Fruits Basket

Last updated: 10 November 2026

About Fruits Basket

Tohru Honda loses her mother in a car accident and ends up living in a tent rather than burden anyone. The tent sits on land owned by the Sohma family, and when a landslide destroys it, they take her in. She soon learns their secret: thirteen Sohmas are possessed by the animals of the Chinese zodiac and transform when embraced by someone of the opposite sex. Tohru promises to keep the secret, and her steady kindness starts to change everyone she meets.

Fruits Basket is a TV anime from 2019, first released in Spring 2019. It belongs to the Drama and Romance and Supernatural genres and is listed as a completed series. The summary above is written by the AnimeYug team in our own words.

Story & Plot

Tohru Honda is a high school girl who insists on smiling through everything. After her mother Kyoko dies in a car accident, she moves in with her grandfather, then quietly moves out into a tent in the woods so she will not be a burden during his house renovation. The land belongs to the Sohma family, home of her popular classmate Yuki, his cousin Shigure and, crashing through the ceiling one morning, the hot-tempered Kyo. When Tohru accidentally falls into Kyo, he turns into an orange cat in her arms, and the family secret is out: thirteen Sohmas carry the spirits of the Chinese zodiac, plus the outcast cat, and they transform when hugged by a member of the opposite sex, when weak or under stress.

Living with the Sohmas, Tohru meets the wider family one spirit at a time, and nearly every meeting reveals a wound. The zodiac members are bound to Akito, the family head who holds the position of God in the old legend, and Akito rules them through fear, guilt and total control. Some Sohmas are locked up, some are forbidden to love, and some have had their memories erased. Tohru's open heart makes her both welcome and dangerous, because people who have accepted their cages start wanting out of them when she is near.

Across the second season, the story digs into the origin of the curse and the summer beach house arc, Kyo's hidden true form, and the slow cracking of the bond between Akito and the zodiac. The final season, titled The Final, brings the confrontation Tohru has been heading towards since the first episode: the truth about Akito, the first Sohma's ancient promise, and a curse that is already quietly weakening on its own.

The result is a rare thing, a complete adaptation of a finished manga, made with the author watching over it. The Prelude film, released in 2022, rounds the story off by telling the tale of Tohru's parents, Kyoko and Katsuya, alongside a short epilogue for Tohru and Kyo.

Story Arcs & Episode Guide

The Fruits Basket anime is split into story sagas. Here is every saga in order, with its episodes and years.

Why Watch Fruits Basket

• The complete manga story in anime form, all 23 volumes across 63 episodes
• A full remake with a new Japanese cast and staff, supervised by author Natsuki Takaya
• Tohru Honda is one of anime's best loved heroines, kind without being weak
• Every zodiac member gets a full character arc, not just the main trio
• The Final season adapts material that was never animated before, including the ending

Who Is It For?

Fruits Basket suits teens and up. There is little violence and no fan service, but the story deals honestly with grief, parental abuse, isolation and emotional control inside the Sohma family. It is gentle in tone and heavy in feeling, and younger children may miss much of what makes it powerful.

Voice Actors

The Japanese voices behind the main characters of Fruits Basket.

• Tohru HondaOrphaned schoolgirl who moves into the Sohma house
  Japanese voiceManaka Iwami
• Kyo SohmaThe cat of the zodiac, hot-tempered and shut out by the family
  Japanese voiceYuma Uchida
• Yuki SohmaThe rat of the zodiac, the school's admired 'prince'
  Japanese voiceNobunaga Shimazaki
• Shigure SohmaThe dog of the zodiac, a novelist who hosts Tohru
  Japanese voiceYuichi Nakamura
• Akito SohmaHead of the Sohma family and 'God' of the zodiac bond
  Japanese voiceMaaya Sakamoto

Staff & Production

Director

Yoshihide Ibata

Series Composition

Taku Kishimoto

Animation Studio

TMS Entertainment, 8PAN

Character Design

Masaru Shindou

Music

Masaru Yokoyama

Manga & Source Material

Fruits Basket is based on Natsuki Takaya's manga, one of the best known shojo series ever made. The 2019 anime was produced with Takaya supervising, at her request with a fresh cast and staff, so the full story could finally be animated as written.

• Written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya
• Serialised in Hakusensha's Hana to Yume from July 1998 to November 2006
• 136 chapters collected in 23 volumes
• The manga had passed 30 million copies in circulation by December 2018
• The 2001 anime by Studio Deen covered only part of the story, because the manga was still running
• Takaya later wrote a sequel, Fruits Basket Another, and short Three Musketeers Arc stories

Music

Masaru Yokoyama's gentle piano and strings score carries the remake. Each cour brought new theme songs, and this list covers the best known of them across the three seasons.

Opening Themes

• “Again”by BeverlySeason 1, first opening (episodes 1 to 13)
• “Chime”by Ai OtsukaSeason 1, second opening (episodes 14 to 25)
• “Prism”by AmPm featuring MiyunaSeason 2, first opening (episodes 26 to 38)
• “Home”by Toki AsakoSeason 2, second opening (from episode 39)
• “Pleasure”by WARPs UPThe Final season opening (2021)

Ending Themes

• “Lucky Ending”by VickeblankaSeason 1, first ending (episodes 1 to 13)
• “One Step Closer”by INTERSECTIONSeason 1, second ending (episodes 14 to 25)
• “ad meliora”by THE CHARM PARKSeason 2, first ending (episodes 26 to 38)
• “Eden”by MONKEY MAJIKSeason 2, second ending (from episode 39)
• “Haru Urara”by GENICThe Final season ending (2021)

Series Timeline

1. 1998

   Natsuki Takaya's manga begins in Hana to Yume magazine.

2. 2001

   Studio Deen's first anime adaptation airs for 26 episodes while the manga is still running, so it ends early in the story.

3. 2006

   The manga ends after 136 chapters and 23 volumes.

4. April 2019

   The remake premieres with a new cast and staff, announced as a complete adaptation of the manga.

5. 2020 to 2021

   Season 2 airs in 2020, and The Final season closes the story in spring 2021.

6. February 2022

   Fruits Basket: Prelude opens in Japanese cinemas, telling the story of Tohru's parents.

Release Schedule

Episodes

63 (Season 1: 25, Season 2: 25, The Final: 13)

First aired

6 April 2019 (Japan)

Final episode

29 June 2021 (Japan)

Film

Fruits Basket: Prelude, 18 February 2022 (Japan)

Studio

TMS Entertainment, 8PAN

Status

Finished, complete manga adaptation

The remake is complete and no further seasons are planned. Details as of 10 November 2026.

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