I knew the title for it to be somewhat a classic, but I never expected to remain so impressed it. Fruits Basket is a shōjo written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya, recently re-animated by TMS/8Pan and Funimation. I thought it to be a classic story of high school love and drama, something to put in the background while doing something else, but then the characters started slowly and steadily growing on me.
The premises requires the viewer to accept a realm that we may call ‘magic realism’, but these supernatural events that sometimes happen are just there to justify a certain bond shared by the characters; otherwise, this fictitious reality is inconsequential on the story.
It is a very progressive story considering it began more than twenty years ago, but that, along the well-played comical-relief moments, are not the series selling points. Nor this is the case for the romance considering the genre.
The true beauty with Fruits Basket resides in this pure and candid concept of the importance of kindness. The series portrays how choices have unimaginable impacts and change people; starting from circumstances that cause pain or anguish, that result in silent pleas of help, the anime explores the importance of a gesture of kindness, may it be a word, a smile or the simple presence of another. In a way, it shows how love and hate are both equal forces that are able to change lives entirely, but the series makes its mission to show the importance of relying on others, of overcoming a difficult situation and always leaves a wholesome feeling. Tears become cathartic.
This is not the case just for the main narrative arc; the author succeeds in portraying the background stories of each of the secondary characters and never fails to give a glimpse in their innermost dimension. The inexplicable bonds that Fruits Basket depicts through its characters, otherwise justified through a plot device, actually hide real life truths. These are the everyday stories of feelings, of sadness, of happiness, of healing and growing. It is a good series, that hints at the importance of what we would call humanity, or more simply being human; it points towards the empathy from time to time we all forget that we have.