Creator - Natsuki Takaya
Production Company - TV Tokyo
Director - Akitaro Daichi

Voices done by:
Tohru Honda - Horie Yui
Yuki Souma - Hisakawa Aya
Kyou Souma - Seki Tomokazu
Shigure Souma - Okiayu Ryoutarou
Hatori Souma - Inoue Kazuhiko
Ayame Souma - Miyamoto Mitsuru
Akito Souma - Wakaba Murasaki
Kyoko Souma - ?
Uotani Arisa - Imai Yuka
Hanajima Saki - Yasuhara Reiko

The Curse:
The whole anime revolves around the Souma Family, in which thirteen of the members are cursed with the spirit of the 12 animals of the chinese zodiac. The 13th is that of the spirit of the cat.
According to legend, a very big banquet was to be held in which all the animals were invited to by god. The mischievous rat tricked the cat into believing that the party was being held the day after. but, the cat missed the party and was excluded from the chinese zodiac. It is unclear why the Souma family has this curse but it seems to have run for generations. Every generation, 13 members of the family carries the curse.These cursed members would take the form of a normal human, but would transform into thier respective animal form when they are hugged by the opposite sex. This un-called for transformation is the basis for most of the comedy in the series.

Story line:
Honda Tohru is a first year high school student living in a tent in the woods who has just become an orphan. Her mother was killed in a car accident, and though she lived with her paternal grandfather for a while, he asked her to find new lodging when he started doing renovations on his house. Not wanting to be a burden to anyone, Tohru takes up in a tent and gets a part-time job that she works at night. One day while she's going to school she stumbles upon a house close to where her tent is. Living in this house is Souma Yuki, Tohru's high school "prince," and his older cousin, Shigure. When a landslide destroys her tent, Shigure and Yuki offer her a place to stay. But upon meeting the third occupant of Shigure's home Souma Kyo Tohru inadvertently learns the Souma family secret: they are cursed by the Juunishi, the thirteen animals of the Chinese Zodiac (including the vengeful cat)

Review:
The wonderful thing about this series is its characters, they are vivid and real. Yuki might be handsome and a Prince in everyone’s eyes, but to Tohru, he is just a little boy still trying to get someone to love him unconditionally. He once said, I keep being nice to people so they’ll like me. It’s like giving people candies. It’s sad and it reveals his vulnerability, making him real. Tohru is wonderful and nice, but she is naive and at times stupid. Yet she opens her arm and accepts everyone, no matter that they are a cross-dresser or self-destructive and dangerous. This is the girl that everyone should have as a childhood friend or at least meet once in their life. It is easy to understand why both Yuki and Kyou care so much for her, and in return, she makes their lives worthy and bright.
The series is very shoujo in nature, and has little actions. It develops slowly and introduces new character at each episode. There is a sense of peace at the beginning, and humour when you first meet a character, especially Ayame because he’s so out there, and Yuki is so embarrassed at him, but the underlying current is that Ayame is sorry for abandoning Yuki when he was young, and from that point on, Yuki has never reached out for him again. So at the end of each episode, you get to know the new character really well and identify with them some way or another.
Fruits Basket is essentially about relationships, about love and our willingness to accept people. Most of the characters are damaged in some ways, and they don’t expect to be whole again. Even at the end, the characters are not wholly happy, and there is no happily ever for them, but you know that they are better and getting there. Although I really want to see a second season so more questions are answered, especially about Akito. He is evil, but he is sad because of his slot in life. He was dealt a crappy card, and instead of taking it like it is, he decided to make others’ lives miserable too, and I wonder if Tohru can save him. The Manga is still comeing out so there probably will be a second season.