Fruits Basket

Reviewed By: Kristy Isla

DVD Complete Set

Review based on 3 Discs (26 episodes)

Rating Unrated

What it’s (basically) all about: Tohru Honda, a first year high school student, has recently lost her mother and been forced to live in a tent while her grandfather’s house is being renovated.  One day she stumbles across a house where there are rocks painted as the Chinese zodiac animals.  She stops to look, and the houses’ owner finds her there.  It is soon discovered that this is the house of “prince” Yuki Sohma, a classmate of hers.   Later on Yuki and Shigure, Yuki’s cousin, find Tohru’s tent and ask her to come and live with them in exchange for her helping cook and clean.  This begins the friendship of Tohru Honda and the Sohma family.

The Sohma family has a dark secret though.  They are cursed to turn into the animals of the Chinese zodiac when hugged by members of the opposite sex.  When Tohru first comes to live with them, Kyo, another cousin, shows up and accidentally knocks into Tohru and turns into a Cat, then Yuki turns into a rat and Shigure is transformed into a dog.  Tohru has found out about the family curse.  Shigure says the head of the family, Akito, must be informed of this and is not sure if Tohru will be able to stay with them; or she might have to have her memories erased so she does not reveal the family secret.  However, Akito allows her to stay as long as she keeps the secret, which surprises everyone.

And so each episode gets further and further into the Sohma family, with Tohru coming to love and care about all of the Sohma zodiac animals and deciding she will do whatever it takes in order to break this curse.

Nitty Gritty: While the whole storyline is absurd at best, this is a great and funny anime.  This is based on the popular manga series of the same name, and follows it pretty closely (up to a point, there is no resolution in this anime). The language however, leaves a lot to be desired, as damn, dammit, a$#hole, and other choice words pop up throughout the series.  No f-bomb is found and the language starts to blend in after awhile.

One shocking thing about the anime is the violence.  We often see Akito take out his frustrations violently on members of the zodiac, going so far as to blind one member in one eye.  Also, as more secrets of the Sohma’s are revealed, the viewer can see just how deeply disturbed these characters really are by have an animal spirit trapped within them.  However, this anime differs from the manga in that the character’s really dark sides (such as Shigure’s) are not revealed, so do not be surprised if fans of the manga complain about how the characters are different.

However, there are some great things in the anime that just are not as funny in the manga, such as the Prince Yuki Fan Club girls doing their cheers.  These cheers are so funny when animated, and you really do start to understand why these girls are so fascinated with Yuki. Also, Ayame, Yuki’s brother, is much more fun to see animated as his character’s personality really comes through in motion.  He is one character that steals the show.

Overall, the voice work is excellent and the anime is very well draw and executed.  Also the music is really catchy, and you can even find the soundtrack available to order.  As for features, there are not many included in the box set.  They include episode selection, languages and previews.  Languages allow for Japanese subtitles and English subtitles.  The subtitles are great and really come in handy when there are numerous characters or hard to understand characters onscreen.  The previews included Yu-Yu Hakusho, Fruits Basket DVD and Dragonball GT.  All were appropriate for all audiences.

Survey says: While at first this looks like a YA choice, the language and sexual overtones really push this one into the adult section.  While there is not a lot of really vulgar language, Kyo keeps calling Yuki that “damn rat”.  Also, we are still not sure if Shigure and Ayame mean to sound so erotic towards each other, or this is just how they act.

Personal Ad: This is another top 10 for me.  I love the manga, which is not finished in the US yet.  And while the anime only follows the manga to a certain point, it is still worth watching.  The characters and situations, many of which are not seen in the manga, are so funny they make you laugh out loud.  While a couple of episode are appropriate for anime clubs, definitely preview anything before you show it, in case it is that 1 or 2 episodes where the language and situations are crazy.  In another bit of anime culture, this is one anime that fans all over the globe really want a second season of, yet there have been no plans, and there are no plans to finish up the series as an anime.  I guess we just have to find out how it really ends in the manga.

Senior Editor's note: There is a 2007 4 disk complete boxed set from FUNimation that came out in November of 2007 that will be easier to find. This review applies to the older edition, so the special features on the 2007 edition are not reviewed here.