We all know the joy of hearing that our favorite anime is going to be revisited, either with a new season or a reboot. We wait excitedly for months, only to be disappointed when the new version doesn’t measure up to our expectations, either because it didn’t capture the “spark” of the original or because we’d idealized the original so much in our minds that nothing could ever be good enough. Well, I’m happy to say that the Fruits Basket 2019 remake is everything that fans could have asked for.
Fruits Basket 2019 is the story of the pure-hearted but unfortunate Tooru who lives alone in a tent after the death of her parents. She soon moves into the nearby Souma house, a family with a secret: they’re under a supernatural curse that causes them to turn into animals from the Chinese zodiac if hugged by a member of the opposite sex. It’s a great “reverse harem” story that’s been excellent so far, faithful to the original and with very high-quality animation, plus my favorite seiyu, Rie Kugimiya.
What makes a good anime reboot? It has to be able to capture the je ne sais quoi of the original and should be made by creators who loved the original work with a passion. It should hopefully have a large budget in order to do right by fans without cutting corners. Here are some anime reboots that really shined.
-
The 2014 Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works remade the 2006 anime, basically make a “perfect” edition of the story.
-
Often anime are remade in order to “fix” a previous work that didn’t live up to its potential, like the 2006 Kanon remake that Kyoani did, or Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.
-
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 and 2202 were outstanding, both better than I could have ever dared hope. They even added in episodes that had been cut from the 1974 original due to budget issues.
Anime reboots that didn’t quite cut the mustard included
-
Sailor Moon Crystal, which lacked some of the soul of the original, according to many fans. I think Bandai/Toei skimped too much on the budget because they didn’t trust enough in fans to support the show.
-
The Berserk 2016 remake, which had hideously bad CGI and production values.
-
While the Rebuild of Evangelion movies are beautiful, I really appreciate the “grit” of the original 1995 series. Among other things, it had 24 episodes, which gave it plenty of time to tell its bold story.
- Every attempt at stealing the wonderful anime subculture we’ve all created and turn it into mainstream live action by Hollywood. Sorry, but we just don’t need those guys.
What anime remakes have you loved? Which ones have you hated? Tell us on Twitter!
If you’ve got too much stress in your life, we’ve got great news: since May has been designated Masturbation Month, we’re doing a month-long sale on all our trademark naughty toys for guys and girls. For the rest of the month, get 4x J-List Points automatically when you purchase any of these products. J-List Points can be used for discounts off future purchases, in $5 increments.
