Confessions from a Fruits Basket

Takaya's art style did change, yes. But there isn't really a specific reason I can give as to why this happened. However I can give you three possible factors for the change.

Fruits Basket was serialized in Hana to Yume from 1998 until 2006 - an 8 year period. If you look at any manga-ka's work over a similar time span, their art style does change. Although possibly not quite as drastically.

Takaya broke her drawing arm while working on Fruits Basket and had to put the series on hold for a brief time while recovering from the resulting surgery. It is shortly after this that the style change became a bit more noticeable. She says in a side bar in volume 7 that "Apparently, the surgery I had came with a lot of risks, but surgery itself is like that, and I was pretty desperate, so I had no second thoughts."

Finally, artist's styles do change and mature. That's just how it is. Her style has continued to change and mature after finishing Fruits Basket, even, although the changes are very slight.

Personally, I much prefer the art at the end of Fruits Basket. I think it's much cleaner and her capacity for showcasing emotions improves. I also enjoy the way she lays out panels and full page spreads by the end.

However, if you prefer the early art that's perfectly okay too! I have a soft spot for the middle phase of her artwork and really enjoy the volumes where she's at the stage just because I feel like I'm indulging myself a little (even if the ending style is my absolute favorite).

This is from Wikipedia about Japanese school years: "In Japan, almost all schools run a three-term school year (trimester system). Most schools with a trimester system have a first term from April 1 to late July. The exact date of the beginning of the summer break and its duration vary across regions, but commonly the break lasts for about six weeks. 

A second term lasts from early September to late December with a two-week long break for New Year’s at the end of the year. The term is followed by a third term from early January to late March and a brief week-long spring break. The graduation ceremony occurs in March, and the enrollment ceremony in early April. The Japanese public school year consists of approximately 200 days, contrary to claims for a much longer school year seen in some forums.”

All right. We know that Tohru’s mom was killed in May and therefore not long after she started high school since she’s a first year in volume one. 

So her first year is volumes one through three. Remember that she learned on the White Day (March 14th) trip to the onsen that Momiji and Haru would be first years at her school. That happened at the end of volume three and volume four opens with Tohru exclaiming how cute all the new first years are.

Therefore, her second year begins with volume four. A lot of things happen within Tohru’s second year of high school and the school year doesn’t wrap up until around the end of volume nineteen. Remember how Motoko graduated a year before Yuki and there was a little drama when it was revealed that Nao thought of Yuki as a rival because he had a crush on Motoko?

Third year is about volume twenty through twenty-three. Which when I say it sounds weird, but… that’s how it is. I’ve heard people complain that the characters' third year takes far too long, but in reality it’s their second year that takes up such a huge chunk of time. There’s a bit of a time jump from when the curse breaks to graduation day so that’s why it goes by so quickly.

Well, to be honest, I’m not sure. A definite age for Akito is never given but she seems to be a year or two older than Yuki and there is a 10 year age gap between Yuki and Ayame (and therefore, Shigure as well) so I usually guess that Akito is roughly 18 at the beginning for the manga. That being said, Shigure refers to the time he slept with Ren as “such a long time ago” so… I really don’t know an exact time frame for that. However, the reason Shigure slept with Ren is partly because Akito slept with Kureno. Gotta love the soap opera. Knowing that, we can say that Akito was at least sexually active “such a long time ago”, but I really don’t know when she and Shigure had sex for the first time.

Here’s a small panel meant to depict Akito sending Shigure away after he had sex with her mother and she looks to be maybe 16 or so.