The heroine of Fruits Basket is one of the truly best people you will ever see in an anime. Essentially this is the story of how someone who is trying their best to truly love (in what you can only think of as an agape sense) moves into a family full of dark secrets and difficult relationships and changes everything. This is one of my favorite animes to show to young people who are trying to figure out what kind of people to be, since it actually shows character change, which is pretty rare in any kind of show.
Warning: the story is not finished in the anime, and you have to go to the manga to see how it all turns out.

Violenece/Gore: I gave this a 2 because there are a few scenes that involve fighting (consequently between Kyo and Yuki), violence (slightly graphic car accident scene, and people jumping through roofs and walls. Although those are few and far between, I thought as I, looking for honest reviews, should comment on it.

Nudity/Sexual Content: Althought a relatively clean and innocent manga, I gave this a 3 because there are a few "questionable" scenes which I encountered when reading it. Most of them are by one character (Hatsuharu) who comments on his girlfriend as well as a scene between the two of them in bed together (nothing is shown, but it is worthy of being mentioned). Also, one other character (Ayame) has a tendency to make slightly disturbing gay comments as well as acting homosexual. (However, he is not) As for nudity, I don't have any warnings for that. However, when returning to their human forms, they are naked, but nothing inappropriate is shown.

Theological: I gave that a 2 only because some people may find it offensive that the manga is based around Zodiac, magic, and "god". However nothing ever indicates to beliefs nor is it protesting a faith.

Other negative themese: Swearing is prominant in this; depending on what translation you find, near the end the F word is used quite profusely (I went to another site to read it and found that the translation on that site was a bit different and the F word wasn't used at all like in the other translation I had read). However, throughout most of the manga, nothing worse then the D word, H word, or A word ever really comes up. Not that I can remember at least.

Overall I give this manga a 9. It was one of the first I ever read and I have to say that I definitely recommend it for anyone who likes good romance/comdedy manga with a thick plot to keep you intruiged. The few negative things weren't enough to keep me away as they really aren't prominant. Despute the few issues, the manga is quite clean and I find it has an excellent theme built into with standard Christian morals (loving everyone, forgiveness, etc.). I also find Tohru to be excellent heroine who I find myself looking up to even though she is a fictional character who can be a bit thick at times. Give this manga a shot!

Note: This is a review for the 2001 version of Fruits Basket

Violence: I gave it a 2 for multiple scenes of slapstick violence (in the form of martial arts battles) and a single scene of more serious violence. If the more serious scene had blood it was probably very minimal.

Sex and Nudity: I gave it a 2. There are a few scenes that contain light innuendo, though it is often tastefully worded. When characters turn back from their animal forms they are naked, though everything is thoroughly obstructed by smoke. Most of the transformations are obstructed from the neck down, though a couple of male bare chests are shown. It's very mild.

Theological Themes: I gave it a 3. The characters are under a curse that turns them into the animals of the Chinese zodiac. Eastern religious funeral practices are depicted in one episode. One of Tohru's friends has "wave powers".

Negative Themes: Two adult characters are shown smoking a couple of times. Kyo is fond of swearing, though the words he uses are the more mild ones.

Overall: It was a fun watch, with loads of positive messages, particularly about what it means to love people. The reason I didn't rate it particularly high was the existence of the reboot, which I liked much better. This is still worth a watch, though. There are some cute filler materials, which make things quite a bit funnier. They add to the charm.

The characters are cute. We have Tohru, who is an absolute ray of sunshine, though she doesn't have quite the amount of depth she receives in the reboot in the manga. Kyo is the tough fireball of the group, who has a hard time getting along with everyone. Yuki is Kyo's polar opposite and rival, who has a charming prince-like exterior and a quiet disposition (It doesn't stop him from smacking Kyo across the room, though). Shigure is Kyo and Yuki's older cousin, who just likes to annoy people. Everyone just lives in his house. There are a ton of other characters, but listing them all would take forever.

While the art style wasn't my favorite, the story is a heartwarming one, and the characters are all very likable (except when they're not supposed to be.) I liked the dub, even if it was difficult to hear Tohru and Yuki sometimes. Actually, I've heard that the dub is regarded better than the sub, so that might be worth checking out.

I recommend this one to preteens and up, as this is the cleanest rendition of the tale. It's rated PG for slapstick violence and implied nudity.