1. Story (8/10)
"Fruits Basket" had a great plot. I loved the idea of the animals from the Chinese zodiac being incorporated into the characters. For this reason, I had very high expectations when going into this anime. Sadly, for as great as a concept as the story was, I simply couldn't relate to it or find myself engaged in the episodes. More than once I kept looking to see if the episode was going to be over soon so I could go ahead and watch the next one and finish the series. So while it was a great concept, it didn't live up to the standards I had for it when I started watching it.
Now it had pretty good pacing and the overall story in this anime was well done. Just because I didn't really enjoy the anime, doesn't mean that I can't appreciate that the plot was good. I just didn't think it was done as well as it could have been and it left me disappointed. Really disappointed. So, pushing personal bias aside, I will give the story an 8 out of 10. While I didn't think it that great, I do understand what the anime tried to do and it mostly did that.
2. Characters (4/10)
The characters were, in my opinion, the worst part of the show, which became the main reason I didn't enjoy this as much as I could have.
Tohru: I found Tohru to be the most annoying. The more optimistic and happy she appeared, the more I came to dislike her. While I know it was her genuine personality, it didn't appeal to me in any way. I've never been overly fond of happy, ever-optimistic characters that never seem to grow or have more complex human emotions, and that's exactly the type of character she was to me. While other people may be able to connect to Tohru, I simply couldn't do that. In my eyes she was nothing more than the proper, polite, obedient, great-at-cooking homemaker that everyone adores while having no real personality or depth. I know this is a harsh assessment that many others may very well disagree with, but that's how she came across to me.
Kyou: If not for Kyou, I may have been more likely to drop the anime. While his character isn't the best character I've seen, I do consider him one of the best in this series. I can understand his internal conflicts and he has, I think, the most problems. Maybe it was for this reason I enjoyed his character the most and I really wish the anime would have developed his character more (actually, I wish all of the characters were developed more).
Yuki: He was easier to like than Tohru, but not nearly as interesting to me as Kyou. While he had his shining moments, and I did enjoy his character as well as I could for this anime, he still came out as just okay. Decent, but not definitely not exceptional. I think he was a great opposite to Kyou and I liked the dynamic of his character, but the anime fell short in developing him like I think he deserved to be developed.
Others: The other characters weren't particularly memorable, but they weren't horrible to watch either. Some even came off as annoying at times. With that being said, I will admit that some of the other characters did have pretty good moments that made you really feel for them, but the overall of the characters still left a lot to be desired (including the leads).
I really wanted to like these characters, and while I liked them enough, it wasn't enough to give this part a high score, so this part earns 4 out of 10 from me.
3. Sound (7/10)
Now, I will admit that I watched the dubbed version, and the voice acting in it wasn't that great in my opinion. Sadly, that's the version I ended up with since I foolishly forgot to check the audio track on the one I got and didn't feel like getting another version with the Japanese audio. Perhaps I would have liked this much better if I'd watched the subbed version. So, because of this, I'm only judging the music, and not the voice acting.
The music was decent. I really enjoyed the opening song and didn't mind sitting through it every episode. The ending song wasn't as impactful, though it did fit with the feel of the anime. So while I didn't personally care for it, it did work, as did the music throughout the show earning a 7 out of 10 from me.
4. Art (6/10)
I don't have much to say about the art one way or the other. It was not impressive or awe-inspiring. It was not horrible or bad to look at either. Overall, it was good and I really can't find anything to complaint about or praise, so I'll give this a 6 out of 10.
5. Enjoyment (5/10)
I think my main problem with this anime is that I expected too much going into it. After reading a bunch of great reviews (both here and youtube video suggestions), I had great hopes for this anime. If I had gone into this without the high hopes, I may have enjoyed it much more.
I found the same themes being repeated (fighting, arguing, unbelievable optimism, etc...) and it kind of annoyed me, but at the same time I get why the same things kept happening and I can't really fault the anime for this, even if I didn't really enjoy it much.
You may think that I felt that "Fruits Basket" is a bad anime, but it's not. The plot is good, and some may even find the characters to be endearing. It just so happens that I didn't. There is a lot to like about it, and there were many heartwarming and (very) funny parts. To be fair this anime did make me laugh fairly often, and it because of this that I give it a 5 out of 10 when it comes to enjoyment.
5. Overall (7/10)
Regardless of my bias against it based on numerous personal annoyances with this anime, I can still admit that the "Fruits Basket" anime was good. It wasn't bad nor was it even just average. It also wasn't a masterpiece nor was it great. It was just good. If you like slice of life, comedy, with heartwarming stories of friendship and moral support, then this is an anime that would probably appeal to you. If you're looking for a deep story involving the Chinese zodiac or a romance for the ages, then it has the potential to disappoint you.
