What we know about the new Fruits Basket spin-off series

Ever since Yoshihide Ibata’s 2019 reimagining of the beloved anime Fruits Basket came to a close this past June, it’s been speculated whether or not this final season was really the end for these characters.

After gaining so much popularity in both the U.S. and Japan, it hasn’t taken long for fans’ call for more to be answered, with a new Fruits Basket spin-off series: The Story of Kyoko and Katsuya.

Fruits Basket‘s deeply devoted and widespread fanbase has been present long before Ibata’s 2019 anime. The manga, written by Natsuki Takaya in 1998, continues to be is one of the top manga series in both Japan and in the U.S. The first anime rendition, which released in 2001, repeatedly made its way to the top of anime television charts, even though it only covered part of the manga.

17 years later, the magic of Tohru Honda and her Soma family friends was reignited with the announcement of a newly animated Fruits Basket–distributed by Funimation and Crunchyroll– this time telling the whole story of Tohru meeting the Somas, discovering their secret Zodiac curse, fully unpacking each character’s story, and following Tohru, Kyo and Yuki and the dynamic trio aim to find a way to break their bonds to the zodiac and toxic family head, Akito.

The ending, of course, was a happy one, with all the Soma family members being freed from the curse and Tohru and Kyo living happily ever after.

With the final scene showing the two main characters in their old age with their own kids and grandchildren, the hope for a Fruits Basket season 4 seemed a little steep. But, as it turns out, there’s still one more pivotal love story left to tell. Here’s everything we know about the new Fruits Basket spin-off series.

Fruits Basket Spin-Off Plot

Tohru Honda may have stolen the hearts of Fruits Basket fans everywhere, but her mother Kyoko also glowed both on-screen and in the pages of Takaya’s manga. Though Kyoko’s love for her daughter and role in Tohru’s journey with the Somas, especially with Kyo, was made evident in the show, Kyoko’s own past was barely touched on.

Luckily, this Fruits Basket spin-off series blasts fans back to the past to focus on the story of Kyoko. Titled Kyoko to Katsuya no Monogatari (translated as, The Story of Kyoko and Katsuya), the series will focus on both Kyoko and Tohru’s father Katsuya, delving into their meeting, romance and Kyoko’s time spent as the “Crimson Butterfly” and high school gang member.

In the Fruits Basket anime, both Tohru’s parents have passed away. While Tohru’s father died when Tohru was still a young child, Kyoko died in a car accident when Tohru was in high school, just a few months before when the series takes place. Both Kyoko and Katsuya play a huge role in Fruits Basket, despite being passed on, with Tohru harboring feelings of resentment toward her father and Kyoko being the bridge between Tohru and Kyo’s meeting.

While Kyoko’s personality and character are revealed through flashbacks with Tohru and her friends, there is little to nothing revealed about Kyoko’s character as a young girl and high schooler. Even less is revealed about Tohru’s father. Hence why there’s been so much excitement surrounding the promise of getting to see these two characters front and center of another beautiful Fruits Basket story.

Fruits Basket Spin-Off Trailer

Too often when new anime series announcements take place, there’s usually not the immediate satisfaction of seeing a trailer right off the bat. But, in this case, the producers did offer a little tease at the end of both Fruits Basket‘s final season and at the conclusion of a six-minute thank-you movie in which famous scenes and colored messages are interwoven!

The teaser features Kyoko–supposedly in heaven after passing away–awaking in an ocean wearing a school uniform. Katsuya then approaches, his face hidden in shadow against the sunlight, and offers a hand to a tearful and smiling Kyoko.

It’s unclear whether this scene is representative of Kyoko’s passing on, if it’s a memory, or both. But both Katsuya and Kyoko are extremely young, seemingly high school age, and offers fans’ first look at what’s to come in the Fruits Basket spin-off series.

Fruits Basket Spin-Off Cast

In the 2019 anime, One Piece‘s Lydia Mackay and Record of Ragnarok‘s Miyuki Sawashiro played the English and Japanese voice of Kyoko Honda, while Katsuya Honda was voiced by Attack on Titan‘s Yoshimasa Hosoya for the Japanese and Black Butler‘s J. Michael Tatum for the English.

Sawashiro and Hosoya are set to reprise their roles for the Japanese version, but an official English cast has not been set. Still, seeing as the promise of a spin-off was in the works before the airing of the Fruits Basket final season, it’s likely Tatum and Mackay will revisit the roles of Katsuya and Kyoko in the Fruits Basket spin-off.

However, seeing as the story takes place with the much younger Kyoko and Katsuya, it’s possible different voice actors will be used with previous voice actors lending their voices later on in the series as the characters age.

Fruits Basket Spin-Off Release Date

So far, the announcement by AnimeTV promises a 2022 release, but more details have yet to be announced.

What are you hoping to see in the new Fruits Basket spin-off series? Any other hot new anime releasing we should know about? Let us know in the comments below!