9 Horror Movie References You Never Noticed In Anime

7. Fruits Basket

Rosario And Vampire
Funimation

Fruits Basket is a slice-of-life drama about a homeless teenage girl who moves in with her classmate and discovers that said classmate's family is secretly possessed by the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Yeah, it's a pretty weird premise – but we're talking about anime here, so it's really kind of tame by comparison.

Teenage student Honda Tohru, quickly learns that her new housemates' curse means that they transform into the zodiac animals they are possessed by in cases of weakness, desperation, or if they are embraced by a member of the opposite sex who is not also cursed.

In one of the episodes the members of the household plan a summer vacation by going to a lake cabin with some subtle references to Friday the 13th. One of the characters even warns the others to be weary of getting attacked by Jason. Of course... in this instance he jokes that Jason is a murderous bear that lives in the woods nearby.

Contributor
Contributor

Author of Escort (Eternal Press, 2015), co-founder of Nic3Ntertainment, and developer behind The Sickle Upon Sekigahara (2020). Currently freelancing as a game developer and history consultant. Also tends to travel the eastern U.S. doing courses on History, Writing, and Japanese Poetry. You can find his portfolio at www.richardcshaffer.com.