# Fruits Basket (2019)

> A kind orphaned high school girl moves in with a secretive family whose members turn into animals of the Chinese zodiac, and slowly heals them.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/73033

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 63
- Episode runtime: 24 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, drama, fantasy
- Network: TV Tokyo, TV Aichi, TV Osaka
- Cast: Manaka Iwami, Nobunaga Shimazaki, Yuma Uchida, Yuichi Nakamura, Rie Kugimiya, Megumi Han, Makoto Furukawa, Kazuyuki Okitsu
- TMDB rating: 8.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9304350/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: warm, gentle, sincere, melancholic, comforting, whimsical

## What critics say

Audiences broadly acclaim the series for its warm characters, heartfelt handling of family trauma, and a remake that improves steadily across its three seasons.

## Synopsis

Fruits Basket (2019-2021) is a Japanese animated shojo series produced by TMS Entertainment and broadcast on TV Tokyo, TV Aichi and TV Osaka, adapted from the manga and running three seasons across sixty-three episodes. Sixteen-year-old Tohru Honda (voiced by Manaka Iwami), who has lost her mother and lives alone in a tent on borrowed land, discovers that the reclusive Soma family hides a strange secret: when hugged by someone of the opposite sex, its members transform into animals of the Chinese zodiac. Yuki Soma (Nobunaga Shimazaki) and Kyo Soma (Yuma Uchida) are her classmates and rivals, while Shigure Soma (Yuichi Nakamura) oversees the household with teasing ease. The engine of the show is Tohru's stubborn kindness, which slowly draws out the family's buried grief and loneliness. Each episode mixes everyday high school scenes, school rivalries and romantic misunderstandings with heavier family history. The tone is warm, gentle and sincere, with comic lightness balanced by melancholy. Set in a contemporary Japanese town, the series suits viewers who enjoy slice of life romance, found family stories and the supernatural comfort of Ouran High School Host Club and Kamisama Kiss.

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