Kyo and Tohru share an embrace in the latest piece of art from Fruits Basket -Prelude-.
As reported by Mantan Web, movie goers in Japan who see the new compilation movie will now be given a print depicting the series' two protagonists. The illustration is based on a keyframe of animation from one of the series' more iconic scenes, which depicts Kyo comforting Tohru after he realizes how lonely she has been.
Fruits Basket -Prelude- opened in select theaters in Japan on Feb. 18. Despite being available in just 25 theaters throughout the country, the movie has already grossed 95 million yen (about $800,000 USD) at the Japanese box office. The movie was also released on Blu-ray and DVD on the same day that it premiered in theaters. -Prelude- is scheduled to begin a wider release in the region on March 4.
The new movie mostly retells the events of the 2019 Fruits Basket anime, using reedited footage pulled from the rebooted series' three seasons. The film does feature new content, the most notable of which is a new prequel story that shows how Tohru's parents, the teacher Katsuya and the rebellious Kyoko, first met and fell in love. The movie also features a new epilogue scene that details Kyo and Tohru's life after the events of the main series. A new manga chapter, which was written and drawn by series creator Natsuki Takaya, was released to coincide with the premiere of the film and also covers the same story as the new epilogue.
Takaya created Fruits Basket in 1998 and it has since gone on to become one of the most celebrated works of shojo manga. It is considered one of the most influential series in the genre, alongside other 90s classics such as Yoko Kamio's Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers) and Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon. The manga was first adapted into an anime by Studio Deen (Gravitation, KonoSuba) in 2001. While a hit in its own right, this original series was criticized by many, including Takaya herself, for diverging from the original source material and ultimately leaving the story unfinished. A rebooted anime series, this time produced by studio TMS, premiered in 2019 and ran for three seasons, concluding in 2021. This version of the show was much more faithful to the source material and was positively received.
Both anime series are now available for streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu, while the original manga is available in English from Yen Press. An international release for the movie and the new manga chapter have yet to be announced.
Source: Mantan Web via Crunchyroll
