Nostalgic Anime: Fruits Basket

As you may know, there will be a new Fruits Basket anime in 2019, which will cover the entirety of the manga. Growing up, Fruits Basket was one of my favourite anime so there’s a lot of nostalgia.

The creator, Natsuki Takaya, had some issues with the production of the series, specifically with the voice acting, character designer and animation director. I personally loved the imagery, music and voice actors so it will be interesting to see the changes in the 2019 anime. I’m excited for the new anime, but right now I’m going to write about the 2001 anime.

Synopsis: Tohru Honda is living in a tent due to unfortunate family circumstances, and she is found by her classmate Yuki Sohma and his cousin Shigure. After hearing her story, they allow her to live with them. Another person named Kyo starts living with them and Tohru learns something about the Sohmas. When hugged by the opposite sex, members of the Sohma family turn into animals of the zodiac. Yuki is the rat, Shigure is the dog, and Kyo is the cat. Tohru learns about the realities of the curse and meets the other members of the zodiac.

It is a beautiful and sweet anime, but my complaint is that the series stops so abruptly. The anime only shows around one-third of the manga and the curse is still an issue. I’ve read the manga and it becomes a little dark because there is a shocking reveal. I got a completely different feeling when I read the manga, but I enjoyed the sweetness and simplicity of the anime. Both anime and manga are good, but the non-ending in the anime is frustrating. Nonetheless, it’s wonderful in its own way and is still worth checking out.

The opening song can sort of put you to sleep, but it sounds so nice. I love the music in the anime a lot and Fruits Basket will always have a special place in my heart.

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