But you’ll want to read fast.

Fruits Basket is one of the rare anime that’s so nice they’ve made it twice. The first time around was in 2001, and 18 years later fans were treated to a full, and ongoing, anime TV series remake of the story of ordinary high school girl Tohru and the collection of attractive boys/Chinese Zodiac animals she suddenly finds herself sharing her life with.

The primary reason for the remake is that the first anime was being produced while its source material, the Fruits Basket manga from creator Natsuki Takaya, was still being serialized. That left the first anime to develop its own conclusion, which neither Takaya nor many manga fans were satisfied with. As a result, the new Fruits Basket anime is sticking closer to the narrative of the manga, and if you want to see what all the fuss was about, the entire Fruits Basket manga is going free-to-read online!

Japanese-language manga-hosting site Manga Park is currently celebrating its third anniversary, and that occasion is coinciding with its Shojo Manga Summer Formation promotion. From July 21, all 136 chapters of Fruits Basket, which originally ran between 1998 and 2006 in the pages of shojo manga anthology Hana to Yume, will be free to read on Manga Park.

One of Fruits Basket’s most clever plot devices, and also its most famous, is that the eligible bachelors Tohru is surrounded by transform into various cute animals when they come into physical contact with a girl, ensuring that even when their young hearts start to race, their romances stay chaste. However, Fruits Basket isn’t the only landmark reverse harem series that’s going free-to-read as part of Manga Park’s summer celebration, as the same treat is being given to fans of Ouran High School Host Club.

A fellow Hana to Yume title, creator Bisco Hatori’s series partially overlapped with Fruits Basket, running from 2002 to 2010, with a 2006 anime TV series adaptation and subsequent live-action TV drama and film versions. Following the school days of Haruhi, a girl of less-than-wealthy status who ends up at an elite prep academy where circumstances compel her to disguise herself as a boy while working in the campus host club, the premise isn’t really much more realistic than Fruits Basket’s magical romance, but Ouran remains one of the most enduringly beloved examples of the “everyday girl becomes the center of attention for lots of handsome rich boys” story structure.

At 83 chapters, Ouran is a shorter read than Fruits Basket, but the two series will only be free-to-read between July 21 and 27, so fans will want to start reading early, or at least hit their favorite chapters first. Fruits Basket can be found here, and Ouran here, and both feature full phonetic hiragana pronunciation guides for their kanji, making them viable reads even for readers who are still in the middle of their Japanese studies.

Source: PR Times via IT Media
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: Manga Park, PR Times
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