ruits Basket" won the Kodansha
Manga Award for the year 2001 and sold over four million
copies total. It is an animation work of the popular
comic written by Natsuki Takaya. Director Akitaroh Daichi
has worked on dramatic presentation and directing for
many animations for girls such as "Nurse Angel Ririka
SOS" and "Kodomo no Omocha". He has a great reputation
for his original sense of style. Rika Nakase of "Kodomo
no Omocha" and "Full Moon wo Sagashite" was in charge
of chief screenwriting.
The main character Tohru Honda had lost
her only family and kin, her mother in a traffic accident. Since she has
no house to live in, she has set up a tent. She wants to keep a promise
she made with her mother to enjoy high school life that her mother couldn't,
being unable to go beyond junior high. In order to keep this promise, she
must earn her school fees and her living expenses on her own.
One morning she finds the ornaments of the
twelve Oriental zodiac animals being aired under the sun. It was the home
of Yuki Sohma, the "prince" of the school and the idol |
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of
all the high school girls, and of his guardian and
cousin Shigure. Tohru somehow ends up living in their
home but it turns out that there is a big secret
that the Soumas are keeping. The members of the Souma
family are under a curse that turns each into animals
of the zodiac when hugged by the member of the opposite
sex. Yuki turns into a mouse while Shigure turns
into a dog. Kyo, a younger cousin who is definitely
not on good terms with Yuki becomes possessed by
a cat, which in the ancient tale was left out of
the twelve zodiac signs.
Surrounded by the members of the Souma family with one
or two oddities each, Tohru starts living new life that is somewhat strange and
stimulating. It is about the relationship between Tohru and the members of the
Souma family, with their unique personalities under the possession of the twelve
spirits. Her positive personality that takes in |
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people as they are and gentle view of things despite
her clumsiness slowly open the hearts of the Souma
family that had been tightly closed.
Main
Staff
Original Story : Natsuki Takaya
(from serial publication of "Hana to Yume" Hakusensha
Publications)
Chief Screenwriter, Script : Rika Nakase
Character Design : Akemi Hayashi
Art Director : Chikako Shibata
Coloring Scheme : Shinji Matsumoto
Animation Production : Studio DEEN
Director : Akitaroh Daichi |
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