Fruits Basket 1st Season

I enjoyed the original Fruit Basket anime. I know that's an unpopular opinion as the author and manga readers despised the original anime for dropping the ball in terms of adapting the manga but I thought it was a pretty good show, despite its flaws. When Fruits Basket 2019 was announced around late 2018 I was very excited as I finally got to experience this tragic tale in complete form. I went into Fruits Basket 2019 with very high exceptions as I expected the series to deliver it's promises and fortunately the series managed to meet and surpass my high exceptions as Fruits Basket 2019 is only thebest anime I have ever encountered but it's easily the best Shoujo anime I have seen from this decade. Watching Fruits Basket 2019 story unfold was like picking up light hearted fairy tale book only to find out that the fairy tale book that picked has a lot of dark and mystery elements in it. That's Fruits Basket 2019 plot in the nutshell. It's a dark and intriguing story that was disguised as a fluffy and light-hearted story. One of the things you begin to notice while watching the first couple of episodes was how it simply got straight to the point. The series wastes no time establishing its characters, themes and mystery elements to the viewer. It felt like a proper introduction and the way the show did was astounding. Naturally this is an anime remake and the whole point of an anime remake is not only to fix the flaws were presented in the original adaptation for that particularly series but to also tell the present the classic story again to newer anime fans. This is Fruits Basket 2019 second biggest strength. You can clearly tell that the Fruits Basket 2019 director Yoshihide Ibata had passion, respect and ambition towards this remake as he made sure it was accurate to the manga from story elements, themes and characterisation and it shows especially in the second half where the original anime went out of bounds. Before we talk about Fruits Basket 2019 biggest strength I want to talk about the other aspects that it does well-staring with the well handed tonal shifts. One of my biggest issues I have with modern anime is how they struggle to have a consistent tone and many anime that shall be nameless end up being bad. Thankfully Fruits Basket 2019 doesn't suffer from this as it knows how to use its tonal shifts and it never feels out of place due to the show understanding pacing. Speaking of pacing that's an another aspect that Fruits Basket well. The plot moves at the smooth and consistent pace that never bores the viewers. The smooth pacing also gives characters as its mystery and plot elements enough time to shine. Which leads me to Fruits Basket biggest strength theme exploration. The series explores the themes of child abuse, family, bullying, memories, pain, love, accepting your true self, guilt child abandonment and discrimination. I loved how the series was able to execute and present its theme to the viewer without feeling forced or hamfisted thanks to great writing and direction. This was in retrospect absent in the original anime. Obviously a well-written story like this is nothing without strong and likeable characters and fortunately the characters are just as great as the well written plot. Thoru is one of the best Shoujo protagonists I've ever encountered in a long while. I know you guys are thinking right now. But you called her a great character already in your original Fruits Basket review. It is true that I called Thoru a great character in my review for the original anime however the reason why she was not one of my favourite Shoujo leads period is that she a bit of a Mary Sue. 2019 Thoru is not a Mary Sue whatsoever she a caring but mentally damaged person. Throughout the series we see trying her best to break the Shoma family curse by getting to know the Souma family as well not losing her cool in life due to her tragic past that damaged her mentally as a person. She also a nicely developed character as she changes through the plot with each new Shoma counter. In the original anime Momiji was my character in series however in the remake Kyo is my favourite character. I just low how aggressive and caring he is when interacting with other characters. Kyo is also a well-developed character as he goes from an angry individual who hates everyone especially to a friendlier person who is able to his peers. Kyou strong characterisation is only better with his sad and well-written backstory. Yuki is an another character that I really liked. I loved he's clam, charming and mysterious personality when he talks to other characters in the series. He also develops through the anime as he goes from an isolated individual who has a hard time communicating to his peers due the Shoma family curse in him to a more spoken individual who is able express his feelings towards others. The supporting characters are just good and well-written as the main characters. In the original series Saki and Arisa were mostly comedic relief characters that only embraced the comedy nature of the original series. They were hardly relevant in the original plot minus a few key scenes notably episode 25. The remake turns Arisa and especially Saki into more serious and relevant characters and it was honestly for the better. Seeing them properly characterised in this remake put a smile on my face as my wish for the now defunct season 2 of the original anime was granted. They finally became more than just tools of the plot as both Arisa and Saki as just as interesting as the Shoma family. This is not to say Saki and Arisa aren't funny characters at all they still retain they gags and personality quirks that never fail to make the laugh their asses off. The other Shoma members are also great. Every Shoma member is unique in terms of personality and seeing them interact with Thoru and the other Shoma members was fascinating due to Fruits Basket 2019 outstanding character chemistry. The series also manages fantastically characterise every Shoma member to a point where you can sympathise with them including the some of the more loud and bizarre members like Kagura and Hrio. If there was one word to describe Fruits Basket 2019 it would be gorgeous. Studio TMS did an outstanding job at bring the show to life with the smooth and sharp character designs that were only the enhances by the smooth bright and vibrant colour palette. The background scenery is bright, well-detailed, and the lighting is spot on. As for actual animation it's pretty good. Character movement is smooth and there's hardly any still frames used. The series may not be visually stylish as Demon Slayer and March Comes in Like a Lion but it makes up by great direction and shot competition especially towards the final 4 episodes. Fruits Basket 2019 soundtrack is for the most part very good. The soundtrack features an upbeat, cheerful and melancholic score that perfectly the tone of the anime. The first opening theme Again by Beverly is a beautifully composed song that perfectly captures the tone of the series.The second opening theme Chime" by Ai Otsuka is an upbeat and sparkling song that captures the more light-hearted elements in the series. The first ending theme Lucky Ending by Vickeblanka is one of my favourite ending themes of all time due it's calming and beautiful bass. Fun fact the singer who did the ending theme for this also did the famous kickass third opening theme for Black Clover Black Rover. The second ending One Step Closer by INTERSECTION may not be as great as Lucky Ending but it's still a pretty solid song. The voice acting is strong in both languages but if I had to pick between the original Japanese audio and the Funimation English Dub I would easily pick the Funimation Dub. Not only the dub was very well-acted, but the audio quality was top notch. Returning voice actors Laura Bailey, Jerry ewell and Eric Vale absolutely blew the Seiyuus counterparts away. The new voice cast for certain characters is also very good. My favourite newcomer for the dub is Mikaela Krantz who did a great job of portraying the bubbly Monoji especially with that German accent. Overall its personal preference but I suggests giving the English Dub a shot. Watching Fruits Basket 2019 reminded me why I love this medium. It is a fantastically written and charming series that screams passion and love. Compared to FMAB and Hunter x Hunter 2011 where you have the opinion to check the original adaptations for more detailed versions of earlier arcs there's little to no reason to watch the original anime as this remake from head to toe did everything better. Sure the original series may have nostalgia factor but nostalgia is only as good as it's overall quality and that where Fruits Basket 2001 unfortunately falls flat on that regard. Fruits Basket 2019 is not only great it's the type of great that makes you laugh, smile, cry and happy. Studio TMS and Yoshihide Ibata thank you for bringing this classic story to the modern day.

Disclaimer : I didn’t watch the first fruits basket anime and neither did I read the manga. So this review will be purely on Fruits Basket (2019). Second review ever and French reviewer, sorry if bad english, gambarimasu. I’ll go through each point that made me love this anime that didn’t please me as much in the beginning. Firstly, let me tell you that this anime is perfect for shoujo lovers, BUT I’ll try throughout my review to interest the people who skip this only because it’s categorized as a shoujo. Fruits basket is a simple shoujo story as we could have seen at first sight. Ourmain girl, Tohru Honda helps certain people affected by a curse that makes them transform temporarily into a cute animal of the zodiac when they hug someone of the opposite sex. What is the big deal you would say? Yeah doesn’t mean much as a problem for me also when I started this anime. The beginning is what you expect from a typical shoujo show. A cute and simple girl flirting with handsome males that makes jealous others random female students at school. And she starts to live with them from the very first episode! In the first episodes, you could find that all is going well without any strong pressure and you will probably think: “Ah, another shoujo/slice of life anime without interest”. You could’ve never been so wrong. As the anime and the story advances, you will discover a very dark and mysterious story behind all the characters, and it doesn’t limit at the mains ones! That’s one of the strongest point of Fruits Basket (2019), the characters are really well written. Theirs backstory are roughs, deeps, unpleasant, frightening but also sometimes happy and they made them as they are today. All their interactions with the other members of the cast are coherent and really well thought taking into account their own experiences, traumas, etc… even if the spectator doesn’t know them yet. From a certain point in the anime, the mysteries about the past lives of some characters start to be revealed. And it’s done in a magnificent way. Trust me when I say you will need more tissues than you usual jerking week routine. More seriously, the way this anime conveys the feeling is incredible and is on par with Violet Evergarden as an example. Those few episodes really hit the spectator because for some characters, all the pressure built during the anime releases suddenly as a flow of beautiful flashbacks, hidden memories and sickening past situations that explain a lot about how they are behaving today. Even for the characters that were not hinted to have a dark past, we do get some breathtaking moments that will stay on your mind for a while after. I also must highlight that Tohru is one of the strongest characters I’ve seen in this genre of anime. Being able to put on the truest smile you’ve seen and being constantly a flurry ball of cheerfulness for everybody she met while staying reasonably true is something truly admirable if we consider what she has been through. Enough about the characters, the music/sound in Fruits Baskets (2019) serves perfectly its role. Accentuating the emotional moments when it should and give a relaxing tone when the story goes on. And God I love the endings, they did a really good job, the songs are very emotional and remind us at the end of every episode the feels that went through during the last 24-min (If you saw episode 24, you know how powerful it can be haha). Moreover, they are meaningful both in their lyrics and in their visual. F-yeah we could do a complete review on the second opening about how Tohru is giving hope and peace for all the characters as we see the cast bring down their umbrellas one by one while the rain stops and the luminous sunrays lightens up their faces. For a remake, the animation of Fruits Basket (2019) is so worth it. Not much to say about it, it’s just beautiful. The sceneries are great, the movements are fluid and the expressions on the characters faces really feel authentic and is giving a lot to the spectator. Overall Fruits Basket (2019) is close to a masterpiece of its genre. A story of love, friendship but mainly a story about life itself. The hard times that we all had once at least can be found and reflected in this anime. Thus, the spectator can easily relate to the various tragic event and it’s so well done that even if he didn’t encounter them in his life, they will still get through him. As Tohru brings peace and joy to the people she loves, Fruits Basket (2019) brings us tears of understanding and a very strong feeling of compassion that makes us want to take into our arms every single character of the show (and it’s not because we only want to pet them after!). If you loves shoujo or you seek anime like Violet Evergarden with strong emotional moments with beautiful music and smooth animations, you should 100% go for it RIGHT NOW. And if you are not particularly interested by shoujo nor slice of life anime, why not give it a try? You might be surprised by how moving an anime about simple things in life can be! ~ Walpurgies

Perhaps the difficulty of understanding yourself is equal to the amount you feel alive when doing so. Fruits Basket understands this. Character driven and dramatically told, it is able to embed its most important themes inside of the story and characters. What starts as a girl finding out a secret quickly becomes understanding the reality they shoulder. The Souma zodiac secret, transferring into one of the zodiac members when hugged by the opposite sex, is a means to tell a story. Of course Honda Tohru wouldn’t have forged a relationship with them without discovering it, but more importantly it contains single-handedly the most important theme the showpertains—People are born with burdens. Each and every Souma carries some form of ache. But surprisingly enough, their issues are not foregin to what are real problems that real people have to overcome. Having no place to belong, holding resentment towards others because of one's own uncontrolled circumstances, parental issues, losing loved ones, not being able to get along with others. Each of these complications get conceptually visualized through very unreal means, but at their core are not unreal problems. It is this balance between a larger than life setting, but with a core focus on reality, that gives the show its charm. Fruits Basket is about many things, however, and probably just as important as having burdens is about how to live and move on from them. This is mostly presented through a character, Honda Tohru. To the Soumas, she is exactly what they needed. Inspired by her late mother, Tohru is driven to be compassionate with a way of words. She learns to understand all of them because she understood her wonderful mother. She's kind, caring, and always seems to know what to say to them. She can inspire them with her words or actions, and manage to crack all of their shells to become friendly with all of them. Is she too perfect to be believable? Well, that is sort of her point, because she is in fact vulnerable and flawed, it just isn’t necessarily clear. Her “perfection” in a way feels its adding another layer to the show. Honda Tohru is extremely romanticized as a person, but that doesn’t mean she has no core issues. We learn she is naive, absent-minded, and often forgetful. But the show doesn’t necessarily present these flaws as a means to simply make her cuter. They are real with real consequences. She wants to believe the best in everybody, she wants the moments she loves to last forever, out of fear of not having a place to belong, again. This is only to a fault, because eventually—like everybody else, she will have to face reality. This is best displayed when she is called back to live with her Grandfather. But more important than any one issue the the show gives her is how she views herself. Even though most of the characters in the show (and probably most viewers) can admit she is doing all the right things, she doesn’t necessarily think she is living up to those expectations herself. This excerpt was one of my favorite moments of the show, an analogy Tohru uses to cheer up Kyo: “If a person is a rice ball and what’s great about the person is a pickled plum, than maybe your plum is on your back! Maybe everyone is the world has plums on their backs, of all different shapes, colors, and sizes. But since they can’t see their backs, they can’t see the plums they have. They think they don’t have anything—that they’re just plain rice. Even though that is not true at all—even though they really do have a plum there. Maybe the reason we get jealous of others, is because other people’s backs are easy to see.” It’s almost like this was written to describe how Tohru is projected to others. It's an important lesson, however, that we all have doubts about ourselves, no matter how perfect we may come off to others. This is how dynamics between characters in the show are formed. Through both understandings and misunderstandings about one another. Characters hiding things about them, or not being totally honest to themselves or others. It is surprisingly realistic. The original Fruits Basket TV anime aired 18 years ago, so this rendition surges greatly in its animation/art/sound quality(though not necessarily the music pieces themselves can be compared, however). I can imagine, however, that there will be some loyal towards the original (just like some people are more loyal towards the original FMA and not Brotherhood) If you are looking to watch the series modern day and haven’t watched either, it is hard to not recommend the 2019 version. It is important to mention that just like the original Furuba, the way its assed will likely be polarized. Of course, like most drama anime, this series isn’t free from melodrama, or black/white conflicts every now and again. Not every character is well put together, and not every episode contains something special. But what I found always consistent about the show is how it remained faithful to its wonderful themes. Fruits Basket is an impressively layered show. It manages to be both character driven and contain a relevant plot, all while never losing focus on its core themes. The characters, while possessing supernatural phenomena and having issues arise in a rather unusual way, contain familiar troubles that are very real. It's in that way the show tries to tell you no matter how distant a person feels from you—we all have to carry the burdens we get for simply existing.

*Minimum Spoiler Review* TL;DR: Nostalgic Fans will gush over it. New Viewers will just glance upon it. Fruits Basket: "Brotherhood" isn't that bad. If you usually binge shitty slice of life/shojou crap, you can cleanse your palette with this. [Story: 5/10 , Characters: 5/10, Art: 8/10, Sound: 8/10, Enjoyment: 6/10] Before I start this review, I want to preface this with saying, this will be my first time watching Fruits Basket. I have not read the manga nor have I watched the original. However, I have done ample background research to know & differentiate the changes and improvement for this new adaption. “A conscience grows, just likethe body. It’s bred within your heart. That’s why the shape of people’s kindness is so different.” – Tohru Honda Fruits Basket S1 (2019) aka Fruits Basket: Brotherhood (/s) was one of the most anticipated anime of this year since it is a readaptation of Fruit Basket that aired 18 years ago. There was so much hype surrounding this new adaptation, that it made me wonder, what was wrong with the old one that it so badly deserved a new adaptation. From my research and understanding, it was the Mangaka, Takaya Natsuki, who specifically requested that this adaptation be done anew; new studio, new anime staff, new voice actors, new everything. Nothing from the previous anime would be brought back. Which begs the question, the old one was beloved by so many fans & rated pretty highly on MAL, why did it need to be readapted? Turns out, beside the toxic relationship she had with the previous studio, she just felt her manga wasn't adapted properly and the characters were not given its due diligence. So 18 years later, TMS studio brings back the shojou classic, Fruits Basket, where they will fully adapt the entire manga over 60+ episodes and not just the first major arc & leave the readers to read the manga like the previous one. Now that we know why it was revived, let's see from the perspective of a first time Fruits Basket anime watcher, putting nostalgia aside, whether this shojou classic will be a hit or a miss in today's anime culture. “It would be so great if it was possible to go through life without making a single mistake.” – Yuki Souma Fruits Basket at first glance is a very laid back slice of life style shojou series about a homeless orphan girl named Tohru Honda, who gets taken in by the Souma Family. They have a dark secret that they are people of the Chinese Zodiac and if a human hugs them, they transform into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Somehow they just coexist, procreate and live a dysfunctional abnormal life riddled with emotional & love conflicts. However, enter Tohru, this saint of a girl, who grew up hearing stories of the Chinese Zodiac from her now deceased Mother, as she will transform the people's lives around her. The story is very linear however it's riddled with flashbacks of the characters' childhood traumas. Every episode or two, the story focuses on her changing the viewpoint of the people around her as they learn to grow and love the person they are. There is romance, there is drama, there are tears and there is comedy. In the beginning it seems funny since we start to get introduced to different zodiac animals and their unique quirks & upbringing traumas. However in the middle it sort of drags on since it becomes very repetitive but near the end you realize this whole season is just the first arc where they establish the major characters' flaws and growth so they can move onto to next arc. So from a first time viewer's perspective, it's not that great of a story but for nostalgic fans, it's a great treat as they get to revisit their old fav show in new limelight. “For there to be pain, there has to be kindness. For darkness to stand out, there has to be the sun.” – Kyouko Honda When you have a series like Fruits Basket that has a multitude of characters, you have to accept that these characters will be nothing more than two dimensional caricature of various character tropes. The main character is Tohru, who is an ubiquitous over the top super innocent saint that only just have love and tears for everyone around her. The major side characters are Kyou Souma (Cat), Yuki Souma (Rat) & Kazuma Souma (Dog). Besides them, you have her polar opposite friends Uo-Chan and Saki-Chan. Each of the character she meets as the show progresses represent different facets of emotional vulnerability that she overcame to become this saint that she is now. So to help them overcome their fears & struggles, she pours her heart out and tears to make them learn to love and accept who they are and carve the future they want for themselves. What's odd is that no characters really stick out to me, despite each of the zodiac characters having their unique character designs, personalities, quirks & traumas. If I have to dig deep, the major complex character is probably Tohru's mother Kyouko Honda, who learned many life lessons from being a troublemaker gangster to a doting calm mother. It's hard to really relate oneself to the main character because she is too perfect for a common human. She's like this Gandhi like figure in this anime and even then you can't even compare her to Gandhi because let's be real, even Gandhi wasn't a saint. As for the zodiac characters and other side characters, they are somewhat relatable but due to them being very two dimensional and rudimentary trope characters, there's not much substance that lies with them. “Just as no matter how hard you try to keep it away, despair will attack you again and again. In the same manner, hope will return to you. Again and again.” – Kazuma Souma Now that we know what type of story and characters that makes up Fruit Basket, let's focus on few technicalities of the show that makes this the better anime to watch. From an animation standpoint, TMS Studio, blew it out of the park with their animations. If you compare this with the 2001 (and you should not because technology) it is a vast improvement and the colour palette as approved by the Mangaka, just shows how rich this anime can be. It's vibrant, it's moving, it's emotional and it's constantly breathing. The frames are animated well and the colour seamlessly switches from bold to cool to give the viewers an eyegasmic relaxing treat. Beside the animation, the OST is very soothing. The OP songs are sung very well and the ED songs are nice as well. It's a slice of life style shojou anime and the music composition fits the bill. Great job by the studio. Moreover, the seiyuus did a phenomenal job evoking emotions and excitement with the material they are given. They made the show better than this show can really be. Without these technicalities, this new adaptation, really wouldn't be worthwhile. It just goes to show, how heavily this series dependent upon such. “If you love someone, they could make you sad. They could even make you feel lonely sometimes. But, that someone can also make you happier than you’ll ever be.” – Kyo Souma Overall, looking at it holistically, Fruits Basket at its core is about exploring the many universal facets of love; from familial, parental, platonic, romantic, self-sacrificing to even toxic or destructive. Moreover, it looks at the importance and struggle of empathy, forgiveness, personal growth and ultimately self-acceptance. I can see why back in 2001, people really enjoyed a show & manga as such. It is a pivotal show for teenagers learning the world around them and maturing to become a functioning adult with emotional understanding. However, looking at it objectively, this show is very simple with a story that is still scratching the complexity of the human condition. It's neither archetypal of a hero's journey nor is it a show that will transcend the modern shojou or slice of life culture. I can see why nostalgic fans love and revere this show, however, as a first time watcher, I just found it a fine feel good anime. Maybe because I'm not an avid slice of life/shojou anime watcher or maybe because I've passed my teenage emotional rollercoaster years that I'm unable to identify with these characters. Regardless, viewers whether new or nostalgic, should give this show a casual watch and be on the lookout for its sequel; for I'm curious, with how this season has ended, what will be in store for the next. Anyways, thank you for reading this review & feel free to share with me your favourite quote from the anime. Ciao. P.S. Thank you for reading. I hope you found this short and supaishi review helpful!

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