[PREV - DRAMAROLA] [TOP]
FRUITS_BASKET
December 12, 2011
February 7, 2012
February 27, 2012
Following up on a few
clues as to the source of
some anime theme music...
MIX7
I tried an internet
archive search on
"Fruits Basket".
To my surprise, I found some sort of Drama CD
version of it -- I knew of these things, but had
never stumbled across one before. I downloaded DRAMAROLA
an episode, and was surprised it was actually in
English.
A web search reveals that this is a
fan produced radio drama-- not the
professional product available in Japan.
And so, the first 12 episodes of this became
my initial encounter with "Fruits Basket":
The story, such as it is, is very shoujo:
a recently orphaned high-school girl
gets involved with a family with magical ORPHAN_ADVENTURES
alter-egos: they're the human embodiment
of the chinese zodiac. She begins
working as their housekeeper in return
for room and board.
This zodiac-family transforms
into their respective totem
animals under certain
conditions, notably when
hugged by a member of the
opposite sex. Hi-jinx ensue.
Standard tropes in play:
the orphan teenager
the high school kids with secret lives
the school "prince" with a jealous
fan club that persecutes our heroine
for befriending him. "Absolute Boyfriend"
The subject at hand:
the way I often come SOUND_AGAINST_VISION
at things in an odd
direction.
WALKING_BACKWARDS
The case of "Fruits Basket" is one
of my odder progressions. Did I
start with the anime? The manga?
The soundtrack?
No, I started out listening to
episodes of a radio drama, and Though actually,
a fan-produced one at that. I found these
radio shows
because I had
heard the anime
The producers of this theme music, but MIX7
audio drama have a didn't exactly
particular angle: they know which piece
object to the way the of music it was.
anime toned down some (It was the worst.)
of the "darker
elements" of the manga.
Then I started
watching some of the There are indeed some oddities
anime by doing google about the conversion to anime.
video searches for it
(it's up on a couple E.g. a secondary character
of ad-supported in the manga/audio drama
sites)... was a young witch, who in
the anime becomes a girl
And only then did I find a with "magnetic" powers
single issue of the manga, (albeit with a goth style).
from relatively late in the
series... Perhaps they fear
Merkin Fundies more
It's more complex, than is strictly
but maybe not to The pacing of manga necessary?
good effect. is always different
from anime:
Manga always sprawls, often
tredding water in the style of
soap opera: it's a cheap medium
with a lot of room to expand,
and the artists themselves may
be improvising, finding their
way through the material.
With the more expensive
anime form, there's always
a need to tighten things up...
Also, an outside team has
an opportunity to see
what's important in the
material and what (seems
like) filler.
A thesis to play with
sometime: the Japanese
handle such translations
better than Hollywood.
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