It taught me tons of lessons that I hardly learnt form any other anime or lessons that could be applied in real life as well.
"I Wish I Could've Lived My Life Without Making Wrong Turns. But That's Impossible. [...] We Make Mistakes. And Little By Little, One Step At A Time, We Push Forward." Yuki Soma
Every dialogue is a lesson, every scene is emotional, every comic part is worth the praise, IT'S HIGHLY recommended!
I'll explain only 7 points of why I liked it and why is it worth watching.
1. First and foremost reason, TOHRU HONDA (the female protagonist). She's the key to the appeal of the series. Her polite & selfless attitude towards everyone, her kind hearted nature and being Contended with whatever she has, makes her an outstanding Character. At the start of the series, she is living in a tent because she couldn't live with her grandfather who asked her to stay with her friends for few days. Rather than staying with her friends (Arisa and Saki) to avoid being a burden to them, she decides to live in a tent despite knowing that it won't be easy during rain or hurricane.. She doesn't burden them with her worries. She also has an after-school job to pay her tuition fees so that her grandfather doesn't have to pay hers. Her life isn't easy yet she smiles all the time and cheers everyone around her. Yuki once described her in front of Arisa and Hanajima "Honda-san isn't the type to ask for moon. She smiles at the littlest things like she's having fun. She always says the thing you most want to hear."
Hatori also observed and said "She has a way of softening people"
Kyo thinks about her many times "She thinks that she's stupid or that there's nothing good about her.. But she's so precious. I like her the way she is.. "
Tohru is so kind-hearted that she can't make herself say mean things, even if it's just an Act or a play. While playing an evil stepsister in a class production of Cinderella, she couldn't say "you won't have dinner for tonight if you won't complete your chores.." so for her, the whole play was rewritten.
She makes a place in everyone's heart with her cheerful smile and selfless love, who only says what others wish to hear and forgets her own worries while talking to them.
She has the ability to appreciate what she has in the moment, instead of always wanting more.
I can write pages on how beautiful her character is ❤️ From my perspective, she's cute and beautiful not because of her appearance but her kindness. She cares about others more than herself, that's why everyone respects her and values her opinion (say it girls or boys). Audience learns from her, because they can relate a lot in her personality. It's impossible not to be a fan of Tohru Honda after watching this series, because the way SHE perceives the situations is quite different and It changed my perspectives of life as well. I learnt how to handle many situations, which are not in my control, just by looking at her character and I could relate a lot. Her views can guide the audience to have peace and happiness in their life easily.
2. Another reason of this anime to be perfect is a STRONG PLOT, with a very unpredictable story and overwhelmingly influencing characters. The story revolves around Soma family that is cursed & are possessed by spirits of the Chinese zodiac. (there's some FICTION in the Plot that makes it quite unpredictable). 3 members of this family, (Shigure, Kyo and Yuki) plan to hide about this curse from Tohru, who incidentally has to live with them for the time being, but the day she intends to live with them, their secret is unveiled because of Kyo because he arrives to challenge Yuki to a fight & in the confused & panic state (about why does he want to fight?) Tohru accidentally hugs him (in order to stop him from attacking Yuki). Ultimately Kyo transforms into a cat. In her surprised state, when she stumbles into Yuki and Shigure, they also transform into a Rat and Dog, respectively. Kyo's dialogue "You can't even make a cover story if you jerks transform too!" describes clearly that they never had this sort of situation before. 😂 However, she promises to keep their secret because Yuki tells her how the memory, of those who come to know about their secret, is erased by Akito, the head of their family. Tohru befriends the three Somas very soon, also taking care of the house chores like cooking and cleaning (which used to be Shigure's headache). Gradually Tohru meets the other cursed members of the Soma family & helps them through her kindness and sympathy. All that is focused in this series is this specific CURSE, that Tohru knows about in the beginning and then intends to break. Because of this curse, no Soma member is allowed to act Without Akito's permission. She wants to help them and that's the MAJOR Climax of the story that I won't reveal. In short plot and story is Admirable enough to be rated as 10/10.
3. Relationship of Tohru with Yuki and Kyo:
Kyo and Yuki are slowly affected by her presence, when she starts living with them specially Yuki is touched by Tohru's request that even if her memory is erased, he will remain her friend, which no one had asked him before. Kyo initially appears to dislike her, but he, like Yuki, is "drawn" to her kind heart and gentle behavior. Many a times, he tries to get closer to her but ends up apologising to her for commenting angrily and impulsively because of his inability to express his feelings. He's never gotten attention form anyone like Tohru so he didn't know how to express his care until he's assured that she won't ever leave him. This happens when Tohru becomes particularly close to Kyo after his foster-father Kazuma Soma forces him to reveal the monstrous "true form" of his curse to her. Tohru stays with him even after he violently tries to push her away, because she cherishes the moments that she spent with him. This makes Kyo assured that even if the whole world betrays him, Tohru won't. Yuki learns to handle major reasons of his own self-doubts because of her. Kyo and Yuki's personalities are a complete contrast. Both of them praise each other in their hearts, getting jealous over each other's social behaviour. Since they've to avoid physical contact with opposite gender, they've to be cautiously alert all the time. Yuki finds Kyo to be social and so does Kyo feel about Yuki. But both of them are amazing in their ways, which they never realize and it leads to their unending fights. Ever since Tohru starts living with them, they start to get along better than before, (not very well, just better than before 😬) which alone explains how affected they were, because of Tohru now. So the conclusion is: Kyo and Yuki's personalities are another reason of Audience's major interest.
4. Art and animation style of Fruits Basket is worth the praise. Without explaining I can assure that it's 9/10.
5. More or less, Akito is the villain considered in the story and his influence increases more and more with every coming episode. Major twists in the plot occur after 2nd season's 9th episode when Kyo finally realises his feelings for Tohru & audience comes to know how much strong Akito is and how much influence he has over other zodiac members as God. Akito is like a God to them, who controls their lives, even if it torments them physically or mentally and Tohru finds them pitiful.. "How will the Soma Family get rid of this curse?" is the major question, the answer of which everyone wants to find out, so nobody gets bored while watching Fruits Basket till the end. Strong Characters (Akito, KYO, Yuki, Tohru, Shigure, and many other Soma members) are obvious in the beginning of this series, so character must be rated 10/10.
6. COMIC factor of this series is WORTH the praise. Whether the laughter and smiles come with "Kyo and Yuki's fights" or through "Ritsu, Ayame or Shigure's editor's personalities", nobody can stop himself form smiling if he starts watching them. Tohru's friends Arisa and Saki are also given quite the limelight, especially when it came to comic relief. It's a bet! There isn't a single moment that I forwarded the scenes or skipped any episode, which alone is enough to prove HOW INTERESTING this series is, so I'd rate Enjoyment as 10/10.
7. Background music, Openings and ending songs of this series are REMARKABLE. Nobody can deny how perfect this series is!
Overall: Anybody who loves comedy romance with slice of life, would rate it 10/10.
