Anime: Fruits Basket

PROPER MINDSET

Fruits Basket is a shojo romance with low fantasy elements that does a somewhat better job then the average of its brood out there. But beyond that, it still leaves a lot to be desired, since i twas animated by that piece of shit Studio DEEN which almost always messed up whatever show it grabs for adaptation.

SCRIPT

The premise is about a family of cursed people; each one of them transforms into animals if gets hugged by a member of the opposite genre. The plot is basically about every member of the family being an emo at first because of the curse, and the lead girl doing cheery things to make them all feel happy. The plot is very weak, as it is there only as an excuse for Tohru, the shojo lead TM, to be placed in situations where she needs to keep the secret of the curse hidden from other people, as well as gaining the support of the Sohma family while slowly making them open their feelings to others. It is mostly comedy and drama but doesn’t really lead anywhere, since the curse remains impossible to be lifted and progress is limited to making people happier with her super positive attitude. I can’t say the story is basically its characters either, as most segments are disjoined from one another and to the most part feel as stand alone arcs.

Since the manga was back then still on-going, the anime went for an anime original ending that seems to be rather out of place. Dark and violent, aiming to leave you with good last impressions. I wasn’t thrilled with anything going on in it, as it was all basically a light hearted fantasy romance with overblown dramatization and a completely irrelevant ending.

CAST

The lead character is the most archetypical shojo lead you can think of. Orphan, kind, always cheery, naive, frail, does her best to do right, and has eyes half her head. The rest of the cast begins in the most stereotypical way possible; with the usual line-up of bishonens, gays, genki kids, tragic men, tsunderes… and yes, Tohru herself. The thing is, everybody gets his spot in the story and thanks to a long line of flashbacks and the shojo lead TM snooping around where she shouldn’t, all of them are given some depth. Also, again because of Tohru’s constant meddling and persistent optimism, all of them begin as closed minded, angry, scared individuals and end up being far more open and happier. That in effect counts as character development; even if it’s silly and overblown. But there is no full catharsis, because the curse is still there and the anime is not adapting the whole story.

In all, there is a great variety of characters and despite their stereotypes, the interaction and opening up offer good impressions about them.

PRODUCTION VALUES

The production values do not excel in details or colouring but they are effective for this type of show. Although human and animal figures are drawn rather simplistic and there is a lot of deformity during comedy, the easy going nature of the story almost makes that unimportant. The soundtrack has a few good pieces, and voice acting is decent.

Keep in mind that there is a lot of nudity because when the Sohmas transform, their clothes do not. That leaves them naked when they turn back to humans and in need to hide from other people until they dress once more. Although this is done for comedy purposes, it still counts as spicy fan service for fujoshis, since most characters are typically drawn to be handsome and sexy.

LEGACY

For a shojo anime, it will be very entertaining if you like the character interactions, and very good in overall amongst anime made by DEEN. The story is otherwise very simple and I never quite understood how these cursed people ever manage to have babies if they can’t even hug another person. I also didn’t like how the curse was used as nothing but a monolith plot devise with no possible salvation in sight. The same premise was for example used in Ranma ½ and over there the objective was to get rid of the curse. In Fruits Basket nobody does something about it for centuries. It’s not a great show but a cute enough time sinker.

And now for some excused scorings.

When my cousin told me that this was for girls, she wasn't kidding. This is definitely shoujo and you'd better be prepared for sparkly stars and such spontaneously appear around characters.

Fruits Basket is about a poor orphan who has a gigantic heart. She finds a home with the Sohma family and soon learn their secret!

There are definitely some interesting relationships that develop around the magical and mysterious Sohmas as well as some good humor but if you want a plot-driven anime, look elsewhere.

Animation:
Shoujo = huge eyes, even for an anime. Shoujo also means overly-attractive male characters as well. Drawing quality is average stuff. There were some pretty deep themes in this for a shoujo and I felt that having the cute and sparkly look didn't do the seriousness justice at times.

Sound:
Overall, the music was average. The OP was calming but I'd typically fast forwards through it. Each character has their own music theme that represents their personality, one of which really annoyed me (Ayame's theme). In terms of voice acting, I think Yuki needs to get a deeper voice (Aya Hisakawa is awesome and all but Yuki IS a male). However, Yui Horie = unbeatable. She does an awesome job once again and thus this deserves a bump.

Story:
The story is quite interesting as you have a girl whose mother died and who refuses to be taken in by her remaining family. She then stumbles across the Sohma family who essentially "adopt" her. The majority of the series shows Tohru meeting and getting to know the various Sohmas, Only in the last few episodes is the plot really advanced when Tohru is essentially pushed out by the mysterious Sohma clan.
Despite the long character expositions, you do get quite a bit of humor and an occasional rush of emotion. If the ending had been more conclusive, I would have given this a higher rating.

Character:
For me, this was what stood out about this anime. The entire show is about the development between the innocent, friendly, and always-helpful Tohru and the Sohmas. It really is a striking contrast as Tohru is as nice as they come and totally willing to help anyone in need, and the Sohmas are a completely secretive and mysterious family that shuns outsiders.

Tohru is able to warm the Sohma family, helping them see past their curse and enjoy themselves for once. Again, there is a LOT of character development so you will thoroughly enjoy the many relationships between the characters. The only reason I didn't give the a 9 is because a few of the Sohma's really got on my nerves.

Personally, I really didn't like rabbit boy Momiji (who was apparently only one year younger than Tohru but looked like a 5th grader) and Akito (who apparently is just an idiot who rules over the Sohma clan doing whatever he pleases).

For the guys: there are some female characters here but other than Tohru they are pretty minor as it really is about how Tohru bonds with the Sohmas (the majority of whom are males).

Value:
It was an interesting watch but it could have been better. Due to the inconclusive nature of the anime, I'd rather recommend the manga (more Sohmas and much more conclusive).

It may not look like much from the cover/synopsis after finding this anime to have such a high rating, but once you dive into it, it can be an engaging series with a fine mixture of comedy and drama. For one, to me, the synopsis seemed pretty boring, and unfortunately I don't think there's a better way to sum it up, so I ask that, as a reviewer, you take a look into this anime and see if it's right up your alley, because even though it's slightly off-center for me, I sure know it's a fine piece of work.

Let's start with what makes this anime so good: the characters. Honda Tohru is one of the few greatest female leads ever in an anime, and her charming sense of positivity just never lets up even for a single frame, even until the very end. With a mother lost to an accident and forced out of her home due to unwanted disturbance during renovations, she found her way into the Sohma family, and thus her wacky adventures begin! Going to school, janitoring for a job, and doing most of the housework for the Sohma's is just the few things that she does out of her good will. I will caution, however, that SOME people might find her too goody-two-shoes or whatever. If you don't like those kinds of characters, I don't recommend this :P. The rest of the characters make a strong family and cast: the rivalry between the rat (Yuki) and cat (Kyo) provides great laughs and dynamic angles; Shigure as the ever hard-working novelist (hehe); Uohana and other students from the school, etc.. As for the main antagonist Akito, it's very easy to hate him, but it's all the reason to watch until the very end!

Slapstick comedy is very prevalent, but the several crazy characters bring certain types to an entirely new level. The dynamic between Yuki and Kyo is always fun to watch; Yuki's brother's lifestyle choices isn't as slithery as it seems; "I'M SO SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE ME OH UNIVERSE!" is probably the best out of the bunch for being so over the top! As for the drama, some parts could be better, and the ending made me cry (it's hard for an anime to make me cry... or maybe I've been watching crap lately...).

Most of the episodes are episodic. There's no real over-plot - just a lot of Sohma exploration and expeditions to uncover the truths of the family, and it usually gets very repetitive. Most focus on a character or two, each truth being revealed and built up upon each new episode. Some episodes feature non-Sohma's, usually on their quest to get Yuki's attention... but nonetheless Fruits Basket is mostly character drama. You might get bored if you try this in one sitting - I recommend at least an episode at a time. The last three episodes should be watched in a row, though. (Just a note: I didn't actually LIKE the last three episodes because of that ONE cliche element, but it still works out pretty well.)

I don't know if there's any more to say that can convince you to look past the synopsis, and for those who have already watched it, know that you have watched a good anime deserving of it's popularity and score. Join in on the game and try not to get left out!

Overrated is the word I would use to describe this anime due to fansubs I suppose.

animation is nice but I dont' like the style much, sound is fine I love the opening but it lacks in other areas of character/plot/plot progression you know the meat of the anime.

This anime was quite boring like half the time and the comedy got old as anyone can tell. It's very episodic and it's formulaic and I noticed quickly and then "formula" works at times but not enough to carry this whole anime. There just isn't much plot once you get past a couple eps I mean it's just staying whereever it started. I wish I didn't finish watching it cause that way I wouldn't have wasted my time being bored and 2 because there wasn't any so there was no point watching it.. the story goes noWHERE after the first 3 eps.

the episode planning was xetremely poor for this anime I was expecting around episode 20s for some big story arc to start or develop and in ep 22 we get the most pointless episode plot when you'd think something would happen finally.

characters were weak, I hated tohru so that ruins since she IS the main character, she's so dumb and naiev and she wants to help everyone, she was just annoying and fake (for an anime that's upposed to realistic with this really fake girl it's just not working). I mean I knlow about the whole mother thing but they didn't really touch up on that much either so. the romance went nowhere really (I especially didn't care much because of tohru) and some of the characters were old cliches like that tiger girl who's crazy in love (awful awful cliche, seen it done a milion times better). the characters just seemed all the same with each having some sort of problem and tohru helps. the character development with yuki and kyo was good but it wasn't enough at all. just same thing over and over.

Enjoyment is low since I was bored most of the time and the formula just isn't working for me. There was like 2 /3 eps that were enjoyable to me and I did feel for whatever the cahracter was going through.

I'm not going to repeat what everyone else has said, because I feel about the same as they do about this series. However, to those of you who feel like there were a lot of unanswered questions, I would like to note something very important.

The Fruits Basket series is very VERY faithful to the orginal manga, to the point that they are virtually identical. In fact, the series elaborates on certain points for clarity and continuity, and for the most part is like a cleaned up, better version of the manga.

That is, up until the last 2 or 3 episodes. It's been a while since I've read it, so I'm not sure of the exact number, but the series covers roughly 12 volumes of the manga, which is still in production. The producers of the series tried to tie up the "End" as it was at the time into some kind of conclusion, and the result is something very VERY different from what happens in the manga. In fact, I can't remember if all of the Zodiac members were even introduced by the time the series ended.

To sum it up, if you watch the Fruits Basket anime, excluding the last few episodes, you've as good as read at least 10 volumes of the manga, it's THAT faithful. However, if you really like the story, I suggest ignoring the last few episodes and reading the manga, there are at least 5 volumes released so far that are not part of the anime, and they are still being written.

This anime is clearly intended for women: lots of "hot" and "beautiful" male characters (including a requisite ambiguously-gay character) who all have lots of women falling at their feet, yet seem to only be interested in the average school-girl main character (every girl's dream, right? all the hot guys in school hanging out with you?); this anime is like a "harem" anime for women.

The premise behind the story is fairly original: a bunch of people (including Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure)who are cursed to turn into animals when touched by the opposite sex run into a young girl, Tohru, without a place to live and offer her a place to stay.

The majority of the story consists of meeting and developing the characters of the many member of this bunch of cursed people, the Sohma family. There really isn't too much plot to this anime: most of the plot revolves around characters dealing with past issues(many times issues with other characters), with the aid of Tohru's kindness. The ending was pretty predictable, yet still a bit convoluted.

These characters are usually well-developed, multi-dimensional, and unique. Their personalities are affected and resemble their respective zodiac animals (though sometimes not), such as Kyo's ever-burning resentment for being the animal left out of the zodiac, the cat, and Momiji's hyperness.

Each of them has a tragic past or an obstacle to overcome, and each is able to overcome it, usually with the help of Tohru. Tohru herself is extraordinarily kind; she likes everybody and everybody likes her in the series. Even Tohru herself has a tragic past (her mother dies just before the series, she never knew her father, and at the beggining of the series she is living in a tent in the woods), though you wouldn't know it based on how she acts during the series (the trips to her mother's grave are more like she is talking to her on the phone than visiting her dead body)

However, although I can appreciate the development of these characters, I can't say that I enjoyed watching the development. Every character had a tragic past that they needed to overcome, and I just got tired of watching the same sequence of events (character is reminded of bad event, Tohru drags event out of them, Tohru heals their soul through her kindness). Also, I didn't enjoy the "harem"esque quality of this anime: there is as much fan service in this anime as in any of the worst anime meant for teenage-boys. (ambiguously gay men, pretty boys, most of the boys love the main character, lots of awkwardness between the girl and the guys, the hot guys fight over the girl, massive amounts of "cuteness", especially in the transformations to their zodiac forms, and cross-dressing of the pretty male characters)

The animation in this anime is nothing special: it is entirely average in all respects. The characters are not drawn particularly well, there are no special effects to speak of (transformations are either not shown or happen with just a puff of colored smoke or flash of light).

The soundtrack is also nothing to write home about: the opening is pretty bad, and while the ending is decent, it isn't great. There isn't much of a soundtrack during the anime, and if there is it wasn't noticeable. As to the character's voices- most were incredibly annoying (I don't know if it was by design, but I couldn't stand the voices of half of the characters), but the voice actors did a decent job.

From a purely technical standpoint, this anime isn't too bad. However, I was incredibly bored every minute I was watching it. It is a struggle for me to finish most of these episodes. And as I said, though the characters are technically sound, I did not really find them interesting or enjoy their interaction. The ending wasn't particularly interesting either.