To start off, note that I gave the Fruits basket anime five stars, and the manga is much longer and more detailed than the anime. So if the condensed version got five stars...obviously, the longer version gets the same (or better, if it existed).

I bought Fruits Basket because I heard one person (at that time it wasn't nearly as popular as it is now) talk about the anime. So when I went into Waldenbooks, I bought the first volume of the manga, which had just come out. Obviously, it was fantastic, and I've poured over a hundred dollars into this manga series alone over the past couple of years (do the math. Ten manga at $9.99 each, plus tax. So basically I paid $10.24 each for ten...which is $102.40...but I digress. Sorry for the sudden burst of math. I have to keep my brain functioning over the summer somehow! ^^). The drawing style includes the largest anime-typical eyes I've ever seen. ^^ (Look at the image below of volume 1 to see what I mean with Tohru). The only other thing I can say about the drawing style is that it's cute. Unbelievably cute. The boys are cute, the girls are cute, there are no uncute characters in the entire thing. Beware, too much cuteness can kill.

Story

I've pretty much detailed the story in the review for the anime, but I suppose I can go a little further with this...or I can recap what I said before. Tohru Honda is a high school girl whose mother died the previous year. She was living with her grandfather after her mother's death, but his house was being remodeled to make room for his son (Tohru's father's brother; her father died long ago) and his family, so he asked Tohru if she could stay with a friend. Tohru told him that she would, but she didn't want to infringe on the families of Arisa and Saki, so she decided to live in a tent on her own in the woods. One day while walking to school, she notices a house, and in front of the house are tiny figures of the animals of the zodiac. There she meets Shigure Sohma and then Yuki, a classmate of hers and Shigure's relative.

The story originally surrounds Tohru discovering the curse of the Sohma family, then it incolves her meeting the other members of the zodiac...but as she does, the story becomes a bit darker. She realizes how difficult life is for the family, because every time one of the zodiac members is hugged by someone of the opposite sex, they turn into their corresponding animal (and in Kyo's case, the cat). As a result, they all have difficult relationships with their parents, or no relationship at all. And when Tohru meets the head of the family, even more trouble occurs for her.

Overall

Fruits Basket has a very involved storyline with many twists and turns, an element of emotional involvement with the reader, and a drawing style guaranteed to make anyone (any female, anyway) gush and say, "Aww, how CUTE!" If you're a guy that last part may throw you off...but still, give it a chance. Fruits Basket is by far one of the best (if not the very best) stories you'll ever read. Buy it now. I recommend it to anyone, regardless of gender. Of course, very young children should probably not read it due to some of the language and concepts involved...but I think they wouldn't be reading much manga anyway.

Volume 1 (Tohru)
Volume 2 (Yuki, the rat)
Volume 3 (Kyo, the cat)
Volume 4 (Shigure, the dog)
Volume 5 (Kagura, the boar)
Volume 6 (Momiji, the rabbit)
Volume 7 (Hatori, the dragon/seahorse)
Volume 8 (Hatsuharu, the ox/cow)
Volume 9 (Ayame, the snake)
Volume 10 (Kisa, the tiger)
Volume 11 (Hiro, the sheep)
Volume 12 (Ritsu, the monkey)