In The Middle Of A Tower And A Basket

Calling this a mid-season review is generous. We're a little past mid-season for one show and a little early with the second. But as Shigure Sohma would say, que sera sera, what will be will be.

I have been closely following two animes this year: Tower of God (ToG) and Fruits Basket (Fruba), the former being in its very first season as a Crunchyroll Original, and the latter being in its second season as a successfully rebooted adaptation. I reviewed the first episodes of their respective seasons, now I'm going over how they're holding up around the half way point. If you missed my previous coverage on these topics, take a pause, and be sure to check it out [here], [here], and [here] for Tower of God and [here] for Fruits Basket.

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Tower of God

Tower of God season one will be comprised of thirteen episodes. At the time of this review I am at episode nine, so we are a little past the mid-season point. However, I still have a lot to say before the season finale, starting with how short this season is. Thankfully, this is the biggest problem I have with the show so far, which is saying something since most adaptations are riddled with problems. I'm not quite sure what Crunchyroll's rationale was for making the season as short as it is. Despite the abundance of material they had to work with, they cut a large section of the story to get to the juicy stuff. I can understand the rush to get to the juicy stuff, however, the cut segments would have increased that juiciness. Missing these segments means missing all of the relationship building and dynamics, it's time taken away from getting to actually know the characters. How can you have dramatic character development without knowing who the characters actually were to begin with?!

With all of that being said, I will admit that what they did get right, they really got right. They've been doing a great job of staying pretty true to the comic. The minimal liberties that were taken have been to establish continuity between the parts skipped, which I greatly appreciate. Though I'm missing the relationship building that was skipped over, overall I'm really enjoying this adaptation. I'm extremely excited for the upcoming finale because I think they are really going to capture it the way that I wanted. But shh, no spoilers. If you want spoilers, go read the comic on Webtoon.

Fruits Basket

Ahh, Fruba, one of my favorite topics. Once again they are not disappointing me, they're doing a fantastic job with season two. Similar to season one, they're sticking to the manga. All of the creative liberties that have been taken make sense and get to the same point in the story, which I can accept and even appreciate at times. I prefer when adaptations stick to the original story, but I'm not unreasonable. After all, manga can flow differently than anime at times, but the team on this project has really found a balance between the two.

Another thing they're doing well is the soundtrack. I enjoyed it last season but found it a bit repetitive at times. Granted, animes like this usually do have a particular set of musical pieces that they play at key moments to bring you back to certain feelings or realizations, but last season I didn't think it was executed as well as it could be. I'm liking this soundtrack much more since they seemed to have finally found a balance there as well. Overall, this season is doing a lot of things well, and I'm excited to see how the rest of the season unfolds since we are only at episode eight out of twenty-five. If they continue on with the loyalty to the original story as they have been, we're all in for a treat...and a lot of tears. If you catch up and can't wait for more, make sure to check out the manga!

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That concludes my mid-season review, short but to the point! Both of these animes are doing an amazing job adapting original storylines. Thank you for tuning in to this installment of Nerdom. I hope you are having a wonderful week so far. Happy Hump Day. Make sure you finish your week strong, and I will see you on Sunday for The Mess. In the meantime, stay safe, stay nerdy, and stay messy otaku.