Anime 42938 Fruits Basket The Final Reviews Filter Check 3

This one seems to be quite divisive this season, and I can see why. FruBa really joins the auspicious ranks of Seven Deadly Sins and Psycho Pass as very enjoyable anime that utterly collapse in later seasons. This one is rife with character assassination and go-nowhere (and then GO STRAIGHT TO THE FINISH) pacing and uneven character development that just makes you regret spending the time. I actually thought I was done in episode 7, but came back for 8 simply because I knew one of my least favorite characters (seems I'm not alone) suffers in this one and I ... thought it might resolve one of the stupider plotlines, but it doesn't... because nothing ever gets resolved in Fruba. It's just not that kind of property. I read the manga first, and it was mostly mediocre with moments of brilliance. The anime, sadly, falls short of that.

Story 2: As someone else said, I just don't care anymore. The approach they took in the anime made it feel like they put a bit more shonen in their shoujo, and I found myself hoping certain characters would just get punched in the face. Instead, they just took an honestly weak story and decided to rush through to the unsatisfying conclusion. The only good thing about the end at this point is is going to be that it's over.

Art 5: it's serviceable, but nothing special. Sadly, it's probably the best thing about the show at this point. At least it pulled itself up from the "children's coloring book" quality of the FIRST first season...

Sound 5: again, serviceable. Nothing memorable, but it's not really the type of show that has memorable themes or leitmotifs. The opening kind of sucks compared to previous seasons.

Character 1: The worst part of the show. The only characters getting any focus are just wholly unlikeable and irredeemable, and the ones that you got attached to in the first season and the filler arc are actively degraded. "Dark Haru" is a dork and a loser who does nothing of importance in spite of his build up. Kureno is "a pedo-simp loser" as others have said, happily slurping up the slop of his life because he promised a 9 year old he would always love her; Shigure is a piece of crap and a creep grooming a mentally handicapped young woman and facilitating the abuse of everyone else so he can get some from said mental child and getting jealous the other POS loser got there first; all adults are garbage, and everyone else is an afterthought who haven't done anything of note since season 1... honestly, at this point, it would need a Fall in the House of Usher finish with the ground just swallowing up the Soma compound and ending their existence on earth. I wish it was just constrained to the Somas, though, as I know even some of the popular human characters are needlessly revealed as POS abusers and neglectful adults during this arc, and I'm not really interested in seeing that adapted. I do love the arguments about the definition of pedo, too... "they're not, because they waited until their target was legal!!" or "it's different over in Japan..." THAT'S TOTALLY BETTER, GUYS!! Groomers and predatory teachers and ... gag.

Enjoyment 4: in spite of it all, I can't say I hate the whole thing (I mean, I rated it twice as high as some of you, lol). The play episode was great, Yuki dealing with school (which should have just been the focus... who cares about Akito? Even without reading ahead, you know that story isn't going anywhere satisfying, so why even adapt it? With only 13 episodes to go, they should have scrapped that whole plotline) was enjoyable if a bit dragged out... it should have stayed slice of life with hints of supernatural set dressing. Instead... I don't even know what to call this, but I know I don't care for it.

Overall 4: with the wealth of better anime out there, I really wouldn't waste my time with this middle school tripe, its underwritten characters and garbage plotlines, but if you can choke it all down, it's a passable waste of time if you have no other choice. You do, though, so just remember that fun first season and pretend you live in 2001 and there was never a follow up.

This review will be covering the entire show not this season alone and since I completed the manga I can give a fair review about the entire thing

English is my third language so try to forgive any grammatical mistakes


Story

The premise is alright. But thats pretty much the only compliment I can give about it.
The story constantly tries its hardest to be "deep" but everything about it is just as flat as megumin's chest. The author is constantly trying to tell us "oh look x person is depressed because x y z" then proceeds to give us a cliche backstory wrapped with all the ... "zodiac theme" which makes it look different at first glance but upon further inspection (not much you literally need about 5 seconds to realise it) its just always the same as usual but with a different package.

Let me give an example : Alfred is from your average melodrama highschool anime, he is sad and depressed because he was bullied in highschool and that left some suicidal thoughts in him.
Let's talk as if Alfred was in the fruits basket universe: Alfred is sad and depressed because he was bullied from his peers in school because he is a zodiac member

Taddaaa! You have finished writing fruits basket.



Art and animation:

The art is nice and the details are there nothing spectacular by any means. I found it better than 80% of romance Anime's though

The animation is also fine. The facial expressions are on point and they manage to convey the feelings of the characters.


Sound:

The voice acting is one point. But it's the least you'd expect from anime.

The music however is the most forgettable thing in this. It's fitting I guess. But never in my life I will go look up on youtube trying to find a certain ost from fruits basket. Non of the op songs nor the Ed's were any good imo but that's just a matter of taste.


Characters:

For me, this is the worst part about this show.

In short, the characters are very dumb, way too dumb. Non of the characters acts like a normal human being. The characters refuse to communicate like normal people. Instead they just say dumb stuff just to prolonge the story like "now is not the time to talk about this"
Or "I don't think I'm ready" or "when the time comes you will know" but there isn't anything such as "correct time".

I could put a thousand question marks on half the characters actions. You will notice it yourself whilst watching. You will be questioning an event every 5 minutes and then ask yourself:"why is x person is acting like an animal?" then you realize you are watching fruits basket so it's only natural. I don't mind cliche's that much. But when paired with such stupid characters Its extremely hard to enjoy the story.

Fruits basket could have easily been a 2-cour 25 episode series if only the characters were actively trying to solve the issues.

I could go on and on and on about this but I'm just gonna stop here for now.


Enjoyment :

I don't mind cliche's. But not this one. This is garbage. Most of the time I found myself wanting drop this show but it's fanboys hyped this so much that I had to complete it.


Overall:

Dumb characters ruined a cliche Fiesta that otherwise would have been mediocre at best. This show never had any potential. Thankfully I didn't really expect much even with all the hype surrounding it.

G A R B A G E

Writing a review for this season is so hard. As an avid enjoyer of the original Fruits Basket, I'm gonna say it. They did the characters soooo dirty. So dirty that, honestly, I do not treat this as canon, nor the previous season. TLDR at end.

As a short tldr of my review of S1 2019, the story was good (granted, they just copied the masterpiece og). The soundtrack and character design were painfully generic. Imo, the VA butchered Tohru from charming to annoying.
I will say I really liked some of the OPs/EDs (S1ED, S2ED1, S2ED2, S3OP) and the soundtrack grew on me (but never as ... much as the OG).

Keeping that in mind, the final season (and the 2nd season tbh) was just so disappointing in where they took the stories of each character. They should have spent 1 or 2 more seasons resolving everyone's stories and it would have been fine, but no. As a result, everything is forced and rushed. So here we go.


Akito:

The obvious one. Many reviews would agree with me, Akito gets off jack FREE with NO consequences for what she did whatsoever. She traumatized the ENTIRE Soma family, and the people who made this series thought "If we give her a brief pitiful backstory, the viewer and the Somas have no choice but to like her, right?" WRONG. It just doesn't make ANY sense for anyone to forgive her (except maybe Shigure because he always somehow loved her). For being the cause of Yuki, Kyo, Momiji, Hatori, and the other's traumas, and almost killing Rin twice??? and not even one apology after?!?!? It's unbelievable.

If we're comparing the entire season dedicated to resolving this, to the ONE scene in the 2001 Furuba of Tohru accepting Akito, the 2001 scene makes LEAGUES more sense.

Do they really expect us to believe Akito wanting to become friends with Tohru after how much she hated her? After all juunishi ties are cut, it would be a hit to her ego to do it. Does not make sense except for the sake of the story.


Yuki:

It's utter bullshit that Yuki sees Tohru as a mother. I understand that Tohru can only end up with one of them, and that it was always meant to be Kyo, but you can't tell me that throughout the whole story, Yuki only deserves a handshake from Tohru!!!!!!!!! He at least deserves a hug of friendship, wtf??? It really undermines all of the friendship that they built up until then.

The romance between Yuki and Machi is extremely forced. For how deeply scarred Yuki was from being a juunishi and Akito, it doesn't make sense for him to develop a romance so quickly with someone who has no idea he had such a burden. He's the one who believes that "acceptance of yourself begins with someone else accepting you", yet Machi does nothing to accept Yuki on her own. I understand student council was Yuki's way of branching out after S1, but it should have ended in friendship with all of them, not a forced romance.

Lastly, they basically did away with all of Yuki's trauma for nothing. In S1 and S2, they built up Akito as an important threat in the way of Yuki healing. Yet nothing comes of it and Yuki gets over everything way too easily. So by butchering Akito's story, they also messed up Yuki's ending.
This *does* apply to other characters as well, but it isn't built up as much as Yuki, so it applies much more to him.


Kyo:

After the climax of the first season, you would think that Kyo is at least a little better at working out his traumas. But no, they expect the viewers to believe that Kyo magically forgot about basically killing Tohru's mom the WHOLE time until the very end. Despite being a decent twist in the story, it's unbelievable and the timing is just too perfect as the final climax. And same last paragraph as Yuki's.


Momiji:

The elephant in the room - there is no way he could have grown into a whole ass man in the span of what, a couple months? I get why they did this, but in the timeline, his growth is just too drastic.

Also, it's hinted that Momiji liked Tohru all along and challenges Kyo a bit, but it seems forced. Up until now, he never showed any signs of liking Tohru romantically. You could say that he was hiding it, but in a show, a character would have to show signs if it was intended, so no.


Tohru:

Finally, Tohru. Frankly, after doing her job in the first two seasons of bringing characters to "life," she doesn't develop much. What doesn't make sense though, is that they basically have her forget her mom because she starts to really like Kyo. Yes, with time you won't think of passed loved ones as much, and as you like someone, the more you will think of them. It's natural. So it's a bit dramatic that she struggles so much with this idea. I guess it's because it's her first time? But I digress.


They honestly just should have spent another season or two hashing out all of the characters' stories in order to get them right. They make a lot of story choices that don't align with what they built up in S1 and S2 and it really shows. It's such a shame.


TLDR; They butchered nearly every character's story, especially Akito and Yuki. They basically undid all of the development from S1 and S2 because they were too hasty with ending the story on a good note. So much that I don't treat any of it as true canon because it doesn't really make sense logically.

This is possibly the most overrated anime that I, personally, have ever had the misfortune of watching all the way through to the end; and absolutely the most disappointing third season I've ever watched.

Fruits Basket has always held a special place in my heart, and my wife's. She introduced me to the original 2001 anime as my first foray into the romance/slice of life genre (despite its supernatural twist), and I adored it for its simplicity and heart. That simplicity and heart are still present in the remake; but in the final season, they are taken to such extremes as to make the writing laughable. ... Of course, any complaints regarding the story may be the fault of the source material; but that is true for almost all anime, and still must be addressed.

The biggest criticism I have of this series is something that operates on multiple levels, extending well beyond a single plot point or character arc; it pervades the entire third season. The issue is that almost no character gets their just desserts -- either in the sense of a positive reward or a negative punishment for their actions. This holds true for the vast majority of the cast that has, or has desired, to take action to change their lives -- Akito, Kureno, Shigure, Haru and Rin in particular. Even at its best moments, this utter refusal to properly implement repercussions can lead to a complete lack of catharsis; at its worst, it feels like character assassination. There are three major ways in which I felt the anime simply *refused* to consider repercussions for each characters' actions, and they all affect different parts of the plot and characterization.

The first instance of this failure is in its punishments for crimes--or complete and total lack thereof. "Fruits Basket: The Final" taught me that, so long as you were feeling simultaneously anxious and entitled, you should be excused for lying, manipulation, physical and emotional abuse, sexual grooming, and no less than *five counts of attempted murder*. It posits that you can do *literally anything*, no matter how awful, to *absolutely anybody*; but so long as you did it because you felt kind of unhappy, you will be forgiven and should suffer no negative repercussions for your actions. There is absolutely no sense of responsibility, ever; no sense that "maybe you were hurting, but it was your job to make sure you didn't hurt others the same way." From start to finish, how this season treats its abusive characters is entitled, enabling, and disgusting.

The second major case of this failure revolves around character agency, or lack thereof. The prior seasons posit that multiple characters are searching for a way to break the curse -- Tohru is a given, of course; but Rin and Kyo want to as well, either for their own sakes or for those around them. Unfortunately, it seems this story--despite its expansive cast and extended runtime--doesn't want to make time for people to actually improve their own lives for the better. Right up until the end, the powerless stay powerless; and when they are finally given their freedom, it's not because any of them took action -- rather, the problem resolves itself. None of them become masters of their own fate through their own power; only by chance. In a different anime, you could argue this is poetic; "nobody can save themselves, only be saved by others". While I would find that argument problematic in its own right, it is one that could be made -- in a *different* anime. In *this* anime, completely ignoring the zodiac childrens' attempts to emancipate themselves is an utter disservice to their actions, and a lack of justice for the horrors that they suffered.

The third failure to anticipate repercussions is one I consider a more personal critique than the previous two; more influenced by my personal life experience and biases than writing standards. One key character changes so much midway through the season that I found them unrecognizable from their previous self. This is not poor writing or characterization, but a plot point -- they were repressing memories that changed who they were on fundamental level. I had been rooting for this character from the beginning, and they were one of my favorites; after this over-the-top reveal, and after their actions for the next several episodes, I found myself completely disinterested in them. They went from ranking among my top characters to ranking among my bottom ones in the space of two or three episodes. The character themselves acknowledges that their actions may have negative repercussions, and then goes about it anyway -- several times. After that, I found it impossible to respect them the same way; but the anime expects me to *not only* continue to respect them, but also to feel sorry for them and celebrate their "victories" (if they can even be called that). It's a tall order for a character that we never really get to see "step up" to their responsibilities during the duration of the anime. If they do end up growing beyond their weaknesses, it only ever happens off-screen.

In an anime that frames itself as being about abuse, and freeing yourself from it, almost nobody is given real agency except the un-abused outsider and a (former) abuser. Almost nobody frees themselves from their situation; of those who do, two of the three were entirely accidental. Multiple different abusers are given a free pass because "it's all in the past now". And the person I was rooting for all along became an absolute disappointment to me. The anime seems to believe that, so long as you're suffering -- so long as someone says to you, "poor thing" -- you are free from all responsibility, and any and all actions are excusable. Outside of a few very isolated moments, enjoyed by a very few privileged characters, Fruits Basket is never interested in the idea that you should turn your own suffering into positive action on the behalf of others; it wants you to pity those who have suffered, without expecting anything from them and without judging their utterly horrific, selfish actions. And it is utterly disappointing in its refusal to consider that, for people who have experienced severe trauma, "doing good" and making amends should mean more than simply forgiving and forgetting.

I'm something of a fruit myself. What the community sadly fails to grasp with Fruits Basket is that while the animation and sound are pristine, the story falls flat. The main character unfortunately lacks great charisma. Tohru is sadly solely defined by her one character trait of "being nice" (allegedly). For you newcomers to my reviews, I will dissect my opinion into 5 crucial sections, henceforth known as napkins.

Napkin #1
The characters (3/10)
Yuki and Kyou as main characters are simply a poor choice on the part of the mangaka. While Yuki shows milligrams of promise, the protracted pacing of the product pulls down what otherwise ... presents the palatable opportunity for solid protagonist development. On every boundary of progress, we are dragged back to the 7th circle of hell, as Dante would say. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't expect One Piece level pacing, but the story needs to, as the kids say, pick up.

Napkin #2
Art (5/10)
Middling art. The characters are not attractive enough for my personal taste. Each to their own.

Napkin #3
Story (1/10)
As Sun Tzu said, story is what makes or breaks a battle. Without a compelling narrative, even Mulan would not have been able to defeat the Mongols. Now that being said, I left the story confused and in a daze. I wish someone would make a story out of you, Fruits Basket. Now while the Yuki Kyou dynamic could certainly prove promising at first, the plot in the final season revolves around a "curse" and abrupt introduction to the Tohru x Kyou ship, which sets most events in motion. What made the original season promising, in my unclouded eyes, was the clear goal or escaping the curse presented a linear narrative.

Napkin #4
Sound (10/10)
I won't lie to you. The beeps and the bop known as "Pleasure" by Warps up is a certified addition to my Spotify playlist, alongside Gas Gas Gas and the Joe Rogan experience. I have only praise for the music selection. Props to you Vegetable Basket!

Napkin #5
Enjoyment (2/10)
Now that we approach the head of the table, we approach the culmination of our review. As Alton Brown would say, the desert. I did not enjoy this show. The pacing felt abysmally slow and the shift in narrative from drama to romance and away from mystery left me disappointed. I had hoped for a more robust exploration of the power system behind the zodiacs or at least what could be described as "world building". Instead, we receive a romance comedy that fails to be comedic. Hence, I award Meat Carton the prestigious Koikimo participation award. Omedeto!

I started Fruits Basket when the original series released and watched it with my wife, ejoying every episode of this supernatural, slice-of-life anime. Now, years later, after being ecstatic that they returned to finish it, I wish I had read the manga (or, really, a synopsis) so I wouldn't have wasted time watching season 2 and 3.

The series has descended into one of the most poorly written trauma congalines I've ever witnessed. It went from a compelling tale of the Soma clan to "watch Akito be a POS and never get her comeuppance... episode, after episode, after episode..."

The story hasn't progressed in the last 29 ... episodes, and seems set on ruining the characters established earlier on. Kureno and Shigure are portrayeed as creepy, pathetic, pseudo-pedos, Kureno the worse of the two, as the writers go out of their way to make Akito, Ren, and Crone irredeemable as we rush toward what will inevitably be an underwritten, unearned "everyone is friends now!" ending. There's frankly nothing left to justify watching the program, and knowing there will be no satisfying conclusion (because the writers simply lack the ability) it has gone from fun distraction to a waste of time.

Cannot condemn strongly enough. If you just want to nihilistically embrace characters sufferring for no reason, episode after episode, with little-to-no plot development, watch Shiki. At least most of characters in that meet fitting ends.

Pathetic, Misogynist, self-motivation/ self-improvement... hollow series with the sick necessity to humanize inhuman characters, the whole series fetishes the idea of forgiveness in a perverse way... "everyone deserves a second chances", "Everyone has a story behind" and all that bullshit. Don't get me wrong, it is good that people can change, however my question is ¿why do we look for such a desperate way to put forgiveness in its limits? There are differences between forgiveness and reconciliation -just look at a real good series like Bojack Horseman (and how it develops in the last chapter) or the Iliad- my thought is that stupid people love ... this series because they want to idealize their own lives, to forgive and to give romantic love the place of salvation that it doesn't have in our reality, to create more psychopaths.

We prefer Happiness -whatever people think it is, and please someone explain to me what does it really mean?- Over Justice. That's why this is the #1 shojou in all anime history, because of the emptiness of what society has become. Is all there is to love? Please think a lot about the view the series has about love, Tohru is just the model of a maid/slave who serves everyone like a Martyr, and in contrast all the characters always remind her to "think more about yourself"... -more bullshit- is just the way to keep things unchanging, to keep that sick relation of exploitation of others while the series messages you to be more egocentric. Don't let the series fool you, that Martyr style of Tohru is just part of the spectacle... We want to see characters like her, just to individualize with our narcissism even more that we already are.
Even though the characters are very good, I have an especial affection to Haru, not only for some hilarious moments, but also because he was the only one who stood up against Akito; and Ayame, because is the funniest character in the whole series.

If you like K-dramas and all those sexist series where the woman always cry and runs for the sexy boy because of the incompleteness of her life, probably you will love this series as well. Is just porn for you to jerk off and rise your motivation with live and love. Am tired of the way Japanese people see women and relations, it is just sick.

PD: Most horrible and generic soundtrack that I have heard, just compare it with the 2001 version... I puke every chapter and curse out loud, asking myself how such a mediocre composer could be so popular among the anime industry.

The reason for me watching this anime was due to the high score and overall good reviews. That ended up being one of the worst decisions I've ever made in watching anime.
I am NOT trying to say that no one will enjoy this anime as I completely understand why many people would enjoy this title due to the characters and other "factors". Personally, I found that it was very hard and almost impossible to like any of the characters. The main character seemed to me as unreachably annoying as if they had broken all records of annoyance, the amount of redemption episodes are impossible ... to count with all your fingers and toes combined, and lastly the actions of not only the antagonist(s), but also side characters made so little sense that it actually made me angry. The appeal in the story most definitely lies in the characters which is most likely the reason to my lack of enjoyment. I continued to watch despite of my initial displeasure as many people said "It gets better after x episodes" or "x becomes less annoying as the series goes on" to which foolishly I believed. As the count in episodes were nearing the end, I eventually realized that I had wasted over 63 episodes worth of time that I could have spent on watching something I actually enjoyed. My decision making in watching this anime can be related to that of investing in something which ends up failing. I dug my feet in and continued to watch, waiting for that one episode that would finally tie all the annoying characters together into an amazing story. One way I would describe this show is that of a failed version of Steins; Gate which initially started off boring and became something amazing.
Overall, this anime was a disappointment to my expectations as I found the story boring and the characters quite annoying.

Incest aside, I used to believe there is a story to be told in the universe of Fruits basket. I genuinely loved the 2001 adaptation of it but never thought about reading the manga afterwards. Let's just say, I am full of regret.

The Good:
Art and sound is definitely the show's asset. Although it is not comparable to other well adapted shoujos, the series is passable.

Now! For the bad:
If you can stomach an high school student playing therapist to an entire family, you will have a great time!(laughing I guess) But there is something to be said about the romanticization of grooming, abuse and toxic relationships. ... I fear that unknowing children will watch this and say "oh my god that is so romantic!", "I want a sexy old man to take care of me too!" or "being abused to your significant other is okay because they love you" ITS NOT. ITS REALLY NOT.

Those problematic messages aside, the story doesn't make sense. (SPOILERS) I was curious about the whole curse removal thing and turns out, it wasn't by choice. It was JUST happening for no reason.(SPOILERS) I felt like a clown for using up my time theorizing one how it happens. Its terrible.

TLDR: Watching the series is equivalent to reading the entirety of Usagi Drop. Seeing a nice slice of life story ruined by its scope and its problematic message.

People who believe in Fruits Basket will always think it is an amazing anime. However, if you put in a little thought, I mean even just a little, you would literally understand my point of view. Obviously, there are similar perspectives and I might repeat some points that have been raised. But still, I hold that it is important to call out some of the things they include in the anime.

First off, the problem of the lose of focus of the storyline. I understand that Fruits Basket wants to take into account many background stories, many perspectives, and build up many characters. Nonetheless, the way ... they accomplished that was very poor. Namely, because the sidestories/ flashbacks did not intertwine with the main quest and focus, especially in the last season, which should have been about Akito's Arc/ character development. The author repeatedly broke audience's focus. Just to let you know, there are many animes that had done well in this regard. For example, Haikyuu and how it completed Tsukishima's arc, how it developed Yamaguchi, Kinoshita, and Nishinoya in S4. For example, Gintama and how it made us connect with more than 20, 30 characters.

The problem is reflected on how the curse broke was not very systematic. As the main mystery/ plot of the anime, its just pure dissapointing. Is the dynamax so simple as Akito losing it, just like always... (the only change is she taking a weapon in her hands...)

Then, there is the problem of how the author portrayed the characters, which is very two dimensional. The fear, the hurt, the "bad guys", the parents... Its like they just popped up from nowhere, and suddenly be the center of the audience's attention. Notably Kyo's father hysterical moments... As an audience, he is not just being a bad parent, but also extremely ridiculous. And people might hate me for this, but I would say that Honda Tohru is straight annoying at the end. Everything she does or says just involves tears, and somehow tears are magic, and helps characters to forgive themselves and others.

The other character problem is the hidden promotion of ideas like pedophilia, rape, sexual abuse. This is portrayed by Shigure and Kureno's characters. How they "fall in love" with the young Akito. It is less obvious in Kureno's case, but in my perspective, Shigure definitely manipulated Akito all the way, almost like child grooming. You can argue that these actions are just part of the Zodiac. However, what if a young viewer watched and thought "how romantic", "he watched her grow up and love her since a child" and attempt to do something like this in the future?? It is a bit inappropriate to promote these ideas. However, I can also see that this is just a part of Japanese culture (a part that they themselves also dislike).

Recovery, progress, growth, forgiveness, all don't happen overnight. The amount of abuse the Zodiac members took, the hurt they felt was definitely real. Nonetheless, the anime did not walk through HOW exactly they did so. Magic Tohru might be a solution, but there is no guarantee that just by her words the pain will leave and the people hurt from the abuse will be able to live at peace with their soul from then. I also cannot wrap my head over how the people who did wrong can be released and guaranteed a happy ending. Albeit, I just feel Akito Shigure pair is extremely twisted, dark, and toxic.

To conclude, I believe that this anime is a pure waste of my time. And also a lesson to be learnt by future animators/ writers, on how not just to develop the plot, but correctly lead the plot to climax, and end smoothly, not in a forceful manner like Fruits Basket. To me, the ending felt really weak, just to give the anime a "slice-of-life" kinda conclusion (yep, like the Cinderella kinda show thing). I will kindly put this anime in my memory with the other worst anime I have watched, being School Days, Yuri on Ice, Dog and Scissors, SAO, 7 deadly sins (last few seasons just pure horror...in animation). If you don't agree with me on how I rate this anime, just give what a wrote a thought. What you like doesn't need to always be a 10/10 anime.

200k members, ranked at 4. Come on guys... this is a sham. U can do better, be better. Literally only has the typical genre with predictable flow of story, flowery fluttery focus scene which is honestly cringey af, confusing and poorly written conversation, setting of atmosphere was mundane and has no impact during important moments and climaxes. Choices of bgm was average at best, and the cast was ..... cheap and efficient. Heroine portrayed an Orihime V2, scoring absolute 10/10 on being annoying,weak,useless and pain in the arse. She was a a mess, literal turmoil, she plays an irrelevant roles in the series which honestly ... doesnt make any difference whether she exist or not. Ngl, i'd rather watch all these men go full h0m0 and flirt each other than seeing Tohru being a complete gullible burden weighting down the series. Can't believe i wasted my weekend binging the whole 2 season jz to find out how bad can an anime be. Classic Fruit basket was atleast decent in a way. If u'r easily amused and attracted to boring conversation 9/10 would rec. Cheers! p.s Art was gud tho. TLDR, The numbers of members says it all :^)

This show should not be listed as a shoujo anime, this is a trauma dump at its worst.
The story is trying to humanize a character that is literally the worst human being ever. Akito is abusive and is basically keeping a human sex slave. Not to mention the adult men who are sleeping with or are in love with underage girls. I know that adult men with high school girls are very common in shoujo anime but all the other stuff is not. I hate it!
And just add all the characters are one dimensional And Tohru has not changed for 3 seasons.

This rating and review cover the entire seasons (1, 2, and this final one).

(Note: I base my review on my overall enjoyment).

I enjoyed watching the original Fruits Basket and was very hyped when the new version came out. Of course, I have never read the manga because I didn't want to spoil the ending. Needless to say, the excitement and anticipation all but dwindled after I've finished watching the first season.

I remembered I couldn't stop laughing in the older version of Fruits Basket and was expecting the same with this new one. But of course, episode after episode, there was only me sitting watching silently, ... and sometimes, getting rather frustrated and annoyed. Why? Because every so often, I'm being told by one character or another that the female lead is so nice and wonderful, and now and again, the two male leads would bicker and fight for no apparent reasons. It was entertaining at first, but that got old fast.

In my humble opinion, season 1 was okay, season 2 was boring and slow, and the final season was just horrible. To sum up, all three seasons of some 60+ episodes could have been made into a one-season of 25 episodes and that would have told the complete story. Of course, I don't like the ending and after finishing, the story leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Now I have to go find something else to watch to wash it off. Maybe I'll watch Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi (Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits) again because it has a far more interesting plot and characters, especially the female lead Aoi, who shows strength through actions instead of every other character in the story keep reminding the viewer of this.