Binding: DVD
Region: Region 1
Director: Akitarô Daichi, Nagisa Miyazaki
Actor: Yui Horie, Aya Hisakawa, Tomokazu Seki, Ryôtarô Okiayu, Yuka Imai
Format: Animated, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Run Time: 532 minutes
ASIN: B00049QMBI
Rated: Unrated
Manufacturer: Funimation Prod
Release Date: 2004-11-16
Average Customer Review: 
(From 80 total reviews)
List Price: $99.98
Amazon Price: $76.49 (2 new 2 used available)
Availability: Usually ships in 9 to 14 days (Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping)
Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon web site at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.
Editorial Reviews
Product Description:
Includes: A Great Transformation? (v.1), What Becomes of Snow? (v.2), Puddles Of Memories (v.3), The Clearing Sky (v.4)
The Sohma family is cursed. When a member of the family is embraced by a person of the opposite gender, they transform into an animal of the Chinese Zodiac! The Sohmas managed to keep the curse private for generations, but when a young girl stumbles upon their hidden secret, life at the Sohma house changes forever! Conflict erupts as Zodiac rivals clash in this most unusual household. Young Tohru Honda must promise the secret will remain her own… or face the consequences!
Format: DVD MOVIE
Amazon.com:
Fruits Basket (the name refers to a children’s game similar to “The Farmer in the Dell”) has all the elements of a classic shojo (girl’s) series: a sweetly domestic heroine, unconventional living arrangements, and two romantic candidates–one exquisitely gentle, the other hiding a heart of gold beneath a thorny exterior. Sixteen-year-old orphan Tohru Honda has been living in a tent when she meets the Sohma family. Handsome, intelligent Yuki is the most popular boy in school; his older cousin Shigura is a pulp novelist; Kiyo, another cousin, is a hot-tempered, red-haired martial artist. Members of the Sohma family labor under a curse: when embraced by a member of the opposite sex, they turn into animals from the Chinese zodiac: Yuki becomes a rat; Shigure, a dog; Kiyo, a cat. (According to legend, the cat failed to attend the feast held by Buddha at which the animals of the zodiac were chosen, but Tohru adores cats.) After short time, they return to human form–naked. The set-up owes a lot to Ranma 1/2, but Fruits Basket is a schmaltzy romantic comedy, not a martial-arts farce.
Tohru moves into this weird household and wins everyone’s heart by cooking, cleaning, and keeping their secret. She also functions as an in-house Dear Abby, helping all the Sohmas with their emotional problems, which grow increasingly sentimental as the series progresses. Adolescent girls are clearly the target audience for Fruits Basket. (Unrated, suitable for age 13 and older, violence, mild profanity, minor risqué humor, tobacco use) –Charles Solomon
Customer Reviews
Great story that even a mother would like by Bonnie Renea Garcia
This is a fun series that I wish continued past the first season.
My kids got me started and now I am hooked.
Totally worth watching! by Brenda Levin Beck
This anime is one of the best I’ve seen. It’s heart warming and funny. I laugh everytime I watch this. It really has great life lessons and understanding of other people. Definetly a keeper.
Don’t buy here if its 99 bucks by Julie D Wienecke
What a freaking rip off!! This is the most heartwarming stick in your psyche girly anime ever. I tell you I obsessed for months over this anime fanfiction, manga, posters its the cutest most heartwarming make you feel so happy you watched it anime ever, but I bought the entire series here for $30 Best buy can get it for a similar price, what is Amazon thinking pricing this series so high? They must be nuts. Buy it used or new off ebay. It is an awesome adorable anime that will make you so happy and have you striving to be a better person, but c’mon, a hundred bucks for this is a total rip.
They’re ANIMALS by E. A Solinas
Imagine if you moved in with a new family and friends… and found out they turn into animals when you hug them.
That’s what Tohru Honda has to deal with in “Fruits Basket,” the adaptation of Natsuki Takaya’s hit manga. And the manga adaptation is a delightful one — while the ending gets changed, it’s still charming, quirky, slapsticky and sprinkled with darker moments.
Tohru is living in the woods, with only her late mother’s photo for company. Exploring one day, she wanders down to a large house, and bumps into the owners: flirtatious Shigure Sohma, and his gorgeous cousin Yuki — the school’s mysterious “Prince.” After Tohru becomes ill and her tent is destroyed, Yuki and Shigure take her into their home as their new housekeeper… especially since the place is a pigsty.
But Yuki and Shigure are keeping some strange secrets. When Kyo Sohma bursts in to fight Yuki, Tohru tries to stop him — and the three turn into a dog, cat, and rat. Turns out the Sohma family is cursed with the spirits of the Chinese zodiac, and become those animals whenever they’re hugged by a member of the opposite sex. Surprisingly, the mysterious family head Akito allows Tohru to stay with Yuki and Shigure, as long as the volatile Kyo also stays.
And soon Tohru becomes even more wrapped up in the Sohma family, and befriends many members of the zodiac. She, Yuki and Kyo must deal with crazed fanclubs, flamboyant brothers, school festivals, New Year’s loneliness, Valentine’s day woes, trips to the hot springs, visits to Tohru’s mother’s grave, and Yuki’s band of loyal stalkers.
But Tohru also learns more about the curse — the traumatic pasts that Momiji, Yuki and Kyo keep hidden, the little “tiger” girl who is bullied into silence, and Hatori’s tragic romance. And finally Tohru discovers the horrific secret that Kyo is hiding, and the true role of the angry, violent Akito…
It takes a little while for “Fruits Basket” to get going, but after a few episodes it finds its footing and charges ahead like Kagura. Just don’t expect it to really have an ending — it doesn’t end so much as stop, on a particularly moving story about Kyo and Tohru.
There’s lots of romantic tension, slapstick fight scenes (usually involving Kyo and somebody else), quirky comedy (Ayame’s kooky cosplay shop), and amusingly tongue-in-cheek dialogue (”Sometimes it feels like the whole world is conspiring to destroy my house!”).
But while the anime is somewhat more lighthearted than the manga, there’s also a melancholy side to the story, centering on a curse that is ruining its victims’ lives. In the midst of the comedy, we get glimpses of Tohru’s tragic past, the families torn apart by the curse, and the Sohmas’ isolation from the rest of the world.
Tohru herself is the most lovable character of the bunch — she has a lot of sorrow over her mother’s death and the unkindness of some of her relatives, but she compensates with optimism and friendliness. She borders on Pollyannishness occasionally, but is balanced out somewhat by her oddball friends.
And the Sohmas rule as far as quirkiness is concerned — there’s the quiet “Prince” Yuki, the volatile loner Kyo, and the charmingly kooky Shigure. The rest of the family is even more eccentric — the flamboyant, charming Ayame, Yuki’s prodigal brother who is trying ineptly to mend fences. Not to mention the volcanic Haru, the tragic Hatori, and half-German, deceptively cheerful Momiji.
“Fruits Basket” is by turns hilarious and bittersweet, with plenty of wacky antics, sad backstories and quirky characters. Delightful from beginning to end.
Similar Products
Tags: animated series, anime, anime dvd, best anime, box set, curse, DVD, fruits basket, funimation entertainment, furuba, great anime, love, romance, shojo, zodiac