GOSICK
I watched it because my friend praised it, the first ep was okay, weak mystery (I grew up with Detective Conan, so this was a biiiig step-down for an anime inspired by golden age mystery novels, very by the book), my brain wanted to curl up and die at the obvious otsku-pandering moe-cute-for-the-sake-of-cute moments, then the Queen Berry case was beautiful and it ended too perfectly for me to want to watch more. Didn't want to tarnish that lovely ending. I also LOVED Victorique's character!
Very snarky, cynical, brilliant, but owing to almost never stepping outside, her stunted, childish behaviour actually made perfect sense. I was absolutely curious about her... and she and Kujou have a very innocent and cute dynamic.
So, I put the rest off indefintely.
I don't know why I picked it up again? Unfortunately, the third case was even weaker than the first, and I wanted to gie up entirely, but I started catching on to the fact that one weak case is usually just setting up for the next big case and hey, they seem to be giving us pieces of the bigger picture!!!
After that, I was hooked!! Even if I'm not big on moe, the beautiful details and settings and colours grew on me and, of course, I loved Victorique's beautiful (hand-me-down, but gorgeous and vintage) clothing.
It was such a beautiful, emotional series and its strong points are the main character's character development, the drama, and the sweet friendship-turned-romance. Some of the bigger mysteries actually tied to the country and Victorique's origins are genuinely good too!!
It's now one of my favourites and I've watched it over and over, maybe three times.
Oh, yeah, and the Art Nouveau-inspired opening is a thing of beauty.
Fruits Basket
I had an inkling of it being deeper than it first looks, because certain quotations have reached me through the fandom, like that piles of laundry metaphor that helped me with my own anxieties, but, wow.
When I was a kid and this was all over the place, I thought from the name, it was just a cutesy, slapsticky romance with ~wacky hijinks~ because of the characters transforming into animals if they're hugged.
I later knew it was a heavier story and the characters are more than the tropes they appear to be in the beginning, but I never expected to be moved so much this early on, it's such a beautiful story, with a lot to say both for and against the self-sacrificing ideal of femininity.
There's something really healing about watching broken people helping each other heal, even if Tohru hides her feelings behind a smile, that it shows this hurts her badly too, that this isn't a healthy way to always be, and they're trying to help her learn to be "selfish" sometimes too...
It reminds me of two good friends of mine. They try so hard to be a ray of light and you can't help admiring it, but it's also a little sad they can't show their own hurt to the friends they're always supporting... as if friendship is just a lonely one-way road, even if they're happy for other people's happiness (that really is one of the best kinds of happiness, but still!!).
[Note: no spoilers, please, I am watching the 2019 version and I'm about 7 eps behind!]