After watching the penultimate episode, I feel I'm in a position to compose my feelings and observations of the 2019 remake of shoujo classic "Fruits Basket" dubbed "Fruits Basket :Brotherhood" - instead of giving a half baked review 6 episodes in or so.
Personally, I had only watched the 2003 anime and not read the manga. On the surface I felt it had an interesting premise albeit things felt a bit dragged out in the original. So I went in not being the greatest fan of the series- and thus I would not be over-forgiving of its faults (if any)
The remake has a brisk pacing with a much much better art. The animation is better than one would expect of a shoujo series (the "fighting scenes" were rather smooth, good job on that on TMC- your Megalo Box is showing).
See, the important thing here is that it is ultimate a "remake" of a early 2000s- 90s shoujo. Some troupes that were ok then have long since faded away/ criticised by viewers. Yes I'm talking of the typical girls hitting guys out of "love"/embarrassment, picking incessantly on one character as "humour" etc. The thing is though (without spoiling anything here) that Furuba addresses them as what they are in their all problematic nature. If there is one thing this show doesn't shy away from is it's willingness to address emotional turmoil, abuse and other surprisingly disturbing emotions and situations.
Furuba is unnaturally mature on it's take on complex human emotions and relationships and unique for it- considering it's flowery-cutesy-fun sounding shoujo-fantasy premise. It would be great injustice to the show if people underestimate this series' ability to deal with real problems that it's characters face seriously.
The characters are a solid driving force in the show. With the variety of their characteristics and their circumstances- they form a rich background for our story to progress. Our protagonist Honda Tohru may initially seem like a goody-two-shoes typical shoujo MC. Eventually she also reacts and develops with the show's progression, instead of being a one-note protagonist. Kyou is the original tsundere boy of anime and an utter delight to watch. ALl the other characters are fantastic too.
As for the sound, the songs seem to suit the series well and the OST was nothing spectacular but complemented the series well. The voice acting was top notch. Uchida Yuuma in particular deserves special mention-his delivery was especially amazing in emotional scenes. Also, Takahiro Sakurai as Ayame was a riot. The rest of the cast filled their roles well too-no issues there.
Overall, this series marks an improvement over the previous adaptation. It has incorporated some parts of the manga not in the older version while following the manga almost to a perfect T. All in all a great series. This adaptation makes it clear why it stands head and shoulders above the rest of its pack and has stood the test of time to continue being a beloved franchise.
