn't dawn in him that maybe, just maybe, he doesn't have to be alone anymore.

But Kyo needs Tohru too, Kyo's will is fading fast, and Momiji wouldn't be Momiji if he did anything to try to deny Kyo his motivation for fighting his impending confinement. So we watch with sadness but not much surprise, knowing that a situation has arisen through no one's fault in which someone has to end up hurt, as The Most Foolish Traveler leaves what might be his last chance at happiness for a long time to the "Monster" who might need it even more.

It's then that Momiji does two things that act as catalysts to the remaining storylines.

First, a subtle but colossal event forces him into a reluctant confrontation with Akito that was perhaps inevitable in any case considering he's arguably the most emotionally stable member of the Zodiac, and starts a precident that might shake the curse to it's core. This serves to further destabilize the already disturbed head of the family as we finally learn Akito's full backstory and Kureno pays dearly for his pity towards Akito in a shocking turn of events.

Then, Momiji gently prods Kyo to confess to Tohru one more time, giving Kyo the strength to finally make a move. But there is still one thing Kyo has to do first.

Before they can go any further, Kyo has to tell Tohru about his connection to Kyoko, and the truth will put their relationship to the ultimate test...

The cast has alot on it's plate as the series moves towards it's final three volumes.