2 Best Movies to Watch by Kengo Kawanishi

On-screen, we’ve seen downtrodden Cinderella-esque leads, we’ve seen humans transform into animals, and we’ve seen whole families cursed, but Fruits Basket takes all these plot devices and transforms them into something completely different. As Tohru Honda gets to learn about the mysterious Sohma family, and she and friends gets into fun and wacky hijinks with the curse, the series takes the legend of the Chinese zodiac as a unique and effortless means to discuss systemic, generational abuse and resulting trauma that can occur within a family. The classic shoujo manga was first adapted into anime in 2001, but we’re recommending the later 2019 adaptation, which goes more in depth and depicts the complete story.

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Drama

Actor: Ai Kakuma, Aki Toyosaki, Atsumi Tanezaki, Kazuyuki Okitsu, Kengo Kawanishi, Maaya Sakamoto, Makoto Furukawa, Manaka Iwami, Megumi Han, Miyuki Sawashiro, Nobunaga Shimazaki, Reina Ueda, Rie Kugimiya, Satomi Sato, Takahiro Sakurai, Takuya Eguchi, Toshiyuki Morikawa, You Taichi, Yuichi Nakamura, Yuma Uchida, Yuuichirou Umehara

Rating: TV-14

It’s cool that more and more people are drawing attention to the cleanup after the cinematic explosions — much more kaiju explosions. This series is balls to the wall action, giving us the monsters and the raining down of blood and guts right away. The details are graphic and satisfying like a perverse cooking show or a horror film. When it’s not about that, we’re looking at hardworking, disciplined laborers in this absurd setting. Like many kaiju films, it’s a pretty easy show to get into, shining with its punchy animations, high octane action, ever-present danger, and a surprisingly adorable factor.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Asami Seto, Fairouz Ai, Keisuke Komoto, Kengo Kawanishi, Masaya Fukunishi, Sayaka Senbongi, Shunsuke Takeuchi, Wataru Katoh, Yuuki Shin

Rating: TV-14