2022 EDIT: From my 'Fruits Basket, Vol. 1' review:
Changing my rating to fit my mood and views nowadays. I'm not as passionate or excited about, or as fond of, this series as I used to be. Perceptions and feelings change upon reflection overtime, regardless of nostalgia, which can be fleeting, and that's fine. Growing up, revaluating and reprioritising things are fine. I need to declutter, anyway. The manga remains a classic, nonetheless.
Original Review (of 'Fruits Basket Another'):
My favourite manga series of all time didn't really need a sequel. The Zodiac curse does get broken, and everyone's stories are wrapped up. It's over, done. I believe in letting stories just end. In furthering a popular series - usually because of money and not because of creativity and a need to tell a new, brilliant story - there is always the danger of diminishing it; cheapening and/or exploiting what made it so good and popular to begin with. Love it and understand it as it is, and let it go. Let it be and move on. Be happy with what you got. Do something new. Otherwise all we're currently left with is published fanfiction, more often than not.
With that said, I think that 'Fruits Basket Another, Vol. 1' is okay. At best it's serviceable.
It starts out exactly like a typical high school drama manga, and yes, the characters - the new Sohma kids - are carbon copies of their parents from the previous series. Callbacks or laziness, you decide. Nothing much happens, I didn't find it funny, just awkward, and since there is no curse there is no more intrigue, neither is there much of an inciting incident; it's just the characters who go through nearly the same motions as their predecessors. So why did this need to exist? I was worried I might end up hating 'Another'.
But surprisingly, by the end I found myself being rather touched by it. The emotions and character development of Sawa Mitoma, the protagonist who is a shier and more insecure Tohru Honda, are very well done, I thought. She's a wallflower, a shrinking violet, who hates to be a burden to others. So she keeps to herself, always worrying that helping people - talking to them, even noticing them - will make things worse, and everyone will hate her for it. In being involved with the Sohmas and the student council (not by her choice, mind you), she gradually grows in confidence, little by little; even making nice female friends on the side, who do genuinely like her.
I found I related to Sawa a lot. Her inner turmoils and low self-esteem, and the causes for them, are realistic, and may resonate with some readers.
For all I may criticise Natsuki Takaya for drawing her characters way too similarly throughout her career, and this is especially true here, I give her credit for not making Sawa a clone of Tohru. Though they are both clumsy.
It might not do any harm to check out 'Fruits Basket Another' after all, if you're a Furuba fan. Even with the fantasy element gone (for now), there are still themes of family, friendship, and attempting kindness and understanding. Near the end of its run, 'Fruits Basket' barely included the Zodiac animals, and the drama was much more human, and it worked out brilliantly. The same could be said for its continuation.
There is nevertheless very little reason for this sequel to exist, and it is nowhere near as powerful and original as the--well, the original. It is an awkward manga, following along the heels of a massively successful series that ended ten years previously. But nothing is damaged, at least. No character derailed. No legacy bastardised. No scroll torn.
Curiously, I wonder how Tohru and Kyo are doing now...
Final Score: 3/5
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