Fruits Basket (2019)

This is the first season of the 2019 Fruits Basket anime, a fresh adaptation of one of the best-selling shojo manga ever. Shojo means comics made mainly for teenage girls, and they often focus on feelings and relationships. Natsuki Takaya wrote and drew the original story, which ran in the magazine Hana to Yume from 1998 to 2006. It fills 23 volumes and has sold more than 30 million copies around the world. An earlier anime from 2001 only told part of the story and changed some things. This new version, made by TMS Entertainment and directed by Yoshihide Ibata, was created with a whole new cast and staff at Takaya's own request. Season 1 has 25 episodes and aired from April 6 to September 21, 2019.

The heroine is Tohru Honda, a high school girl who has lost her mother, the person she loved most. Tohru does not want to be a burden on anyone, so she quietly sets up a tent in the woods and lives there on her own while she goes to school and works a part-time job. She stays cheerful and polite, even when life is hard. One day she learns that the land where she is camping belongs to the Sohma family. Three members of that family take her in. Yuki is the calm, handsome boy whom everyone at school calls a prince. Kyo is his loud, short-tempered cousin, who is always picking fights with Yuki. Shigure is a playful older cousin who works as a writer.

Very soon, Tohru learns why the Sohmas keep to themselves. Thirteen members of the family are tied to the spirits of the Chinese zodiac, the twelve animals of the old calendar plus the cat from an old folk tale. When one of them is embraced by someone of the other gender, or becomes weak or stressed, they change into their animal. Yuki becomes a rat, Kyo a cat, and Shigure a dog. Tohru promises to keep this secret, and as she meets more family members, she sees that the curse is more than a funny trick. It brings loneliness, fear, and painful family rules, all controlled by the cold and frightening head of the family, Akito.

The show begins as a light, sweet comedy, full of silly animal moments and school life. But it slowly grows deeper. Each family member Tohru meets carries a heavy wound from the past. Tohru's kindness helps them open up, while she also learns that she has her own pain to face. The main themes are healing, belonging, family, and learning to accept yourself. Even the series title has a meaning: it comes from a children's game, and it links to Tohru's feeling of not quite fitting in.

Critics have long praised Takaya's story for how well it shows mood and emotion. The 2019 anime was widely welcomed by fans for telling the story in a more faithful way, and its second season later won Best Drama at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. This first season is the warm, funny, and sometimes tearful start of that journey, and it leads straight into Season 2 and The Final Season.