CREATOR

:

Natsuki Takaya

PlOTLINE

:

Honda Tohru finds herself without a home after the death of her mother. As she moved into the forest in search of a place to stay, she stumbles upon the mysterious Sohma family, who has the ability to turn into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. In befriending the cursed Sohma family, she is drawn into the hilarity of the whole situation, and when she delves deeper into the family, into their pain as well.

COMMENTS

:

This is absolutely and without a doubt, one of the sweetest, cutest and most heart-warming series ever created. EVER. Little jokes and gems of philosophy are sprinkled throughout the story, and you'd find yourself laughing and crying along with the characters. There is angst, but in tempered dosages so the series doesn't degenerate into melodrama. This is a total must-watch! ^^

MAIN CHARACTERS

:

There are 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac, but not all of the FB characters/animals play that MUCH of a role. Below are the selected main characters.

HONDA TOHRU. She's a very sweet, cheerful and altogether kind-hearted girl who befriends the Souma family and is in many ways - their salvation. She is also naive in many ways, but her simplistic and earnest outlook on life help her reach out to other and people - and herself.

SOUMA YUKI (mouse). He's reserved and awkward with expressing himself, but he's wildly popular with the girls - everyone wants to see him in a skirt, LOL. Yuki's very uncomfortable with people because of a pretty wretched childhood of being shunned. And rightly, according to the Zodiac, he totally doesn't get along with Kyou either!

SOUMA KYOU (cat). He lives just to win Yuki, LOL. Whatever it is, he just has to win Yuki. Kyou's a very hot-headed and prickly person, often because he's misunderstood and abandoned by the Sohma family just because he isn't part of the Zodiac. And just for the record, there IS something about him that will later become the climax of the anime. ^^

SOUMA SHIGURE (dog). Quirky, loopy with a bizarre sense of humour, and writes for a living. Yet, despite his rather flippant attitude towards life, there's a much darker and deeper side to him. His best friends are the reticent Hatori, and the even loopier Ayame. ^^;; Together, they form the 'Super Handsome Blossom Trio'. Go figure.

SOUMA AKITO. The leader of the Sohma family, and a very disturbed individual at that. At times, you don't know if he wants to protect the family, or just destroy it. Like all of them, he has a very pained past that led to him being as mentally unbalanced as he is now. Later in the manga (and not the anime), you will discover a very important aspect of his person that is, putting it mildly, shocking.

SOUMA MOMIJI (rabbit). A 15 yr-old who prances around in girls' clothing, blabbers very chance he gets, and loves to sing, LOL. He also drives Kyou crazy, incidentally! Anyway, I guess it surprises no one if I say that Momiji has a tragic past. The thing is, his past is VERY tragic - unusually so. Go watch episode 15 of the anime, and you'd know what I mean!

SOUMA AYAME (snake). He's Yuki's elder brother - and there the similarity ends. Ayame is flamboyant, loud and colourful. Part of him feels guilty that he hadn't his part as a proper elder brother to Yuki, but the way he tries to make things right drives Yuki nuts every time. ^^;; But at least Ayame tries! ^o^

SOUMA HATORI (dragon/sea-horse). He's the doctor of the family but there is a darker side to the work he does, and that is he has the ability to erase the memories of people. It's a rotten job having to play the villain, but he does it with admirable stoicism. And incidentally, he has a way with Ayame that no one else does! LOL.

SOUMA HATSUHARU (cow). There are two sides to him. White Haru - where's he's mostly a really blur and cute (and Yuki-obssessed) schoolboy with a non-existent sense of direction. Black Haru - a testosterone and hormone-charged maniac, which he turns into when he's provoked and often-times, courtesy of Kyou.

MANGA DETAILS

:

Number of volumes : 13
Status : Ongoing

I've not bought or even read the manga. ^^;; But after asking around, I heard that while the manga is the basis of the anime, the anime doesn't quite follow the manga closely. Anyway, the manga is more well-developed than the anime, and it has the same atmosphere as the anime - the humour and the angst are all there! Artwork is also very similar to the anime. Also, because the anime ended prematurely, the manga actually goes a lot, lot further into plot and characterisation.

ANIME DETAILS

:

Director : Daichi Akitaro
Character Design : Hayashi Akemi
Music : Abe Jun and Muto Seiji
Episodes : 26
Status : Complete

ANIMATION

:

Like most of the current anime, the quality is very good. But to suit the feel of the anime, the colouring is softer. And at times, the colouring and animation goes right into flowery lala-land especially when you get those bizarre and wacky situations. ^^;;

SCREENCAPS

VOICE-ACTING

:

Generally, voice-acting is very good. Horie Yui's voice-acting as Tohru is nicely-done. Sweet without being too piercing and her comic timing is spot-on. Seki Tomokazu does a great job as usual (who would expect any less of him?). Other standout seiyuu include Okiayu Ryoutarou, who amazes me with his versatility (from stately Treize to loopy Shigure ^^), Saito Ayaka who does Momiji to cutesy perfection and Miyamoto Mitsuru who who cracks me up every time he does that obnoxious 'HA HA HA' as Ayame.

MUSIC

:

The soundtrack's like the anime - whimsical, sweet, light-hearted. There're also faster and comical tracks, but these are just pieces of music that matches the action of the anime. Some really pretty tracks :

• For Fruits Basket (OP)
• Chiisana Inori (ED)
• Secret (Instru)
• Solitude (Instru)
• Memory For You (Instru)
• Epilogue (Instru)

RESOURCES

:

FRUITS BASKET OFFICIAL SITE

FRUITS BASKET MANGA TRANSLATION PROJECT (fan site)