Takaya's art is definitely at her highest point in this volume. I think its not until volume 16 or 17 that her art starts to change due to her hand injury, but really I'm kinda fond of her later art-style too. Despite the fact that the characters all look eerily similar, I think its a very, nice mature look and quite unique for a Shojo. Its her earlier art that I'm kinda iffy on, it just looks too rough. Like her art in Phantom Dream, that style I'm not too fond of.
The manga was my first exposure, but I picked up the anime sometime later. Couldn't stand it though once I read the later volumes as they omitted a lot of details and changed character's personalities while not really adding anything new so it just felt like a poor man's Furuba you know? Shigure's character change is one of the biggest things I dislike about the anime and yes, while they do sort of give hints that he's planning something, its all pretty much derailed during the last few episodes when he acts completely OOC. (Shigure crying? Really?)
Don't get me wrong, I used to love the Furuba anime! But after reading volumes 10 and up I began to see what a pretty weak adaptation it was. I think its probably the anime that gives people the perception that Shigure is just a comic relief character, that was always my impression until I read the later volumes of the manga and then started re-reading the earlier volumes once I was finished.
On the character front, I can see what you mean but I still stand by my opinion that Fruits Basket was rushed. It wouldn't have hurt for it to be a few more volumes long, just to fill in the details. I think I recall that Takaya said herself that there were a lot of characters that she wanted to do explore more, but couldn't due to time constraints. Not just Shigure, I would've liked to see more of Ritsu or Haru's backround.
Ha-ha yep! ;) And I can't wait till you get to the other volumes, as things just get more and more suspenseful from here on out.
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The manga was my first exposure, but I picked up the anime sometime later. Couldn't stand it though once I read the later volumes as they omitted a lot of details and changed character's personalities while not really adding anything new so it just felt like a poor man's Furuba you know? Shigure's character change is one of the biggest things I dislike about the anime and yes, while they do sort of give hints that he's planning something, its all pretty much derailed during the last few episodes when he acts completely OOC. (Shigure crying? Really?)
Don't get me wrong, I used to love the Furuba anime! But after reading volumes 10 and up I began to see what a pretty weak adaptation it was. I think its probably the anime that gives people the perception that Shigure is just a comic relief character, that was always my impression until I read the later volumes of the manga and then started re-reading the earlier volumes once I was finished.
On the character front, I can see what you mean but I still stand by my opinion that Fruits Basket was rushed. It wouldn't have hurt for it to be a few more volumes long, just to fill in the details. I think I recall that Takaya said herself that there were a lot of characters that she wanted to do explore more, but couldn't due to time constraints. Not just Shigure, I would've liked to see more of Ritsu or Haru's backround.
Ha-ha yep! ;) And I can't wait till you get to the other volumes, as things just get more and more suspenseful from here on out.