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For a springtime treat, Shigure arranges for Tohru and the gang to spend Golden Week at the Sohmas' vacation home. On a rainy day, as the holiday draws to a close, who should make a surprise visit but Hatsuharu! But what's that he's hiding in the bundle under his arm?

194 pages, Paperback

First published April 19, 2000

69 people are currently reading
5181 people want to read

About the author

Natsuki Takaya

153 books2,684 followers
Name (in native language) : 高屋奈月

Natsuki Takaya (高屋 奈月 Takaya Natsuki, real name Naka Hatake) is the penname of a Japanese manga artist best-known for creating the series Fruits Basket. She was born on July 7, 1973; (Tanabata). Takaya is left-handed and once revealed that she wanted to be a mangaka since first grade, when her sister started drawing.

She was born in Shizuoka, Japan, but was raised in Tokyo, where she made her debut in 1992. She enjoys video games such as the Final Fantasy series or Sakura Wars, or working on her different manga series, such as Fruits Basket, which is the second best-selling shōjo manga ever in Japan, and the top selling shōjo manga in North America. Fruits Basket has also been adapted into a twenty-six-episode anime series.

In 2001, Takaya received a Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga for Fruits Basket.

According to Takaya (in a sidebar of a Fruits Basket manga volume), she enjoys drawing girls (girly ones) more than she does boys. Takaya also enjoys electronics and music, but dislikes talking about herself. Also revealed in a sidebar of Fruits Basket, Takaya broke her drawing arm (left) after Fruits Basket volume six was published. She had to go into surgery, and as a result, had put Fruits Basket on a brief hiatus. Takaya made a full recovery, but complains that her handwriting had gotten uglier, due to the surgery. During her hospital stay, she gained an interest in baseball.

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5 stars
11,053 (58%)
4 stars
5,120 (27%)
3 stars
2,252 (11%)
2 stars
341 (1%)
1 star
104 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 383 reviews
Profile Image for Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥.
638 reviews35.3k followers
August 25, 2018
Tohru is so sweet and tender-hearted! No wonder so many people love her! The poor Sohma family though. It seems like they all have their personal troubles.

The highlights of this volume:

”What better way to take advantage of this carefree leisure time than by catching up with your reading?!”

I still love the dynamic between Haa-San and Gure-San! And I love Hatori-San even more for the fact that he’s a bookworm too. XD

”We can’t go back to the way things were. The feelings of guilt and shame won’t disappear. They’d spread like cancer… eating away at the light and the joy that Kana once brought me.”

Aww Hatori-San. I agree with Ayame, you’re too kind and you deserve love and happiness too!!! <333

”I think when you hear someone say they like you, for the first time… then you can begin to like yourself. I think when someone accepts you, for the first time you feel like you can forgive yourself a little. You can begin to face your fears…”

Oh, Yuki! This was exactly what Kisa-San needed to hear! Yuki’s past always breaks my heart, no matter how often I read about it. T_T

”When you treasure someone it can be a little painful to see them find happiness with another and sometimes you may get lonely… but it can also make you happy.”

Hana-chan is the best!!! She cares deeply about her friends and you just gotta love her for it!!! Plus how cool is her talent to sense other people’s “waves”?! XD

Volume 6, I’ll get to you soon! =)
Profile Image for Avani ✨.
1,886 reviews442 followers
December 29, 2022
I really want these characters to progress a little bit more... And why the style changing a bit?
Profile Image for Sarah Churchill.
477 reviews1,173 followers
March 28, 2015
This one felt a little like 'filler' story-wise, but it was nice to see Tohru being something other than super-sickly-positive all of the time. I do love that about her, but a little weakness made her feel a bit more realistic. Otherwise I'm not sure anything actually happened in this volume. Good job I have the next one waiting for me ;)
Profile Image for lily ✿.
279 reviews54 followers
June 4, 2025
favorite arcs in this volume:
-meeting kisa + her attachment to tohru!! she’s so cute 🥹
-tohru getting a fever & kyo taking care of her 💘 making her soup 💘
-hanajima + her brother scaring off the mean girls 👹 do NOT mess with our tohru.

the best part of this series is the characters! they’re all so lovable!! now that i’m five volumes in i wanted to do a little rundown with my feelings on them all 🫡

•tohru: sweetest + purest + cutest person ever. protect at all costs. i like that she always sees the bright side of any situation & how the most important thing to her is helping others. i wish that i was more like her!

•yuki: i love how shy + insecure he is,, everyone at school worships him because he is pretty but his own feelings about himself are more complicated 😖 i like to see him opening up to tohru + i want to learn more about his past 🫴🏻 the backstory, give it to me please

•kyo: RAAAAHHHHHHHHH . love him . love when he’s drawn with the little cat ears. the gender envy he gives me is insane. also i ship him + yuki 😼

•shigure: we always have to have at least a slightly perverted manga character hm 🧍🏻‍♀️my friend is fond of him so i feel that rubbed off on me

•hatori: love me a little soft-spoken man with #trauma. in this volume especially he seemed content to just. accept that he will be sad forever. so long as his love finds happiness, he will be okay with that. he doesn’t want to move on or find happiness himself. nobody understands him 😭 shigure & ayame are NAWT gonna get it

•ayame: he’s lowkey hilarious lmfao sjsjsj

•kagura: give it up girl ! kyo does not like you like that ! that being said she’s very cute with her teddy bear backpack 😖

•momiji: love him!! love him so bad!! what a cute little cutie!! i was so sad reading the story about his mother ☹️ also his age reveal had me shook

•hatsuharu: oh would you look at that another character i’m obsessed with . the character with my favorite design i’d say . love his love for yuki <33 loves that he’s a cow

•hana + uo: i love how much they love tohru & how they’ll do anything for her. also i ship them :) in my head they are canonically lesbians

•kisa: 🥺 cutest little baby. she is so brave. trying so hard. everyone be nice to her RIGHT NOW!!!

•akito: bro better not mess with tohru i am JUST saying. also FUCK this guy for what he did to hatori
Profile Image for Merb.
624 reviews66 followers
October 24, 2017
🐷 This volume is Kagura! 🐷

During volume 5 of Fruits Basket, we meet the young and sweet Kisa Sohma, whose trauma from bullying has resulted in not only closing in on herself, but also resorting to failure of speech. Her fear of opening up is a mirror to Yuki of his childhood and makes him tackle the fact he has not changed head on. The emotional trauma the Sohma's have experienced is something that connects them all, and the light of positivitiy in Tohru helps open them all up to face their demons. Seeing Tohru and Kisa interact could warm anyones heart. I smile so much whenever they are together. We learn that as long as you keep trying, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

🐰 Next volume is Momiji! 🐰
Profile Image for Ferdy.
944 reviews1,283 followers
September 18, 2013
Another fun, light-hearted read.
Even though there's not usually much of a storyline in Fruits Basket, I still find the series really enjoyable. The only thing that bugs me is that the dialogue can be quite weird at times.
I loved Tohru, Kiyo, Kisa, and Momiji's characters — they were all so cute. Kiyo was as adorably moody as ever. It was sweet how worried he was about Tohru when she got a cold, and I loved that he cooked for her and made sure she was resting. I really want them to get together, but that probably won't happen until one of the last volumes.
Profile Image for Saraí Elvir.
338 reviews14 followers
November 20, 2020
Ya lo decidí Kyo es mi favorito, en el fondo es dulce y cuida a Tohru.
Profile Image for Mary ♥.
458 reviews113 followers
January 31, 2016
5/5 stars

I love this manga. It makes me laugh, it makes me sob, it makes me smile, it gives me the feels and overall, it warms my heart up even in the darkest days. Plus, this is probably my favorite of the manga series till now for many reasons. First of all, my favorite character (Hatori) is psychoanalyzed a lot in this.

Second, a character that means a lot to me appears. This is Kisa, the girl who is bullied and has stopped talking due to her depression. Believe me, I know exactly how this feels and the whole Kisa part was bringing me in tears in every page. I just don't understand why our world is so cruel, why kids receive such heartache and depression is such a young age because of bullying. And as a victim of it for many years, I have only one thing to shout. STOP IT!

Back to our review. I ship Kyo and Tohru so much xD This volume didn't explore the whole supernatural aspect of this story but if I guess well, we are really close to a HUGE revealing of someone's story, if the manga is following the anime's plot.
I am just so excited because I'll read MUCH manga this month:)

Recommended from the bottom of my heart <3
~Mary
Profile Image for Luisa Maula.
108 reviews8 followers
March 22, 2020
Today’s volume consists of heartbreak, family bonds and support systems.

Volume 5 talks of how to deal with relationships and how to heal the pain you’ve experienced from it. From here, we’re given an idea that you don’t have to carry the burden all by yourself, especially if you happen to have the support system you need to move on.

Heartbreaks may give someone a stinging pain from within that makes it seem impossible to overcome your story ending abruptly. Even so, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to not get through it. Surely, each and every one of us must’ve experienced this at some point in your life, yes?

It’s likely we all resort to various measures to rid of the pain we’ve carried from the relationship, and this shows that this doesn’t require a single method in doing so. In fact, just as long as it’s healthy for you and wouldn’t inflict pain to your loved ones, you’re going on the right path.

Family bonds are important for us not to think we’re always alone with our own company, especially on bad times. I remember my childhood from hearing Kisa’s stories which are also memories I wish to forget.

Despite the fact that I’m not a fan of the saying how the importance of family can strengthen your relationship with yourself and others, the scenes that follow gave me hope that maybe I could have an ending like theirs too.
354 reviews133 followers
July 21, 2020
I'm so glad that I was finally able to get around to this book. I haven't been able to get around to this book because my library has been closed and only reopened last month. I absolutely loved this volume. It was amazing as always. I loved the storyline in this one and I can't wait to see where it goes. I will definitely be continuing on with this series soon.
Profile Image for Bethany Pratt.
24 reviews4 followers
November 30, 2018
I really liked this volume of fruits basket, one of the best ones I have read so far. I liked how the author, Natsuki Takaya, keeps adding new characters into the manga and I especially like the newest character, Kisa. I liked finding out her backstory throughout the book and why she hadn't want to talk throughout most of the book. I also liked how Tohru was able to make Kisa open up and reveal how she really felt.
Profile Image for Bergi.
23 reviews
May 8, 2022
Me fal ca eshte kjo kopertin dude
Profile Image for Juniper.
78 reviews1 follower
September 1, 2025
"My happiness comes from... the kindness of everyone around me. Don't worry, Mom... I got passing marks on the makeup test." 💗
Profile Image for EvaN.
56 reviews2 followers
April 8, 2025
4,5 🌟
Everyone in this family lost their loved ones? The curse changes their lives more than anticipated. It's sad, and I hate it. Tohru is the light in their lives.
Profile Image for Becky.
866 reviews76 followers
July 16, 2014
I love how the narrator gets increasingly snarky.
"I'm sure they're just fine!" ("They're not fine.")
"STOP MANIPULATING HER!" ("Now they're being manipulated.")
So much sass from you right now.
Profile Image for Rocio Valenzuela.
59 reviews2 followers
January 3, 2021
3,5⭐
Shigure propone que todos vayan a pasar unos días a la casa de campo de los Soma, donde Tooru, Yuki y Kyo podrán disfrutar de unas divertidas vacaciones. De vuelta a casa, Hatsuharu llega a casa de Shigure en un día tormentoso...con un misterioso bulto en los brazos. ¿Qué sorpresa les depara a los protagonistas de Fruits Basket?
Profile Image for Jenny Clark.
3,225 reviews122 followers
February 19, 2021
Translation is still really bothering me, but I do enjoy seeing Tohru with her friends and her lovely personality shinning through. Hana- Chan's protection of her was also good, while allowing for comedy as well.
Profile Image for J | Silver Spines.
99 reviews52 followers
February 27, 2021
4.5 stars

Hanajima deserves a spin-off. She's literally most amazing friend anyone could ask for- I adore her.

In this volume we also find out that Hatori loves reading. *sigh* we have so much in common, we're practically married.
Profile Image for TheBookishHobbit.
674 reviews11 followers
October 5, 2022
Although a bit more like filler content in this volume, it still held so much joy and master-level story telling. I actually finished this one days ago, but I was too sleepy after work to write the review. Needless to say, it was an enjoyable volume.
Profile Image for Marianna Rainolter.
1,643 reviews22 followers
April 30, 2018
Un bel volume che mette al centro vari personaggi della famiglia Soma che ritornano insieme per far casino (ovviamente). Conosciamo un nuovo membro della famiglia, la tigre nelle vesti della piccola Kisa; i suoi problemi colpiscono anche Yuki, che ha avuto un passato simile a quello della bambina e solo l’aiuto solare di Tohru la aiuterà. Poi, per tornare in tema “Yuki”, il suo fan club decide di attaccare Tohru (e le capisco pure! Insomma questa sciaquetta come si permette di stare accanto a Yuki!?) e lo fa partendo dalla sua amica dai poteri psichici Hanajima, ma non andrà poi tanto bene per loro... Nel finale vediamo proprio la nostra Tohru che per un brutto voto si dispera e ammala, ma grazie all’appoggio di tutta la famiglia Soma, in particolare di Kiyo, si risolleverà per la prossima avventura. Non ci sono grandi eventi ma rimane una lettura molto piacevole: la parte con protagonista Kisa è bella e toccante perché tratta temi nei quali ci si può anche immedesimare, ma poi la serie continua con l’allegria che l’ha da sempre caratterizzata e per me questo miscuglio di divertimento e tragicità è vincete (oltre che piacevole da leggere).
Profile Image for Shelley.
457 reviews19 followers
July 5, 2025
This one is one of my favorites!

In this volume we meet the adorable Kisa who is the tiger. Kisa doesn’t speak because she was bullied so much that she became embarrassed and afraid to speak. But when she meets Thoru who can relate from bullying. Thoru explains to KIsa’s mother why she couldn’t tell her about being bullied. When Thoru did this, she relieved Kisa of her fears of not being understood or loved by her mother and others. So the Sohms family decided to to give Kisa and her mother a break from each other as they had a hard time communicating and understanding each other. And thus, Kisa stays at Shigure’s house and Kisa becomes attached to Thoru with great admiration and love. So much so that she follows Thoru around like a puppy!

It’s so adorable! I can’t blame Thoru for hugging and loving on her!

There is also a mini story towards the end about the main members of the Yuki fan club infiltrating Hana’s house to dig up dirt on Thoru.

But the main story is about Kisa!

So cute! Too cute!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for airany.
180 reviews8 followers
August 19, 2021
AYA, HATORI Y SHIGURE SON LO MEJOR QUE ME PASÓ.

❝ I want you to be two thousand times happier than you would be with kana-san ❞

❝ If you like him…you cannot say whatever comes into your head…and assume you will be forgiven…if you like him, how can you speak about him so disrespectfully?…you should know that if you bombard someone…with one-sided love…then you are nothing but a burden to them…and you will just end up hurting them, in the end. ❞

❝ It can be a little painful to see them find happiness with another….and sometimes you may get lonely…but it can also make you happy…all the same…my weakness always be…Tohru-kun. ❞

❝ It’s not cool making yourself sick from worrying, just get over it so you can wander around the house with that idiotic expression like you always do, if you don’t, i’ll…I’ll go crazy, so if It’ll make it so you can wander around again…I can at least make you food. ❞
63 reviews30 followers
March 8, 2019
“Here it says "to like yourself." What does that mean? Good things---how are you supposed to find them? I only know things that I hate about myself. Because that's all I know: I hate myself. Even if your force yourself to find good things... it feels so empty. It doesn't work that way. People like your teacher just don't get it. I think... when you hear someone say they like you for the first time... then you can begin to like yourself. I think when someone accepts you for the first time... you feel like you can forgive yourself a little. You can begin to face your fears."
Profile Image for Delirious Disquisitions.
524 reviews192 followers
February 16, 2019
Kisa chan though!!!! I just want her to follow Tohru and bake things! She's too fucing precious for this world! I loved the way her thread connected to Yuki's traumatic past that lead him to isolate himself from everyone. I'm so glad both Kisa and Yuki are finally taking steps and actively pushing past their trauma. I love these charcaters so much! I just wish we had more Kyou this volume. My boy deserves some love too.

This volume covers chapters 25-30 3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 30 of 383 reviews

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