Fruits Basket: Another

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I loved fruits Basket, I love it to a point where I can say it is my favorite manga of all time. And I was very excited to hear about the sequel. And it's... Fine. I feel like if it had more volumes it would be better. They don't bring anyone back from the original series, so that's sad. I was hoping to see at least some of the characters I grew to love be older and more mature. The closet thing you get is a silhouette once in a while. There are so many new characters in so little time it's hard to keep ... track of them all. A lot of the time I think "wait, who's kid is that again?" Unless it is obvious. The new characters act a lot like there parents so it is less like a new character and more like a re-skin of the original character. And I feel like there is nothing at risk. In the original Fruba, the characters took risks to overcome challenges. While the main girl dose have challenges they aren't as Major as the ones from the original series, so it feels underwhelming at times. Overall. If you liked fruba I would recommend checking it out. It's worth reading at least once if you are a fan of the series. But I feel like it is a mediocre addition to the series.

I tried reading this series when I first read Fruits Basket in 2020, and I just found it really boring. So when I went into it this time, I prepared myself. However, I was actually pleasantly surprised! There is LITERALLY no plot. Like I am not kidding, it's kinda impressive.

I don't totally suggest you read this series. It's really disappointing in terms of potential. None of the original characters show up again, which is dumb. I think we all want to see the original cast get old. I personally only liked this series because I was very invested in Hajime & Mutsuki (both themselves ... individually and their relationship) and because of the beautiful art. It kinda made me sad reading this because the original FruBa would be so uniquely beautiful if it was drawn in this art style.

Also, I read this fanfiction (Another Another on AO3) that made me realize that the source material of Another has no plot. The entirety of the first two volumes is just introducing characters, and then little is done with them. Again, also it makes No Sense why Sawa would never run into any of the Sohma parents. It's a good premise (similar to Kimi ni Todoke) but it really goes nowhere.

This is the most loving 6 of all time. I really like the art.

As you may know, I'm one hell of a fan of Fruits Basket. Personally, it's one of the Shoujo Series that stays in my heart throughout my life. Every single moment did not bore me, especially the reboot (which was my first exposure to it). After the reboot was done, I decided to read FB Another, which is the sequel to the original story.

Oh boy. Something about the sequel did not accept my approval at all.

Story (4/10)
IT'S THE SAME AGAIN AND AGAIN. It's the same as the original but switches the opposites around. So this becomes the Sohma's helping Mitoma, which I ... kinda find intriguing, but it instantly falls throughout the whole sequel. The story lacks originality and it is crucially mediocre. Sadly, it takes away most of its realistic undertones, to the most somewhat cheesy, generic trope. Unfortunately, I don't like it in most shoujo rom-com series. Comparing to what the original has presented, it played out its fundamentals well and extends its mysteries completely right. But in this, it felt dull and has poor build-up to the most important scenes. There were tons of loose plot holes and fails to execute. Two things I appreciate about this is the bonus chapters and including Shiki's backstory. Some of the bonus chapters displayed Yuki and Kyo’s children’s background. Let’s say Mutsuki. One thing I admired is how Yuki and Marchi were able to raise him well and uses the repeated metaphor on the snow, that they mentioned from Yuki and Marchi’s similarities of each other from the original series. Shiki’s backstory is the only backstory that I uniquely focused on. If you say that Akito had a happy ending, yeah no you’re wrong. Akito had to face many consequences within the Sohma House, whilst sacrificing her son to have a normal life. Have a read yourself for further context, I’m not going to explain more than that.

Art (6/10)
Art was fine. The character designs are simply a look like rip-offs of the original cast and it’s more clear without the messy sketches from the original.

Characters (3/10)
This protagonist couldn’t get my attention. If I had a reason for not liking her, I suppose of why she is hated? In the original series, we see why the Cursed Zodiac children received bad treatment because of how indifferent they are to the humans in this society. But again, my questions weren’t answered so that’s that. Also, I kinda find her annoying throughout the next chapters because she overreacts whenever her mother comes up, which I don’t feel sympathetic to or anything. Which got me feeling, why the fuck is her mother like that? In terms of writing, she’s probably worse than Ren. Although I hate her guts, Ren is still an intriguing but horrible mother.

Now let’s talk about the two boys, Hajime and Mutsuki. I’m not surprised that they are the lookalikes of Kyo and Yuki, but having a cheesy personality in your usual shoujo rom-com trope. To put it into words, I didn’t mind them that much as standalone characters. I appreciate their friendship though, glad the rival’s sons were able to establish a strong friendship.

The other problem with the newer cast is they mostly act as filler characters and doesn’t add any purpose to this sequel. In the original, it was able to flesh out extremely well, whilst having this rather large of a cast. It was able for me to relate to other supporting characters, not just the main, with their backgrounds. Although I liked Sora, her personality showed some purpose to Mitoma’s existence.

Enjoyment (4/10)
The sequel made me bored and not seemed interested. It’s a copy of the original and I felt like it was losing ideas to construct a new but good sequel manga. However, I did enjoy Shiki's mini arc and the bonus chapters.

Overall (4/10)
Y’know what’s better than this, an actual spin-off one shot of our original cast in the future. The newer cast was unable to express originality and uniqueness. It’s a below-average manga that could have done more adjustments and express new ideas, but simple, not provoking.