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ultraericthered · 4 months

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Why am I encountering Akito Sohma discourse in 2024, soon to be exactly 5 years since the premiere of the second anime adaptation?

Not naming names, only commenting on the garbage takes here.

No duh on "being abused doesn't justify abusing others", but you might want to tell that to all the stans and simps for (usually male) villains who were abused and took their inexcusable actions towards others even further than Akito would've ever dared to yet they get their crimes downplayed or even defended and rationalized with "the abuse they suffered made them into people who act this way, don't judge the way any abuse victim internalizes and externalizes their trauma from the abuse they experienced, there is no 'perfect victim' y'know?", and are said to "deserve better" or "deserve" redemption.

The idea that Akito "got away with everything Scot-free" seems like a really poor reading of the story based on only the notion that if Akito is not dead, locked up in a penitentiary or asylum, or left completely alone and miserable forever by the end of the story, she faced zero consequences for her actions. Totally disregarding how almost the entirety of what the 2019 anime has as its final season was reality coming in to smack Akito around repeatedly and make her face all the natural consequences of her actions, of how she'd lived her life and ruled over her family as an abusive tyrant. See this? All of this?:

This is all Akito's karma. It's from the punishment she wrought for herself. The misery she passed around through her family came back around in full, and she had to watch her entire world, the world of the "eternal banquet" she was promised and believed herself entitled to, gradually unravel along with her own mental and emotional state.

In the anime at least, it hits a crescendo that's regretably so brief and silent that it's easy to miss, but when Akito has mentally shut down and is just sitting there moping beside Shigure, we're shown a bit where she suddenly gets up, like she just hit a breaking point and without any thought, just on pure instinct and emotional impulse, she walks to the screen door and hits her head against it. Given her frail, shaky body language, and the mix of alarm and pity that lurks beneath Shigure's still calm facade, I'm to assume that Akito is wailing and screaming. She's having a full psychotic breakdown.

"She never apologized, never made amends, never did anything to deserve anyone's love and forgiveness". ...I'm sorry, this person really stopped watching after Tohru got put in the hospital, huh? In the last couple of episodes, Akito did nothing BUT be apologetic and set out to make whatever amends she could, including undoing all remaining bonds and breaking the Zodiac curse! She did nothing to "deserve" anyone's love and forgiveness even at this point because now she at last understood she was undeserving of such things and was entitled to nothing, especially nothing from her victims, after the way she'd behaved and the many sins she'd committed. Forgiveness is earned and granted, never "deserved", and it's always a choice whether or not to grant it, so anyone who'd never forgive Akito for as long as they lived would be entirely within their right to do so, and so would be those who did make the choice to forgive her. Neither is invalid. And love is never a matter of "earned", "deserved", or "owed", and to think that it IS is ironically adopting a very Akito mentality.

Also have to go back to that "she never apologized" thing. Really?

Really?

And if "that Tohru, of all people, befriended her despite the horrific things she did to her (not yet and in fact he'd just rejected her) husband" disgusts anyone, than Fruits Basket was never the story for them and Tohru was never a character they were going to love. That moment, and that gesture from Tohru, was one of THE core pillars of the entire narrative, something everything had been building up to from the very beginning. Tohru looked deep inside the cruel, childish, deranged, abusive, controlling, possessive, selfish, cowardly, downright evil pseudo-god that she, and the entire Sohma family, knew as Akito Sohma and she found who Akito Sohma truly was: a sad, abused, broken, twisted, pathetic, wretched, needy and terrified child who'd suffered through an upbringing in which she'd never been allowed to forge a single human connection with anyone else that was not dependent upon her status as the family head and the bonds with the Zodiacs that was her promised birthright, and was thus left with so much vulnerability, so much mental and emotional instability, such fear of living her life in the world as the woman she should be, as the human being she should be, that she kept concealed beneath the armor of a wrathful god who she felt could be comfortably in control of everything in her life and keep it all from slipping away from her and leaving her all alone with all her internal anguish and misery. It's that Akito Sohma who Tohru reached out to and extended the offer of friendship, to become her first ever true human friend in her life, no string attached and no bonds or godhood required. Because that's what Fruits Basket was always all about: the existence and value of love. family, and friendships as forged, mutual, equally consensual connections between humans rather than as some divine mandate upon animals or some commodity to be horded by a god.

Already took shots at "she gets away with everying and does nothing to deserve anyone's love or forgiveness". On the belief that Akito needed to be jailed for her crimes, that is actually something I can agree with and see as a weakness in the series' ending. Once the Zodiac curse was broken and Akito was no longer "God", there'd now be nothing standing in the way of some of the Sohmas, the family members and servants alike, pushing charges against Akito for all the worst things she'd committed against them. We should've been told that such legal action was taken and that Akito knew it was coming and accepted it, being fully ready to accept accountability and justice for her crimes. When last we'd see her and Shigure, they could be doing a round of community service together! That would've been perfect! But Takaya didn't go that route, and I think what we did got was also satisfactory: Akito had lived her life with power, privileges, and freedom with which to do whatever she wanted but was also a prisoner of her own damaged psyche and of the broken family system she was born into and had to play such a large role in perpetuating, so by the end, it's now flipped so that Akito has been internally set free, is healing and finding inner peace, but without the Zodiac curse, the family headship in a lonelier, harder, constraining position but she voluntarily endures with it so that she may live the rest of her life atoning for the sins she'd committed when she was "God", all at a distance from family members who mostly will never forgive her, never think any better of her, and are glad to be free of her. So the idea that Akito's fate not being punitive enough being akin to a slap on the wrist is misguided. It's a lifelong committment to restorative justice and not getting all she desired that Akito's made, and she has to endure it while being romantically involved with Shigure, which honestly feels like a punishment worse than prison!

Piss the fuck off with the "blatant abuse apologist" claim, too. This is the same bullcrap spewed towards Kohei Horikoshi when he gave Endeavor a self improvement/atonement arc. WIth both Endeavor and Akito, the narrative is never at any point remotely pretending that their actions are anything but monstrously abusive, toxic, cruel, harmful and wrong. They're bad and so the abuser is made to feel bad about having ever done them and must face up to all the natural karmic consequences that will inconvenience their lives. An anti-abuse narrative that does not keep it as simple and black-and-white as "the abuser is 100% Bad Person, it's a problem that they exist and hurt people, the solution is to remove them from life entirely" yet still condemns the abuser for their actions and champions their victims ability to move beyond them, find healing, peace, love, and happiness in lives better than what the abuser could ever hope for, is not in the slightest bit "abuse apologism": no apologies or excuses for the abuse are being made.

Not Akito-related, just showing how this same person truly feels about Fruits Basket on the whole due to how "problematic" it is. If it's not for you, fine, and this is actually 100% correct regarding Katsuya Honda being a sociopathic predator who fucked a child student of his yet it get beyond inappropriately framed as a beautiful, romantic, loving thing within the narrative. But when it reaches this hyperbolic "the entire series has no value, it's irredeemable media and deserves to be trashed" level of vitriol for the work...nah. That's not agreeable.

And then there's this anon who called in to say:

Seeing you rightfully call out the utter bullshit of Akito's "redemption" has me heated. The story becomes irredeemably bad the moment the forgiveness shit is pushed.

Let me say this much: there was no "redemption" or "redemption arc" for Akito. She had her big epiphany and recieved personal salvation from Tohru's approach to her, and from then on she turned herself towards self-improvement and atonement for her many sins while finally living a true human life of her own. Atonement /=/ redemption, as all avenues for her to redeem herself for her abusive acts directly to those effected by said abusive acts got closed off a long time ago.

And forgiveness is entirely another matter from redemption and atonement. Tohru, Kureno, Shigure, Momiji, Arisa, and Saki chose to forgive Akito. Literally no one else was shown to do so. Rin even said outright she could never forgive Akito after everything she did, and in the anime at least, she was positioned as not in the wrong for that.

Takaya is on my shit list for life for how she handled Tohru's character, she is my favourite I love her compassion for people and her determination to never give up despite how difficult things can be plus her learning to move on from her crippling grief resonates with me. The ending Takaya gives her is fucking vile Tohru forgiving and befriending Akito is bullshit and my mind is never going to change on that.

"I love her compassion for people." "Tohru forgiving and befriending Akito is bullshit!" Do...you not see how these are conflicting ideas? "Tohru is wonderful for how much empathy and compassion she has for people...wait no, not THAT people!" How do you miss that big?

The sole reason Tohru wants to break the curse is because she sees how much her friends are suffering under Akito's abuse both mentally and physically. She would never be so inconsiderate of their feelings as to befriend the person who hurt them so much.

And she also saw how much Akito herself was suffering under the curse and the role that was forced upon her from birth. Also, how is choosing to befriend her friends abuser inconsiderate when they don't need to factor into it at all? Tohru doesn't try to force Yuki, Kyo, Rin, Momiji, Hiro, Kisa and the rest to also be friends with Akito. She at no point even considers that possibility. What's between Tohru and Akito is kept purely between them, away from Akito's victims. Tohru understands that they'd never be comfortable around Akito due to having a history with her that Tohru herself does not have, and while she wants to help Akito move past her pain and put in the good work to make reparations for her sins, she's not going to ever downplay how vile those sins were and how badly they hurt people, nor would she put up even the pretense of giving absolution of them to Akito.

That's not even getting to my other major problem with this storyline Tohru never even learns about half of the horrific shit Akito does to her friends, Takaya intentionally has her character be left in the dark. Not to mention how abusive akito is to HER!

Why does it need to be Tohru's business to know absolutely every horrible deed Akito ever did to every person she was ever horrible to? Akito did that shit, it happened, there's nothing Tohru can do that could possibly change that or make any of it better. And oh dear, are we getting into the "antagonistic behavior = abuse" bullshit again?

She manipulates her the first time they meet and then at the beach house she threatens her and scratches up her face. Tohru outright admits she is scared of her. Then towards the end of the story akito then has the audacity to blame her for the zodiacs not loving her despite that being the consequences of her own disgusting actions. She shows up at the house to hurt and potentially kill Tohru, she slaps her multiple times, stabs her and pushes her close to the cliffs end directly putting her in danger. Akito almost gets the poor girl killed. Akito spends the entire story being an abusive monster to Tohru and the people she loves. And nearly leads to multiple characters dying, Takaya really wants us to think a friendship Between the two of them is cute because they both relate to being lonely????

Ah yes. Yes we are. Most of what's described above is Akito being a cruel villain and acting as a threatening adversary to Tohru, with actions that are clearly reprehensible and uncalled for but are not inherently "abusive", as Akito is treating a stranger badly and making enemies with her rather than being in any relationship in which she can treat her abusively. The hardest into abuse it ever swings is when Akito is holding a knife to Tohru and physically strikes her, and that's when Akito is in the midst of a full-blown psychotic episode.

And that the characters apparently aren't that different to each other??? When they clearly are. Tohru is a kind and compassionate person who helps those around her while Akito is a manipulative snake who treats those around her like they are her possessions. Tohru grows up being bullied and alone. Akito is a child abuser and commits multiple attempted murders. Trust me Takaya these characters aside from them having tragic backstories and fears of abandonment are as far away from each other as you can get.

Tohru was brought up to be kind and selfless, to the point of seeing her own self as lesser in value than others. Akito's upbringing shaped her into becoming cruel and selfish, to the point of seeing others as possessions for her to keep hold of, to pleasure her with a sense of superiorty as a cover for her own poor self image and lack of self-worth. Tohru was left alone without her mother and was ostracized by her peers. Akito was left alone without her father (as her own mother would never give her the time of day) and was "othered" by literally every person around her. They're foils. Akito is a broken reflection of what Tohru might've become if Kyoko had not put in that effort to be such a kind, loving, nurturing parent, and Akito always envied Tohru because she reflects the girl she might've been had she been allowed to be, and not internalized everything wrong with the Sohma family nor adopted her mother's own internalized misogyny.

The friendship is disgusting, Akito is an evil bitch period she is not Tohru's problem or her responsibility. Also Uo and Hana being friends with her after they find out she nearly killed their best friend and Kureno was also so gross. The characters do some of the most OOC shit in order to give Akito one of the least deserving redemption arcs i have ever seen. It is truly some of the most atrocious, insulting writing, Takaya should be embarrassed for thinking this was an acceptable way to end the story.

If you want to get technical, none of the Sohmas are Tohru's problem or responsibility. It's not on her to "fix" them or be their therapist and savior, she doesn't owe them anything. She chooses to help them out of compassion, empathy, and a desire to do right by others, to see true justice done and freedom, peace, and happiness assured for the people she cares about in their lives going forward, With Akito too, she did not impose or make her into her responsibility; she extended her hand. She offered Akito a choice. The friendship would not happen if Akito decided she was unwilling to put in the effort to do her part and accept the care, help, comfort and understanding offered to her by Tohru. So yeah, you can blame Akito for that too, even though it's not a wrong thing of her to do whatsoever! Uotani also did not become Akito's friend, more like a friendly acquaintance. Hanajima did follow Tohru's lead and befriend her, and considering she knows how it feels to internally tear yourself apart with self-loathing over guilt from having hurt people to the point of cursing your very identity and existence, I'd say her decision makes sense.

I haven't read the spin off but Akito having a child just reinforces that she is still the same selfish person she has always been. Her wanting to have children but deciding not to because of how they would suffer due to her terrible actions would actually mean she has to live with the consequences of what she has done. but of course we can't have that.

Meh. Not much a fan of that spin off and I'm kind of hoping we don't get it adapted into an anime. Some things are best left open-ended.

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starrynightkyoru · 4 months

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Me exorcising the Tohru/Hana/Uo befriending Akito plotline from existence

#Fruits Basket #Tohru Honda #Arisa Uotani #Saki Hanajima #My girls deserve better #Free them!#From the ghouls sinister nasty little claws #Anti Akito Sohma #Anti Fruits Basket ending #Anti Natsuki Takaya #Actually me exorcising Akito's whole redemption arc #She doesn't deserve a happy ending after all the evil shit she did #Absolutely not #Takaya was in her flop era when writing this ending

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bbibbirose · 9 months

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the amt of plot holes and terrible writing in fruits basket is akahjwhdjsbcj

#they didn’t fuck up the romantic development too much but giving every zodiac their own story kinda took away sm from the protagonist’s #and yuki was carrying the show on his goddamn back #they got this power and it’s only meant to tie and benefit ppl in the circle which makes sense but some of the metaphors aren’t #literal enough to carry over and be logical plot devices #fruits basket isn’t trying to be artsy so why have the whole hugging the opposite sex being the only point of concern #and the main villain’s redemption happening in two episodes !?!#akito needed more screentime #as much as I loved momiji and haru 😭😭😭😭#from a writers pov this was the most self indulgent piece I’ve ever seen #that being said #I cried like 8 times in the last season DONT touch me #.text

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wren-writes-things · 2 months

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So I appear to be having a resurgence of things that I was really into in like 2021-2022. I know thing because my brain thought of Fruits Basket (the 2019 version) and Minecraft. Which does make me question what was going on in the mind of roughly Covid era me.

#I know where the Fruits Basket one came from #It actually came from a lengthy comparison between Andrias and Akito in how their redemption arcs were handled #(long story that probably makes no sense without elaboration but I just processed its 12:30 in the morning so I cannot explain right now)#and then it just sort of escalated

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prying-pandora666 · 6 days

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Who’s more redeemable; Akito Sohma or Azula?

From Fruits Basket?

I think they’re both redeemable.

I don’t think “how redeemable you are” is really quantifiable. There’s nothing special inside specific people that makes them more or less redeemable. It’s really just about opportunity and willingness to change.

Both Akito and Azula were deeply unhappy victims of childhood abuse and grooming who were desperate to be loved and not abandoned. Both of them could be incentivized to change if offered support and a way out of the abusive familial expectations placed on them.

I suppose the real question people are often asking when they say this is “are these people forgiveable?”

And to that end, well, it depends on who is doing the forgiving.

We the audience forgive Iroh for his past as a war monger who terrorized the Earth Kingdom. That doesn’t mean the victims of his siege will. Nor do they have to.

Sometimes redemption doesn’t come with forgiveness. All redemption requires is to stop doing bad. To change internally. Even if externally some people will never fully accept you.

The change must come from within.

#Lucia says #atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar #azula #fruits basket #akito sohma

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aki-shinonome-official · 4 months

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OK BAKING WITH AKITO 2, REDEMPTION ADDITION

We're making chocolate chip cookies

But gluten free so my mom can have some 🙄

#akito speaks #baking with Akito

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slightlytoastedbagel · 4 months

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Ok I've already gone into in game AkiAn but I'm the AkiKoha guy in a server so I'm going into in game AkiKoha

In the main story, Akito isn't happy An chose Kohane to be her singing partner. She's a rookie, has no clue at all about singing or RAD Weekend (Toya at least had a musical background). Plus, An is Ken's daughter. You know, the guy he idolizes? Also Akito and An hold some respect for each other as they share the same dream. For her to spend so long waiting for the right partner and to then choose someone with no tie to music at all, Akito most definitely felt conflicted about it.

However, there's the fact Kohane at the beginning of the main story is in a fairly similar position to Akito when he first ended up on Vivid Street.

Kohane at the beginning didn't have a dream or ambition, she wasn't like Minori who tried again and again in idol auditions, she wasn't like An who she saw singing on the side of the street with so much passion.

Compare that to the younger Akito we see in Summer Festival, he just quit soccer because he thought he wouldn't be able to bring the same level of devotion to it. When Ena takes him to see the concert he decides to try again with music. When he watches RAD Weekend he turns to street music in particular. The two shared a similar sense of not being able to fully commit themselves to a specific thing.

Not to mention that a lot of Vivid Bad Squad's story links back to resolve. That's what Akito was testing in the main story, even if he doesn't go about it the best way, and it's what Kohane realised as well. She doesn't even hold it against him at the end, when Akito and Toya have their conflict she goes out of her way to speak to both of them. (And forgive me because it's been a while, but if I remember correctly An says Kohane doesn't need to do so herself.)

Kohane is thankful to Akito for helping her come to terms with committing to street music. When the main story ends and Vivid Bad Squad is formed, Akito is able to recognise that she does have the resolve. We don't get as much for them in the event stories but I do want to point out Kick It Up A Notch, where Akito backs Kohane up on letting her open for them at Crawl Green. That's significant because Find A Way Out establishes how important the Crawl Green event is to Akito, it's his chance of redemption at the place he once made a fool of himself at. He trusts Kohane enough to open for such a significant event for him.

AkiKoha is about acknowledgement and trust. They literally have a kizuna rank titled "Acknowledging Your Resolve". Akito acknowledged Kohane could commit to surpassing RAD Weekend, Kohane trusted his judgement to change so she could. Kohane acknowledged how important Crawl Green would be to him, Akito trusted her to open for them.

I wish that was acknowledged (haha) more. Both in a platonic and romantic sense.

#bagel's rambles #akikoha #funny enough this was also inspired by someone not happy with how they're interpreted in fanon #and said person is right btw. they're not just typical shoujo couple #they share the lack of a musical background an and toya have. they both had to learn to commit fully to music #it's just akito already went through that slump and his arc is about learning he doesn't have to play catch up anymore #and kohane's is learning how to commit to that dream and stand on her own two feet #(and if that person is reading hi thank you for inspiring me to make this)#someone set me off on antoya and toyakoha then i'll have the whole set of the overlooked dynamics of vbs #(tbf sometimes anhane and akitoya are overlooked as well but. you know what i mean)#eh idk if i want to main tag this #this has been done in one go so it's definitely not perfect. once march 2nd fic is done i'll get into writing this out fully

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wonkyjaw · 10 months

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Okay but as horrid as Riko is… if he’d ever been met with an ounce of kindness he would have gotten a redemption arc. The whole point of the Foxes is that people deserve and should receive second, third, fourth, as many chances as they need. I mean, just look at Seth. In a story like that I think it’s a disservice to dismiss the fact that Riko deserved those chances too. He had all the privilege in the world so long as it stayed within his gilded cage. He was just as stuck as Neil and Kevin and Jean. That didn’t give him the right to do what he did, but he had his own abusers and his own neglect and Kevin was likely the only person in his life to ever even try to be nice to him and view him as a person and Kevin is Kevin (meaning if it was not exy, then it likely did not matter). I just think that if Riko was treated with kindness in the face of all his nastiness he might have found his way eventually.

I just see so much of Akito (Fruits Basket) in his character. He was told he was king, pressured to be the best or else, and ignored by the people he craved the attention and love of the most and beneath all that pressure he became cruel and reactive. The only real difference between Riko and Akito is Akito was given that unconditional acceptance and forgiveness (no matter how ‘undeserved’) and was forced to confront how wrong past actions had been. Akito got a redemption arc.

#aftg #fruits basket #this is something I’ve thought about a lot even if not a whole lot of actual writing is being done on my fic #thank you for coming to my Ted talk #and honestly he and Andrew are just two sides of the same coin as well #the only difference is that we get Neil’s unabashedly biased perspective #he likes Andrew and understands why Andrew is doing what he is #he’s protecting family #riko has no family to protect so he pushes all that violence into places that don’t deserve it #Andrew time and time again over reacts and uses excessive force to get what he wants and what HE thinks is best #the only difference is he bottles it up where Riko has no shut off valve and maybe even a shorter fuse #Neil believes in Andrew’s morality and it’s easier for the readers to accept #any other perspective and Andrew is a villian #Riko Moriyama

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madamefeu · 4 months

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hi I have a couple things I would like to ask

I know your feelings on fruits basket are quite negative by looking through you blog ( completely valid not judging) But I am curious as to what you did like about it? And aside from not giving Akito a redemption arc what else would you have liked to see changed?

Concerning miraculous what are your thoughts on ships like the love square ,lukanette, kagaminette, adrinino, lukadrien and alyanette?

And if you could make any changes to that show what would they be?

Side note you are absolutely right about Andre the ice-cream man he is insanely creepy, he is a grown adult and yet he acts like a bratty kid throwing a tantrum when things don't go his way. Such an unnecessary character.

Thank you for reading.

When I watched Fruits Basket as a teenager, I really liked the found family aspect of the show, and seeing how Tohru bonded with Yuki and Kyo. Things went to shit when it steadily became clear that Tohru was going to become the Sohma family’s therapist, and that instead of going to therapy, or addressing any of the issues that the main characters had, they all magically got better after a couple of pep talks from her. I also hated the fact that all of the characters were paired up, usually with other members of their own family, as it left no room to the imagination for shipping. The heavy levels of incest within the family are disgusting as is, but the story of Tohru’s parents was somehow even worse. Why is almost every parent in Fruits Basket horrible? The fuck kind of parents would kick their fifteen year old daughter out into the arms of a grown man who claimed to want to marry her? And the worst part is, we’re expected to think that this inappropriate relationship between a fifteen year old and a grown man in his late twenties is not only acceptable, but also romantic, and it’s treated like ‘true love’. NO. Katsuya Honda was a CHILD RAPIST. Statutory rape is still rape. The entire show deserves to be shoved into a trash compactor. Nothing can save it. Nothing can redeem it. Nothing.

As for miraculous, I hate the love square because I hate the way Marinette treats Adrien, and I hate the fact that Adrien is reduced to being her emotional support pet. Adrien’s ‘nice guy’ behaviour when he’s Chat Noir is also disgusting. To be honest, I don’t really like any of the main ships, or anything involving Alya and Nino. None of them interest me, and none of them have any meaningful development or impact. It frustrates me because the show started out with so much potential, but it’s now gone to shit. Chloe deserved a redemption arc, Zoe shouldn’t exist, Marinette should be less of a Mary Sue, and Adrien should be his own dang person, and not reduced to Marinette’s sidekick/emotional support pet.

Man this went on longer than I anticipated but I hope that answers your questions lol

#anti adrienette #anti akito #fruits basket is fundamentally problematic for this reason #fruits basket #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #chloe bourgeois #anti Zoe #chloe deserves better #ask #anon ask

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brainbuffering · 1 year

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12 Days of Manga (2022)

Day 3: Favourite Villain/Antagonist - Akito Sohma from Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya

(Yen Press Edition T: Sheldon Drzka L: Lys Blakeslee TokyoPop Edition T: Alethea & Athena Nibley L: Various)

[ID: Panel 1) Akito Sohma (short black hair wearing a masculine kimono) leans out of the window of a traditional japanese house, their arm dangling languidly. A Camilla bush takes up the rest of the forground, and the petals fall throughout the page. Panel 2) A close up of Tohru’s face, her eyes are stitled and shocked looking, like she has seen a ghost 3) A close up of Akito’s face, the wind blows their hair out of their sharp, focussed eyes. There is a meanacing air to them.]

Akito Sohma, in my opinion, will forever be one of the most interesting and nuanced villains in all media. I’ll never forget the feeling I had reading that initial reveal in the beach arc where you finally learn the truth of the Sohma Curse. I remember putting the book down and immediately wanting to talk to SOMEONE about what I’d just read and what had happened to Tohru, but I only knew one other person who’d read that far, and I didn’t have her phone number! (2006 was a different time y’all) I loved seeing all the Anime Onlies’ reactions to in 2020, and I hope that when people in the future pick up the series, they’re not spoiled for anything too much either! Although now I know more about Hanakotoba (japanese flower symbolism) maybe it should have been more obvious from the start...

Akito is a terrifying force in the manga. They start out almost as a ghost story, an evil spectre haunting the narrative from afar, right up to the Beach Arc occurs and they become a very real threat to everyone involved. That is, of course, until the impact of Tohru’s kindness, and the Zodiac’s efforts to work on their own trauma start to undo the curse that binds them together. We then learn that Akito has reasons for being how they are, and is just as trapped by the curse (read: the cycle of abuse within a literal cult) as everyone else. They have their own childhood trauma that was never dealt with, and also suffer under the Sohma Clan’s systematic abuse. Abuse they are allowed to get away with due to their power and influence within wider society, although of course this element is only hinted at within the narrative and never really expanded upon.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Akito doesn’t continue to be a terrifying prescence. Nor is it an excuse for their behaviour. Tohru’s own trauma parallels Akito’s, and yet for Tohru it only made her kinder and more empathatic towards others. Although both do still have an ultimate fear of social rejection, their upbrining and their understanding of the world causes them to react in different ways. I believe that Takaya wants us to understand what a difference upbrining and social culture can have on a person, and to try to broaden her reader’s understanding on what brings a person to commit such attrocious acts.

Akito is still physically and emotionally abusive, right up until the very end of the manga. This behaviour is never excuseable, nor does Takaya ask you to excuse it. Yet, as a reader, there becomes a sense of pitty in their actions.You see the frightned child who never had a support network to show them how to live better. The child who lost their father young and had a mother who completely rejected them, and threatend to kill them on multiple occasions. You see the impact of what happens when someone is put on a pedastool, and not allowed to interact with people like an ordinary human. This last part is perhaps even more releavant in 2022 than it was in 2002, given the world we now live in of parasocial relationships with online figures.

A lot of people will claim that Akito’s “redemption” is just abuse forgiveness, but I think that’s very dismissive of the message of the series. After all, both Kyoko and Arisa imply that in th past they also sent people to hospital too-- yet because the reader doesn’t see these atrocoties or know the victims personally, we don’t even begin to consider if they’re “worthy” of redemption because we know that the person they are today is not the person they were five years ago. With Akito, at the end of the manga, we’re only just seeing the start of that slow progress. We know from Chapter 13 of Fruits Basket Another that twenty years on, Akito is still working hard to repair the damage they did and reform the family. This helps get the message across that progress to redemption is slow, but it is always worthwhile and whilst change is hard, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth persuing.

The beauty of Fruits Basket as a whole is that nothing is straight forward. We’re not asked for forgive Akito, only to give them a chance to move on from who they were before. It’s not a series that deals in moral absolutes. There’s no ultimate evil, no final boss. Infact, our heroes aren’t always the best, most shining examples of humanity either! Yuki rejoices in casual cruelty. Haru is stil down to fist right anyone he comes in contact with. Hana will put a girl in bed for three days just for saying something mean to her friends. The series doesn’t ask you to be a perfect human free of all flaws, who never makes any mistakes, but rather encourages you to try and be a better person every day. It tells you to accept that you’re going to make mistakes, you are going to take wrong turns, but there is no point in beating yourself up about it. All you can do is try your hardest to pick yourself up again (or reach out a hand to let someone else pull you up) and to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

All that said... fuck Sawa’s Mum. She can go eat dirt.

#Furuba #Fruits Basket #Akito Sohma #12 Days of Manga #12 Days of Manga 2022 #Manga #shojo

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yellowbluemoonshine · 1 year

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Feminine Archetypes In Fruits Basket;

Honda Tohru - The Maiden;

Maidens are tend to be innocent, they give that ‘take care of me’ vibe. They are innocent and creative, sometimes naive and positive. They tend to be a little more sensitive. They have that youtfull energy, and childish curiosity. Maidens are also explore their sexuality very slowly. And their weakness is sometimes they can lack commitment, direction or they can be codependent.

I think all those traits fits really well to Tohru. Since she is very sweet, ‘take care of me’ type of character and positive and naive too. She also tend to be very codependent.

Sohma Akito - The Queen;

Just like any typical queen, Akito has that royalty energy. She is natural noble, elegant, she has confidence and natural leader, she has manners. Queens’s weakness are that they tend to struggle when they dont have partner. They are also very loyal and expect loyalty from them to the point they justify their partner’s toxic behavours. I know pre-redemption Akito is toxic but this is what actual Akito would be, if she actually had life and she deserves very good, loyal guy. Also, queens tend to easiely erase their female friends which is one of the biggest flaws they have.

Sohma Kagura - The Maiden;

Just like Tohru, Kagura also tend to be very naive, she has very youthfull energy. She is also very childish.

Uotani Arisa - The Huntress;

Huntress are adventreous type, they are passionate and competitive, though they sometimes might emotionally dumb. All those traits fits well to Arisa.

Hanajima Saki - The Mystic;

Mystics are asocial, they live in their small world, and they are fine with that. They have very cozy, comfortable energy. Which also fits very well to Hanajima.

Sohma Kisa - The Maiden;

Kisa is definitely ‘take care of me’ type of character, she is also very sweet, naive and innocent.

Sohma Rin - The Huntress;

Huntress are more adventerous type, they desire freedom and one of the biggest of flaw of them that they sometimes might be emotionally distant. Riin always give me that ‘adventreous’ type of energy.

Kuragi Machi - The Sage;

This one was hard for me to find out but i think sage fits better for Machi since she is succesfull woman and tend to act with her logic. At least, it fits better compared to other types.

Extras;

Tohru’s mother is huntress. Sohma Kana is maiden. Shiraki Mayu is huntress. Sohma ren is very ‘toxic’ lover type. Minagawa Motoko might be maiden. Toudou Kimi might be lover type. I dont remember others. Mother type character doesnt fit to any characters. I write the type what those girls fit the most, they all great though, they all are different which is what makes it fun to analyze.

+ This is made for fun, inspired by this video, yeah.

#Fruits Basket #honda tohru #sohma akito #sohma kagura #uotani arisa #hanajima saki #sohma kisa #sohma rin #kuragi machi #honda kyoko #sohma kana #shiraki mayu #sohma ren #minagawa motoko #toudou kimi #female characters #feminine archetypes #furuba analysis

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starrynightkyoru · 4 months

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Uo and Hana during the hospital arc be like

#This isn't an anti post on Uo and Hana by the way they were just the victims of bad writing #And deserved better #out of character #I know if they were able to be their true selves they would have never been friendly and forgiving to that Ghoul #Anti Akito Sohma #Ass redemption arc #Horrible writing #Anti Fruits Basket ending #The characters deserved better #This whole arc is so nonsensical #She also tried to kill Kureno as well and upon hearing this Uo hugs her????#Anti Natsuki Takaya #Fruits Basket

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guildmasterbeaver · 3 months

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Idk and idc if this is a hot take or not but Akito didn’t deserve the redemption arc she did. I think it was too easy, we should’ve seen her groveling to the zodiac and tohru & Kyo. Her and Ren both

#fruits basket

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surprisebitch · 2 years

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just watched yuki's backstory or flashback and idc what kind of justification they try and do for akito, but that bitch is beyond redemption i just wanna dropkick him

#fruits basket #yuki 😭😭😭😭😭😭

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nek0mars · 2 years

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My thoughts on Akito Sohma

In the beginning, I hated Akito Sohma. Every episode made me more and more heated; I’d honestly never felt so much hate toward anything, especially not a fictional character. But the more I watched, the more I started to understand why Akito Sohma acts the way she does.

Akito has been raised knowing that people were awaiting her presence even prior to her birth, and on top of her being the “God” of the zodiacs, she feels like everyone should listen only to her. It doesn’t help that after her father’s death, her mother was insistent on telling Akito she was to be forever worthless and unloved.

In fact, Akito acts the way she does because…

She's afraid.

Afraid that someday, everyone will leave her, and that she’ll be completely and utterly alone. Afraid that she was a mistake.

And deep down, she knows her outbursts have consequences, yet she refuses to acknowledge them.

Akito is just an emotionally and mentally unstable woman. Back then, she was just an emotionally unstable little girl with no one to guide her or correct her cruelty. And so she grew up with that same instability where people were too afraid to oppose her.

She suffered emotional and psychological abuse, and because of that, she took to emotionally and mentally scarring the people around her. She felt it was her right to treat the zodiac members as she pleased because…she was their God. She believed it was her birthright, and she had every reason to act how she did toward them all.

But that never gave her the right to treat those people the way she did. Although her trauma affected her in that way, she should never have taken it out on the people around her.

She hurt people. Not only psychologically or emotionally, but physically as well. She almost killed Rin (twice). She scarred Yuki. Hurt Kisa, Hatori, Momiji, Kyo… and the list continues on. Every zodiac was affected in a negative sense by her in some way.

But it was never entirely her fault. Even though she was the one who carried out the actions, she just didn’t know when to stop. She was the victim of abuse. She was spoiled and entitled, but only because she was told she could be. And when Kureno’s curse first broke, she got scared, realizing that the zodiacs might all someday leave her; it very literally made something within her snap. She pleaded with Kureno to not leave her, and out of pity, he stayed. He couldn’t bear to leave the crying little girl who just seemed so…lost.

Someone like Akito doesn’t know how to control their feelings. Nor do they have someone to tell their worries and woes. Even if she did have the four eldest zodiacs to talk with, it never meant she’d believe they’d always be there to listen. It never meant that she really believed her own feelings either.

She truly was lost. She didn’t have anyone to turn to, and reacted the only way she knew how. With anger and outbursts and insults.

I still dislike her as a character but that means she’s just a very well-written antagonist. I told myself I wouldn’t accept her “redemption arc,” but that’s completely untrue.

I’m about to finish watching season 3 of Fruits Basket soon, and I think I’ll be content with how it all plays out.

I very honestly want Akito to finally be free. Free from the curse, and free to live her life how she really wants to. I want her to finally feel like she can love and be loved without restriction or fear that the person she loves might leave her.

Everyone deserves to know love, regardless of actions or upbringing.

And someone born into her life deserves to know what real love truly is. x-x-x Thanks for reading!! :)

#fruits basket #fruits basket rant #akito sohma #akito soma #sohma akito #soma akito #fruits basket akito #fruits basket akito sohma #i didn't intend to write a page and a half about akito sohma #but here we are #she's a very good antagonist #i love fruits basket so much #this anime makes me cry

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