Fruits Basket Season 1 Detailed Anime Review

Hewwo, I’m Panda! I’ll be writing a Fruits Basket Anime Review, and I hope I can convince you to watch it. 

Fruits Basket has many genres. Slice of life, Romance, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, and Shoujo. Usually, animes like this are 12 episodes or so. However, the anime is 26 episodes long. I’m always annoyed at the end of the twelfth episode as it isn’t long enough for me. Twenty-six episodes are the right size for this type of anime. Before you start watching, know that it’s a 2001 anime. Just in case you hate older animes. Higuchi Tachibana wrote the anime, and the studio is named Studio Deen.

Characters

I love the characters of this series. They all have individual and amusing traits, which will keep you watching until the very end. They are one of my favorites of anime. There is not one character I would call boring. Perhaps the Prince Yuki Fan Club. The main characters consist of Tohru Honda, Yuki Sohma, and Kyo Sohma. I will give you a summary of each of the main characters. 

Tohru Honda

 Tohru is a high-school student whose mother passed away due to a car crash. Therefore, she started living in a tent, not to burden her grandfather. She loves to cook and is excellent at house-keeping. She has an after-school job of a cleaner at an office, to pay for her tuition fees. I love her character, and she is positive, almost not humanlike. You often find moe characters never having a ‘rough time.’ However, later in the anime, you see a darker side of her. Depressed and negative, in pain and struggling. She’s hiding a lot of pain, yet she smiles every day… A fantastic, well-thought-out character.

 Yuki Sohma

Yuki Sohma is nicknamed Prince at school, due to his charming character and polite manner. He is the Rat from the Chinese Zodiac, and he’s shown as a quiet, attractive, and reserved personality. In his spare time, he likes gardening. He has a fantastic character. I will admit to fangirling over him. Yuki has a past of abuse. However, he’s good at hiding this. He has a compelling character arc, better than most of the characters. It was great to see the development in him.

Speaking of character arcs, arcs are significant in almost anything novels, mangas, TV shows, and obviously in anime. Almost every main character has an arc, which is quite rare in a few animes. It’s obvious it has been carefully planned, and I admire that fact. Sometimes, I feel like he is quite clueless about what’s going on with Kyo and Tohru. I’m not sure if this is intentional, but I did notice this in the anime. Before I end this paragraph about him, I would like to quote my friend. I think this is very constructive and describes Yuki well. ‘SO CUTE AND SWEET AND OMG HIS VOICE ACTOR IS THE BEST I LOVE HIS VOICE ACTOR. AND WHEN HE IS IN HIS MOUSE FORM I SCREAM FROM THE CUTENESS KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.’

Kyo Sohma

Let’s move onto Kyo Sohma. Ah, what an excellent character. Kyo is the Cat, an animal, which unfortunately is not part of the Chinese Zodiac. However, the Cat would be part of the Zodiac if the Rat hadn’t tricked the Cat into missing the banquet. If you wish to know more about this, I recommend you check out the Zodiac’s origin stories. Many Sohmas do not accept Kyo, and this affects his personality and mental state. On a lighter note, he is an amusing character as he is an aggressive tsundere. Another dynamic tsundere character is Kagami from Kuroko no Basket.

 

In an author’s note, the author describes Kyo as a powerful force that pulled the story of Fruits Basket along. I couldn’t agree more. As you discover later in the story, Kyo holds a dark secret. This is also the time when we get glimpses of his mother. Kyo is one of, if not my favorite character. He seems to have more of a story than the other characters. Sometimes, even though I hate to admit it, he can come across as annoying in some parts. But I didn’t particularly mind. Okay, that’s a lie, I remembered very much. I was annoyed, and I got the impression that Kyo was a prick. But, as I’ve said before, you soon learn more about him.  

Plot – Negative

There are not too many negatives. This isn’t a significant thing, but it annoyed me so much. I understand they don’t want to brush away the side characters, but the Yuki Fan Club gets maybe one or two whole episodes dedicated to them. I could barely stand to watch their annoying personalities. However, if you look at it the other way around, it could become decisive. Animes, which have an irritating or dislikable character or villain, are usually quite good.

 

For this reason, it’s been thought about and carefully planned. Villains are supposed to be dislikeable. Though don’t get me wrong. The Yuki Fan Club isn’t exactly the most threatening villains/enemies in this anime. Right, my second negative. Don’t hurt me for this, but I don’t like manga. I tend to stick to my anime. However, the manga is supposedly a lot darker. The anime is family-friendly, compared to the manga. This is very disappointing, and though the manga is amazing, I don’t feel motivated to read it. I won’t spill the insane spoilers of the manga, but I will say, watch the anime then read the whole manga.  

Plot – Positive

Fruits Basket is a pleasant and light-hearted anime. I like the concept of the Chinese Zodiac. That’s a very original idea, and I don’t think I’ve seen another anime like this. The Zodiac is a unique concept to put into an anime but isn’t so different, and people would find it hard to accept. The comedy of the show blends well with the anime. I like the innocence of the plot. And, the anime is a slice of life, a genre, which nothing ever really happens. However, this anime incorporates many other genres so that you won’t get bored. If you want a more chill anime, I recommend New Game. It gives you a break from the usual intense animes, but it won’t bore you because there are actual problems and a plot. Fruits Basket was one of the first anime I watched, and it got me into Slice of Life animes. I’ve been talking to my friend about it, and she said it got her into romance animes. I’m sure it works for the other genres: Comedy, drama, fantasy, and shoujo.

Music

Ah, I enjoyed the OP and the ED. I also really like the fact that they kept the OP and ED the same throughout the anime. It’s quite relaxing and chill. Unlike the other animes I’ve reviewed Net juu no Susume and Yuri on Ice, I would listen to this again after I’ve watched the anime. One of the best OPs and EDs. It’s a hard choice, but I think I prefer the OP.

Animation 

Fruits Basket is a 2001 anime, so it depends on your opinion of that art style/animation. I’m not the biggest fan, but I felt like the anime suited that art style. So it’s not high-quality animation, but I didn’t mind. It wasn’t awful, so that I would say medium-quality. Death Parade has high-quality animation and an overall great anime.

However, if you are a fan of quality animation, you will most definitely enjoy the 2019 Fruits Basket Reboot. It adapts the whole story of season 1 and expands with a new cast. And this new Reboot 2019 version is expected to adapt the whole story of Fruits Basket manga.

 

I enjoyed this anime, it was fun to re-watch, and I’m going to look into older animes now. Don’t worry. I probably won’t be making another review of an old anime. I started watching anime about three years ago, so I haven’t experienced the older animes. And for some people, I guess ‘older animes’ would be like 1788, but I have no other word to call it, so I’m calling it old. It was fun and innocent, and I have no complaints. I would recommend it.

Conclusion

 

A good anime, I recommend you watch it for my rating, hm.. 8/10. I hope you’ve enjoyed this article, and I tried my best to be as detailed as possible. I apologize for the brackets, I know it’s annoying. But I have to. However, I will recommend to you an article that’s good if you want recommendations and Fruits Basket isn’t for you. (Make sure to check out the recommendation guide Ah, the irony. 

Anyways, if you have any free time, consider answering my questions in the comments.

1. What’s your favorite and least favorite genre?
2. Have you watched Fruits Basket?
3. What was the first anime you watched?

Thank you for reading until the end of my article! Look out for my reviews!