Fruits Basket is a shoujo (girls adventure) anime. That means it has a romance element. It aldo has a paranormal element in that it involves a family cursed through several generations. When the first episode begins, the first scene you see is a Japanese-style house on a giant hill. Inside a human male figure is seated in the middle of a circle, and the circle is made by what appear to be the animals of the Chinese zodiac surrounding the man. A male voice says: "I'll hold another banquet. I'll hold banquet after banquet, forever unchanging." Then it ends the opening scene with the words "The original memory...forgotten by everyone," as a tear slides down the face of the cat sitting on the lap of the white-haired man. Then Fruits Basket begins. The story follows the main character of Honda Torhu (in English it would be Torhu Honda, but Japanese people do Last Name First, First Name Last). She is recently homeless and living in a tent in a seemingly uninhabited area in the woods after her mother passed away a year before and her grandfather was getting his house remodeled. She is walking to school when she sees a house down below and is curious, so she investigates. On the porch of the house are miniature figures of the twelve animals of the zodiac. She ponders them and says "I thought so...there's no cat." She is overheard by an man who appears to be in his thirties. He asks her what she means and she tells him the story of the zodiac as told by her mother. This is a popular myth in Japan (probably due to their historic love for cats). Torhru relates: "Long ago, God told all the animals he was throwing a banquet tomorrow, and not to be late. The mischievous rat told his neighbor, the cat, that the banquet was the day after tomorrow. So, the next day, all the animals lined up for the banquet, and the rat rode there all the way on the ox's back. All the animals had fun, except for the cat, who was at home sleeping and dreaming for a banquet that would never come." Tohru remembers crying and saying she wanted to exchange her year of the Dog for the year of the Cat. The man says "Hmmmm.... I wonder what he would think if he heard that?" Then around the corner pops her classmate, the good-looking prince of her high school, Yuki Sohma who lives in this house with this man, his uncle, Shigure Sohma. Yuki walks with Torhu to school that morning, and that's that. Except it isn't. Later in the evening, Shigure and Yuki are taking a walk on the property where they live when they spot the tent where Tohru has been living (illegally on their land, unknowingly, of course) and they see Tohru who is tired after working part-time as a cleaner in an office building go in the tent. She is startled when she emerges with a washcloth and towel to go to the creek to wash up and sees them. Shigure bursts out laughing, but Yuki has nothing but compassion for his poor classmate. They take her to their home where she tells the story of her being recently orphaned with her mom getting killed by a car and being temporarily homeless because she did not want to put her relatives out (we later find out what assholes they are) because they apparently barely had enough room for Tohru's sweet grandpa while the house was being renovated (later the asshole family all move in with grandpa, leaving nowhere for Torhu, but we'll do that episode at a later time as it is an important one). Torhu insists she must return to the tent and asks for them to please let her stay there on the land until the house is finished being renovated, but then we see Shigure cock his head and listens and in the distance, a wolf howls. He says it's not a good idea as the area has had a landslide. Tohru asks how he knows, and Shigure responds with some mumbling about animal instinct, which captures Yuki's attention. Tohru, worried about her mother's picture, tried to get up, but collapses from an exhausted fever. Yuki brings an ice pack (because the kitchen is too nasty for Shigure), walking in on Tohru telling Shigure that she regrets not telling her mother "See you later, take care (Itterasshai)" an indication that she is blaming herself for her mother's death. Yuki comments as he begins to leave the house that she is always like that, only thinking of others. Shigure asks if he is going to go and try and dig Torhu's things out by himself. As he opens the door and is framed by the dark doorway, we see his eyes glowing and behind him are hundreds, maybe thousands of rats, as he says "Who me? Alone? Who do you think you're talking to?" Then he says "I'm leaving now (Ittekimasu)" and Shigure replies "Itterasshai." When Tohrhu comes to all of her belongings are there (including her mom's picture) and Shigure and Yuki offer her a place to live in exchange for housekeeping and cooking (it turns out the two men are terrible at it, as evidenced by the filthy, fly-infested kitchen). Later, after Yuki shows Torhu her new room, we hear a commotion on the roof and it caves in. When the dust clears, an orange-haired boy is standing in front of Torhu pumping his fists at Yuki and calling him "rat boy." When he charges at Yuki to attack him, he slips and Torhru reaches out to keep him from falling...she puts her arms around him... AND POOF! There's a flash of orange cloud and Torhu comes up sitting... Holding a brightly colored, and very angry, orange cat. That is the first meeting of Honda Torhu and and Kyo Sohma. It doesn't get off to a good start, but it does get better, with lots and LOTS of tears. This is the first part of my explanation of the curse of the Sohmas, and the plot of Fruits Basket. The second one will be coming in a few days, where I will tell about each Sohma member's curse.
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anime n' mangaI blog about a lot of regular, harmless sci-fi and fantasy anime n' manga, but I'll throw the occasional yaoi n' yuri (gay) posts in here. 'Cus I like that shit too. archives
December 2021
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