Armchair Bea Topic Day Two: Visual Expressions!
Yes, this picture WILL be on every one of my BEA posts- I just learned how to do it and I’m very proud.
And we’re on at BEA Day Two! I’m a little late in the game (it’s already noon!) But I had a little trouble coming up with my spine poem. Finally, I decided on this:
Wintergirls Speak Easy of their Fatally Flaky Fragile Spirits but Unwind the Sharp Objects of their Cold Kiss and you’ll find their True Colors are Poison.
Not fluent in and of itself, but I couldn’t make anything without adding a few “if, ands,” or “buts.”
If that’s too wordy for you, I have a shorter and far more accurate poem…
The Truth about Forever: There’s Cake in my Future.
And there is. There literally is.
Anywho, it’s time to get on to the juice of BEA today: Today’s topic!
The topic is Visual Expressions. I understand not seeing a lot of people doing this- sometimes graphic novels (particularly manga) receive a hyperactive following that muddies up the whole feel of loving it, so I usually tend to stay away from reviewing them, but actually, I have read graphic novels, although the kind of books on my blog may hint at otherwise. I even have a favorite!
Fruits Basket, otherwise called Furuba, is the most magnificent manga I’ve ever read, and even if you don’t read manga, I’d like to tell you why! It’s centered around the zodiac, where thirteen people in the Sohma family are burdened with the curse of the zodiac- cursed to periodically become the animals they represent. There are thirteen instead of twelve because this includes the cat, Kyo (who I entirely love), who is outcasted by the entire family because the cat never became an official part of the zodiac. An outsider orphan, Tohru Honda, discovers the family curse as three members of the family take her in when she has no place to live.
Fruits basket is incredible entirely for its characters. They are all deep, unique, and lovable, but the most lovable character of all is Tohru (The girl on the cover) who discovers the curse and throughout the series wins the love and adoration of every member of the zodiac through her selflessness and kindness. When I was younger, she was my role model. To this day, she still sorta is, but sometimes you just wanna be not nice, you know? I couldn’t even compete with Tohru.
There is sort of – but not technically- a form of nudity (you don’t actually see anything but it’s enough to make me uncomfortable) and that’s a real shame, but with people transforming into animals and back, what can you do? Anyways, it’s a light and cute read that periodically becomes very deep and heartbreaking, and I’d recommend it to anyone who loves chick-lit, comedy, or romance.
Also, on a side note, the artist about her covers says something that’s always stuck with me sort of happily (I’ll be paraphrasing here). Tohru is orphaned after her mother, Kyoko dies and that’s when the series begins, but you see plenty of flashbacks of Kyoko, a former feared gang leader who left her violent life to marry Tohru’s father, and you realize she’s influenced so many lives in such a positive way despite her dark past. About the covers Natsuki Takaya says: “I’ve always intended the covers to start with Tohru and end with Kyoko.” I loved her for that.
Anyways, it’s a good series to give a try if you ever want to try out manga. I so wish it was in novel form because it would be the most amazing written work ever and then more people would get to share in my love for it, but just delight in knowing that if you read manga, this would totally be your piece of cake.
Danni Mae 
Awe, I love Fruits Basket too! 🙂
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I love ALL of the zodiac characters! Who’s your favorite?
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I love Fruits Basket! 🙂
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I’ve never even heard of Fruit Baskets but it sounds great. I think I just need a really deep story to get me into graphic novels and manga. I’ll have to look into these! Thanks for stopping by my blog!
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No problem! Manga definitely isn’t for everyone, and although Fruits Basket’s story can be very serious, most of it is light and happy (which to me really accentuates the serious points and makes them more meaningful, but you’d have to get past everything else first.) Thanks for stopping by!
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I have read a lot of manga’s in the past, my sister and I went through a time when we would buy lots of manag’s and then lend them to each other. One of my favourite manga’s was Kobato by Clamp, also loved the anime. I also have read managa’s like Higaro No Go and Spice and Wolf. And a lot more, but can’t remember them all. Most of them I never finished the series, although Kobato and Hikaro no Go are two which I own all the manag’s of. When I got into financial troubles after graduating I stopped buying manga’s as they are expensive and books are the same price for a story that takes about 5 times as long to read.
Fruits basket sounds like a fun manga, I think my sister watched the anime and loved it.
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Could never get into the anime due to the voice acting, but I loved the manga and read it over several times. It has a ton of good life lessons in it and it gives you a really warmhearted feeling to see all of these people (most of them with troubled pasts) grow and love each other and turn into great human beings.
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I’ve never read Fruits Basket as I was more into the shounen-based mangas.
Cheers,
Joey via. thoughts and afterthoughts
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Yea, it’s pretty chicky so I doubt you’d like it =P
I also enjoyed Soul Eater though (although I could have done without the constant boob references. What’s with manga and obsession with boobs, anyway?) Other than that, it was a fantastic story with great characters- although I’m basing this opinion off of the show and not the manga. Gotta love that voice acting though- Funimation always does it right. Except in the first season of slayers. What were they thinking?
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I’m really interested in getting into more graphic novels and Fruits Basket sounds like a great place to start! 🙂
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I don’t know if this was just a fluke, but a lot of people I know started reading manga with Fruits Basket, so it does sound like a starting point, in my experience.
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It was really popular a few years ago, for good reason. I adored the characters and their interactions! Thanks for visiting!
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I love your spine poem, Danni. I am enjoying the visual topic today. As you probably know, I have limited knowledge in the area, but I am encouraged to try something new.
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YOU wouldn’t like Fruits Basket though! (Sadly) I do wish it was a written novel because the high points- to me- were the interactions between the characters and not the art. Although the art was often great, too; I can think of a few moments in particular that were more spoken in drawings than words. Thanks for visiting!
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“The Truth about Forever: There’s Cake in my Future.” That’s a very bright future. I like it! XD
Thanks for stopping by!
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Likewise!
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First off, I LOVE how you added your logo to the Armchair BEA one. 😉 And your second poem = LOVE. And yes, very accurate!
Oh, I watched a few episodes of Fruits Basket but got annoyed after a while because I realized I was watching the english DUB version instead of subtitles. Eek. Is the manga better though? I really want to continue it since I love Kyo. ❤
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MUCH better! I couldn’t even get into the anime because of the voice acting. The manga is lighthearted and definitely worth reading.
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Your cake book spine poetry though. THAT IS MY KIND OF POETRY. *dreams of cake*
I haven’t really read magna or anime. *sad face* I kind of want to but I don’t know where to start and every time I get rec’d a book, the library NEVER HAS IT. So back to square one of sadness. But Fruits Basket sounds seriously awesome!! XD
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It’s such a sweet series! I fell in love with all of the characters. At points it can be very silly, but that only accentuates the heartbreaking points in the story. Like how when you see someone always smiling and assume they’re just cheerful people so you become devastated when you realize they’ve been through a WHOLE ton of carp. (That happened to me recently.)
Thanks for visiting!
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I like your spine poetry 🙂
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Thanks!
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