Gift Basket Stores

Studio: Funimation Prod Inc Release Date: 11/20/2007

Customer Review: An Entertaining and Dramatic Anime With A Good Touch Of Romance

Again this is one of the few early animes sets that I got that wasn't based on Mecha or action-packed battle scenes in it, but this series was a incredible find for me and I have not regretted it. The series storyline surrounds the Soma family and a tragic curse they have, certain members of their family either boys or girls are cursed at birth to transform into the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac plus the cat for some unknown reason why the Soma family has this curse isn't really explained it's still interesting to see. Than you have the three characters the series mostly focus on Toru Honda a high school student who recently lost her mother and was camping on the Soma's family backyard since at the time she had no other family to really turned to and didn't want to inconvenience her friends, Yuki Soma(Who turns into the rat)is the popular prince at the school he and Toru go to and also discovers Toru living on the family's ground and decides to help settle her into their family home, and finally Kyo Soma(Who turns into the cat but also has a more darker secret)has an all assuming need to beat Yuki as he has never been able to do so far. The series mostly has to due with Toru adjusting to the unusual family and starting to develop feelings for both Kyo and Yuki whether or not there romantic is up to the viewer, but as the series progresses the feelings of friendship and family between the three grows greatly. The series does have a darker undertone especially with the Soma curse but most of the series is nicely family oriented. There are some dramatic episodes of course with inner story lines about family, friendship, loyalty, and true love for someone that are truly heartwarming to watch. The video is full-screen but very clear no lines or distortions to worry over, and the audio is great the Japanese cast are superb and the choice for the English cast is right on the money. So to fans who looking for a great series filled with drama, family loyalties, and true friendships this is the one for your collection. I also say to fans of the more sci-fi or mecha animes while this wont have any of that in here this series is still a worth while set to check out you'll very surprised at how good it really is...

Customer Review: An interesting concept, but so very Shojo....

I'm a fan of animé, and not much into mech or dark and brooding animé, so I thought that I might enjoy this story and its colorful cast of characters. I am, it appears, very much the wrong audience for this show. While the cheerful demeanor and strength in adversity of the protagonist was nice for a while, and the intrigue of the various characters and the curse was interesting, this animé is quite the Shojo; that is, it is directed toward teenage girls. There are constant romantic intrigues; a few cross-dressing boys; a flamboyant, dress-shop-owning cousin; a group of vengeful school girls who plot against the heroine; yaoi situations.... It's also well-animated, has wonderful music, and is filled with characters who are interesting enough to watch some of their development, but at some point the plot and repeated situations just get to be so terribly girly that I couldn't finish the last disc in the series. This is, of course, a heartfelt recommendation if the aforementioned scenarios appeal to you, but for me, I couldn't take it any more.
See details