English Dub Review: Fruits Basket “Episode 0”

Overview (Possible Spoilers):

After the shocking revelation at the end of season two from Kureno Sohma (Ian Sinclair), we now know that Akito Sohma( Colleen Clinkenbeard) is a woman. Tohru (Laura Bailey) does not know how to handle the news and breaks down crying. Luckily, her friend Saki Hanajima (Jad Saxton) comes to her rescue with an impromptu “nightgown festival” or ya know a pajama party. Their friend Arisa Uotani (Elizabeth Maxwell) ends up joining later and after accidentally hearing Tohru break down her reasons for being upset (Hint: it has to do with her and Kureno) she and Tohru share a hug.

Akito being a woman could have pretty big implications on the story as a whole. We also learn WHY everyone thought she was a man. Her mother Ren Sohma (Katelyn Barr) intentionally raised her that way for reasons I am sure we will delve into more deeply as the season progresses. Something, tells me it has to do with her dead father but we will see.

Our Take:

We are getting the final seasons of two majorly popular shows in back-to-back seasons. Though Fruits Basket: The Final season does not have quite the same hype as Attack on Titan that does not mean you should miss out. Especially if this first episode is anything to go by. I did an entire series rewatch to prepare for this and it just reminded me how great this series is and how everyone should be watching. Do yourself a favor and make sure you catch every episode but have some tissues ready, you will cry…a lot.

This series has some of the best and most in-depth characters you can find anywhere. A lot of romance shows will usually just focus on the main couple or love triangle in this case. Though in my opinion, it isn’t really a love triangle since Yuki admitted his love for Tohru is more like a mother figure. In this show, however, there are a lot of relationships that get major screentime. You might even end up rooting for some of the other couples more.

One of those to me is the relationship between Kureno Sohma and Arisa Uotani. I really hope they get together by the end, sure they have only met twice but Kureno’s break down at the end of season two and Uotani’s bit during the play they put on really endeared them to me. There’s also Rin and Hatsuharu, and is it just my imagination, or did last season tease something between Yuki and the student council treasurer Machi Kuragi? If you love romance there is more than just the main characters here I can assure you.

All of the original voice actors are returning and reprising their roles. The only major ones I haven’t mentioned yet are Jerry Jewell as Kyo Sohma, Eric Vale as Yuki Sohma, Justin Cook as Hatsuharu Sohma, and Brina Palencia as Isuzu ‘Rin’ Soma. There’s one voice actor I have to gush about though. I have always liked Ian Sinclair, he does goofy characters well and can be serious when he needs to be but his role as Kureno Sohma might be his best performance. I’m cheating a bit because I am using his performance at the end of season two but since it bled right into the beginning of season three I think it’s fair. The raw emotions he was able to express were amazing. I could feel it and I was tearing up with Kureno as well. It was a seriously amazing performance and if this season goes how I expect it to I think we have a whole lot more from Ian to be excited about.

I could not find any info about the subtitled version getting a special premier so for an English dub to get these kinds of premier rights shows how invested Funimation is in their dubs. As this is a special premier make sure you stick around after the episode for about ten minutes of special cast interviews. A couple of the quotes that stood out to me was Colleen Clinkenbeard saying “Don’t think this is just a fluffy, girly romance.” I couldn’t agree more, this show has so much depth to it. A funnier one was Ian Sinclair he hoped for “Mechs, tons of giant mechs.” Me too, Ian, me too.

This episode was over in a flash for me and I even watched it again immediately after. I’m almost upset we got an early premier because now I have to wait that much longer for the second episode. This has gotten a little longer than I planned but I could gush about this show and this episode so much more. I seriously cannot wait to see the conclusion to this amazing show. Sorry if I kept you from it longer than absolutely necessary but you won’t regret it I promise.