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.
