Fruits Basket is one of those things that looks like a delightful piece of fluff but is actually a masterclass in story construction when you look at it for the fourth time. Watch my hands … nothin…
Confessions of an Overage otaku
Aug 22, 2022 • Subscribe
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How To Build a Series: Toradora
I always like a nice case of Stealth Storytelling. Look, in a lot of ways, when you have a really basic story what you’re really exploring is character…
How To Build a Series: Steins;Gate
Steins;Gate is one of those things I saw a long time ago but never really had a chance to take a close look at until just recently. It’s…
How to Build a Series: Strike Witches
I’ll just say it: the neat thing about Strike Witches is that it’s like a good stew, a whole bunch of things thrown together that work together to…
How to Build a Series: Samurai Champloo
I don’t talk enough about Samurai Champloo. I guess that’s because it’s Shinichiro Watanabe’s second series, and let’s be honest: Once you’ve made Cowboy Bebop there’s only one…
How to Build a Series: TP Bon
Okay, I write science fiction, so I’m a sucker for stuff like time travel as long as the writers can convincingly deploy handwavium. You know handwavium: “We can…
How to Build a Series: Death Note
Death Note is one of those anime stories that tries to be deep by asking deep questions. There are others. Ghost in the Shell asks “What does it…
Confessions of an Overage otaku
One-Punch Man, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Death Note, Ghost in the Shell
How to Build a Series: My Happy Marriage
Look, there are times when you can look at creating a story/series as being like cooking from a recipe. That doesn’t mean it’s going to work. You can…
How to Build a Series: Knights of Sidonia
There are some shows that are constructed so cleverly that I would give anything to be a fly on the wall during their development meetings. In fact, I…
How To Build a Series: Spy X Family
Okay, repeat after me: Stories don’t need conflict if you don’t want people to pay any attention to them. Of course, if you DO want people to like…
How to Build a Series: Thermae Romae Novae
WARNING: This discussion violates my rule on not talking about anime that are just out. It contains spoilers! Be warned. In a lot of ways Thermae Romae Novae…
How Not to Build a Series: Girls und Panzer
I REALLY REALLY wanted to like Girls und Panzer. Seriously, among other things I have been a World War II buff for years. My dad – Staff Sergeant…
How to Build a Series: Teasing Master Tagaki-san
I’ve been watching something utterly inane called Teasing Master Takagi-san on Netflix. To qualify, “Teasing Master” is a title, not a verb: Takagi does the teasing rather than…
How to Build a Series: Classroom of the Elite
Due to popular demand, we return to our anime-writing friends Salvati and Simplicito. You know, the guys Galileo used to explain how the Earth goes around the Sun.…
Fruits Basket – 41 – How You’ll Feel Tomorrow
Just because Tooru has taken it upon herself to lift the Souma curse doesn’t mean she’s going to start neglecting her two best friends. To that end, she…
How Fruits Basket Helped Me Work Towards a Better Life
This will be a personal reflective piece about what this show means to me rather than analysis of some overarching significance from the creators. Fruits Basket is the…
How To Build a Series: The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. Reawakened
Okay, the Saiki K. series is a whole franchise built around a gag manga, and like any gag-based show, as long as the jokes keep coming, so do…
How To Build a Story: Descending Stories
I know there’s a Descending Stories anime. I think it’s on Tootsieroll, or whatever that service that Sony just bought is called, but I haven’t seen it. But…
Boys to Men- Fruits Basket edition
Decided to do a special version of our best boy posts by focusing on character development within the male species in one anime. So we chose Furuba. Kyo…
Fruits Basket – 40 – Daring to Meddle
It’s parent-teacher conference time, which means the inevitable re-reunion of Mayuko and Shigure. Tooru doesn’t know what the deal is with the “diamond dust”, but Mayuko imp…
Fruits Basket: Learning to love yourself a Manga review
A look at the Manga Fruits Basket, Just in time for its anime reboot.
Fruits Basket (2001)
While definitely an “Early 2000’s shojo anime” there is a lot here that really endures (and endears) that makes it worthwhile as more than just an important contextual…
Fruits Basket (Remake)
Oh finally. They actually remade the whole classic series that lots of people loved. Yup, back in 2001 when the manga was adapted into a TV series, it…
Chua Tek Ming~*Anime Power*~ !LiVe FoR AnImE, aNiMe FoR LiFe!
Fruits Basket -prelude-
Before there was Kyo and Tohru, or even Kyo and Kyoko, there was Kyoko and Katsuya. Kyoko was a troubled teen; Katsuya a student teacher with no actual…
Fruits Basket MBTI
Explore the MBTI types of the characters from Fruits Basket!
Fruits Basket Prelude – A Brief Review
Ah, this film got me right in the feels. Anything in the Fruits Basket franchise tends to do that. While I wouldn’t say this was fully worth a…
Fruits Basket the Final – 13 (End) and Series Review
If you were to ask for my feelings about Fruits Basket, I could only answer "it's complicated". Read more
How To Cook a Series: Beastars
I’m taking a week off from shows going off the track, since even I don’t think it’s THAT interesting. I mean, you know, really. Problem: This is the…
How to Start a Series: Dragonball
And I do mean Dragonball, the original series, because it was the start of it all. If the first one doesn’t work, Z and Kai and whatever others…
How To Cook a Series: Nana
Nana is one of those things that’s actually easier to think about than a lot of anime, because it transcends the genre(s) in a specific way. Yeah, it’s…
Fruits Basket S2 Episodes 1 to 3
Welcome to Anime Rants. Due to my long break from anime and ani-blogging, there’s a lot of shows to write about. Most of them I’ll write short reviews…
Fruits Basket S2 Episodes 4 to 6
Konnichiwa, Anime Rants ni youkouso! (Hello and welcome to Anime Rants!) I’ve got a lot of anime to catch up on, and as for this season of anime,…
Fruits Basket S2: Episodes 7 to 9
Welcome to Anime Rants! Ready, set, RANT! Episode 7: Let’s Start The Watermelon Splitting Contest! Everyone at the vacation house gets together to hang out and enjoy splitting…
Fruits Basket – 63 (Fin) – A New Banquet
Tooru and Kyou go to a petting zoo for their first official date—a bit on the nose, but also adorable! Also adorable? Uo and Hana tag along as…
Fruits Basket Episode One: A Solid Introduction
Its been a rough year for me so far. I am drowning in school, work is grueling (despite the few hours I work), I’ve been sick on an…
Fruits Basket – 47 – Nothing Like a Prince
Yuki continues to open up to Manabe, expounding on the evolution of his relationship to Tooru. First she was a wierd classmate who lived in a tent, then…
Fruits Basket (Season Three)
How would Tohru react to the information that Kureno had given her? Would she be able to continue on her quest to break the zodiac curse? Of course,…
Fruits Basket – Anime Review
An orphaned yet upbeat girl finds lodging with a group of handsome boys that turn into the animals of the zodiac when hugged. She grows close to them…
Killer(?) Ending: Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket is not the sort of story anyone’d expect to talk about when they talk about killer endings, an ending that no one saw coming but makes…
Episode 47 - Fruits Basket
In this episode, Shaun roleplays as a teenage girl as he brings us the anime that launched over 2000 "ships", 2001's Fruits Basket! Meanwhile, Remington ponders the creation of…
Is Fruits Basket Overrated?
I understand that I am pushing my luck here. When I rip into Evangelion or Death Note, I am spared by the fact that those shows have a…
Medium Matters: Fruits Basket
Okay, not really medium, since there are two Fruits Basket anime, and anime is just one medium. But there ARE two Fruits Basket anime and you don’t have…
How to build a zecha: from concept art to 3D model
Ever wonder how a 2D concept illustration ends up as a fully rendered 3D character in a game? It’s definitely a team effort involving several different artists. Let’s…
How to Cook a Series: Domestic Girlfriend
Okay, let’s throw something on the floor here: You got this high school student named Natsuo. He’s got a heavy crush on this girl named Hina. In the…
How to Cook a Series: Demon Slayer
Everyone thinks writers start with a plot and write. I don’t. I think about what I want to write about, and then cook up whatever other pieces I…
How to Cook a Series: Silver Nina
Every once in a while I fall into a rabbit hole and can’t climb out. So I have a subscription to Crunchyroll, and there’s an app that gives…
Fruits Basket 2 – 02 – A Mountain of Laundry
After a Motoko-shaped tangeant, Furuba returns the focus to Tooru, Kyou and Yuki, along with Tooru’s BFFs Arisa and Saki. Career plans are due, which means there’s also a…
Fruits Basket – 57 – Caught Up In a Fantasy
“I wonder how much time and effort it’ll take for you kids to find your answers…” Those are the words Kyouko said to a young Kyou. The answer?…
Fruits Basket the Final – 05
Momiji is the strongest Sohma there is. Read more
Fruits Basket Season 2 – 14
I sense a growing realization in Yuki, a sense that something isn't quite right here. Read more
Fruits Basket (2019) – 1st Season
A more intentional, palatable remake than the original. Characters get a bit more depth and the story as a whole is treated with a bit more respect.