Fruits Basket 1st Season

Tooru Honda has always been fascinated by the story of the Chinese zodiac that her beloved mother told her as a child. However, a sudden family tragedy changes her life, and subsequent circumstances leave her all alone. Tooru is now forced to live in a tent, but little does she know that her temporary home resides on the private property of the esteemed Souma family. Stumbling upon their home one day, she encounters Shigure, an older Souma cousin, and Yuki, the "prince" of her school. Tooru explains that she lives nearby, but the Soumas eventually discover her well-kept secret of being homeless when they see her walking back to her tent one night.

Things start to look up for Tooru as they kindly offer to take her in after hearing about her situation. But soon after, she is caught up in a fight between Yuki and his hot-tempered cousin, Kyou. While trying to stop them, she learns that the Souma family has a well-kept secret of their own: whenever they are hugged by a member of the opposite sex, they transform into the animals of the Chinese zodiac.

With this new revelation, Tooru will find that living with the Soumas is an unexpected adventure filled with laughter and romance.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Souma, Kyou Main

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Honda, Tooru Main

Iwami, Manaka Japanese

Souma, Yuki Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Souma, Hatsuharu Supporting

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Souma, Momiji Supporting

Han, Megumi Japanese

Souma, Shigure Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Souma, Ayame Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Souma, Hatori Supporting

Okitsu, Kazuyuki Japanese

Hanajima, Saki Supporting

Satou, Satomi Japanese

Souma, Isuzu Supporting

Toyosaki, Aki Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Yamauchi, Mirai Producer

Takemura, Ippei Producer

Yazaki, Fumi Producer

Reviews

Sep 20, 2019

Stark700

Recommended

On November 12, 2018 last year, I woke up to a string of Twitter feeds and news alerts. Fruits Basket got announced for a new anime based on the manga. During that same week, I pinched myself several times and realized it’s not a dream. It’s a reality. Fruits Basket, one of the most celebrated shoujo manga series in North America, is making a comeback after all these years. And to my delight, we also got the announcement that the new Fruits Basket would adapt the entire manga. That’s right, all 23 freaking volumes of them.

There’s one thing for certain: Fruits Basket is a best-seller ... in the West. Whether you’re a fan of shoujo genre or not, the series has a large fan base that still exists today. As a fan myself, I’ve read the series many years ago and have seen the first anime adaptation. Coming into the new Fruits Basket feels like a trip down memory lane. Only this time, we have enhanced visuals updated to more modern quality and a commitment to bring a full adaptation. For an emotional story and character driven show, Fruits Basket is a classic.

It’s 2019 and bringing a show from the past isn’t that simple. The biggest question on many people’s mind revolves how many episodes will the new season consist. With the actual amount of content from the manga, it’s not enough for just 25 episodes. Hence, it’s labeled as “first season” serving as a remake continuation of the franchise. However, something else came to my mind with its staff and cast. Fruits Basket’s characters are significant and to bring their personalities on the TV screen would need an A+ level of talent. Luckily, there’s no need to worry as the voices in this show are able to step up to the plate. Tohru Honda’s VA has changed for the new adaptation but her personality remains relatively the same. For those new to the franchise, she is the main female protagonist and an incredibly kind high school girl. While her character introduction may cause some heads to turn away (I mean, who would be impressed by an orphan living in a tent?), there’s no doubt she is a selfless person. She is loyal and often optimistic about her life. There’s many times in the show where she treats others with respect and is well known for her kindness. At the same time, Tohru’s weakness shows in her personality with her being too forgiving of others. Her character growth this season is slow but should be respected as the anime wants to flesh out her personality as much as possible. Most importantly, the show establishes her as an iconic shoujo character.

Meanwhile, we shouldn’t forget about the other main cast. Fruits Basket is a shoujo after all and isn’t complete without important male characters. These consist of members the Soma family. Most prominently, there’s Kyo and Yuki. The characters themselves are based off of the Eastern Chinese Zodiac with 12 animals. Strangely enough, Kyo himself is not part of the Zodiac although he is still a member of the family. He is portrayed as a young man with a short temper who often gets into pity arguments with Yuki. Their rivalry is relentless with battle of words, contests, and occasional physical fights. However, their rivalry is more about Kyo trying to prove himself and whether he truly can be accepted as a member of the Soma family. In other words, it’s not really some blood feud with lives at stake. Plus, a princely guy like Yuki isn’t the type that would want to harm others. His gentle and reserved personality at school earned him many fans, including his own personal fan club. Despite this, Yuki is portrayed as a distant man who isn’t easy to make friends with. Throughout the show, he develops a unique bond with Tohru as the two understands each other more. It’s also important to realize the season occasionally shows cryptic parts of his darker past. We don’t see it often but there are windows of moments where he shows insecurity and fear. Any new fans would no doubt be curious to learn more about Yuki. And as the more episodes progresses, the more complicated his character gets.

On the other hand, the more you look at Kyo, the more you can probably realize he’s growing a deeper affections towards Tohru. There are some episodes that shows his curiosity about her and even transforming into a genuine friendship. From a character relationship perspective, their chemistry evolves surely, although slowly. Tohru herself also begins to see his true character, beyond that of a hotblooded youngman. It’s important to know that outside of the Sohma family, she has close friends such as Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima. It’s noticeable that the anime dedicates time to focus on all three of them ranging from when they first met to how much they deeply care about each other in the present timeline. Similarly, Tohru has a deep devotion for her deceased mother. Known for its flashbacks, Fruits Basket both shows and tells a story about the importance of family. It’s a tear inducing story once you truly understand how much Tohru’s mother cares about her. At the same time, Tohru inherits characteristics from her mother as being a selfless woman who isn’t afraid to protect her friends.

The more I watched this new version of Fruits Basket, it made me wonder how they can introduce the other characters properly. Remember, there are 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac and outside of the two main guys, there are at least 10 others. Shigure Sohma is introduced early on after taking in Tohru in as a house guest. Being much laid back than others, there’s not much we understand about him although he is a man with a word of wisdom. Unfortunately, this season doesn’t fully explore his character so anime fans will have to wait a bit longer. Others such as Kagura, Momoji, Hatsuharu, Hatori, and Ayame are also introduced in various episodes. While not being prominently featured as the main cast, they do have value in the show despite some portrayed as being very childish. Kagura and Momoji are key examples of this with their behavior. I mean, who can forget about the episode with Kagura practically jumping herself into Kyo’s arms? Indeed, while Fruits Basket often carries a melancholic mood, there’s many comedic moments. There’s even a running gag in the show with the guys losing their clothes after being hugged and transforming into animals. Now that’s a curse to really be careful of. But perhaps one of the most mysterious character is someone named Akito. This character is mentioned many times by the main cast, most prominently by Yuki. Just who is Akito? What’s this character’s purpose? And why does Akito make Yuki react in such fearful ways? If you want answers, you’re going to be in for a long ride.

TMS Entertainment is honestly a studio I have mixed thoughts for. They do have a history of producing shoujo anime such as Kamisama Kiss and even bringing back long running franchises like D Gray Man a few years ago. After seeing the promotional material for the anime, I’m thankful to say there’s no need to worry. The animation quality lives up to modern standards with the vibrant and colorful character designs. They’re faithful to the manga on most parts with updated quality compared to the 2003 version. The setting itself presents a youthful field of decorated visuals full of life. And of course, the ladies will be in for a treat with the guys getting the bishounen makeover.

The fact that I’m even talking about Fruits Basket in 2019 is amazing by itself. Not too many franchises gets the golden treatment of having a complete remakes these days especially for the anime medium. Fruits Basket is a great example of a show that deserves this continuation for the 2003 version didn’t truly live up to its expectations. Here, we have the beginning of a beautiful journey and a reminder of why certain franchises deserves to be revived.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 20, 2019

DarthInvader

Mixed Feelings

*Minimum Spoiler Review*
TL;DR: Nostalgic Fans will gush over it. New Viewers will just glance upon it. Fruits Basket: "Brotherhood" isn't that bad. If you usually binge shitty slice of life/shojou crap, you can cleanse your palette with this.
[Story: 5/10 , Characters: 5/10, Art: 8/10, Sound: 8/10, Enjoyment: 6/10]

Before I start this review, I want to preface this with saying, this will be my first time watching Fruits Basket. I have not read the manga nor have I watched the original. However, I have done ample background research to know & differentiate the changes and improvement for this new adaption.

“A conscience grows, just like ... the body. It’s bred within your heart. That’s why the shape of people’s kindness is so different.” – Tohru Honda

Fruits Basket S1 (2019) aka Fruits Basket: Brotherhood (/s) was one of the most anticipated anime of this year since it is a readaptation of Fruit Basket that aired 18 years ago. There was so much hype surrounding this new adaptation, that it made me wonder, what was wrong with the old one that it so badly deserved a new adaptation. From my research and understanding, it was the Mangaka, Takaya Natsuki, who specifically requested that this adaptation be done anew; new studio, new anime staff, new voice actors, new everything. Nothing from the previous anime would be brought back. Which begs the question, the old one was beloved by so many fans & rated pretty highly on MAL, why did it need to be readapted? Turns out, beside the toxic relationship she had with the previous studio, she just felt her manga wasn't adapted properly and the characters were not given its due diligence. So 18 years later, TMS studio brings back the shojou classic, Fruits Basket, where they will fully adapt the entire manga over 60+ episodes and not just the first major arc & leave the readers to read the manga like the previous one. Now that we know why it was revived, let's see from the perspective of a first time Fruits Basket anime watcher, putting nostalgia aside, whether this shojou classic will be a hit or a miss in today's anime culture.

“It would be so great if it was possible to go through life without making a single mistake.” – Yuki Souma

Fruits Basket at first glance is a very laid back slice of life style shojou series about a homeless orphan girl named Tohru Honda, who gets taken in by the Souma Family. They have a dark secret that they are people of the Chinese Zodiac and if a human hugs them, they transform into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Somehow they just coexist, procreate and live a dysfunctional abnormal life riddled with emotional & love conflicts. However, enter Tohru, this saint of a girl, who grew up hearing stories of the Chinese Zodiac from her now deceased Mother, as she will transform the people's lives around her. The story is very linear however it's riddled with flashbacks of the characters' childhood traumas. Every episode or two, the story focuses on her changing the viewpoint of the people around her as they learn to grow and love the person they are. There is romance, there is drama, there are tears and there is comedy. In the beginning it seems funny since we start to get introduced to different zodiac animals and their unique quirks & upbringing traumas. However in the middle it sort of drags on since it becomes very repetitive but near the end you realize this whole season is just the first arc where they establish the major characters' flaws and growth so they can move onto to next arc. So from a first time viewer's perspective, it's not that great of a story but for nostalgic fans, it's a great treat as they get to revisit their old fav show in new limelight.

“For there to be pain, there has to be kindness. For darkness to stand out, there has to be the sun.” – Kyouko Honda

When you have a series like Fruits Basket that has a multitude of characters, you have to accept that these characters will be nothing more than two dimensional caricature of various character tropes. The main character is Tohru, who is an ubiquitous over the top super innocent saint that only just have love and tears for everyone around her. The major side characters are Kyou Souma (Cat), Yuki Souma (Rat) & Kazuma Souma (Dog). Besides them, you have her polar opposite friends Uo-Chan and Saki-Chan. Each of the character she meets as the show progresses represent different facets of emotional vulnerability that she overcame to become this saint that she is now. So to help them overcome their fears & struggles, she pours her heart out and tears to make them learn to love and accept who they are and carve the future they want for themselves. What's odd is that no characters really stick out to me, despite each of the zodiac characters having their unique character designs, personalities, quirks & traumas. If I have to dig deep, the major complex character is probably Tohru's mother Kyouko Honda, who learned many life lessons from being a troublemaker gangster to a doting calm mother. It's hard to really relate oneself to the main character because she is too perfect for a common human. She's like this Gandhi like figure in this anime and even then you can't even compare her to Gandhi because let's be real, even Gandhi wasn't a saint. As for the zodiac characters and other side characters, they are somewhat relatable but due to them being very two dimensional and rudimentary trope characters, there's not much substance that lies with them.

“Just as no matter how hard you try to keep it away, despair will attack you again and again. In the same manner, hope will return to you. Again and again.” – Kazuma Souma

Now that we know what type of story and characters that makes up Fruit Basket, let's focus on few technicalities of the show that makes this the better anime to watch. From an animation standpoint, TMS Studio, blew it out of the park with their animations. If you compare this with the 2001 (and you should not because technology) it is a vast improvement and the colour palette as approved by the Mangaka, just shows how rich this anime can be. It's vibrant, it's moving, it's emotional and it's constantly breathing. The frames are animated well and the colour seamlessly switches from bold to cool to give the viewers an eyegasmic relaxing treat. Beside the animation, the OST is very soothing. The OP songs are sung very well and the ED songs are nice as well. It's a slice of life style shojou anime and the music composition fits the bill. Great job by the studio. Moreover, the seiyuus did a phenomenal job evoking emotions and excitement with the material they are given. They made the show better than this show can really be. Without these technicalities, this new adaptation, really wouldn't be worthwhile. It just goes to show, how heavily this series dependent upon such.

“If you love someone, they could make you sad. They could even make you feel lonely sometimes. But, that someone can also make you happier than you’ll ever be.” – Kyo Souma

Overall, looking at it holistically, Fruits Basket at its core is about exploring the many universal facets of love; from familial, parental, platonic, romantic, self-sacrificing to even toxic or destructive. Moreover, it looks at the importance and struggle of empathy, forgiveness, personal growth and ultimately self-acceptance. I can see why back in 2001, people really enjoyed a show & manga as such. It is a pivotal show for teenagers learning the world around them and maturing to become a functioning adult with emotional understanding. However, looking at it objectively, this show is very simple with a story that is still scratching the complexity of the human condition. It's neither archetypal of a hero's journey nor is it a show that will transcend the modern shojou or slice of life culture. I can see why nostalgic fans love and revere this show, however, as a first time watcher, I just found it a fine feel good anime. Maybe because I'm not an avid slice of life/shojou anime watcher or maybe because I've passed my teenage emotional rollercoaster years that I'm unable to identify with these characters. Regardless, viewers whether new or nostalgic, should give this show a casual watch and be on the lookout for its sequel; for I'm curious, with how this season has ended, what will be in store for the next. Anyways, thank you for reading this review & feel free to share with me your favourite quote from the anime. Ciao.

P.S. Thank you for reading. I hope you found this short and supaishi review helpful!

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 8, 2020

rasclieboobear

Not Recommended

Ahh, I don't usually write reviews, but this anime is close to my heart since the original run of Fruits Basket was pretty much my introduction to anime.

Story: 3/10
Honestly, I was really excited to see how this version of the anime would differ from the original run, and... wow I was so disappointed. It's like a more boring version of the same storyline. The story followed the typical pacing for most anime where the beginning is slower than the ending. The only problem is that the end of this season is still basically the introduction to the show. For god's sake, we are still meeting ... characters by the time the show has picked up the season finale type pacing. I also didn't really enjoy any of the subplots within the show. Learning the problems that all the other Sohma's had because of the curse... I couldn't connect with any of their struggles. It was kind of just annoying hearing them whine about stupid things. I really enjoyed being able to have those few episodes dedicated to Uotani and Hanajima, though. They were kind of just mindless best friends of Tohru's before, but now you can understand why they love her so much and are so protective of her. Plus, you really feel a lot more connected to them in general.

Art: 5/10
Honestly, it was just generic art. Basic. Nothing amazing, but nothing terrible either. There was a lot dating sim vibes to it... It also just felt a little outdated with the backgrounds of some conversations. All of those pinky backgrounds with bubbles floating around? Yeesh, time to update those toners.

Sound: 2/10
I don't usually pay attention to sound in a show, but wow. I could not stand any of the music in this show. All of the terrible instrumental pieces thrown in throughout were just unbalanced and entirely uninteresting. The only things that prevent me from giving this a 1/10 were the intros and outros. And no, they weren't good. They were just not absolutely horrid like the rest of the soundtrack. But I really had no desire to listen to them.

Characters: 3/10
I was honestly going to give this a 4, but Tohru's character pissed me off so much. Maybe I did not pick it up in the original version because I was a child, but I don't think she has a single line in this show that isn't about her mother or being a doormat for others. I used to think her character was inspiring before, and now I just feel like she's actually a big idiot. All the characters around her praise her for being not wishing for anything more than what's in front of her. You know what that is? It's called lacking any form of ambition whatsoever! And it pisses me off. Being a passive complacent girl is not anything to look up to. As for Yuki and Kyo... Generic. And Kagura annoyed me so much! Every time I saw her character show up, I dreaded it. She's annoying and violent, all in the name of... love? What?? The biggest disappointment was the way Hatsuharu's and Hatori's characters were shown. They were two of my favorite characters before, but I felt like their appearances were boring and short. Haru's backstory was bland, and Hatori's felt so rushed that the emotional connection was a lot weaker than I would have liked. Otherwise, I did enjoy the other characters pretty well. Uotani and Hanajima were so lovable! And surprisingly, I really liked Momiji and Shigure's characters way more than before. Momiji has all good the qualities Tohru has, but isn't the dimwitted doormat she is. And Shigure felt like he was pretty rounded, although I still don't understand any of the motives of his character.

Enjoyment: 6/10
I mean, yeah I had a lot to complain about when it comes to reviewing this show. But like, I watch anime not to criticize it but to simply enjoy it. And shoujo anime like this is the perfect kind of mindless entertainment. Was it amazing? Definitely not. But it kept me entertained with how simple it was. Had I not watched the original run and formed an attachment, I might not have enjoyed it so much, but nostalgia does play a huge factor!

Overall: 4/10
I was really excited for this show because it has so much nostalgia for me. But I also was really excited to see how they would update it for 2019.
Answer: It remained outdated, and for the most part, almost the exact same as the 2001 run but with worse pacing and better art. And somehow the characters felt even more one-dimensional than before.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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