Welcome to my review of the first season of Fruits Basket, or “Furuba” as otherwise known! Here, I will be breaking down my thoughts towards different aspects of the show, including the visuals, emotional impact, pacing, characters, and soundtracks! I hope you enjoy my review, I look forward to hearing if you agree with me or not!
I will try to make the review as hard spoiler-free as possible but it will include some information around the story synopsis. If you have already seen the first season of Fruits Basket, let me know what you think in the comments!
Synopsis
Adapted from the official synopsis on My Anime List
The first season introduces us to and follows Tohru Honda, a kind and hardworking schoolgirl that has found herself living in a tent in the woods due to the loss of her mother. She has extended family but was not made to feel welcome with them.
Her loves include her mom, friends, and also the animals of the Chinese Zodiac – especially the cat.
The tent that Tohru constructed happens to have been residing on the private grounds of the mysterious Sohma family – some of which she goes to school with. They later come to offer her refuge with them after they find out where she was living.
After some short time with the family, Tohru discovers that the Sohma family carries a secret – that when hugged by a member of the opposite sex, turn into a Chinese zodiac animal!
With this new information, the storyline follows Tohru’s adventure with the Sohma’s filled with lots of fun, laughter, and romance!
Take a look at the trailer here…
Visuals
So, the first thing I notice and judge when I watch anime is the way it looks. More specifically, are there any characters that I love the look of? What vibe does it give off?
Furuba has a very heartwarming and homely feel to it – despite the story not always being wholesome. There is a huge range of characters introduced as episodes go by – each with a really unique design.
The characters are based on the Chinese Zodiac, so it’s really cool to see how their normal human forms bear a lot of resemblance and the personalities of their respective animals. I found it a lot of fun to try and figure out what animal each character was before they were inevitably revealed.
The cutesy vibe to the first season really drew me in, and for me, there were no visually boring characters.
Pacing
I felt that this season had very good pacing overall! Each episode seemed to follow a good rhythm of introducing new characters, providing backstory, a little humour and silliness, and also cute romance! I didn’t think there were any episodes that felt like “pointless filler” which a lot of shows can be guilty of.
This season has 25 episodes overall, and I ended up binge-watching most of it in one go! It’s really great when you get into it. It is structured well, with a good beginning, middle, and end – which I think sets up really well for the next season. By the end, I still have lots of questions, and I really look forward to learning the answers!
Fruits Basket Soundtracks
The opening and ending music of Fruits Basket S1 are VERY cute and I am obsessed with how adorable the videos are. As an animal lover, seeing each of the zodiac animals playing around was soo cute.
As with a lot of shows, the music changed halfway through the season – here are the soundtracks in order for your perusal! Some of them are really emotional and fit very well with the tone of the respective half of the season. Overall, I think these songs are very complementary, equal parts cutesy/happy and emotional/thought-provoking.
Opening #1
Ending #1
Opening #2
Ending #2
Impact
This season felt like a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. In the first half, I felt mega excited to get into the story and learn about the unique and fun characters…but the more I learned and the deeper the storytelling got, the more emotional it was.
It was very easy to become attached to the characters, and I often found myself relating to Tohru which made her backstory and struggles more impactful on me as the viewer.
There is a really ominous “unknown” regarding the Sohma family throughout the season, we learn about their history but also that there is a lot of pain and heartache deeply rooted. It is very good at keeping you on the hook, as it doesn’t give you all the answers straight away.
To summarise, the show had a lot of emotional impact on me. Each episode was so good at making you feel all upbeat and happy, but it could turn easily into a deep life lesson, or something very real and thought-provoking.
Summary & Final Thoughts of Fruits Basket
Overall, I would wholeheartedly recommend Fruits Basket to anyone who enjoys romance plots, loves animals and cute themes and likes shows that have a good balance of realism and fantasy.
The characters are all well thought out and each has a very attractive and pretty design. The main character Tohru could so easily have been a boring blank slate, but she has a lot of development throughout and you get to see multiple sides of her personality as the episodes unfold.
There wasn’t anything I really disliked about this season, and it is definitely a show I will be speeding on to watch more of, the only criticism I have is that I want more of it!
I hope you enjoyed my review of Fruits Basket – The 1st Season (2019)!
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The Anime Tourist