By JAYCEE HAMPTON, Staff Writer
Fruits Basket is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. Streaming on Funimation, the romance anime is bound to take you through an emotional rollercoaster.
Fruits Basket follows Tohru Honda, a sweet and innocent high school girl who is living in a tent after her mother tragically dies. Before going to school, she decided to explore and she came across a house in the woods. She finds a zodiac animal figure set whenever a man, named Shigure Soma, approaches her. She begins explaining her love for the zodiac story as he kindly brushes off her intruding of his house. A boy named Yuki Soma emerges from the house, and she recognizes him from school. He then offers to walk her to school, and as the day goes by she can not stop thinking of their encounter.
Later in the evening, a storm approaches and Tohru is trying to keep her tent safe with her mom’s picture inside. Shigure and Yuki find her in the storm and take her back to their house. Her tent was destroyed in the storm, and with no other place to live, Shigure offers her to stay at his house.
Kyo is soon introduced as he comes through the ceiling. Starling Tohru, she falls onto him and they embrace in a hug. Kyo then transforms into a cat; The cat from the zodiac story. Yuki then transforms into the rat, and Shigure into the dog.
When things eventually calm down, Shigure explains to Tohru the curse that is brought upon their family. Whenever a Soma who possesses a zodiac spirit hugs someone of the opposite gender, they transform into their animal. Tohru is joyous to hear of this, as the story her mother used to tell her as a child was real.
Shigure warns Tohru of the danger this can bring to her and the Soma family, and she promises to keep it a secret. If anything bad were to happen, Akito the family head, would order to have her memories suppressed.
Overjoyed to be living with people who bring her so much comfort, she takes this head on. Developing friendships with each of the Soma’s, studying in school, making rice balls, and possibly even a romantic relationship forming with one of the Soma’s (even though it is forbidden).
Tohru makes the best of every situation, and that is what draws characters like Kyo and Yuki to her. Do the Soma’s get to live the life they want? Does Tohru get to continue living with them? Will the zodiac curse finally be broken? The final, and third season is currently streaming on Funimation each Monday night.
