Fruits Basket: Prelude

Saw this film in the cinema a few days ago. Seeing as there's no reviews yet, I would like to leave a quick review.

The first half of the film is a recap of major Tohru and Kyo moments throughout the 3 seasons of the anime. While I love these moments, I didn't feel as much emotions due to the rapid fire recap format. Overall, it was okay and I can understand why they felt the need to add it since without it the film would definitely be less than an hour long.

The second half of the film is where the real film starts. Tohru's parents' ... backstory was beautiful and tragic. It was on par with the best flashbacks in the 3 seasons of the anime. Tohru's dad was such a cool dude and I loved seeing how Tohru's mom became a better person and great mother through her experiences with him.

The animation, while nothing groundbreaking, was good like the TV series. The amazing OSTs from the show make a return and brilliantly bring out the emotions of each scene as always.

In conclusion, it was worth watching in the cinema because of the second half of the film. I would strongly advise you to have a box of tissues nearby when watching as there are plenty of tear-jerking moments throughout the film.

Overall, I would give this film an 8.5, which is the same score I gave for Season 1. Season 2 is a 9 while the final season is a 10 for me. Thanks for reading!

Considering the excessive amount of love Furuba as a franchise has been receiving, it would almost make me think most people haven’t watched an actual great piece of fiction and especially not one that handles abuse. Which would be a wrong assumption to make, considering HxH and Sangatsu are also in the Top 100 which make a way better case for themselves. To forefront, my feelings towards the franchise have developed negatively. I think it doesn’t present abuse in any nuanced ways, and even goes out of its way to forgive abuse without an attempt of amends from the abuser’s side. Not just only that, ... but the many couples in the franchise are cursed with a ridiculous age gap, imbalance of power dynamic, or both at the same time but since all the characters are so 2-dimensional, a normal viewer doesn’t seem to be inherently bothered by these issues.


This movie is not an exception of that. Aside from 1/3rd of the “film” being just recap of Kyo’s and Tohru’s relationship, the rest is about a middle school girl that has been ostracized from her family as she entered a rebellious gangster phase and persuades a romance with a way older man. It cannot be concluded from the film itself if she was ostracized because she became a gangster or she already was and therefore became a gangster and therefore the ostracization intensified. Either way, she meets Katsuya, 21 years old at the time, as her “teacher” – meaning imbalance of power – and then he grooms her into a relationship. The actual romance between Katsuya and Kyoko isn’t showcasing any abuse, it does actually look healthy as far as it is shown. The characters in Furuba aren’t really that deeply written so we stay at a comfortable sea level. However, that doesn’t mean grooming didn’t occur. If you do some basic math, you can determine that they married when Kyoko was around 15 years old and birthed Tohru when she was around 18. I have my reservations about this. Child brides, huge age gap… We love to see those.


It is fairly common in real life for adult men to “rescue” young girls from their toxic households into a “better” life to then later become very controlling abusers themselves. Usually, those men are way older and are making use of their assets like money and housing to keep the relationship in control. And since the original support system of the girl (family) is out of the picture because they are awful people and will not try to reach out and help her, they can do whatever they want. The same pattern occurs here, the difference being Katsuya never becomes a control freak or abuser and is “hot”. This is a very common trope in shoujo unfortunately and showcases the way toxic masculinity is rooted deeply in our society. Adult women will write stories about older men saving way younger girls and gifting them unconditional love. I assume it is the desire for a man that has assets and is accomplished loving you for the way you are, no matter how miserable, completely ignoring the youth, power and innocence aspect he gains from such a kind of relationship. Wish real life was this way, but it isn’t most of the time. It is a really questionable choice for a story, especially considering how often it happened in this franchise.


And that is my main concern with this story. They kinda live together, it is happy go lucky, Kyoko has no other emotional support system besides Katsuya until Tohru is born, more or less. Eventually Katsuya dies from a basic cold (that was odd) and Kyoko has an intense mental breakdown. I have to admit that these scenes were rather enjoyable and got to my most basic emotional vulnerabilities. The voice actress also did a decent job delivering the emotions here. She eventually releases herself from her slump because she has Tohru to take care of, and then the film ends with her death again looping back to Kyo and Tohru being happy again. Kyoko’s wish was for someone to make Tohru happy, so she got this, I guess.

Overall, the film is mostly filler and presents a one-dimensional romance with heavy problematic undertones. It is audiovisually completely unimpressive and the music, just like in the TV show, is way too loud too many times.


Characters were very depthless especially Kyoko’s parent household.

I did enjoy the more emotionally heavy scenes. I didn’t hate my time with it necessarily, but it was disappointing just like the rest of the franchise. And we as a society really need to let go of these toxic aspects that have been ingrained in all our souls since birth.

TLDR; 10/10 movie must watch after the series!

I really loved the movie, it was great as expected. This movie's first 25 minutes contained recap which was placed at really good place, it showed how Kyou and tooru slowly got together and also helped me because I watched the final almost almost 9 months ago and didn't remember that much.
The next part was about Kyouko and katsuya's story. Kyouko's story was saddening from the beginning, I really loved her character because she was so relatable. Kyouko was introduced as a hot-blooded person but that wasn't everything, when Katsuya was introduced he saw her ... actual nature when she saw her crying, she just needed people to love her back but she wasn't given that. Katsuya and Kyouko had a relationship which made me very happy. Both supporting each other, Kyouko slowly developing as a normal person as time went and her going through multiple emotions throughout the movie all were so good!
A small part of Kyoru also made me smile and the kiss was also very cute XD.
This movie always stuck to it's theme which i liked very much and the pacing of movie was also very good (except that it was very small)
I also liked how many of the scenes were shown again but in a different time, especially Tooru getting hit by the table and getting a nosebleed.
This movie had multiple stages of showing different kind of emotions at different times, it made me cry, it made me laugh and gave me some emotions that I cannot express.
Small tooru was also very cute, wish I could get more of her! An extra thing I liked that Tooru's name was given by her father Katsuya, "when salt is added to sweet things, it gives it even a better taste, he wanted tooru to grow up a person like that" -Kyouko Honda
Music and art was also great too. I watched this movie raw so maybe I'll watch it again sometime in not so far future.
an 10/10 overall

I have to deduct several points on behalf of whomever shoved 33 minutes of footage from the 3 seasons into a poorly edited and haphazard mess. I feel sorry for everyone who's been baited into buying a movie ticket for this, when in reality it's a decent OVA with a bunch of rehashed footage in the front to make the runtime movie length.

Given this is titled "Prelude" I find it very dangerous for people who decided to start this story here. There's massive spoilers to the main story without warning in the recap, and it entirely expects you to know so much context before seeing ... it.

This is a poor excuse for a cash grab, even by Japanese Marketing standards.

This is a shame too, as the OVA is actually a nice story once you finally get to it.

I never expected in my entire life to have an opportunity to get to Japan for the first time in my entire life. I considered myself, one of the luckiest people on the whole, to get a chance to see this film. And in the end, it was worth it. I'll just make a quick review of this film.

Fruits Basket ~prelude~ is a new film made by TMS Entertainment, from a new story of Natsuki Takaya, and covered some chapters that didn't include in the final season. The story covered the summary of the three seasons, the story arc of Kyouko and Katsuya, and the ... aftermath story of Kyo and Tohru after the events of the final season, written by Natsuki Takaya, respectively. We all know that having a recap from a show is entirely useless. But some recaps are bearing to watch and they can find it enjoyable. This is one of those shows, that had some recaps. But do you think it was worth it?

The first act of the film was the recap of all the seasons of the TV series. I think it lasted half an hour or less? Well, watching this recap made me remind the recap version of the entire Clannad series. It was pretty good for a recap, even the pacing was like a rapid-fire. I certainly felt some emotions, but it's not the same feeling as I felt from the TV series. The execution of this recap is better than Orange Mirai movie, in which the recap from that movie was poorly executed. I understand why they had to condense it. Because the movie will be short if they didn't include the recap. Overall, it was a good nostalgia for those who cherished the TV series. Guess who was the narrator for the recap? Just wait and see.

The second act of the film was the arc where the real magic starts. The story of Kyoko and Katsuya. For those who are saying this is a controversial story, may I remind you this was written way back in the 1990s. Well, it's your judgment if you find this pretty bad. So back to the topic, this story is one of the most beautiful, yet very tragic stories I've ever seen. I read this part from the manga but seeing this on the big screen made my heart flutter but at the same time, my heartaches. It's because I knew where this is going. Katsuya is a cool teacher to his students, especially Kyoko, But seeing him make Kyoko turn from a violent and problematic student to a better person and a better mom to Tohru was very heartwarming and touching. You may need a box of tissues for this.

So the final arc is the aftermath of the TV series and it's written by Natsuki Takaya. In the final act, I'd got to see again the main couple of the series, Kyo and Tohru, the epilogue of their arc. I didn't expect what happened in this arc but it was so lovely. Seeing those two being together made me tore a bit, after those many struggles they had faced, as they sought many answers. In the final episode of the final season when the two held hands like an old couple, I got to see it again but from a different angle. Although the final act was not as long as I was expected, It's still pretty solid and worth the wait.

The animation and the sound were still the same from the TV series, but they added a few details, especially the beach scene from Kyouko and Katsuya's story. The art was very stylish and sparkling. The amazing soundtrack from the TV series brought back the rollercoaster ride of emotions in every scene. Just like the emotions that I felt from the TV series.

Overall, I would give this film a grade of 9. While the previous seasons were very amazing, I wished this film could be longer than its initial time run. I hope many people watch this film on the big screen because it was an amazing experience. If you're going to watch this, kindly bring a box of tissues. Because most of the parts were tear-jerking. Thanks for reading and once again, hands down to Fruits Basket and Natsuki Takaya. It's a two thumbs up for me.

TBH. It sucked.
Personally, I don't like pedophilia, age gap too big, stop normalizing and romanticizing it. She was 14 going on 15, and he was 22. Could've been more comfortable with maybe an 18 year old and a 22 year old but still the teacher-student love groom trop was weird and I don't fuck with it.
After 30 minutes of recap, the movie was maybe 40 minutes long and the same boring trope you see in like every romance. They rapid fired all of the scenes, could have added more intricacy and development into the plot. Very surface level character trope, with Kyoko being ... the brooding, lonely, sad adolescent, and her teacher is the only one who empathizes. Went no deeper, they definitely could of. So much opportunity they did nothing with.
It was supposed to be a prequel, but so much of it was recap and present events that it didn't feel like so. Wasn't worth the time and money, wish I got more of the movie and more plot.

It was so much review (Like, over half an hour of review of scenes from the anime out of order), very little plot, and then the plot that was there didn't advance the series much at all, and made me dislike characters that were well written before. I wish that I didn't see it actually. I would have had higher praise for the series as a whole if I didn't watch this film. I felt more uncomfortable about the main relationship of the film than I did before. Overall, I think this series had a better ending when it ended with the main series. This ... movie is useless to watch, and I wouldn't reccommend anyone to watch it if they care about the show.

<SPOILERS AFTER FIRST PARAGRAPH>
Fruits Basket: Prelude is something I can’t truly call a movie.

The runtime is just shy of 85 minutes long. The first 35 minutes is entirely made up of recap of the last arc of Kyo and Tohru’s relationship. There is nothing new being presented here, it is the same (brilliant) material we’ve all seen before, just presented in a far inferior way. A nice trip down memory lane, perhaps, but that’s the nicest thing I could say about it. It’s truly a waste of everyone’s time to have this in front of the “movie”. Hilariously, Fruits Basket: Prelude itself seems to ... even acknowledge that because only after those 35 minutes do they show the title card, as if to say “Okay guys, the movie’s starting now!”


Kyoko and Katsuya’s relationship:
Let me be clear: the relationship is unapologetically, textbook grooming (and yes, the movie romanticizes it anyways). Unapologetically becomes abundantly clear as Katsuya says (as close of a paraphrase to the actual quote that I can manage) “I fell for you after that first meeting between us. But you were only in junior high, so I had to wait.” And wait he does, as he uses his position of power as a teacher (sorry, only a “student teacher” as he’s extremely quick to point out) to take advantage of a 14 year old girl who is going through a period of extreme emotional trauma and stress. Just ripe for manipulation! This relationship could have been portrayed far better but this part of the movie was extremely rushed: about 30 minutes of the only 50 minutes of movie


What was done well was Kyoko’s relationship with parenthood and what it meant for her to take care of her child, both before and after Katsuya’s death. The only little bit that I could say grew my appreciation for this series as a major Fruits Basket fan. But that simply isn’t enough.


Finally, insert brand new 2 minute scene between Kyo and Tohru after the series. Roll credits.

This isn’t a “movie” and what’s presented isn’t even done well given that. This is bad.

this is one of the best tv shows i have aver watched and that i will ever watch the artistic talent and creative skill it took to create something so amazing is practically impossible it was a one in a thousand chance that a franchise so constantly good exists. each character is written with a mastery of writing skill making them all entertaining and memorable. the story is the most beautiful heartfelt romance all anime fans are looking for in the sea of shit that is the seasonal releases now beautifully built and crafted so that nothing is given to you and at the ... same time everything is given to you which is kept up across 63 episodes 1 films and 23 volumes. in conclusion Fruits basket: Prelude is a masterpiece among masterpieces 10/10.

Recommand watching this after the anime, has it contains spoilers from the original serie. But this is needed to give the movie a round finish/red thread towards the main story of this movie, which is how both mum and dad of Honda met, their back story and how it all went from the moment they met, fell in love and gave birth to Honda, aswell how her life continued after the ending of the serie. It would be kinda awkward to jump straight to the story of the parents without actually knowing whats been shown in the anime.

Be aware you will cry. The same amount ... of tears you will release when you watched the anime. ❤️

I also may comment on some reviews complaining about pedofila consider the father was "adult" and the mom was "kid" /teen/not adult when they first met and started dating. Which I do believe people haven't paid attention to legal age in Japan was 13 years old (recently been increesed to 16), and this anime was a remake of the original anime/manga which was created back in the 90s beginning 2000, so the colture and rules kinda play along with that.. If they weren't following the orginal, the story of the familytree and fights within family wouldn't have made sense and the whole anime would have needed to be rewritten...

If this is something that really bothers you, then don't watch it 😅

Besides, the father was a student too, just older student when they first met so you can imagine the timestamps along with the anime.

Also may add the animation was magic and fantastic!! Love the way they made the ocean!!!

I'm a huge fan of the anime and manga, so I am very disappointed to say this movie was nothing more than a cash grab. I was expecting a fair amount of new material, but was surprised to see that the first third of the movie was just a recap of the show. They chose to showcase only the most emotional moments of the show out of context and one after the other, only serving to cheapen some of my favorite scenes. The recap was then followed by Kyoko's backstory. Aside from the obviously questionable content, it was poorly animated and riddled with distracting CGI. ... Finally, at the very end, we get the new content we were promised, but it was only a short scene.

This "movie" could have easily been an OVA for Kyoko's backstory. Instead, they chose to waste our time with a lengthy recap to get it to the 88 minute mark so it could be released as a movie. I'm shocked that other fans are praising this movie, as I was expecting better from one of my favorite series.

The prequel movie about the Honda couple was emotional, romantic and leaves a lasting impression along with the flashback scenes of Tohru and Kyoko.

The story of Katsuya and Ryoko was heartfelt, and quite romantic. The animation was solid and on par with the prior season’s quality.

Fruits Basket – Prelude – did get me to tear up twice. It hit all the emotional notes as the original, and Kyoko’s story in retrospect to nearly all other characters is truly one where you can’t help but root for her. It also made me reflect on my own ways of expressing grief, and when a film ... can get you to do that I think that’s something special.

Overall, the film is an excellent way to preserve the story of Kyoko and Katsuya. For long term fans of Fruits Basket, this is just a cherry on the cake.

My Rating : 10/10

This movie is so beautiful, heartbreaking and wholesome. I cried so many times, but the movie also made me smile like an idiot.
The art style is top tier and the storyline is good. Also the soundtrack is really fantastic. Masterpiece <3

I watched the og season 1 in like 2012 and it felt like an eternity waiting to see the parents together,
so i can't even imagine how it felt for people to wait since 2001.

This whole anime itself is one of the best ones out there in my opinion.

If you are a fan of romance animes you will love this one.

MAL says to ... write more, but i have no idea what to say any more than this tho lol

Here's a short review of Fruit Basket Prelude:-

This story is about Tooru's parents and how they meet and get married
If you loved the anime you have already made an attachment with it No doubt you will love it
The first 30 minutes are recap of the last season which revives the emotions and then the real story starts. Just like the anime, it's filled with emotions and love.

This tells how Tooru's mother's story in her younger days, how she a delinquent who didn't care about anything and turned into a loving mother and loving wife.
...
BUT I think Tooru's father Katsuya's death felt cold it could be made more sacrificial. Overall It's a Great work worth your time. Must watch after completing anime

I'm not sure if this was the perfect thing for me to watch right now or the worst choice I could have made. Suffice it to say that I've had a very troubling turn in my life that elements of this movie really resonated with, both by providing much needed catharsis and by rubbing the sore spot raw. I found myself blubbering pretty hard towards the end. Fruits Basket has always been very affecting and certain scenes from S2 and especially the Final Season have made me tear up before, but not like this. Part of why this hit me harder was just how well ... it was portrayed. It's a movie depicting the life that Tooru Honda's mother Kyoko lived before she had her, and it shows us a good deal about her husband who was never portrayed in the original series, Katsuya. We heard enough over the course of that series to know the basic gist of how Kyoko lived before she met Katsuya, and some bits and pieces beyond that. That moment isn't what hit me the hardest, but rather, what came after. This movie played with a similar theme to some of the best parts of Clannad: After Story, and though it didn't get the time to flesh them out like that series, it's still heart-rending, especially given how well we've gotten to know Kyoko over the series run. It's beautifully done, and the animation is the best it's ever been for this series.

That being said, I don't want to be too effusive. The first 30+ minutes are spent rehashing some of the story of the original series, which is a lot for a 80+ minute movie. There are stand-out moments, and the romance between its leads feels genuine and loving, but nearly everyone else in the story is faceless (quite literally in many cases) and Kyoko's parents are frustratingly simple, even if we get some insight into her mother after the fact. It's not up to the standards of the original series in terms of the impressive cast, but it matches it in almost every other way.

A great and emotional movie. The story of Tohru's parents was amazing. The plot and everything about.

Perfect themes romance and drama portrayed all throughout the movie. The entertainment was absolutely unreal.

Overall, amazing animation and art. Very good OST and characters were entertaining and amazing.

Really love Kyo x Tohru and Katsuya x Kyoko.

There is literally nothing to dislike about the movie.

... This is gonna be up there with A silent voice for me.

Honestly, it's kinda hard to put it into words, but the movie was just too amazing.

The story behind/between Kyoko and Katsuya was amazing and so... I guess unexpected.

This movie was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better then I thought.

Since MAL is making me write a longer review, I'm just saying random stuff.

TLDR: This movie does everything it needs to do as an add-on to the main story of Fruits Basket. The focus is the relationship between Katsuya and Kyoko, a relationship which is extremely well done, as high quality as anything seen in seasons 1-3. The recap that comes before serves to add extra weight to the events and themes in Prelude by making sure the audience is up to date about the content of the main story. Though it pales in comparison to seeing the new content, and it feels disingenuous to call this a movie when 30 minutes is spent solely on recaps.

Long ... Version:
Fruits Basket: Prelude is a love letter to the main story that every fan will love. It stays consistent with what fans loved about the series while adding extra depth to themes and ideas found in the show.
Before the movie truly begins about 30 minutes of runtime is dedicated to recapping events
seen in the 2nd and 3rd seasons (mostly the last episode). Since Fruits Basket was pretty dense, I feel most fans could find value in a small refresher. The recap serves an important role in the main plot by helping the audience recall crucial character details and themes that are found in the rest of the movie. It shares many similarities and connections to the main story, so keeping the audience up to date on these topics lets them more fully understand the complexities of Prelude. That being said it does drag on just a bit too long, I feel like the recap could have cut out a few scenes that didn’t need to be there. Luckily the majority is relevant to info that the audience actually wants to know.


The central plot of Fruits Basket: Prelude is carried by its main characters, of which there are practically only two. But while the number of characters is low, each one of them works so well to contribute to the story being told. The plot of Prelude is very simple, however, it is effective because the few characters that are present are so well done. The focus of the plot was obviously on Kyoko and Katsuya. With over an hour of content dedicated only to their relationship, I never once found myself even the slightest bit bored. Kyoko’s parents may be simple caricatures of typical abusive parents but they don’t overstay their welcome and even add to Kyoko’s characterization in interesting ways after they leave the story. The final scene of Kyo and Tohru together is honestly a more satisfying ending than the actual one the series gave us. Even the character with the least amount of screentime ( Tohru’s Grandfather) gets character development that makes perfect sense with his actions in the main story. His lessons about not trying to control his children’s lives connect back to his actions in the series when he lets Tohru go off on her own and live with Shigure. That little bit we get of him still connects back to the main story.
The plot itself is limited in the amount of tension and drama it can build since we already know how it's going to end. I’m glad that Prelude never dwells on one plot point for too long. Overall it's very fast-moving, hitting plot points quickly, but keeping the emotional impact that they need to keep the story meaningful. This felt very refreshing when compared to the anime (which from my memory moves a lot slower) it skips to the good parts and leaves behind a lot of the fat that Fruits Basket stories can sometimes have. It’s a great understanding of what the audience was looking for from Prelude: a story focused mainly on the relationship between Katsuya and Kyoko, not their individual struggles, but how they work together as characters, and what happens when that dynamic is taken away.

The art is neither breathtaking nor bad, it's just good enough that I couldn’t spot any quality drops, but nothing truly impressed me. Sound-wise I’d like to spotlight the VA’s because each of them does a terrific job, Kyoko's VA in particular sells the character perfectly.

While I wouldn’t call Fruits Basket: Prelude a masterpiece, I don’t think it was ever going to be one. As a prequel to a finished anime, Prelude can stand among seasons 1-3 of the anime in the quality of its writing and characters, while doing nothing drastic to elevate itself above that mark. A must-watch for Fruits Basket fans, Unremarkable to anyone else.

Most of the film was a recap of what had already happened during the 3rd season. We assumed the other half with the information given during the entire Fruits Basket series. Nothing new was really said, except we got visuals for it. Baby Tohru was the cutest though. I will say I'm a little disappointed. We did get more insight on Kyoko's relationship with her parents, same with Tohru's dad. There were some uncomfortable scenes due to the large age gap, it was basically grooming. I mean Kyoko (Tohru's mom) was in junior high when she met Katsuya, while he was an adult. I think ... he was 21. I did cry through most of it though. This was probably best suited for someone who hasn't seen the anime and wants a general summary of everything that happened. Someone else said this and I agree, I wish I hadn't seen it to be quite honest. Again, it did make me cry but I was disappointed in the relationships and the film. And as another user said, it made me dislike some characters. There was really no point in the film. I'm surprised it has such great ratings. This is coming from someone who LOVES fruits basket. Take it as you wish.

This movie is exactly what i wanted from this series. Yes the first half an hour was a recap but the recap made me cry 10x harder. If felt so full circle after watching this. I didn't even think we'd get anymore after the series so this was so amazing to watch. Especially since i didn't think I would care too much about Katsuya and Kyoko's relationship. The only "bad" thing about this is Katsuya is so much older than her. And i mean like 8 year difference and she was 14. But in no way did this ever come off creepy to me. I ... feel like some people may have a problem with this age difference but I didn't. So in conclusion, it is a must watch and a real tear jerker.

is there any realm that katsuya and hatori are brothers or father and son? 😂 hahaha they really look alike. imagine if katsuya still alive and meet hatori at kyo-tohru's wedding that would be hilarious.
it's a very good decision they made kyoko-katsuya's story into a movie, so they got enough screentime about their story and we can see it fully about how beautiful their love is . wufff
p.s; need papa katsuya in my life asap. ehe.
but kyo still my real love EHEEEE

im waiting for fruit basket another in anime. onegaishimasu >.<



p.s2; MAL keeps asking me to write more but i said enough kyaaaa