Fruits Basket: Sub or Dub?

Fruits Basket has two anime, and the sub-or-dub question has a different answer for each. They are separate productions with separate Japanese casts, but in English they share a surprising amount: Funimation brought back most of its principal 2001 dub cast for the 2019 remake. This page sets out what each track is, who is on it, where you can stream it, and what named critics have said, and the verdict at the end says which of those facts it rests on.

The short answer

For the 2019 series, either track is a sound choice, and the dub's case is well documented: its lead was nominated twice for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards' English voice-acting prize, and seven of its principal actors had played the same roles in the 2001 dub. For the 2001 series, the one named critic we found who weighed the two tracks preferred the sub.

Two productions, not one

The 2001 series is 26 episodes, made at Studio Deen under director Akitarō Daichi, and aired in Japan from July 5 to December 27, 2001. The 2019 series is a separate adaptation at TMS Entertainment, directed by Yoshihide Ibata; its first season premiered on April 5, 2019, and the third and final season, Fruits Basket the Final, began on April 5, 2021. The 2018 announcement described the remake as "a new series with an all-new cast and staff" and one that would tell the whole story. If you have not settled which version to start with, the Fruits Basket watch order covers that first.

The Japanese track: a full recast

None of the six 2001 Japanese actors below appears in ANN's credits for the three 2019 seasons. According to ANN's encyclopedia credits:

Role	2001 (Japanese)	2019 (Japanese)
Tohru Honda	Yui Horie	Manaka Iwami
Yuki Soma	Aya Hisakawa	Nobunaga Shimazaki
Kyo Soma	Tomokazu Seki	Yūma Uchida
Shigure Soma	Ryōtarō Okiayu	Yūichi Nakamura
Hatori Soma	Kazuhiko Inoue	Kazuyuki Okitsu
Ayame Soma	Mitsuru Miyamoto	Takahiro Sakurai

The English track: a returning cast

The English dub went the other way. Funimation announced in February 2019 that Laura Bailey would reprise Tohru, with Caitlin Glass directing the dub, and ANN's cast reports identified these principal actors as returning from the 2001 dub:

Role	English actor (2001 and 2019)
Tohru Honda	Laura Bailey
Yuki Soma	Eric Vale
Kyo Soma	Jerry Jewell
Shigure Soma	John Burgmeier
Hatsuharu Soma	Justin Cook
Hatori Soma	Kent Williams
Ayame Soma	Christopher R. Sabat

Not everyone returned. Tohru's friends Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima were recast: ANN reported that Elizabeth Maxwell and Jād Saxton were new to the cast, replacing Parisa Fakhri and Daphne Gere. Kagura and Momiji also have new English actors (Tia Ballard and Mikaela Krantz, against Meredith McCoy and Kimberly Grant in 2001). Sabat's return was announced separately, with ANN noting that he played the role in the 2001 anime. The 2001 dub's ADR director was Justin Cook, who also returned as Hatsuharu.

Awards

Laura Bailey was nominated for Best VA Performance (English) at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards twice for Tohru: in the nominations announced in January 2020 for the first season, and in the sixth awards' nominations for Fruits Basket the Final. The show itself won Best Drama for its second season at the 2021 ceremony, which is an award for the series rather than for either language track.

What a named critic said about the 2001 dub

Reviewing Funimation's Blu-ray of the 2001 series for Anime News Network in December 2017, Rebecca Silverman wrote that the subtitle track "is a bit better than the dub in this case," citing English voices she felt were mismatched and acting she called a little dated. She graded the dub B-minus and the sub B. She also noted that the release's English translation altered some food names, "like turning takoyaki into jelly buns." We found no comparable named review of the 2019 dub, so this page does not claim one.

Where to watch each track

Checked October 7, 2026, from the United States: Crunchyroll's Fruits Basket (2019) page lists Japanese and English audio, with first-season episodes marked "Dub | Sub", and its Fruits Basket (2001) page likewise lists Japanese and English audio. Availability varies by region and changes over time.

Which to pick

For the 2019 series, take the dub if you prefer English audio: the facts above (a returning cast in the principal roles, a lead nominated twice for the English voice-acting award, and, as checked in the US, both tracks on the same service) give no reason to treat it as the lesser option. Take the sub if you want the cast the remake was built around in Japan. For the 2001 series, the only named critical comparison we found favors the sub and records changes in the release's translation. Either way, our best Fruits Basket quotes and Fruits Basket quote pages note which rendering each line comes from.