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Fruits Basket (Saturday Spin-off) – Noir

Fruits Basket Saturday Spin-off Noir Title

Fruits Basket is a great series full of weird and wonderful characters. It has some darker moments, but ultimately, it’s a romance at heart. Well, what if it wasn’t? What if it was a hard-boiled detective story?

What’s going on?

So far, I’ve put forward ideas for spin-offs, prequels, sequels, exercise videos, and more, but I don’t think I’ve come up with a retelling. Well, now I have! Season two of Fruits Basket comes out in a few weeks and I am very much looking forward to it. The first season was excellent and had some great moments and delightful characters. So, why would I want to pitch a retelling? One of the things that captivated my imagination with the series was the mystery surrounding the zodiac animals and the Somas possessed by them. I want to get to the bottom of things and that’s where this takes me…

Fruits Basket Episode 8 Shigure approaching Akito

What’s the pitch?

A grizzled detective wakes with his face on his desk. An empty whiskey bottle rolls off the table and crashes onto the floor, startling him. The silhouette of a woman appears at the frosted glass window in the door to his office. He watches as she steps towards the door, then away, then back towards the door. Finally, he yells for her to come in, even before she’s decided to knock. An average looking dame walks in. She seems quiet and friendly… maybe too friendly. You can never trust the ones that are too nice.

After a moment or two of hesitation, she sits down in the armchair across the desk from the detective. He looks her up and down. She doesn’t appear to have much money. He’s already got a bad feeling about this. She tells him that her name is Tohru Honda and her mother recently died in suspicious circumstances, although the police refused to acknowledge it. They go over the incident and the detective is inclined to agree with the police, but then Tohru mentions a talking rat.

Normally, this would have been the moment that he grabbed another bottle of whiskey from his drawer, but not this time. He’s usually got a good sense for liars and Tohru seems to believe every word she’d said. Not to mention the unusual cases he’d taken on recently that all seemed to involve an animal of some description. Could this be the case that turns him into a legend or will it finally break his resolve?

Fruits Basket Episode 17 Kyoko Saves The Day

Where did the inspiration come from?

So, while watching Fruits Basket, and most other shows for that matter, I like to try to solve the mysteries as they happen. I’m always looking for clues to future events and that got me thinking that Fruits Basket with its wonderfully eclectic cast of characters would make a brilliant detective story and that before you throw in the zodiac mystery and the potential to abuse those powers. Tohru would also make a great leading lady in a detective series. She can still be homeless and eventually taken in by the detective and given his bed as he only ever passes out in his chair or on the couch in his office. I still love the original, but I can’t get this idea out of my head.

Fruits Basket Episode 24 Shigure waits

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6 Comments

    • Thanks. I think there’s a lot of material that could be reused and the zodiac animals would make for some interesting crimes and mysteries.

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