Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28852 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-11-16
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 532 minutes

Amazon.com
Fruits Basket (the name refers to a children's game similar to "The Farmer in the Dell") has all the elements of a classic shojo (girl's) series: a sweetly domestic heroine, unconventional living arrangements, and two romantic candidates--one exquisitely gentle, the other hiding a heart of gold beneath a thorny exterior. Sixteen-year-old orphan Tohru Honda has been living in a tent when she meets the Sohma family. Handsome, intelligent Yuki is the most popular boy in school; his older cousin Shigura is a pulp novelist; Kiyo, another cousin, is a hot-tempered, red-haired martial artist. Members of the Sohma family labor under a curse: when embraced by a member of the opposite sex, they turn into animals from the Chinese zodiac: Yuki becomes a rat; Shigure, a dog; Kiyo, a cat. (According to legend, the cat failed to attend the feast held by Buddha at which the animals of the zodiac were chosen, but Tohru adores cats.) After short time, they return to human form--naked. The set-up owes a lot to Ranma 1/2, but Fruits Basket is a schmaltzy romantic comedy, not a martial-arts farce.

Tohru moves into this weird household and wins everyone's heart by cooking, cleaning, and keeping their secret. She also functions as an in-house Dear Abby, helping all the Sohmas with their emotional problems, which grow increasingly sentimental as the series progresses. Adolescent girls are clearly the target audience for Fruits Basket. (Unrated, suitable for age 13 and older, violence, mild profanity, minor risqué humor, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Look no further for the sweetest, most charming anime of all
The story of Ms. Honda and the strange family that adopts her is my number one anime of all, and I have now seen about a hundred of the things. From the sweet opening song through the sweet closing song, it's pure joy.

This isn't to mean it's saccharine. Lots of conflicts occur. You'll laugh a lot, and you might cry a bit. The operative word is "charming". If you are not charmed by this series, you have no heart at all. Hitler would laugh and cry with their adventures.

The odd conceit is that the family has thirteen members who turn into the animals of the Chinese zodiac (you know, year of the rat, and stuff, with the cat added to the normal 12). They adopt a plucky girl who has been orphaned.

Honest, if you don't find this worth the money, send me a letter, and I'll make it up to you. This is easily the most charming anime ever created.

Fruits Basket will touch your heart!
This is the most heart-warming and touching anime series I've ever seen. It's shoujo, meaning it's geared towards girls but anyone would enjoy watching this. There are no gun or sword battles, transforming robots, or flying demons but even my teenage son loves it because of all the funny and outrageous characters (our favorites are Shigure, Kyo, Momiji & Ayame).

You meet and get to know the cursed Sohma family through the eyes of orphaned high-school student Tohru Honda. Everyone has a story to tell, some quite heart-wrenching. I was touched by all their stories. Heck, I even felt sorry for Akito!

Although I prefer to watch anime in their original Japanese, I think that Funimation did a SUPERLATIVE job of dubbing and translating these series. In my opinion all the American voice actors were excellent! I really liked Laura Bailey as Tohru but my hat goes off to John Burgmeier who was just AWESOME as Shigure!

Only 26 episodes long, it ends a little too soon. Nevertheless, this is a worthwhile investment. BUY this and add an excellent anime series to your collection!

My favorite anime
Fruits Basket is totally original. It is sweet, funny, and totally different from what you usually see. Plus, it has a lovely soundtrack. It has all the beauty you could want from a anime and a better story line then most. I'd highly recommend giving it a try. I love it and don't know why they don't make more!