Fruits Basket. Hit or Miss?

YOU'D THINK THIS WAS A ROMCOM. Spoiler, it's not. Here's why Fruits Basket works.

Zodiacs

Okay, it might just be me, but come on, the show's main characters are a rat, a girl, and a mouse (yup, you guessed it. It's a love triangle!

In case you didn't get the message, the guy on the left, he's the cat (Kyo). The guy on the right, the rat (Yuki). Basically, they're zodiacs in human form. To dumb it down, the zodiacs have lived since ancient times and now; they have taken on human forms. However, for some bizarre reason, whenever any of the zodiacs are hugged by a member of the opposite sex, they transform into their animal form. Awkward teenage romance opportunities? Check. (Are the zodiacs really teenagers though???)

So, what's the purpose of the zodiacs? To serve God. Literally.

Yup, in any way shape or form. While this part of the show hits on a darker side of the story, I think it's important to mention. Every one of the zodiacs is sexually attracted to Akito (God). And every one of the zodiacs wants to be desired by God. So, one of the underlying conflicts throughout the show is the contest to win Akito over.

This begs the question, if this is the list of zodiacs, what is the Cat (Kyo)?

• Rat (Yuki)
• Cow (Hatsuhara)
• Tiger (Kisa)
• Rabbit (Momij)
• Dragon (Hatori); ps, not as cool as it sounds. It's a sea horse.
• Snake (Ayame)
• Horse (Rin)
• Sheep (Hiro)
• Monkey (Ritsu)
• Rooster (Kureno)
• Dog (Shigure)
• Boar (Kagura)

Kyo and Yuki

First of all, come on. Does every single anime hero have to have a tragic backstory? I feel like this is a checkbox at this point.

Chinese myth tells us that the rat actually tricked the cat resulting in the cat being excluded from the zodiac. And that's the real reason the cat, Kyo, and the rat, Yuki hate each other. And I'm sure that's why this is Kyo's secret identity (okay, whatever, this is a spoiler sure, but it's like saying you had no idea Naruto was the nine-tailed fox!)

But seriously, I feel like it's sometimes just me; apparently this was a huge reveal when it came out but it seemed pretty obvious to me. Okay, I'm not saying I knew exactly what he'd look like, but I had a feeling it was deeper than this:

This is like not knowing Harrison Wells was the reverse flash in flash season one. It was obvious from day one that there was something wrong going on there.

Anyway, I'm not saying Kyo's character arc isn't interesting, it is. It's just not original. It's been done a million times in the past and watching it, I couldn't help but shrug. It's not new, and it's not exciting. The thing is, there's not a huge amount I can say about Kyo in general.

Yuki on the other hand, that's a different story. On the surface it may seem like the classic hothead vs cool head (Naruto vs Sasuke) rinse and recycle, I can confidently tell you it's not. While I didn't particularly like Yuki over the course of the show, in hindsight, I can perceive the impact he had on the story.

Yuki adds a layer to the story because his goal is to protect Torhu. Less falling in love with her. And someone he really tries to shield her from is their caretaker, Shigure, one of the major "villains" of the story.

Okay, to call him a villain isn't exactly accurate. A better way to say it is that Shigure is someone who seeks to use Torhu to accomplish his goal, namely, becoming Akito's lover (yup, it's as weird as it sounds).

Throughout the first season, not a lot of Shigure's darker side is revealed. But over the course of the story, it becomes clear that Torhu has some special power that he is tapping to tap into: the power of friendship and love.

And this is the biggest plot hole in Fruits Basket.

Tohru, Sakura 2.0?

I don't want to say I despise Tohru as a character, but to me, she's another Sakura—a failed character in other words. She's the catalyst, the plot driver of the story. And the way she does that is by being nice. First of all, how is that even in the realm of superpowers?

Basically, you know how I said the zodiacs all love Akito and want to be loved in turn by Akito? That isn't exactly true. The zodiacs in general, need love. And that's where Tohru is a catalyst. Because she loves both Yuki and Kyo, Akito (god) feels threatened by Tohru since he fears he will lose his connection to Yuki if Torhu steals him. And that's what Shigure tries to manipulate. The big reason he brought Kyo to live with him and Yuki is because he wanted to test Tohru on Kyo to see if it worked. I'm 99% sure I lost all of you by now. But that's the point. Fruits Basket makes no sense. It's not a romcom that's for sure, but what it actually is, I don't have a clue.

Fruits Basket is one of those anime that makes me question why I watch anime. I don't honestly know how to even rate it because it makes zero sense.

Worse, the ending is probably one of the most anticlimactic ways to end the conflict between Akito and Torhu.

For the sake of adding some redeeming quality, I'd like to say that the anime just sucked and that manga is superior, but I really can't. Both just went off the rails to nowhere, never to be seen again.

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