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Storytelling
Takaya's characters, throughout
Fruits Basket, tell each other stories to help understand themselves and others. Two stories, in particular, are a key to understanding Tohru's character: one from her childhood involving the Japanese children's game Fruits Basket (a game from which her classmates used to exclude her) and the Hans Christen Anderson-like "The Foolish Traveler," in which a traveler finds happiness in giving away everything he has to help others.
Meanwhile, the Sohmas' curse is framed in the context of an authentic Chinese legend; however, the story is reinterpreted to reflect the changes in the Sohma clan in Vol. 22. It is significant that novelist Shigure, the dog, quits his job as a professional storyteller by the conclusion of
Fruits Basket: stories have served their function to symbolically bond the characters: now that the characters have forged emotional connections more directly, stories are no longer as necessary as they once were.
ie
According to
http://countrystudies.us/japan/69.htm:
In the early twentieth century, each [Japanese] family was required to conform to the ie (household) system [… in which] authority and responsibility for all members of the ie lay legally with the household head. The ie system thus artificially restricted the development of individualism, individual rights, women's rights, and the nuclearization of the family. It formalized patriarchy and emphasized lineal and instrumental, rather than conjugal and emotional ties, within the family. […] Public opinion surveys in the late 1980s seemed to confirm the statistical movement away from the three-generation ie family model. […] Other changes, such as an increase in filial violence and school refusal, suggest a breakdown of strong family authority.
These societal changes are reflected in
Fruits Bakset, primarily through the character of Akito, the "god" of the Sohma clan: she is raised as a male because, under the
ie system, she would be unable to assume head of the household. In keeping with the cyclical nature of
Fruits Basket, in the beginning of the series, Tohru's grandfather, her only (kind) living relative, is powerless to protect her; as the series concludes, SPOILER it appears that Tohru and Kyo are grandparents and possibly part of a "three-generational" household, but a modified one, in which they instruct their granddaughter to call them by their first names, and continue to place a high priority on their romantic relationship.
Plot Devices
Fruits Basket utilizes many of the tropes, situations, and plot devices of the
shõjo genre: Takaya is (often: not always) able to transcend them by her ability to derive resonance from them. For example, through pacing[1] and her talent for conveying nuance, she successfully executes one of the most abused plot devises in both Western and Eastern literature: the love triangle (though she overextends it with an overdetermined subplot about Tohru's mother befriending Kyo, unfortunately resorting to the "they all unknowingly met when they were children" cliché). Takaya is also able to breathe some life into stock characters, such as the student council members, who serve not only to reflect and expand on the series' themes, but to help provide an unconventional love interest.
Conclusion
Fruits Basket contains a fair number of sentimental and melodramatic elements: however, these elements are rarely "cheap," as Takaya earns them with her storytelling skills. This, in addition to the relative sophistication of its themes, causes the series to have critical merit as well as commercial: though the concluding volumes may not be among the best comics or the best manga available in the U.S. in 2009, they're certainly worthy of discussion.
Notes
[1] After the conclusion of the series, I found myself particularly impressed with Vol. 3 which not only includes the "Foolish Traveler" story, but also jam-packs a typical the-characters-visit-a-hot-spring scenario with teasers for a yet-to-be-seen member of the Sohma clan, a revelation about Momiji, the rabbit, pays off a storyline begun in previous chapters regarding the exchange of gifts and sacrifice, includes a moment in which Tohru demonstrably brings Yuki a little out of his shell, and begins to crystallize the central love triangle of the series. It's an impressive bit of storytelling on Takaya's part.
Kristy Valenti currently works for The Comics Journal and Fantagraphics Books, Inc.
Uncharted Territory is © Kristy Valenti, 2010
