Fruits Basket TV Series

Major Credits:

Director: Daichi Akitaro
Producers: Yanagihara Masami, Kobayashi Noriko, Yamazaki Tatsuji
Character Design: Hayashi Akemi
Art Director: Shibata Chikako
Music: Abe Jun, Muto Seiji
OP Theme: For Fruits Basket by Okazaki Ritsuko
Based on the Original Manga by: Takaya Natsuki

Summary: (from THEM Anime Reviews)

Life has been hard for Honda Tooru. Her beloved mother has just passed away in an accident and due to some family issues she's living in a tent in the woods. Not even her best friends know about this as she has vowed to support herself through school life.

One day she stumbles upon a house nearby. As things turn out, it's occupied by Souma Yuki, the school heartthrob (and her classmate), his cousin Shigure (a novelist) and another Souma by the name of Kyou who is constantly fighting with Yuki.

A series of mishaps reveals a surprise about the Soumas. When hugged by members of the opposite sex, they change into animals of the Chinese zodiac! Normally people who find out would have their memory erased, but Tooru is given the chance to keep the secret and continue living with the Souma family.

Review:

Typically, most shoujo anime series are strongly story-driven, and those stories are usually tear-jerkers sugar-coated with humorous subplots and off-beat characters. Fruits Basket is no exception, but it's the quality of the story told that sets it apart from other shoujo series out there. The charm of this series is delivered in an unassuming fashion by a character who is just being herself. Honda Tooru is far from a model student and her only notable skills are related to household chores, but in a series where every other character seems to have special "abilities," she literally melts the frost in the hearts of those around her with genuine kindness. It's almost as if Tooru is a messiah of sort to bring hope and light in a dark and depressing world.

Naturally, the changes in those around Tooru are of great interest. In the case of Kyou and Yuki, changes take place gradually throughout the series, as they get to interact with her on a daily basis. But a constant influx of new characters from one episode to next keeps the plot from being stale and has the viewers looking forward to see who will come in and how they will affect (and be affected by) Tooru on the next episode. I just don't get tired of seeing one person after another coming to grips with his/her monkey on the back and beginning to fight back against it. And there's humor -- plenty of it -- to keep the mood of the series light and bright throughout.

The visual art is not to different from your usual shoujo series, with familiar attributes such as exaggerated SD expressions and liberal sprinkling of sweatdrops. Colors are particularly bright, in clever contrast to the serious themes. The music, especially the vocals from the late Okazaki Ritsuko, is gentle yet soul-piercing. If there is ever an example of the music not just complimenting but actually defining the series itself, this is it.

Overall Impression:

Initially, I would've liked to see a sequel of the series, given that this series only covered roughly the first half of the manga. But given how twisted and bizarre the second half of the manga turned out to be, perhaps it was for the better that there was no anime sequel, and the ending of the TV series actually wrapped up quite nicely in retrospect. The fact that gentleness wins over anger without apology is a big personal appeal to me. Quite simply, only Maison Ikkoku surpasses this series on my list of favorites. So it goes without saying that the WJ Seal of Approval is deservedly given.

Screenshots:

Well, I REALLY loved this series, both in the manga and the TV adaptation; And although WJ is right, the manga becomes plainout weird. It makes the payoff at the end so much sweeter. I think it would have seemed much less bizzare, if they added a few things they kept secret in the beginning, so you dont end up in a "WTF, HE'S A-" (WJ, and anyone who read till the end would know, since you can end that with most of the names and still be surprised )
The anime was pretty light and fluffy, with great character development, until the ending where it becomes slightly darker (at one point there were volumes in the manga JUST with darker scenes) I still think they should have dedicated an episode or two to Touhru's best friends, their backstory is interesting. The manga ends in full circle (and i do mean full circle, it started with Touhru's Mother's death, and it ends with it in a meaningful way), i really enjoyed it and would highly recommend both the series and the manga!

Nice review WJ, as always ^_-