This review is only of the first season of Fruits Basket. Here, I will write about my honest thoughts and feelings I experienced while watching it - I loved it! I've watched this season twice now, and am perfectly ready to review it. Let's begin!
Fruits Basket is the story of a young girl named Tohru Honda, who comes to live in the house of the Somas - people who are cursed by the Zodiac, and they turn into animals when someone of the opposite gender hugs them, apparently! They also have some mysterious secrets of their own, some of which we get to see as the season progresses. This Shoujo anime, however, is much more than that. We get to meet many interesting characters and get to know them through the eyes of Tohru - a kindhearted, polite and "strong" girl. It is basically a slice of life anime where we get to see the daily lives of her and all the other Somas - particularly Kyo and Yuki, who go to the same school.
The story is rather simple, at least in this season. But simplicity is the key factor here. The essence lies in the characters more, and as we get to know them better, it is an incredible experience. It is a great example of what magical realism can do in terms of storytelling. The characters with their underlying fantastical elements seem very real most of the time, something we can relate to, as we see their struggles, pain and suffering, along with their happiness and learning to be better people. It is genuinely a human tale, expressed in terms of slight fantasy, which never really cuts the main human part.
We get to see the stories of Kyo and Yuki Soma, who have gone through some very dark and hopeless moments in their lives, and they get better eventually, all thanks to Tohru. The stories of other Soma clan members along with that of Tohru's best friends' are also shown, and I liked them very much, especially that of her friends - Uo and Hana. The story does not forget to highlight the importance of being a good human like Tohru - how we can make others happy and be happy ourselves. Some of the dialogues we witness here are very good and actually worth thinking about. They make you understand the human condition more, and appreciate it. I was amazed to see such beautiful lines that really indeed touched my heart - something I expect to have from watching shows, but rarely get.
The moral philosophies highlighted are brilliant. I know, that in today's world, there is somewhat little left of emotions like kindness and empathy, and the character of Tohru proves to us that it is still not late for us to turn around and change ourselves for the better. Despite going through a lot of pain herself, she is always smiling, which seems unbelievable for other characters as well as myself. But she is a strong girl, who believes that the world is good and can be better. God, I wish I could be like Tohru - the outlook she has on life. But anyways, Tohru is someone who will remind you of the better half of humanity and will make you feel grateful for everyone and everything you have in life, while teaching you to get better with time.
The animation was good enough. Although it kind of shows a little bit of its age now, it was nothing to complain about. The music was good too. Did not particularly disappoint in these respects.
Overall, I will say without hesitation that I loved the first season of Fruits Basket. If you like character dramas with good execution, I believe you will like it. This is a very peaceful anime to watch, which somehow became my safe place. I hope it'll be this good in the subsequent seasons, which I will watch right away. I regret not completing this series the first time I started, which happened because of the airing of the new season. I will complete it now, and will try to post my reviews of the later seasons as well, so stay tuned for that!
Thank you for reading. Have a great day/night and keep watching anime!
[Image obtained from IMDb/Google]
Written by: Sekhar08
October 30, 2021