Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket is the story of a sweet and simple high school student named Tohru Honda. After Tohru's mother dies, she lives in a tent in the woods. One day, she discovers that the Sohma family owns the property where she's staying. Shigure, Yuki, and Kyo Sohma take Tohru into their house, where she finds out their family's secret- many of the Sohma family members turn into zodiac members when they are under stress or are hugged by a member of the opposit sex!

My Grade
Plot- B+ Fruits Basket is more of a character study than a plot heavy show, but the plot is good. The main problem is just that it never gets to wrap anything up because the series never went into a second season. Thankfully, the manga goes on for those who want to know more of the story.
Characters- A The main characters are wonderful and very well developed. Many of the side characters are as well. Unfortunately, though, characters like Hiro and Kisa get a lot less development. Some characters don't get introduced until the very end of the series. Again, this is because the show was cancelled. The characters that are developed, however, are engaging and likable, even Akito, the closest thing to a villain the show has. The characters all have relationship problems and quirks that make them tragic and funny at the same time.
Humor- A+ The show often goes from deathly serious to adorably insane. The humor is sometimes ridiculous but often poignant and satirical.
Ending- B- It just sort of... ends. I wish there had been another season because it would have been great to see the rest animated, but the series does just end. It's not a great ending, either. I don't particularly like that plot arc because it's not surprising or really very characterizing.
Dubbed or Subbed?- Actually, Fruits Basket has one of the best dubs I've heard. I wouldn't recommend it over the subtitles, but it's still very good. The only bad voices are Kyo and Tohru. Shigure's American voice actor sounds just like his Japanese counterpart.

Who would like Fruits Basket?
I recommend Fruits Basket to everyone, boy or girl, fan of shoujo or not. The show is hilarious and cute but also a great story with great characters. There is a lot of shounen-ai, which is also a good thing in my book. Not all people can take the fast pace of the subtitles, though, so they may prefer to watch the dub. The dub is actually a little more kid-friendly as there are some parts (especially parts with Yuki's seemingly bi-sexual brother) that are not quite appropriate.

Reviewed by Supergeekgirl

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