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kcheyne-2
Reviews
Fruits Basket (2001)
Second only to Fullmetal Alchemist
NOTE: All spoilers are very minor.
This series is second only to Fullmetal Alchemist in terms of being emotionally moving. The anime really does the series little justice, though. If you read the books as well, you'll see that Fruits Basket has a very deep storyline. The series covers many touchy subjects in such an innocent, light-hearted way that it is far from offensive. It deals with everything from guilt for murder to domestic abuse to suicide to abandonment, and manages to be a beautiful love story without being over-dramatic and unrealistic. Each member of the Sohma family has a lesson to teach the reader, but most notably: do not let history repeat itself.
It follows the adventures of Tohru Honda, a young orphan who is living in the woods while her grandfather's house is being remodeled. She finds out she is living on Sohma land, and one of her classmates, Yuki Sohma, invites her to stay with them. It does not take her long to discover that the Sohma family has a curse: they turn into animals when hugged by the opposite gender! They are cursed by vengeful Zodiac spirits, and as time goes on she meets all 13 animals of the Zodiac. However, despite the fun magical feel of the show and of their curse, it is not that way at all. Before long, the story becomes very, very poignant and may even bring you to tears. All of the characters are very quirky and interesting (especially the snake, Ayame... probably the weirdest anime character since Excel). You genuinely care about these characters, even the 'bad guys' (which, by the end, cannot be clearly defined). In the manga, the histories of all important characters are thoroughly explained, even characters that don't appear in the main story such as Tohru's mother.
The ending is one of the most satisfying, yet bittersweet of any anime I have seen. By the end of the series, you WILL have cried, and you'll have laughed many, many times. If you don't mind that this anime has more beautiful males than beautiful females, you will ADORE this anime, and the manga even more.