Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 8

Pages: 192 (Paperback)

What Did I Think? In Volume 8, Hatsuharu destroys a classroom because he gets dumped by a member of the zodiac.  She ends up in the hospital with injuries.  We meet Ritsu, who worries a lot, and tends to freak out about everything.  Parent-teacher conferences are coming up, so everyone has to think about their plans for the future.  The Sohmas are particularly worried because the curse of the zodiac limits them.  Kyo, Yuki and Tohru celebrate the start of summer by going to a haunted house.  We also meet Rin, another Sohma, at the very end of the book.

I like that we get to meet a new Sohma every volume.  There are so many characters that it would be overwhelming, so the fact that she eases us into such a large family is a really good move on her part.  I also like the pacing of the series- it’s paced pretty evenly, and the plot moves along pretty well.

There’s the requisite fan art at the end, plus we have 2 pages devoted to 2 different years of the zodiac.  One page covers the year of the dragon, and the other page is about the year of the ox.  As usual, I like the artwork, and it something tht keeps getting better as the series progresses. 

Rating: Another 5 out of 5.  My love of Fruits Basket gets stronger with each volume.