Fruits Basket

Manga Information
Title	Fruits Basket
Alternate Title	Furuba
Author	Natsuki Takaya
Chapters	136
Status	Complete
Publication	January 1999 – November 2006
Publisher	Hakusensha
Magazine	Hana to Yume

Summary

When high school student Tohru Honda's mother died in a car accident, Tohru begins living in a tent and supporting herself. That is, until she finds a home in the least likely of places, inhabited by her classmate Yuki Sohma and his cousins Shigure and Kyo. The Sohmas however, live with a curse. Thirteen members of the family are possessed by spirits of the Chinese zodiac and turn into their zodiac animal when hugged by the opposite gender or when under stress. When Tohru discovers the Sohmas' secret, she promises not to tell and is allowed to keep living with them. The Sohma's curse, however, is deeper and darker than Tohru realized, but her presence soon becomes a large, positive influence on those possessed by the zodiac. She sets out to break the curse, and on the way, meets and discovers each of the Sohma's vengeful zodiac spirits. Each has a different personality, just like the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. Tohru's existence changes the Sohma clan's lives forever.

Differences between manga and anime

In many places, the anime episodes are very similar to the corresponding manga chapters. However, the anime does make some changes to the story. Several events are combined, and some events, such as Tohru's first meeting with Momiji and all references to Tohru's baseball hat, never happen. Much of the events surrounding the revealing of Kyo's true form are greatly changed in the anime, including adding an extended chase sequence, Tohru meeting Akito in the woods, her meeting with Hanajima and Uotani at her mother's grave, and Yuki having also chased after Kyo, none of which happen in the manga.

While the anime keeps most of the characters exactly the same as in the manga series, it does make some changes. In the manga, Momiji is half-German and half-Japanese and regularly speaks German, particularly when he first meets Tohru. However, in the anime his bi-racial status is never mentioned and no German is spoken. Shigure's darker tones are toned down in the anime, with many remarks he makes in the manga that hint at a hidden agenda are left out, along with most of his early scenes with Akito. In the anime, Akito is biologically male and will die at a young age because of the curse, while in the manga, Akito is biologically female but brought up as male and is not dying. As well as Isuzu "Rin" Sohma, who is the horse, and Kureno Sohma, who is the rooster, are never mentioned or showed in the anime and are only in the manga. The anime only covers the first 8 books of the manga, which has 23 books in total.

Also: The anime (as indicated above) does not include all the books, but also does not contain all of the contents of the manga books 7 and 8.