[this review will not contain spoilers]
Fruits basket is, since its inception, a classic Shoujo anime. Not deviating much from the standard of the genre, it still manages to offer a unique and remarkable experience, which solidifies as it enters the world of Honda Tooru and the Souma family. And even having clear imperfections, it is still a great work for lovers of Japanese animation.
A work is made up of several fronts, which must be analyzed individually, but need to be related and set aside, always studying their coherence. Thus I'll make a description of each guideline individually and then the cohesion of the entire anime.
The story of Fruits Basket provides, in few episodes, a coherent, complex and captivating story, so that none of the episodes gets to the point of being monotonous, even those that had not much plot to tell in it.
it has strong slice of life traits, having in its history quite recurrent arcs in other school shows, such as school trips and cultural festivals.
initially stereotyped and poorly contextualized, the characters' development is very strong and respected. This makes one of the strongest casts that you could see in any anime.
nevertheless, one might find the plot of the first episodes a bit confusing and meaningless, as the storytelling style is shaped to gradually provide the context of the intrigue, which is fantastic.
In general, there is nothing to claim besides the slower beginning, that is justified by its method. one of its strongest points that worth pointing out is the ending, which regardless of my taste in terms of events, has a very consistent rhythm and respects the evolution of each character.
Fruits basket's animation is good, simple, and characteristic of the genre. character design is its strongest point and make the characters even more interesting and waifu/husbando material.
even so, it cannot be considered a strong part of the anime. Its role seems not to stand out, following a simple and conservative Shoujo pattern: pastel colors, flat animation, static and at times quite "brilliant" when wants to show off.
in short, it's above average, but if it had a slightly higher production level, it could multiply the quality of the anime by many times.
The soundtrack is, while one of Fruits Basket's strong points, one of its cursers. Don't get me wrong, it's a great soundtrack. But its imperfection is clear when watching the series until the end: the small variety of songs inside the work. this makes some scenes tiresome at times, and ends up discouraging them.
It makes me sad to give such score to a soundtrack that captivated me so much at first, but disappointed me even more in the end.
Conservative: this is the word that can best describe the direction of the anime. This characteristic can be good at certain times and bad at others. It doesn't run away from the conventional "camera angles" nor the way the facts are shown. the models stipulated by the manga are kept almost to the letter.
What is understood is that the direction was aimed at structuring a simple dynamic, without running away from the conventional models of the genre.
it's very hard not to like fruits basket. the story is captivating, the animation is enough to not be noticed and the soundtrack, even being repetitive, manages to intensify the beautiful moments of the series. No wonder it is considered one of the pillars of Shoujo and anime's slice of life. It's a real journey to get to know the interesting characters, the bonds they have with each other and the way each one grows as the story continues.
On the whole, Fruits basket is, in almost all its aspects, the best that a classic shoujo can offer. Each feature shows the intention to put everything into this proposal, remaining as faithful as possible to the genre in a coherent and well executed way. It is by no means the best anime of all time, having imperfections too apparent to be forgotten. But more than that, Fruits basket is an eternal classic, that moved the older generation and is ready to move the current one.
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