Having just finished watching all 26 episodes of this, I feel like I should make a thread about this lol, hopefully someone here might have also seen this series too.
I've been wanting to see this since 2003 after watching an episode of it on a sampler disc and with the recent stocktake sale on a number of anime boxsets which included this, I jumped at the chance to get it after being distracted and holding off from buying it many times. Many people have told me a lot of good things about this series so I had high hopes for it and after watching it I would say it fulfilled my expectation.
The story was pretty entertaining, it mixed in comedy and drama very well and didn't overdo them. I found a lot of the characters very funny and likeable, especially Shigure and Mesho-san (Ritsu's mother), as they had a personality trait that made them stood out.
The best highlight of the series to me would probably be the episode where Tohru, Yuki, Kyo and Momiji go to the hot spring and that's where Mesho-san is introduced as she is the hostess of the place. The scenes involving her are hilarious with her...how can I put it? mood swings would probably fit best. Her re-appearance in episode 20 was a cracker XD when she did the episode introduction and eye-catches lol. The other characters that are introduced would usually have their own story, I found Momiji's one quite touching and sad but Hatori's one was also interesting.
As I progressed towards the end of the series, the comedy is toned down and pretty much disappears in the last 2 episodes as the drama kicks in. This is where I found it to be very effective and moving. The ending was somewhat non-conclusive (though the manga continues on from it) and was left very open-ended which leaves a possibility for a second season although there has been no word on one for years now and most probably won't have one, pretty much like Peacemaker Kurogane.
The anime, in some ways, is quite similar to His and Her Circumstances as the story focuses on life though with a twist of bearing a curse. I pretty much enjoyed everything about this series and would wish there'd be a 2nd season but that's highly unlikely (guess I'll have to buy the manga to continue on from the ending of the anime).
Language-wise, I watched the series in dub and found it to be quite entertaining and pretty good compared to other anime dubs, haven't watched it in Japanese yet though. One thing that surprised me was that the opening and ending themes of the series was dubbed as well. Listening to both the Japanese and English versions, I found both very easy listening and complementing of each other. The background music in the series were also good as well, particularly during emotional scenes and towards the end of the series where it helped move and build up the drama.
In short, Fruits Basket was a very entertaining series to watch, it had many elements that kept my interest in watching it all the way to end. The characters, music, drama and definitely the comedy showed me that this series was worth buying.
I've been wanting to see this since 2003 after watching an episode of it on a sampler disc and with the recent stocktake sale on a number of anime boxsets which included this, I jumped at the chance to get it after being distracted and holding off from buying it many times. Many people have told me a lot of good things about this series so I had high hopes for it and after watching it I would say it fulfilled my expectation.
The story was pretty entertaining, it mixed in comedy and drama very well and didn't overdo them. I found a lot of the characters very funny and likeable, especially Shigure and Mesho-san (Ritsu's mother), as they had a personality trait that made them stood out.
The best highlight of the series to me would probably be the episode where Tohru, Yuki, Kyo and Momiji go to the hot spring and that's where Mesho-san is introduced as she is the hostess of the place. The scenes involving her are hilarious with her...how can I put it? mood swings would probably fit best. Her re-appearance in episode 20 was a cracker XD when she did the episode introduction and eye-catches lol. The other characters that are introduced would usually have their own story, I found Momiji's one quite touching and sad but Hatori's one was also interesting.
As I progressed towards the end of the series, the comedy is toned down and pretty much disappears in the last 2 episodes as the drama kicks in. This is where I found it to be very effective and moving. The ending was somewhat non-conclusive (though the manga continues on from it) and was left very open-ended which leaves a possibility for a second season although there has been no word on one for years now and most probably won't have one, pretty much like Peacemaker Kurogane.
The anime, in some ways, is quite similar to His and Her Circumstances as the story focuses on life though with a twist of bearing a curse. I pretty much enjoyed everything about this series and would wish there'd be a 2nd season but that's highly unlikely (guess I'll have to buy the manga to continue on from the ending of the anime).
Language-wise, I watched the series in dub and found it to be quite entertaining and pretty good compared to other anime dubs, haven't watched it in Japanese yet though. One thing that surprised me was that the opening and ending themes of the series was dubbed as well. Listening to both the Japanese and English versions, I found both very easy listening and complementing of each other. The background music in the series were also good as well, particularly during emotional scenes and towards the end of the series where it helped move and build up the drama.
In short, Fruits Basket was a very entertaining series to watch, it had many elements that kept my interest in watching it all the way to end. The characters, music, drama and definitely the comedy showed me that this series was worth buying.
![[Image: mesho-san.gif]](http://tacc.lynkformer.com/forums/images/signature/mesho-san.gif)
