Fruits Basket: Season One, Part Two Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Fruits Basket: Season One, Part Two Blu-ray Movie Review

Fruits Basket: Season 1, Part 2 continues the enchanting fun of the romantic-drama anime. Based on the acclaimed manga from original creator Natsuki Takaya, Fruits Basket is an essential anime for shojo fans. The series airs on TV Tokyo in Japan and is released in North America by Funimation Entertainment. Featuring animation by acclaimed studio TMS Entertainment (Dr. Stone, Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine), Fruits Basket is well worth a watch.

The fun continues as Tohru Honda (Manaka Iwami) learns more about the secret of the Soma family. As Tohru continues to spend time with Yuki Soma (Nobunaga Shimazaki), Shigure Soma (Yuichi Nakamura), and Kyo Soma (Yuma Uchida), Tohru realizes that there is much to learn about their abilities (which involve transforming in to animals when hugged by members of the opposite sex). Could Tohru be the key to reversing a long-held family curse? Faith and resilience are put to the test. (While a cute and cuddly tiger is brought in to the mix.)

The series remains an impressive achievement in regards to animation. The production aesthetic is off the charts. The background art work adds so much detail to the experience. Layouts look organic and believable and the character designs are distinctive. Under the creative art direction of Yoko Kamiyama (an animator on Mary and the Witch's Flower), Fruits Basket succeeds at crafting beautiful imagery for fans to adore. Everything about the animation is gorgeous and weaves a spell that will please fans of the manga.

Featuring an impressive score composed by Masaru Yokoyama (Freezing, Memoirs of a Murderer), Fruits Basket always manages to make a strong impression musically. The score is outstanding and adds so much style to the production. The drama is explored with grace and the romantic sub-plots are heightened with the cues by Yokoyama. Fans of graceful and melodic score music will be thrilled.

Adapting the original manga, the Fruits Basket production features screenplays by Taku Kishimoto (Silver Spoon, Bunny Drop). The scripts are full of charm. The characters are a huge part of the reason the series is so successful. Each of the main characters is compelling and the screenwriting reflects that episode-to-episode. While some shojo anime productions are all about romance (and nothing else), this series is far more complex in exploring the characters and their respective journeys in life.

Yoshihide Ibata (Kill la Kill, Attack on Titan) ushers in the series as the chief director. The filmmaker assembled a great team to adapt the manga. There is never a sense of the series feeling rushed at any time. The laid-back pace of the production is enjoyable and makes the series feel like an antidote to overly-dark and serious anime. Fruits Basket is almost like a nice slice of fruit itself – something that leaves viewers with something to chew on.

Fruits Basket: Season One, Part Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Funimation Entertainment, Fruits Basket: Season 1, Part 2 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The anime continues to look phenomenal in high-definition. Colors are robust and full of charm that will bring joy to viewers. The radiant animation style is consistently impressive and well preserved. If there are any quibbles in regards to the presentation, it is that the transfers are occasionally soft (but this element seems to be source-related). There are also moments of minor banding (but most viewers won't notice or find it distracting).

Fruits Basket: Season One, Part Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 stereo (with English Subtitles). Throughout the series, I was impressed by the music reproduction. The score sounds lovely and the nuances of the musical compositions add to the immersive nature of the series. Dialogue remains crisp, clear, and easy to understand throughout. Fans will find this to be a satisfying audio presentation.

Fruits Basket: Season One, Part Two Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One:

Episode 18 Audio Commentary

Disc Two:

Fruits Basket: Interview with Cast and Crew (HD, 16:57) features a discussion with Caitlin Glass (ADR Director), Mikaela Krantz (Voice of Momiji), Jad Saxton (Voice of Hanajima), and Elizabeth Maxwell (Voice of Uotani).

Fruits Basket: Inside the Episode -

Fruits Basket: Inside the Episode – Episode 16 (HD, 6:06)

Fruits Basket: Inside the Episode – Episode 19 (HD, 4:16)

Fruits Basket: Inside the Episode – Episode 22 (HD, 5:16)

Fruits Basket: Inside the Episode – Episode 25 (HD, 5:11)

Textless Opening Song (HD, 1:32)

Textless Closing Song (HD, 1:32)

Fruits Basket: Season One, Part Two Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The second half of Fruits Basket: Season 1 carries the series to a graceful end note. The production is beautifully mounted on so many different levels. Animation is first-rate and the background art work remains joyful. The music score is enchanting and brings nuance to the storytelling. Fans of shojo anime will certainly find Fruits Basket to be a worthwhile gem that delivers in spades. The Blu-ray release features a strong video-audio presentation and an assortment of bonus features. Recommended.