Hewwo, I’m Panda! I’ll be writing a Fruits Basket Anime Review and I hope I can convince you to watch it.
General info about Fruits Basket.
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. 26 episodes is a good size for this type of anime. Before you start watching, know that it’s a 2001 anime. Just in case you hate older animes. The anime was written by Higuchi Tachibana 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 favourites of anime. There is not one character, I would say is boring. Perhaps the Prince Yuki Fan Club. The main characters consist of Tohru Honda, Yuki Sohma, and Kyo Sohma. I will give you a short summary of each of the main characters.
Characters – Tohru Honda.
Tohru Honda.
Tohru is a high-school student, whose mother passed away due to a car crash. Therefore, she started living in a tent, to not 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, she is awfully positive, almost not humanlike. You often find moe characters to never be in pain or have 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… An amazing, well thought-out character.
Character – Yuki Sohma.
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 character. In his spare time, he likes gardening. He has an amazing character, I will admit to fangirling over him. Yuki has a past of abuse, however, he’s good at hiding this. He has a very strong character arc, better than most of the characters actually. It was great to see the development in him. Speaking of character arcs, arcs are very important 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. Hm… 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.’
Character – Kyo Sohma.
Kyo Sohma.
Let’s move onto Kyo Sohma. Ah, what an awesome character. Kyo is the Cat, an animal, who 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. Kyo is not accepted by many Sohmas and this affects his personality and mental state. On a lighter note, he is an amusing character as he is an aggressive tsundere.(Another aggressive 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 favourite 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 minded 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.
Plot – Negative.
Hm… There are not too many negatives. This isn’t a major thing but it definitely 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 positive. Animes, which have an annoying or dislikable character or villain, are usually quite good. For the reason, it’s clearly 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 really 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 definitely a pleasant and light-hearted anime. I really 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, people would find it hard to accept it. And it’s something that you can definitely put comedy into it. I really like the innocence of the plot. And, the anime is a Slice of life, a genre, which nothing ever really happens. However, this anime actually incorporates many other genres, so 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 actually 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 really 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 actually 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. However, the ED is good.
Animation.
Fruits Basket is a 2001 anime so it really 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 definitely not high-quality animation but I didn’t mind. It wasn’t awful so I would say medium-quality. (Death Parade has high-quality animation and an overall great anime.)
Opinions.
I enjoyed this anime, it was fun to re-watch and I’m definitely 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, I have no complaints. I would definitely recommend it.
Conclusion.
Tohru and her friends.
A good anime, I recommend you watch it. For my rating, hm.. 8/10. I hope you’ve enjoyed this article, 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 really 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.
- What’s your favourite and least favourite genre?
- Have you watched Fruits Basket?
- What was the first anime you watched?
Thank you for reading until the end of my article! Look out for my reviews!
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