Fruits Basket Episode One Reaction

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

Well, it would not be The Aniwriter if I was not a weeks late on literally everything. Also, apologies again for the lack of posts for the last week, been caught up in schoolwork. Now, since that is out of the way, lets talk about one of the more anticipated shows of the season: Fruits Basket.

For those who are unfamiliar with the franchise, Fruits Basket is a story about Tohru, a young girl who, after losing both her parents and moving in with her grandfather, decides that she does not want to be a burden and starts living in the woods. After Yuki, a classmate of hers finds this out, he invites Tohru to start living with them. However, soon afterwards Tohru finds out the Soma’s secret: That they are animals.

Ever since the airing of the original anime adaptation by Studio Deen back in 2001, Fruits Basket has been a beloved series by almost all anime fans alike. Even with it being intended as more of a shoujo romance, the show caught on with so many people that it became incredibly popular. So, does the newest adaptation of Natsuki Takaya’s manga live up to the hype of the original?

Well, its hard to say. I’ll be fully transparent and honest hear: I don’t actually remember that much of the original series. I watched it back when I was in seventh grade, a turbulent year for me personally, and during that time it provided a lot of unexpected comfort. It might seem a bit cliche, but I related a lot to both Tohru and Kyo because of their loner status.

Still, even despite largely not living up to today’s standards of good animation and quality, the show definitely still has a lot of nostalgic value.

The newest adaptation of the show does a lot to live up to the spirit of the original. I do like the way they chosen to introduce the characters, emphasizing Tohru’s social front in order to mask her troubles, only to fall down from exhaustion near the middle of the episode. Yuki and Shigure also seem to be fairly faithful to their original characters as well, with Yuki being the cool, mysterious prince and Shigure being the pervy twenty-something.

I am also aware that their was a lot of hype around the English Dub since most of the original voice actors were recast in their role, but I opted to watch the show in the Japanese, so I did not get a chance to hear it. However, I do also remember the dub quite fondly, so more points for that I guess.

How do you guys feel about the newest Fruits Basket adaptation? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you would like to support The Aniwriter or are just feeling generous, consider donating on Ko-fi, or using one of the affiliate links down below: