Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

*Reviewed by arachidonic

Finally! The sequel from Square has arrived. I was very, very excited when I watched it and it proved successful in awe-ing me.

Firstly, the graphics in "Advent Children" - it was extremely realistic and not a single glitch was found. I specifically loved the way they portrayed the water dripping and other minor effects. Square has once again proved that they won't lose in the graphics aspect.

Now onto the story. Honestly, I didn't find it interesting. It's the normal "save the children" thing and the usual antagonists who want to take revenge on the world. Plus, people who haven't played Final Fantasy VII would find the story confusing as the story continues on two years after the VII story. I'm not putting in any spoilers, so I can't elaborate too much on it but I hope non VII gamers won't feel disappointed if you think you're going to find the story uninteresting to you. This movie has other aspects that will keep you attracted to "Advent Children", for example, the graphics.



Next, how is the action done? I believe there are some real human stunts, but I'm not sure whether all of them are done by human stunt artists. The action in "Advent" might make you question: "How is this possible?! It's so unrealistic!" My answer is, "This is a CGI movie!" The action in "Advent" is the second AWE you could find. There are no glitches at all. After watching it, you might find the fighting scenes are a little too fast but, to be frank, the action is the aspect that make me go "AWESOME, COOL!!!" and it's only until the end of the battle that I found that my mouth was opened wide. In short, it's amazing. I'm not being biased here.

Onto the music. If you're a Nobuo Uematsu fan, I'm pleased to tell you that he's back with his music. Some of them are the original soundtracks from the earlier VII game. Nevertheless, it's inserted with great timing and it suits and blends with the movie and the part of it well.

As to the voice acting, I have no complaints. The voice acting for Cloud in "Advent" is the same as in KH. I believe Aeris/Aerith and Zack's voices in the movie are also the ones for in "Gundam Seed Destiny". I personally liked Kadaj's voice, I thought it suits his character well. In conclusion, not much complaint on the voice acting aspect.

The character and weapon design in this game is done by none other than Tetsuya Nomura himself. You might find that some characters in "Advent" are similar to characters in other games (i.e. KH) but that's probably because it comes from the same artist. Sure, I do hope that there are differences but as long as you like them, no problem, right? Cloud's weapon is the third AWE. I loved it. But, sometimes, I wonder if he is as strong as that? Find out for yourself!



In conclusion, it is up to you whether you want to watch it or not. I personally suggest that you watch it. It is a movie that you should not miss. Yeah, my review here might be a little biased, and no spoilers to read (for those who've already watched it) but, please do try it yourself first.

If it weren't for my exams, I would've watched it tons of times already. Back to studying..
source:www.spcnet.tv

Howl's Moving Castle

*Reviewed by dianas

About the Characters

Howl

He is a very powerful wizard who owns a moving castle. Howl's character is really weird. On the outside, he is aloof and cool, yet he takes long showers and dyes his hair.

Sophie

She works for her mom at a hat shop. A strong willed girl who is able to keep calm on the worst situations.

Calucifer

He is a powerful fire demon. I think he has a soft spot for Sophie as he seems to do what she asks. (Even though she sort of "blackmailed" him). He is actually the power source that allows Howl's castle to move so he is really a powerful demon.

Witch of the Waste

She is so gross! You just have to watch and see to understand why I said that.


Brief Storyline:

Sophie, a young lady, is transformed into an old woman after being cursed by a witch. She escapes to avoid her family and meet a young wizard Howl.

Howl lives in a castle that has legs and walks. Sofie ended up working for Howl as a housekeeper. There, Sofie befriends Calucifer, a fire demon who is bounded to Howl by a contract that cannot be revealed. Apparently, the house is able to walk because of Calucifer. Both Calucifer and Howl are able to look through the witch's spell to see the real young Sophie.

After a while, Howl and Sophie falls in love. The story continues to show how Sophie helps Howl confront his former teacher and the Witch of the Waste.

Thoughts:

The story is actually taken from a book by Diana Wynne Jones. It has been compared with Harry Potter as some of the best children books ever written.

The story is very weird, kind of similiar to Spirited Away. I have ended up opening my eyes wide at various weird creatures that appears in the movie and goes "what is that?"

There are also alot of scenes in the movie where you just burst out laughing. An example would be when Sophie tried cleaning up the house for Howl or when Sophie bullies Calucifer. There's also a scene where Sophie tried climbing up the stairs while carrying a weird dog with the witch struggling beside her, that really had me laughing hard.

The characters are amazingly interesting. You have Sophie, a girl with a really strong character. Then there is Howl, cool external but is actually a sensitive person who will cry because of a bad hairday! Also, you have a cute talking fire who is actually really a powerful demon. And not to forget the witch who after changing back to looking like her age, became like a melted piece of butter. In addition, there is a bouncing scarecrow.

It's funny how Sophie ended up as Howl's housekeeper, reminds me of a Korean drama series. ^_^
I think Sophie is really courageous, I would just cry and be at lost if someone were to suddenly turn me into an old woman. But Sophie did not even shed a tear, she was calm and cool, even packing food before she leave the hat shop.

I think this anime is like a mixture of Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast and Harry Potter. If you are an anime fan, you have to watch Howl's Moving Castle. I have to give five stars, I really enjoyed it.
source:www.spcnet.tv

Naruto

*Reviewed by spcnet

*Note: This anime is still in progress and only 114 episodes have been released at the time of writing this review. The running manga currently has over 220+ chapters.

To say that "Naruto" is one of the latest craze in the anime world would probably not be wrong. In terms of most talked about and most interesting, the only other animes that are really worth mentioning nowadays are "Inuyasha" and "Full Metal Alchemist".

Naruto means "fox ninja" and is the name of our main character, Uzumaki Naruto, a loud-mouthed, mischievous, blond haired kid orphan in the Ninja Academy of Konoha Village. The story starts off with a prologue on the Nine Tailed Fox Demon, causing death and destruction to Konoha years ago. This demon was finally sealed by the Fourth Hokage, who sacrificed his own life in doing so.



Enter the present with Naruto causing mishief yet again--this time, grafittiing the stone carvings of Konoha's Hokages. Iruka Sensei, his teacher and older brother-like friend, punishes Naruto and learns of Naruto's dreams. Naruto aspires to become a great Hokage, a title given to the most powerful ninja of the village, one day and let everyone recognize his worth and existence. Naruto has been shunned by the villagers all his life growing up for reasons unbeknown to him and his rebellious nature was a form of gaining attention.

However, Naruto fails during the junior ninja graduation exam again--having to perform his least favorite ninjutsu (ninja technique), the Replication/Cloning technique. A teacher, Mizuki Sensei, tells him to retrieve the village's Scroll of Seals, mentioning that if he learned the techniques in there, he would be able to graduate.

Naruto does steal this scroll and surprisingly, learns the advanced class Shadow Replication 'Kage Bunshin' technique, which becomes one of his trademark skills. But little does he know is that Mizuki had deceived him to steal this scroll for him. Mizuki lets Naruto know why he is hated by all the villagers at Konoha Village--Naruto happens to be the reincarnation of the legendary Nine Tailed Fox demon that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village years ago! Iruka intercepts and in the ensuing battle with Mizuki, Naruto is gratified by Iruka's faith in him, and defeats Mizuki with Kage Bunshin. Iruka declares that Naruto has passed graduation and is officially a ninja. Thus begins Naruto's training and missions as a ninja. We then are introduced to characters like his new sensei Kakashi, his love interest Sakura, and his rival and friend Sasuke. The Chuunin (mid level) ninja exams come up very soon and this brings in many more interesting characters, along with a new villain that leads the story on with more exciting episodes.



Comparisons have been made between "Naruto" and "Dragon Ball Z", however, I think the similarity between the two only lies in the large range of characters. Fortunately, one fight scene doesn't drag on for more than 2-3 episodes and the characters don't talk and talk during a fight. There is also a lot more character development in Naruto, where you glimpse into the motivations and backgrounds of the characters. Compare "Naruto" with another ninja anime like "Ninja Scroll" and I would say "Naruto" is the PG-13 public version--meaning minus most of the gore and nudity but retaining the same appeal for ninjas and their ways.



The numerous ninjutsus and fighting styles of each character were also a highlight. The characters fight in styles that seem tailored to their personalities and there is a wide variety of skills displayed. Some of my favorites would have to be Lee's gym techniques, the Sharingan eye of Kakashi and Sasuke, the frog summoning techniques, and of course, Rasengan that Naruto learns later on. Let's just say it's enough to make collectable cards and card games out of the character stats and techniques.

You'll also grow to like more than one character as the story develops and more of each character is revealed. This is certainly an appeal, since in most animes you watch, there are maybe one to three characters, aside from the main character, who are truly developed or likeable. There are some great personalities in "Naruto", especially characters like Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Lee who are well defined.

Music is another plus point. The battle scene scores, especially Naruto's theme, has a sort of tribal chant to it and will get you pumped up as a duel takes place. Emotional and dramatic scenes are also nicely choreographed with background music. The intro and ending vocals are mostly rock and fits the anime's punkish image.

The flaws of this anime has got to be the flashbacks in many of its episodes. While it sometimes contributes to the story, at many times it felt almost like they were there just to fill up the episode. This is especially gruelling when one episode is only about 20 minutes long and you are watching so many flashbacks.



"Naruto" also falls trap to some of the typical anime cliches, which can be a good and bad thing. In most animes from Japan, the hero is usually likeable because he never gives up, despite great opposition from external factors. He is beaten, but never beat. That can be said about Naruto. At the beginning of the series, he is not the most endearing of main characters as he makes rash, and often idiotic, decisions. But as the series progresses, you'll really find yourself liking him more and more. It is a great mechanism of character development. Another trend is definitely how there is always a character who is cooler and calmer than the main character--Sasuke in this case. The love triangle exists too in that the girl (Sakura) will love the cooler guy (Sasuke) while the main character (Naruto) will love the girl and of course, the cool guy will not really notice the girl. "Naruto" reminded me of "Slam Dunk" where the three major characters fit that type.

Probably my last gripe about "Naruto" is that there aren't too many favorable women characters, aside from Tsunade. Sakura is the main female character but most of the time, I found her quite annoying. She is also one of the weaker ninjas, with no particular special skills or attacks. Her only redeeming factor so far was when she decided to chop off her hair and finally fight to protect Naruto and Sasuke, but that was quite a number of episodes ago already in the anime. How about some women power and ambition for the girl main character?

"Naruto" is definitely recommended for anime fans. It is one of those animes that have a pretty good package, with enough action scenes, comedy, and interesting storyline.
source:www.spcnet.tv

Samurai Champloo

*Reviewed by spcnet

Total episodes: 26

From Shinichiro Watanabe, the creator of "Cowboy Bebop", comes another stylish and creative anime in the form of "Samurai Champloo". "Cowboy Bebop" was a jazz and blues fest of guns, roses, and cowboys while "Samurai Champloo" is the hip-hop and rap mix of swords, sunflowers, and samurais.

Each episode, until the last three, of "Samurai Champloo" loosely follows a single main plot of finding the 'Samurai who smells like sunflowers', sometimes not advancing at all to support this overarching plot. The story is really about three people taking a journey together and discovering something about themselves and finding friendship and companionship for the first time in a lonely life.

Our girl main character is Fuu, a cute girl waitress at a restaurant who has lost her mother recently. She's been wanting to go on a journey for a long time to find this 'Samurai who smells like sunflowers' but never found the courage to leave. In the first episode, she's bullied by some customers. A scruffy looking rogue samurai, Mugen, offers to take care of them for her if she'll pay him. Fuu desperately agrees when she is held down. Mugen makes quick work of the bullies and the outraged leader yells that he wants to bring in someone powerful for backup. Mugen gladly waits.

At the same time, a wandering samurai who dons eyeglasses, Jin, takes care of some local bullies on the streets. When he goes into the restaurant, Mugen mistakens him for the backup and starts a fight. Both duel, Mugen with his hip-hop break dancing style while Jin uses conventional samurai techniques. This battle ends abruptly as the restaurant is torched to the ground and both are knocked out cold. They're captured by the bullies and are set to be hanged the next day. Fuu sneaks in to visit them in prison and offers to save them in exchange for escorting her on her journey. Ultimately, a coin toss decides their path.

There is a lot of subtley in "Samurai Champloo", from the symbolic references made, to Jin's glasses, and to the humor. For instance, does Jin need glasses to see clearly? In an episode, Mugen and Fuu pawn his glasses to pay for food and Jin didn't appear to have trouble seeing. In the ending episodes, he loses the glasses in a duel and is still formidable. In all his flashbacks, he also did not wear glasses. His sensei also made a comment in the anime about how he needed glasses to see the world.

The relationship questions. Does Fuu like Mugen? She is constantly upset whenever Mugen gapes over other women, chooses Jin to leave, and makes a very ambiguous statement near the end about Mugen. She was devastated when she thought Mugen perished in a ship explosion and then anxiously tried to take care of him.

Does Mugen like Fuu? Both times when he almost died, what brought him back seemed to be Fuu. The first time, the last image in his flashbacks was Fuu. Then the second time, it was Fuu's voice calling him that dispersed the death icons. And was that jealousy on his face when he saw Fuu and Jin together near the river?

And might as well, does Jin like Fuu? I think it probably borders more on brotherly love.

The characters in Samurai Champloo have depth, their motivations in life are developed through the anime and they also in turn, develop as it progresses.

Mugen is a very interesting character and my favorite character in the anime. He's different from other main characters in that he's not your typical hero. He is not greatly righteous or honorable, but has his own code of ethics. He is unashamed to show his perverted side in going after women, will rashly kill an opponent, and get on a crazy mood. Growing up on an island where only criminals lived and the cruel survived, Mugen is perhaps the loneliest of all three main characters.

His profile seems very similar to Spike from "Cowboy Bebop", though it's not surprising, considering it's the same creator. A similarity between both Spike and Mugen is that both were part of a dark side of the world that they wanted to leave. Spike was part of the mafia, Mugen was branded as a criminal and both were marginal characters, never quite fitting in.

The music in "Samurai Champloo" woves in well throughout the anime. Most notable, the music played during the scene when Mugen was drowning was both beautiful and sad. It felt spiritual and contemplative. Not sure if I liked the rap intro song though since the vocalist was not a very strong rapper.



The animation is smooth and almost every episode is action packed. The pacing was also well done, 26 episodes didn't feel too long or too short. You may want to watch only a few episodes at a time though since it is episodic and each episode doesn't necessarily tie in with the next. The only gripe I have is that I would've loved to see what happens to these characters at the end of the journey. Hopefully, a movie or OAV will come out since it definitely left room for it. Recommended.
source:www.spcnet.tv

Initial D

*Reviewed by spcnet

Initial D 1st Stage (26 episodes)
Initial D 2nd Stage (13 episodes)
Initial D 3rd Stage (The Movie)
Initial D Extra Stage (Impact Blue Side Story)

Some Spoilers!
"Initial D" is an anime about street car racing and is based on a very popular manga by Shigeno Shuichi. The story is focused on Takumi Fujiwara, a 18 year old high school student who works part time at a gas station with his best friend, Itsuki. Their co-worker, Iketani, is a member of the Akina SpeedStar racers at Mt. Akina and while Itsuki is hyped learning about street racing, Takumi is disinterested.

One day, the Takahashi brothers Ryousuke and Keisuke of the RedSuns team challenge the Akina SpeedStars to a race on Mt. Akina. After seeing them in practice, Iketani realizes that no one in the SpeedStars are in the same league. His boss tells him that a mysterious driver driving an old Trueno 86 (Toyota) car has been seen every late night at Mt. Akina and that its skills are unbelievably fast.

This racer turns out to be Takumi. Takumi's father owns a tofu shop and has made Takumi deliver tofu at night in their Trueno 86 car ever since he was in middle school. Unknown to the unenthusiastic Takumi, his father has been training him to become a highly skilled drift technique driver. Takumi only agrees to race for the SpeedStars when his father promises him a full tank of gas the next day for his date with Natsuki Mogi, a girl he has feelings for. This is the mark of Takumi's racing days.

"Initial D" is definitely catered for car lovers, as a lot of the technical terms can be confusing. However, the racer's excitement is contagious and you'll find yourself watching along at each race with a similar excitement at the outcome.

Takumi is your typical Japanese hero though, he doesn't like to talk much, seems stoned out most of the time, and disinterested, yet has excellent potential and skills. There is also not much character development, except maybe with Takumi, Mogi, Iketani and Itsuki.

All the girls pretty much make the first moves as the guys are either too shy or scared or confused to show their own interest. You notice this in a lot of Japanese animations and games, where the girls are openly flirting or declaring their interest while the guy is still hopelessly confused. A certain gripe I have with "Initial D" is definitely the mysterious relationship between Mogi and her "Papa" which is becomes the cause for her and Takumi's breakup in Stage 2. At the beginning, you think that this is Mogi's father, and that perhaps her parents are divorced, which is why she sees him only 3 times a month. We know that he gives her money too every time she sees him but one just thought that he's giving her allowance money. Then later on, Takumi keeps getting notes in his locker that Mogi is dating someone who drives a Benz. Scenes with Mogi telling her "Papa" that she can't see him anymore because she's interested in Takumi is even more confusing. You don't know whether she's just really naive and innocent about her real father or that it is suggesting something nefarious, such as incest or prostitution. All this confusion just makes one think that this is getting more perverted. Takumi does come to a sort of resolution with Mogi at Stage 3, the movie though.

The progress of the plot is a bit disappointing as Takumi's character seemed a bit less likable when he becomes more interested in racing. The ending of Stage 2 also seems unresolved and unfinished, since Stage 3 is where it all comes together. One might be put off at first too by the analogies of street car racing similar to martial arts battles.

Animation-wise, the characters are hand drawn and do not look very attractive at first glance, as it's 2D, but it does grow on you after a while. The racing scenes are done with CG rendering which is a better. The graphics improve by much in Stage 2, as you can visibly see shadowing and sharper images. The soundtrack for this series is also very nice, with Japanese pop and rock.

All in all, this is mostly a car lover's anime but the story is engaging enough for non-car lovers to enjoy too. Development of romantic relationships are not well-drawn out and you would be left hanging and wondering what will come of the situation. But then, that's how teenage love is.
source:www.spcnet.tv

Chobits

*Reviewed by heroic _rendezvous

26 episodes in total

The Story:
Robots are designed to look exactly like humans and are replacing the positions of humans, that’s the case for the citizens of Tokyo, Japan in Chobits. Cities are pretty much being taken over by persocons (robots) under the commands of humans (Normal, average people, no one evil or insane.) Doesn’t really make much sense to me in a way, ordering someone to take over the position of you, your love ones or your friends, but this thought seems to be able to work out fine in the anime and manga.

Basically, the anime is about Motosuwa Hideki falling in love with his persocon Chii. When he realized that he was in love with his persocon, he wasn’t exactly sure of what to do. Could a human and persocon really fall in love and be happy? And with all the warnings and things that had happened to people he knew who fell in love with their persocon's, he was confused. Also what/who (besides from being a persocon) is Chii? Why does she act so strange and different from other persocons? Having all these questions Hideki was more confused then ever. Thus he tries to find answers, along the way meeting all sorts of new people and encountering all sorts of incidents with Chii. Would humans and persocoms finally be able to love one another happily and truly, despite of all the other relationships between a human and a persocon that didn’t work out?

Thoughts:
One thing that really made me enjoy the anime was the animation. I thought it was done very nicely. Also, I thought that the use of the music was pretty done well. Throughout the whole anime, there was quite a bit of music used, and there were times where I didn’t think that the music was needed.

I also found Chobits a funny anime, which I thought was good. Since the parts that people remembers in a movie, anime, or in anything they watch, are the funny or sad parts. So the funny parts really made me remember this anime. When I say funny, I don’t mean really funny, but just funny enough so that you would have a small laugh and remember the anime.

I wouldn’t recommend this anime to younger people, since there are thoughts and scenes that might not be suitable for younger viewers; also, the manga is rated for older teens. Though for everyone else, I would recommend this anime to you. Many people say that the ending is sad, and that they usually end up crying in the end. Maybe because I knew the ending beforehand, I didn’t cry. Well, I didn’t find it sad at all. But then you might want to have a box of tissue beside you when you watch the last episode, just in case you do.
source:www.spcnet.tv

Fruits Basket

*Reviewed by Lily N.


(26-episodes, July 5, 2001-December 27, 2001)

Creator – Natsuki Takaya

Production Company – TV Tokyo

Director -
Akitaro Daichi

Voices done by:
Tohru Honda – Horie Yui
Yuki Souma – Hisakawa
AyaKyou Souma – Seki Tomokazu
Shigure Souma – Okiayu RyoutarouHatori
Souma – Inoue Kazuhiko
Ayame Souma – Miyamoto Mitsuru
Akito Souma – Wakaba Murasaki
Kyoko Souma - ?
Uotani Arisa – Imai Yuka
Hanajima Saki – Yasuhara Reiko

Fruits Basket is a very touching anime series with 26 episodes and at first glance, the plot is a typical fish-out-of-water story that is doused with beautiful males, and a promise of a lot of love triangles to tangle things up. But that’s not it at all.

Quick Synopsis:
Tohru Honda is high school student who is now homeless because her mother had died a year ago, and the only place she can stay at is now undergoing construction. She is living in a tent in the woods and when walking home, she saw a house and ran into Yuki Souma, who is crowned the Prince at school because he is absurdly handsome and very nice to boot, and his older cousin Shigure there. They talked, and later, Tohru’s tent is destroyed through a landslide, and she faints due to a flu. So Yuki asks her to stay with him and his cousin, Tohru reluctantly agrees and this begins the series.

At the beginning of time, when God is deciding the calendar, he told the animals to show up for a meeting that will decide their order in the Zodiac years. Deceitful that he is, the mouse told the cat the wrong day, and then rode to the meeting on the head of the ox, and ended up being the first animal in the Zodiac, the only one got left out is the cat.

The Souma is cursed by this wrong, so for every generation, members of the Souma family will be borned to represent an animal of the Zodiac, and they will turn into that animal if hugged by the opposite sex. So imagine the fun Tohru has.

Characters:
Tohru – naïve, sweet and kind. A little bit clumsy and dense sometimes, but always says the right thing and a lovely human being all around.

Yuki – the Prince. He is too good-looking for his own goods, and get mocked by Kyou for his feminine looks. His voice is done by a female seiyuu, so when he first appeared, I didn’t know if he was a guy or girl. Because Yuki is the mouse, he is thought to have things very easy in life, so Kyou deeply resents Yuki for this, and they are constantly fighting.

Kyou – He is the cat and is treated badly when he was a child, so Kyou has a loud and obnoxious attitude to people. A lot is not revealed about Kyou until the last few episodes and then, you truly love him because even if he is not easy to love like Yuki, he is worthy at the same time.


Shigure – To say the least, Shigure is very easy going and a constant surprise. At first, he is a bum who wanders around the house in his kimono and does nothing but laugh at Yuki and Kyou, but to have survived the Souma family intact is quite a feat.


Hatori and Ayame – Hatori is a doctor, and Ayame is Yuki’s older brother, also is a cross-dresser with a flair for anything flamboyance. These two together and Shigure are childhood friends that provide support for each other, and the running gag is that Ayame is in love with Hatori and constantly wants to move in with him.

Akito – he is portrayed as the evil guy, and until the end, I am still not sure what animal of the Zodiac he is, or if he is an animal at all. He controls the Souma family, and everyone follows what he says.

Kyoko – she is Tohru’s mother, and through Tohru, we learn that she is a kind and strong woman who raised a child by herself and did a wonderful job of it.

Uo and Hana – they are Tohru’s close friends and defend her from the Yuki’s fan club at school.

Review:
At first meeting Tohru, she is annoyingly cute and so nice that you want to grate your teeth, but as the series progressed, you realized Tohru is nice because she is honestly that way, and she is the only good thing that is happening to these Souma characters for a very long time.

The Souma family is rich and reclusive, so what goes on behind the high walls are kept hush-hush even though the hints are given that they are not very nice things at all. More Soumas keep showing up, and at first look, they are all beautiful creatures with amazing talents, but almost all of them boast a sad past that kept me crying constantly.

The wonderful thing about this series is its characters, they are vivid and real. Yuki might be handsome and a Prince in everyone’s eyes, but to Tohru, he is just a little boy still trying to get someone to love him unconditionally. He once said, “I keep being nice to people so they’ll like me. It’s like giving people candies.” It’s sad and it reveals his vulnerability, making him real. Tohru is wonderful and nice, but she is naïve and at times stupid. Yet she opens her arm and accepts everyone, no matter that they are a cross-dresser or self-destructive and dangerous. This is the girl that everyone should have as a childhood friend or at least meet once in their life. It is easy to understand why both Yuki and Kyou care so much for her, and in return, she makes their lives worthy and bright.

The series is very shoujo in nature, and has little actions. It develops slowly and introduces new character at each episode. There is a sense of peace at the beginning, and humour when you first meet a character, especially Ayame because he’s so out there, and Yuki is so embarrassed at him, but the underlying current is that Ayame is sorry for abandoning Yuki when he was young, and from that point on, Yuki has never reached out for him again. So at the end of each episode, you get to know the new character really well and identify with them some way or another.

"Fruits Basket" is not overwhelmed with love triangles, and even the central love story is not really admitted out loud at all, you just know that Yuki and Kyou care for Tohru very much, and Tohru returns both their affections. The most touching love is Hatori and the woman he was going to marry, only that she discovers his real identity. Normally the girl would be running away or accept him fully, but not here. "Fruits Basket" showed a woman wanting to accept her lover for all that he is, but she is just mentally incapable of it, and the sacrifice Hatori was willing to make just make me cry buckets. He asked Tohru, “What do you get when the snow melts?” Tohru said, “Spring.” And this shows the fundamental characters that they are. Tohru is willing to believe and Hatori has given up on hope.

Fruits Basket is essentially about relationships, about love and our willingness to accept people. Most of the characters are damaged in some ways, and they don’t expect to be whole again. Even at the end, the characters are not wholly happy, and there is no happily ever for them, but you know that they are better and getting there. Although I really want to see a second season so more questions are answered, especially about Akito. He is evil, but he is sad because of his slot in life. He was dealt a crappy card, and instead of taking it like it is, he decided to make others’ lives miserable too, and I wonder if Tohru can save him.

I greatly recommend this series, there is so much more than the pretty characters. There is the humour, especially all the cut screen methods they used and the dialogue by Shigure and Ayame, and the lovely depictions of what acceptance really is. The series is not widely available, and there is
no DVD release in the US yet, so try to get on MIRC and search for it. The manga is beautiful too, with the artwork being very typical for a shoujo audience.
sourcce:www.spcnet.tv