| Fruits Basket |
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| How's this for interesting living enviroment? Follwing her mother's unexpected death, Honda Tohru begins living in a tent in the woods after her grandfather, who she had been living with, goes to stay with some family. Unknow to Tohru, her tent is on the property of her classmate's family, Souma Yuki. One night, her tent is lost in a mudslide and Yuki and a relative of his, Shigure, agree to let her stay with them in return for helping them out with housework. After an incident with yet another Souma relative, Kyou, Tohru accident discovers that the Souma family carries a curse- When hugged by the opposite sex, some of the family members turn into a certain animals of the chinese zodiac. Yuki turns into a mouse, Shigure a dog, and the firey hot-headed Kyou turns into a just as firey cat. Needless to say, Tohru's life just got a whole lot more interesting living with the Souma's. |
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| I totally fell in love with this series straight off the bat. It's story is original and adorable. And with all of the weird members of the Souma family, there's always something interesting and amusing going on. In addition to Kyou, Yuki, and Shigure, there's Kagura, a girl madly in love with Kyou who turns into a boar or pig, Ayame, Yuki's nutcase older brother that becomes a snake, the split personality Hatsuharu who becomes a cow, adorable little Momiji that's a bunny, cold headed yet really sweet Hatori that's a seahorse or baby dragon, Kisa the little girl that becomes a tuger cub, the annoying Hiro the sheep, and the ever freaky Ristu the cross dresser that just happens to be a monkey. Some of them only have one episode appearences. Kyou and Yuki are usually in every episode. The voice acting (Japanese mind you) is awesome because many are so of the bigger names in anime. Tomokazu Seki (one of mai FAVs) does firey Kyou, Aya Hisakawa does Yuki. Also, if you're a Sailormoon (subtitled!!) fan, you'll easily recognize that excitable Kagura as Mitsuishi Kotono, or Sailormoon. |
| Fruits Basket is now currently being released in America by Funimation, an odd company to release it considering their main dish is Dragonball Z. I heard the dubbing is really not up to snuff but I myself never seen it so I can't say anything personally. Funimation is being a bit generous when it comes to episodes per DVD, having a total of 6 or 7 episodes a DVD. The prices is usually around 40 though, not the usual 30. I go bootlegs myself, easier on the pocket and just as high quality most of the time. But however you prefer it, Fruits Basket is worth every penny. |
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| Hatori, Ayame, and Shigure |
| Yuki, Tohru, and Kyou |
| Tohru Honda |