Fruits Basket (フルーツバスケット) is a shoujo manga series created by TAKAYA Natsuki (pseudonym, real name unknown) serialized in the bi-weekly Japanese Hana to Yume (Flowers and Dreams) magazine. It is also a 26-episode anime series, adapted from the manga by Daichi Akitaro (director).
Often abbreviated as Furuba, from the Japanese pronunciation of "Fruits Basket": "Furutsu Basuketto".
Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers
Fruits Basket follows the life of high school student HONDA Tohru, recently orphaned when her mother is killed in a car crash. When we first meet her she has had to temporarily leave her Grandfather's house and, unwilling to impose on her friends, is living in a tent in the woods. Despite suffering many hardships, Honda remains cheerful and optimistic.
One day Tohru comes upon a house in the woods which is the home of some young men from the Sohma family, including SOHMA Yuki, a worshiped but aloof boy from her school. Feeling sorry for her, and desperate to end their take-out eating habits and pig sty living, the Sohma's offer her their spare room in exchange for cooking and housework. When her tent is buried in a landslide, she has no option but to accept.
Tohru soon discovers the Sohma family's secret, and the reason why Yuki is so private: many members of the family are possessed by animal spirits from the Chinese zodiac ("Jyuunishi" in Japanese), and transform into that animal when hugged by the opposite sex! When she promises to keep their secret, the Sohma's allow Tohru to keep her memories rather than hypnotically erasing them, a fate that has previously befallen all who have found them out.
The story follows the lives of Tohru and the Sohma family, as they deal with each other and a society where neither quite fit in.
Age: 16-17; Height: 156.7cm; Weight: 46kg; Bloodtype: O
Age: 16-17; Height: 168.5cm; Weight: 47kg; Bloodtype: O
Age: 16-17; Height: 162cm; Weight: 52kg; Bloodtype: AB
Age: ??; Height: 163.8cm; Weight: 43kg; Bloodtype: AB
While he isn't cursed by any of the vengeful spirits (mononoke) of the Zodiac, many fans think he might play the role of the Jade Emperor (God) from the stories about the origins of the Chinese Zodiac.
Age: 16-17; Height: 170.5cm; Weight: 54kg; Bloodtype: A
Yuki's fangirls (stalkers, almost) really don't like it when Yuki gets closer to Tohru, and use harassment to try to drive her away (but only to 'protect' Yuki from Tohru, of course).
Age: 16-17; Height: 171.3cm; Weight: 56kg; Bloodtype: A
Kyo has a similar personality to the cat, usually lazy (except when it comes to martial arts) but easily riled up. Kyo is studious and gets good grades at school, and is also a decent cook.
Age: 27; Height: 178cm; Weight: 68.5kg; Bloodtype: AB
In the anime, he's really just a harmless, lecherous jokester, but in the manga there's a darker side to him.
Age: 18-19; Height: 150.5cm; Weight: 51 kg; Bloodtype: B
Age: 12-13; Height: 145cm; Weight: 32kg; Bloodtype: A
Age: 11-12; Height: 150cm; Weight: 38kg; Bloodtype: AB
Age: 27; Height: 182cm; Weight: 69kg; Bloodtype: A
When his curse activates, he turns into a seahorse rather than a giant fire-breathing lizard, because the Chinese consider the seahorse to be baby dragons.
Age: 27; Height: 175cm; Weight: 63kg; Bloodtype: O
Age: 15-16; Height: 170.2cm; Weight: 57.5kg; Bloodtype: O
Additionally, Haru has a rather bad sense of direction, but not nearly as bad as that of Ryoga Hibiki.
Age: 15-16; Height: 155.8cm; Weight: 47.5kg; Bloodtype: O
Age: 20-21; Height: 174.3cm; Weight: 59kg; Bloodtype: AB
The phrase "fruits basket" means simply a basket of fruit in Japan. Bear in mind that in Japan, where arable land is in short supply and fresh food very expensive, a basket of fresh fruit is a costly and desirable item. It is written in Japanese as フルーツバスケット, fu-ru-u-tsu ba-su-ke-t-to, where the "tsu" sound means we end up with the plural S on "Fruits".
The series is named after the children's' game, Fruits Basket. Everyone sits in a circle, and the leader of the game name each person a different fruit; when the name of your fruit is called, you get up and do... something. When Tohru first played this game in kindergarten, she was assigned "Onigiri" (rice ball), which was fine with her, since she thinks onigiri are delicious. However, as everyone but her got called, and she was the only one left sitting, she realized that an onigiri isn't a fruit, and that she'd never be called; she was purposefully excluded from the game, just another of the mean tricks that other kids used to pull on her. She realizes that an onigiri can never belong in a Fruits Basket...
As at the time of writing, Fruits Basket is still being serialized in Hana to Yume, and 11 collected volumes each containing 6 or 7 stories have been released. So far no official English translation of the manga has been made, though there has been a scanlation.
The Fruits Basket anime is a 26-episode series adapted by Daichi Akitaro. It aired on TV channel TV Tokyo from July 5 to December 27, 2001, at 18:00 on Thursdays.
The anime series closely follows the manga up to approximately the end of volume 8 of the collections.
Studio: Studio Deen
Seiyuu (Voice Actors)
HONDA Tohru - HORIE Yui
FUNimation have released the Fruits Basket anime on DVD in R1, comprising four volumes.
The name spellings used here are only one possible romanization, and have been chosen to correspond as much as possible to the officially licensed R1 DVD names. Names are given in Japanese order, with the family name first. Family names have been capitalized to emphasize this fact.
Dai Bouken's Fruits Basket SiteStory
Characters
HONDA Tohru (female)
An orphaned high school student, Tohru ends up sharing house with Shigure, Yuki and Kyo. She loves to cook, is an excellent housekeeper and has an after school job as a cleaner to help pay her tuition fees (since she doesn't want to be a burden on her grandfather). She's always polite, and is extremely kind and selfless; in fact, the other characters sometimes have to tell her that she needs to look out for her own interests.UOTANI Arisa, "Uo-chan" (female)
Uo-chan is a former gang member and has been one of Tohru's closest friends since Tohru's mother helped her escape from the gang. Uo-chan is tough, brash, sometimes violent, wears long skirts, carries a steel pipe, and often speaks like a guy. Uo likes to play cards, protect Tohru from Yuki's fangirls, and swim.HANAJIMA Saki, "Hana-chan" (female)
Hana-chan is a goth psychic ("denpa" in Japanese), and has the ability to sense people's auras and send out electric waves. Like Uo-chan, she is extremely protective of Tohru, the one person who has truly accepted her. She is very observant, polite and loves to eat sweets.SOHMA Akito (male)
Akito is the head of the Sohma clan. He is very frail and his health is poor. He has a definite mean streak and has physically and emotionally scarred many members of the Sohma family, but his rule in the Sohma clan is absolute, and none dare oppose him.SOHMA Yuki (male)
Yuki is the rat of the zodiac. Known as "The Prince" at school, Yuki is very pretty and refined, and has many admirers at school, but has a hard time being social; he wishes that he could be with people as friends, rather than admired and worshiped from afar. With Tohru's help, Yuki is able to slowly loosen up. Generally quiet and polite, Yuki is an amazing martial artist who enjoys gardening.SOHMA Kyo (male)
Kyo is the cat, an animal not in the zodiac, but which legend says would have been were it not tricked by the rat into missing the induction dinner. Kyo hates Yuki and has dedicated his entire life to someday beating him, for if he defeats Yuki he'll be official accepted along with the other Jyuunishi by the Sohmas; however, in spite of the fact that Kyo spends more time than him practicing martial arts, and that Kyo's father is a martial arts instructor, Kyo has never managed to even land a decent blow on Yuki.SOHMA Shigure (male)
Shigure is the dog of the zodiac and the owner of the house where he, Tohru, Yuki and Kyo live. He's a writer who writes both academic books and romance novels. He loves to drink tea, eat takoyaki (a Japanese snack made of octopus), drive his publisher crazy, sleep in late and smoke.SOHMA Kagura (female)
Kagura is the boar of the zodiac. She has been dedicated in her love for Kyo since they were young, and is convinced she will marry him, mainly because she threatened him into proposing to her. Despite this love, she often loses her head and beats him senseless when he does something to anger her. As one of the three female members of the zodiac, she is able to hug any of the male members and neither she nor they transform.SOHMA Kisa (female)
Kisa is the Tiger of the zodiac. She is very shy and withdrawn, largely because her classmates harass and ostracize her because of her naturally orange hair (a side effect of her curse). Tohru helps her to come out of her shell, and she develops quite an attachment to Tohru, calling her "big sister" ("oneechan").SOHMA Hiro (male)
Hiro, the Sheep of the zodiac, is a snotty, smart-mouthed brat. He is in love with Kisa, and resents Tohru because she monopolizes Kisa's time and attention. He starts out being pretty mean to Tohru, but eventually tones things down, through a combination of grudging admiration for Tohru and Kisa telling him to let up.SOHMA Hatori (male)
The Dragon of the zodiac and the private doctor to the Sohma clan, Hatori is a very serious and humorless type. It is his job to erase the memories of those who discover the Sohma clan secret, though it's not entirely clear if this is simply a form of hypnosis, or more of a supernatural power.SOHMA Ayame (male)
The Snake of the zodiac, and big brother to Yuki, Ayame is vivacious, garrulous, and has a knack for pissing off Yuki and Kyo. He runs a business that makes women's clothing for men, and he often wears women's clothing himself.SOHMA Hatsuharu, "Haru" (male)
The Ox of the Zodiac, Haru has something of a Jekyll and Hyde personality related to the Ox's personality: he is usually calm and placid (White Haru), like the Ox is usually calm and placid, but can be goaded into "stampeding", where he's edgy and mean (Black Haru); White Haru usually doesn't remember what Black Haru did.SOHMA Momiji (male)
Rabbit.SOHMA Ritsu (male cross-dresser)
Monkey.SOHMA Isuzu, "Rin" (female)
Details unknown.
Horse. Doesn't appear in the anime.About the Name
The Manga
The Anime
Production Staff
Director: Daichi Akitaro
Assistant Director: MIYAZAKI Nagisa
Series Story Editor: NAKASE Rika
Character Design: HAYASHI Akemi
Music: MUTO Seji
SOHMA Yuki - HISAKAWA Aya
SOHMA Kyo - SEKI Tomokazu
SOHMA Shigure - OKIAKU Ryoutarou
SOHMA Kagura - MITSUISHI Kotono
SOHMA Momiji - SAITO Ayaka
SOHMA Hatori - INOUE Kazuhiko
SOHMA Hatsuharu - SYUAMA Akio
SOHMA Ayame - MIYAMOTO Mitsuru
SOHMA Akito - WAKABA Murasaki
UOTANI Arisa - IMAI Yuka
HANAJIMA Saki - YASUHARA Reiko
HONDA Kyoko - YASUHARA ReikoNote on Romanization
References
Official TV Tokyo site
FUNimation site