Fruit’s Basket (2019) Episode One – A Solid Introduction.

Hello! I am so glad that you could join me today! For those of you that are newer to How Anime Stuff Works, welcome to my first ever attempt at episodic blogging. This is my first attempt at doing this and so please bear with me as I find my feet! I have seen and read some episodic reviews in the past and really wanted to try this out myself, especially now that I have a lot of time on my hands. I do love the way that episodic blogging is set out, more so than doing a review like I did with Mahoutsukai No Yome, in which you’re required to boil everything down and list all the pro’s and con’s of an anime and what you like and dislike about the anime, writing about a show episode by episode seems a lot easier and lets you chew the fat, or talk at length about what makes a show good or bad. It also allows you to go over the finer details of an episode, a particular turn of phrase a character may have used or a facial expression that a character might have made and what that could possibly mean, for instance. I cannot wait to do just that and what better way to start then with Fruits Basket!

As far as first episodes go, this one was solid, it dived right in there and introduced us to some of the major characters of the series and divulged their personalities and their relationship with one another. It also laid down some solid groundwork for the plot, involving the legend of the zodiac and the curse that surrounds it.

For example, if you were paying attention, you may have picked up that Shigure revels in putting people in precarious positions (opening up his home to Tohru in spite of the fact that he is placing himself and Yuki at risk of exposure should Tohru find out about the curse that is put upon them), That Tohru’s two best friends, Uo and Hana, act as Tohru’s mothers in Kyoko’s place, and that Yuki has a more harsh darker side to him even though he seems cool and collected, and more importantly we are given an insight to Tohru’s personality aswell. 

Just in this first episode we see Tohru being brave, selfless, and having a lot of perseverance, which to me makes her so damn loveable! I don’t know what this says about me and my character, but I would rather impose myself on my loved ones then live in a tent in some woods! With that out the way we do see some fragility to Tohru’s personality too. Seeing her overwork herself till she’s sick, personify her mother’s photo in a way that makes me think that it’s definitely not healthy, and dwells on the guilt that she feels over her mother’s death reminds you that under all that sweet optimism is a young lady struggling to come to terms with her mothers passing. Tohru is simultaneously strong and weak, which is a good balance in a character. 

Episode One also established the theme to Fruits Basket, with it being light hearted, upbeat and life affirming, it also becomes dark, and melodramatic to the point that it can be a right tear jerker. It also showed of the shows humor all too well, with Hana threatening to do who-knows-what to a small band of Yuki enthusiasts (I don’t know what she actually said as it was censored), Yuki’s princely scuttle and Shigure’s sea of decay in the kitchen!  

Sure it was all a bit goofy but I loved the gags that was thrown our way (even in the manga they were brilliant)  

All in all it was a great first episode and well worth the watch, It does make me question why I put watching this off for so long but I am pretty glad that I bit the bullet and finally started watching! 

So what would I rate the episode, I would give it a solid 9/10! 

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