Friday, August 7, 2009

Fruits Basket 生肖奇緣

I've just finished the "Fruits Basket" anime series (26 eposides in total) online at Megavideo. This anime series is based on the Japanese manga series "Fruits Basket" by Natsuki Takaya 高屋奈月.

"Fruits Basket" has many chinese names: 幻影天使, 魔法水果籃, 水果籃子, 生肖奇緣


The series is about an optimistic and selfless high school girl, Tohru Honda 本田透. After her mother's accidental death, 透 has to live with her grandfather and her aunt, but when her aunt's house needs remodeling, 透 decides to live in a tent in a forest. One day, she enters a house in the same forest and meets her classmate Yuki Sohma 草摩由希. She learns that the forest is owned by the Sohma family. Yuki Sohma 草摩由希, Kyo Sohma 草摩夾, and Shigure Sohma 草摩紫吳 live together in that house.

A landslide has destroyed 透's tent, so she begins to live with 由希, 夾, and 紫吳. She later learns that 13 members of the Sohma family are possessed by the animals of the Chinese zodiac and are cursed to turn into their animal forms if they are hug by the opposite sex.

草摩由希 will transform into a rat.
草摩夾 will transform into a cat (the only one not part of the Chinese zodiac).
草摩紫吳 will transform into a dog.

This anime series is pretty good. I would rate it 3.5 out of 5. I took .5 away because of the overall sadness in the series.

In general, this series does have the regular Japanese anime silliness and exaggerations. However, it does bring out some good points that require deeper thinking. For example...

In Eposide 3, 草摩紫吳 to 草摩夾:
我們同其他人相處, 就會學到比人傷害或我們傷害人, 如果我們逃避其中一種, 我們就無法學到如何去體諒人或同人相處.

本田透 to 草摩由希 and 透的母親 to 本田透:
做人應該要相信人, 不要用懷疑的態度去待人...
人一出生是沒有帶同心地好來的...
人天生只有食慾和物質慾... 這是我們生存的需要...
心地好是同我們的身體一樣, 是慢慢長大的... 這就是良心...
只是每個人的良心不同...
因為慾望是每個人天生就有的, 所以每個人很容易理解和接近個人慾望...
心地好是由不同的人長成不同程度..
所以很容易被誤解,一個好人的好心是偽善...

要不信任人...每個人都很容易做到...
要信任人... 不是每個人都做到...
你要做一個信任人的人...

In Eposide 7, 本田透's 飯糰和酸梅 Theory:
這個世界上所有人的背後都有著各式個樣,不同顏色,不同味道的酸梅。可是因為都附在背後,所以就無法看到酸梅。當你羨慕他人,只是因為你可以看到別人背後的酸梅而已吧了,自己會以為一無所有,只是白米而已,其實不是這樣的,你的背後也有屬於自己的酸梅。

In Eposide 18, 花島咲 was jealous because 本田透 is always with 草摩由希 and 草摩夾. At the end, 花島咲 realizes that:
If the people that I like always care about me... even if we don't see each other a lot, it doesn't matter... If they still care about you, then you should be very happy...

In Epsoide 21, 本田透 to 草摩燈路:
世界上有很多人為了逃避成長, 所以在思想上無時無刻都當自己是細路, 但是你肯面對和接受自己長大, 是需要很大的勇氣!

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