(L+CR) Fruits Basket (2019)

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

I feel kinda bad that I subconsciously end up comparing Manaka Iwami to her predecessor. I don't know if it's due to rose tinted hearing, but while she does a good job here she doesn't have that same degree of liveliness that Yui Horie delivered in what some people considered her breakout role.

OTOH the guys are delivering this out of the park. Yuichi Nakamura voices Shigure to a perfect T of hilarity.

Horie Yui is a very high bar. I think Iwami is perfectly fine but not on the same level.

As to the dudes I agree, Nakamura is nailing it. As for the boys, they’re kind of in the “fine” range for me too, though Uchida is making more of an impression than Shimazaki.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I'm quite interested in electromagnetic waves girl. Especially since she does seem to have some power since she could sense something from Yuki.

The unfortunate thing for me is that while I know it's not Fruit Baskets fault that almost every other otome, and shoujo media that came after it just adopted the "Fruit Baskets" formula, it is a thing. I don't necessarily dislike the formula, or shows like this, as I still watch most of them :P. But, I have become somewhat picky when it comes to the type of female leads I find interesting, and unfortunately, Tohru so far is the type of lead we've kind of been getting ad nauseum from otome and shoujo for a while now, and not just the stuff that gets adapted. So for me she's kind of just there, and not much else.

[SidVicious]

Tohru is too pure for this world.
I love her.

[Frontier]

I thought the Opening was pretty decent. Suitably soothing and melancholic in equal respects, which felt fitting for a Shojo manga adaption (and Fruit's Basket) .

Man, watching this anime after reading the manga really gives you new perspectives on certain moments and character interactions. I guess what they say about hindsight being 20/20 is accurate .

I forgot that bit that the Sohma's can actually talk with their respective animal (which explains how Yuki got that rat force to get Tohru's stuff). Probably some interesting conversations there .

Poor Kyo. When Yuki's not beating him up or making fun of him, he ends up putting his foot in his mouth around people who actually want to get along with him well. Yuuma Uchida captures Kyo's attitude and awkwardness really well .

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

*sighs* And is it a bad sign when I'm more interested in Tohru's friends?

I don't think that's bad at all. Tohru's friends are pretty awesome .

[Stark700]

Episode 3

Lol Kyo and those cats. Funny.

Kyo's personality really showed a lot again this episode especially when he's with Yuki. I find their character dialogue bickering to be quite amusing. Seeing Yuki talk to Tohri in his rat form shows more of his character vulnerability. It seems this show connects these characters together through trying to understand each other.

They also continue to show brief flashbacks of Torhu's mother, which is a fairly important part of the story.

Arisa kinda reminds me of a female version of Kyo lol

[Haak]

Tohru raising flags and conquering routes left, right and centre. She still feels a little bland to me though: If the story could focus on herself independent of the boys, I'd appreciate it more.

That said I'm not hating it. Kyo and Yuki being jealous of each other is some real irony and Tohru's plumb analogy was rather on point.

On a side note I wish the main character wasn't called "Tohru". Just makes me think of the giant fat dude from Jackie Chan Adventures. XP

[Tenzen12]

Rat is like classic shoujo love interest, ie extremely unlikable. He keep his distance from everyone but for no reason he warm to Tohru for sake of plot. I didn't read manga or watched previous animes so I can say I really hope he is not endgame.

Cat in other hand is alright. Tsunderes of any gender never get old if handled properly and he is not bad. I would supported this one if reason why MC want to get close to him is his spiritual animal instead of his character (even if it already changing). He would look much better with delinquent girl anyway.

Oh and Mother is best girl based on voice alone. On another note based on dog-cat conversation, relationship with other gender is possible, but I wonder if it have to be only platonic and whole family is simply so big there is no problem if 13 people every generation has no children or if there is something more to their condition.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

Rat is like classic shoujo love interest, ie extremely unlikable. He keep his distance from everyone but for no reason he warm to Tohru for sake of plot. I didn't read manga or watched previous animes so I can say I really hope he is not endgame.

He's better than a lot of shoujo love interests, who act like outright jerks. He keeps his distance from people but that's a reasonable character flaw, one he is even aware of. And I think it's easy to see why he would find himself interested in Tohru. You don't meet girls like her every day.

There was a lot to like about this episode, but my favorite moment was the flashback with Tohru's mom, where she tells her she wants her to be a person able to trust others. Everything she said rang true. This gave us more insight into Tohru's character and why she seems to overflow with optimism.

[Guardian Enzo]

Did Momiji show up this early in the first series? It's been a long time but I don't remember an early cameo like this.

[Master_Yoma]

That some kick Yuki did to Kyou and it seem they got an extra classmate to play that card game

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Did Momiji show up this early in the first series? It's been a long time but I don't remember an early cameo like this.

I don't remember the anime either, but in the manga, the festival and onigiri talk come after the visit by the girl and one other thing.

Originally Posted by Kanon

He's better than a lot of shoujo love interests, who act like outright jerks. He keeps his distance from people but that's a reasonable character flaw, one he is even aware of. And I think it's easy to see why he would find himself interested in Tohru. You don't meet girls like her every day.

It's also easy to see why he warms up to Tohru, too. Aside from all her qualities, the worst has already happened with her: she knows the Sohma secret. And she didn't react badly.

[Frontier]

Ah, Tohru. Ever a bundle of enthusiasm, optimism, joy, and strong motivational speeches. She can always perk me up .

And there's the rub of the Kyo/Yuki rivalry. The two of them are exact opposites and hate each other but secretly covet what the other has while missing what they already have individually. And poor Tohru right in the middle .

Kyo with a bunch of cats is really cute .

Hey, at least the Sohma's can hold hands with the opposite sex. That's already a milestone by Japanese relationship standards .

Surprise Momiji appearance .

And here comes Kagura .

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Did Momiji show up this early in the first series? It's been a long time but I don't remember an early cameo like this.

And didn't their teacher show up by this point? I might be mis-remembering .

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Kanon

He's better than a lot of shoujo love interests, who act like outright jerks. He keeps his distance from people but that's a reasonable character flaw, one he is even aware of. And I think it's easy to see why he would find himself interested in Tohru. You don't meet girls like her every day.

There was a lot to like about this episode, but my favorite moment was the flashback with Tohru's mom, where she tells her she wants her to be a person able to trust others. Everything she said rang true. This gave us more insight into Tohru's character and why she seems to overflow with optimism.

Unless you play a lot of otome or read a lot of shoujo then they show up like every other day. :P I mean Mei from last seasons Meiji Tokyo Renka, was just a slightly more tom boyish Tohru.

Love the interactions between Kyou, and the other classmates, especially him and Arisa. Now that's a ship I'd like to see happen, but know never will. And the cat scene was adorable.

[Guardian Enzo]

Of all the Sohma heartbreak stories, Momiji's is the most powerful for me. So glad they got a real standout like Han Megumi for the role.

BTW - Gon and Kurapika both in this episode. So there.

[serenade_beta]

Kugimiya?
Did they cast her just because of the name?

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Kugimiya?
Did they cast her just because of the name?

I mean, the entire cast is pretty much an All-Stars list of seiyuu, so I have to imagine it was more then just her name .

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

Unless you play a lot of otome or read a lot of shoujo then they show up like every other day. :P I mean Mei from last seasons Meiji Tokyo Renka, was just a slightly more tom boyish Tohru.

Yeah, but there are only one of them per story, so they are pretty unique to the other characters.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Yeah, but there are only one of them per story, so they are pretty unique to the other characters.

But, I guess that's my other problem, the notion that characters like Tohru are some how unique, at least in regards to how she reacts to the Soma secret, essentially non-plussed about it. Speaking from a real world perspective that if actually mirrored in anime, I honestly think more people then not would find it cool. At least I think there'd be just as many people who would find it cool as there are people who would be fearful of it. But, many anime often treat the former group of people as if they're unicorns (Perhaps that's from a cultural thing. Isn't there a Japanese saying about the nail that sticks up gets hammered down or something? So anything that doesn't conform is bad). From the Somas perspective I can understand wanting to be caution, because you'd also end up with the group of people who want to use and abuse your abilities, and you can never be 100% sure what type of person you'll run into. But, Akito telling young Yuki, that people would be afraid of him if they found out, full stop, just seems weird to me. I get she's most likely dealing with her own shit, and bad experiences. She alludes to as much by her statement about why she'll allow Tohru to keep her memories. And that's generally how these stories tend to go anyway. But, I imagine Tohru's friends would have reacted much the same as Tohru did. Maybe we'll get a chance to find out. Actually, I can see that being part of the Somas journey, finding out that there are also good people in the world who will accept everything about them.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

But, I guess that's my other problem, the notion that characters like Tohru are some how unique, at least in regards to how she reacts to the Soma secret, essentially non-plussed about it. Speaking from a real world perspective that if actually mirrored in anime, I honestly think more people then not would find it cool. At least I think there'd be just as many people who would find it cool as there are people who would be fearful of it. But, many anime often treat the former group of people as if they're unicorns (Perhaps that's from a cultural thing. Isn't there a Japanese saying about the nail that sticks up gets hammered down or something? So anything that doesn't conform is bad). From the Somas perspective I can understand wanting to be caution, because you'd also end up with the group of people who want to use and abuse your abilities, and you can never be 100% sure what type of person you'll run into. But, Akito telling young Yuki, that people would be afraid of him if they found out, full stop, just seems weird to me. I get she's most likely dealing with her own shit, and bad experiences. She alludes to as much by her statement about why she'll allow Tohru to keep her memories. And that's generally how these stories tend to go anyway. But, I imagine Tohru's friends would have reacted much the same as Tohru did. Maybe we'll get a chance to find out. Actually, I can see that being part of the Somas journey, finding out that there are also good people in the world who will accept everything about them.

1. People finding it "cool" is also a problem. They don't want to be cool circus freaks.
2. Don't take everything Akito says at face value.
3. Going back to Tohru - what makes her special in Yuki's eyes isn't just that she didn't react badly to his transformation. It's also her courage. She dared to live the hobo life when he, despite his desire to escape his family, didn't.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

1. People finding it "cool" is also a problem. They don't want to be cool circus freaks.
2. Don't take everything Akito says at face value.
3. Going back to Tohru - what makes her special in Yuki's eyes isn't just that she didn't react badly to his transformation. It's also her courage. She dared to live the hobo life when he, despite his desire to escape his family, didn't.

1. When I say cool, I essentially mean people who either just find it interesting, and/or are at least not disgusted by it, or find it that big a deal. And, you can see something as cool, without seeing the person as a circus freak.
2. I'm sure there's a lot of hidden meaning in what Akito said, and that there was a lot she didn't say, but at least at the time it appears little Yuki took what she said at face value, and it's partly shaped who he is today, and that's what matters.
3. I wouldn't exactly call what she did courageous, but if that's how he sees it then OK.