Fruits Basket. Studio DEEN production, 2001. English version released by Funimation Entertainment, 2002.
What’s it about?
Tohru Honda meets the Sohma family, and discovers their secret. The Sohmas are cursed, turning into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac when hugged by a member of the opposite sex.
Find out more:
Tohru Honda has had it rough—she was recently orphaned and is living in a tent, which, unbeknownst to her, is on the property of the Sohma family. Although Tohru is still in high school, she has been supporting herself by working night janitorial jobs. When classmate Yuki (a handsome boy known as “Prince Yuki” to hordes of sighing teen girl groupies) and his older cousin 27-year-old Shigure Sohma discover her living situation, they invite her to stay in their large home. Tohru also meets their cousin Kyo, an irascible boy who sees himself as Yuki’s rival. Tohru discovers the Sohma secret: many Sohmas are cursed, turning into animals from the Chinese Zodiac whenever they are touched by a member of the opposite sex. When Tohru sees which animals Kyo (the cat) and Yuki (the rat) transform into, Kyo’s rage toward Yuki makes more sense. In Chinese zodiac legend, God invited all the animals to a banquet. Rat was a trickster, and told Cat the banquet was the next day. All the other animals made it to the banquet while Cat slumbered, and the first 12 animals to arrive became the animals of the zodiac. As the story unfolds, Tohru realizes that this curse is no laughing matter—there is a darkness and cruelty to this family, one that affected Yuki and Kyo deeply. The specifics will be revealed later in the series, and are only hinted at in the first four episodes.
Although Fruits Basket is a popular anime, and one that is tween and teen friendly, it has a few flaws. The pacing is slow in the first episodes, which is unfortunate, because this sets the tone for viewer, who might not give the anime a chance after the first episode, which largely consists of Tohru’s backstory. It picks up when more characters are introduced, particularly Shigure, Kyo, and Kagura. When new Sohmas are introduced, the viewer is just as curious as Tohru—what zodiac animal are they? There is plenty of comedy, but this shojo anime is overall a supernatural romance, and appeals largely to girls.
Genre: Supernatural romance, Fantasy, Comedy
Interest level: Grades 5 and up
Rating: TV-PG
Subjects: Chinese Zodiac, family relationships, high school, romance
Dub or Sub?
In this anime, the dub is weaker, although it is not terrible. There are decent English language voice actors (Laura Bailey does a great job), but some voice actors drove me nuts. If you don’t mind subtitles, watch this anime in Japanese.
Is it also a manga?
Fruits Basket is also a complete series of manga. There are 23 volumes, the last published in 2007. The manga is actually a bit better than the anime, which sometimes suffers pacing problems.
Similar anime & manga titles:
Gakuen Alice
Vampire Knight
Fushigi Yugi
D.N. Angel
Ouran High School Host Club
Series information: 26 episodes in the anime
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