Fruits Basket
Reviewer: Lishy-Po [website] [email]Overall Rating: A+
Media Reviewed: Digital Fansub
Creator: Natsuki Takaya
U.S. Licensed: Yes
Released by: FUNimation
Run time: 26 episodes
BL Content: None (slashable/suggestive)
Genre: Comedy/Shoujo
Other media: English-licensed manga
Honda Tohru is a first year high school student living in a tent in the woods. Her mother was killed in a car accident, and though she lived with her paternal grandfather for a while, he asked her to find new lodging when he started doing renovations on his house. Not wanting to be a burden to anyone, Tohru takes up in a tent and gets a part-time job that she works at night. One day while she's going to school she stumbles upon a house close to where her tent is. Living in this house is Souma Yuki, Tohru's high school "prince," and his older cousin, Shigure. When a landslide destroys her tent, Shigure and Yuki offer her a place to stay. But upon meeting the third occupant of Shigure's home -- Souma Kyo -- Tohru inadvertently learns the Souma family secret: they are cursed by the Juunishi, the thirteen animals of the Chinese Zodiac (including the vengeful cat), and any time they are embraced by the opposite sex the cursed family member turns into his/her Juunishi animal.
At first glance it seems like typical shoujo anime, but Fruits Basket is far from the case. It is touching, warm, funny, and extremely depressing. With the introduction of each new cursed family member the viewer is drawn deeper into their world, where mental and physical abuse is used to keep the family timid, trapped, and scared of life. Yuki and Kyo, living outside the main Souma compound where the rest of the family lives, learn from Tohru what it's like to be cared for and how to care for someone else. Tohru, who is so clumsy and adorable and naive, brightens the life of each Souma that comes around -- from the bright and exuberant Momiji (the rabbit of the Zodaiac) to the stoic and solemn Hatori (the dragon of the Zodiac who turns into a seahorse when embraced -- because seahorses are baby dragons, don't you know!).
The yaoi potential for this anime is so great that the need to slash the characters has taken over most of my creative time. Between Hatori, Shigure, and Ayame's "Amazing Handsome Blossom Trio" (ripe for threesome ficcing and piccing) and Yuki and Kyo's bitter rivalry and hatred for each other (perfect for rival slash), it has all the elements a yaoi fangirl could ever hope for. Momiji, for the most part, dresses in girl's clothing, as does older cousin Ritsu (who only gets one episode in the anime, sadly enough). Hatsuharu, the J-rockerish younger cousin, has an obsession with Yuki that borderlines the homosexual. Every single character is gorgeous, from Yuki's pretty face and soft, girly voice to Hatori's sexy lab coat and hair-over-the-eye-look. Even Akito, the somewhat psychotic and hard to love head of the family is beautiful, with a voice actor who can turn any angst loving fangirl into a quivering mass of goo. There's more than enough room for fluff and angst to move around.
The animation is digital, as is usual nowadays, but it's extremely clean and simple, staying very close to the manga. The manga itself seems slightly prettier than the anime, but there's nothing about the anime's style that disappoints. The voice acting is superb, sporting such talents as Hisakawa Aya (Souma Yuki and Amara Suu in Love Hina), Seki Tomokazu (Souma Kyo and Shindou Shuichi in Gravitation), Okiayu Ryoutarou (Souma Shigure and K in Gravitation), and Inoue Kazuhiko (Souma Hatori and Yuki Eiri in Gravitation). The music at times is light and whimsical, at others brash and even jazzy. The opening theme, "For Fruits Basket," performed by Ritsuko Okazaki, is a slow and very sad melody that represents the overall theme of the anime perfectly.
Fruits Basket manages to range from the side-busting hilarious to the tear-jerking awful in the span of just 26 episodes, and though by the end of the series there is no real conclusion, there is a sense of peace. A sense that everything is okay even though nothing has been resolved. It's a story about learning to accept oneself and learning to let others accept you, about friendship and learning to face fear no matter what form it takes. Not just silly love triangles, not just silly shoujo, but a true heart warmer that anyone can enjoy and love.
