Fruits Basket (Furuba)
A mixed basket

// Synopsis: Toru is a cheerful 16 year old girl. After being orphaned when her mother is killed in a car accident, she buys a tent and lives in a forest. It turns out that land belongs to the Soma family. She is quickly invited to live in their house (all males), as long as she to cooks and cleans. But the Somas have a strange family secret. Each of them turns into a different animal of the zodiac when hugged by the opposite sex. When Toru thinks she has joined a new family, she learns that underneath each has been marked with emotional scars.

// Review: Toru is another female lead that is sickenly sweet and believes that she can change anyone with her goodness. On top of that it seems like all she does is vomit out sunshine and rainbows even in the face of disappointment and discouragement. You have to think that maybe some of it is a front and that eventually she has to break down a little and be human. But she doesn't and is probably one of the few characters that doesn't evolve at all.

/ This title is at its best when it stays light hearted and funny. But it's like the writers can stand it only so much and finally give in at the end, having the series take a turn for the ultra melodramatic. Most of the time it switched between crazy anime situational comedy hijinks to super serious painful character back stories. But at the end they tried to develop the head of the Soma family as some mystery villian who is hard core but only because he too has deep emotional wounds. It really came out of left field and felt like they needed to wrap up the series and they tossed in that story arc at the last minute.

// Wrap up: The pacing is helped by introducing a new zodiac family member every few episodes. There are some good characters and funny moments. They just infused a little too much drama in at the end.

Entertainment rating: 3