Fruits Basket

I really enjoyed this anime series. I waited for it months after starting the manga (on volume 6 right now) because of lack of enough money, and I ended up getting the box set for Christmas 5 months after I originally became a fan of the manga.

This series, does not have bad dubbing, and the story is wonderful. Some things happen that I wish also happened in the manga. It is a gigglefest and a tear jerker. It just an awesome series that you just HAVE to love.

The characters are very enjoyable. There are cheerful, funny, dark, creepy, and smart butt ones. They are one hell of a group. I enjoy their English voices very much. My favorites are Kyo, Ritsu, Yuki, and Akito. Haru is pretty cool too.

This has to be part of any anime lover's collection.

Fruits Basket can be summed up in a few phrases: Girl meets boy and cousins. Girl accidentally hugs one cousin. Cousin turns into bright orange cat with a bad attitude. Girl also has full body contact with boy and his other cousin, and is presented with a rat and a dog as well.

Part romance, part comedy, part drama, part action, Fruits Basket blends together characters that feel real and people can identify with. The animation quality is high end, with soft coloring and amazing watercolor backgrounds.

The animation is based on the manga of the same title by Natsuki Takaya. Fans of the manga will recognize many of the scenes as some are taken straight from the manga panels. It remains fairly faithful to the original manga.

If you enjoyed the manga, you will enjoy the anime. Funny, thought-provoking, and sad, Fruits Baskets will make you feel all of your emotions in a way you've never felt them before.

I see Funimation has gotten the English rights to this anime so I will let you know what the series is about. I saw seven episodes of this show subtitled at the Ryerson anime club.

Schoolgirl Toru Honda has been living with her grandfather since her mother passed away. Grandpa is getting the house renovated so they have to move out for a while. Grandpa goes to live with his son's family but Toru ends up living by herself in a tent. As it turns out she is squatting on the land of the Soma clan. One of the family recognizes her from school and invites her to live with their all-male household for a bit until her grandfather's home is rebuilt. Toru soon gets a big surprise because the Soma's have a secret curse like Ranma 1/2.

I like the opening and closing songs written Ritsuko Okazaki. She sings in a soft, whispery style that suits the melancholy mood of the show.

I understand the manga and anime are doing very well in Japan so check out the English version when it appears.

This is one of the best storytelling I've seen in any popular entertainment be it movies or television series. What originally look like a Ranma 1/2 clone turns out to be something of a character study where every single character shows painfully real emotions and feelings.

The show started out with the main character, Tohru Honda, stumbled onto the Sohma's family house after she had set up her tent in the surrounding forest area that is owned by the Sohma. Tohru later on is offered by Shigure, the owner of the house to stay with him as well as two other Sohma members, Yuki and Kyo in exchange of doing household chores.

After only one day, however, Tohru finds out that the Sohma is not your usual family. They hide a secret that no person outside the family has ever found out until Tohru accidentally uncovers it.

Fruits Basket is truly one of the kind. The protagonist, Tohru is a highly lovable heroine and although from time to time her cheerful personality can get a bit annoying, we really see her (and the other characters) grow and evolve throughout the series. At first, it's looking just like an average high-school drama/comedy with a bit of fantasy to spice everything up, but it soon becomes clear that this anime is more, much more. It's light and cheerful, but also dark and terrifying. It can get either heartwarming or heartbreaking. It's a perfet mixture with a well-developed story that will make you care about each and every one of the charachters. The ending is perfect and really wraps everything up, it doesn't leave ou with the feeling that the series is unfinished, like with so many other animes. I highly, highly recommend watching.