''Fruits Basket'' was adapted into a twenty-six episode anime series by

Studio Deen is a Japanese animation studio founded in 1975 by former Sunrise producer Hiroshi Hasegawa, along with a team of ex-Sunrise animators. The studio owns three subsidiaries: Danny Donghua (), a Chinese sub-contracting studio; Megumi (め組), a di ...

and premiered in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series ''

Fruits Basket , sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese manga magazine , published by Hakusensha, from 1998 to 2006. The series' title comes from ...

'' written by

Natsuki Takaya is a Japanese manga artist best known for creating the series ''Fruits Basket''. BorNana Hatake Takaya was raised in Tokyo, where she made her debut as a manga artist in 1992. Takaya had wanted to be a manga artist since first grade, when her s ...

, the series tells the story of

Tohru Honda is a fictional character and the protagonist, main protagonist in the manga and anime series ''Fruits Basket'' by Natsuki Takaya. She is noted for her cheerful optimism, altruistic nature, and great sympathy for others. Takaya created her with ...

, an orphan girl living in a tent so as not to trouble anyone. After meeting Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure Sohma (who later ask her to do their housework in exchange for a room to stay in), she learns thirteen members of the Sohma family are possessed by the animals of the

Chinese zodiac The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the Chinese calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year (or duodenary) cycle. The zodiac is very important in traditional ...

legend and cursed to turn into their animal forms if they embrace anyone of the opposite sex or if their bodies are under great stress. The series was directed by

Akitaro Daichi is a Japanese anime director, producer and photography director. Career Daichi is a native of Gunma Prefecture and a graduate of Tokyo Polytechnic University. He originally aspired to be a stage photographer, but entered the employ of Tokyo Ani ...

. During production of the series, Daichi and Takaya ran into multiple creative differences including the cast, coloring, and storytelling direction, leading Takaya to dislike the adaptation.

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

aired the series, in dubbed English, on their anime television channel as well as on Colours TV. ''Fruits Basket'' was released to

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in nine individual volumes by King Records on a monthly schedule from September 29, 2001, through May 22, 2002, with a series box set released on April 25, 2007. The series is licensed for Region 1 and Region 2 release by Funimation, which released it as four individual DVD volumes containing 6-7 episodes and as a complete series box set. As part of their release, Funimation renamed all of the episodes, which originally had simple names of "First story", "Second story", etc. On November 20, 2007, Funimation re-released the series as part of their lower priced Viridian line, with the new release containing the complete series in a thin-packed box set. The Region 2

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

releases were done through a sub-licensing agreement with

Revelation Films Revelation Films is a British film and television production and distribution company delivering visual entertainment via cinema, television and digital platforms. Tony Carne founded Revelation Films in 1992 as a video and television productio ...

. The series was released in Region 4 by

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, stylized as MADMAN, is an Australian film and television production, distribution, entertainment, and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising ...

as a series box set. The series uses three pieces of theme music, all performed by

Ritsuko Okazaki was a Japanese singer-songwriter born on Hashima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture. She first made her professional debut with the single, ''Kanashii Jiyū / Koi ga, Kiete Yuku''. She is also known as the Shelby Flint of Japan. Biography Early life ...

. is used for the opening theme for all twenty-six episodes. is used for the series ending theme, except for episode twenty-five, which uses the song . In the English version, the theme songs were rewritten and redubbed with the English voice actresses Meredith McCoy performing the opening theme,

Laura Bailey Laura Bailey (born May 28, 1981) is an American voice actress. She made her voice acting debut as Trunks (Dragon Ball), Kid Trunks in the Funimation dub of ''Dragon Ball Z'' and has since voiced List of Gunslinger Girl characters#First Generati ...

performing the 1st ending theme and Daphne Gere performing the 2nd ending theme.

Episodes

Home media

Region 1

In Region 1, the series was released on DVD by

. Funimation released the series in four single disc volumes, with English and Japanese audio and English subtitles. The first two volumes include six episodes, while the final two have seven. The series was released as a box set on November 16, 2004. In 2007, Funimation began re-releasing the individual volumes as part of their value priced Viridian Collection. Other than a slightly redesigned cover to include the Viridian Collection tag, the volumes are identical to the regular versions. The series box set was also re-released as part of the Viridian Collection, in the form of a thin-pack set. A 16th anniversary Blu-ray boxset of the series was issued on August 1, 2017, containing a 24-page series guide art booklet and new extras.

Region 2 (Japan)

The series was originally released in Japan in nine individual DVD volumes by King Records, with each volume containing three episodes except for the first volume, which contained two. The first, sixth, eighth, and ninth volumes were also given limited edition releases. The first and sixth limited edition volumes included a series box, while the eight included a set of six trading cards and a figurine. The final volume's limited edition version also included a figurine. A deluxe season box set was released on April 25, 2007. In addition to the complete series, the box set includes a message card from Natsuki Takaya, a 60-page deluxe booklet, and a bonus ''Fruits Basket'' CD

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

. All of the original volumes have Japanese language tracks with no

subtitles Subtitles are texts representing the contents of the audio in a film, television show, opera or other audiovisual media. Subtitles might provide a transcription or translation of spoken dialogue. Although naming conventions can vary, caption ...

Region 2 (Europe)

Through their deal with Funimation for subleasing titles,

MVM Entertainment MVM Entertainment, also known as MVM and MVM Films, is a British licensor and distributor of Japanese animation. The company also sub-licenses anime titles from US anime companies such as Media Blasters, Geneon, Nozomi Entertainment, Urban Vis ...

released the series to Region 2 DVD in Europe. The series was released as four individual volumes which are identical to those released by Funimation in Region 1. On November 14, 2006, Funimation announced that MVM would not longer be distributing their titles. Instead, all of their title distribution in the

would be handled by

. Revelation Films re-released the four individual volumes under their label and released the series box set on January 22, 2007. However MVM have regained the licence and re-released the series as a four disc set on February 6, 2012, in the UK. MVM also released the Blu-ray Collector's Edition on February 19, 2018.

Region 4

''Fruits Basket'' was released to Region 4 DVD by

on October 15, 2003, in the form of a complete series box set. The set uses the same box set used for the original Region 1 release of the complete series by Funimation. The on-disc extras in the set include character profiles, textless opening and closing sequences, a behind the scenes featurette, an interview with the director, and image galleries.

References

External links

* * * {{Fruits Basket 2001 anime television series debuts

Episodes Episodes may refer to: * Episode, a part of a dramatic work * Episodes (TV series), ''Episodes'' (TV series), a British/American television sitcom which premiered in 2011 * Episodes (journal), ''Episodes'' (journal), a geological science journal ...