Fruits Basket Reveals New Art for Blood Drive

New art released of Fruits Basket's beloved Mabudachi Trio to mark the shojo juggernaut's new collaboration with the Kanagawa Red Cross Blood Center.

The new art pieces feature the three oldest cursed Sohma family members in white doctor's coats with their respective Zodiac animals. While this is a new look for novelist Shigure and tailor Ayame, Hatori is no stranger to a stethoscope and lab coat, since he is a doctor himself.

The new art is the result of Fruits Basket's new collaboration with the Kanagawa Red Cross Blood Center, which aims to encourage people to donate blood. The new campaign will run from Jan. 17 and Feb. 28, and the first 1500 people to donate 400ml of blood will receive an exclusive clear file depicting Shigure, Hatori and Ayame in their doctor's garb. The clear file also features a cute design of each character's Zodiac animal on the reverse side.  The first 1000 people can also claim a voucher which they can then present to participating Animate stores to receive a sticker of their choice until March 6.

Natsuki Takaya's Fruits Basket has remained one of the most beloved shojo manga series of all time since it began its serialization in 1998. It stars 16-year-old Tohru Honda, a kind-hearted orphan girl who, after a series of events, comes to live with the most popular boy in her high school, Yuki Sohma, and his cousins Shigure and Kyo. She soon discovers that her new housemates, along with 10 other members of the Sohma family, are possessed by the animals of the Chinese Zodiac and are cursed to turn into their respective animal forms whenever they are hugged by a member of a different sex or are feeling weak or stressed. As the series progresses, Tohru befriends those possessed by the Zodiac and seeks to break the curse that binds them to their "God," Akito Sohma, the vengeful head of the Sohma family.

Fruits Basket has received two anime adaptations. The first anime series only ran for 26 episodes in 2001, leaving much of the content of the manga untouched in favor of an original ending. The 2019 anime series, however, was more faithful to the original source as it adapted the entire manga over the course of three seasons. While most of the Japanese voice cast of the first adaptation did not return for the second, fans of the English dub were delighted when Funimation brought back many of the English voice actors to reprise their roles such as Laura Bailey, Eric Vale, Jerry Jewell and John Burgmeier. A compilation film called Fruits Basket: Prelude, which recaps the events of the 2019 anime series, will premiere on Feb 18. It will also include an all-new prequel episode adapting the story of Tohru's parents called Kyо̄ko to Katsuya no Monogatari and an original story that will take place after the events of the series.

Fruits Basket (2019) is available to stream on Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu.

Source: Twitter