Stanford Newtype Anime

It’s the start of a new year and we’re planning on showing you the latest and greatest in Japanese animation.

Come stop by our booth at the Activities Fair in White Plaza on Friday 9/25 between 12-4pm.  We will also be at AANSOC’s We Are Family Marketplace at the Old Union on Saturday 6/26 between 2-4pm.

Our weekly screenings this year will be on Saturdays at 8:30pm in room 200-219.  That is part of the Main Quad in the History Corner (northeast corner). Map

Our first screening is THIS WEEK, on 9/26.

We hope to see you there!

It’s time for the culture festival, and Tohru’s class decides to participate. Not surprisingly, even this small competition leads to a conflict of interest between Yuki and Kyo. The latter suggests a rice ball making battle, but Yuki disagrees, and offers an alternative: “hit or miss” rice balls. The idea of these little beauties is that one of two things can happen:

1) You get a rice ball with something good inside

2) You get a rice ball with something yucky inside

I don’t understand the concept.

At any rate, Kyo throws a fit and heads to the roof, where he sulks with all his kitty cat friends *aww*. Tohru ventures up to talk to him, and discovers the oh-so-incredible truth. Kyo envies Yuki. But wait… Yuki has already admitted that he envies Kyo. That means they both envy one another. Weird.

Kyo decides to try his hand at making rice balls, and winds up creating a brilliant specimine. Tohru squeals in delight, telling Kyo that he has a plum on his back. Well, apparently he doesn’t actually have anything on his back… it’s just a metaphor for having a skill that everyone else besides oneself is able to see. Kyo claims it’s stupid, and so do I. However, he’s forced to admit that Tohru may just have one.

On the day of the actual festival, some senior girls present Yuki with a dress to wear. This seems ridiculously silly at first, but it draws quite a crowd to the rice ball stand. Things begin to get even more crazy when Momiji and Hatori Sohma show up. Momiji is one of those anime character who you don’t really want to use a pronoun with because Momiji looks very feminine and boyish at the same time. It turns out that not only is Momiji a male, but is also the rabbit of the Zodiac. Interesting.

Hatori, however, is a much more suspicious character. He was sent by Akito and performs a checkup on Yuki, who is not very pleased. Afterwords, Yuki tells Toru to stay away from Hatori, because he’s the Sohma mind zapper. That is, he’s the one who erases the minds of young, helpless women who come across the family secret. The drama unfolds as Tohru is asked to meet with Hatori… in private.

Viewer beware… this episode contains an unwarranted number of transformations.  Elated to finally have permission to talk about her new home, Tohru immediately runs off to inform her best friends, Uotani and Hanajima, about her living with Yuki and Kyo.  One thing leads to another, and they end up wanting to see the house for themselves.

There wasn’t a whole lot of resistance from the Sohma’s. In fact, when told about this unexpected occurance, Shigure, being the pervert he is, couldn’t contain his excitement at the thought of being in the same vicinity as three young high school girls.

What basically ends up happening is that the girls keep on accidentally bumping into the guys, forcing transformations.  It all works out, though, since, for some reason that I cannot begin to comprehend, neither Uotani nor Hanajima are able to quite figure out what’s going on.

One noteworthy character development occurrence is that Shigure informs the girls that he is a writer… this makes Tohru happy because she is insane and bubbly.

Everyone gets along very well, except for Yuki and Kyo, who refuse to stop fighting… ever.

Ohhh no! Tohru’s grandfather calls her up, telling her that she has to come live with him in his house. After a tearful goodbye, she departs the Sohma household. Her new dwelling leaves a lot to be desired, though. Except for her grandfather, all of her family members are annoying bastards. Understanding how rough it must be on his granddaughter to have such a sucky family, he pulls her aside and tells her that he would be alright with her if she wanted to return to her housekeeping job at the Sohma’s. It’s a good thing he did, too, because at that very instant the Sohma family pays a visit and drags Tohru back.
Also note, we have a title! Fruits basket is apparently a child’s game that Tohru played back in the good ole’ days. The rules seem rather silly… the kids give themselves fruit names, and then the fruits are called out, one by one. Finally, the child with the proper name will be allowed to go play with the other children. Tohru’s “friends” ended up tricking her into the name Onigiri, which means rice ball. Stupid kids. Rice isn’t a fruit.

Oh jeeze, Kagura is a CRAZY WOMAN. She apparently has the hots for Kyo, which is appropriate, since she is even more emotionally unstable than he is. Her wild fits of spontaneous craziness end up destroying a large chunk of the house. However, Tohru helps her clean up, do to some kind of strange respect (she makes a comment about how she has to admire someone who can love another person so much and for so long as Kagura can Kyo). Not surprisingly, it turns out that Kagura is another member of the Zodiac, a boar. Thankfully, she leaves at the end of the episode.
Important information learned from this episode: If they are both animals of the Zodiac, two members of the opposite sex can hug without any transformation action.

Hold on to your seats, ladies and gents… the drama is just beginning. Tohru catches Kyo and Yuki fighting. She tries to stop them, but only succeeds in hugging Kyo by mistake. After becoming a cat, Kyo gets all upset and calls Tohru a stupid girl (rightfully so). Apparently he has an anger management problem, and later apologizes to poor, mistreated Tohru.
Tohru and Yuki end up walking home together from school… unfortunately Tohru winds up turning Yuki into his rat form… big surprise. Yuki doesn’t really get upset though, instead he confides in her, showing her his garden and telling her that he just wants to live a normal life (yah good luck with that… what kind of normal person has their own, personal vegetable garden?).

Turns out that Kyou’s “that darn cat.” Not only that, but Shigure is the dog, and Yuki is the rat of the Chinese Zodiac. They all inform Tohru of their odd little curse… they turn into members of the Zodiac when they’re hugged by a member of the opposite sex. Well, that’s just wonderful. The problem is that Tohru may have to have her memory erased. Luckily, it turns out that Akito, the head of the household, decides not to… just as long as Tohru doesn’t go blabbing.

Honda Tohru - a 16 year old girl who lives in a tent. Her mother left her behind after she died in a car accident. One day Tohra departs her make-shift home and stumbles upon a house, outside of which the characters of the Chinese Zodiac are all lined up.
A man comes out of the house and begins talking to her. Tohru complains to this guy about the lack of a cat. Apparently there’s some story about how all the other animals of the Zodiac went to a banquet, leaving the poor little kitty all by himself. Her mother had told it to her, and she decided to take on the year of the cat rather than remaining a dog.

Imagine Tohru’s surprise when she finds out Sohma Yuki, the prince of her high school lives in this mysterious house. She takes some crap from her fellow students for having been seen with Yuki, but is saved by her two best friends, Uo and Hana.

The Sohma’s find out that she’s been living in a freaking tent, and so they let her in as a housekeeper. This is all great until she accidently hugs everyone. Oh jeeze, they’re members of the Chinese Zodiac.

Honda Tohru is a 16-year old girl who, after having lost her mother, was forced to live life all by herself. However, that all changed when she became a housekeeper for the Sohma family. It turns out that the Sohma’s aren’t your average family. Oh no. They’re the members of the Chinese Zodiac! Life’s not easy being a symbol of Chinese Astrology… they turn into their respective Zodiac Animals when they’re hugged by a member of the opposite sex. Inoccent, selfless, happy-go-lucky, and bubbly Honda Tohru learns bunches by living with these weirdos. Not only that, but she teaches a few important lessons as well. She holds a special place in her heart for the cat of the Chinese Zodiac. But can she hold onto that love after she finds out the truth behind her beloved feline and the curse of the Sohma household?
*note: The original Japanese release has no episode titles. They were added in by Funimation later.