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Plot Synopsis

Honda Tohru is may be the unluckiest high school girl ever. Not only she had to face her mother's death alone, she now have to live alone and better still, has no place to live. Desperate, she tried to live in a small tent on a portion of seemingly un-owned land. However, bad luck was still on her side, as a landslide actually buried her new home and all her belongings. The Souma family, who was actually the owner of that piece of land discovered her and after listening to her story they kindly took her in and gave her a temporary place to stay in their house. Tohru, in turn, was expected to help the three Souma boys with their household chores such as cleaning, washing the laundry, and cooking. Tohru considered herself to be lucky to actually be allowed to stay in the same house as the 'prince' of her highschool.

It was all looking good til the time that one (un)fortunate incident revealed their true selves to the clueless and ever so dim-witted Tohru. Though shocked and surprised, Tohru decided to keep their secrets with her to her death. However, will the Souma family approved of an outsider knowing their deepest darkest secret? And how will this secret change Tohru's life? Was her meeting with the Soumas a fortunate encounter, or maybe it was the exact opposite?

Synopsis by: Tareren

Story & Characters

Tohru Honda is an ordinary Japanese high-school girl, with her luck running away. Not only that her mother died, but due to her Grandfather renovating the house, she is forced to live in a tent, somewhere in the woods. But fortune wanted her to be found by Yuki Sohma, the prince of her high-school, inviting her to live with him, his cousin Shigure and Kyo, who seems to be searching for a fight, just about all the time. So she could live with them, she promised to be their maid - cooking, cleaning and washing for them.
Everything fine and dandy for now, but her clumsiness soon reveals the dark curse, that the Sohma familiy has upon them. Whenever embraced by a member of the opposite sex, they transform into the animals from the Chinese Zodiac.

It was a first for me tho, to see this kind of "positioning" - it is quite more often to see one guy with three girls around him, than the other way around, as much as I know anime.

The story continues, presenting us with new characters, sharing the same curse and every-one of them having a very sad history, yet till the very end the aniem is still more or less on the bright side. The last 2 episodes tho, are as sad and dark as u can find them and my eyes weren't able to hold water for long. And it is just the drama that makes the anime as good as it is, even tho you won't miss action, romance and comedy, the last one beeing more situation-chat based than ecchi, so not for those of you who love "nude humour."

Rating

10 (excellent)

Art

I'll start from the back as in this case I find it mor sufficient that way...

Backgrounds:
Detailed and peaceful, you'll find yourself resting eyes on some shots. Colors match and the effects shown are perfect, making the characters in the foreground just enough visible.

Characters:
The style of drawing is quite differend from some action-based anime, as male characters are just about everything else than muscular and robust - more cute and good loking it slowly wages to the yaoi style drawings actually.
On the other side, girls are well drawn, tho lack on cuteness very much. The most bothersome thing for me was the collosal size of Tohru size, which is very unusuall, but you can't have everything right.... where would you put it...

Rating

8 (good)

Sound

The starting and the ending theme are both very good, giving us a feel how the anime will be like. I must say that "For Fruits Basket" really is one of the best opening themes, slow, gentle and full of emotions, just the perfect for Fruits Basket. The english version of the anime has both translated and they still keep the same feeling as the original. So not much to complain there.

The bg music on the other side isn't as perfect and can be a bit bothersoem sometimes - childish and repetitive it takes away some good moments... Once again tho, just as the story, the last few eps have it made as it should be.

English voices are good acted, go well with the mouth rhytm and are not too long/ too short. Sometimes a bit too loud or too quiet but we've all seen much worse.

Rating

9 (very good)

Presentation

For the end I must say this is one awesome anime and I'd recommend it to everyone that likes romance. The character stories are really cut out to the last detail and You'll just fell in love with every one of them. Even tho episodes are not really that much connected with each other, the main story follows one string and is still one of the best around. Some situations will really make you think, trying to put yourself in the skin of one or another person and u should expect to cry a tear or to... if not anywhere else than the last few eps should be just the hit...

Tho beeing very good, and my favourite anime, I still won't recommned it to everyone - Action and ecchi lovers won't like it as much as some, as it lacks of both, especially the female cuteness which I must admit I missed myself.

And if you can get your hands on the manga you should also read this as that story overcomes even the one of the anime.

Rating

10 (excellent)

Final Verdict

9.50 (excellent)

Reviewed by TheFreak77, 2y 10wk ago