I recently tried out Netflix's streaming service by watching Fruits Basket via
aslann's Xbox. I actually wanted to watch the Japanese audio with subtitles, but unfortunately, Netflix didn't really give me a choice with their streaming service. If Netflix really wants to target the anime crowd, they really need to not only expand their selection, but also let anime fans chose if they want to watch their shows in English or in Japanese with subtitles. It may not matter much for movies or shows that were originally produced in English, but for foreign media, this could be a real deal breaker.
Not all anime on Netflix's streaming service is in English. X/1999 the TV series (not to be confused with X/1999 the movie) is in Japanese with English subtitles. You can even see the opening for X/1999 while for Fruits Basket, the opening is totally cut out. -_- I love watching anime openings so I was quite peeved to see that it was not even shown. Both Fruits Basket and X/1999 the TV series were licensed under the same company, FUNimation, so there must be an official subtitled version of Fruits Basket.
As for the Fruits Basket anime itself, it was alright. I remember people raving about how good it was back in college but I must have matured too much because I found it too silly for my tastes at times. I have already read quite a bit of the manga before watching the anime, and most of the anime followed the manga until the last few episodes.
A bunch of events were changed in the end to make it less dark than the manga. I got the feeling that it was done because the target audience is really for younger kids or young adults. Maybe the director(s) for the anime didn't like the direction the manga was taking.
In any case, I thought the ending for the anime sucked. I have not read all of the manga yet, but the anime ending was pretty un-satisfying, so I want to read the rest of the manga to find out what really happens.
On the plus side, Fruits Basket was worth seeing once, and it was also useful in testing Netflix out.