Review of Fruits Basket

tl;dr: I get why Fruits Basket was popular back in the day, and it has important (almost profound) lessons to teach about family and friendship, but it didn't live up to my expectations. Both the humor and the sad parts of this show often feel forced. I felt that, seeing it in 2013, I was too late to the game to ever become a real fan of this show, and others only now deciding to watch it may think the same thing. --- Fruits Basket is a very sweet anime with a dark tinge that makes it more compelling than if it were just a comedywith characters that turned into animals at inconvenient times. It's easy to see why girls my age liked it when it first came out.

While acceptance and kindness are the major themes of this show, what kept me watching was the way Furuba handled mother-child relationships. A lot of the mothers in the show, due to the Sohma curse, regard their children with a mixture of love, guilt, and repulsion, which serves as an interesting contrast to how Tohru sees her own mother - as her role model and the light of her life. The show really gave a heartfelt shout-out to the sacrifices people make for their children everyday, while at the same time showing how they are also capable of damaging them for life. Time and time again, the show implicitly brings up the question of what is more important - family or friends - only to teach you that all relationships are precious. Friendships and familial relations all take, and all are worth, extra effort.

I also liked that this show wasn't fixated on romance, even though it very easily could have turned out that way. I've seen other reviewers call this show a reverse harem, but that doesn't seem very fair to Tohru. Sure, she calls Yuki attractive and princely, but as far as I can tell from watching the show, she genuinely cares about the other characters (especially Kyo) not as romantic interests, but as real people.

That being said, watching this show often felt like a chore. Around episode 5, I realized that, even though the show is supposed to be a comedy, I had only genuinely laughed at maybe one joke. If it weren't for the show's popularity, I would have dropped it then. Even though the voice actors did a really good job of not getting carried away despite the campy nature of the show, the humor sometimes feels forced, and it's often awkward. This may just be because Furuba is an older anime, but the sad parts felt unnatural as well. There were a lot of events that, if delivered right, could have pulled at my heartstrings. Unfortunately, they came off as melodramatic because of the characters', again, forced reactions. All of this, plus the slow pace of the show, sort of killed Furuba for me.

Overall, this anime didn't live up to my expectations. I grew up knowing people who adored it, and was disappointed when I finally finished the series. However, I am glad that I watched it. While it wasn't as funny or as enjoyable as I was expecting, Furuba's commentary on relationships and the way we treat the people we care about was worth experiencing. If you decide to pick up the show for the same reason as me, to see what all the fuss is about, I suggest that you don't binge-watch it or try to complete it in a given amount of time, but rather watch an episode here and there whenever you're in the mood for fluff.