Meeting Date: 4/6/2019
Disclaimer: The Herald Anime Club discusses shows as they’re airing. Naturally, there will be spoilers for a given episode. You have been warned!
Samantha Ferreira: Hi everyone, and welcome to the Herald Anime Club! I’m Samantha, and I’m here with L.B. Bryant and Anthony Simpson
L.B. Bryant: Hello!
Anthony Simpson: Evening
Samantha Ferreira: Tonight, we’re kicking off an all-new season with Fruits Basket… the 2019 one. This week we’re discussing the first episode: What’s old is now new again… or “Please don’t tell anybody how I live.”
L.B. Bryant: Can we just spend a couple of minutes gushing about how pretty this first episode is?
Samantha Ferreira: Yes! It’s just drop-dead gorgeous the whole way through
Anthony Simpson: I have to agree with L.B. that this first looked great.
So I’m more or less completely new to Fruits Basket. I never watched the original series and I only read the first volume of the manga.
L.B. Bryant: This is one of the first shots of the episode and if they keep this level of quality up throughout the entire run, we are in for multiple eye-gasms.
Ooh, really Anthony? Sam and I will do our best to not spoil anything for you in that case.
Anthony Simpson: OG Fruits Basket was just never on my radar for stuff to watch.Samantha Ferreira: You’re in a place, then… for the most part, the new show has covered a lot of familiar ground, albeit in the best way possible.
Anthony Simpson: I picked up the first volume of the manga when Borders was starting to cease operations but I never read past that.
L.B. Bryant: Indeed and I think you’re going to enjoy what the rest of the series has to offer.
Samantha Ferreira: Also,, the first anime, while it’s beloved, did have some… quirks to it. ^^;
L.B. Bryant: Indeed. A pretty major character had their entire gender changed for instance which is being corrected this time around.
Anthony Simpson: I’ve heard things about the OG series. I’m hoping I end up liking the new version.
Samantha Ferreira: Definitely… the original series also started to diverge after a while, didn’t it? Like, they didn’t get into some of the headier topics from the manga
L.B. Bryant: Yeah, I’m not sure at which point it started to go in its own direction though.
Samantha Ferreira: Same. It’s been a long time
L.B. Bryant: I have to admit that I never did finish reading the manga. I’ve seen the original anime at least a dozen times though so that’s something I guess.
Samantha Ferreira: The manga was very good.
I can’t wait to see how the anime adapts the parts we didn’t see
L.B. Bryant: Me too.
Btw, just so it’s made clear early on… I’ll be watching the dubbed version of this series so any comments I make about voice acting in the future will be in reference to the English cast.
Samantha Ferreira: I’m watching the subs, personally
Anthony Simpson: I watched the Crunchyroll version. I was thinking of watching the dub but I might check that version out at another time.
L.B. Bryant: No worries. I just thought it was important to make that distinction early on.
Samantha Ferreira: Definitely
L.B. Bryant: Since the Japanese cast is entirely new while the English cast is mostly not.
Samantha Ferreira: How did the cast stack up, by the way? A good majority are returning from the 200X series
L.B. Bryant: I enjoyed the performances of the English cast in episode 1. It wasn’t even jarring to hear the familiar voices coming from slightly new character designs. It was like I was hearing old friends again.
Samantha Ferreira: That’s awesome
L.B. Bryant: Tohru sounded a little less perky (for lack of a better word) to my ears than she did in the original but that’s not really a bad thing.
Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure all sounded fantastic though.
Samantha Ferreira: On that note, the Japanese cast was also fantastic – the secondary characters, especially, are just given a ton of personality by their actors.
Anthony Simpson: I have to agree with Sam the Japanese cast was great.
Samantha Ferreira: I’m loving how they really just dug right in, giving Arisa that thick yankii drawl to her lines
Or Saki’s “waves”, or Motoko’s whole super-formal, yet somehow threatening and over-the-top air as she ends her sentences with that heavy “de-SU”
Something tells me that both versions will be worth watching
And given that I have to watch every episode twice for screenshots? I am A-OK with that!
L.B. Bryant: Be sure to get a shot of Kyo after he’s been turned into a cat and is being held up by Tohru. They did such a good job drawing his little paws/toe beans. :smiley:
Samantha Ferreira: Haha, of course. That was adorable!
Anthony Simpson: Yes it was.
Samantha Ferreira: Also, we get nonplussed Shigure again, so it’s all good.
L.B. Bryant: Shigure is my spirit animal.
Samantha Ferreira: Did they bring back his “high school girls” line in the new series? lol
L.B. Bryant: Not yet but I assume it’ll be there within the next couple of episodes lol
Samantha Ferreira: lol… that was just an iconic line for the dub
L.B. Bryant: Yeah it was. It would be a crime if they took it out in the new version lol
Samantha Ferreira: It would. Like… it’s so jarringly creepy… but it works, somehow
L.B. Bryant: I think it’s all in the delivery. If he were just monotoning “High school girls”, it would be creepy but the fact that he turns it into a little happy song is what makes it work as a joke
Samantha Ferreira: True enough.
But anyway! Back to the new show, lol
I’m genuinely excited to see where this goes next.
Well… two of us know where it’s going, but I’m excited to see how the show adapts things going forward and… you get my drift, lol
L.B. Bryant: Yeah I got you lol
I’m also very curious to see how today’s fans who have never seen the original take to some of the various relationships and characters. Kyo was fun back in the early 00’s but these days, is his short fuse something that fans can laugh at still?
Samantha Ferreira: It all depends on the delivery
L.B. Bryant: That’s fair.
I suppose there are a lot of things (such as the aforementioned ‘high school girls’ line) that we’ll have to wait and see if they have aged well or not.
Samantha Ferreira: Indeed.
L.B. Bryant: Up to this point I’ve considered the series a pretty timeless classic of the genre but today’s fans might see things differently.
Samantha Ferreira: It certainly is
And, well, so far they’ve been modernizing it pretty well
L.B. Bryant: Yeah but we still have a long road ahead of us.
lol
Samantha Ferreira: Oh definitely, lol
And I can’t wait to go down it once again
L.B. Bryant: Same.
Anthony Simpson: As someone new more or less to FB I’m looking forward to the journey.
Samantha Ferreira: You’re in for a wild ride
Anthony Simpson: I’m looking forward to it.
Aniwho, I think that brings us to the end of this meeting. Til next time, remember: if you need to save your tent in a typhoon, your body makes a good shield! (Your body does not make a good shield. Please remain safe during severe weather)
Have a great night!
L.B. Bryant: Night everyone!
Anthony Simpson: Night everyone
