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Tohru Honda, an orphaned, temporarily homeless high school girl, stumbles across a family with a strange secret: when hugged by the opposite sex, members of the cursed Sohma family turn into the Jyunishi, animals from the Chinese zodiac!
In exchange for room and board, Tohru becomes a housekeeper for Shigure Sohma, one of the older Junishi. As she learns more about the Sohma family history and their curse, she find herself the love object of both Yuki Sohma and Kyo Sohma.
Fruits Basket – or Furuba for short – is as light and delicious as lemon souffle. Words like sweet, gentle, and slightly goofy can be used to describe it, although there are darker currents beneath it that emerge slowly as the story unfolds. The 26 episode amine covers about half of the 23 volume manga (which ran from 1999 to 2006).
The characters are likeable, the animation is bright and clean (the anime uses SD frequently, usually to good effect), the music often contributes to the humor, and the "internal logic" of the show holds together well.
And it's got an unusually good dub (with one exception >.<) – Tohru and Kyo especially.
A number of people hate Tohru for being "too" – too sweet, too good, too accommodating, too patient. A cross between Job and Saint Joan who everyone loves, who tries to solve everyone's problems (and usually does). Kinda … Mary Sue,
It's definitely not an anime for anyone who's allergic to WAFF or Huge Anime Eyes.
For me, the dub voice for Ayame is … well, I wouldn't stop short of using the word hideous. For whatever reason, they're trying to communicate Ayame's … unique character by making him sound like a 60 year old libertine. Honestly, Hedonism Bot could have done a better job. :p
I haven't done many Furuba fics – other fandoms have eaten up my time – but it's one I can see coming back to.
Ayame Sohma, 26, one of the "Handsome Blossom Trio" (himself, Shigure, and Hatori) who hung out together all though school. He's the Snake of the Jyunishi. Melodramatic, a little self-absorbed, and flighty, he also seems to flirt with everyone in sight. Ayame has a clothing shop that sells "uniforms" – the kind that "make fantasies come true." … uh-huh, you're thinking on the right track.
He appears in Tasty Bits, my only Furuba fic so far.
Shigure Sohma, 26, works from home as a writer. He writes both serious books under his own name, and erotic potboilers under the pseudonym "Noa Kiritani." The Dog of the zodiac, he's constantly dodging his editor, Mitsuru.
Shigure and Yuki live alone (for reasons I won't go into) in a small house some distance from the main Sohma "compound."
Shigure and Ayame flirt outrageously and pretend to be lovers to annoy "the kids," primarily Kyo and Yuki; whenever they do this the background is filled with floating pink roses, special romantic music plays, and both of them sparkle as they murmur suggestively and bat bedroom eyes at each other (see episode 14 and 16).
Shigure also appears in Tasty Bits.
Kyo Sohma (15? 16?) is the outcast of the family: his animal, the Cat, isn't formally part of the zodiac. (According to myth the Cat was tricked out of his place by the Rat, which supposedly is part of what fuels his running feud with Yuki Sohma.)
Shortly after Shigure and Yuki take Tohru on as housekeeper, Kyo appears and is given an upstairs bedroom.
Kyo is brash, loud, and quite defensive most of the time. He actually has two cat forms, a small feisty ginger cat, and a large, monstrous form that he keeps bound with a special black and white bracelet.
Kyo appears in Tasty Bits.
4 Sept 2010