to read makes our speaking English good

[lunabee34]

I just finished the first volume of Fruits Basket.



So, far I'm enjoying it. I'm glad I watched the first couple of episodes of the anime before it disappeared from Netflix because I think that helped me as I was learning to navigate the panels.

I don't think comics, manga, graphic novels are ever going to be my preferred medium. I find it hard to look at the pictures and read the words at the same time. Which makes me sound sooooo stupid LOL but it's true. Even on this read, I had to force myself to look at the pictures instead of just reading the words and going on.

I am not a visually oriented reader, though, which boggles my husband's mind. Reading for him is like watching a movie in his mind. Reading for me is like listening to someone read aloud. I know what things look like, but I am not picturing them as I read for the most part.

So far in this first volume, we have learned that Tohru's mother has died, she's gone to live with her grandfather, and she's left her grandfather's house to secretly live in the woods in a tent (she tells him she's going to stay with friends) because his house is being remodeled? I think. Either that, or he's going to live with one of his children and *their* house is being remodeled to accommodate him.

Tohru happens to camp out on the property of the Sohma family where Yuki (the heartthrob she goes to school with) and Shigure are living. IDK the relationship between Yuki and Shigure. Are they brothers?

She learns that they are actually iterations of the Chinese zodiac who turn into their respective animals when hugged by someone of the opposite sex who is not also of the zodiac.

Kyo turns up and is the cat, the animal who was tricked out of belonging to the zodiac.

Tohru is clearly set up for a romantic choice--Yuki vs Kyo. Yuki is nice to her, a bit of a rebel as he goes to school against the wishes of his family, and conflicted about his ability to transform. Kyo is angry and mean to Tohru but not on purpose a lot of the time. He wants to belong and he's fixated on Yuki (I'm gonna bet Yuki/Kyo is the juggernaut slash ship), and he likes Tohru despite his blundering behavior.

A female Sohma shows up who is totally smitten with Kyo. At this point, Tohru isn't interested in Kyo romantically but I sense a rivalry starting.

We also meet Tohru's friends at school, two female friends in particular, but their introduction was weird and confusing to me. I was glad I had seen the manga so that I could put that part together.

Not having read any manga before, I wasn't expecting all the authorial asides about her daily life and interests. I LOLed when she talked about finally getting the internet in her home but not being sure what to do with it. :)


I also read Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer this week. Whoa. All female cast. Science fiction. Science. Mystery. Creepy. Dystopia. Such a damn good read. Highly, highly recommended.

Comments

[lunabee34]

Okay, cool. Cousins makes much more sense. There was also a character list at the beginning of the second volume that was helpful for me to keep track, too. ;)

Because of Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, I thought Shigure was a female name, but the Shigure in FB is male. Is it a gender neutral name (because I find Shigure from KtMD having a masculine name really thinky and interesting)? (If you know?)

Oh man, I hadn't thought of the difficulties those author notes would present in translation especially the farther back in time you go. That would be really hard to figure out.

Annihilation is part of a triology; the second part comes out this month. I can't wait!

[umadoshi]

The character list is very helpful! Except for several volumes (which you won't get to for a while) their "bio" for my beloved girl was infuriatingly awful. When I started freelancing for Tokyopop and found out one of my editors was copyediting the series, I shamelessly begged him to fix it, and I'm pretty sure he did.

Takaya-sensei seems to have a thing for androgynous names, and for giving somewhat gendered names to characters of the opposite gender, so that happens a fair bit in this series. Frex, "Tohru" is usually a masculine name. (Does knowing future characters' names count as spoilery for you? *g*)

[lunabee34]

No, that doesn't count as spoilery for me. Tell away!

I'm glad to know that about her naming conventions.

(Emma devoured the first volume super quick and is sitting on her hands while I go through the second. LOL)

[umadoshi]

The names I was thinking of are Ayame, which IIRC means "iris" and in Furuba belongs to a man, but I think is usually a feminine name, and Rin, which is my beloved girl's nickname, but which I've often seen used for male characters elsewhere. ^_^ And Yuki is sometimes/often a girls' name.

(Although then you get into the question of how the names are written in Japanese, and it's entirely possible that the masculine and feminine forms are written differently. That part, I don't know.)

[lunabee34]

that's really cool. thanks for sharing with me. :)

i just finished the second volume, so I'll have to put up a post about that soon.