Natsuki Takaya Quote
If you think of someone’s good qualities as the umeboshi in an onigiri it’s as if their qualities are stuck to their back! People around the world are like onigiri. Everyone has an umeboshi with a different shape and color and flavor. But because it’s stuck on their back they might not be able to see their umeboshi. There’s nothing special about me. I’m just white rice. That’s not true. There is an umeboshi on your back. Maybe the reason people get jealous of each other is because they can see so clearly the umeboshi on other people’s backs…even now someone might be envying another for something they don’t see in themselves. They might be longing for a quality they already possess. When I think of it that way even just a little I realize that I need to do my best with the qualities I have, even if I can’t always see what they are.
If you think of someone’s good qualities as the umeboshi in an onigiri it’s as if their qualities are stuck to their back! People around the world are like onigiri. Everyone has an umeboshi with a different shape and color and flavor. But because it’s stuck on their back they might not be able to see their umeboshi. There’s nothing special about me. I’m just white rice. That’s not true. There is an umeboshi on your back. Maybe the reason people get jealous of each other is because they can see so clearly the umeboshi on other people’s backs…even now someone might be envying another for something they don’t see in themselves. They might be longing for a quality they already possess. When I think of it that way even just a little I realize that I need to do my best with the qualities I have, even if I can’t always see what they are.
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About Natsuki Takaya
Takaya was born and raised in Tokyo, where she made her debut as a manga artist in 1992. Takaya had wanted to be a manga artist since first grade, when her sister started drawing.
Her manga series Fruits Basket, which debuted in 1998, became one of the best selling shōjo manga in North America. Fruits Basket has also been adapted into an anime series twice; the first, which premiered in 2001, aired as one season of twenty six episodes. The second, which premiered in 2019, consists of two seasons of twenty five episodes and the third season comprised 13 episodes and concluded in 2021.
In 2001, Takaya received the Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga for Fruits Basket. As revealed in a sidebar of Fruits Basket, Takaya broke her drawing arm after Fruits Basket volume six was published. She had to go into surgery, and as a result, had put Fruits Basket on a brief hiatus. Takaya made a full recovery, but complained that her handwriting had gotten uglier due to the surgery.