Fruits Basket Zenpen — A Complete Anime Remake?

Fruits Basket Zenpen — A Complete Anime Remake?

Fruits Basket is an amazing shoujo series. Both the original manga run and the anime adaptation that was subsequently made were very successful, not only in Japan, but in the U.S. as well. However, mangaka Takaya-sensei’s displeasure with director Daichi-san’s anime adaptation seemed to doom any chance of more Fruits Basket anime. However, it appears that may be about to change.

Fruits Basket Zodiac

Fruits Basket Story

For those who don’t know, Fruits Basket is the story of HONDA Tohru, an orphaned high school girl. With the recent passing of her mother, Tohru purchased a tent and set up camp on the powerful but mysterious Sohma family property. She’s discovered and allowed to live with three male Sohma family members, two of whom are in the same grade as she. Tohru also discovers that various members of the Sohma family are afflicted with a zodiac curse, including the three guys she lives with.

As Tohru comes to know and love the various cursed Sohma members like they were her own family, she decides to find a way to lift this curse. At the same time, she has finally come to deal with the loss of her mother as well as her feelings for one of the Sohma males.

Fruits Basket History

The Fruits Basket manga was started in July of 1998. It was published in the shoujo manga magazine Hana to Yume. There were 23 manga volumes in the original run, which ended in November 2006. The manga was very popular in Japan as well as the U.S. Not only was it one of TokyoPop’s biggest selling titles, it was the highest selling shoujo title in the U.S.

Studio Deen then produced a 26 episode anime adaptation that started in early July 2001. Here too, the anime proved very popular both in Japan and in the U.S. (Fruits Basket was one of FUNimation’s best selling titles.) However, Takaya-sensei was very displeased with many of the decisions anime director DAICHI Akitaro made. (I wrote extensively on this back in 2007. There are spoilers there, so be warned.) As such, no sequel anime was scheduled. Further, Takaya-sensei reportedly stated that she would never allow any other of her manga titles to receive an anime adaptation.

New Fruits Basket Anime News

According to AnimeNewsNetwork, Hana to Yume‘s cover for volume 24 contains an announcement image, stating that Fruits Basket is getting a new anime adaptation. Further, the word “Zenpen” is attached to the announcement, indicating it will tell the full story. That would seem to indicate that the Fruits Basket manga will be getting a complete remake from the beginning.

Unfortunately, the link ANN provided isn’t working. Hana to Yume may have taken it down for the moment. However, I was able to find an archived copy.

"Hana to Yume 24" Furuba Annoucement

I suppose we’ll have to wait for this volume of the magazine to get published to get more details.

What I’m Hoping For

The only way to fix the problems Daichi-san created in the first Fruits Basket adaptation is to start over from scratch. Hopefully, most of the Japanese seiyuu will return. Generally speaking, the Japanese tend to keep the same voice actors for various anime series. Naturally, there are exceptions to that rule, such as a seiyuu passing away or retiring. We’ll see what happens.

More important than that is getting a proper anime adaption. One thing that frustrates me is when an anime adaptation goes off and does its own thing ’cause “reasons.” There are several anime titles that I watched prior to reading the manga they were adapted from. Then I read the manga and found I didn’t like the anime adaptation as much any more.

With Takaya-sensei giving approval to produce another Fruits Basket anime, I have to believe that she will make sure that the new anime faithfully follows her original tale in the manga.

Conclusion

I gotta say, I feel fairly hyped about this new anime adaptation for Fruits Basket. If you haven’t read the manga, I highly encourage you to do so. This was the series that made me a fan of the Nibley Twins translations and adaptations.

 


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10 Responses to “Fruits Basket Zenpen — A Complete Anime Remake?”

  1. NullApostle says:

    Fruits Basket is one of the few shoujo manga I have read and that I actually own the volumes of. I never got around to watching the old anime, so I don’t have an opinion.

    I’m up for watching the new anime, though. Did they say a date? 2019?
    My only concern is how they’ll handle it. 23 volumes are a lot. That’s easily 4-cour, maybe more. I hope they don’t cut anything (or at least not too much) if they want to do a ‘complete’ animation of the series.

    Mood: Cautiously optimistic.

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      Fruits Basket is one of the few shoujo manga I have read and that I actually own the volumes of.

      I haven’t read that many, but of the ones I have read, Furuba is the best for sure. Need to read Fruits Basket another. I read a bit of it a while back, but while I have the first two volumes, I haven’t read them yet. (The Twins translated them–yay!)

      My only concern is how they’ll handle it. 23 volumes are a lot. That’s easily 4-cour, maybe more. I hope they don’t cut anything (or at least not too much) if they want to do a ‘complete’ animation of the series.

      Yeah, this is a very valid concern. However, considering how Takaya-sensei is so strongly protective of her creation, for her to have agreed to a new anime, I have to believe whatever Japanese production house is doing this is giving her all the episodes she wants.

      I don’t know when it is coming out. The cover is the only info I have.

    • arimareiji says:

      I never got around to watching the old anime, so I don’t have an opinion.

      Glad to hear it. I wouldn’t watch it until after seeing the new one, but don’t watch the last three episodes regardless.

      I love DAICHI Akitaro, but the man does not “know when to say when”. He turned Kodocha into a hysterical comedy that plays your heartstrings like a Stradivarius, and follows the manga pretty closely… for the first 3 cours.

      The 4th cour is bad filler, then the 5th cour goes back to the manga. Cours 6-8? I try very hard to pretend they don’t exist.
      (>_<) ( ; _ ; )

      The Gecko Ending he gave Fruits Basket is in the same category, but not quite</b< as bad.

  2. arimareiji says:

    Thank you for this amazingly good news. \(^_^)/

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      Hopefully, we get additional good news, such as a 52 episode series. ?

      • arimareiji says:

        I could go for more, considering the depth of the storylines… but it seems like only shounen titles get that much love nowadays.

        • AstroNerdBoy says:

          Well, only certain shounen titles. UQ Holder got butchered quite heavily to get into a 12 episode block. ? Still, Furuba was a massive success in Japan and in the U.S. And since a new anime is coming out, authorized by Takaya-sensei (who’d previously vowed never to allow any of her titles to be animated ever again), I really want to believe that this shoujo title will get the love it deserves.

  3. Magda says:

    I am so excited for this new adaptation. I honestly did not think it would be done since it’s kind of an old manga now but this gives me so much hope for others like Ouran High School Club. I CAN’T WAIT

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      I guess this was done because of Takaya-sensei’s 20th anniversary in manga. But if the anime does well, especially if it is a long one, maybe the Japanese will be encouraged to look at other older titles that were never completed.

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