Fruits Basket

Story & Characters
10/10
At first glance Furuba is just another Shoujo manga with nothing different to it; the average, beautiful, kind girl getting all the pretty boys. Okay so it really is that, however there's a special touch to the way the series develops itself and how you watch each character grow and interact with each other as the story progresses.

The story starts with Tohru Honda, your as average-as-you-can-get japanese girl who has lost her mother in an accident and was living alone in a tent in the Sohma's property. Of course she wasn't aware of that until they told her, to her surpirse they ... take her in in exchange for her doing all the housework (it was her who suggested not staying in the house 'for free'). It's when she's there that she discovers the family's biggest secret... The family has been cursed by the vengeful spirits of the Chinese Zodiac animals and when they are hugged by a member of the opposite sex they transform into the animal they were cursed by. When Tohru comes in their life they all learn to open up their heart more and realize that not all the people in the worlds are bad; this girl affects each one of them in a unique way.

It's a beautiful Anime with heart-touching subjects, there is much you can learn from it and definitely worth buying if the chance should present. There is just about everything in this series:bishonen, angst, drama,comedy, romance, shounen-ai hints and a light-hearted, kind bishojo showing us the way.

Art
8/10
The character designs are beautiful and would characterize everyone in the series a bishonen and bishojo. The colors of the hairs and eyes of the Sohma Family match with the animal they were cursed by and it gives each one of them a unique touch.

Tohru's design is supposed to be as average as possible since she represents a normal japanese girl.

There's is also a 'big abuse' of Super-Deformed characters (Ex. Chibi form) but it just serves to highlight the emotion they are expressing and make the show even more funny.

Sound
9/10
The music is simply beautiful, although the 26-episode long series only has one opening(For Fruits Basket) and one ending (Chiisana Inori) (both performed by Ritsuko Okazaki) it serves it's purpose leaving you with a serene calm sensation!

The soundtrack used as background music is delicate and simple

However if you haven't watched the series and just purchase the soundtrack for the sheer pleasure of it you will be disappointed since it is nothing special by itself, you must see the anime first so you can relate each short song to a scene.

As far as the seiyuu's gone they all seemed to fir their character perfectly. Tohru's voice was Yui Horie who also voiced for Love Hina's Narusegawa Naru. Her sweet, sharp voice goes in tune with Tohru's personality perfectly.

Enjoyment
10/10
You won't find a boring episode in this series. Each one develops and focuses's on a character's situation. Although the series was cut short abruptly and much ends were left untied (the manga is still running) seeing by itself will leave you satisfied (if not with a small crave for the continuity of it).

As mentioned before there's much you can learn from this anime since it deals with how we must see our own beauty and not be jealous of other's (among other important themes).

Fruits Basket is a show that might certainly sound interesting the moment you check the synopsis. People turning into the Chinese zodiac animals, dark and mysterious secrets surrounding them, cute, clueless main heroine – isn't that a great premise for a shoujo series? But only as long as it's executed accordingly.

I decided to watch Fruits Basket after seeing how high it is rated. I wouldn't normally watch a shoujo series, since I find most of them exaggerated and unrealistic – that's why, I expected Furuba to really change my opinion regarding them. Instead, I found Furuba to be exactly what I mostly disliked ... and avoided in this genre – with a really more unnatural and forced tone. Do not get me wrong; I do not hate Fruits Basket; yet I really couldn't feel anything else besides disappointment the moment I completed it, and this review explains why.

STORY

Furuba's story is surrounded by a dramatical and emo[tional] darkness upon which Tohru shines like a ray of redemptive hope. Because of that, 50% of the story is actually made up of Tohru's (and sometimes other characters' too) internal struggling monologues that pretty much unfold along the lines of "Is is right? Isn't it right? Is it wrong? Isn't it wrong?". The other 50% of the story might actually trick the viewer into believing that something happens - when it's usually just a repetition of the same overly used gags. There's no beginning, no development, no ending. It doesn't get anywhere.

To put it simply, Fruits Basket doesn't have a plot. Its entire 'story' could be summed up through the following sequence of (randomly ordered) events: Tohru acts dumb yet unbelievably nice which, in turn, causes other characters to also act this way, even though it isn't part of their personality, repeat; Kyo and Yuki fight, repeat; cliché and unfunny member of the Sohma family appears, repeat; Kyo and Yuki fight again, repeat; irrelevant episodic character that barely says a line throughout the whole series has an entire episode dedicated to themselves, repeat; Kyo and Yuki fight yet again, this time in a more dramatic light. Repeat.

Another bad aspect of the story is that it's ridiculously sweet, to the point that it loses all the bits of realism it could have had. It's clear that the creators wanted to have a mixed show, that doesn't only focus on the dramatical solving of tragic events, but also contains its funny moments. This in turn causes Furuba to have serious flaws, both in terms of execution and logic. Many times, the scenes change too quickly from overly-serious to (attempted) pink surrounded, humorous gags that pop up out of nowhere. Other times the events just don't add up. A clear example of this is Tohru living in a tent at the beginning of the series because she doesn't want to 'bother' anyone [thing which the viewer should find utterly amusing]. Apparently, she has a lot of people that care about her (grandfather, friends) yet they never check upon how she's doing. Yet somehow, the rest of her relatives actually go through the trouble of hiring a detective to find out where she lives when they could have simply followed her from school or asked her.

And lastly, in terms of storyline, Furuba is really stretched out for the amount of events it has to offer. Perhaps, had Furuba been a 13 episodes series and not a 26 one, with the same amount of story, it would have actually been entertaining. It's not just the slow pace that pretty much puts you to sleep; there's also the fact that sceneries, lights, wind are constantly emphasized just so that there'll be something to fill the gap and make an entire episode of something that could have been summed up in 5-10 mins.

CHARACTERS

Fruits Basket's characters are clear examples of shoujo genre gone wrong. Not only are they cliché, predictable and pretty much one-dimensional; they give off the feeling of being unnatural. There's something forced into them, whether it's the personality, the way they interact or their role. They seem to just be there for the sake of existing; therefore they don't have any apparent purpose or impact upon the viewer.

Tohru:
Tohru is a girl who's gone through a lot in her life, as it is clearly shown since the very beginning of the anime. Considering the amount of bad events she experienced, you'd expect her to be really introverted and (perhaps) pessimistic. Yet Tohru completely overthrows that, by not only being happy-go-lucky all the time, but also exaggeratedly clueless and nice to everybody, no matter the circumstances. There's a thin line between being inhumanly selfless and being ridiculously dumb, and Tohru seems to be stepping on it quite often. Because of that, most of the other characters seem to half divinize her. There's also another particular thing about Tohru. She doesn't seem to have any ambition for herself whatsoever, so she never asks for help – which brings up the question, is she really weak or is she really strong? Perhaps both, but she certainly isn't realistic or enjoyable.

Yuki:
Yuki is the least enjoyable out of the entire cast. Now, traps are one thing, effeminate characters other – but when some random character in the shows says: “Oh my, there's an interesting young person out there, but I can't tell whether it's a guy or a girl – isn't it exciting?”, that's a totally different thing. According to most of the other characters throughout the show and even himself, Yuki is a guy, though his personality, voice and appearance certainly don't show that. Why he was built that way is uncertain – there are a few attempts of making fun of this, but the humor fails, as usual.
Apart from when he's annoyingly correct by being the right person in the right place, Yuki is barely noticeable. However, his existence does seem to serve two purposes. First one is a Fruits Basket must: have a tragic, unexplainable and never actually detailed past that makes him dark and gloomy, which in turn asks for one of Tohru's miraculous healing techniques. Second is to serve as an opponent for Kyo – which is one of the most reused and unfunny gags throughout the show.

Kyo:
Kyo is probably the only character that actually suffers some sort of development. In the beginning, he's presented as a violent, leek-hating, anti-social idiot. In the end he's still violent and idiotic (though to a smaller scale), but at least he isn't lonely anymore and he's eaten leeks. Despite the fact that Kyo is also a cliché character, he's at least enjoyable, because he's a bit more realistic. Kyo has a lot of personality flaws, but there's one thing that compensates them: he at least sees Tohru as being weird and unhealthy for herself (which all the other characters seem to be blind to). Unfortunately, Kyo is never actually allowed to speak for himself since he's an outcast. It's clearly stated throughout the anime that the other Sohma members can't stand him; yet, as usual, it's never quite explained why. Despite this, Kyo could have had a lot of development and story going on around him. Unfortunately, the ending spoiled everything.

Sohma members+ Tohru's friends:
The rest of the Sohma family members and Tohru's friends were created so they would be as weird and different as possible, yet they all share the same characteristics. Their past is dark and tumultuous so they anchor around Tohru; on top of that, they are all one-dimensional commonly encountered types of characters. Shigure is the pervert, Kagura is the good-willed yet always screwing up girl, Momiji is the cute shouta boy, Risa is the sweet innocent girl and so on. But that's the end to it. There's nothing more to them; yet countless of repetitive unfunny gags are made of their only side. In the end, they are all too many and too similar to remember or enjoy.

ART AND SOUND

Furuba's art and sound are certainly nothing exceptional – yet they're not bad either. They all add up to the unrealistic, sweet and pink impression the show is trying to leave. There seems to be specific effort put into backgrounds and into the (often really big) eyes. The voice actors capture the personalities of the characters they portray really well (maybe sometimes too well, but it's in the series' nature to be exaggerated), especially during monologues or conflicts. The OP and ED were some of the very few generics that I constantly skipped – they were too slow-paced and fluffy for my taste. The background music also didn't really stand out – but is wasn't unpleasant.

ENJOYMENT

Furuba really isn't enjoyable, unless you're a fan of slow-paced, warmth and fuzzy feelings inducing series that stretch too much and don't get anywhere. I expected something funny like Ouran or Yamato Nadeshiko before watching this; yet I was thoroughly disappointed. The whole anime seemed to be a mixture of randomly thrown in characters trying to act dramatic and special, but not leaving any particular positive impression. They were predictable, boring and irrelevant. Also, I really couldn't get over the few logic flaws (like Japan leaving its orphans to suffer in tents, Tohru being able to magically teleport herself from the forest to the cemetery and back to the forest [during the last episode] or the too sudden mood changes from tragic to overly happy).

OVERALL

Even though Fruits Basket had a pretty good premise to start from and quite the numerous cast of characters, it really couldn't get past the “Everything is so sad, oh! Let's bring Tohru in so it'll be nice and shiny” feeling. Furuba is a series that doesn't leave any positive feelings while watching and certainly not after being completed. The viewer is basically left where it all started from – no plot or character development whatsoever, nothing explained, nothing major accomplished. Therefore, it really doesn't get past the state of being a mediocre series with nothing special.

Fruits Basket is a wonderful and moving story which I consider myself fortunate enough to have been shown by a very close friend. This anime is so amazing it touch upon the strings of my heart. I laughed, I cried, and I truely felt for each of the characters.

The anime is centered around a young girl by the name of Tohru Honda, an amazing high school girl who is kind and honest. At the start of the anime she is still struggling to survive after her mothers tragic death. She is taken into the house hold of the cursed family, the Sohma's.

Animation

Is decently done, it ... is done beautifully but the main attraction of this anime is not the art but rather the story and the characters.

Sound

Again decently done, the intro and ending songs are a credit to the singer and composers. I'd keep them on my MP3 player. Other then that the rest of the sound track is well placed but doesnt reach out like a few other animes I know. Again decently done, but not the reason I love this anime.

Characters

Oh so many things I wanna type here. But I dont want to spoil anything. (I stongy feel that no review should even come close to touching a spoiler) Each character is amazing and wonderful. I cannot say more than each character has made me laugh, smile, cry, and think.

Story and Enjoyment

Each characters past and story is touching to discover and moving to watch. Each one is orginal, sad, and tragic. Can Tohru help break there curse, can Tohru bring happiness to this strange tragic family? If your like me you wont be able to stop yourself from watching to find out! If I could rank higher than a 10 for enjoyment I would!

Watched as a young teen: Loved it
Rewatch as an older teen: Hated it
(somewhat harsh review? please don't be offended)

Sure, when I first watched it I was caught up in the love story, and the humour of the series. I admit it, I was originally a fan! But recently I went back to rewatch what I had once found so brilliant, and I noticed something... I found it 'dreadful'.

It's a shoujo anime. Yes, it has a twist (or perhaps twists?), and a calming sort of mood to it, but almost everything is predictable, and there is certainly nothing appealing (to me) about most of the characters. ... Actually, the only I found tolerable (upon second viewing) was Haru, even then he wasn't exactly unique. Even Tohru's best friends were overused in the world of anime. An ex gang member, and a paranormal/psychic girl? Overused in shoujo, it seems... Though weren't be heart warmed when we discover how loyal they are to their friend Tohru who accepted them regardless of their quirks? Sure... If this is your first anime, maybe.

However, as far as entertainment goes, the series is very appealing to types who can stand the mary-sue infested reverse harem, such as this. In fact, for those types, this could very well be their favourite anime, and I can see why. It just isn't for me, and I'm sure anyone with any longing for character originality or story would agree. Though I understand the occasional desire to watch this sort of thing, it doesn't excuse the overall unbearable feeling it brings.

Still, a good watch for the younger romantic, or younger romantic at heart?

When it first came out as manga I picked up Fruits Basket and fell in love with it instantly. A few weeks later, I insisted my mother buy a DVD from the anime series, sadly I only watched the last six episodes, and then a few months ago Hakoot let me borrow the series from her, and how happy I was.

Anyway, Fruits Basket is about the orphan Torhu Honda who starts the story out by living in a tent in the woods. A sequence of events leads to her staying in the house of her handsome classmate Yuki Sohma and his cousin Shigure. On ... accident she uncovers the secert of the Sohma's - that thirteen of them will turn into the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac... And the cat. Normally one who learns this secret has their memory erased, however, Tohru is an exception and the story mainly follows what happens between her and the Sohmas.

Story -

The story of Fruits Basket is simply heartwarming. It's a nice break from watching all of those "Gotta save the world!" type plots, with it's smallish subplots, and the backgrounds of most of the characters are very interesting and human. Gah. It's so wonderful that I can't think of the words... However, the story in the anime is cut short, meaning it doesn't follow most of the manga, stopping around manga volume eight when there are twenty-three volumes, and moreso Torhu doesn't meet two of the Zodiac animals! However, that is the only downfall.

Score: 9

Animation -

...I'm sure if you've read my other reviews then you know what I'm going to say. Animation was smooth. xD Well, it was. It was slightly like the manga style, however it looked a lot better. The eyecatches were amusing with the little drawings that represent characters (i.e. Onigiri for Tohru, Flower for Hanajima). Coloring was good... Okay... Moving on.

Score: 10

Sound -

I listened to the dub of Fruits Basket, and Funimation did a pretty good job, Torhu sounds innocent and naive, but not to the point of being just plain annoying, Kyo is an arrogant.. cat, and Yuki is all... calm. All the character's voices fit well, however, White Haru's voice didn't fit my mind, but that's probably because I think of Yusuke...

Background music was wonderful, especially the non-vocal piano version of For Fruits Basket, the opening. Most all the music was soft except for those... tense moments... Unfortuantly... I... can't remember.

Score: 10

Character:

Ah. The characters. Probably the best part about this series. I think part of the reason that it's so likable is that someone will be able to identify with at least one of the characters and their situations. The characters are different , but yet in a way the same (in a good way), and seem very human. Again, Tohru is that sweet girl that you'd love to have as a friend, and I could picture it too, because she seems so human.

Score: 10

Enjoyment -

...Needless to say, I enjoyed this series very much, the characters were diverse and interesting enough to watch, and the plot was interesting as well... So. Yeah.

Score: 10


All in All -

Yay: Characters were good, nice and diverese, and interesting and deep.

Nay: Anime ended too quickly. Nuff said.

Score: 10

Another review of FB? Yes, another one, but this one is one worth reading if you want to know if you'll want to watch it or not.

First of all, the story. Honda Tohru, a girl whose mom has passed away recently, lives on her own in a tent. Untill she suddenly discovers the house of Sohma, where one of her classmates lives! The house is quite normal, but the members of the house aren't... This gives very funny situations and this is not something that you so often in anime, so this is the part that makes the story not too typical ... shoujo-like. Even if FB is named as shoujo, it's not only for girls!

The art of FB is nicely drawn and is pretty to watch. Most of the boys are bishy-like and all the other characters look nice too. Sometimes a bit simple, but still fine to look at. The animal forms are also nice. You can see immediately what animal they have to be and they even remain their expressions. The quality is really of today, so that's not something to complain about. It makes it really easy to watch.

The sound was okay. The intro and ending song are somehow fitting to the anime. The voices are nicely casted, since you can really know what their emotion is. Angry, sad, happy or just joking around, you'll know immediately! The sound effects are okay, so it's all fine by me.

The characters all have their own issues. This gives a nice view why they act different than you'll think at first sight. There's enough development in the characters as they grow in the series, so nothing wrong with the characters too!

Enjoyment? Too high! Okay, that might be exaggerated, but I really enjoyed this anime. It's funny and at some times a little drama for the story, but nice to look at and with good seiyuus. The story is shoujo, but not so shoujo that's it's annoying, not at all! I can recommend Fruits Basket to anyone who enjoys who... Oh never mind, just watch it! Enjoy!

Story: 7
The plot was simple and plain, mostly giving a moral a episode involving friendship, hilarious classic lines, mostly from Shigure, and emotional backstories that make you want to cuddle the poor little puppies. It's not that the story was at all bad, it just wasn't very good. But the story and writing was fluff, not just a little fluff, I mean so fluffy that it's like falling into a vat of cotton candy with rose petals. This show is that fluffy. Then again I'm a guy so I may not get the whole point since this show is the physical ... manifestation of GIRLINESS, the ultimate shoujo. I felt very awkward but oddly I liked it more as I watched, which I still wonder whether that is a good thing or not.
The last two episodes change the mood of the series, drastically. They were both slower than the rest of the series with long still shots. Though as a rule the series is slow, but I think it was the perfect pace for a storyline of this type. But the final episodes were the strong point of the plot of the show (even though it doesn't happen the same way in the manga). The ending was not satisfactory, but it did get me dying to read the manga, so was that their goal?
The friendship speeches could have been very annoying, but they weren't (shounens could take some lessons from this series). In fact they were well spoken and argued the fact fairly logically, but incredibly fluffy. The moral of the episode format was admittedly heartwarming and not predigested like so many other shows (especially when it comes to most things made by westerners).

Art: 6
The art was nothing spectacular, I didn't see it as particularly well done. The backgrounds were good but the animation was simplistic and not overly smoothe. Though the simplistic style helped when it came to punchlines. The character designs were good, but still didn't overly impress me.

Sound: 8
Music, not that great. Just listen to the intro. Nothing in the series popped out and I think more dynamic music could have helped. The voice acting in the dub on the otherhand was perfection. Everyone was cast wonderfully, though at times I found Kyo a bit annoying, but it was probably the personality of the character more than anything. Yuki had a soothing and calming voice, actually the majority of the cast was soothing and relaxing on the ears, save three characters, but they're meant to be that way. This is a good series to watch before bed, so you can have a night of nice voices and fluffy happy dreams.

Character: 9
The characters in this series are probably some of the best made and most memorable of all anime. They are very deep and more than meets the eye. I paricularly loved Shigure with all his exasperation and pervy comments (which he said purely for reaction and a smack on the head). Tohru may seem a bit too good to be true, but I can find her believeable since I have a sister EXACTLY like her, so much so it was creepy and I'm so glad she lives in a protective family.
The secondary cast was surprisingly good, I can't say that any of the supporting characters had any notable flaws. The villain of the series remains mysterious and intimidating and to this day I have no idea what to make of him (again I must read the manga).

Overall: 7
A bucket of fluff and warm fuzzies that gives some good life lessons. This show IS worth checking out and I highly recommend it... to GIRLS. If you feel I rated it too low maybe I would have graded this show a bit more fairly had I been a girl. But this was only my second shoujo (after Ouran which doesn't seem shoujo in the least anymore). This series could have easily run another 26 episodes, there was so much more to the storyline to cover The full Fruits Basket English dub can be viewed at www.hulu.com/fruits-basket and www4.funimation.com/video/?page=show&b=31

Parental Caution:
-There is a significant amount of swearing, though it's limited to d*** (or dang), hell, crap, and sucks.
-One character makes a brief, mildly innappropriate comment (and no I'm not talking about Shigure's frequent creepy comments, those are oddly clean, just awkward and hilarious)
-When the characters turn back into humans they are naked, though this was sensored thoroughly with puffs of clouds and convenient obsticles.
-Another character argues in defence of some school boys who went to the redlight district. However he is displayed as in the wrong.
-Same character owns a store where he makes maid, nurse, school girl and other such male fantasy outfits, however none of them are revealing and the topic is not discussed at length.
-Many characters suffered something tramatising in their past.
-There is a crossdresser, but he does resolve his issues, and it may be of interest especially to parents.
-Simple awkwardness, the whole thing with this naive girl being surrounded by all these males may have parents on guard, but nothing comes of it and it's quite innocent.

Fruits Basket was so cute to watch. It really took me back...one of those really old school super mangas that I used to read. The anime tells the story of Tohru Honda after the death of her mom. She somehow ends up living with some members of the Sohma clan - a most beautiful lineage if I might add despite some major personality flaws.

It is so engaging and definitely fun to watch. The anime only covers up to Volume 8 of the Fruits Basket manga so if you want to know how the story concludes, you need to read the manga ... to its conclusion.

Although Tohru is the sterotypical protagonist who can turn darkness into light, the other characters in the anime are also very very interesting and awesome. My favorite has to be Hana-chan who only wears black and has some type of supernatural powers. Of course the Sohma clan is great too. There are sooooo many of them and they are all so good looking and so flawed. You can\'t help but be thoroughly engaged by this family.

I say, watch it!!

I'll sum up this contrived and utterly unentertaining anime quickly. This show is for
12 year old girls who enjoy drawing pictures of fierce cats on their binders named cuddles. It simply lacks any form of depth and its constant attempts at humor with over exaggerated gestures and reactions grows tiresome rather quickly.

Avoid this anime unless you fit in the category of the aforementioned.

[Disclaimer: I am Reviewing the English Dub. Also, there may be some spoilers along the way. You have been warned!!!]
“I don’t think anyone is born knowing the reason why they’re here it’s just something you have to find as you go along”- Honda Tohru (Fruits Basket)

At first glance, Fruits Basket may appear to be an anime catered specifically to girls, but when looked closely, it is obvious that it can be enjoyed by a much wider audience. Since Fruits Basket is a reverse-harem series with elements of fantasy thrown in, it is only natural to bracket it in the realm of Shoujo anime. However, that ... is not the case because Fruits Basket adds depth and originality to the generic world of reverse-harems.

Story 9/10
The Story is about an orphan girl named Tohru Honda whose life changes after encountering two members of the Sohma family: Shigure and Yuki. Ooh and guess what else? Similar to other fantasy shows, there is a curse upon the Sohma family, which turns them into their designated horoscope animals when hugged by the opposite sex. Fruits Basket is a loveable anime that essentially centralizes around Tohru Honda as she gets deeply involved with the Sohma family.
One of the good parts of the story is the fact, that they introduced a character in each episode, many times for comedic value while also efficiently advancing the story. The fact that the story had like no plot at points really made this worth watching and when it did have plot or story telling was spot on.
The subtle Romance that is seen here and there can be hard to notice if you have not seen an romance anime before if you have then it will be easy to notice, The romance parts of the show are not “lovey dovey” like in most romance anime it’s just enough there to make you go, “awwwwwww that’s cute”.
There is a love triangle between Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru, and then there are side characters who just loves “Prince Yuki” as he is so lovingly named.
The one flaw I had for the story was that at times the emotions were lacking in terms of the situation. For example, instances where there should have been seriousness, there wasn’t, and vice-versa. Some things were just simplified or brushed over.
Pros: Unlike most anime of the Shoujo genre tend to do with the over dramatic scenes (that can often make you hate the characters because you often cannot relate to them in these situations) these were very few and far between.

Art/Animation 10/10
The animation compliments the story beautifully. It complements the mood of the Anime very well. It is pretty light-hearted water color art (I think). Personally, I love anime done with water colors but it’s not for everyone and I realize it can be a turn off to some folks. Yet, when it needed to be dark, the dark art style/animation was done beautifuly and captured the mood accordingly.

Something to point out is that the people doing the background added a lot detail which was wonderful to see. The characters moved in the background scenes furthering the story even more, such as continued fight scene’s occurring as if you were really there.

Sound/Music 9/10
The accompanying music/dialog of the show is great. The soundtracks played in this anime fit with ongoing situation while also enhancing the viewer’s the mood accordingly. There is no soundtrack in this anime that is misplaced or out-of-place and the opening is very fitting for it tells the story abstractly for what is happening throughout the entirety of the shows. As the show wraps up it does tend to feels a little out-of-place towards the end of the show but at a very minimal level.

The voice cast they have for doing the show is marvelous. Everyone played their roles successfully and they were enjoyable to listen to. Two of the primary characters, Yuki and Kyo were a perfect fit for the characters they played, whereas Yuki’s brother was over the top in such a successful way that only anime can do. It was obvious that the voice cast team was carefully considered.

Characters 9/10
Characters are always one of three things likeable or unlikable or worse--indifferent. Personally, Fruits Basket had mostly all likable characters to some extent. Each character has a different personality and if feels like they gave each character individuality.

One character that was thoroughly enjoyable and even a role-model to some point is, Tohru Honda. The Shoujo genre is filled with the “simpleton” archetype. However, Tohru (although not the brightest) is an incredibly kind-hearted soul who holds this show up. She is the epitome of a kindred soul who actively helps out everyone that enters her life and impacts them in a positive way. Even though her life has been filled with hardships after she became an orphan, she always has a smile on her face. That is rarely seen in Characters who have not had a good life.

Kyo Sohma is the typical Guy who gets teased and picked on a lot by the other cast members. Kyo is the a person who has a hard time expressing emotions and is more kept to himself. He also has an outrageous rivalry with the other primary male character, Yuki. Eventually he opens up as the story progresses and he becomes more of a normal Human (although that is not quite right). He becomes the fan favorite as the show progresses and later on we learn that his life was not all rainbows and butterfly It is darker than we thought.

Yuki Sohma is a stereo typical dude in many ways. He is smart and hot and everyone wants to be his girlfriend, and he is the kind of person the males inspire to be. Unlike many shows he is extremely protective of Tohru throughout the whole show (surprisingly so is Kyo). To the credit of the show all the characters are flawed by their curse but with the help of Tohru they find all begin to find their way.

Shigure is the typical pervert comedy relief character done right almost to a “T”. The one flaw I had with his character is that his perverseness is played at some really strange times in the show, but he can be very serious and very manipulative.

The anime does a good job in creating a realistic and appealing characters, they are not two dimensional.

This show introduces characters like Kyo, Momji, and Hatori early on, and they too are very good characters that Tohru of course helps. Most of the characters are blessed with good development. Few shows have the ability to juggle this many characters this effectively. There are even character that have episodes entitled to them that help to flush that character out and give you a greater look into the Sohma family. I have to admit that some of the characters, after they were introduced, soon had me in tears. I felt sorry for them. The writers made one care about each character and in a different way.
Admittedly, some characters like Yuki Sohma’s character development were very subtle and discreet. The changes crept up on you, much like real life. Most of his changes were psychological. Out of the main cast he is the one that is done subtle and not at all normal for the Shoujo genre.

As for the extra “kawaii stuff”, you will have to decide for yourself.
The Yuki Fan-Club Girls, love ‘em or hate ‘em, this is something that only you can decide. Personally I liked them at the end for they also helped with character development. They made you stop and actually look at all the changes that had occurred in Yuki.

Enjoyment 9/10
Over all, the enjoyment level for me was a 9/10. I had an amazing time watching this show during both its good and bad times. I gave this show a “9” because of its witty comedy, awesome characters, and a story that was overall intertwined. It is must see show. The whole time I watched it, I was entranced, with that being said, I hope all of you will take the take time and watch this surprisingly brilliant anime and enjoy it as much as

I can't believe I haven't written a review about my favorite anime of all time. Well here it is. Fruits basket is a great anime to watch if you are into romance/comedy/drama. Not only does it have a nice storyline but it has great characters. I am sure that you will have a favorite character in this series because each one is special in there own way. Here are three main reasons Fruits basket is my favorite anime.

1. The main character (Tohru Honda) is so likable. She is caring, puts others people's feelings before her own, works hard, and doesn't judge by appearances (you will ... know what I am talking about if you watch it). Me and her can relate in a lot of ways.

2.The romance in this anime is so cute. It's nothing over the top and is mostly expressed by feelings and actions (not the sexual actions). I couldn't even really call it romance but something special. Everyone sort of has this little bond or special feeling towards the Tohru. The one with Kyo and Yuki towards Tohru is my favorite because it's like this cute love triangle in its special way.

3. The amount of emotions you get from this anime. I cried out of happiness on some scenes and I cried on some other scenes because it was so touching, not really sad but you can sympathize with the situation. And then you have the comedy where you can just laugh and be happy.

Of course the story is also wonderful. I gave Fruits Basket a 10 for each category because it deserves it. The story was great and so was the ending. The art was beautiful. The music fit the anime. The characters were well thought out and likable and had there specialness in there own way. I surely enjoyed the anime all the way to the end and it rewatched it 3 times (not my last).

It was just amazing and very likable. That's all I can say to finish this review.

I remeber seeing the DVD in the shop and thinking how different it was, a story about zodiacs? who turn into animals when hugged? but i was thrilled at how many episodes were in each dvd, once it begun.

Soon as i watched the first episode i just couldnt stop watching, each new introduction for a new character would equal more love for the series. Each character had a wonderful trait about them.

There was so many characters and you just kept wanting to know who would be what animal. You follow Tohru as she stumbles upon them and from then on you enjoy discovering each new ... secret and story with her.

Falling so in love with each characters sub story.

Bringing tears of sadness and tears of laughter. I couldnt ask for a better anime, it captured sweet romance, and sadness as well as a beautiful developing storyline between everyone as well as the secret of the Sohmas.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves some sweet light hearted romance and a great laugh.
I just wanted to care for each and everyone just how Tohru did.

Aw, Fruits Basket is a cute anime. I'm really into action shows like Fullmetal Alchemist, Inuyasha, Naruto, Gundam Wing/Seed, etc. so I wasn't sure if I would like this series or not. However, when I watched it, I just couldn't stop. Tearing myself away from the TV was heart-wrenching! The plot is well written and you'll love the characters. The show is hilarious and very cute and it'll have you laughing and smiling during every episode. Even if your an action fan like me, you should definitely give this anime a shot.

Fruits Basket is not a good anime.

Reasons I do not like it:

First off, the characters are all Mary Sues. Tohru is inexplicably loved by all of the characters in the Fruits Basket universe. Yuki is also loved by almost every female (and some males) at his high school, even though he rejects them constantly. Kyo is hostile to everybody yet they love to be around him. Mary Sue characters are very annoying and hard to relate to. They are also unrealistic and insult the viewer. I also feel that it has too many characters to follow, too many to care about individually. It's almost ... as if they added all of these characters to try and make this story emotional, but failed miserably.

Second, the plot is faulty and uninteresting. It does not keep the viewer engaged, rather it barely strings them along with half-assed attempts to be mysterious. The plot points and the twists are very predictable and do not shock at all. There is immense foreshadowing to almost every climactic event, and this is both disappointing as well as damaging to the plot.

Third, Tohru's naive personality and self narration is extremely annoying. This may seem like a petty thing to complain about, but it is very relevant. Tohru is very naive in all things and this is frustrating to the viewer. Things that are so painfully obvious fly right over her head, this takes away from the viewing experience. She self narrates constantly, which is infuriating. She is also just too good natured and innocent to be an interesting character, especially a protagonist. The protagonist of the story is supposed to be relatable and Tohru is not.

Its moments:

While overall I do rate Fruits Basket rather low, it does have its moments. There are a few characters that I enjoy overall. Kyo, Momiji, Hatsuharu and Shigure bring moments of humor to the show. If not for these characters Fruits Basket would be a complete failure.

IF YOU ARE A MEGA FAN OF FURUBA ANIME DON'T READ THIS BECAUSE IT MIGHT BURST YOUR PERFECT BUBBLE.

This is my first review so bear with me.

First of, I read the manga before watching the anime. I had kinda high expectations of the anime because everyone seem to be praising it to Heaven and back. I enjoyed the manga (especially the later volumes) so I decided to give the anime a try too... I can say I was quite disappointed.

Okay, I'm a guy and not really a fan of shoujo manga but what originally got me to be interested in Fruits Basket was the zodiac ... touch, it seemed different and promising so I gave it a try after one of my friends told me to read/watch it. I must say I'm really happy I read the manga before watching the anime because if I had watched the anime first I'm sure I would never have bothered to read the manga. The anime is bad in many ways when compared to the manga; the story is modified and some important characters are totally left out for example. But more about that later, now let's get on with the review.

Story 4/10

Basically Fruits Basket is about Tohru Honda, your average happy-go-lucky girl who is like a saint to everyone but thinks nothing about herself. She lives in a tent after her mother died in an accident and later gets to live in her classmate Yuki Sohma's house together with two other Sohma family members - Shigure and Kyo. What Tohru doesn't know at first is that these Sohma family members are cursed with the 12 zodiac animals.

Okay, so the the way the story unfolds itself is rather slow-paced and repetitive. The core message/plot of the story could have been summed up in less episodes, it felt a bit like it was dragging on. Not like there was much of a plot anyway, more like a "slice of life" kind of show with occasional drama and comedy and what-have-you mixed in.
We have Yuki and Kyo fighting all the time, Shigure with his random comedy moments (which failed to amuse me more often than not) and Tohru meeting a new zodiac member in every other episode, learning about their tragic past and then having a mega fluffy conversation with them which then made everything pink and happy unicorns and rainbows again.. rinse and repeat. It gets repetitive and dull really fast, especially when the characters are pretty clichéd. Oh, and actually most of the sad background stories are left half-way unexplained or just simplified and cut off so much that you can't even symphatize with them because there's so many holes left to fill and you basically don't get to know much about anyone; Yuki's and Kyo's pasts are just scraped a little on the surface. It's disappointing especially because Kyo's past and development turns out to be enjoyable in the manga. Speaking of the manga, most of the things that made the manga as good as it was don't even exist in the anime.. okay, I've heard the anime was made before the manga was even finished so the inaccuracies and lack of depth are forgiven a bit. But I can say that the anime follows the manga up to the first 8 volumes rather faithfully, which is good I guess, with some slight extras/changes added. The end is quite different though and in a way left pretty open with a lot of questions still hanging in the air, not to mention that the climax has like 2 episodes devoted to it to build it up but is then so easily solved that it takes the magic out of it and just makes it.. well, 'meh'.

Art 5/10

Not so much to say about the art. It didn't impress me but it didn't make my eyes bleed either. Nothing fancy.. just mediocre. Sometimes the animation felt... well.. lazy; the same frame would be on screen for like 5 seconds or something. I must also say that I found those sparkly-glitter-pink-lovey-dovey scenes to be overused to the point of being cheesy and annoying, heck they were even used during moments they totally did -not- fit to.

Sound 4/10

The opening and endings were too slow-paced for my taste so I skipped them most of the time. About the music in the anime I can't say too much.. nothing great but nothing terribly bad either. I noticed it was the same selected few songs that kept playing during the whole course of 26 episodes.
I found most of the characters voices to be annoying and just not fitting for the characters. Yuki lost what little manliness he had built up in the manga thanks to his disturbingly feminine voice in the anime.. I imagined him sounding clearly masculine but in a sweet/innocent way, not like a total girl. Ugh. And let's not even talk about Momiji... just.. what the hell. Okay, sure he is a shota but he sounds like a goddamn 3-year-old spoiled whiny girl instead of a cute pre-puberty boy, not to mention that I was hoping for him to have a German accent seeing how he was half German in the manga. Son, I am disappoint.
Only Kyo, Shigure, Hatori, Akito, Hanajima, "Yankee girl" and Kazuma sounded right to me. The rest gave me more or less painful mental earbleeds.

Character 5/10

As I mentioned earlier the characters are quite clichéd; we have the cute shota boy, the cool guy with a split personality, the troublemaker loner guy who actually is soft inside, the silent and overly idolized guy with social problems, the egotastic brat who makes you see red and not to mention the girl who is so desperately in love with a guy, who hates her more than cancer, and she punches him to death when he is being honest about not liking her.. yes, I mean Kagura and she must be the epitome of all the things I H.A.T.E in an anime character; I don't wonder one bit why Kyo doesn't want to get married with her.. who the heck would? lol Oh, and let's not forget about those Yuki Fan Club girls who had a whole episode devoted to them.. I wanted to punch each of them in the face so damn hard. That episode I was so tempted to skip, it awakened my puke reflexes.. especially how Yuki was totally oblivious to their behaviour and even treated that selfish bitch with kindness. Needless to say most of the characters I found annoying instead of likable because they were so plain, exaggerated, clichéd, had a lack of deep or unique personality. Only Kyo, Hatori and Kazuma I found likable all through the show, the rest were more or less a nuisance.

6/10 Enjoyment

I watched this anime in two days but I'm not sure did I watch it that fast because I wanted it to end already or why. Honestly most of the episodes felt like repeats of each other with little new to add to the basket. I seriously wanted to like this anime more than I did (mostly because the manga left a good impression on me) but I just found it more mind-numbingly dull and lacking than exciting. Sometimes it felt like I was wasting my time but luckily a few episodes were actually good too, like the one with Hatori's past. Oh, and the scene when Ayame turns into a snake and gets lasso'd by mistake into the sea made me crack up; that was one of the few times the attempted humour actually rubbed me the right way. Okay, occasionally Shigure was funny but he didn't save the (often badly placed) mass flooding of failed attempts at humour which were more embarrassing than entertaining due to trying too hard to be funny but falling flat on their face instead. The "I AM SO SORRY OHMAIGAWD" hot spring kimono lady was funny a few times too but that's about it.

5/10 Overall

The anime was quite a letdown for me personally. I would not recommend watching it unless you haven't read the manga or are the sort of person who likes cotton candy fluffy shoujo with a girl who radiates light with her presence.. and magically heals all past scars of other half-strangers with just a few sentences. If you are interested in Fruits Basket, READ THE MANGA INSTEAD. I promise, it is much better! It makes more sense, actually is enjoyable (especially when the story gets going for real) and it also fills in the many things left unexplained properly in the anime. The anime is quite the disgrace in my eyes, I don't understand why it has so high scores.. but oh well, whatever floats your boat I guess. People are free to like and enjoy what they want but Fruits Basket anime sure wasn't my piece of cake.

There comes a time for every generation of Otaku or general anime viewer, when they are done taking their baby steps into anime i.e. when they’ve stopped/watched enough of the most popular Shōnen or Mecha show/s and they become confident enough walking on their own that they start to go off and explore what’s around that big bad internet to see what other animes are out there, that, they stumble, or rather are introduced to (like myself) their first Shōjo/Harem/Moé/Yaoi show; You know, the K-On!’s, the Ouran’s, the Clannad’s, the Chobits, the Free!’s (for all you newbies) or hell, even Sailor Moon from back in ... the day. A show that compared to what you have been watching up until now is the absolute sort of thing you DON’T want to watch. Something that screams, “IT’S SO GIRLY!” or in my case, “IT LOOKS TOO SILLY, I WANT SOMETHING A BIT MORE SERIOUS!”. Although issues like these are nowadays, for the most part (in Scotland), non-existent, but back in say 2004 when I was a tender 12 years old, watching these kinds of shows was a whole different story. But for those brave & bold enough to watch shows like these and for those who were able to get past the insecurities they had, whether it was about how the show would make us feel, or if the art would be a problem or we just couldn’t get into the story, were introduced (depending on the show of course) fantastical worlds (and sometimes incredibly realistic worlds) chock full of charm, humour, compassion, friendship, family, love and also heartache, loss, despair, loneliness and emptiness with the latter emotions being the reason why some of these shows are some of our all-time cherished favourites.

Now (finally) the anime I’ll be talking about today, my first Shōjo, I’m glad to say, is such a show, whose manga I just finished not two nights ago and is firmly cemented into my heart as something I will cherish for the rest of my current life. Otaku’s, Otakette’s and the young’uns – I present my written review of, Fruits Basket, CUE THE MUSIC!!!

Now to start off with, the boring history stuff:

Fruits Basket began, and ended, life as a semi-monthly manga series written and drawn by Miss Natsuki Takaya (an interesting woman who both is left-handed and loves Final Fantasy much like myself) from 1999 to 2006 spanning 136 chapters and was then adapted into a 26 episode anime series. The anime was made by Studio DEEN - also responsible for things like, Initial D Third Stage, Rave Master, Getbackers, the Beyblade movie & Fate/Stay Night, so, not too shabby - and was directed by Mr. Akitaro Daichi, who has also directed Kamisama Kiss (a show I’m real interested in watching) and a show called We Were There (which also sounds right up my street).

Story

Now, Fruits Basket’s story may end up how all the other Shōjo tales do, one male or female “main” main character is surround by many numbers of the opposite sex (Fruits Basket does have females too but the results the same) who all each get their own episode and in turn they all fall in love with said “main” main character. But how it presents this worn-out formulaic type of story-telling is far for the status quo (which I will get to soon, so remember this part okay?). So, as we begin our journey through a Basket of Fruits, we have our “main” main character, Torhu Honda, a optimistic, kind-hearted, warm, selfless, oblivious and at time ignorant, but most lovely and genuine sweetheart, girl who at the beginning of our tale is living in a tent in the woods all by herself, through her own doing, as she was staying with her grandfather after her mother and father died, but decided to move out when her poor old grandpappy also had to let his kids and their families stay in his small house to which Tohru (being Tohru) felt she was being a burden. Then one day as Tohru is on her way to school, she stumbles upon a random house, which she obviously never noticed before, and these cute-sy little figures shaped into each animal the 12 zodiacs – now be aware that Tohru favours the Cat spirit of the zodiac and has a wish to become friends with the Cat as he is shunned and left-out by the rest of the zodiac. As Tohru observes the figures we are then introduced to the Sohma relatives, Shigure Yuki and Kyo who all decide to let Torhu stay after her tent is washed away in a landslide, so she can have somewhere solid to stay and may be a little bit because their house is dirty and nobody knows how to cook.
Now remember WAAAY back when I mentioned that although this show does eventually follow traditional Shōjo but presents it to us in a way that is more acceptable?
No!? Shame on you!
Yes? Fantastic, well done!
Well, anyways, the show’s unique spin to the boring Shōjo format is that it is revealed to Torhu that Shigure, Yuki, Kyo and ten others in the Sohma family are all possessed by the spirits of the zodiac and thus such are all related and bonded (spiritually) together because of it. Also in a very strange, and very Shōjo way, the Sohma’s turn into their animal forms when hugged by a member of the opposite sex, which, (ah, I hate to admit this) was kind of funny on more than one occasion. Shigure is the dog, Yuki is the rat & Kyo is the cat coincidently, which should paint a massive red target in him labelled, “OBVIOUS LOVE INTEREST IS OBVIOUS”. But the show does a great job of leading us astray at all times, “One episode it’s Yuki, the other it’s Kyo”, sort of thing.

And THUS, my friends, we have passed the Genesis of FruBa. From here on it’s par for the course really: Tohru, episode by episode, meets each of the Sohma’s possessed by the animals, they all fall in love with her & we don’t find out until the last episode who Tohru really wants to be with and thus presents us with no real conclusion other than the, “The road is long, our journey has just begun, I hope all days are like this forever” BULLSHIT that these sort of shows can give you. And yes, it is an anime-only ending which further cements the show’s disappointing end. Which is a real crying shame to be honest because the show does have bags of charm and character and when more than one Sohma is on the screen is does create some great watching as, because there are so many Sohma’s, it seems that a single emotion/trait has been attributed to the one character and no-one else and that one emotion all the only one they confidently portray, for example, Shigure is mischievous, Yuki is charming & Kyo is short-tempered and that IS ALL these three portray, obviously they smile, frown, laugh and get upset but they do it based off these emotions/traits.

Characters

For characters, I’ll just skin over the main four, Tohru, Kyo, Yuki & Shigure as they have the most screen time between them.

Tohru Honda

As mentioned before Tohru is probably the nicest person you’ll ever meet, but she’ll also be the most oblivious one as well. But that’s great for Tohru as she has this childlike way of doing these things that no matter what, you can’t help but hug the girl. The more you learn about Tohru, the more time you spend with her, the more familiar you become with her way of life, you cannot help but fall in love with Tohru. Try as you might, it’s impossible not to, unless you have no soul of course. But behind all the goofballness (I’m coining that) and just a plain nice person, is that serious side to Tohru’s life which like most of the other characters is quite heart-breaking and lonely. You get to understand that she has been through so much and most of the time she hides it through her innocence and optimism. She’s a true gem of a character and one I personally resonate with. I consider her a good friend of mine, and if you get to know her, she’ll be yours too.

Kyo Sohma

Now for my favourite character, Kyo, the Cat. Now where there are those parts of Torhu that I mentioned that are within me, there are also those “other” parts of me, which are within Kyo, more so than with Tohru. Kyo is very easily frustrated and angered, most of the time because he is incredibly defensive or has had his words taken in the wrong context and that sometimes upsets people which is the one thing Kyo doesn’t want to do, but his frustration gets the better of him, but he does make it up to people in the best way he can – niceness. This defining thing about Kyo is why I love him to death because it’s so like me, because we’ll both get frustrated over the littlest things and then when we calm down we’ll be like, “That was pointless, why did I get so upset with (insert name), better go apologise”. Kyo likes to do things his own way, much like myself, and likes to take themselves out of the group picture is he feels it will ease things, much like myself. Although Kyo may be hot-tempered, people can still tell he has a kind heart, he just doesn’t know how to express it without getting embarrassed which them gets him frustrated which then leads to him blowing up. Which is why having Tohru around is the best thing for him as slowly but surely, he finally loosens up and learns to just go with the flow. He’s a really great character and person who just wants to be accepted and has a big heart.

Yuki Sohma

Now Yuki is easier to get past as for me, like Kyo, I don’t really care for Yuki too much. He’s a nice guy and all, and he treats Tohru with nothing but respect. But he’s the “prince of the school”, the most popular kid, the “best looking”, the prodigy child, he can’t do nothing wrong, does everything right and never seems to have any problems. Me & Kyo HATE “perfect” people. But then, I started to get to know Yuki, and I started to look deeper into what made Yuki, Yuki and found out, like Kyo does, that he hates being perfect, he hates being the centre of attention all the time. Yuki actually wants what Kyo has: solitude. So in learning that, Yuki (who still don’t really care that much for), becomes a whole different person to me. Someone with more admirable qualities than I care to imagine and honour made of steel.

But I still don’t care for him, stupid Rat.

Shigure Sohma

Ah, Shigure. Shigure isn’t everyone’s absolute favourite character, but he’s the close second though. He would love that though, being all mischievous and such – every little slip-up the first favourite would make, there would be Shigure, laughing, teasing, and making the first sweat. I love that about Shigure though is that he loves to tease, not because he’s evil, but because he knows he’ll get a kick out of it and it’ll be real funny. He’s LOVES embarrassing Yuki and Kyo in front of Tohru. He is a real creature of comfort (very akin to the dog funny enough) and very rarely ever wears anything other than his dressing gown. If he was a real guy, he’d be your drinking buddy, let’s put it that way.

Art

Art wise, it’s very simply drawn and animated. It does contain many many MANY Moé moments where there are super cute animals on screen or when Ayame is on the scene of when Tohru is, well, being Tohru. It never impresses, but it never disgusts either. It’s as standard as standard gets, although it is very faithful to the manga.

Sound

The soundtrack is standard fare really, nothing you haven’t heard before. The opening and closing themes are decent enough that fans will download them. The only real star, music wise, isn’t even a proper song, it’s a made up verse sung by Momiji – but it is great though. Voice acting in the dub does have some saving graces (on paper) by the way of Eric Vale (Trunks in DBZ) as Yuki, Jerry Jewell (Claire Stanfield in Baccano!) & Laura Bailey (Amber in Darker Than Black) as Tohru, with only the latter putting in an above average performance.

Enjoyment

Despite having flaws in the art and sound departments (with the problems in sound just being about enthusiasm), Fruits Basket is rife with entertainment, but only if you want to find it, as it’s till after a few episodes (or really after Momiji is introduced) that the series really shifts gear into full “HAHA” mode. It also has some tender moments when Tohru is alone with either Yuki or Kyo that are lovely to watch - the plum on the back speech in episode 7 is the best example of this. And even though the ending is piss poor, you still cheer and want Tohru to succeed, so I guess, that’s enjoyment.

So, in summary, I’ve decided that Fruits Basket (as an anime) is the most special, un-special thing you’ll ever see, which is good in a way because when I look back on the anime now and how it ends; it’s really just a stepping stone to get you to the manga. The anime hardly covers anything the manga has to offer. So while the anime is nothing special and has a terrible ending, it’s supposed to be the platform to get you ready for the manga, which you should definitely read after watching the anime first. As the anime is just but a taste of what’s to come, as the manga, especially in the later half is an acquired taste to say the least. But it does have a satisfying ending. See, when I first watched Fruits Basket, it was just a simple enjoyable pass-time that I wished there was more of; and since there was and I’ve finished the story, I now look back on this anime and smile with nostalgic glee at all the memories contained within. So although this anime is not that special, if you read the manga after it, then come back, it soon will be. It’ll become one of your favourite shows, that you’ll eventually show your kids when your older and pass it down the generations with love, which is something that the manga is big on later on in the series.

Thus ends my very first review on MAL and my review of Fruits Basket, the anime. If people like this enough, I may do a short review on the manga. I hope I kept this spoiler-free and y’all enjoy it.

Thank you very much if you read this and I certainly hope it convinces people to pick up the series.

Thanks guys, see ya later!

JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!!!!

What do you get when you combine the Chinese zodiac with a cute idea for an anime? Fruits Basket. And trust me; it’s not as good as you think.

Story: 3/10

Sure you got your cute animals and cute characters, but let’s look at the bigger picture here. Yes…the idea of how bloody slow….this….anime….is……. I was very close to dropping it if it wasn’t for the humour hidden in each episode. But what the heck is with the creators making such a big fuss about a part in the plot then brush it off as…nothing. NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL THE END! Annoying? You got it. The pace ... was slow going, unnecessary, and characters that should’ve and could’ve done so much more…just didn’t. There was nothing special about this plot. It was overused like every other high school romance story. The only difference is they put characters as zodiac members. The theme was cheesy, the atmosphere was dull and boring; it wasn’t a good story. It gave no purpose or message. It was just plain boring.

Art: 5/10

Not bad, but still kind of strange. I wasn’t a fan of how they designed the characters. I’m not the biggest fan of big eyed anime characters to begin with but there is a limit on how big the eyes can be. If there was a contest for what anime character had the biggest eyes, Tooru Honda would win hands down! The male characters were perfect example on how they should’ve been in this anime, and Tooru just…no. Just no.

And the zodiac characters….okay, they aren’t fuzzy little plush toys you can cuddle. I think the dog and cat was the only normal design. The dragon is not….BLAHHH! A dragon is a dragon! And I was so disappointed on how they designed the dragon as so….soft! What ever happened to the old days when the zodiac animals weren’t…a cartoon?

Sound: 3/10

Word of advice…watch this in subbed. I feel like I probably would’ve enjoyed it….you know what…it wouldn’t have changed either way for me. But I watched it in dubbed, meaning I had to live through the squeaky and high voice of Tooru Honda. I love Laura Baily, but this character wasn’t for her. Every time I heard that Tooru speak made my head hurt. I’m disappointed in the dub cast of this anime. I regret not watching this in subbed.

The opening song was a good choice! Until the episode started. When you watch an anime, the opening is a crucial element to the whole story. It’s what sets the watcher up, prepares them for an epic journey, gets them pumped and makes them feel what the anime is all about. The opening song gave a clear message: This anime has a tragic/ angst type story. The slow beats and the melancholy feeling it gave me was promising, but it didn’t tie into the genre, style, or atmosphere of the story. I mean sure it might’ve in the ending episodes, but through the first twenty, when they showed happy scenes with happy characters, it just made me shake my head. I skipped the opening since I had no interest in it.

Character: 2/10

One character: Tooru Honda. I think from reading the last part of my review will tell you all how I feel about this character. She’s whiny. She’s annoying. She’s someone who pretends that nothing is wrong. Okay…the world is not all sunshine and rainbows and this girl tries way too much to try and make it so. Can I please shake her to her senses? Does she not have an angry bone in her body? I don’t think she shows more emotion than just joy until the climax. She’s probably one of my least favourite characters.

Through the zodiac members, the only one I really liked was Shigure Souma and Kyou Souma. They should the humour in the anime and made me keep watching. Perhaps it was Kyou’s past that made me want to know more about him. These two characters were the only interesting part of the anime. End of story.

Enjoyment/Overall: 3/10

In short, or to summarize what I just said, this anime was a basket full of rotten fruit. And when your fruit gets rotten, you throw it out. I just didn’t throw it out in time. This anime may be well known, but don’t waste your time. If you do want to watch it…watch in subbed.

I give this a 32% on the Rotten Fruits Basket scale.

Fruit Basket is one of the most heart warming and sweetest anime series ever. It's so gentle, touching and sweet. It's from 2001 and is 26 episodes long and is extra sweet.

Story 9-10

It's about a girl named Tohru Honda who lives in a tent. But she goes to live with the Sohma family that transform into animals when they are hugged by people of the opposite gender or when they are stressed. Then she makes there lives better. Fruit Basket is so very good to watch when you are not very well or are upset because it will make you feel happier. And It's funny, ... It's so very funny. Also this show makes you feel all warm and fuzzy.

Characters 10-10

Tohru Honda is the most nicest, kindest, gentlest and most caring person in the universe. I so want Tohru Honda to be my older sister because she never gets angry ever. Nobodies perfect and everybody is different (that's what makes us special) but Tohru Honda is perfect at being nice to others. I think. On one episode she punishes a boy by giving him a hug and he stole from her, that's how nice she is. I wish I could be as nice as her. Also Tohru Honda will melt your heart and make you feel all warm and fuzzy. She'll even make mean and evil people feel all warm and fuzzy. It's so horrible she's not my older sister because Tohru Honda is the most caring and gentlest character ever. Also not once in the series did she get angry. Tohru Honda is also very helpful and sweet. Tohru Honda also teaches people that the most important thing to do is to love and care for others.

Yuki Sohma and Kyo Sohma are both so very amazing. Yuki is so very kind. Yuki turns to a mouse and Kyo turns into a cat and they both don't like each other that much, so they fight a lot and it's so very funny. Kyo is mean and he gets angry easy but I know he is nice deep down. I so want to throw a water balloon at Kyo then I'll run behind Tohru Honda and hug her. Also Kyo is quite a angry person and Kyo and Yuki do fight a lot.

Kagura Sohma is so very wild. She loves Kyo and attacks him and it's so funny. I so like her very much.

Kisa Sohma is so very sweet. She does not talk because she does not want to. I actually know somebody just like that also Kisa follows Tohru and it's so very cute.

The other characters are all very amazing and funny and they are all very different.

Animation 9-10
This so is so very colourful and it looks so gorgeous. I so love there eyes and the animation is smooth and fluid.

Sound 9-10

The music is so very good. It fits so goodly with this anime. The opening is not as good through. The opening is boring but the ending theme is so very extra sweet because Tohru Honda sings it. The voices are all amazing but I've only seen this anime in english (sorry) but the voices are amazing. I love Kyo's voice when he is angry and being mean to people and I so love Tohru Honda's voice when she is being the nicest person ever.

Enjoyment 10-10

I so love this show because it'll make you feel happy and it teaches you to be nice to people even if they are not nice to you. There is some fighting as well. Also if you are sick or got a cold or are upset if you watch this anime it'll make you feel all warm and cozy and happy. I love it. But I also hate it because Tohru Honda is not my older sister which is so unfair.

Final score 10-10

A Short Review for the Reader without much time:
Story (8/10): The story is one of the high points of this anime, it is original, compelling, and heartwarming.
Art (6/10): The artwork isn't amazing persay, but is still pretty good, there are some parts where the art is neglected, and isn't that detailed.
Sound (6/10): The music fits the setting of the anime, but doesn't do justice for the comedy in the anime. It is too slow paced, and creates an uncomfortable atmosphere after each episode.
Character (9/10): The characters are what make this anime, they are all likable in physique and personality, they are all original in creation, ... and the animals choosen for the cursed characters are perfect.
Enjoyment (8/10): Highly entertaining every episode is a new adventure.
Overall (7/10)

I first came into contact with this anime months ago when I was browsing through netflix, saw something that remotely interested me, and decided to throw it into my queue. It wasn't until almost four months later that I finally watched the first episode, on a recommendation from a friend. At first I was unsatisfied, and I did enjoy the show, but not as thoroughly as I have enjoyed many others.

Story (6)- the story is perhaps the weakest part of the anime, starting out with a strong emotional beginning, only to let that pathos base disintegrate under the weight of the increasingly quirky Sohma family. ... While Tohru's pain and loneliness are a constant theme, they never are treated as completely as they should be, and the viewer is left with an uncomfortable feeling of problems left hanging by themselves, metaphorically duct-taped but never actually solved.

Art (9)- While not necessarily perfect in animation (there are many shows that outdo it in basic artistry) this show's vibrant, calming backgrounds create a soothing atmosphere, which compliment the themes of unity and happiness within a family. Whenever I considered abandoning this anime in favor of something else, I was suddenly grasped by a beautiful and tranquil scene, reminiscent of old Chinese painting styles that quickly changed my mind.

Character (7)- If the show featured only Shigure, then the characters would have been much more engaging. Sadly, it doesn't, and many of the characters grow boring very quickly. The "I'm the cat and I hate the rat!" device can only go so far...

Sound (6)- Music does contribute to the mood of the show, but it is not especially extraordinary or gripping.

This show was enjoyable, but more so for me on the artistic level. If you are looking for a plot-driven, deeply philosophical series, this anime will scratch your back for a while but leave an irritating itch in the end. If you want to see an anime with a unique, and nice look (that's the best word to describe the look to this show, just completely and entirely nice), then this show will be much more engaging. All in all, not a bad show in any respect, but could still be forgone for a more captivating series.