Fruits Basket Collector's Edition, Vol. 2

With this new release from Yen Press, the "hole" that has been left by Tokyo Pop's version of Furuba going out of print years ago has finally been filled in. It is wonderful that Yen Press is re-releasing this classic manga for those of us who were never able to obtain copies of it when it came out over a decade ago. My "real" score for this version would be 4.5 stars if Amazon would let me dock a half star. This edition is not perfect but because Fruits Basket is such a strong manga, it makes up for the few shortcomings. The book itself is an over-sized manga, a bit bigger than most that are released today. If you get other manga from Seven Seas or Shonen Jump, you will see immediately that the size of this book is bigger by an inch on both sides. That's a good thing as there is more room for Takaya's art to spread out as intended. I always found Furuba a difficult manga to read as a fan-sub because of the odd panel shape that Takaya uses for much of her layout. It is wonderful to see in print. The book is also not without its shortcomings. The Tokyo Pop version released previously contained all the authors side notes that had been included in the Japanese versions. Those have been removed in the new Collector's Editions and Takaya explained that she did this because most were out of date and not relevant anymore. If you are familiar with these, you will know that many of the notes were about her gaming habits and eating habits - interesting tidbits but hardly worth saving for posterity. I, personally, do not miss them but some purists might balk that they have been removed. Another thing I do not like about the book is the cover. They used a flat, non-glossy cover on these editions. For a "Collector's Edition" I would have expected better. The flat cover feels a bit chalky in the hand and it certainly will not slide onto a shelf easily when you put your books away. I'd have rather seen a nice glossy cover on these editions. These editions do contain full color pages at the beginning. I believe many of these were included with the Japanese versions as well and they have been collected from the original volumes and reprinted here. Yen Press DID use glossy paper for the color pages and they look wonderful. The black and white printed pages are also nice to look at. I compared this edition to some of my Shonen Jump manga and can say that the paper quality seems better on this Yen Press version than the Shonen Jump titles. It's a bit smoother and the artwork is nice and crisp. Finally, the story itself is truly a manga masterpiece. If you haven't read Furuba yet, you owe it to yourself to pick up this new version and start losing yourself in the world of Tohru Honda and the Sohmas. And if you've only seen the anime version of this story they I can't stress enough how much more you will enjoy the manga. There is so much more to this rich story. You will also not be disappointed with the translation offered here. Yen Press did a fine job translating this from the original Japanese and I have yet to find any problems as I read through the first volume. It's easy to follow and is a huge step up for those of you who might have only seen this as an "Engrish" fan-sub. Yen Press also included nice translation notes at the end of each volume explaining cultural differences that U.S. readers might be confused by. These can be very helpful when something isn't quite clear. Overall, Yen Press has done a wonderful job with these new versions of Fruits Basket. They are FINALLY back in print again and we can all enjoy this great story once again. Highly recommended!

Good price and quick delivery

Ich habe das Buch Gebraucht gekauft, ich bin davon ausgegangen bei "Gebraucht - Sehr gut" als aushang das ein paar kleine Blessuren zu sehen sein würden. Das ich dann aber sowas zugeschickt bekomme was in meinen Augen nicht "Sehr gut" behandelt wurde. Ich habe fast den normalpreis für das Buch bezahlt mit dem Versandt zusammen und bin restlos enttäuscht. Das einzig gute ist das die meisten seiten im Inneren unbeschäftigt sind und ich es dennoch Lesen kann. Was im regal aber dann wieder nicht so schön aussieht wenn eins dazwischen steht als wäre ich 2 mal mit dem Auto drüber gefahren. Das Buch an sich kann nichts dafür, ich gebe 100% dem gebraucht verkäufer die schuld. Das Buch(Die Bücher) sind wunderschön, die story ist einfach unglaublich packend und ich habe die Original Mangas hier stehen von früher da ich die serie Damals schon so toll fand. Leider dennoch nur 2 sterne weil ich es vermutlich nochmal kaufen muss.

One of my favorite series

It came slightly damaged at the top right corner