I...have...sooooo...much...homework...
To be honest, when I first read the description of this anime on Netflix, I thought it sounded really stupid and childish. Oh, how I was wrong. How wrong was I? Let's find out!
Synopsis: Tohru Honda is a recently orphaned 16-year-old girl who now lives in a tent. One day, she's invited to live with the Sohma family, which includes her classmate Yuki. But the Sohma's have a secret: If any of them are hugged by someone of the opposite sex or are under a great deal of stress, they transform into the 12 animals of the zodiac. *hiss* Oh, and the cat. As Tohru meets all the different members of the zodiac, she also learns the darker sides to the Sohma curse but still manages to touch and change the hearts of all the Sohmas she meets.
Story: Fruits Basket takes a very slice-of-life approach to telling its story, with each episode being rather self contained. Often times, an episode is spent getting to know one of the members of the Sohma family (most often a guy, you know, because of the whole Tohru-hugging-them-thing to reveal what animal they are.) There are your standard slice-of-life episodes, including a hot springs, school festival, and Valentine's Day episodes that we've all probably seen many times before. But this isn't a bad thing, as characters are developed and moral lessons are taught basically every episode of Fruits Basket. This wasn't just a tack-on, because it never felt forced or dumb. Instead, I found myself smiling uncontrollably at times while watching this anime, and other times in a state of awe or loss. I've mentioned before in my reviews that I don't really like episodic shows. But I think part of the reason Fruits Basket worked for me is because I went into this anime with barely any expectations. It's because of this method of storytelling that I don't consider this anime AS MUCH of a shojo as others would say, to be honest. The comedy is actually fairly innocent, with only a sprinkling of sexuality here and there. It's rather light, without it being the focus of the story, and it's primary niche is its quirkiness. There's also plenty of drama and depressing, thought-provoking moments in Fruits Basket, so not everything is bishis, rice balls, and comedy routines. I thought the drama was handled really well, and was entirely believable, instead of it all feeling superficial. Overall, because of how Fruits Basket handled its' story, I would actually recommend this to be the first shojo anime anyone watches. But a bit of advice here: skip episode 22. It was such a pain to watch, personally, and I don't think it added to the story that much. The ending I found to be interesting, actually, in that is followed the manga instead of diverging off, like what Ouran did.
Characters:
As usual for slice-of-life and shojo anime, Fruits Basket is a very character-driven show. Every character is unique, has their own quirks, and a different problem in their life. The cast of Fruits Basket is actually rather large, but to me, it didn't feel like the characters were based too much on common archetypes of shojo anime. All these beastly boys and girls revolve around our protagonist Tohru Honda, who's sweeter and kinder than a teddy bear decked out in pink ribbons holding a basket of Mars Bars. Her desire to improve the lives of everyone around her is matched only by her desire to not be a burden to anyone. This may make her come off as a cookie-cutter or annoying character. I didn't think so, because she's not perfect; she has her own problems. There'a a certain joy I got out of these characters simply by seeing a character come back after their respective spotlight episode. It's the feeling of character relationships growing and changing that often brought each episode to a close, and very often made me feel extremely satisfied, just by seeing these characters interact. What Fruits Basket tries to emphasize with its characters is that no one is perfect. Characters still have flaws, even after Tohru manages to change their hearts. One thing I noticed about the characters in Fruits Basket is how a lot of them can pull a 180 character flip rather quickly and frequently. Yuki? Check. Kyo? Check. Kagura? Check. Hatsuharu? Oh yeah. This is mostly for comedic effect, but is occasionally used for drama and character development, like with Momiji or Kisa. And when the show does this, it's GOOD. I found myself holding my hands to my mouth from the shock of back-stories and thoughtful words that came from these characters' mouths. But I can almost guarantee to anyone that there will be a character you will love, and one that is absolutely annoying. I've heard from the haters of this show complain about all the characters being annoying, and to be honest, sometimes I can see where they're coming from. The only reason I can understand this is because of the character that was annoying for me, Hiro Sohma. Even though he did change a little for the better, this kid is almost as much of a brat as Aloise Trancy. (And he even looks like him)
Art:
It pains me to say this, but there isn't anything that great about the art in Fruits Basket. But this is probably due to the fact that this anime was made back in 2001. From what I've seen, Studio Deen has only recently made anime with decent artwork, such as Hetalia and Is This A Zombie. All the character designs are very simple, but at the same time, classic shojo. The distinguishing feature of the characters is almost always the hair. The art is a bit different than the manga (which I am reading, actually), which must have come as a bit of a shock to those that watched Fruits Basket when it first aired. The color pallet is very muted and pastel, with probably the brightest thing being Kyo's hair. The use of exaggerated backgrounds during comedic scenes added to the effectiveness and appeal to the comedy. The set pieces have a hand painted look to them, but not so much that it is blatantly obvious, a la 1994 Sailor Moon. Overall, the art is a bit dated, but at the same time has aged surprisingly well. The simple sweetness of the art perfectly compliments the nature and tone of Fruits Basket.
Animation:
As I've said before, animation is not usually the highlight of a shojo anime. Fruits Basket is one of Studio Deen's classic titles, and as I said above, they still aren't the best when it comes to animation. Animation is usually kept to a minimum, and sometimes small motions are repeated or go through loops. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing this time and is a bit understandable, as I believe Fruits Basket was animated at least partially with traditional cels. There are your typical anime shortcuts for emotion or action (anger veins, speed lines, the river of tears, many arms and legs while running, etc.) But the exaggerations are a good part of what made the comedy funny, and I just can't imagine Fruits Basket without them, really.
Voice:
Like I often do, I'm recommending watching this anime dubbed, partially because Yuki sounds nothing like a guy in Japanese. Yes, you have Laura Bailey, Eric Vale, and Jerry Jewell (common Funimation leads) as Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo, respectively, but I didn't really recognize anyone else on the cast list. Which is good if you often associate English voice actors with their other roles in anime. Many old dubs are associated with being cheesy, but Fruits Basket is a bit of a different case. Either I didn't mind the cheesiness, or the anime was very often cheesy so the script went well with the anime. Probably a mix of both. Chris Sabat pulled off a flawlessly flamboyant Ayame, Kent Williams a cold-but-kind Hatori, and John Burgmeier was outstanding as the perverted, but fatherly Shigure. I think everyone pulled off their roles well, though some of the actors or actresses fell a bit short when it came to the drama moments. But I think this dub worked very effectively with the comedy, and that is enough for me to call this a good dub. There isn't much about this dub that can be called "outstanding," but there's nothing wrong with it, either, so if the sub and dub are equal, I always choose dub.
Music:
The opening and ending themes are both quiet, simple, sweet, but overall unremarkable. They're easily skippable, unless you like that sort of thing. A lot of the OST is as quirky or fun as the characters. Other times, the tracks were just "little sounds", simple melodies, or just piano pieces. Now, none of these tracks are bad, it just sometimes feels like the OST isn't there, really. It seemed to me that the only purpose for most of the OST was to make the slice-of-life sound very cute and fun. However, I give the OST points for being unique.
Execution:
I can't judge execution for Fruits Basket as much as I can with other anime, simply because of my lack of expectations when I started. If you're looking for a full-on shojo romance anime, you may be a bit disappointed with Fruits Basket. Thankfully, I did not have this mindset or expectation while watching this anime, so I thought the slice-of-life was handled and worked really well. And it wasn't just about the pretty boys, I also thought the balance between the comedy and the drama/character development was really great as well, giving Fruits Basket a lot more substance than if it was just a plain slice-of-life. This anime works perfectly fine as a shojo, but I consider this anime the kind that will cheer you up and put a big smile on your face. Fruits Basket is the kind of anime where you just watch one or two episodes after a long day, instead of marathoning it on the weekend.
My Enjoyment:
There were plenty of times in Fruits Basket where I could not stop smiling. And when the show did get serious, I felt myself really sympathizing with the characters. Sure, there were a few annoying characters, but thankfully, I can count them on one hand, and they didn't show up often in the anime. Fruits Basket is my second favorite shojo anime of all time, but I think that's because I've seen more bad ones than good. It's mainly because of this anime that I don't consider myself a slice-of-life hater, a sort of beacon of past glory, in the sea of moe girl slice-of-life that occupies much of anichart every season. So, other than a few hiccups,and this was all due to personal taste, really, my enjoyment of Fruits Basket was very consistent.
The Score:
Averaging the eight numerical values for the categories listed above, I give Fruits Basket a 7.1875/10 and my orange flag. If you like slice-of-life but don't want all the characters to be moe girls, this is the perfect anime for you.
Story: 7.8 Characters: 8.5
Art: 5.6 Animation: 5.3
Voice: 7.2 Music: 6.2
Execution: 8.4 My Enjoyment: 8.5
For similar anime, I suggest the popular shojo Ouran High School Host Club. It's another reverse harem that's also a slice-of-life with great character development by means of a unique female protagonist changing the hearts of the people she meets. If you want a shojo that's short and more supernatural, I suggest Kamisama Kiss. Hey, it has the same director as Fruits Basket!
NEXT REVIEW: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann *cracks knuckles* *puts on fabulous red cape and sunglasses*
Last Updated: 15 Oct 2014
Originally Published: 11 Oct 2014
