Fruits Basket, Volume 4: The Clearing Sky (Episodes 20-26)

While these stories on this DVD do tend to be a bit more harsh and slightly darker, the task is obviously no feat for the girl who cherishes her new, odd family. Slightly puzzling is Kyo's dark secret, which is revealed towards the end of the series. Why is he hampered with an even DARKER past, and what is that thing? In a series that, although ambling with a staggered gait through a central plot, everything makes fiarly reasonable sense did they toss in this decidedly bizarre tangent? It didn't really harm the series, and helps bring a great sense of resolution but it seems contrived at the same time.

A very, very pleasant anime. For what it is, the direction and art and writing is all excellent without being too showy, inappropriate or bizarre. And the sexual side of the relationships are never delved into with the letchery of reckless abandon seen in most anime. Fruits basket is a nice series for almost any age, and is a great family series for adults and children that like a good anime without sex, blood, gore, robots, guns, or lazer beams.


Furuba Fan For Life   September 16, 2003
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

For everyone out there looking for something funny, sweet, and uplifting, Fruits Basket is for you. The story of Tohru Honda and her interaction with the cursed Sohma family makes for an interesting and oftentimes hilarious romp through an anime which has both comedic and dramatic elements. Although the anime is 20+ episodes, the end leaves you with a sweet but unfulfilled feeling. I won't spoil the ending for you but let's just say that a certain "choice" doesn't occur. I've heard that the anime is only about halfway through what the original manga covers. (For those of you lucky enough to start your anime/manga obesession with Furuba, "manga" is a Japanese animation book which sometimes gets converted into an "anime" or animated work.) What that means is that we all have to wait and hope that the gods above (or the writers in Japan) decide to grace us with a season 2 or movie to end out the series.


Curses... The final Chapter.   October 6, 2005
Karusichan (Lansing, MI. USA.)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful



The last disc of the first season of Fruits Basket starts off with a visit to Ayami's shop by Yuki and Tohru. Little does Yuki know that when Ayami says he sells "Male romantic Fantasies" what he means is that he sells ladies lingerie he designs and hand makes himself. This throws Yuki off, but he decides to try to continue bonding with his older brother anyways, and while he's at it he gets the added bonus of seeing Tohru sample some of Ayami's handiwork.

Another member of the zodiac crosses paths with Tohru; this time it's Hiro Sohma, born the year of the ram. Hiro is roughly Kisa Sohma's age, and it is because of Kisa that he decides to approach Tohru, a woman he finds obnoxious. But he must do it, especially if it is for Kisa. After that yet another member shows up, this time it's Ritsu Sohma, the monkey, a man who is not what he seems at first glance, and has severe anxiety problems.

The height of this disc comes in the last three episodes, all more or less a continuation of each other up into the climax of the series. When Kyo's master shows up the house goes into an uproar. Apparently along with training Kyo, Kagura, and Yuki, Master Kazuma acted as a surrogate father to Kyo, raising him in his own home since he was a young child after the unfortunate death of his Mother. At first Kyo is reluctant to show his happiness at Kazuma's arrival in front of Yuki, but he is nothing short of ecstatic to have his former master about, and he begs him to remove him from that house. Kazuma decides to push Kyo further and forcibly convinces him to reveal his true self to Tohru. This requires that Kyo remove his beaded bracelet, then his original self emerges in all of it's horrifying glory...What will Tohru say when she sees him like this? How will she react? Will he lose her if she sees him as he truly is?

I can't give everything away, nor would I want to. The climax to this series is so moving, I was crying by the end of this three part episode. There were parts that were altered from the manga...or at the very least switched about, I have not read the last four volumes of the manga yet so it is hard for me to say how accurate it is, but there are many tender moments that have been added to create more character depth and dynamics in the plot. Yuki and Kyo have a bonding moment in the end of the "Revelation of Kyo's true self" episode, and it's almost obvious where the two of them stand with Tohru as far as romantic love goes. Even Shigure, who is normally there for comic relief, has a few serious moments that turn out to be nothing short of heartwarming. Arisa and Hana show up as well, to show just how much they care about Tohru. Even Akito turns up in the ending of the series, and there are some nail biting screen moments between him and Tohru, but they are resolved well enough to lead into a second season....if there will ever be one.

I guess that could be my only real complaint about the way this series turned out... that the rest of it has not been animated yet. Personally, I can't wait to see where the members of the zodiac go from here. Everything was left at such a cliff hanger as far as character development goes that it would be an utter shame if the studio that produced it failed to get another season off the ground. Do I have any predictions for the future? Of course I do, but mine come from the knowledge I have gleaned from reading further into the manga series than has been animated up until this point, so I am going to keep those thoughts to myself, for the moment. All I can say is...wow... I hope more gets made soon... I'm going to go into withdrawal until it does.