Interest
Fruits Basket Creator Comments on Character's Hair Color Change
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Earlier this week, the staff for the upcoming Fruits Basket anime remake announced that voice actress M.A.O will play Motoko Minagawa, the president of the Prince Yuki Fan Club. Fans were quick to notice that the new Motoko's hair color is quite different from the version in the 2001 anime series.
Fruits Basket creator Natsuki Takaya is supervising the remake. She responded to fans comments assuring them that Motoko's new hair color is exactly how it should look.
"It might not be well-known, but Motoko's hair color in the original [manga] is a shade of indigo," Takaya wrote. "I'm thankful that Motoko's color is the same. I will oversee that the color [design] is correct and all characters are the same color as the original [manga]. Although pink...pink is cute too!"
Takaya went on to write that the remake was able to happen because she checked that such details would be done to her specifications.
"I said 'Yes' after confirming as much as could about all aspects [of the anime]. There are no people involved in the production that will just make selfish decisions about the characters and story and move forward. I'm so relieved...since not everyone is good at that."
The new anime has an entirely new Japanese cast and staff, as per Takaya's request. The new anime will cover the entire manga's story.
Yoshihide Ibata (Pikaia!, FLCL Progressive) is directing the anime at TMS Entertainment. Taku Kishimoto (Silver Spoon, Haikyu!!, 91 Days, Hanebad!) is in charge of series composition. Masaru Shindō (Macross Delta, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU) is drawing the character designs. Takaya herself is serving as executive supervisor.
The anime will premiere in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 5 late at night at 1:23 a.m. (effectively April 6), before airing less than an hour later on both TV Osaka and TV Aichi. Funimation will stream the anime on FunimationNow. Funimation has also licensed the home video rights. The company screened the first two episodes of the anime in theaters in the United States on March 26 (English-dubbed) and March 27 (English-subtitled).
Takaya serialized the original Fruits Basket manga in Hakusensha's Hana to Yume magazine from 1998-2006. Tokyopop released the manga in English from 2004 to 2009, and Yen Press re-released the manga in 12 updated omnibus volumes beginning in June 2016. The original manga inspired a television anime adaptation in 2001.
