* Take the Manga Mavericks 5-Year Anniversary Survey and Enter to Win a Free manga! More Details Below!*

 

They’re all animals!… as well as tragic victims of familial abuse. That’s right, we’re starting off the year by taking a look back at Natsuki Takaya’s generation-defining shojo classic, Fruits Basket, a manga exploring a family curse that’s both literal and metaphorical. The original Fruits Basket anime was a childhood fave for LumRanmaYasha, but this was their first experience reading the manga all the way through!

Joining Lum to celebrate the series are none other than the hosts of the Fruits Basket podcast Let’s Stay Together, Ellen and Kayla! Together they discuss the various characters and how they overcome their individual and collective traumas and fears, the series’ messages about necessity of change and growth, and the series’ thesis about the transformative power of kindness. Plus we chat up our favorite characters and relationships, thoughts on the anime adaptations, our favorite fruit to put in a basket and so much more! Everything changes and everybody changes, but what hasn’t changed is our love for this series! 

Thanks again to Ellen and Kayla for joining me to discuss FuruBa! Please make sure to listen to Let’s Stay Together for even more comprehensive coverage of the series, and their new Fullmetal Alchemist podcast Equivalent Exchange going through the series in the same format! 

Also, as a reminder – we’re approaching both the 150th episode of this podcast, and even more significantly – our 5th year anniversary! What will we do to commemorate our 150th episode? Why, our annual Manga Mavericks survey of course! But this won’t be a normal yearly survey, no, this one will encompass the entirety of the podcast’s history from our very first episode in 2016 to the present! You can vote for your favorite episodes, guests, moments, and so much more from the past five years of the show as well as your favorite manga and news stories!

The survey is open until Sunday morning, January 24th, so you have just a bit over three weeks to submit your entries! We look forward to seeing your guys’ feedback and discussing the results of the survey on our upcoming 150th episode spectacular – celebrating the 5th anniversary of this podcast is gonna be a magical moment! 


Download Episode Here!!

PODCAST BREAKDOWN:

00:15 – Intro & Survey Reminder

03:53 – Introducing Ellen & Kayla of Let’s Stay Together
06:13 – The Premise of Fruits Basket
09:49 – How Did We Get Into Fruits Basket?
 10:00 – Kayla
 10:53 – Ellen
 13:02 – LumRanmaYasha
16:53 – Maturing with the Series
19:15 – Central Theme: “Everything Changes, Everybody Changes”
 23:00 – Akito
 29:20 – Yuki
 31:45 – The Old Sohma Family Maid
34:33 – Yuki’s Character Arc
41:48 – The Supposed Family Curse
43:57 – The True Family Curse
47:45 – Forgiveness & Healing in Abusive Relationships
49:41 – The Transformative Power of Kindness
53:28 – Yuki & Kyo’s Rivalry
55:31 – Tohru’s Growth
59:58 – Ritsu’s…. Lack of Anything
1:01:04 – Why Kindness Can Be Life-Changing
1:05:35 – Doing What You Can For Someone
1:08:23 – Hiro’s Jealousy
1:11:16 – You Can’t Go Through Life Without Being Hurt
1:14:43 – Forgiving Yourself & Others
1:19:43 – Shigure
1:21:43 – Kyo
1:24:18 – Realizing Authority Figures Don’t Control You
1:25:41 – Machi
1:29:46 – Scapegoating vs. Trying to Understand People For Who They Are
1:34:25 – Momiji
1:37:23 – Haru
1:40:29 – The Student Council

Q&A’s:

1:44:08 – Is There a Character You Liked Before and Now Dislike, and Vice-Versa?
1:55:33 – Particular Relationships We Like the Most?
2:15:03 – Is Akito Redeemable?
2:18:12 – Message That Most Resonated with Us?
2:22:38 – Favorite Character, and Characters Our Opinions Have Changed on the Most?
2:28:53 – Do We Hate Shigure?
2:34:48 – Best Backstory?
2:39:23 – What Zodiac Animal Are We, and Which Would We Like to Be?
2:42:13 – Thoughts on Ren
2:47:00 – Favorite Fruit to Put in a Basket?

2:49:33 – Guest Plugs

2:58:06 – Community Shout-Outs:

3:04:34 – Wrap-Up 

Enjoy the show, and follow us on twitter at @manga_mavericks, on tumblr at mangamavericks.tumblr.com, and on Youtube! You can also follow Lum on Twitter at @lumranmayasha. If you’d like to help support the show financially you can pledge to our Patreon and receive some awesome rewards like our Patreon-exclusive Bonus pods! If one-time donations are more your speed you can donate to LumRanmaYasha’s Ko-fi here, and if you want to support LumRanmaYasha’s art and other projects you can follow them @siddartworks on Instagram and Twitter and donate to their personal Patreon. Don’t forget to also like and subscribe to us on Youtube and iTunes and leave us reviews to help us curate the show and create better content!

LINKS:

Music Featured:

“Chime” by Ai Otsuka [instrumental cover by fobia]
“For Fruits Basket” by Meredith McCoy
“Chiisana Iori” by Laura Bailey
“Lucky Ending” by Vickeblanca 

About The Author Siddharth Gupta

Siddharth Gupta is an illustrator, animator, and writer based in Minnesota. They graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Animation from the School of Visual Arts, and have worked on projects for the University of Minnesota and the Shreya R. Dixit Foundation. An avid animation and comics fan since childhood, they've turned their passion towards being both a creator and a critic. They credit their love for both mediums to Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball, which has also defined their artistic and comedic sensibilities. A frequent visitor to their local comic book shop, they are an avid reader and collector, particularly fond of manga. Their favorite comics include The Adventures of Tintin by Herge, Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed, and pretty much anything and everything by Rumiko Takahashi.

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