Review: Fruits Basket V.05 Collector's Edition

Title: Fruits Basket 

Volume: 5 (of 12)
Creator: Natsuki Takaya
Format: Unflipped
Original Publisher: HAKUSENSHA
US Publisher: Yen Press
Release Date: 9/27/16
Pages: 368
ISBN: 031636066X
MSRP: $20.00
Genre: Shoujo/Comedy
Rated: Teen

Description: As summer vacation inches closer, Tohru spends her days in anxious anticipation, Yuki meets a new student council member on the way to school...and Uo-chan is in love?! Who is the object of her affections?! Once summer break is in full swing, Tohru and the others take a trip to the Sohma family cottage at Momiji's invitation. Even though they're enjoying summer activities like swimming in the ocean and catching stag beetles, Yuki and Tohru have an ominous premonition! Meanwhile, Shigure pays a visit to the main house, where he makes a proposal to Akito--?!

Contains Chapters 49-59:

• Chapter 49
• Chapter 50
• Chapter 51
• Chapter 52
• Chapter 53
• Chapter 54
• Chapter 55
• Chapter 56
• Chapter 57
• Chapter 58
• Chapter 59

Review:

Cover: The character featured this time around on the front cover is Hatsuharu, the Ox. The background is white, with dark red text for the series title, on the upper left corner, and the volume number following under it.

The spine from top to bottom uses a tiny bit lighter of a dark red background; we have the volume number, the series title, an image of Hatsuharu and Ayame, the mangaka, and the Yen Press company logo.

The back cover featueres an image of Ayame, the Snake.

The covers continue the same flow as previous volumes featuring two characters prominently, one on each side. Me being a huge Hatsuharu fan, this cover to me was great in terms of imagery, however the text could have been a bit better, especially with the spine. The background color and the text on top of it was a bit hard to read seeing how similar in color they both were. This could have been pretty much a perfect 10, but this one flaw not only bothers the eyes, but its something that if you see it on a shelf and if it was not next to other volumes of the series, you might overlook it by the design of the spine alone.

Artwork: From the last few volumes being so emotionally charged, this one is a bit of a mixed bag when it came to the scenarios presented, and thus the artwork has changed quite a bit. One thing I love about Fruits Basket is even though the story is so deep, the art can be flawless when it comes to the simplicity of its art. However, this time around we go back to those weird comedy moments, where the stick figure characters are once again brought back into the mix. The art is already pretty bare minimum in terms of it being so clean and not a lot of background art to begin with, these stick figure moments really just kind of makes me thing the artist is a bit lazy at times.

Translation: I honestly can't ask for a better translation. Character names, honorifics, cultural references, places, sound effects; everything is left in place from the original.

Extras: There are a few color pages, an afterword page, and translation notes. I still wish the original chapter notes were included with this release, but due to the mangaka saying those notes were not relevant to the completed series, they were all removed.

Content (Warning: May Contain Spoilers):  Long gone are we from a consistent story within the first half of this volume as we enter the dreaded one-shot stories yet again, with a bit of a mystery that seems to be unfolding though within the pages of these stories that might be leading into something huge!

First up we have a back story dealing with Hanajima, Tohru's other friend. This tells how she became friends with Tohru and how her "Powers" began to manifest. Although she tried to keep away from Tohru and Uo at first, she soon gave in to their frienship and they became very close.

We are also introduced to Kureno Sohma, but we don't learn much about him yet, just that he seems to fake being who he is. Who is he in terms of the Zodiac? We will probably have to wait quite a bit longer to find out about this.

The big mystery starts to trickle in at this point. There was a kid who ran into Tohru when she was younger and lost. The only thing that Tohru has from this event was the kids hat. And she is determined to one day find this kid, now her age, and give the hat back to him. So far it seems it might be Yuki, and when all is revealed, something big might unfold. This all lingers into the second half of the volume, but still is not really uncovered the mystery behind this.

The second half of the volume we have Tohru and pretty much the entire Sohma family going to a summer beach house for vacation. This also include Akito, who has not shown up for quite a while. Akito has plans to sabotage the vactation and ruin everyones fun, and it seems to work quite a bit when Tohru and Kyo are left alone in the house while everyone else has to pay their respects to Akito.  Akito absolutely despises Tohru and will make sure Tohru will be just as unhappy as Akito.

The volume does end on a solid note. This summer vacation trip is not over yet and it seems like things will begin to unfold more in the next volume. There were quite a few dull moments, but for the most part, this volume revealed many more things and mysteries to the overall story. Tohru is pretty much a god in this world. Her mission is to break the curse of this family. Kyo has one year left for that to happen because once he graduates, he will be locked away in the dark room like his grandfather, the previous cat, once was. Akito on the other hand will do anything to make sure Tohru doesn't destroy the family and it looks like the drama is beginning to spill out more with the end of this volume. 

As a whole, the series is becoming a bit more darker in terms of what will be happening in the coming volumes. I honestly can't wait to read what is to come next as this is the territory of the manga where I actually originally stopped reading, plus the anime pretty much is almost over at this point as well. I honestly recommend this series to pretty much all readers. You don't need to be a female to enjoy a Shojo series, especially this one. Definitely check it out!

Objectionable Content:

• Language: No
• Violence: No
• Nudity: No
• Sexual Situations: No

Score:

• Cover: 7/10
• Artwork: 7/10
• Translation: 10/10
• Extras: 4/10
• Story: 7/10

Overall Rating: 7/10

Where Purchased: Barnes and Nobles

Original Review Date: 11/20/16