(no subject)
So. Here are a few thoughts on Tohru.
I probably got some details wrong, but eh, pretend my heart's in the right place.
Tohru is the main character of a series called Fruits Basket. At the start of the story, she is living in a tent in the woods. This is because her mother, who had been raising her alone, died. She went to live with her paternal grandfather, but found herself without a home when his house had to be renovated. Not wanting to cause her best friends any trouble (these would be Saki Hanajima, or wave_report, whose family is crowded in their home, and Arisa Uotani, or buttrflywannabe, who lives in a one-room apartment with her father), she resorted to camping out.
All is well and good until the people who live on the property--namely her classmate Yuki Sohma (or prince_of_rats and his cousin Shigure (who is too old to participate in CFUD) find her on the grounds. They are not too concerned, and even end up taking Tohru in for the night when a landslide that destoys her tent (and buries her most precious possession) triggers a fever brought on by stress. Yuki goes out in the middle of the night to dig up her stuff, and by morning has it all ready for her, though such a task would be impossible for one person to finish so quickly...
Either way, come morning Tohru’s fever has broken. Shigure and Yuki offer to let her stay with them for free, in exchange for cooking and cleaning. She agrees, but when the other two show her to her new room, someone bursts in through the ceiling! It’s Kyou Sohma (_yearofthecat_), and he’s looking for a fight. Upon seeing Yuki, he charges, and when Tohru tries to stop him, they accidentally end up embracing...
A poof of smoke later, Tohru is holding a cat. An orange cat. That talks. Dazed and confused by this sudden turn of events, she accidently bumps into Yuki and Shigure as well... and finds herself face-to-face with a rat and a dog.
After calming down somewhat, the Sohmas explain what happened to Tohru--their family is cursed by the spirits of the Chinese Zodiac, so that when they become sick or weak, or when they embrace someone of the opposite sex who is not cursed, they turn into animals. Yuki is cursed by the spirit of the Rat, and Shigure by the Dog, but where does Kyou come in? Well, that has to do with a legend that Tohru is intimately familiar with, her mother having told it to her many times as a child.
A long time ago, God wanted to throw a big banquet for all of the animals. So he sent out an invitation, but seeing as the cat wasn’t there, he asked the rat to deliver the invitation to him. The rat did so, but, fearing that the cat woud eat him if he received the blessing of God, told him that the banquet would be taking place the next night, when it was in fact occurring that very evening. The cat dreamt that night of the banquet that was happening even as he slept. Thanks to this deception, the cat became a pariah of the Zodiac, never invited to join in the circle of years.
Tohru swears to keep this secret, but is later told by Yuki that she may have to have her memory erased to protect the family’s name. She agrees, saying she’ll be sad to lose her memories, but that she hopes Yuki will become her friend again afterwards. However, this doesn’t end up happening. For some inexlicable reason, Akito, the head of the family, decides to let Tohru keep her memories and stay with Yuki, Shigure and later Kyou, who ends up also going to the same co-ed school with Yuki and Tohru.
So, that’s the first two chapters or so of the series, and sets up the basic situation. I’ll do more later--FB is kind of a complex series, and I don’t want to post any Big McSpoilery stuff. I’ll probably do a character analysis of Tohru (in canon and CFUD), a listing of her doings in CFUD, and her relationships with applicable characters. Until then, ciao!
I probably got some details wrong, but eh, pretend my heart's in the right place.
Tohru is the main character of a series called Fruits Basket. At the start of the story, she is living in a tent in the woods. This is because her mother, who had been raising her alone, died. She went to live with her paternal grandfather, but found herself without a home when his house had to be renovated. Not wanting to cause her best friends any trouble (these would be Saki Hanajima, or wave_report, whose family is crowded in their home, and Arisa Uotani, or buttrflywannabe, who lives in a one-room apartment with her father), she resorted to camping out.
All is well and good until the people who live on the property--namely her classmate Yuki Sohma (or prince_of_rats and his cousin Shigure (who is too old to participate in CFUD) find her on the grounds. They are not too concerned, and even end up taking Tohru in for the night when a landslide that destoys her tent (and buries her most precious possession) triggers a fever brought on by stress. Yuki goes out in the middle of the night to dig up her stuff, and by morning has it all ready for her, though such a task would be impossible for one person to finish so quickly...
Either way, come morning Tohru’s fever has broken. Shigure and Yuki offer to let her stay with them for free, in exchange for cooking and cleaning. She agrees, but when the other two show her to her new room, someone bursts in through the ceiling! It’s Kyou Sohma (_yearofthecat_), and he’s looking for a fight. Upon seeing Yuki, he charges, and when Tohru tries to stop him, they accidentally end up embracing...
A poof of smoke later, Tohru is holding a cat. An orange cat. That talks. Dazed and confused by this sudden turn of events, she accidently bumps into Yuki and Shigure as well... and finds herself face-to-face with a rat and a dog.
After calming down somewhat, the Sohmas explain what happened to Tohru--their family is cursed by the spirits of the Chinese Zodiac, so that when they become sick or weak, or when they embrace someone of the opposite sex who is not cursed, they turn into animals. Yuki is cursed by the spirit of the Rat, and Shigure by the Dog, but where does Kyou come in? Well, that has to do with a legend that Tohru is intimately familiar with, her mother having told it to her many times as a child.
A long time ago, God wanted to throw a big banquet for all of the animals. So he sent out an invitation, but seeing as the cat wasn’t there, he asked the rat to deliver the invitation to him. The rat did so, but, fearing that the cat woud eat him if he received the blessing of God, told him that the banquet would be taking place the next night, when it was in fact occurring that very evening. The cat dreamt that night of the banquet that was happening even as he slept. Thanks to this deception, the cat became a pariah of the Zodiac, never invited to join in the circle of years.
Tohru swears to keep this secret, but is later told by Yuki that she may have to have her memory erased to protect the family’s name. She agrees, saying she’ll be sad to lose her memories, but that she hopes Yuki will become her friend again afterwards. However, this doesn’t end up happening. For some inexlicable reason, Akito, the head of the family, decides to let Tohru keep her memories and stay with Yuki, Shigure and later Kyou, who ends up also going to the same co-ed school with Yuki and Tohru.
So, that’s the first two chapters or so of the series, and sets up the basic situation. I’ll do more later--FB is kind of a complex series, and I don’t want to post any Big McSpoilery stuff. I’ll probably do a character analysis of Tohru (in canon and CFUD), a listing of her doings in CFUD, and her relationships with applicable characters. Until then, ciao!