Fruits Basket (Volume 1-23)

Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya (1999-2006)

Description: Tohru Honda was an orphan, living with her grandfather, when one day fate kicked her out of the house and she was forced to take up residence in a tent in the forest. Little did she know that the land she was staying on belonged to the Sohma family, a clan of beautiful and mysterious people. After stumbling upon the teenage squatter, the Sohmas invite Tohru to stay in their house in exchange for cooking and cleaning. Everything's going well until she discovers the Sohma family's greatest secret: when hugged by members of the opposite sex, they each turn into their Chinese Zodiac animal!

Review: Right from the start this manga had me hooked. How can you not like Tohru? She has to be one of the sweetest people on the planet. All the hopes of breaking the Sohma curse fall on her head. It was interesting to see the relationships grow and change throughout this series. Not only are the characters great, but the storylines were fantastic, although somewhat depressing at times. This is the one series that everyone should read. It was outstanding.

Score: 5 out of 5

Case Closed, Volume 1

Case Closed, Volume 1 by Gosho Aoyama

Description: Precocious high school student Jimmy Kudo uses his keen powers of observation and astute intuition to solve mysteries that have left law enforcement officials baffled. Hot on the trail of a suspect, Jimmy is accosted from behind and fed a strange chemical which physically transforms him into a grade schooler! Taking on the pseudonym Conan Edogawa, he attempts to track down the people who did this to him. But until he finds a cure for his bizarre condition, Jimmy continues to help the police solve their toughest cases.

Review: What a great combination of mysteries and Manga. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will continue to read the rest of the series. I really liked the illustrations as well. If you want to get into reading some Manga, I would recommend this series.

Score: 4 out of 5

Movie Connections: Well, actually TV connections. There is an anime that I originally saw that got me interested in reading the series. Its called Meitantei Conan (1996). I really enjoyed it and if you are really interested in the story, you should definitely check it out.