Review of Fruits Basket

How would you act if you were cursed from birth because of no other reason then being born into the wrong family? What if you could never hold the person you love without transforming into something not human? That is what this show is about. A girl tries to help the Sohma family through these pains, with some crazy characters and comedy mixed in. Far and away the thing that is going to grab you the most about this show is the characters. The whole show revolves around the idea that the Sohma family was given a curse that when they are hugged by the oppositesex they turned into one of the 12 Zodiac animals. Well the 12 Zodiacs and a cat (long story watch the show). Tohru, Yuki and Kyo are the 3 main characters. Tohru is not cursed and is probably the only one outside the the Sohma family that knows of the curse, however Yuki and Kyo are cursed. At first I thought the show is going to be a big fight between Yuki and Kyo for Tohrus' affection, but as the show goes on this is not the case. There is a definite love that grows between the 3 of them but it is not of a romantic nature, more of a very deep friendship or maybe a brother sister relationship. As the show moves farther along more of the Zodiac characters are slowly introduced one by one. Although the show clearly keeps the focus on Tohru, Yuki and Kyo member of the Zodiac will get his or her chance to develop and tell their back story. Eventually it can be seen that ever character in the show is trying to deal with some kind of tragedy in their past, beyond their curse, and even characters that are not cursed like Tohru and her 2 friend have something to share as well. Half the fun of the show is seeing who the next Zodiac character is and what they are like. There is one issue in that it seemed to me like the writers all of the sudden realized that there was 6 episodes left and they still needed to introduce 4 Zodiac characters. Unfortunately this means these characters never get much past an introduction, and that put a little bit of a damper on the cast as a whole. Despite one or two bumps I fell in love with several characters in the cast and even I few I thought I was going to dislike based on their first impression.

Majority of the comedy comes from characters personalities. Each character that is introduced along the way seems to add one more “interesting” element to the show. New characters are added all the time so new comical material is added all the time. How much comedy happens in an episode seems to very a lot. Some are very funny well others seem to not be very funny and even kind of serious. When the show starts I found myself thinking it was going to be a romantic comedy, but I found myself thinking it is closer to a slice of life with a little comedy thrown in from time to time.

The show doesn't really have a strong plot. The show has enough to hold all the episodes together and the plot is focused on a little more right in the beginning and right at the end, but all in all it is nothing special. The show goes on to tell you that there is more to the curse then just turning into the animals of the Zodiac. However the show never really explains it any further then that. There are hints given and one or two things are found out, but for the most part we are left in the dark. Also the problems are not solved at the end of the show. There is a general consensus that things are better then when the show began but everyone still has the problems they started with. The story is not what the show does best, nor is it what the show tries to focus on.

I have gone this long without use that word in this review but frankly I don't thing there is a way to write a review on this show without using that word. The show is cute(I can feel all my masculinity draining away). The characters are cute, the comedy is cute, the animals the people turn into are cute, the show is cute. That does lead to some cheese/lame “you are fine just the way you are” or “we will always be friends” speeches. Despite some lame moments and not the greatest story telling, a fantastic cast and the fact that the show is rapped in a layer of cuteness will more often than not have you leaving the show with a smile on your face.