English Dub Review: Fruits Basket “I’ll Hold Another Banquet”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The ties that bind are starting to be fully revealed. Fate, love, and the cycle of abuse that define the Sohma family are starting to be explained, and unfortunately Tohru bears the brunt of the emotional turmoil.

After a cryptic intro wherein Akito describes holding banquet after banquet for the rest of eternity, we cut back to Kureno, who’s recently revealed to Tohru that Akito is actually a woman. He explains that Akito was raised as a man by her mother, Ren Sohma. The mother and daughter hate each other, and are constantly at each other’s throats (in some cases, literally.)

The final season is setting up for quite the journey. Instead of centering the budding romantic relationships that were the focus of seasons one and two, this season will be getting into the details of the zodiac curse. And even more exciting, how to break it.

Our Take:

While this episode lacks the “behind the scenes” aspect of the earlier premier, it’s still worth the watch.

From a visual, storytelling, and soundtrack perspective, this season seems to be shaping up to be the strongest so far. Admittedly, I’m biased, since this is one of my favorite mangas from waaayyy back in the day, and I’m excited to see it finally done justice.

So let’s start at the beginning, shall we? The intro features stunningly elaborate animation that seems to be a blend of CGI and more traditional technique. It’s bright and airy, which pairs perfectly with the intro song, “Pleasure” by WARPs UP. The end theme, “Haru Urarara” (Beautiful Spring) by GENIC serves as a hint towards new feelings blooming, even if it is just a touch bittersweet.

Although I’ll always have a soft spot for season one’s themes (“Again” by Beverly for the opening, and “Lucky Ending” by Vickeblanka for the end theme), I think that these picks will suit the season exceptionally well.

The voice cast provides the necessary continuity to wrap up this series in style, with the original cast reprising their roles from previous seasons.

It’s always a delight to hear Laura Bailey (Fullmetal Alchemist fans have heard her previously as Lust) particularly since she manages to deliver Tohru’s overly sincere lines in a way that magically avoids being too twee.

The most notable performance from this particular episode comes from Katelyn Barr (who also voices Aki Koganei from Food Wars!) She comes across as genuinely unhinged as Ren Sohma while she taunts Akito to kill her. She then seamlessly switches to being smooth and manipulative when she coaxes Rin into doing her bidding. It’s a stunning duality, and a far cry from her one dimensional role as Yona Ichōgi in SUPER HxEROS!

Jād Saxton (aka Haru in My Roommate is a Cat) also gets in some solid lines as Saki Hanajima. Both her deadpan reveal when she comes to rescue Tohru in the park, and her heartfelt speech to her two friends seem to span a wealth of emotion, despite having minimal change in tone.

Then of course, there’s the comedic stylings of Jerry Jewell as Kyo. His blunt response to Tohru’s “We had a nightgown festival!” with “A what now?” is so simple and yet truly funny.

But where this episode, and presumably the rest of this season really shine is in the art. The character designs remain mostly the same, although this series as a whole has a slightly more realistic look compared to the 2001 series.

This works to lend a bit more levity to some of the darker storylines, as opposed to the extremely stylized former visuals. For this season in particular, this seemingly small change will likely make a big difference (we’re talking even MORE crying than usual, folks!)

The lighting also seems to have gotten an upgrade. The warm golden hour tones when Tohru and Kureno meet in the park, the striking blues and greens when Kyo retrieves Tohru’s scarf, and even the vibrant purple of Hanajima’s bedspread benefit from either additional delicate shading, or possibly some fancy digital enhancements. Either way, the result is stunning.

There’s still plenty of romance to look forward to, despite this episode kicking things off with heartbreak for almost everyone on screen. But even more exciting is to see the growth and healing that happens with the zodiac curse storyline, even if it’s a rough road to get there.

At least we can head that way knowing there’s a banquet of visual storytelling delights ahead of us.