Tuesday, July 05, 2005
MORE ON FRUITS BASKET
Lately, I've been spending much of my time reading Fruits Basket in Japanese. First I read vol. 10 to keep up with the English-language releases. Then after the way vol. 10 ended, there was no way I could stop there. And vol. 11 was even more intense. The next volume (which is as far as I've gotten) relaxed the tension a bit, but was still excellent. Aside from the emotional drama, what stands out about these volumes is how Takaya continues to add depth to her characters. After Acme Novelty Library, Fruits Basket is the best ongoing comics series I know of, manga or no. (And yes, Acme Novelty Library counts as ongoing: Ware continues to publish installments in the Chicago Reader, even though it's been over three years since the last issue of the comic book.)
However, I suspect that Tokyopop's translation may be misleading at an important point: the final page of vol. 10. I can't say anything more here without spoilers, but here's an AoD forum thread where I describe the problem, and some people who know more Japanese than me respond. But watch out: even the title of the thread is a spoiler. And I made an error in my initial post, which I corrected here. (Note also that this thread won't be up permanently.)
Lately, I've been spending much of my time reading Fruits Basket in Japanese. First I read vol. 10 to keep up with the English-language releases. Then after the way vol. 10 ended, there was no way I could stop there. And vol. 11 was even more intense. The next volume (which is as far as I've gotten) relaxed the tension a bit, but was still excellent. Aside from the emotional drama, what stands out about these volumes is how Takaya continues to add depth to her characters. After Acme Novelty Library, Fruits Basket is the best ongoing comics series I know of, manga or no. (And yes, Acme Novelty Library counts as ongoing: Ware continues to publish installments in the Chicago Reader, even though it's been over three years since the last issue of the comic book.)
However, I suspect that Tokyopop's translation may be misleading at an important point: the final page of vol. 10. I can't say anything more here without spoilers, but here's an AoD forum thread where I describe the problem, and some people who know more Japanese than me respond. But watch out: even the title of the thread is a spoiler. And I made an error in my initial post, which I corrected here. (Note also that this thread won't be up permanently.)
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