Forum - View topicShelf Life - Fruits Basket
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belvadeer
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And has the series continued airing in Japan starting from 39 onward? Because that's what I meant by my post. |
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Kicksville
 Posts: 1175 |
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It is great to see the Crusher Joe and Project A-Ko OVAs, once infamously expensive on out of print DVDs, available again.
They're worth seeing - they're all pretty good, and I'd go so far as to say underrated. They pretty much inevitably aren't quite as special as the original, but they're all good times. It's the Grey and Blue OVAs (not in this bunch) that are trash, although mercifully those are alternate universe things and so...still manage to not tarnish the original. Yaaay! |
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CCTakato
Posts: 514 |
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I haven't seen Fruits Basket in years and I only ever read the first few volumes of the manga. I know the general gist of why the manga author is unhappy with the anime and all the problems with it but I enjoyed it way back when I first saw it. I also thought the dub was really good and one of the first voice acting performances of Laura Bailey that I saw along with her role as Lust in the original FMA. I agree with what was posted earlier that Fruits Basket should get an anime reboot that's more faithful to the manga and I would definitely love to watch something like that.
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Aylinn
 Posts: 1684 |
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I am not sure reading manga would help. I have watched the anime and read the whole manga and I have never come to like Tohru. I haven’t read the manga for years, but as far as I remember Tohru’s development was nothing special. It turned out that she also has a tragic backstory and it was pretty much it. Rather than watching the main heroine to heal everyone with her power of love, which I found boring, it was much more interesting to see how Shigure is getting what he wants by scheming and manipulating others.
Yes, I also remember that I didn’t like how almost everyone ends up with someone at the end. |
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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This could be true. I didn't read the manga, so I don't know all the ways in which he was abused. The anime hinted at some abuse but probably doesn't go into all of it. Either way, I normally do not like characters who are ridiculously angry and obtuse all the time, even when someone of good will is trying to help them. Although it is true that such people exist in the real world, it is generally a very unlikable person and not someone you want to make a primary protagonist of your show unless the show is supposed to be depressing. For example, a show like Bojack Horseman has almost perfectly executed this concept of depression as entertainment by having the primary character be self-destructive and crude, to the point that you wouldn't like him if you knew him, but because he is so well developed and because we live through so much of his pain, we are able to pity his self-destructive behavior and feel emotional attachment to him. If Kyo had been written with the complexity and depth of Bojack, i might think he was a good character, but it's just not there, especially in the anime. |
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Aylinn
Posts: 1684 |
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You don’t understand. It is so incredibly romantic that a girl can change a man who has serious problem controlling his emotions with her healing power of love and live happily ever after. (Please do feel sarcasm) One a more serious note, it is not the only shoujo where the main love interest has a problem controlling emotions that should light up a warning red light in the head of anyone who has some sense. As for characters of this type that are well-done. Saionji from Utena is a perfect example that beautifully shows what a toxic dude such a guy would be in a real relationship. |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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Inuyasha is probably another perfect example. He is crude, arrogant, and in some ways walks a thin line between good and evil before Kagome meets him. However, he has a lot of depth that is explored expertly during the show and his anger issues pop up but they don't stand in the way of advancing the relationship. He usually is able to be shown the error of his ways, even if he won't admit it. He is a character who learns and changes organically due to her influence. For much of the show, Kyo is stubbornly obtuse and resistant to any and all progress to the point of frustration.
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Alexis.Anagram
 Posts: 278 Location: Mishopshno |
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Rewatching favorite episodes of Fruits Basket with my sister now that she's a new mother has been so awesome and rewarding in its own special way. We grew up with this show and would read the manga together every time a new volume came out (back when there was Tokyopop and Borders), and its endurance over time is remarkable: it feels more provocative and incisive every time I revisit it.
I agree that the anime is definitely the weaker take on the material for a whole host of reasons (many mentioned in the review), but it succeeds as a hugely accessible comedy of sorts which is, I think, solid enough to capture anyone's interest and invite them to tackle the manga. In general, I appreciate that the anime sticks to dropping hints about the true nature of the narrative, as it were, while opting to emphasize the characters and relationships, as it's really the latter which are foundational to connecting with everything else that happens down the line.
You're totally right to be wary of this because it's a nasty trope and the early parts of Fruits Basket's story do nothing to dissuade someone of this impression (purposefully), but this isn't even remotely what takes place. I'm working from the assumption that you may not have read the manga (or even watched the whole anime-- if you have, I apologize for assuming), but basically as the series goes on and more insight is given into why the characters are the way they are, Takaya starts using shoujo hallmarks such as the happy-go-lucky doormat girl-- and the irascible jerk love interest-- as thematic sledgehammers and things get downright hostile. She doesn't dress her genre deconstruction up the way Utena and Madoka do, either: she's just straight up calling out abusive power dynamics, gaslighting and apologists and how enabling attitudes and perspectives are distorted through fantasy and wishful thinking, as well as some of the ways they're tacitly endorsed and perpetuated in Japanese society. TL;DR The manga is a huge middle finger to people in power who teach kids to hate themselves and hurt others. |
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thenix
 Posts: 265 |
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I seen a bit of Fruits Basket anime before I read the manga, then I read a lot of the manga, then I went back and watched the anime. This being my perspective; I didn't like the anime very much at all, but I do like the manga. The differences are minor in some cases but make a big difference overall. For example I don't like many of the characters in the anime but I like the same characters in the manga. Tohru in the anime is not really fleshed out at all. She's just a super aloof girl to the point it makes no sense and just seems to exist to calm the rest of the characters. Usually the sub characters exist to move the main character around but this one it's opposite. In the manga she is fleshed out more as a character and so are the stories making her actions make more sense. Something I really like about the manga is the story, it has some depth to it, it really deals well with an issue and balances the nice fluffy parts with the darker parts. I'm not saying you can't just have a fluffy nice show and enjoy it but I personally enjoy stories with more depth. The anime as mentioned a lot is a lot more fluffier, and the manga is a lot more darker both in story and in how it deals with the story.
All this being said people watched the anime for different reasons, when I read people talking about the relationships between the characters that surprised me. I didn't really care about or consider the relationships and I didn't even think the show was really about that. But some people watched/read mainly for that. I also think nostalgia changes peoples views too, I do this myself, I can like a show I know isn't very good because I remember enjoying it as a kid. Just wanted to get my viewpoint out there. |
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Alexis.Anagram
Posts: 278 Location: Mishopshno |
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It isn't in the conventional sense of emphasizing "who ends up with who," but the story definitely does center the power of healing through community as contrasted with the toxic effects of exclusion and isolation (self-imposed or otherwise). I agree with what you said about the characterization in the anime vs the manga, though, especially with regards to Tohru. In the manga, she's spectacularly layered, as psychologically remote and evasive as some of the best literary heroines, whereas the anime basically insinuates her to be a parody of shojo MCs and then subtly begins to chip away at that motif before running out of episodes. She's still very likable and her voice actresses in both Japanese and English confer a real sense of warmth upon the role, but the drama of her personal circumstances isn't explored in any real depth. OTOH I think the anime did a great job with most of the Zodiac characters and their stories, and didn't shy away from the insightful and subversive nature of things like Hatsuharu's feelings for Yuki or Ritsu's personal anguish over trying to manage their own identity within an impossible ecosystem of conflicting gender roles (which obviously has huuuuuge implications for what goes down in the manga). Momiji is also a wonderfully realized character in the anime, with many of the best episodes centering his earnest quest for secure attachments with others and his affectionate comradery with Tohru. |
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thenix
Posts: 265 |
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I didn't mean to say all the characters in the anime had problems, Usually when I'm watching a show I'm looking at how I think about the main characters. In the anime I really didn't care about Tohru that much, I didn't like Yuki, I didn't like Kyo too much, although I did like several of the more minor characters more. Whereas the manga I liked Tohru, I felt more sympathy for Yuki and Kyo, and I got to see more of the minor characters better. Of course this is just how I felt and it changes from person to person. |
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