Seen the Fruits Basket trailer? Wondered what the hell it was all about? Well, the first thing I need to say is, forget the trailer. Don’t know what they were thinking when they cut that one. Maybe it was an issue of how to represent a series like Fruits Basket (affectionately nicknamed Furuba by its Japanese fans for its Katakana syllables) in thirty seconds or less, because it’s definitely one of those series difficult to categorise. On one hand it’s sweet and funny, with a great deal of crazy super-deformed animation that under normal circumstances doesn’t usually impress me but in this series had me almost in stitches! On the other, it has all the trademarks of your typical, bordering-on-sickeningly-sweet shoujo (girl’s romance) story. The main character, Tohru Honda, has the kind of characteristics that never fails to drive me mad — she’s infuriatingly domestic, a martyr to her marrow and almost terminally cheerful. But her irrepressible optimism is not nearly as vacuous as it looks, and Tohru’s true strength, her unfailing courage and understanding, is not only the main impetus behind the series, it is also the source of some of the most touching and sometimes (dare I say it) downright heart-wrenching moments in anime anywhere.
And this I think is where the trailer comes in, because not only is Fruits Basket funny and sweet and touching and crazy, it’s also unexpectedly dark. The boys of the charming Sohma family, whom Tohru unwittingly befriends, might all look a bit bishie (slang for bishounen, or beautiful boy) but they harbor some nasty family secrets. Revealed, it becomes the source of many a comic moment, but it is by no means funny and there are some truly chilling aspects to it, often implied in subtext (as is sometimes the way in shoujo manga and anime), sometimes explicitly stated, that are powerful enough to carry the series through to its somewhat less than typical-shoujo conclusion.
Such themes might seem better suited to anime for an older audience than a girl’s romance, but don’t forget, this is girl’s romanace Japanese style and the anticipated rules are not always necessarily followed to the letter. It runs on the main strengths of shoujo – ultimately no matter how much actual romance is involved in a shoujo title, the point is usually about emotional growth. But it also rejects other conventions. Tohru is, in many ways, already emotionally mature; she just doesn’t seem it. It’s the Sohma family that need the emotional depth she is able to lend them; each of them bears a seemingly insurmountable burden that Tohru makes just that little bit lighter merely by being.
Which I think almost brings us back full circle, because in the end Fruits Basket might wander a bit further from the path of conventional shoujo than some, but it never forgets where it comes from. Most matters are resolved relatively easily, with those same qualities of kindness and understanding typical to shoujo, while some of the truly interesting issues lurking around are never really expanded upon. It’s forgivable. After all, girls like a little emotional angst, but in the end they still want to see that end happening happily ever after.