Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket is a supernatural romance series created by Natsuki Takaya.
I’m sneaking this one in under the theme of the Lunar New Year next week on Feb. 17. Fruits Basket is a Japanese series – comics and anime TV show – about the 12 signs of the Chinese Zodiac, with a teenage and generational trauma-filled twist. Essentially, the 12 signs haunt members of the Sohma family and it’s about how one girl tries to help them navigate – and hopefully break – the curse.
Fruits Basket was originally a manga series and it’s gorgeous. There was a 2001 anime adaptation, but it ended abruptly and was never technically finished. Instead, in 2019, Fruits Basket got a completely new anime that is basically a shot-for-shot adaptation of the original books.
So, I’d recommend reading the books and/or watching the 2019 anime. The 2001 version, in my opinion, is very skippable. If you’re looking to shop locally, check out Doki Doki in Lakewood. To be clear, if you like shoujo anime, this is the best one.
If you’ve seen it or manage to finish it over the weekend, you can also catch the prequel in theaters for one night only — Monday, Feb. 16.
Water Made Us by Jamila Woods
Jamila Woods is an R&B singer, activist and poet from Chicago, IL.
Some of you might recognize Jamila Woods as the featured artist on songs such as “Blessings” or “No More Old Men” by Chance the Rapper. I first started listening to her in 2020, a time when needless to say, I was going through a lot . Her song, “Holy,” from that album is pretty amazing.
But I’m not here to talk about that album.
In 2023, Woods released her third album, Water Made Us, and it’s really just beautiful. Picking one song to highlight was nearly impossible, but, I did it:
“We could stop time for the free throw
Got more patience than a tree grow
Got love that feels like a cheat code
Keeping this light and easy.”
Just Mercy
Just Mercy, based on the bestselling book by Bryan Stevenson, was adapted to a film in 2019 starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx.
Over the last several years, more and more people have started waking up to the country’s systemic violence against Black people and other marginalized groups. I chose Just Mercy – the book or the film – because I think it’s a pretty accessible place to start. It’s nonfiction, set from the perspective of a Black civil rights lawyer who mostly defends men on death row.
If you’re already familiar with Stevenson and want more, check out: The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, The Condemnation of Little B by Elaine Brown, or Ava Duvernay’s award-winning limited series, When They See Us.