New Visuals Revealed for the 2019 Fruits Basket Anime Adaptation

On Monday, two new visuals were released for the highly anticipated new anime adaptation of Natsuki Takaya’s popular manga series Fruits Basket.

The anime is slated to premiere in Japan in 2019 in TV Tokyo. It was confirmed in a report by Funimation that the anime adaptation will cover the full story of the entire manga series. TMS Entertainment (who are known for Haikyu!!, Silver Spoon, and Hanebad!) will be doing the animation and directed by Yoshihide Ibata (FLCL Progressive).

Unlike its anime adaptation, the new Fruits Basket anime will have new staff and cast. Manaka Iwami (Maquia in Mari Okada’s Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms) will be voicing the girl protagonist Tohru Honda, Nobunaga Shimazaki (Mugi in Scum’s Wish) as Yuki Sohma, Yuma Uchida (Ein Dalton in Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans) as Kyo Sohma, and Yuichi Nakamura (Gray Fullbuster in Fairy Tail) as Shigure Sohma.

In a press release posted by Funimation, the manga creator Natsuki Takaya made a comment about the upcoming anime project:

I never once felt negatively about the project or thought that I didn’t want to do it, but still, my first thought was “What?!” (lol)

So, I made several requests right off the bat.

One of those was to do it with a completely new team.

Completely new. Every single person.

I told [the producers], if you want to open the curtain again, then please make it all new. Please rebuild the Furuba world from scratch, with new everything.

Another request was to not make the art look too much like my art.

This was partly because my Furuba art is old now, pure and simple, and also largely because I was in poor health back then (you can find more details about that in the afterword to the Collector’s Edition, if you’re curious), so my drawing was awfully shaky. Because of that, I wanted them to rebuild the art as well.

Other than that… Well, it was a mix. On some things I gave them detailed thoughts, and on others I gave them my blessing to do as they liked.

The production staff promptly accepted my requests and worked to meet them, and I’m truly grateful to them all. Thank you again.

They also readily gave me permission to visit the recording sessions sometimes, which makes me so happy. I don’t actually do anything there; I’m just an observer. (Really, I don’t do anything.)

It’s a pure delight, getting to see the reels a little early like that.

Fruits Basket (also known as Furuba) is a popular fantasy and romance manga series created by Natsuki Takaya. The series was serialized in Hana to Yume magazine from 1998 until 2006 and was compiled into 23 volumes. Its massive popularity expanded into a 26-episode anime adaptation that originally aired from July to December 2001.

The series centres on Tohru Honda who forced to move out after her mother died in a car crash and her other family members were completely unsupportive. Nowhere to go, she decided to live independently and live in a tent. She then ends up living in the Sohma residence. This is where she finds out that her popular classmate Yuki, his cousin Shigure, and the Sohmas living in the household a secret that they turn into animals (based on their Chinese zodiac) when they are touched by the opposite sex.

Sources: ANN, Funimation, Funimation (Press Release)