Fruits Basket Recommended

Director
Akitaro Daichi
Production
NAS, Studio Deen, TV Tokyo
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
2001

Fruits Basket volume 4: The Clearing Sky

By otaku_kei
11th Dec 04

The final chapters in this tale about a family cursed for generations to turn into representations of the Chinese zodiac when hugged by someone of the opposite sex, and one young high school girl who may hold the key to this family's redemption. Tohru has become a stabilising force within the Sohma family, someone who through her own generosity of spirit has come to be a source of comfort for those cursed. Many of the Sohmas' have come to place the fulfilment of their own dreams on Tohru's own kindness. But still there are so many secrets that are still hidden by the Sohmas' and before the end Tohru will have to come face-to face with some disturbing truths.

This conclusion brings with it painful revelations about the inner secrets of the Sohma’s: about why Akito is such a shockingly cruel and violent man, and further revelations about Kyo’s unique curse amongst this family. Many of these questions had been hinted at in previous volumes and so it is nice to see them get addressed and dealt with. The hauntingly dark aspects of this show really do come to the fore in these episodes, especially with the relationship between Akito and the rest of the Sohma family explained. Yet even to this hardened, what is the right word… monster, tormentor, well even Akito is not immune to Tohru and her boundless charity. And the pain that Kyo and Tohru is exposed to in the closing episodes cause a dramatic re-evaluation of some of the central character relationships.

But as a closing disc does it work? Well pretty much since I slotted in the first disc of this series I’ve loved it, and this volume is no exception. The characters are well-rounded and really empathetic, but there does not seem to be a conclusion in these final episodes. At least there was a conclusion and then the series continues for a further few episodes that are not really resolved. This is unfortunate as it leaves too many questions hanging in he air that could only really be resolved by either another series or some OAV’s. Seeing as these do not appear to be forthcoming it appears that the only way we can get our fix of this show would be to pick up the ongoing Fruits Basket manga.

But all in all this has been a highly enjoyable series that really has left me amused, uplifted and saddened all at the same time. If you are looking for something different then this show is most definitely for you. Saying a fond farewell now to these touching characters, and praying that this series gets picked up for another season.

9/10

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English 2.0; Japanese 2.0; English Subtitles; Textless Opening; Character Profiles; Fruits Basket Room #3; Illustration Gallery

Release information: 6th September 2004 - OUT NOW

Notes: The final volume and just as the story has continued to be top notch, the quality of the disc does not fall. Video & audio are still great, and once again with 7 episodes on the disc this is great value for money. But the extras again are nothing more than filler. Just about every UK release nowadays comes with textless openings and I do prefer having them on the disc, but the character profiles have been largely dissappointing across this entire series. Tohru, Yuki, Kyo and Shigure have appeared in every character profile section with then only 4-5 others getting a look in. Seeing as the central characters bios do not change from disc to disc we could have gone for either more secondary characters getting the skin-deep treatment, or less profiles per disc but more info on each character. The Illustration Gallery is once more pretty but ultimately useless. It is nice to see the character posters (and finding out that there were 9 discs in the series to collect in Japan?!?), and most of the images are great bur no-one is going to come back for repeated viewing. But the extra that has consistently annoyed me across this series is the Fruits Basket room segment. These annoying interviews with the Japanese voice actors are good for a quick laugh, but the actor's studio on the Performance Channel this ain't! Yet more filler, but just remember t episodes! SEVEN!

-- otaku_kei 11th Dec 04

Fruits Basket Images