Fruits Basket's Final Tally in Japan: 18 Million Sold

The Mainichi Shimbun reports that the recently completed Fruits Basket manga series has sold over 18 million volumes in Japan. Natsuki Takaya began her supernatural romance comedy in Hakusensha's Hana to Yume magazine in July of 1998, and its twenty-third and final compiled volume sold this past March. Only a few other female-oriented manga titles such as Ai Yazawa's NANA (34 million copies as of 2006) have sold more copies. Tokyopop announced in December of 2006 that it sold 2 million volumes of Fruits Basket in North America. Overall, 3 million copies have been sold overseas.