Review of Fruits Basket

It saddens me that this has been given such a high rating. It saddens me that the reviews are, mainly, positive. Why? This is not a faithful adaptation to the manga at all. It's really annoying to me that people watch this and like it, knowing that they're missing out on so much more. The anime makes the characters flat. It takes one aspect of their personalities (for example, Tohru's kindess or Kyou being angry) and exaggerates them to the extreme. There is no depth to anyone. They also change some characters entirely (though in fairness, one of the reveals about a certain character hadn't happened inthe manga yet) and cut out characters who are very important .

Another thing that annoys me is that they didn't really keep the strong messages of love and friendship. Instead, they changed it into mostly a comedy series with some attempts at drama. But they put too much focus on the Zodiac. The manga makes it clear that the Zodiac is NOT the main plot. It's about the characters and their motives, feelings and relationships. Not about how awkward it is when they turn into talking animals.

Is the anime good on its own? No, not really. It's watchable, but only if you haven't read the manga and are a shoujo fan. But I still wouldn't recommend it.

TL;DR: Read the manga instead. It's actually decent.