So why did I start with the third video in the Fruits Basket series? Well I think that this video has the best episodes out of the whole series. I'm not saying don't watch the rest of the series. Because I think if you don't see the first two videos you will probably be lost in this series. This video is just my favorite. Well and I've loaned out the first two to a friend.

Background Info:

*There are a few PLOT SPOILERS to the previous episodes in the series below, so if you have not seen them and want to be surprised, skip to the episode #13 area.*

Miss Tohru Honda is a 16 year old girl. Her mother Kyoko has recently died. So she went to live with her grandfather in his house. But after a few months his daughter and her family decided they wanted to move in with him. To get ready for their arrival he had his house remodeled and went to live with his daughter's family. This left Tohru with no where to go. Since she didn't want to burden her friends with herself, she bought a tent and started living in it in the woods.

What she didn't know was that the woods that she was living in was the Sohma's property. Shiguie Sohma an author and Yuki Sohma the most popular guy at her school end up discovering Tohru in the woods. They invite her to be their housekeeper in exchange for room and board. Shorty after moving into their house she finds out that the Sohmas have a secret curse. The curse is that if they are hugged by someone of the opposite sex they turn into an animal from the Chinese zodiac.

This is based of course on the story of the feast that Buddha held before leaving this world. Unfortunately only twelve animals showed up for this feast. In reward Buddha named a year after each animal in the order of their arrival: Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and the Boar. In the series Fruits Basket, they add that the cat had wanted to go to the feast but had been tricked by the rat into believing that the feast was the next day. So he missed the feast all together.

Tohru agrees to keep their secret about their curse. Throughout the rest of the school year Tohru finds out about the pain that all the Sohmas have been through. By her caring and accepting nature she helps heal their pain. Because of this she finally feels accepted for who she is.

In previous episodes we have learned that Yuki is the Rat, Kyo is the cat, Shigure is the dog, Hatori is the seahorse(dragon), Momiji is the Rabbit, Hatsuharu is the cow and Kagura is the Boar.


Episode #13

It's the first day of the new school year and Tohru is excited that two more members of the Sohma family, Momiji and Hatsuharu are going to be starting school with her. The Student Council President has a problem with the two new Sohma's appearance. Will they have to change their appearance to be accepted? Or will Black Haru(Hatsuharu's bad temper) come out and "solve" the problem. In this episode Tohru also meets Akito, the terrifying head of the Sohma family.

Episode #14

Yuki and Tohru are at Yuki's base(his garden)while they both realize that they are hungry. So Tohru starts back to the house to make some food when she has a rather creepy first encounter with Ayame Sohma, Yuki's older brother. Ayame Sohma has come to try and heal the gap between him and Yuki. Will Ayame be able to do it? Can he do it with Tohru's help? Or will Ayame's over confident personality just drive Yuki further away?

Episode #15

Tohru and her friends plan a trip to visit her mother's grave on the first anniversary of her death. Her friends are amazed that she is so happy and focused just one year after her mother's death. They don't realize that her pain is far from over. We also learn of Momiji's painful experiences with his mother. They both decide even though life may be full of painful memories it's also full of happy memories too. They are glad to have the memories of the people they love even if they are sad memories.

Episode #16

Shigure invites Tohru, Yuki, Kyo and Hatori to go with him to the Sohma's lake house for Golden Week. This relaxing vacation takes a turn for the worse when Yuki and Kyo have a fight on their way down to the lake. Just as everyone starts to calm down, Ayame shows up with some really important news. Will everyone be able to get along? Or is the relaxing vacation ruined?

Episode #17

As Tohru is coming home from the store with Yuki she meets another member of the zodiac, Kisa Sohma, the tiger. Kisa has run away from home due to some problems she is having at school. On top of that she has lost her ability to talk too. Will Tohru loving nature help Kisa to talk again? Will Kisa return home to her mom and will she ever go to school again?

Episode #18

The Price Yuki Fan Club wants to try and get Yuki to stop spending so much time with Tohru. So they unleash their plan "Operation Destroy Tohru Honda." There's just one problem with their plan as long as Tohru's friend Hana is around they can not touch her. So they decide to go over to Hana's house and find out the secrets to her electric wave powers. Or at least try and discover a weakness. There is just one thing they didn't plan on, that Hana has a little brother, Megumi with powers of his own. Will the fan club girls be able to escape Megumi's curse casting powers?

Episode #19

The Spring mid-terms have just finished. Though instead of Tohru being relieved about them being over with. She finds out that she failed one of her tests and has to retake it. On top of that she is getting sick. Will she be able to get better in time to retake her test? Will she be able to keep the promise she made to her mom and finish school? Maybe with a little help from her friends everything will come out okay.


Conclusion:

Tohru's tender loving nature that she uses to help everyone she meets is truly inspiring. All the morals of each story such as in episode thirteen, to just be yourself makes this uplifting show great for kids. Though the reason I stated that this show is for kids 13 and up is that there is some bad language. I think if parents want there kids to see this just for the positive messages, that they should just prescreen it and figure out where to fast forward. It's not every episode that has bad language, only 2 or 3 episodes in the whole series.


Other Info:

Each episode is approximately 20 minutes.

#1 video in this series is: A Great Transformation?
#2 is: What Becomes of Snow?
#4 is: The Clearing Sky


Well I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did! Thank you for reading my review.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older