Fruits Basket
Alternate Titles: Furuba
Original Japanese Release Date: 2001
Episode Length/Run-time: 26 ( 24 mins ea. )
Summary:
Tohru Honda, a 16 year old orphaned girl, gets invited to live with her classmate, a pretty boy named Sohma Yuki, and his cousins, 16 year old Kyo and 27 year old Shigure. However, the young men and parts of the rest of their family (both close and distant) hold a curse; if they get hugged by the opposite gender, they transform into animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Everyday is a new adventure for Tohru, as she gets to know everyone in the family better.
Review:
Something cute and great about this anime is that the characters take on the personality of their respective zodiac animal. The cat (Kyou) is always feuding with the mouse (Yuki), while the dog (Shigure) is pretty carefree and relaxed. I thought that was a pretty neat touch.
This show is heavy on the comedy. Scenes with more than one person are often hilarious, or emotionally wrenching. Tohru is pretty much your average anime girl, but the show sheds a lot of light on how she changes the people around her, especially the family she comes to live with. Being unable to have relationships with outsiders because of their curse, the Sohma family is withdrawn from soceity. A lot of the episodes deal with the individual family members problems and how they confide in Tohru for help.
One might expect that an anime like this relies on the transformations to make it funny, but it doesnt. The mixes of personalities of the characters and how they work with each other is what is often the funny part. Each character has a unique personality that the viewer will grow to love as they find out their problems and what they have to offer to the story. Also, the whole cast of characters actually doesnt fall in love with Tohru like many other animes, which is a good thing because it keeps the story light of heart and unique. The show also does a great job at shedding light on how true friendship should be, as seen in Tohru’s two best friends.
The artwork and animation are pretty simple, but so is the show, so it fits surprisingly well. By no means are they bad. Pure innocent fun and comedy, this anime would be great for the family.
[starrater]