Fruits Basket: Another

Feb 14, 2016

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (7/23 chp)

I really love Fruits Basket, let's get that out there first. It’s my number one favorite manga of all time and there’s little that manages to come close. Fruits Basket is the first manga I read in a period when I didn’t think reading manga was any good or even better than anime. Reading Fruits Basket was a whole different experience for me. The story moved me for reasons I won't be getting into, because this is a review about Fruits Basket: Another.

With such an amazing story as Fruits Basket though, it was really only a matter of time before I became obsessed with manga—hungry ... for something that could make me feel as good and invested as Fruits Basket did.

I was seriously hesitant to read this sequel, mainly because Fruits Basket ended fulfilling and beautiful and didn’t need any sort of continuation. This isn’t a continuation per se, but more of an… adaption, so to speak. What I mean is: ‘Fruits Basket: another’ feels like a recycled and mediocre version of Fruits Basket.

We’ve got a Yuki lookalike, who is loved by his peers (both male and female), a Kyo lookalike, who is slightly crass and cold but endearing in his own way (I kid you not, they all look exactly the same and behave the exact same way and that's because they are the children of Yuki and Kyo. Only in this case, the Yuki and Kyo lookalikes have a good friendship). And lastly with have our Tohru lookalike, an innocent and kind girl. The only difference between Tohru and our new main character, Mitoma, is that Mitoma is more hated than liked compared to Tohru.

This story isn't the same as: 'Tohru brings light to the Souma’s lives'. Instead, this story is about: 'the Souma bring light to Mitoma’s life'.

It may sound interesting and different because of that slight change, but it’s just… not. It falls flat, because there’s nothing original going on. I think one of the appeals of Fruits Basket was its originality: the mystery behind the Souma family, the sweet girl who was kind without being annoying, the tender friendships that eased over the dark atmosphere of the plot and the beautiful love that was quite literally the definition of growth and 'you make me a better person’-trope.

You can imagine that if the story is recapped for the second time without the characters we have come to know and love, but instead weak cardboard copies of those characters and minus the proper plot building that it could come off as slacking and turn into a limply failure. By making a copy, we can’t help but compare them to the original and find out that it’s not as great and because of that: a huge disappointment.

That said, If you haven’t read Fruits Basket, then this story is more bearable—though it’s rushed sometimes; jumpy at parts and it lacks proper build up. Our main character has it rough, but it almost appears as if her predicament was jammed into the overall story, so we could get to know the other characters (who are almost all the children of the characters in Fruits Basket), rather than understanding Mitoma, living with her pain and properly experiencing what for effect these characters will or can have on her life.

All in all, it’s an average stand-alone and an unfavorable ‘sequel’.

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Jul 18, 2016

x-YaoiWolf-x

Recommended

Preliminary (7/23 chp)

Personally, I loved Fruits Basket. It was one of the first manga I ever read and to this day is still at the top of my favorites list. Nothing will ever replace it; hardly anything even comes close.

That being said, when I found out about Fruits Basket: Another, of course, I was both really excited and very hesitant. For a long while, I tried not to read it... then I gave in, and what I discovered is that it was actually not all that bad.

First, I will say this. Furuba: Another isn't really a sequel but more like an extended epilogue. It's main purpose ...

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Sep 28, 2021

PandanLeafSan

Not Recommended

As you may know, I'm one hell of a fan of Fruits Basket. Personally, it's one of the Shoujo Series that stays in my heart throughout my life. Every single moment did not bore me, especially the reboot (which was my first exposure to it). After the reboot was done, I decided to read FB Another, which is the sequel to the original story.

Oh boy. Something about the sequel did not accept my approval at all.

Story (4/10)
IT'S THE SAME AGAIN AND AGAIN. It's the same as the original but switches the opposites around. So this becomes the Sohma's helping Mitoma, which I ... kinda find intriguing, but it instantly falls throughout the whole sequel. The story lacks originality and it is crucially mediocre. Sadly, it takes away most of its realistic undertones, to the most somewhat cheesy, generic trope. Unfortunately, I don't like it in most shoujo rom-com series. Comparing to what the original has presented, it played out its fundamentals well and extends its mysteries completely right. But in this, it felt dull and has poor build-up to the most important scenes. There were tons of loose plot holes and fails to execute. Two things I appreciate about this is the bonus chapters and including Shiki's backstory. Some of the bonus chapters displayed Yuki and Kyo’s children’s background. Let’s say Mutsuki. One thing I admired is how Yuki and Marchi were able to raise him well and uses the repeated metaphor on the snow, that they mentioned from Yuki and Marchi’s similarities of each other from the original series. Shiki’s backstory is the only backstory that I uniquely focused on. If you say that Akito had a happy ending, yeah no you’re wrong. Akito had to face many consequences within the Sohma House, whilst sacrificing her son to have a normal life. Have a read yourself for further context, I’m not going to explain more than that.

Art (6/10)
Art was fine. The character designs are simply a look like rip-offs of the original cast and it’s more clear without the messy sketches from the original.

Characters (3/10)
This protagonist couldn’t get my attention. If I had a reason for not liking her, I suppose of why she is hated? In the original series, we see why the Cursed Zodiac children received bad treatment because of how indifferent they are to the humans in this society. But again, my questions weren’t answered so that’s that. Also, I kinda find her annoying throughout the next chapters because she overreacts whenever her mother comes up, which I don’t feel sympathetic to or anything. Which got me feeling, why the fuck is her mother like that? In terms of writing, she’s probably worse than Ren. Although I hate her guts, Ren is still an intriguing but horrible mother.

Now let’s talk about the two boys, Hajime and Mutsuki. I’m not surprised that they are the lookalikes of Kyo and Yuki, but having a cheesy personality in your usual shoujo rom-com trope. To put it into words, I didn’t mind them that much as standalone characters. I appreciate their friendship though, glad the rival’s sons were able to establish a strong friendship.

The other problem with the newer cast is they mostly act as filler characters and doesn’t add any purpose to this sequel. In the original, it was able to flesh out extremely well, whilst having this rather large of a cast. It was able for me to relate to other supporting characters, not just the main, with their backgrounds. Although I liked Sora, her personality showed some purpose to Mitoma’s existence.

Enjoyment (4/10)
The sequel made me bored and not seemed interested. It’s a copy of the original and I felt like it was losing ideas to construct a new but good sequel manga. However, I did enjoy Shiki's mini arc and the bonus chapters.

Overall (4/10)
Y’know what’s better than this, an actual spin-off one shot of our original cast in the future. The newer cast was unable to express originality and uniqueness. It’s a below-average manga that could have done more adjustments and express new ideas, but simple, not provoking.

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Apr 20, 2019

MeNaK

Recommended

Preliminary (7/23 chp)

I was really nervous about reading Fruits Basket: Another, because i didn't want it to influence my enjoyment of the original manga.

I have heard really mixed reviews about it, with some people saying that it just recycles the characters and dynamics from the original but without any of the substance, and so even though I was excited to hear about it when it came out, I steered clear from reading it.

However with the 2019 anime reboot my Fruits Basket feelings CANNOT be contained and I was desperate enough to start reading Fruits Basket: Another. Surprisingly, I really enjoy it so far. In addition to ...

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Jun 22, 2021

Nebby524

Recommended

I loved fruits Basket, I love it to a point where I can say it is my favorite manga of all time. And I was very excited to hear about the sequel. And it's... Fine. I feel like if it had more volumes it would be better. They don't bring anyone back from the original series, so that's sad. I was hoping to see at least some of the characters I grew to love be older and more mature. The closet thing you get is a silhouette once in a while. There are so many new characters in so little time it's hard to keep ...

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Oct 10, 2021

RiaBirdx3

Recommended

Quickie Review: 100% not what I expected when I heard there was a Fruits Basket sequel; new characters; I love how the artist of Fruits Basket always nails what emotions a character is feeling through their eyes; it doesn't matter if it's happiness, love, fear, blood-freezing full body horror...

Detailed Review: So, for starters, I'm biased towards Fruits Basket as a default. The odds of me loving anything Fruits Basket-related are very, very high. Now that being said, I didn't expect this when I first learned of a sequel to Fruits Basket. I mean, going by the popularity alone, I assumed there WOULD be a sequel ...

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Mar 13, 2017

Sajou_San

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (7/23 chp)

Fruits Basket is one manga series I will never forget. With its unique story that just sucks you in, it certainly didn't take too long before it became my favorite series of all time. And to this day, after years of reading it, it still is a favorite of mine.

It was only recently that I found out about this "continuation" of the series, with the next generation of the Sohma kids. I was a bit reluctant reading, however. The manga ended so well, and in such a satisfactory manner, that I just didn't think it needed to have a continuation (I mean, aside from your ...

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Apr 28, 2016

FurubaForever

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/23 chp)

Fruits Basket was the first manga I ever read and open my eyes to the world of manga and anime (sorry this was so cheesy). Hence, I was delighted to find that a sequel had been made. However, I must say that I am rather disappointed with Fruits Basket Another as it seems to, so far, lack originality and appears to be a copy of the first series with a slightly different art style but identical characters. Consequently, I am only continuing to read this series due Fruits Basket and I have remained optimistic that it will become more interesting as the series progresses since ...

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Jul 1, 2022

skylightwl

Mixed Feelings

I tried reading this series when I first read Fruits Basket in 2020, and I just found it really boring. So when I went into it this time, I prepared myself. However, I was actually pleasantly surprised! There is LITERALLY no plot. Like I am not kidding, it's kinda impressive.

I don't totally suggest you read this series. It's really disappointing in terms of potential. None of the original characters show up again, which is dumb. I think we all want to see the original cast get old. I personally only liked this series because I was very invested in Hajime & Mutsuki (both themselves ...

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Jul 23, 2021

Vampireharpie666

Not Recommended

Feels like stale bread with a lazy plot about another Tohru-type character.
It's a "there used to be something bad that our parents sometimes talk about" so it was just vague. I really enjoyed Furuba and the reboot got me to try reading this again (couldn't get through even the first volume during the first try). If she was going to make a spin-off, I would have wanted to actually see the original characters at some point. Plus, the character design feels cheap.
If it was just a oneshot, I might have liked it more. Art is good because I enjoy that. I dislike the ...

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Nov 27, 2022

MukundPanzer

Mixed Feelings

I found out about this series just as I finished the FB anime reboot. naturally, I was excited to consume more furuba content even though I hadn't read the original manga. This series serves as a small extension to the main series rather than as a sequel even though it features the next generation. With the way it starts off, it just seems to recycle old character dynamics without developing them on their own. But the content of the last 2 volumes really got me invested in this story as well, especially because of the new protagonist Sawa Mitoma and Shiki Souma. The other characters ...

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