Western Fairy Tales & Manga Part 2; Fruits Baskets by Natsuki Takaya

Western Fairy Tales & Manga Part 2; 

Fruits Baskets by Natsuki Takaya

This is the slightly delayed follow up to Part 1 of Fairy Tales & Manga which focused on Tachibana Higuchi's, ‘Gakuen Alice’.  To read part 1, click here.

Part 2 looks at western fairy tales influences within Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket. Fruits Basket is the number one bestselling Shojo Manga in the western world, with 23 books in the series, an anime, and numerous fan books and merchandise. This is my favourite Manga, as it utilises many Fairy Tale storytelling techniques.

The story follows homeless orphan Tohru as she befriends the mysterious wealthy and beautiful Sohma family, discovering their secret curse. Collectively called ‘The Zodiac’, the Sohma’s curse causes some of its members to change from humans into the animals from the Chinese’s zodiac (and a cat with a grudge). As Tohru’s life becomes more entwined with the Shoma’s, she realises that there is more to the curse than metamorphosis; uncovering a dark cruelty, and starting her on a quest to free the family from their curse.

Immediately the books take on a fairy tale quality, with Tohru being  a Cinderella type character, an orphan living alone in a tent in forest, working all hours, with a family that are cold and uncaring. Tohru is also a very self-sacrificing character putting everyone else’s needs before her own, having an ability to see the best in everyone no matter how nasty they may first appear.

Tohru

The curse, morphing into other creatures, is seen frequently in western fairy tales, The Frog Prince, Wild Swans and Hans my Hedgehog to name a few. However in western fairy tales, the cursed always know how to break the curse, keeping silent for seven years, or a kiss from princess. Fruits Basket is more complex, a mere kiss would not suffice, in fact members of the zodiac change into the animal when they are embraced by a member of the opposite sex, or their bodies are under stress.

Unable to control when they change, means a life of isolation for all its members, who are unable to take the risk of letting people see their animal forms, and take on a Beauty and Beast. The Beauty and Beast twist is further enhanced when Keo, the cat, changes into his true form which is far more terrifying than a cat.

The moment Tohru finds out about the curse from book one; PLEASE NOTE - read from top right clockwise!

Like all Fairy tales there is a dark domineering force working in the shadows to keep happily-ever-afters at bay. In Fruits Baskets this is in the form of Akita, the young hansom head of the Sohma family. Akita is the head of the zodiac, he may not change form, but his tie to the zodiac is the strongest and he will use any mechanism to keep them together.  To dark, confident and cruel Akita, Tohru is his Snow White, innocent, forgiving and loving.

DVD's Fan books and Keo's Beads.

I love Fruits Basket, and could happily talk about it for hours. It is a sophisticated dark tale which is subtly told with beautiful illustrations, and lashings of humour. It is a storytelling masterpiece.

If you'are interested in Graphic Novels check out the 'Sequential Art Blog' press here.

In My Own World - World Building

In My Own World - World Building

It has been a while since I last blogged. WHY? I've been world building. Not with a few bits of stone, and soils, but constructing a galaxy in my head – 'there’s space,' I can hear some of you shouting! Joking aside, it’s been a learning experience, I'm half way through the manuscript of my latest book a; YA/Sci-Fi - Dickensian Motorcycles Diaries In Space, when I realised I couldn't keep track of everything. Begrudgingly I stopped writing and have been spending much needed time writing the world building down in a more through way. So this is a very quick post about how the world building is going…

So, to get the world building out of my head (to free up much needed brain power), I've been:

• ·         Drawing maps (which I love).
• ·         Working out planet sizes, and settlement sizes in relation to the planet (which I like not so much –MATHS ARGH!)
• ·         Noting down smaller but essential information like, water, vegetation, etc.
• ·         Working out the social structures of the galaxy.
• ·         Creating character profiles, with pictures and images – this is particularly fun.
• ·         Writing down the rules of the dialect and languages (this is especially challenging with my dyslexia!)

My sketch book

Despite having had all this in my head (plus noted in various scattered notebooks), its taking much longer to consolidate it and put to paper than I expected, BUT it’s worth it. Writing it down is making me think about every aspect in much more details than I had been and is strengthening the worlds, making them more convincing, plus it is sparking my imagination in unexpected ways making the story stronger.  

My ever growing world building noticeboard 

So the reason that my blogging has been sparse is that I'm in my own world!