top of page
Writer's pictureDesiree Lopez

3 Reasons Why “Fruits Basket” Is Among The Best Shoujo Anime Of All Time

Tohru Honda was the most unsuspecting person to change the lives of an entire clan.


The story in Fruits baskets starts off with a girl named Tohru Honda living in a tent. Unknown to the audience she was living in the tent after a series of unfortunate events. Tohru, who lived with her single mother, had recently lost her mother in an accident. Tohru was left to live with her grandfather after her mothers passing. Soon after moving out with her grandfather, he decided he needed to get the house remodeled. Thus Tohru had to find a place to stay during the renovations; to not be a burden on her friends, Tohru decided she would troop it out in a tent. Unbeknownst to Tohru, where she pitched up her tent was private property. The property belonged to the Soma family. The Soma’s were a wealthy yet mysterious clan. When the two Soma’s who lived on the property found Tohru’s tent, they decided to take her in because she was known by Yuki, a fellow classmate of Tohru. From the moment Tohru was taken in, she started to change the lives of the Soma’s just by being herself.




  1. Tohru Honda’s Personality



Tohru Honda, our main character, the protagonist of this roller coaster ride.. She was precious. We’ve all met those main airy girls, the girls that have little life experience but are just happy to be around. But Tohru was different. Tohru had gone through dark stages. She lost her dad at a young age, due to illness. The lost of Tohru’s father hurt Tohru’s mom so much that Tohru copied and pasted some of her father’s attributes to keep her mother happy. After losing her dad, Tohru also picked up cooking and cleaning around the house to make it easier on her mom. It can be assumed that her picking up the slack at home is the reason why she did so poorly academically. Unfortunately, Tohru eventually ended up losing her mom too, halfway through high school. So not only did Tohru have genuine empathy for others, she was truly kind hearted. When Tohru was invited into the Soma’s lives, she changed each of them profoundly because of her pure heart and intentions. Tohru’s character is so well rounded and pure that she deserves to be a G.O.A.T. among shoujo protagonists.



2. The Soma Curse




The Soma’s were a fun family at first but the more we got to know them the darker their lives got. The Soma curse was one of bonds and traditions. The head of the Soma family, Akito, was a very possessive and almost bipolar person. We as an audience didn’t even know that Akito was for sure a woman until the end of the second season. At first, it was believed that the cursed was that a person of the opposite sex of one the zodiacs would turn that zodiac into their perspective animal but then as the story progressed we see that the curse is also that the zodiacs would eventually always have to be with Akito. Akito was the god in the story of the zodiacs, which made sense why she was so jealous and possessive of them. Once Tohru found out what the actual curse was, her mission was to break it. The dynamic of the Soma curse and finding a way to break it made the story for Fruits Basket all the better.



3. The Relationships





This one might be a long one because it’s not just the romantic relationships that shine in Fruits Basket, it’s the friendships as well. Starting off, we as an audience are led to believe that Tohru and Yuki might have something but as the story progresses we find out that Yuki looks up to Tohru as a mother figure. They had a beautiful relationship where Tohru filled the gap that Yuki had of a mother figure because his mother stepped out on his life when he was young. The romantic interest of Tohru was Kyo. Kyo was a hot headed adolescent that always felt left out because he was possessed by the cat spirit of the Zodiacs. The cat spirit was destined to be locked up for the rest of his life but Tohru ended up being the straw that broke the camels back for the Soma curse. Tohru and her school friends also had genuinely beautiful relationships with each other. Almost like the odd ones out found each other and made a beautiful bond with each other. The list can go on and on with how Tohru impacted each of the Zodiacs lives. The relationships and bonds created within this anime are unmatched.



To sum it all up.. Fruits Basket is an overall great anime, not just a shoujo anime but it’s a well rounded story. Fruits Basket takes us through sadness, joy, mystery, drama, romance and so much more. The story of the Zodiacs is a good one all on it’s own but when you add Tohru Honda into the mix, it transforms the story. The anime is a roller coaster ride of discoveries, transformations and emotions. Go watch Tohru mess up peoples lives in the best way.


1 view0 comments

コメント


bottom of page