Review of Fruits Basket

The idea of people turning into zodiac animals is really interesting and was a great way to hook my attention. I can also relate to Tohru in that her family is her friends. However, everything else was pure garbage—from the romanticism of homelessness to the emotional abuse. They try to pack in a ton of angst but it's always the same thing—a character is rejected by a loved one, they fall into an endless pit of depression, they lash out in unhealthy and destructive ways, Tohru monologues about how they need to suck it up and get happy followed by personal anecdotes, and everything issuddenly peachy and everyone loves Tohru.

The only conclusion this series seems to beat into their audience's head is that women can only be caretakers and are incapable or not allowed self-care. The women in this series would sooner risk their lives for others than be smart and ask for help when they also need it—which they never do. If there happens to be a woman capable of holding her own, she's either dead or she's the sidekick who shows up when it's convenient. The men are abusive and/or emotionally stunted and the world revolves around them. I don't recall a single interesting male character other than the bunny one but even he got annoying with the way he kept poking and prodding Tohru. Most of the boys have irritatingly large and fragile egos.

This anime is only better than the manga because it's shorter. And it's especially odd because it's like it tries to be a slice of life-romcom but it just ends up being an edgy, unrealistic take on how high school kids should behave. It's also worse in the manga because almost every character is destructive in some way and the author suggests terrible couples like an adult/child relationship (pedophilia). There are tons of anime out there if audiences need a slice of life-romcom or a brooding boy who isn't irritating and abusive. Fruits Basket is not one of them.