Fruits Basket, the beloved 26-episode anime series released back in 2001, will be receiving a new adaptation in 2019.
Announced by Funimation, this show will follow the entire story arc established in the manga that ran from 1998 to 2006. Supervising and executive producing the project is manga author Natsuki Takaya. The series will feature an all-new cast and staff, and will begin broadcasting in 2019 on TV Tokyo and other Japanese stations, and will stream in North America on FunimationNow.
Visual teaser for the show. Credit: Funimation, TMS Entertainment.
The story revolves around high school student Tohru Honda, who begins living alone in a tent after losing her mother. She ends up living with classmates Yuki and Kyo Sohma, working as their housekeep. She soon discovers that the family has been bound by a Zodiac-related curse for centuries.
“First of all, I’d like to offer my sincere congratulations to the staff for bringing us to this announcement day,” said Takaya. “I may be the manga author, but at the same time, I’m only the manga author. So I think this announcement is a long-awaited recognition of the efforts of all of those directly involved in the anime’s production, and that’s a relief to me.”
The new cast includes Manaka Iwami as Tohru Honda, Nobunaga Shimazaki as Yuki Sohma, Yuma Uchida as Kyo Sohma, and Yuichi Nakamura as Shigure Sohma. Yoshihide Ibata will act as director, Taku Kishimoto as series writer, Masaru Shindo as character designer, and will be created by the animation studio TMS Entertainment.
For more on Fruits Basket, check out our review of the complete DVD collection, which we called “Great” saying “Although, most of the series is upbeat and energetic, beware that towards the end your emotions might be in for a rollercoaster ride.”
Colin Stevens is a news writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.