If you browse a list of romance anime series worth watching, a lot of them might include Fruits Basket. After all, who can resist curses, spirits, friendship, and love put together? Once you finish them, the urge to find another anime like Fruits Basket is real, and you needn’t look any further.
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Top 10 Best Anime Like Fruits Basket
1. Ouran Highschool Host Club
With Ouran Highschool Host Club, we are sure to have our fair share of laughter! It all started when Haruhi Fujioka accidentally walked into the headquarters of the famous host club in Ouran Highschool and broke a vase.
As a student who depends on the scholarship and has little to no money, Haruhi has no option but to work for the club and gradually solve the debt.
The trouble here is that she has to act like one of the boys and keeps it a secret, which leads to many hilarious situations that Fruits Basket might not have. The similarities they share are the school theme and the setting of a harem, the characters are very typical for shoujo anime series, and a mixture of funny scenes and emotional touches.
2. Maid Sama
Here we have another protagonist trapped in an awkward situation and left with no choices! Misaki Ayuzawa rules a school that was previously for boys only, which gives her an untouchable aura. However, she works at a maid coffee shop, and one day, the popular boy Takumi Usui discovered this secret.
Unlike what one would imagine, Takumi only wants to spend more time with Misaki. We will get to see such sweet chemistry where the characters slowly warm up after going against each other at first.
What Maid Sama has in common with Fruits Basket must be lightheartedness, though it doesn’t have a dark background or dramatic moment.
Check more: Top 7 Best Fate Anime Series You’d Love To Watch
3. Kimi ni Todoke
Ringu is one of the most – if not the most – popular horror franchises in Japan and the ghost named Sadako has been a nightmare for weak hearts. Can you imagine what it will be like if you have the same appearance as hers? It is the story of Sawako Kuronuma, our main character in Kimi ni Todoke.
Mistaken as someone vicious and terrifying, Sawako grew even more distant from others, until the lively boy Shouta helps her to get along with their classmates and become more confident. However, Sawako needs quite some time to realize she has changed Shouta as well.
This is a great anime to watch if you like Fruits Basket and sheepish protagonists. Although it brings the same warmth with great character development, you will find it more mundane than Fruits Basket.
4. Kamisama Kiss
We will start with some ordinary drama: Nanami Momozuno. The main character is forced to leave her house due to the chunky debt her father got into and failed to pay. Things got so much more interesting when she saved a man from an aggressive dog and he offered her a place to stay.
It was not until she arrived at the said place and learned that it was a shrine, and now she would have to replace him. Nonetheless, the fox Tomoe refused to submit to a human. They ended up in a contract and faced challenges ahead together.
Kamisama Kiss – a rom-com anime – shared the supernatural essence with Fruits Basket and the dilemma about abode for the protagonist. Still, it leans more to the bright and bubbly side.
5. Lovely Complex
It’s been 15 years, and Lovely Complex still has its attractiveness. The 2007 anime shows us the classic “opposites attract” in the most hilarious and literal fashion.
Meet Risa Koizumi who is taller than most other girls and Atsushi Otani who is shorter than most other boys of their age. Along the way, they develop a teenage crush on people and help each other to impress. They always fail, not so, unfortunately, but such incidents have brought them closer.
If you’re taking a break from Fruits Basket dramas and looking for a series with more cute moments, you will enjoy this recommendation.
Read more: Top 10 Most Underrated Anime Series
6. Your Lie In April
We can leave a brilliant combination of anime and music out of this list! If you’re ready to get your heart melted and perhaps broken, let’s venture into the world of the talented pianist Kousei who lost the will to play after his mother passed away. With the help of Kaori, a violinist, Kousei managed to conquer his fears and found inspiration again.
Happiness didn’t last long for Kousei as he found out about Kaori’s illness. Her death caused an outburst of emotions in the viewers, yet the way Kousei dared to live his dreams and held Kaori’s presence in his heart will partially soothe the pain.
Are most romance anime series too lighthearted for you? Your Lie in April is sure to turn the table around.
7. Orange
How are you going to react if you receive a letter saying it comes from your older self? It happens to Naho Takamiya in Orange. As if it wasn’t strange enough, the letter was alarmingly laden with regrets. Certainly, she was in doubt, until the mentioned events started coming to life.
They welcome a transfer student named Kakeru Naruse, who would commit suicide in foreseeable future – as written in the letter. Since Naho cherishes Kakeru dearly, she is determined to protect him and save her heart from regrets.
Not many romance anime shows dared to reach such a depth of negative and positive feelings as Fruits Basket, but Orange did it just fine. You will experience sweet friendships and bitter traumas in this slice of fruit.
8. A Silent Voice
A person who can admit to their mistakes and try to fix them deserves respect, and A Silent Voice tells us an incredibly beautiful story based on this simple plot.
Shouya Ishida joined his friends to gang up on the deaf classmate named Shouko Nishimiya though later on, he also had a taste of isolation. No one wanted to befriend such an awful boy, which pushed him to the very limit and taught him a precious lesson. He wanted to redeem himself and, fortunately, the forgiving Shouko gave him a chance.
Even though the movie focused on atonement rather than romance, it resembled Fruits Basket in terms of the comfort and the heart-warming story it could bring to you.
9. Kakuriyo: Bed And Breakfast For Spirits
We know you pay attention to anime food, and this series is for all the gourmets who seek a romance show!
Our protagonist, Aoi Tsubaki, can see the Realm spirits called Ayakashi, who would otherwise be invisible to human eyes. The quirky thing is that these spirits might turn cannibalistic when hungry, and Aoi needs to excel in cooking to survive.
This skill becomes much more than just useful when she finds out about the money her grandfather owes the ogre god. Instead of marrying him, she chooses to pay the debt by making good food for the spirits.
It’s easy to predict that the Kakuriyo series is quite tamed compared to how emotional and hilarious Fruits Basket gets at times. But you’re likely to enjoy the main character with similar traits and a fantasy story told so cleverly.
10. One Week Friends
We don’t have to go through a bunch of events to hear a shy confession from the main couple. In One Week Friends, Yuuki Hase gets close to his crush, Kaori Fujimiya, in the very beginning.
The uniqueness of this series was the issue Kaori has to face: no matter who it is, Kaori will forget about them after a week. Her reputation for being cold and aloof wasn’t true, as she only wants to avoid hurting others.
Persistent Yuuki believes he can change it. It takes a lot of strength to befriend your crush and become forgotten after 7 days, and yet he managed.
Based on an angsty storyline and decorated with tenderness, it is an anime similar to Fruits Basket that you wouldn’t want to miss out on!
Final Words
Here are our top 10 of the best anime like Fruits Basket that you might grow fond of! The most dominant similarity between them is the personality and the development each character shows despite the comedy setting of the series.
All shades of emotions and stories told through seemingly silly situations – we just have to dote on them.