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Ripples...
+ Learn Some Japanese
Reviews,,,
Here you will find a few opinions/overviews of an anime/jpop concerts (or CDs) that either myself or a friend viewed. Hopefully, you'll get a better idea of these shows after reading these.
Fruits Basket
Title: Fruits Basket
Genre: comedy/romance/drama
Original Creator: Natsuki Takaya
Grade: A (95%)
Age Rating: 13 + (language, violence)
Episode count: 26
Format Viewed: English Subtitled
Fruits Basket, (AKA "furuba") is an endearing show in and of itself. At first, the going is slow, but soon to pick up with the aid of character development and interaction. Filled with romance and drama, flecked with comedic moments, Furuba is something you'll want to watch more than once.
This anime is about a girl, Toru Honda, who is currently a junior high school student living by herself. Why by herself? Since her mother died in a car crash, she was tossed over to live with her grandparents, but when that got too full she had to take a temporary residence in the woods, living in a tent. Fun, eh? The story rolls into action when she stumbles upon the Souma residence. Events lead to her being allowed to stay with them, since Yuki Souma, an acquaintance at school, resides there as well as Shigure and Kyo.
The big catch to Toru being able to stay? After accidentally finding out the Souma family secret, which is that 12 members of the Souma family turn into animals of the Chinese zodiac when someone of the opposite sex hugs them, Toru agrees to keep this very important detail on the down-low in exchange for living with the Soumas. She also takes it upon herself to do cooking and other house chores.
The characters are quite varied in their attitudes, behaviors and personas. It is always amusing to catch Yuki (who turns into a mouse) and Kyo (who turns into a cat) duel over who is better, since they are enduring rivals carried over from their Zodiac curse (if you want to know why, watch the anime!). Shigure (who turns into a dog) is witty and cheerful, even as Kyo rants and raves about some injustice done to Toru. As the story continues, we learn about Toru's "normal" friends, and how they interact with Yuki's fan club (yes, he does have a fan club...). Also, before you know it, more Soumas come into contact with Toru, Kyo, Yuki, and Shigure. As anyone could guess, these characters turn into zodiac animals such as the dragon (in this case, seahorse), tiger, snake, and others.
While Toru gets to know the family better (especially our favorite Yuki and Kyo), the darker side of the curse is revealed, and their coexistence with someone normal like Toru comes into question. The curse may be stange and at times amusing, but can also lead to heartbreak and lonliness.
How did it all turn out? Some funny and intruiging episodes later, the drama rolls in. I'm not spoiling anything. The ending was great and I really enjoyed the anime up until the last episode. The animation is both adorable and artsy, with that definite shoujo style. A refreshingly unique plot with superb character development. This is something you can't miss out on, especially if you like this genre. I didn't think I'd like it, but I was quite wrong.