Review of Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket was one of the first animes I had ever watched. I was having an argument with one of my online MAL buddies and we were debating whether Fruits Basket was a good show. I personally loved Fruits Basket from the characters to the shoujo-esque plot, but my friend told me that it was the worst show he's watched. Wow. Most terrible? That's harsh, but whatever opinions are opinions and I'm willing to share mine. A girl named Tohru loses her mother in a car accident and with no money or family relatives, she decides to live on her own. She finds a house inthe woods, and discovers that a family is living there. (Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure) But each member of this family has a curse that when they are hugged by the opposite gender they would turn into an animal based on the chinese zodiac. Unrealistic? Most likely, but hey anime is a form of entertainment and as long as it entertains then the anime is doing its job right. While the animal transformation thing might be the only thing that strikes this shoujo anime different from the rest, it's the execution, the characters, and the relationships of the characters that bring this show out to differentiate itself from the rest.

The show is quite funny and cute with some plot elements that are usually to shoujo animes and mangas. The slapstick comedy was either a hit or a miss and seeing how I saw Fruits Basket a longggg time ago I remember finding it funny, not outrageously funny, but enough to crack a smile on my face. Though I consider the drama parts to be the most redeeming parts of the show. Seriously, I cried at the ending of Fruits Basket and episode nine or so. And let me tell you that's it hard for an anime to make me cry.

Personally, I found the characters to be the best part of this show. Even the side character are enjoyable and help move the plot along, while having background stories of their own. But since there are so many characters. I'm only going to describe the three main ones shortly. Tohru, the female lead character. A bit too nice and cheerful, but that's what makes people like her. She helps all the main characters get over their troubles. A goody-two-shoes you can say. Yuki, the popular boy at school. He is friends with Tohru and there is even a Yuki fan club running around the school. His chinese zodiac sign is the mouse. Kyo, the quick tempered boy who always jumps to conclusions. Starts off as a rouge character, but begins to develop feeling for Tohru as the series goes on. Sure, the characters might be so simple that they can be described in one sentence phrases, but it's the way they interact with one another that brings each person's charms out. Like the way Kyo interacts with Yuki is amusing and the way Kyo interacts with Tohru is heartwarming and touching.

You might say the characters are cliched. Well, I find characters to be a very open topic, since one person could really like a character and another person could find them horribly awful. I found Fruits Basket to have amazing characters. Probably the most debated character is Tohru, since people complain how can she be so sunshine and rainbows after losing her home and her parents. But hey, I liked Tohru. I know she's not for everyone, but I found her cheerful attitude really likeable. I know it's not realistic and such, but I found Tohru to be a fine main character that brings her positive attitude to everyone else in the cast. And boy oh boy it feels like the majority of this cast need someone like her. No, most anime characters need a character like her. Tohru just has that aspect of her that makes her so friendly and positive. Quoting my friend's review on Fruits Basket... (pakxenon's anime review for Fruits Basket on animenfo.com)

"With a mother lost to an accident and forced out of her home due to unwanted disturbance during renovations, she found her way into the Sohma family, and thus her wacky adventures begin! Going to school, janitoring for a job, and doing most of the housework for the Sohma's is just the few things that she does out of her good will. I will caution, however, that SOME people might find her too goody-two-shoes or whatever. If you don't like those kinds of characters, I don't recommend this :P."

Hmmm. People might complain how the atmosphere of the show is ruined by the characters trying to be "seemingly happy but actually loldeep." I thought the atmosphere was fine and I particularly prefer shows to have this kind of atmosphere. I think the creators were trying to manage the show to be a light hearted comedy with some hints of loldeepplot. Like if it was all deep I probably wouldn't have liked it as much, but with what I think engaging characters to draw me in. Which, characters are again widely debatable. I think Fruits Basket does a wonderful job at doing. And plus having a comic silly side of the show builds connection and like for the characters.

Okay, so the characters in Fruits Basket have like enormous eyes that cover like 70% of their face. But I didn't find this distracting at all and some people might actually enjoy this style, just like how some people enjoy Clamp's noodly bodies. The drawings are typical 90s shoujo style. The manga started in 1999, so I'm assuming the anime wanted to keep it this style. I find animations the least important thing in a show, but one of the most important aspects for people to start a show. Like I remember not watching TTGL, because I thought the art was wanky. Until my friend suggested it to me years later and then I found TTGL to be on my top ten animes of all time. Again, the show is totally aimed towards people with double X chromosome, but I strangely enjoyed it and would admit that Fruits Basket was/still is one of my favorite shows. It could be my nostalgia kicking in, since it was one of my first animes, and everytime I watch an episode again I find myself bringing up all the memories of what got me into anime.

The OP and ED were perfect for this anime and fit the mood quite well. Well, of course the OP song is called, "For Fruits Basket." The background music was minimal, but very fitting, especially the music for all the dark scenes and keeping the atmosphere right. Yui Horie's voice for Tohru was very fitting. ilu Yui Horie. I thought Yuki sounded too feminine, but eh whatever.

Anyway, if you really didn't like Fruits Basket. You can always write a review for it. I find the best writings are the ones to point out flaws or are satirical in nature. That's why I like reading anime reviews that point out flaws than reviews that shower the show with praise, since it's so much easier and personally more fun to read those reviews and disagree or laugh. Since to me I find it boring to read a review that goes, "good animations, good characters, good blah blah." I actually pay more attention to the ones that have low scores.

Just a random sidenote: for example I really like Special A. (And if you like Fruits Basket you might like this show as well) I know it's not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. And seeing someone review Special A and give it a low score is surprising for me. But it's not like I'm going to thumbs down the score, because of that. If it's a good piece of writing and points the flaws out and backs them up, then I'll actually thumb up the review, since this person is trying to prove his/her point and well the message got through to me. I'm not blindly gonna thumb up and thumb down reviews based on the score, which I feel like 70% of people do here on MAL. But instead reviews should be thumbed up and thumbed down based on the writing and the points.

Anyway, Fruits Basket is still one of my favorite animes of all time. The characters, in my opinion, are the best part of this show and if you watch the first few episodes and already hate like 80% of the cast, then this show is not for you. Which, isn't a bad thing, but it's just that you have different tastes than other people. I wish Studio Deen would make a second season or start making their recent animes this good again.