#i think my point here was “shigure sees kyo as an actual human being but still treats him badly”

[the-sage-libriomancer]

Shigure's relationship with Kyo drives me crazy. he doesn't hate Kyo in the slightest - in fact, he pities Kyo, and not in the condescending "oh you poor little boy, cursed to be a horrible, disgusting monster" sort of way that everyone else does. Shigure pities Kyo for the reason he should be pitied: he's just a kid caught up in a system so inhumane it can't possibly be survived without some seriously unhealthy coping mechanisms.

and it drives me crazy because - listen, Shigure is the only zodiac member who's emotionally aware enough to see the other zodiac members as exactly what they are. he knows Yuki is a severely traumatized kid who projects all of his self-hatred on a single convenient target. he knows Akito is really a scared little girl with a raging god complex (literally) and no concept of a healthy relationship. and he knows Kyo is a regular-ass human being who doesn't deserve to be locked up for the rest of his life just because some arbitrary system says so. he KNOWS it's stupid. he KNOWS it's ridiculous and unfair. and he has to share a house with Kyo knowing that Kyo is living with a sword over his head, hating himself and hating others in perfect tandem because he has no other way of coping with the insane amounts of negativity he's had to deal with his entire life.

but the thing about Shigure is that he KNOWS all of this, and the same time he doesn't really CARE. he feels sorry for Kyo, but an apathetic sort of pity, a disinterested "this is how it is. such a shame." sort of pity. in some ways he's worse than the other zodiacs because he DOES see Kyo as a person, someone he likes being around even, but he still considers Kyo below his attention because all his focus is on Akito and breaking the curse. and sure, once the curse is broken Kyo will theoretically be set free with the rest of them, but that's more of a coincidental side effect than anything. despite being in a much more dangerous and precarious mental space AND comfortably in Shigure's reach, Kyo is about as much a priority for Shigure as Ritsu or Momiji.

and it drives me CRAZY because i think Shigure does start actively caring about Kyo as the series goes on, but it's hard to tell when that happens and to what extent. when Kazuma told Shigure he planned to reveal Kyo's true form and Shigure said he was going too far - whose sake was it for? was Shigure trying to protect Kyo, who would be hideously traumatized/emotionally scarred by such a cruel betrayal? was he trying to protect Kyo and Tohru's relationship, which was still formulating and might, under such severe testing, ultimately end up damaged beyond repair? was he only trying to protect Tohru, who wasn't ready to be burdened by such a horrible aspect of the curse so soon, or perhaps simply didn't deserve it? or was it all for the sake of himself, trying to protect his still-forming plans of using Tohru's positive effect on the Sohmas to break the curse?

Shigure cares about Kyo, but they're not close and Kyo clearly isn't a priority. he treats Kyo like a person - offering him genuine advice, teasing him like he teases anyone else, even speaking up on his behalf once or twice - and yet he's too entrenched in the long game to spare much active interest in Kyo. for a very long time, he doesn't care about Kyo the way he cares about Yuki or Tohru, and it's never made clear when exactly that changed. and the thing that gets me about this whole situation is that right from the start, Shigure is in a position where he can meet Kyo at his level - as equals, just one human being to another - but he doesn't, because Shigure is a chessmaster, Shigure is someone who observes and calculates, Shigure never steps in unless one of his chess pieces makes a wrong move and he absolutely has to.

it drives me crazy. Shigure drives me crazy. this series drives me so so crazy.

#i think my point here was “shigure sees kyo as an actual human being but still treats him badly” #which is kind of the point of shigure - it's why he's such a gray character #he plays with people's lives like they're toys #but this post actually originated from the realization that shigure doesn't hate kyo in the slightest #(honestly i don't think the majority of the zodiac actually *dislikes* kyo. i think they're just too used to dehumanizing him) #and i was like “okay. so how *does* shigure view kyo?” #and then i thought about it more and went progressively more insane #tbf i think shigure knew he was being immoral in the way he treated kyo #he's incredibly self-aware and knows exactly what he's doing #he just chooses to do it anyway. that's why he calls himself “despicable” #i think the fact that kyo clearly suspects shigure has something more going on under the surface probably didn't help either #it's a very interesting sort of complex #anyway. them #fruits basket #shigure sohma #kyo sohma #analysis #edited for your convenience #(<-capitalized all the names bc it was driving me up the wall)

[ultraericthered]

Anime Update V2 24

Noragami Aragoto - I didn’t really see what the point was of Hiyori and Yukine’s skirmish with Kuguha in the woods other than to pile on more anxiety about Yato for Yukine, but I do so enjoy seeing Kuguha get trounced so I can’t complain too much. Yato and Hiiro also had a pretty sweet sibling moment before getting captured by Izanami, but Bishamon comes to save the day and fight back, also motivating Yato when she reveals that Hiyori and Yukine are waiting for him on the other side. But according to Ebisu, the only working solution for bringing back Yato and Bishamon will require a human sacrifice!

Hunter x Hunter - The Heaven’s Arena arc engaged me at first and I do like the whole aesthetic of the place, but the more it goes on the more dull it becomes and it’s on the whole just a massive step down from the Hunter’s Exam arc. Too often I find it’s turning into Naruto where we’re treated to sensei lectures about how techniques and Nen energy works and I just don’t care - condense it and get back to the good stuff already! In both versions, the one consistent good point has been Hisoka. His fight with Kastro, the magic tricks he pulled off to win, and his exchanges with Machi were all gold, and we even learn that he’s been a member of the Phantom Troupe the whole time...sort of! And then we get the fight we were waiting for, Gon VS Hisoka, which honestly makes this arc worth sitting through just to see it. Gon finally gets to strike Hisoka and make him hurt, and while he’s still unable to defeat him at his level, Hisoka is now absolutely certain that the boy is a worthy adversary for him to kill.

Fruits Basket - How the Sohmas spent their Summer Vacation:

2001 - I think a lot of the comedy worked better here than in the later adaptation, a time when this version going more broad, slapstick and cartoonish has advantages. The more serious stuff with Hatori near the end didn’t land as well, and I was confused and uncomfortable with how Ayame seemed to take a victim blaming stance about Kana for daring to get married and be happy with someone else. Does he somehow not know that Hatori wiped her memories? ‘Cause if he knows what happened, he can’t act like this is some “betrayal!”

2019 - Why Yuki and Kyo were pretty quiet at first and took a while to get back into their usual argumentive swing actually had context this time given how last episode ended, whereas it was given no reason in the previous version. The talk between Shigure, Hatori, and Ayame was also phrased much better here, with Ayame being petty about Hatori missing out on happiness and wanting him to find a woman who’ll make him far happier than Kana portrayed as just that: petty.

Rozen Maiden - Kanaria, the second Rozen Maiden who I saw in the OVA at one point, finally gets into the Sakurada residence. The dolls staying there while both Jun and his sister are out find evidence of the break-in and disturbances around the house, making them think a burglar has broken in. Mayhem ensues. It was funny and all, but Kanaria really doesn’t do much for me. I’d normally love the heck out of a character like her, but here...doesn’t “clumsy troublemaker with an inflated self-image” kind of already belong to Suiseiseki? 

Fate Zero - The premiere episode of this prequel anime was a whole hour long, like the second season of Sound! Euphonium’s premiere, was this just something they did back then? But in any case wow, this show is immediately superior to Fate/Stay Night not only in the production value but in practically everything. My problem with Stay Night is that it mashed a whole different aspects into the Saber route and didn’t do it as well as, say, CLANNAD did, and pretty much all of the plot action was centralized by Shirou. Not even Shirou and Saber - just Shirou, who’s a great character and all, but I don’t think he needed to be the only viewpoint protagonist when other great characters like Rin Tohsaka were right there. Fate Zero has four different POVs in four different stories (Kiritsugu w/ Irisveil, Kirei and Tokiome, Kariya Matou, and Waver Velvet) interlinked by the coming Holy Grail war, which is a lot more the kind of thing I enjoy seeing.

The dub is great, too. Matthew Mercer is a better Kiritsugu than Kirk Thornton, Mela Lee is still on as a younger Rin Tohsaka, Crispin Freeman kills it as the younger, less villainous Kirei, Lucien Dodge is perfect for Waver, and Michael Donovan is so skin-crawlingly creepy and sinister as the vile Zouken Matou. Only issue is Liam O’Brien as Kariya, which distracts me a bit since I got used to him as Archer. Got chills at the ending where the servants are summoned, spotting not only Gilgamesh there, but Saber, voiced now by Kari Wahlgren!

Revolutionary Girl Utena - Yet again after two episodes of the arc, we’re given another weirdo Nanami filler episode, which I’d not mind as much if we hadn’t just had that Nanami recap two episodes ago! This one’s the ever notorious “Nanami’s Egg”, which isn’t quite as dark and freaky as the cowbell episode but still bizarre all the same, like the egg is a metaphor for more than one thing and because Nanami’s just gotten stupider she believes that she lay it, but it turns out it was Chu-Chu who’d died offscreen and got reincarnated. Huh?

Love Live! Nijigasaki School Idol Club S2 - A breather episode for Cute Girls To Do Cute Things, including a blatant Pokemon Go! reference with the “find the kitty cats” phone game. Lanzhu and her two gal pals are easing themselves into the club, but the star of the show here was Kasumi, more adorable, diabolical, and hapless than she’s ever been. And yeah, it’s a blatant repeat of Nico from that old “Who gets to be the Center?” episode, but Kasumi has always made stuff work by being this oddball blend of Nico’s personality and her “persona”. Sweet friendship song, montage, and group photo at the end too. Post-credits was an uh oh, though. Love Live, perhaps?

MAR - Round 3 of the War Games begins with the surprise re-appearance of Alan, who fights against Ali Baba of the Chess Pieces in the volcanic terrain. He doesn’t just beat him even easier than Dorothy beat her opponent, he claims the second casualty by dropping Ali Baba into lava, killing him! And unlike Dorothy’s fight, there was no real reason for him to do so! He just felt his pride was insulted and wasn’t gonna take that! Scariest guy on Team MAR!

AMC: Yuki Yuna Is A Hero - How the Hero Club spent their Summer Vacation, a more typical beach outing that gives way to more Cute Girls Do Cute Things antics. Not a whole lot of plot here other than Karin being gay with Fuu, Yuna being gay with Togo, and reminders of what the girls have (temporarily?) lost thanks to their battles with the Vertex. Then at the end we learn the missions ain’t done yet...

AND

Talentless Nana - Finally got back to this one, though in hindsight maybe I should’ve waited for October to do so since it was the creepy “Necromancer” two parter. A creepy boy named Shinji who can reanimate the dead and is going out with a really hot tomboy with super strength named Yuuka becomes Nana’s next target for elimination, all while Kyouya is still skeptical about her involvement in the recent deaths...and then it turns out that Shinji is himself a living corpse and Yuuka is the true necromancer, with her own horde of zombies that she can control only at nighttime! Since Part 2 was notably lagging in a lot of places, Yuuka was the aspect that kept me interested and made it all work - she’s the first of Nana’s talented victims or adversaries (who aren’t Kyouya) who I actually enjoyed watching. Her voice acting coupled with the depths of her depravity gave her a sort of Junko Enoshima vibe, it was impressive how well they pulled off a DOUBLE Twist Villain with her, and she’s the first to give Nana a really serious challenge, with Nana only besting her through proving a theory with so many variables to it that it could’ve just as easily not gone well for her. The very end was a bit weird, though. Why did Nana even care about a victim’s morals and sins? She’d kill the talented regardless, as she even said, so why even?

#Anime Update #Anime Update V2

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket Manga Review ch (90)- First pages ONLY.

I skimmed thro ch-89 to know the context of ch-90. it was Cinderella’s play. In this chapter, Kyo says early on, that time has passed since the play & that they are NOW starting their third year in high school. cool.

This part will ONLY focus on the 1st few pages of ch 90 abt (kyo & tohru) & stop before kyo’s memories starts, because the early pages contain:

Tons of new unexplored analysis of (kyo & tohru) characters that unfortunately was intentionally cut & worse! “changed” in the anime.

No space to add kyoko’s story in this post.

Kyoko’s story is full psychologically & socially.. I need to take a deeeeeeep breath before I unpack it. very deeeeep breath!

-Glimpses of Tohru (the silent grieving girl) Subtle Writing of Grief:

Right from the beginning, I hate how much insight into tohru’s grief & weakness as a human being is already there in the first few pages of ch-90 than the entire 3 seasons of the anime! From few pages we have:

Tohru’s seemingly delighted watching a video. Subtly, showcasing tohru’s grieve & paving the path for tohru’s trauma exploration later in the story. Grief is not sth you quickly past, that’s the most tragic misunderstanding of grief. Time will pass, so, you’ll be better & healthier. Really?!. Tohru’s inner desire to see her mom alive manifested in her words: “ like a photo comes to life” T_T.

The story/writing/manga is acknowledging tohru’s heartbreaking & NOT cute habit of talking to her mom’s cold dead photo! In the anime, tohru talks to her a lot in se01 & it’s up to you to see as as “ cute” as all the canon characters do or actually feeling it IS wrong. Kyo’s  “ what would she do if there were a video of her mom”! “ drives the point more abt tohru being a sad grieving human~not the “advice-giving, optimistic angel, & rain-stopping sunshine in the anime.

Tohru telling kyo to NOT catch cold connecting it to se01, ep 9 (haru’s ep) when tohru was afraid that yuki might catch cold & kyo noticed that! so now in se03, they’re dropping this plot altogether within the main anime, for what? we dont even know if this part would be included in whatever “ kyoko’s” spinoff content would be. -_-’.

That’s how you write subtle trauma such as (grief) for a main (female) MC. subtlety is the key. Respect the viewers intelligence & do it.

You don’t have to give her the long speeches or the many focused ep that yuki had. he’s the kind who confront himself inwardly constantly.

You don’t have to showcase drama, confrontation & force the emotions out like you did with kyo. he runs from his trauma & punishes himself.

Tohru buries her feelings! she’s different from both kyo & yuki. So, with her subtle & symbolic scenes are enough!!!The viewers will catch it if you show it, but ignoring it, cutting it & hoping the viewers will magically predict what you cut, is weird. But the anime isn’t even into us predicting nor subtly showing her cuz this tohru is NOT the tohru we have in the anime. How?

Simply cuz there is no kyo’s inner thoughts abt small things such as tohru’s photo obsession which subtly shows her grief & trauma. If kyo didn’t monologue abt her, tohru does not exist as she’s meant to be. You loose the subtle insights into tohru if you cut kyo’s inner thoughts. Not everything kyo thinks abt in regards to tohru is romance!!! That’s a very narrow & superficial look into the writing of kyo/’tohru dynamics. Flip the pages, hmm..cut this kyoru scene here & there cuz we dont want the anime to be only their love story.. But the story itself IS NOT only their love story at all. These pages/scenes here are abt tohru as a PERSON. Not tohru the lover...

- Writing Clashes between manga & anime: (Kyo’s Conscious Gradual Psychological Exploration vs Shock Value & Drama)

In ch 90 i really love all the inner self talking that kyo’s doing. It really explains why he ended up rejecting tohru so strongly. Also, going for a trip into kyo’s mind is hella exciting, new, refreshing & full of analysis-worthy exploration! Kyo’s inner psychological argument with himself is a psychologically-informed presentation of a tried guilty mind:

“ Why can’t I stop thinking of (kyoko’s words) lately? Acknowledging that he IS remembering kyoko & never forgot her. This is also supported in the anime itself. When he apologized to a sleeping tohru in se01, ep14 & se02, ep9 , confronting yuki in the stairs & other instances as well. 

“ It’s like a lid been opened & all the memories came pouring”. Acknowledging that kyo DID open his lid since se02, ep9 byt chose to run & not confront it due to his guilt of ruining tohru’s happiness by confessing his connection to her mom. 

“ pretending I didn’t know, pretending I forgot”. Here is a blatant clash in kyo’s writing (1) between the anime & manga (2) between the anime’s episodes themselves!!. In the manga, again kyo chose to ignore & pretended to forget. Death is NOT sth you forgot. Kyo saw kyoko bleeding & dying.  The anime chose to make him totally forget & it could’ve worked if they didn’t included all the canon moments of him actually remembering & pretending to forget. Is that lazy writing? or was the director for se03 different from se 1 &2 &? chose to NOT watch the two previous seasons? Why would you consciously include a contradicting depiction of your character on screen for thousands of confused viewers? Was the scene of kyo’s shocked gave upon seeing kyoko’s photo that artistically appealing that you forgot everything? I really have NO problem of kyo forgetting kyoko if that was written in the anime since se01, but it wasn't. that's why it sucks. 

“Is this payback? maybe I want to blame ME?” augh! i love this line so much! Directly hinting to the viewers that this is kyo’s one-sided guilt before his story with kyoko even started! subtly paving the path for the reason of his rejection of tohru” I dont want forgiveness. I want to blame ME.

-I don’t mind that the anime left kyo’s thoughts of kyoko until the climax in eo8, cuz ep 8 was SO well-done! Se03, ep 8 pacing was very suitable to (1) uncovering dark secrets & death, trauma, & guilt. (2)  for exploring the effects such secrets on kyo’s character, decisions, mentality. Also, the animation of kyo’s face all ep 8 was one of the most expressive facial expressions the anime has ever delivered! The eyebrows, eyes, mouth, tears, body languages, heartache was all 100% perfect. The fact that the following eps didnt have much time to express everything & chapters were cramped is not ep 8′s fault but the decision to have 13 eps. Kyo’s delayed trauma deserved to have its own ep.

-What I DO mind is the added scene of ep 6 where he freaked out upon seeing kyoko’s picture, the concept of shock is perfect & so suitable for an anime but was NEVER properly written into the anime itself from the beginning. On the contrary, the anime itself contradict such usage of such value. Good job ruining an otherwise perfect-depiction of two traumatized characters (kyo & tohru) with ONE scene.. -_-

Side Notes:

I thought tohru is narrating the 1st page in ch-90, turned it out it is kyo!!!! Kyo narrates sth? Kyo monologues? kyo has a POV? Just the setting of kyo doing that feels different! I duno if it cuz when that happens in the anime it’s always clash & drama! lol, or cuz it’s sth original!

Shigure’s “ it’s broadcasted all over the nation” is epic! XD! you know poor stupid kyo would fall for that! XD. kyo, you really are an idiot! XD... man this scene would’ve been epic comedy~ lol.

Tohru not knowing what a “dvd” is is outdated for the anime, but to still keep the sentiment of “her wishing she’d have a video footage of her mom”, they could’ve replaced her words with “ It’d be fun watching this play years from now & remembering all the details”. I know that to some, it feels weird that tohru doesn't have video footage of her mom in this era. but trust me, this is more common than you might think. My late brother, who’s way younger than me, doesn't have much video footage, he always felt awkward & preferred not to be filmed. We got photos for him tho~

Even if you want kyo’s knowledge of kyoko to be in the climax only. You can always include this scene of tohru & kyo in the first pages in the anime somehow. It doesn't even need to be abt the dvd even tho that’s manageable. Cutting this short scene of them talking abt videos, & catching cold is cutting tohru’s trauma from its core. Then, the old grandpa’s narration from se03, ep6 would at least have some backup in the anime’s canon.

Momiji & shigure are perfect as a comedic duo!

I can’t get over tohru’s art~ <3

Pinning kyo at the beginning is epic~ kyo always gets the BEST romantic lines when he talks to himself. “ burning (tohru’s ) memories into my head or forgetting everything”. The torturing fire inside him is only distinguished by loving her but is also ignited by loving her~ what’s the solution~

#Fruits Basket #manga #fruits basket manga #manga spoilers #reading paper #love the new content! #Hate the missing content #lol

[mrsmarymorstan]

Don't why the fans especially the manga readers are hyping about tooru breaking the curse when she didn't even do shit. she just went on that silly adventure and be an annoying crybaby whenever she learns something new about the curse. it was actually akito who broke the curse so i can't understand what you are all hyping tohru on.

Ah yes, I to remember the days when I’d be deliberately antagonistic just for fun and beat on female characters for showing emotions and caring about people. Or indeed, resent characters for having entirely realistic reactions to the cosmic horror and terror that surrounds them. Then I turned 16 and HER WE ARE ten years later and I get to see it from a whole new perspective! What fun. 

In your misguided attempt to cause drama by shitting on people having a good time by being excited about upcoming character moments, much like Dr Flemming’s unwashed petri dish, you have hit upon something that benefits further discussion and interest. 

That point being, was it TOHRU who broke the curse, or was it Akito? 

The answer, I believe, is both. SPOILERS FOR ANIME ONLIES TONY YOU ARE WARNED DO NOT @ ME AGAIN IF YOU MESS UP. 

When Tohru sets out to break the curse and stop the love of her life from being locked up in a cold dark room for the rest of his existence, she finds out that the curse is firstly, a bond of blood sworn by the spririts of the past and not something that can be physically manifested, and secondly, that the curse has already begun to break RE: Kureno. 

Now, there’s a LOT of theories about why Kureno’s curse broke and if it truly was some random event or if there was a trigger. I think it’s a combination of the two. It’s noted by the maids and by (I think) Shigure that this is the first time in a long time that the entire Juunishi are present. There is also a sizeable age gap betwee Hiro and Kureno, that would about match up between Hiro being an infant when Kureno’s curse broke. Ergo, I propose that his curse broke soon after their first New Year’s together as a complete banquet with no spaces missing. Save that of the cat, of course, but more on him later. 

Kureno is the rooster, and I believe that in legend the Rooster was seen as the closest to God because he could deliver messages between heaven and earth. Therefore it makes sense that the first to leave God alone, is God’s messenger. “We have had our final Banquet, it’s time to end the cycle.” 

Of course Akito/God does not have a positive reaction to this, and the loss of one Juunishi inspires a great sense of loneliness and fear within Akito similar to that which lead to the creation of the bond in the first place. We do not see God being willing to make any attempt to work on achieving the Cat’s wish of finally being able to form friendships beyond the Zodiac and forming bonds with the humans he was so afraid of before. 

And THAT is the crux of the matter. Tohru came into the Sohma’s lives and began to break the curse simply by forming close bonds with them all, and letting them into her life and react to the world around them. Hana and Uo are both friends with Kyo and Yuki, actively choosing to spend time together. We also see that in Kyo attending the same school as Yuki, it opens up that same school to Haru and Momiji where they too can form bonds outside of the Sohma influence. It’s a school THEY chose, not the single sex one Akito picked out. Equally this means we have to give some credit to Yuki for making the brave choice of defying his parents and Akito’s wishes by attending a mixed school, and Shigure (who continues to be the mastermind here) for goading Akito into allowing Kyo to also attend that school and not simply pay off the private school he was MEANT to attend and have them let him back in. 

It’s also no real surprise that the two other Juunishi whose curses break before the final scene are Momiji and Hiro. Hiro is shown to be forming bonds outside of the Zodiac too. Not only has he matured enough that he is able to understand things from Tohru’s perspective now and has a relatively positive relationship with her, he ALSO becomes a Big Brother with a little sister he adores. Again, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that his curse breaks whilst he is in the same room as her. The Sheep has formed a meaningful relationship outside of the Zodaic, so it is time for the Sheep Spirit to return to its original realm. We then have Momiji, who is absolutely desperately in love with Tohru and is also equally desperate to be allowed to have a relationship with his OWN sister. Momiji’s curse breaks only after he has gone through puberty though and reaches adulthood. It’s when he starts to truly understand the path that is laid before him, and where he stands in it. He WANTS a relationship with Tohru, but he can also recognise that she is in love with Kyo and that makes it all the more painful. He knows that as he ages he is only going to be made to feel more distant from his sister, and that hurts too. HOWEVER, Momiji doesn’t ever stop LONGING for meaningful relationships and a world beyond the life of the Zodiac. He recognises that he does not have anything really tying him to the Sohma anymore, and so his curse breaks. The rabbit spirit has no need to be part of the banquet, and so heads home.   

Now, as you can see, whilst Tohru is a key trigger in the breaking of the curse, she’s still not the one to actively do it, right? 

Well, wrong. Sort of. 

Take note that when we’re told the ACTUAL story of the Original Banquet , we find that the Cat was the first friend God ever made, and was also the first to die. It was the death of the cat that triggered God into creating the eternal bond that would always bring them together, and it was the cat’s terror and dismay at being forced into such a bond that caused them to disown him. The cat has, all along, simply wanted God to make friends. The first who had the curse take effect upon them, was the one who rejectd it the most and as such was then shunned forever more. The cat wanted God to make bonds outside of the Zodiac, and in turn the cat was forever banned form making those bonds. Even though we’ve been show the Cat was granted some realtionships in the form of Kazuma’s Grandmother; it is a relationship made out of pitty rather than love and understanding. 

Tohru though? Torhu is the God Damned (excuse the pun) Year of the Cat Fanclub PRESIDENT. Nobody loves and respects the OG Cat Spirit in the way she does. She emphasied with the Cat’s plight in the legend her mother told her, feeling sorry for them being tricked like that and being forced to miss out on being part of the legend. She wanted the cat to join the group! She cradled the cat’s body in much the same way God in his final moments, as instead this time Tohru brings him back into the light and forms a stronger and longer lasting relationship with the cat spirit through love and empathy.

And later on, in that same mountainside, it is TOHRU who is the one who reaches out her hand to god and asks to become friends. It is the act of God forming friends with mortal humans that triggers Akito/God to finally release everyone from their curse. That’s why it happens when it does, when Akito knows that Tohru is safely out of hospital, that she has still welcomed Akito into her life... and that if Akito is going to take those terrifying steps into forming relationships that can end in rejection, she’s going to have to do it on her own two feet. 

THAT is how Tohru breaks the curse. THAT is what is important here and what is so FUCKING HARD ROCK about Tohru Honda. We see her willing to stand up to GOD in order to break the curse, but she stands before God as an EQUAL. Tohru WILL break the curse. She WILL fight for her soulmate. She WILL make you be friends with her and address your deep seated issues of self hate and abandonment (not that she has those issues herself ahahahha no I’m just your average happy go lucky teenager with two dead parents who lives in a tent I’M FINE) 

Of course, it turns out that everything Shigure and Kazuma told her about breaking the curse was true: That she didn’t have to do anything other than to continue to be herself. HOWEVER, in order to BE herself she needed to try and have a “silly adventure” where she tested her metal and learnt to speak up for herself. Why are we excited? Because we’re going to see Tohru finally find the confidence to speak out against others without harm! We see her get into a fight with Rin about it. We see her refusing to back down against Kagura. We see her standing on her own two feet and saying “No. No I don’t want that. I REFUSE to give in and to leave well alone!” 

All before, Tohru has been so scared to speak up for herself because of her debilitating abandonment issues (and please let’s not make fun of people’s mental health issues, okay? I haven’t been having a weekly therapy session for nearly two years now just because for the fun of it) but now she’s got to the point where she feels comfortable and secure enough to show an uglier side to herself that people might reject. She is able to be mean, and shout, and fucking break into someone’s house in order to get what she wants! How can a TRUE fruits basket fan NOT be excitd for that level of character development? 

And to end it, please, for the LOVE OF GOD it is 2020. I am 26 years old. I have been on tumblr since 2011. Do not send me hate about female fictional characters and expect me to roll over. My username is “Mrs Mary Morstan”. Mary. Morstan. The most hated female character in all of BBC Sherlock. Do not even try to fucking test me, you Petri Dish. 

#Fruits Basket #Furuba #Furuba Manga Spoilers #Tohru Honda #Akito Sohma #The Curse #The Juunishi #Anonymous #greatest hits

[ae0nx]

FRUITS BASKET S2 EPISODE 7 RECAP AKA ‘TOP TIER FURUBA SHIT’

An accurate representation of me getting ready to talk about this episode. 

My guys... this episode pretty much hit all the points for me in what I expect of a Fruits Basket episode... and more! I loveeee this episode. I gotta admit last week’s episode was a bit of a shoulder shrug for me cos it was mostly a set up for the beach ‘arc’ but this. episode. I have way too many screen caps, I don’t know how I’ll do this. 

And we open up with a big ‘fuck no’. I love the flash forward just to prepare the audience for a whole lot of hurt. Excellent. *pours myself a glass of wine*

- Hiro: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, Mum, just don’t trip over, ok?” Sorry about that guys, I just found out my Mum’s pregnant Everyone: Whaaaaa?!

Hiro’s nonchalance of it all had me dying 😂

I appreciate the ‘dog’ fan. Definitely accurate in more ways than one. Strike one.

Strike TWO. The fact he said that in front of not only Tohru but KISA AND HIRO is so gross. I’m not even joking. It’s just gross. Not a great joke at all. Poo poo.

STRIKE THREE. Akito... please come get your dog. It’s the only useful thing you can do rn anyway

Wow, Yuki. I actually teared up a little at his realisation. This whole episode should just be called ‘call 999 for these kids’.

Hiro’s mum just sounds like a Furuba fan tbh 😝😂 Also... are the zodiac members born in their animal forms? Or is it just in the first instance they are held by a parent of the opposite sex? Cos if it’s the first option, that’s pretty... messed up. But, theoretically hilarious at the same time!

Ohhhh... Tohru’s one of those people who like to push aside their own problems and focus on other people’s instead... Except, it’s not in an annoying and judge-y way at all. However, I am beginning to question whether she is actually that selfless and the real root of it is that Tohru needs a distraction from her own pain. Either way, it’s sad and I don’t think she’s doing it consciously at all which makes it even sadder.

Oh, Tohru.

Also, appreciation for Momiji being a human backpack at all times. And I love his cat eared hat! I want one! Our Outfit Appreciation Winner this week. 4 stars.

- Kisa/Hiro being a mini version of Kyoru was basically confirmed this episode and I am happy.

Such a gorgeous moment. Pretty much met the feelings and emotions I got from reading this moment in the manga AND MORE. It’s golden. And I love it. ...‘nuff said.

Oh look, Dad’s here too 🤣

*looks into the distance to a far off future...* ANYWAYS

- Kyo being so open and honest and vulnerable with Tohru to a point where he mistakenly already thinks he told Tohru all about his parents already is just... everything to me. Especially from someone like Kyo who’s constantly carrying all this baggage around. But jeez, we always forget that Tohru’s got baggage she’s carrying around too! Tohru and Kyo on surface level look like such opposites in every way but remove some layers and they are so similar, it’s uncanny! 😍🤡

I just love developing relationships. 🥰

- Kyoko definitely wanted to destroy that flowerpot 😈 We love her. We miss her.

He’s so in love with her, I can’t. I’m gonna cry. <3 Also, that expression feels like a very Kazuma expression, is it just me?

*spontaneously combusts* 

But anyway... just cos we can’t have anything good for too long...

Tbh if I knew a Shigure, that’d be how I’d start every conversation.

I love Hatori. :) I mean he wouldn’t actually slice his gut open but it still means a lot to me that he said he would...

This go around of Fruits Basket has made me realise how much I relate to him and his position in the family. Every anime has a character that’s in their twenties and just... tired and I always relate best to them, shoutout to Keishin Ukai from Haikyuu.

Even though I hate Akito, I have an appreciation for the subtle shit the animators/designers do whenever they come onto screen. All of Akito’s actions have a kinda feather-lightness/almost ethereal feel to them and the way Akito is contrasted against not only the scenery but the other characters around them is... so gooood. I’ve already talked about how I love the emphasis on the presence of Akito in their first appearance in the anime but... I’ll still be talking about it cos it’s great. And I can’t wait to hear Colleen Clinkenbeard in this ep, but Maaya Sakamoto was stellar in this episode (fun fact: did you know she also played Haruhi in OHSHC?!?).

But yeah, I still hate Akito. Sorry.

- Kisa’s little sigh of relief that Tohru doesn’t have to meet Akito was already HEARTBREAKING but mixed with this moment....?!?!

...

I...

I just really need someone to explain to me how you could like Akito. Even after the ending of this whole series. Like...

I just don’t get it. I don’t... 

Look, I’m gonna malfunction if I don’t move on.

Oh?

This is the start... of something new... it feels so right... to be here with you... 

oooohhhh 🎶 

 👀

- Kinda sad that Kyo and Tohru had the house to themselves but there was so much weird and bad energy in the air that they couldn’t even really enjoy their pancakes :(

- That Akito and Shigure and Hatori (and partially Kureno) scene just really... disgusted me. To see someone have that much power in their touch and their words is... freaky and unsettling. And I love it cos it’s interesting but I also hate it soooo much. I have nothing more to say about it besides that really. I was more interested in the Shigure and Hatori moment afterwards...

That’s a nice way of putting it...

Maybe this was to be taken mostly as a joke, but do you think that Shigure actually wants Hatori to remind him how much of a shitbag he’s being? Most of my problem with Shigure (and why I actually liked 2001!Shigure but let’s not go there again) is that out of everyone in this series, he’s the most untouched. And yet he schemes and manipulates and seems to get everything he wants. AND what makes it even worse and annoying and spectacular, is that Shigure’s little nudges and pushes of the chess pieces which are the zodiac members aren’t so obvious to the extent that you could only blame him for it. It’s almost genius, if it weren’t so repulsive. 

*sighs* I just really want him to either repent or feel some kind of guilt afterwards. 

...Hence why I’m most interested in where he’s at after the end of this all.

All I want is a scene between him and Tohru, somewhat like this:

👀

...Ok, this moment made me like Shigure just by 5% more this episode. Still trying to figure out that Shigure/Akito relationship literally a decade later tho...

BACK TO SOME KINDA HAPPY(?) STUFF!

I love love love love love this moment between Yuki and Tohru. It was gorgeous!

I wish this scene were longer so I could make an AMV (if I really felt like it) with Coldplay’s ‘A Sky Full Of Stars’. The lyrics match the moment so much and I definitely cried.

Oh, Yuki...

It was such a beautiful way to end this episode. Wow.

And Yuki’s words to Tohru that ‘she’s just like the sky’ has so many meanings to it and I want to go into it but I’ll start really explicitly going into spoilers. So, I’ll just leave it as poetic cinema.

Perfect.

God, this was such a good episode, guys! I’d probably put this episode on the same level as the True Form episode. It gave us furuba shenanigans, it gave us kyoru, it gave us disgust and hurt and it gave us a moment of someone rising out of the ashes!

I love this anime. :) See you next week!

#fruits basket #furuba #fruits basket 2020

[someoneoffthestreet]

Fruits Basket 2x08

“Kagura, when will you stop playing pretend love?” oooooohhhHOOHOO

Kagura’s mom has the good sense not to want her daughter anywhere near Akito. In this house, we stan good and loving Sohma parents. Kagura’s mom officially makes the list.

In which Kagura says what we’re all thinking deep down, and her mother has been having to deal with this Kagura’s whole life.

Tohru keeps trying to internally monologue but Hatori and Kyo ain’t having it.

Shigure and the audience want to know what Akito said to Yuki last episode. Shigure and the audience are going to have to hold their horses.

(I just made myself laugh. I’m tired, don’t look at me.)

Also Akito is denied further Haru privileges I have decreed it.

Tohru and Kyo’s first attempt at a sand castle is just as successful as every attempt I’ve ever made in my entire life.

“Does this make me your sempai?” “Sempai, you suck at this.”

Momiji: SCREW IT THIS IS A PRIVATE BEACH AND I’VE BEEN SPENDING THE TIME I SET ASIDE TO BE WITH TOHRU VERY MUCH NOT BEING WITH TOHRU THIS VACATION SUCKS AND I’LL HUG HER IF I WANT TO.

I love this moment between for many reasons, such as Yuki genuinely laughing like that, that was wholesome oh my heck. But especially because- Haru just spent his day locked in a room with Akito, who was sitting there telling Haru how “funny” Haru was and how he’s the laughingstock of the Zodiac. But here, Haru gets a genuine laugh out of someone he actually cares about, and it’s- worlds away from his time with Akito.

Yuki has Changed. It’s palpable. Everybody can see it. Everybody can feel it. He’s growing too powerful. Who will stop him.

RIN DARLING MY LOVE PLEASE DON’T WALK ALL NIGHT YOU ARE INJURED THAT’S BAD FOR YOU.

Villain Explains Evil Plot to Loyal Underling, Loyal Underling Innocently Pokes Glaring Hole In Evil Plot, the scene.

(But yes, please guess at how delighted I am that it’s repeated through the episode that Tohru isn’t alone because Kyo is by her side.)

“Is it fun to be with a monster?” .......Well, Kureno? Is it? (Sorry that was an easy one I’ll stop.)

Tohru to Kyo, not one minute later: “It’s more fun when we’re together!”

Cat Lore, Cat Lore! Every new piece we get about the Cat and its place within the Zodiac just informs us more about who Kyo is and why he’s the way he is. The story goes to great pains to show us that no Zodiac’s life is a picnic by any stretch of the imagination, but there’s something especially dire about the Cat’s situation, what with the second, monstrous form held at bay by a rosary supposedly made from human bone and the looming, ever-present promise that you’ll be locked up and thrown away at some point in your life. Yikes.

...Look, I don’t have very much to say about Kyo and Tohru’s time on the beach together, they’re ADORABLE and I LOVE THEM and these scenes hold a very soft and special place in my heart, ok?

Yuki spies on Akito and Kureno spying on Tohru and Kyo having a good time. Spy-ception.

Even nature wants Tohru to stop internal monologuing. LET HER SELF-REFLECT.

Rin: *transforms in front of Tohru* Tohru: uh-oh I’m reconsidering my sexuality.

I love this moment when Rin goes too far with Yuki. Like, in the manga I initially thought it was Rin kind of realizing that she crossed a line? But I’ve been finding lately that the anime has a way of making things hit me harder than they did in the manga, and there’s something about Yuki’s non-reaction- like Rin hit Yuki somewhere that should’ve hurt, and I’m not saying it didn’t, but Yuki doesn’t give Rin the reaction she was probably looking for and it clearly startles her? Idk, idk...

SHIGURE, I’M WITH HATORI ON THIS ONE, YOU’RE ENJOYING THIS TOO MUCH.

Spoilers under the cut.

Of course Rin has such a big problem with Kagura’s behavior towards Kyo. Rin knows better than most the damage love in pantomime can do.

"So Kureno, you’d better act as a proper Zodiac member. You’re substandard, so I’m worried.” Two things: First, obvious one being referenced to Kureno not really being a Zodiac member anymore, kill me. Second, how she talks about him is painful enough, but throw in the Tohru parallels and how at her dad’s funeral his relatives called her “plain” and how she was “no consolation” and now I’m FURTHER SAD.

I have so many thoughts and feeling about Kyo, I am that Jane Austen quote “If I loved you less, I could talk about it more.” Just, um! The careful construction of Kyo as a character! How he talks about the nature of sacrifice and how Kyo HIMSELF is kind of the sacrificial lamb of the Zodiac! Kyo sees the unfairness of him living his day-to-day because of the sacrifice of a human life long ago, but on the flip side of that is his own self-loathing and the thought of why HE deserves to live at the expense of others, even though others live at the expense of HIM, and round and round it goes. And add in that flashback to the aftermath of Kyoko’s death and Kyo’s failure to save her and AAAAAUUUUUUUUGHHHHH.

Rin’s rage after meeting Tohru! She tried so hard to avoid this meeting! She tried so hard and it happened anyway and she’s compromised! Just from that meeting she’s compromised! RIN DARLING DON’T DO THIS ALONE YOU DON’T NEED TO DO THIS ALONE.

Once again, I am not ready. I’m not ready. I think of that piece of the flashback we got this episode and that we’re going to get the FULL THING NEXT EPISODE AND “MY PRECIOUS...” AND I’M- I’M!!! GOODBYE FRIENDS I’LL SEE YOU ALL IN THERAPY.

#in which I ramble #Fruits Basket #fb manga spoilers

[ffamranxii]

I just finished Fruits Basket Another and I have some Feelings, okay? Under the cut, because spoilers.

THE CHARACTERS

Hoooo boy let’s unpack here. Furubana is about Sawa Mitoma, a nervous first year in high school. She firmly believes that she’s basically human trash, and resolves to take up as little space in the world as possible, and that’s not even me paraphrasing. She says within the first few pages she wants to take up as little space as humanly possible. We find out that she’s the daughter of an extremely abusive mother - emotionally abusive. Sawa’s mother never hits her, but she’s also never once nice to her in any of her appearances. She isolates Sawa from any and all friends, she constantly drags Sawa down, and she’s rarely even at home, even back when Sawa was a little girl. How long has Sawa been looking after herself? Sawa is what Tohru could have become if Kyoko had been involved with a gang member rather than Katsuya. 

The main trio of characters is rounded out by essentially the same trio as before: Mutsuki Sohma as the son of Yuki and Machi and Hajime Sohma as the son of Tohru and Kyo. Visually, they look nearly identical, which is why I chose that ^ picture. But they could not be more different. Sawa is every Sohma insecurity rolled into one, and the Sohmas are what their parents could have been without the curse and the constant abuse. Hajime is one of the oldest of the cousins, smothered with love and affection by his entire family, and is lovingly referred to as Dad and Papa (which annoys him), being one of the few in the family who cooks, cleans, or is, y’know, responsible. (Good job, Kyoru! Teach your boy right!) He is unwillingly elected student council president, and manages it easily. Unlike his father’s life, things come easily to Hajime, but he doesn’t let that make him conceited. He’s a down to earth character who trades biting remarks with Mutsuki. Mutsuki, on the other hand, I love. I adore. I want to erect a shrine to this boy. Poor Yuki, his wife hath birthed him a miniature Ayame. Mutsuki is trouble under a beautiful exterior, subtle snark and gentle teasing, but over the top in other aspects (like his thing that was once a desk and complete inability to do the most basic of tasks like buy laundry detergent, his utter willingness to let other people do things for him). He is also a deeply caring individual, and has an extremely close relationship with his cousin Shiki which is the complete opposite of his father’s relationship with Shiki’s mother that I nearly cried right there while reading volume three.

Kinu Sohma is the daughter of Hatori and Mayuko (a pairing of which I am not fond), and I actually was not fond of her until volume three, at which point she became a treat. A college student, Kinu seems to have no real ambitions or life goals (much like many college freshmen), spends much of her time sleeping, and only really sweeps in at the last chapter to comfort a very distressed Sawa in the way only a fellow woman can, delivering a wonderful speech right up with Kyoko’s Words Of Wisdom about how no one has the right to treat you badly, even your own family. No one has the right to abuse you, demean you, hurt you. That is a curse. She actually uses the word curse, and it makes me wonder what her parents told her of the Sohma curse, if Hatori ever mentioned how Akito used to be, or how Shigure was such a piece of shit about the seahorse, and it made me love Hatori all over again, for teaching his daughter such a powerful thing. Volume three also gave wonderful interaction between Kinu and the entirely deranged (but perfectly appropriate) Hibika Sohma, the daughter of Ayame and Mine. Just like Hatori is the only one who has any sort of control over Ayame, Kinu is the only one who can reign in Hibika. I believe these two are the oldest, out of all of the cousins, because in volume two, Hibika just fucking jets off to Paris with no warning, at the top of one of her tiny tophats instead of setting up her parents’ second store, because she needed inspiration to create new dresses. I don’t think a high school student could do that. Hibika may possibly be the oldest (Kinu is still a minor at 19 [Japan’s age of adulthood is 20]), because I don’t think a minor could do that either. She’s obsessed with Sawa and playing dress up with her, something Kinu is able to reign her away from doing with ease. She’s only the tiniest bit toned down from Ayame. I love her.

Michi Manabe is the daughter of Kakeru and Komaki and is sometimes at odds with Hajime. My biggest complaint with Furubana is that she is not in it enough!! Despite not being a Sohma proper, Michi is included in nearly all Sohma activities and all the Sohma cousins know her. She and Mutsuki were raised as siblings and address each other as such, which is precious because awww, but also because Kakeru has a deep sibling bond with his half sister as an adult, Komaki (who I view as another Tohru in a way, from how she was introduced) made an effort to keep Yuki and Machi in their lives and comfortable, and Yuki and Machi both created a family unit with the one family member who wanted Machi around, a bond so strong that their children saw each other so much growing up that they refer to each other as siblings. How precious is that?? Poor Hajime is probably the only voice of reason Mutsuki ever had in his life because you know Michi is to Mutsuki what Kakeru would be to Ayame. God I need a Kakeru-meets-Ayame-centric episode right now. Yuki would DIE. Riku Sohma is one half of the twin siblings born to Haru and Rin, and while he looks like Haru, this boy is a lot like his mother. He doesn’t have the anger issues his parents have, not really (except for instance of punching out Hibika’s brother), but he can be a bit spacey, he’s very serious and literal, and he likes to sleep. Everywhere. This family and their sleep. It kills me. He also gets himself a cute little girlfriend, and because of his crush on this girl and his watching of her, he notices her wanting to reach out to Sawa, and Sawa makes her first friend (mostly) on her own in nearly her entire life! On the other hand, Sora Sohma, his twin sister, is cute and spacey, a bit ditzy, and looks like their mother but is 100% Haru. She has nicknames for everyone in the family, and never calls anyone by their actual name. She’s my second favorite character after Hibika. Sora reminds me very much of Usagi Tsukino: instead of seeing a person, Sora sees a friend.

Poor Chizuru Sohma should’ve been Yuki’s kid. Honestly I’m surprised Ayame and Mine don’t have more kids, given how passionate I’m sure they are. And while Chizuru loves his father, he does declare the man crazy (as does every other character, minus Mutsuki, who says he’s “the most terrific of all uncles”) on more than one occasion. Chizuru is the more responsible of the Ayame/Mine Sohma children, setting up the Ayame II shop essentially on his own until Mutsuki offers Sawa’s help as a part timer (because remember, Hibika decided to go to Paris for the week).  He hates that others view his family as eccentric and him as normal and especially hates when they comment on it, and he tends to be a bit foul-mouthed and outspoken. A bit like Hiro. Poor kid. Rio Mosca is Saki Hanajima’s boy and he is NOT KAZUMA’S SON AND THIS MAKES ME SO SAD. His parents’ love story is rather cute, however. His father is a foreigner (Italian, given that his surname is Mosca), and the two met on a plane, making this a cute little callback to when young Megumi prayed for a someone for Saki to “get on a plane and meet her.” Mina Sohma is the most precious baby and is the daughter of our boy Momiji! Although, look at her - could she be anyone else’s child? She is sweet and cute and seems to be without Momiji a lot - Momiji inherited his father’s business (which seems to be international?), and he travels all the time. Mina has a great talent for batting and rather than be privately tutored and follow her father all over the world, she stays behind in Japan to play baseball for her school. Her dream is to take over the family business from her father like he did from his. It seems Momiji’s terribly tragic story ended happily, as it seems he reconciled with his father enough to inherit his business... (more on this later). And then we have Shiki Sohma, who is surprisingly the son of Shigure and Akito! :O Shiki seems to inhabit two worlds, much like the Sohmas of Furuba. On the one hand, he is part of a generation who was raised by those healed by Tohru Honda. Loving, caring parents who love and adore their children. He has friends who care deeply for him - his best friends, despite all being in different grades, are Chizuru and Rio, and they all play Go together in the school club. His family are all deeply committed to him - Mutsuki especially is close to him, as seen in the first volume where Shiki was teased at but not seen, as Mutsuki called him to come to the house where he, Hajime, Kinu, and Sawa were having a hot pot with Michi, Riku, and Sora.  His parents both are and aren’t the Shigure and Akito we know from Furuba - Shigure is still the immature jokester and Akito is still the serious head of the family, but they both love their son immensely, totally and completely in a way that Akito remembers being loved as a child by her father, in a way that Shigure’s parents probably loved him. On the other hand, in volume three, it is shown that, being the son of the head of the family, and living in the Sohma compound, with the old servants, the “old timers,” and Ren, subjects Shiki to some truly horrific abuse the likes of which no other second gen Sohma child has had to go through. Shiki would greet guests who would give him gifts, only to find that within those gifts were notes badmouthing his mother. Ren attempted to stab him as a small child, something the old Akito would and has attempted on the first gen Sohmas, and it’s implied the only reason was because Shiki was Akito’s child. Akito threw herself in front of Ren’s knife and took the blow for her boy. Shiki is a quiet and withdrawn child, one foot in each of these worlds, and seemingly paralyzed over how to act. Much like Sawa, especially once she meets the Sohmas.

Remember I said we’d come back to Momiji’s happy ending? See that woman in the top left? That’s Momo Sohma, Momiji’s sister. In Furubana, Momiji has reconciled not only with his father, but with his sister as well! Momo appears to pick up Momo from the Sohma house; she is Momiji’s assistant and Mina seems to stay with her sometimes when Momiji is out of the country. Momiji has his family back!!! Speaking of families, Hinata Sohma, Hiro’s little sister, is all grown up and makes her own appearance in the third volume (and is a slight alcoholic, lol). She also mentions brothers - did Hiro did another sibling after his curse broke?? Megumi Hanajima makes an appearance as a teacher at Kaibara High School, and this is my second complaint about Furubana - there is not enough Megumi!! He grew up sexy! Second best glow up in the series after Momiji! It’s Megumi who tells the romantic story of how Saki met her husband on the plane. Also making an appearance is Makoto Takei, former student council president, unwilling witness to Haru’s natural hair color explanation. He is now a teacher as well, and Sawa and Riku’s homeroom teacher. He’s also still in love with Yuki, and lets Mutsuki get away with anything. He is often at odds with Ruriko Kageyama, the daughter of Motoko Minagawa of the Prince Yuki Fan Club. Ruriko has inherited her mother’s obsession, though unlike Motoko and Makoto (god those two would’ve made a great obsessed couple), Ruriko loves ALL Sohmas. I don’t understand how the worship of an entire family to stalker levels is an official school club but whatever. Ruriko is actually pretty cool, and while she’s pretty strict, she’s also on somewhat friendly (like, “person I talk to at school but nowhere else” type friend) terms with Sawa. 

THE STORY

I feel this can best be summed up in five sentences and in reverse: When Sawa was little, she fell down the stairs. She was found by Shiki, who simultaneously called an ambulance and fell in love with her. Her piece of shit mother sued Shiki because he was rich as shit. Ten years later, no Sohmas harbor any grudges against Sawa, her mother is still a piece of shit, the Sohma children are full of Tohru-and-Kyoko wisdom passed down from their parents, and try to help Sawa. And also they all hardcore ship Shiki/Sawa. The end. 

No seriously, that’s the story. It’s beautiful. I wish there was one or two more volumes, a cameo featuring the adults, it would be perfect. Could you imagine the terrible awkward jokes Shigure would make? “Honey look, Shiki’s in love with the girl he pushed down the stairs as a kid. Was marrying her one of the terms of the lawsuit? Hahaha.” And Akito would just be like “....baby, you and Sawa go outside while I smack your father, you don’t need to see this.” And the two go outside and we then see Shigure fucking fly through the paper door and a loud “YOU FUCKING MORON” follow him out with the classic -_- “did I say something wrong?” Shigure face. And Shiki is just a fascinating color of ruby fire about the cheeks and mumbles, “so yeah... that’s my father....” and Sawa is a similar color and staring at her shoes like “he seems nice...” and Akito opens the ruined door as though she didn’t just beat the shit out of her husband and calls out to them, “come and have tea, your father had to step out for a bit. Sawa, dear, I’d love to hear more about you. would you prefer jasmine tea or green,” because Akito has done a complete 180 and become a decent human being since becoming a mother and Shiki is EVERYTHING to her and if her son loves this girl then GODDAMNIT SO DOES SHE. 

#fruits basket another #furubana #fruits basket #furuba #fruits basket spoilers #furuba spoilers #i just finished the series and i don't know what to do with myself

[lorylilybomber]

Okay so I have an anime crossover issue:

I am watching and LOVING the Fruits Basket reboot. And I am also a long-time lover of OHSHC. And it occurred to me that, while crossovers are often very cringey, the opportunities between these two shows, if handled correctly, work like a dream. And there ARE plenty of FBxOHSHC fanfics out there.

The problem?

Hardly any of them seem to take proper advantage of the opportunities presented. The largest percentage of fic I’ve seen can be placed into one of two camps: “look at my OC she’s the secret 14th zodiac member and she goes to Ouran” or “Haruhi is actually a sohma and the secret 14th Zodiac member”

First off: look—there is no wolf in the Chinese zodiac. There is no fox, or raven, or jaguar, or—just, stop.

Second of all, there’s plenty of new ways to play with this crossover concept that are lots of fun to read—because they don’t have to change the rules of either universe!

(also, why do the Sohmas always have to go to Ouran? Can’t it be the other way around? I’m just saying, as sweet as Tohru is, she is canonically nowhere close to winning any sort of scholarship to attend school at Ouran, even if the sohma boys do.)

Imagine, if you will, some of the following scenarios:

Tamaki, in one of his usual bids for host club bonding and commoner research, arrange for the host club to attend a commoner high school for a month. In order to convince Kyoya to come with, Tamaki specifically chooses a high school that is attended by members of the influential-yet-hermit-level-elusive Sohma family. Once they’re there, of course, Tamaki wastes no time establishing a place for the host club to continue their activities, because beauty must be shared with the world, of course!!! From there, imagine some of these scenarios:

1: Tamaki hears of the school’s Prince, and seeks out Yuki in order to induct (or, more accurately, abduct) him into the Host Club whether he likes it or not. (On that note, imagine how the Prince Yuki fan club might react to the Host Club’s presence).

2: Contrariwise, Tamaki knows of the Prince, but is more interested in the school’s aloof Tsudere Type, Kyo. Cue Kyo being incredibly angry and flustered as Tamaki and the twins keep kidnapping him to try and induct him. Possibly include Tamaki noticing kyo’s feelings for Tohru and deciding to coach him on how to be a true gentleman.

3: Imagine Shigure’s reaction to EITHER of those events.

4: in a different or perhaps related chain of events, imagine Tamaki meeting Ayame, essentially adopting him as his senpai, and the learning about his estranged relationship with Yuki. The Tamaki Suoh we know would immediately commence Operation Brotherly Reconciliation before you could blink.

5: imagine after establishing the Commoner High School Host Club, Momiji decides this looks fun and wants to hang out there. They don’t take him on as a host, since they already have Hunny, but he’s still happy to have made a bunch of new friends! And the best part is!!! They’re all guys!!!! And they’re (almost) all emotionally available!!! Which means he can hug them without restraint!!! He hugs Hunny! He hugs Tamaki!!! He thinks about hugging Kyoya but second guesses himself!!! He hugs Haruh—wait.

6: immediately after point number 5, Kyo and Yuki are rapidly switching between panicked and confused. While Yuki and Haruhi are basically Spider-Man-pointing at each other saying “Explain????” Kyo does one of two things:

7: he blurts out something relevant but woefully poorly contexted to Haruhi like “WAIT HOLD ON TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT.” Which elicits a violent reaction from the twins/Tamaki which is headed off by Kyoya/Mori.

8: he grabs Momiji and starts shaking and yelling at him for being stupid and Hunny’s affection for a) his new friend and b) cute bunnies translates into him twisting Kyo’s arm or otherwise kicking his butt to take Momiji away from him because remember, kids! “picking on [Hunny’s] friends is a no-no!”

9: Kyo is dumbstruck because wait this twerp knows martial arts? Cue a running joke/side arc throughout the story in which Kyo keeps trying to get Hunny to fight him because getting beaten up by a twerp is stupidly emasculating and Kyo needs to win back his pride. Meanwhile Hunny sees no reason to fight or indulge Kyo and keeps refusing him (you know..because he’s actually a mature 18 year old). The arc may end in Kyo learning to humble himself and asking Hunny if he could maybe teach him some moves? Followed by Hunny beaming at him and saying yes.

10: how would Kyoya react if he were to learn the Sohma secret? How would he negotiate with the Sohma family? Could he? What stops Hatori from wiping their memories, if anything?

11: How would HARUHI react? Miss “Believes in nothing paranormal?” How would Tamaki react? As the King of Sticking His Nose Into Your Business, he may attempt to make it his mission to break the curse. (Of course, he fails in the end, but they all become friends anyway.)

OR, perhaps they don’t even need to go to the same school at all. Imagine this:

1: Kyoya, in preparation for running some of his family’s hospitals, or perhaps as part of a special inspection, or a possible acquisition, or whatever else, visits a hospital owned by the Sohmas

(Listen, we know that the sohma’s HAVE to own at least one hospital. Preparations for any possible Zodiac birth would have to be EXTENSIVE. Imagine if they’re anticipating a new Dragon? All Sohma women are now compelled to have water births. Why? BECAUSE SCIENCE SAYS SO, SHUT UP, WE’RE DOCTORS. Once the new Dragon’s been born? NEVERMIND NO MORE WATERBIRTHS DONT ASK QUESTIONS. They have veterinarians on call who never really know for sure why they’re paid to just keep a special phone on them, but one day they’re called into a human hospital and forced to sign a huge stack of NDA’s before being brought to a delivery room. One day when he’s training his replacement the kid asks “hey why are you making me read about how to care for baby seahorses?” And the older doctor gets faraway flashback eyes, shakes his head and says “just keep reading, son.” I could honestly go on. I would read an entire fic just about the people working at one of these hospitals.)

Anyway, Kyoya is at the Sohma hospital when something curse related happens. You can honestly pick. Either way, Kyoya goes through an interesting spiral:

2: first, after getting himself the fuck out of there as soon as Hatori’s eyes are off of him, he has a barely-self contained nervous breakdown the minute he gets himself alone in his room because the idea of Kyoya instantly accepting anything remotely fantastical is ridiculous. His friends are worried about him but have no idea what happened because if Kyoya vocalizes it, that means it’s real!!!! And he!!! Just can’t!!! Also, he REALLY doesn’t need the twins teasing him and calling him insane or Haruhi asking if he has a fever.

3: then, after he collects himself, he begins doing his Kyoya thing and collecting information. Obviously a condition (he refuses to call it a curse) with such a easily exploitable trigger couldn’t have been kept a secret for so long. So the Sohma’s are keeping people quiet somehow. There isn’t any history of people disappearing around the sohma’s, so it’s either money, threats, or induced amnesia. So, of course, Kyoya prepares for all three. (Of course, even if they WANTED to kidnap or kill Kyoya, his connection to the Ootori family and its extensive police force would prevent that.)

4: and still, even if this curse idea is utterly ridiculous—and it is—this is the biggest piece of negotiation material Kyoya has ever acquired, and its on the SOHMAS. The one family that almost never deals with anyone. With the sohma’s being such a powerful yet reclusive family, he’s not about to let such a large chip go that easily.

5: cue a delightful mental cat-and-mouse game between Kyoya, Hatori, and eventually Akito. Akito getting involved means Shigure is definitely involved as well, if he isn’t already after Hatori.

6: Akito, being a very impatient person, wants Kyoya either hypnotized or under their thumb YESTERDAY. But he knows he can’t just bring him to the house without raising many important eyebrows. So what is he to do to get Kyoya to cooperate?

7: they could go for the heart, perhaps. Kyoya’s best friend Suoh seems stupid enough. Akito begins to charm Tamaki (who Kyoya has not informed of the curse) and establish a sort of power play in front of Kyoya—“see, he likes me, I can get him to go anywhere I want.”

8: Contrariwise, Akito decides they can’t target his best friend Suoh for the same reasons he can’t target Kyoya. Oh, but...look here. A commoner named Fujioka with no money or status, hardly any family....he’ll do fine.

7: if Tamaki gets in a room alone with Akito, the dynamic could get interesting. After Akito turns scary, Tamaki might take a bit of a beating, but then (as the bighearted and surprisingly wise person he is) he starts talking to Akito, and trying to genuinely connect with him. Whether this works or not would be up to the author.

8: If Haruhi was in a room alone with Akito, presumably brought against her will, she would probably be confused and annoyed, but eventually a little frightened and out of her depth (Akito tends to have that effect on people). But she would also piss Akito off VERY fast, with how observant yet practical and blunt she is. She would say some things that hit Akito hard, and she would probably be attacked fairly quickly. Shigure or Hatori would have to step in to protect her, and perhaps SHE learns about the curse in the process.

Honestly, it could go many different ways. But basically I wanted to demonstrate how Fruits Basket/OHSHC crossovers could be much more unique and interesting with fascinating character dynamics, whether the story is a comedy or a drama. Then, as a few honorable mentions:

Everyone compares Haruhi and Tohru’s Mom situation. But how would Haruhi react if she learned Momiji’s situation?

The twins harassing Kyo. Or, the twins harassing Haru and triggering Black Haru.

Tamaki charming Tohru and poor Tohru not knowing how to react (and Yuki and Kyo getting Very Frustrated.)

Shigure and Tamaki becoming friends because of course they would.

Shigure and RANKA becoming friends because OF COURSE THEY WOULD.

Ranka being a regular at Ayame’s store.

Etc etc etc. and that’s with just the more major characters. Hanajima and Uotani interacting with the host club would also be hilarious.

Anyway, point’s made—Fruits Basket and Host Club are fantastic crossover material, and deserve more unique content!!!

#Host Basket #Fruits Club #OHSHC #Fruits Basket #Furuba #fruits basket 2019 #ouran high school host club #crossovers #Fruits Basket x OHSHC #fanfic prompt

[luanna801]

So as a Fruits Basket fan I have to ask: Favorite characters? Least favorite characters and why? Fave ships, least fave ships and why? :3

Awesome, thanks for sending this!

Favorite Characters: Honestly, I really love most of the characters in this story? I think the main three are all fantastic, and I love the balance of their three very different personalities: Tohru is bubbly and warm, Kyo is passionate and volatile, and Yuki is (usually) calm and reserved. Watching the three of them play off each other is fantastic, but I also think they’re all great characters in their own right. I love how Tohru is so deeply good and kind and yet she’s also one of the most proactive characters in the series? When she sees Akito hurting someone, she steps in. When she realizes how the curse is hurting the Sohma family, she starts taking steps to end it. She’s kind but she’s never passive, and I really appreciate that. So many people equate softness with being bland and ineffectual, but Tohru is honestly really strong.

Yuki is great because Yuki is the character who seems so incredibly perfect on the surface: He’s literally nicknamed ‘the Prince’ at school, he’s handsome, he’s well-mannered, he’s kind, he gets perfect grades, all the girls love him, etc., etc., etc. And yet he’s honestly really flawed and interesting? He can be an absolute brat to Kyo, just as much as Kyo is to him, and I actually love that, because it makes him so much more human. And the way his insecurities and how his abuse affects him are just done so well? That boy’s self-hatred runs deep, and he’s constantly afraid to believe he can actually have a future and people might actually like him, much less love him. And what I love is that (with the admitted exception of said brattiness to Kyo), he really never takes out his issues on anyone. He’s so kind and sweet and caring, and yet he never thinks his kindness is good enough?? He’s constantly worrying he’s selfish and that if he focuses on himself that’s wrong, and it just kinda breaks my heart?

Kyo is… oh my gosh. Kyo grows up so much over the course of the series??? He starts off so prickly and angry and constantly lashing out at the people around him, and that’s understandable when you know his story, but of course that doesn’t excuse it. But the best thing is he knows that, he knows he needs to change and he works to do that. And it’s honestly beautiful to see how much he’s able to open up and let go of some of that anger? He’s such a sweetheart when he lets himself be - you see that side of him even in the early arcs, but you see it more and more as the series goes on and I love it. He’s also so damn selfless??? Like, when he realizes he’s in love with Tohru, he has no hope it could actually work out (you know what I was saying above about Yuki’s self-hate issues? Yeah, he ain’t the only one) but he just wants to spend any time he can with her and make her happy in any way he can, and just… break my heart, why don’t you. I hate the way Kyo’s been made to feel like he can never be anything but some destructive force that hurts everyone around him, and the way he’s been made to feel like he can never have a normal future. But seeing him fight back and start to move past that mentality is so, so important and rewarding.

And that’s just the main three, but honestly, there are so many more characters I could talk about here? I freaking love Hatori. I love the way he’s so often the only level-headed one in this ridiculous family, I love that he’s so serious and reserved and pretty no-nonsense honestly, but he’s also really deeply kind and trying to do the right thing? And even when he’s completely given up on finding happiness for himself, he just wants to protect Tohru and Yuki and Kyo and keep them from making them same mistakes he did? I just… I have a lot of feelings about Hatori, okay.

And Hanajima and Uotani are really great too? I love that they’re not just there to be Tohru’s Best Friends, they have their own stories and internal struggle and you get to really see inside their heads, and honestly both of their stories are fascinating? Like… I would legitimately read a whole spinoff series about Hanajima and her brother. Goth kids with superpowers who freak out everyone around them but are actually complete sweethearts and totally devoted to each other? Sign me the heck up. They’re Addams Family-esque in the best possible way. (Also, can we talk about how you know there’s a lot going on in this series when the fact that Hana has literal superpowers and almost killed someone with them when she was a kid is honestly a pretty minor subplot?)

I also really love Momiji and Rin and Hatsuharu but uh. This is super-long so I’ll stop here. (It’s really nice because I almost never have this feeling of ‘Ugh, why are we focusing on this character?’ no matter where the story goes. Even the characters I dislike as people, like Akito, are really interesting and compelling and doing their part in the story really well.)

Least Favorite Characters: Well, Akito, obviously. I have very little tolerance for abusers, and what she’s done to her family is effing horrifying. I mean, I don’t think this one needs much explanation. She pushed Rin out a freakin’ window for daring to get a boyfriend. She almost blinded Hatori in one eye and made him feel like it was his fault. She psychologically tortured Yuki for years and tried to completely break him. She put a twelve-year-old child in the hospital just because another twelve-year-old had a bby crush on her. I… really have very little time for sympathizing with Akito. I know she was abused too, but after a certain point… I don’t care? It in no way excuses the absolutely horrifying things she’s done to people who did absolutely nothing to her? Abuse messes with you as a person, absolutely, but she’s still responsible for her own actions. The people she’s abused were all seriously messed up by it too, but they didn’t torture other people because of it. And when they do lash out over it, that’s something they have to work on and realize they’re acting in a way that’s not okay. Having been through a lot isn’t a free pass to excuse anything you do.

I’m also reeeeeeeally not fond of Shigure. I find it particularly chilling that he… honestly seems amused by the things Akito does a lot of the time? It honestly mostly comes across like he can’t be bothered to take any of this seriously, and that’s gross. I find that kind of complete moral vacuum almost as hatable as outright villainy. (Also, as I’ve mentioned in the past, the way he continually pervs over teenage girls, particularly Tohru, and the series plays it off as a joke? Gross. Gross, gross, gross. Even if you assume he’s joking - which I tend to hope he is for my sanity - it’s still creepy as heck that that’s his idea of humor.)

Favorite ships: Kyo/Tohru, of course. Honestly, the whole central love triangle is done really well. (With the exception of a few things that I won’t get into here because I’m saying what I like.) Both relationships make sense and are well-developed and have some incredibly sweet moments. But ultimately I’m really happy with Kyo and Tohru ending up together.

I also really like Mayu and Hatori (no surprise since, as I mentioned above, Hatori is another fave of mine), and I enjoy how… normal and mature their relationship is? There’s no big drama, they’re just two nice, likable adults who get along well and are good for each other. That shouldn’t seem so rare in fiction, but it honestly does? Rin and Haru are also a great and fascinating relationship and tug on my heartstrings in so many ways. (I’m also not quite up to their relationship yet in my reread, but I think Yuki and Machi seem good? I know they end up together and I like how her character’s been developed so far from where I am in the story, so I’m excited to see how it goes.)

Honestly, I was thinking the other day that Fruits Basket is a rare series because basically all the canon ships work really well for me? There are some I’m more into than others, but for the most part I think they all work really well and are likable/interesting in different ways, and I wouldn’t want to change how anyone’s paired off with one notable exception. That’s rare.

Least Favorite Ships: *looks up at my Least Favorite Characters* … It will stun everyone to hear that I’m not very fond of Akito/Shigure, I’m sure. :-P

Also, I think the whole thing with Uotani and Kureno really comes out of nowhere and… really doesn’t work for me at all? Like, they meet two times and suddenly we’re supposed to believe that they’re so important to each other and be invested in this whole star-crossed lovers thing and it just… really doesn’t feel believable? At all? I mean, I know sometimes people are very smitten right from the first time they meet, but in a series which usually takes the time to develop relationships so believably, it feels far too sudden. Also I don’t get why it was necessary to give them such a big age difference? Like… she’s in high school. He’s almost a decade older than her. If Takaya wanted to pair them off, why not make Kureno closer to Uo’s age? Like, you could still have an age difference, but make them like.. 17 and 21, instead of 17 and 26. That would feel far less squicky to me.

… But honestly, just pair Uo and Hana instead? That would’ve made so much more sense to me, and gives you a wlw couple in a major role too.

#replies #anons #... I have a lot of thoughts about this oops #man this is long #sorry guys #fruits basket

[imagine-fight-write]

yc(via Comparison: Tohru & Other Kind Hearted Heroines) I just found this blog, soaringwingsblog.wordpress.com, and I’m enjoying it. However, I do disagree with soaringwings’s statement that Tohru is simply a doormat. She’s not. What I find strange is soaringwings apparently likes  Ahiru / Duck from Princess Tutu (which is an awesome anime everyone should watch.)

 Ahiru and Tohru are very much alike (if you wish for me to expand on this, I will.) I’m concerned in this article on soaringwings’s emphasis on strength and intelligence. Not everyone can be strong or smart but that shouldn’t be something to value whether a character or a real person is worth knowing or not.

I do hope soaringwings continues to read Fruits Basket because, like most people you meet, there is more to Tohru than what meets the eye. In fact, a lot of the characters start out as somewhat sterotyical, like Yuki and Kyo, and change as the reader and Tohru get to know them better. 

Also, there is a whole range of very different characters in Fruits Basket, and more than a few also share traits that Tohru has, and they are men. One is a fashion designer. I think that should be worth noting. Tohru’s traits, which soaringwings clearly doesn’t like, are not just shown to be “female traits”. That’s important. 

Before I explain more about Tohru, I want to say I had a friend in middle / high school who was like Tohru. She wasn’t smart (or at least she struggled at school), she was very kind and optimistic (I think I saw her actually mad once or twice). 

She wasn’t physically strong, not good at sports and didn’t, far as I knew, have any real interest in much of what people would consider important or worthy hobbies. Like fashion and makeup - oh no!

 Yet she was kind and a wonderful friend. It was easy to relax and have a good time with her. She was wonderful at simply accepting other people and she often put other’s interests before her own. She wasn’t very assertive either.

I have another friend now who apologizes a lot. Does that make her or my other friend any less worthy or interesting as a human being? Of course not. Being loud and tough and tomboyish doesn’t make a person or character interesting.

I hope the world doesn’t keep valuing what have usually been considered “masculine” traits, such as being physically strong or smart, over equally valuable “female” ones such as being patience, optimistic, NOT wanting to cause fights or arguments, and needing a community of friends.

That’s a main point of Fruits Basket - that being quietly determined, optimistic and compassionate / thinking of others is just as valuable as physical strength and intelligence, if not more so. And having friends to be there for you is important. 

To be brief, Tohru’s traits stem from a past when she was bullied, so she often is smiling and kind as a defense (and I bet is a lot less naive then she pretends). Being good at cooking and housework also stems from her past, and as a kind hearted person she often puts others before herself - and aren’t heroes supposed to be selfless like that?

And did I mention the girl’s had a tough life? Both her parents are dead at the beginning of the series and she is living in a tent. By her own choice. And she also gets a job while in high school. Despite being also bad at school work. She needed Yuki’s help.  

Tohru’s traits also aren’t portrayed as being good for her and you learn throughout the series that yes, even kind, smiling Tohru has problems that bother her and really upset her, and there’s even someone she slowly learns not to hate.

First, I’m not going to deny Tohru doesn’t have problems. Of course she does. I find her too ditzy and naive myself. Yes, she apologizes too much & needs to stand up for herself. But - here’s the important thing - those traits are NOT portrayed as good by other characters in the manga / anime.

 Kyo, for example, often tells her she should stand up for herself more. (Kyo, by the way, is also a good cook.) So do her best friends. Tohru often worries her friends because she is naive, ditzy and clumsy. And the reader is often shown how Tohru gets into trouble for not being assertive and being overly kind. She gets duped and has her stuff stolen.

Tohru I also think pretends to be more ditzy than she actually is so when people such as Shigure tease her it doesn’t work, she simply responds “Huh?” so he moves on to Kyo and Yuki, who do respond (Shigure is a sadist). But note, at the hot springs vacation, there is a scene where Tohru realizes someone is older than he looks. and is VERY embarrassed. Clearly she’s not totally naive or she’d just go, “Huh?”

Second, Tohru does have goals and ambitions. She isn’t smart at all, yet she’s determined to finish high school because that’s what her mom wanted. She looks up to her mom as a role model, who used to be in a gang. She becomes interested in gardening and martial arts because she meets people who are also interested in it (that’s how I got interested in manga / anime by the way.)

Tohru is a hard worker and rarely complains - that’s a trait everyone should admire. She is very determined, as you see a bit later in the manga, both when she finds out Kyo’s secret and when she meets Akito.

 She actively tries to figure out what she can do to solve the curse of the Sohma family. She tries her best to learn about it and talks several times about how frustrated she is at her own inability to help, even as she learns just how much the curse is ruining everyone’s lives. Even people outside of the Sohma family. She fights to help everyone because she cares about them, in the only way she can.

As stated, she not physically weak and not smart, so all she can do is simply be there and listen and give advice, usually stuff she got from her mother. And yet that does help. Her optimism helps. Really the only annoying trait is she’s clumbsy and even that isn’t viewed as attractive or a good thing.  

Finally, while Tohru is the main female lead, she is by no means the only female in Fruits Basket and Fruits Basket is very good at fleshing out all of the characters. There is a whole range of different females (and males) in Fruits Basket. Tohru is by no means held up as the female token or even the best one. 

In fact, as I mentioned earlier, Tohru’s mom is probably the most idealized character, partly because Tohru and her friends idolize her. So I don’t think there’s any fear of a reader thinking “Oh I must be like Tohru if I ever want to get a guy!” And the reader even gets a chance to view Tohru’s mom’s life and see that she isn’t perfect either. 

So to finish, while I can see why at first glance Tohru seems like a doormat, and sometimes is, she is more than that. Tohru has her own sort of strength and one that is just as valuable as being loud and assertive and strong and intelligent. 

#fruits basket #tohru honda #think about it #more than meets the eye #strong

[dragonkeeper19600]

Fruits Basket Observations

I reread Fruits Basket this month. One of my favorite things about this manga full of favorite things of mine is that every time I read it, I realize something new about the story and its characters. Apparently, this was one of the goals that Natsuki Takaya had in regards to Fruits Basket, that it would get better the more you “bite into” it (she actually compares the series to a cuttlefish in that regard), and I think she pulled it off due to all the amazing Fridge Brilliance moments that come from rereading it. 

With that in mind, here is my list of random thematic and character-based elements I’ve never noticed before, as well as little moments that slipped under my radar the first time I read the series:

A lot of traits about Akito’s character, including her real gender and her primary motivation, are foreshadowed early on in more minor forms. For example, the main character is a girl named Tohru, but in Japan “Tohru” is a boy’s name. “Akito” is also a masculine name. Tohru and Akito sharing masculine names not only emphasizes their status as foils, it also sort of foreshadows Akito’s gender in a way, since there’s one other example of a gender-blender name in the story.

Matoko’s character also foreshadows Akito’s internalized misogyny. In Volume 7, Matoko fumes that she hates all women, including the other girls in the Prince Yuki fan club because they’re all “her enemies” (in that they’re potential rivals for her love for Yuki) but then admits to herself that the flaws she sees in others are only reflections of the flaws she sees in herself. 

Finally, in a really interesting example, the anime’s opening theme, “For Fruits Basket,” finishes with the line, “Let’s stay together, always.” “Staying together always” is revealed to be the true nature of the curse, since it forces people to be together forever regardless if they want to or not. Because of this, the song and opening sequence become unexpectedly sinister when viewed by someone who’s finished the manga.

What’s even more bizarre is that in the anime, Akito is doomed to die young, and Tohru is able to get through to him by noticing his loneliness and fear, which no one else ever acknowledged. This was exactly how Ren got Akira to fall in love with her in the manga. This is especially odd because Natsuki Takaya had nothing to do with Akito’s characterization in the anime, meaning that this is either the mother of all coincidences or she actually got the idea from the anime. Considering Ren is a villainous character, this may even have been a deliberate potshot at the anime, which Natsuki Takaya reportedly hated, though this is just wild guesswork at this point.

A lot of characters who share some kind of connection or matching qualities have similar names. This is actually pointed out by Kyo when he notices his name sounds pretty close to “Kyoko,” but it’s far from the only example. Matoko Minagawa and Makoto Takei have similar names and are both high schools one year above Yuki who are obsessively in love with him. Ren and Isuzu not only look alike, but Isuzu’s nickname, “Rin,” sounds pretty close to Ren’s name. There’s also Mitsuru and Ritsu, whose similarity becomes even more pronounced when Mitsuru’s name is shortened to “Mitsu,” as it often is. And, finally, Kyoko’s maiden name, “Katsunuma,” is pretty close to the name of her husband, “Katsuya.” 

On that note, Ren mentions at one point that she’s always hated Rin “instinctively.” While some have pinned this on Ren’s simple dislike of children in general, the fact that Rin looks like Ren hints at another explanation. Shigure mentions in Volume 20 that if Akito expressed her true gender, she’d look just like Ren. Because Rin also looks like Ren, perhaps when Ren saw a little girl who resembled her, it reminded her of her own hated daughter. In other words, Ren and Akito both hated Rin for the same reason (because she looked like someone they hated.)

Shigure and Akito totally banged in Chapter 101. They start kissing, with Shigure pulling on Akito’s tie, then it fades into a flashback, and when we cut back, Akito is in bed, topless, and Shigure is pulling a blanket over her. They totally went at it doggy-style, yo. This may have been obvious to other people, but I was pretty innocent-minded as a teenager (shockingly), so this flew completely over my head.

In that same chapter, it’s implied that Shigure actually sleeps around a lot, since when Akito prodded him for sleeping with “that woman,” he honestly didn’t know who she meant until she clarified she meant Ren.

Hang on, does this mean he banged Mayuko? I... Shit, I think it does.

When Kureno rescues Rin from the cat’s room, she’s wearing Akito’s clothes. Looks like Akito (or maybe one the maids) has been dressing Rin in Akito’s robes. 

Rin probably has some kind of crush on Tohru, and I’m not just saying that because of her stated desire to “run crying into her lap.” In Volume 23, when Kyo sees Tohru comforting Rin, he murmurs that he has “guys and girls as competition,” and later in the same volume, when Haru and Momiji are speculating on how happy Tohru and Kyo will be together, Rin sullenly comments that Tohru should break up with him. If this is true that means that both Rin and Haru are bi and attracted to people other than their partner (since Haru confesses in Volume 3 that Yuki was his first love and also comments that he “likes Kyo, too.”)

The birth of his little sister Hinata is what motivates Hiro to tell Kisa and Haru the secrets he’s been keeping from both of them, since he desired to “be someone who can really protect her.” Hinata innocence created a sense of urgency for him to mature, and he felt that properly communicating crucial information about his and other people’s feelings was an important step towards that.

When we see Hanajima immediately after Tohru’s accident (in Chapter 124), her normally neat braid is really loose, with huge strands of hair coming out of it. Considering how deep her love for Tohru is, her getting injured must have hurt her pretty hard. 

In the last panel of the same chapter, a large rabbit plushie is visible in Tohru’s hospital bed. Since Momiji had already skipped school to visit Tohru early that day, it can be inferred that he gave it to her. Takaya is pretty consistent about drawing it afterwards, too, since Hanajima is shown carrying it when Tohru checks out of the hospital next volume.

Even though Ayame seems to be the loud, transparent type who proclaims to the heavens every thought that crosses his head, he actually manages to keep three major secrets during the course of the manga: Akito’s true gender, that he’s dating Mine, and that Mine knows about the curse. Ayame might be more cunning than we give him credit for. 

In Volume 15, Yuki recalls when he first met Kyo, Kyo angrily shouted that “someone as rotten as you ought to do us all a favor and just disappear!” Much later, in Chapter 126 (Volume 22), during his meeting with his father, Kyo recalls that his father actually shouted that at both him and his mother. Thus, Kyo as a kid was just repeating to Yuki what he heard his father say at home.

Hatori was dreading having to dance with Ayame at the next New Year’s banquet in Chapter 95. Well, it looks like Hatori lucked out because that dreaded dance never happened (as that was the last New Year’s before the curse was broken completely).

The story has a bit of a bookend structure with several events from the first few chapters repeating in the climax. For example, a landslide buries Tohru’s tent in the first volume and causes Tohru to fall from a great height in Volume 21. In both cases, the landslide is a presence that is catastrophic but also signals a beginning. In the Volume 1, the landslide is what indirectly causes Tohru to live in Shigure’s house, whereas in Volume 21, Tohru’s fall causes Kyo to return to her and begin to realize the depth of his mistake in turning her away. 

In a similar way, Akito’s confrontation with Tohru outside Shigure’s house actually mirrors the famous scene where Tohru runs into the woods after Kyo’s true form. In both cases, Tohru is trying to comfort and talk down another character who is reacting to her violently, slashing her with claws in Kyo’s case and with a knife in Akito’s. In both cases, the violence is a way to mask pain and distress, however, the situation is ramped up in intensity in Akito’s case because while Kyo actually loved Tohru and wanted to drive her away because he thought her respect for him was gone, Akito was murderous in this scene and actually meant Tohru harm. The scenes also contrast in that Kyo is a monstrous presence, with a huge, misshapen form and terrible smell, while Akito is more divine, appearing in human form and literally being possessed by God. Both represent monstrous dangers mixed with human pain, but Akito actually becomes the more terrifying monster because of the blame and spite she hurls at Tohru.

Kyo at no point actually told Tohru he loved her before she fell off the cliff. No wonder she thought he dumped her. 

In the fable of God and the Zodiac at the end of Volume 22, God has identical facial features to Akito. Also, while God is consistently referred to in gender neutral terms (always being referred to as “God” or “that person” by the narration), the cat is referred to with male pronouns, meaning the spirit of the cat is itself male. Considering the cat before Kyo was also a man, this may mean that every person possessed by the cat is male, though this is again speculation.

The breaking of the curse seems to be random, with characters abruptly being freed without any kind of prior warning or clear trigger, but a comment from Shigure in Chapter 108 about “small chances and changes that have accumulated” leads me to think that the members of the zodiac forming relationships outside of the zodiac, or even outside of the family, increases the chance that it will be broken. Though the weakening of the curse over time made this possible, it was outside influence, and the zodiac members’ increasing willingness to defy Akito, that caused it to weaken more rapidly. The curse begins to break rapidly once Tohru realizes she is in love with Kyo, going from no one having their curse broken in years to Momiji and Hiro being freed one after another.

So, what was the “change” that caused Kureno’s curse to break? Considering how old Kureno, and Akito, were at the time, and considering that Kyo’s mother died “when he was three or four,” according to him, my guess is that Kureno’s curse broke either as a result of Shishou taking in Kyo, or, my preferred possibility, when Kyo met Kyoko, since Kyo mentions that her comment of, “That sounds pretty lonely,” once she learned Kyo’s situation felt to Kyo like “forgiveness.” If that’s the case, then Kyoko’s friendship with Kyo formed the first major fracture, and Tohru unwittingly (at first) continued her work by growing close to the rest of the Sohma family and giving them the courage to defy their oppressive environments.

Finally: reused character designs. Shigure is the spitting image of Colonel Hil, the main antagonist from Natsuki Takaya’s previous work, Tsubasa: Those With Wings, and Kisa’s mother also bears more than a passing resemblance to Kotobuki, the series’s protagonist. Finally, as Takaya herself points out, Ritsu’s mother’s character is wholly recycled from a bit character from the same manga.

#fruits basket #fridge brilliance #tohru honda #kyo sohma #akito sohma #natuski takaya #ren sohma #tsubasa those with wings #long post #furuba

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Fruits Basket, Se03. ep 6.(Part 1)

The main female protagonist who, has been the “mother /psychiatrist/ fixer/curse-breaker” for 57 eps & 2 seasons, has finally had her own “I’m a real person with my own issues” ep !!!! YESS! So happy!!! also, so underwhelmed. Tohru has been painted to be this utterly selfless & altruistic character for long, that when she’s finally a balanced character it’s presented in half an episode? Don’t get me wrong, I like the ep, but there’s also the same feeling of bullet train that I felt in momiji’s ep! ugh!! I hated that feeling! Go away~ oh well.. I’ll quickly state what I didn’t like, before jumping into what I liked, in order to end with a happier note~

What I didn’t like:

Tohru’s monologue after leaving shigure & Isuzu felt more like a background exposition more than a true character’s thoughts. The reason is that It is quickly narrated with quick flashbacks from the past with intentional pieces missing from the flashback. Pieces like” how did Kyoko hurt tohru? She said to kyo, in se02, ep “ I feel like I’ve only caused her sadness” &  tohru’s flashbacks in se02 of her mother leaving/ closing a door. All these things not included in tohru’s 1st ever personal monologue made it seem like quick fill in for the audience more than tohru’s main struggle. Compare it to Yuki’s 3 ep monologue in se02, filled with all his own background info, hence, we as audience sit back & just feel. With tohru a little brain work is needed of putting things together in the puzzle is needed because NOTHING abt her trauma has ever been explained to us prior to her monologue . Also, compare this kyo. A character who ONLY have 2 eps dedicated to him in 57 eps, yet even without monologues & with hidden secrets for climax purposes, his emotions are clear cuz his background was explained early in se01, ep24 & se02, ep9. Compared to them both, her monologue felt a bit lacking.

What’s up with the following scene? Her crying & kyo comforting her mid-street. He saw her crying, asked what’s wrong & she couldn’t say & he gave her a comforting advice. All good. Kyo always give the most needed advice for tohru to be herself & feel comforted. Se01, “complain more, be selfish” Se02, somen table scene & asking her abt her future plans & the hiro incident. Kyo has tried to guess whats wrong first. Here he saw her cry in the middle of the street & just gave her an advice? couldn’t he at least guess wrongly if it is her granpa? school? anything? This scene is AMAZING but it feels off a little.

Kyo’s “ now I remember” EXCUSE ME?????? se01, ep14, valentine ep, he got a nightmare, then when shigure talked to him, we saw a quick flashback that we didn’t now what it is but now it IS kyoko. se02, the entirety of ep9 & the “ I won’t forgive you” & the flashback of young him with kyoko talking abt tohru. se02, ep 22 his fight with yuki & the clear face of kyoko telling him abt something regarding the hat. His entire shutdown of tohru IS abt kyoko NOT abt him being a monster cuz tohru accepted monster kyo in se01 ep 24! so.. REMEMBER WHAT????? the accident?? I feel like being hit with a rock. I mean, it makes sense that kyo will get PTSD after seeing the hat, cuz he remembers the bloody accident vividly. But it is the dialogue that IS weird. “ I remember” ?? it makes no sense? unless it is another hidden secret & will be revealed later. If so, then forget this point.

Kagura (more on her below). Now, let’s talk abt what I liked!

-Grief (the most difficult theme to express in literature): Excellent writing!

Grief is one of the most diverse human emotions. ppl who grief a loved one either erase everything abt them in order to cope with the pain of loss & live on, or drastically engrave everything, not want any memory to slip away, or hold the deceased on a pedestal, or hate them irrationally in order to forget abt them, some deny that the loved one is gone, others talk to them daily, some act & live normally for years & suddenly it hits them that this loved person is truly gone & they breakdown. Others, direct their disbelief of losing a precious one into the envy that other bad ppl are still living, why my precious one is dead?. Thats why, it is a difficulty emotion to understand by others. Ppl watching you will always think that comforting you is enough & that the longer you take, the more impatient they are with you. Tell me, watching tohru this ep, didn’t you feel that:

Come on. tohru, you can love your mom & kyo! who says only ONE person can be your precious?

Umm, why she cries for her mom NOW? 2 years after her death? Is she over it already?

Tohru~~ your mom aint going no where cuz you loved a guy? she’s in your heart, girl. Ugh!

Compared to yuki who was abused by his parents & kyo whose mom commit suicide in front of him, tohru’s trauma is meh~

Feeling this way abt tohru is exactly how many feel abt ppl struggling with grief. You are NOT a bad person if you felt this way. It means that thankfully you weren’t struck by grief to tohru’s extent or that your grief went about differently than tohru. Grief is a crippling feeling. It is valid, strong, overwhelming, paralyzing & above all very unique to the person themselves. Tohru feeling that her mom is slipping away from her memory is so realistic & utterly heartbreaking. Grief hurts & moving on from grief hurts more!!!! The more you go on & live your life, the more you feel like you betray your loved one.

Tohru’s entire existence is for her mother & so her mother LIVES inside her:

Finishing high school cuz it’s her mother’s request.

Getting a job to sustain herself cuz she has no one to support her financially.

Giving her mom’s wisdom & teachings abt life to others.

imitating her dad’s speaking style to prevent her mom from “leaving”.

Being the perfect girl in order to portray that her mom, who is a gangster & is hinted by the ugly relatives to be unfaithful to her husband due to tohru not taking after her dad, actually raised a respectful girl!

Talking to a dead cold lifeless picture as if it is a living human being & going into panic attacks when she looses such pictures.

Suppressing all her true “ ugly, negative” emotions & only giving the fake smiles & positive attitude.

She fears that ppl will leave her if she isn’t “comforting, happy”, hence, the whole facade of “ i’m okay, I’m okay”.

Immersing her self in ppl’s issues so she won’t face her own feelings of utter loneliness, fear of the future, & being left behind when everybody moves on with their lives.

Thinking that having selfish desires contradicts the “ hopeful, kind” girl images, hence, the fear to actually wants sth for herself. Everything HAS TO BE for the sake of the others.

Tohru is deeply traumatized & her complex, unhealthy but extremely realistic attachment to her mom must be broken. Tohru must learn to LET GO.

-Kagura’s character’s assassination. aka (violence heals y’all!)

The show wanted to express the emotion that kagura is still in love with kyo, but is learning to let go & accepting kyo/tohru love. I love that. Her speech with kazuma abt not being able to face tohru cuz her face will show her emotions is so relatable & it hit ME personally. Loved that. Then, she learns that tohru truly loves kyo & should confess to him not talk to Isuzu & I get that, it make sense that she lashes on thru & teach her the value of being open abt your feelings & dont loose him. all cool & understandable. BUT:

How dare you slap tohru like that? you don’t know what she’s going through? tohru is wearing funeral clothes for God’s sake! she just visited her dead mom, you insensitive woman! How dare you assume that all tohru is struggling with is love love, romance romance yay~ confess, kiss, be happy?

Tohru & kyo’s issues are deeper than typical, normal, shallow shojo love. It is related to child trauma & abuse. To their own individual identity & self-image! Their romantic love is meant to guide them towards better choices for the future, not magically heal everything. Their mutual love is NOT the answer to their issues.

How dare you slap someone to make them go back to their senses? this is such an anime move! ugh!~ it cheapens the emotional weight of character’s emotions.

“ I’m not apologizing to tohru. We communicate thro fists” excuse me?  you arent even communicating with kyo thro fists! he sees you & run! the only time he thanked you for, was when you didn’t “ communicate thro fists” & played with him as a child! Not only make her hit tohru but not apologize??

No one told her off? are you foreal?? Isuzu pouting lips is no match for Isuzu powerful emotions when she’s embarrassed, & kazuma! where you at? Happy at the “ open confrontation”? Why do you kill kagura’s character like that?

Side Notes:

I hate how this went by in half an ep like they did with machi!! tohru is THE main character for God’s sake! But it looks like the show is not so fond of the true tohru who wants stuff & screams & talks to herself, alas she isn’t the angelic, innocent girl that is saturating the heck out of all shojo amines. Oh well~ perhaps tohru’s issues will be visited again in the finale?

Kyo gets PTSD reaction in front of tohru. great. Now what’s next? I won’t ever forgive the anime if next ep, kyo & tohru are all normal or worse the episodic theme prevents the continuation & jumps elsewhere. Nearly all the eps that didn’t end with a happy note, started the next ep somewhere & totally forgot the cliff hanger. such as, Isuzu’s ep in se02, it ended with tohru’s nightmare & next ep started yuki’s issues with tohru all smiley & bright. Another example, the Cinderella play ended with kyo/tohru torn symbolism where each is awkward with the other, next ep machi !!!!!! & kyo/ tohru all normal in kazuma’s house. But this time, it will be an epic mistake to do the same. Kyo going full traumatic in front of tohru to the point of her screaming is not sth you skip & start over erasing. Don’t disappoint me show! you can’t screw that, can you?

I love the symbolism of kyoko disappearing from the picture & the crack of her framed pic at the end with it still continued in he ED. Good job.

They are building for a hug clashing scene between kyo & tohtu. it must hurt. It is designed to hurt. I wanted it to hurt. It is not abt romance. It is abt mental & emotional trauma. I’m excited. But I’m scared. After today’s ep, I can confidently say I don’t trust the director. I’m an anime-only, but tohru’s part in the story is the least touched upon, the quickest to get over with & has the wackiest animation. They just don’t know how to depict an emotional tohru~ sigh~

Tohru is written to be a unique protagonist in the sea of innocent, selfless & always happy shojo heroine & opposed to the badass, physically strong female protag in shonen. She is the most realistic, but so much of her potential is wasted so far~~

“ saving the sohma’s. breaking the curse for others is a lie, in reality I wanted to do it for kyo” This line is supposed to be liberating for tohru cuz for once she is putting herself FIRST! It is not abt kyo. It is abt herself! it is cuz SHE wants him. See the difference? See how this line gives tohru the biggest character development!! but still sth is missing. I duno..

I have lots to say abt tohru, kyo, shigure, the grandpa, kyoko, Isuzu & even kazuma! I’ll do that in part 2.

I still liked the ep tho. It is solid. I”ll like it MORE if they continued from here & didn’t cut it cold.

#Fruits Basket #Anime Only #Exhausted paper #final season #Tohru Honda

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket, SE02, Ep22

I was pleasantly surprised that this was one of the best balanced eps concerning tohru as of yet!! They touched upon her being mom-figure in the first half but proceeded to humanize her afterward, depicting her as normal girl!, frustrated, vulnerable & somewhat silently struggling. I was right in my prediction that the moment yuki lets go of mom-tohru image, the show will too!! I’m happy!! finally, No more angels in the sky. But only real tohru with flaws, ugliness & humanity.

-Yuki’s acceptance of past feelings & change towards new ones:

The show is aware that they’ve been using the fake love-triangle initially but it actually has an explanation within the story. Yuki is attracted to tohru, so much, but it isn’t romantic at all. his attempts in “correcting” how he perceived her didn’t set right with him & he felt weirded out more! The show brilliantly depicted these “flirty scenes” with a hint of uneasiness. Yuki’s lines/ moves felt cringey & artificial “do you like my act, princess”,”I’ll kidnap you”, being encouraged by Aya to compliment tohru as a boy should. The signs are all there except not in your face, & the writer deserves praise!! Yuki, being perceptive, was able to reach such conclusion, not only by looking into himself, but by also at looking how kyo interacted with her, differently from him. Kyo sees tohru as a woman & is attracted to her romantically & altho kyo’s words & interactions with tohru lacks princely smoothness & have a hint of awkwardness, it was natural, genuine & spontaneous. Kyo didn’t put on an act or forced himself to flirt or deliberately chose words to impress tohru. Yuki was able to notice tohru only looked romantically towards kyo. Yuki used all his observations to reach another conclusion abt himself too!!! What he wants in a relationship is sth similar to kyo/tohru!! Mutual & equal relationship. He won’t be satisfied by one-sidedly giving or taking.

-The Author’s brilliance in writing traumatic-based behavior ( Kyo/yuki’s best interaction!! ) :

-an anon cryptically warned me that I’ll be disappointed in kyo this ep cuz of a certain scene with yuki. After watching it, I can tell you without a doubt I’m not disappointed at all!! Rather I’m beyond satisfied that I’ve decided to trust the author. Ms. Takya is genius in depicting traumatic-based behavior! Any other writer, would write the scene less raw, yuki would still shine defeating his inner demos, but kyo would only grunt, or say sth mild. cuz the writer might fear that it might risk showing kyo as the stupid guy behind in his growth compared to the successful yuki ,or annoy the readers/viewers who are so eager for these boys to reach mutual ground. Only a great writer will be brave enough to write kyo as his trauma/ faulty copying mechanism logically dictates!

-We spent an entire season with yuki, saw him yell at kakeru’s insensitive hurtful remarks, cry knowing he was saved cuz a friend risked freeing him, it took a locked dark room, paint fumes, PTSD, tons of monologues before yuki finally let it all out! & you want such brilliant writer to make kyo turn around & be nice to yuki all of a sudden after episodes of fights & no perspective insight? You bet such amazing writer will give kyo’s perspective its time & his development the logical progress he needs. This writer is all abt logical & realistic progression! whether positive or even negative, the characters will come across human, raw, realistic & real during & after their journey.

- Going through kyo/yuki’s dialogue, it will tell you that furuba is NOT abt friendship saving the day, or abt successful growth. It is abt the journey these traumatized children are undergoing now that they are nearly becoming young adults. Yuki’s journey was amazing not cuz he succeeded (as amazingly as this is) but cuz it made sense from his perspective, was realistic, logical, matched his coping mechanism & character traits & it took the needed time. Now for kyo, all his reactions should match his perspective, & make sense giving his coping mechanism. He wasn’t given time yet. so, he won’t grow much yet. “Making a fool of me?” kyo didn’t see yuki’s perspective abt the hat. he thinks yuki did it on purpose to taunt him.That HE saved tohru while kyo fails as always. “Praised by others, needed by them” Kyo like everybody in school, always thought yuki is a prince, loved, & admired. Kyo is not the audience, he didn’t see yuki’s struggle.”surpass me easily while I struggle” kyo may train for years with tears & blood, but the rat will beat him always cuz he is superiors. “an idiot that never gets anything, wants an idiotic impossible thing” “if only I gave birth to the rat, I’d ve been happier” kyo’s mom wished or the impossible. So did kyo. He wished that he’d prove to her that he can be the rat’s equal. She shouldn't have died becuz of him. An impossible wish.

-I personally think that kyo’s journey will take a different path from yuki’s. Unlike yuki, kyo’s been accused & proved to harm others somehow, intentionally or unintentionally. Some not even in this world anymore. So there are things in kyo’s journey that can’t be fixed. Nothing will bring his mom or kyoko back to life. He can’t apologize to them. There is NO forgiveness here as kyoko said!. Hence, the writer will brilliantly make kyo fall so hard & reach rock bottom so bad before he stands up again!! It matches his personality too!! He’s a person who struggles in expressing himself verbally, gets overwhelmed with emotions, stubborn, hard on himself & fiery in nature. Moreover, due to his trauma, he harbors very low self-esteem & due to his guilt, he is drenched in self-loath.

-The addiction of destructive coping mechanism ( Writing Brilliancy):

Kyo has one of the most destructive coping mechanism in the show. Similarly to what his father did by illogically dumping all the blame of the mom’s suicide on 4 year old child, which resulted in hurting kyo, kyo adopted his dad’s ways & dumped it all on yuki. Illogical. wrong. but it works!! it numbs this tingling sense of guilt, it puts the voice that goes “ you’re unforgivable” temporarily to sleep. All the hate is on someone else. not me. I’m not a monster. does it work all the time? NO. cuz NO drug does! All drugs has this temporary effect, that unless you break away from, will end up destroying you. “don’t you want it that way? you wouldn’t want to have anyone to hate?“  I’m still confused if this is kyoko or his mom. It has kyoko’s hair, the words are very harsh. Kyoko from kyo’s perspective shifts between extremely kind & cruelly harsh! but regardless, the truth has been spoken. Kyo’s eyes are opened. He can’t force blind himself anymore. he does NOT hate yuki. he “ acts like hating yuki is sth you needs to do”, as shigure said! hating yuki is his way to escape from his destructive self-loath. He hasn’t been hating or fighting yuki for a long while, he tries now, one more fight, one more dose of the drug, let the pain go away! Nope. Yuki is not participating, yuki is in the light now. You are drenched in the darkness, as unforgivable as you are. Monster eyes & all. Kyo breaks the window to break away from the memory. from this point on, it escalates to rock bottom as the drug is no longer working & hating himself with no escape is all he’s left with.

-Protecting leading to hurting:

yuki brings kyo attention that while he’s been hard on himself & resisting change, he is hurting tohru. Sth kyo chose confinement in oder to NOT do. Kyo being distant from class activities “life” is his choice. Tohru suffering is a consequence to that choice. Kyo, once again, overwhelmed by tohru’s desire to include him in their activities “ life”. Helplessly & painfully looking at her & acknowledging yuki’s words. Kyo in one of his most vulnerable moments, matched only by true form hug scene, is desperate for a hug. Not only cuz he loves her, but cuz he needs her, cuz he’s so tried of himself, cuz she’s so endearingly stupid waiting for him all by herself when she could’ve easily caught him home!! Ugh! tohru! T_T. Except this time, kyo is aware of his surroundings, it’s school, no place for transformation. As kyo decides to change his position from hug to head rest, he stares so intently in her eyes. Embracing her with his presence. For a moment there I felt weird. Like I was intruding on a personal moment between two ppl. XD. This moment was this excellently weird mix of tenderly romantic, bittersweet cuz they cant be together hug, & sexually tensed! one of the most successful kyoru moment that truly depicted emotions visually without needing much dialogue!

Side Notes:

kyo/yuki interaction was their most honest, filter-free & raw moment! each said what he really felt. yuki’s directly telling kyo to complain to him, which kyo did. yuki urging kyo to see that punishing himself hurts tohru.

I appreciate that Yuki won’t tell tohru now, cuz it will ruin their progress towards a better balanced relationship. Tohru’s lid hasn’t even been touched, so she would be cautious interacting with him. But once she opens her lid, her self-worth increase & her desire to focus on herself more is ignited!, she’ll listen to him without taking his burden as hers. just like kakeru did. Equal friends.

I wanted to talk deeper abt machi & yuki, but didn’t want it to be overshadowed by kyo’s analysis. Next time for sure!

I love how the writer included the most spontaneous flirting moment between kyo & tohru right after yuki explained that he saw her non-romantically. The writer wants the comparison to be clear cutting ties to any love-triangle misunderstanding that might linger from previous scenes. Moreover, it showed yuki fully & genuinely accepting kyoru!!

I’ll never be over tohru acting like normal teenager & chasing kyo, trying to catch the script!!!! These small moments while having not much effect on the grand plot, help depict tohru with her own feisty style of stubbornness beyond the one-sided kind image we always see.

This ep has well-written & visually appealing scenes. Visual imagery were well-implemented in kyo/yuki scene & kyo/tohru last scene.

Thank you anime for drawing tohru older, pretty & more mature in the final scene. She looked like a woman in love & silently in pain. My baby is growing!

Why is kyoko holding the hat in KYO’s flashback!!!! she’s wearing the same white dress from yuki’s memory?? What the heck is the hat’s story?!!!

#Fruits Basket #Anime Only #satisfied paper

[papers4me]

fellow fruba friend here! What are your expectations on what each of the four main characters will achieve or gain at the end?

hi fellow furuba friend! by the main four, I suppose you mean yuki, kyo , tohru & shigure! All the traumatized characters in furuba deserve all the best & everything good given to them. They are all genuinely broken souls & I love them all. However, not everybody will actually be given everything for realistic reasons.

(1)-I’ll start with the easiest: Yuki. Yuki’s wish was stated so early in SE01, ep12 & ever since things have been moving so straight forward towards his goal: discovering his own self, finding friends who accept him w/o a mask & finding love. As Se02 is heavily focused on him, he got all that & more. it is very clear that the writer has decided that Yuki is the character that will get everything:

He opened his lid, faced akito & his fears & started laughing more.

He is shedding his mask & the prince persona.

He realized his familial feelings to tohru.

He accepts & supports tohru/kyo as couple & doesn’t feel envy/sadness.

He faced his mother calmly & decided his future. Altho he doesn’t need her any more, it is clear that he is civil with her & doesn’t blame her. She thinks of him as a tool that helps her glows & I’m sure she views his success as part of her & in the future, she’ll proudly say that’s my son if he was brought as a topic in any social gathering. My point is, given yuki’s stance to forgive the past, he won’t cut ties with her.

He completely forgiven his brother & is proud of him publicly.

He got a friend who is a mix of the two person yuki envies the most : kyo & aya. Also, kakeru is very designed to fit yuki in every way, so even if yuki never got anymore friends, kakeru is the one for life.

Altho yuki’s story could still be good without romantic love in canon as it can be hinted as sth he’ll get once he’s in college, he is getting a romantic love now with someone who doesn’t pity him nor admires him, sees the real him. Someone whom yuki can be a “tohru” to her & “support” her & be a “kyo” to her in the same way he’s been observing kyo & envying him for being the only one to see the real tohru. Yuki will be the only one to see the real machi.

What more can I say...What more can the writer give yuki.. I’ve been thinking hard... but I duno...perhaps sth to do with kyo & their views of each other.

I’ll leave number #10 open cuz I’m sure there’s more the writer will give him..but I duno regarding which character...um... shigure? The writer has been impersonating yuki so much in Se02 & giving us direct lessons thro his voice as much as I wish she tones it down as this disrupts the flow of a story, making yuki speaks on behalf of other characters whose voice has been blocked, it also doesn’t trust the viewers/readers to “learn the lesson” without directly given to them. So I’m positive 100% there will be more yuki telling us learned lessons us especially after critical moments similar to some of SE02 big eps.

(2)-Kyo: Kyo is always given one ep of inner thoughts per season. However, each ep is big & so influential for both his character development & the story’s plot as a whole. His thoughts were essentially blocked at first for mystery reasons due to his involvement with kyoko but ever since Se02, ep9 it was exposed that he knows her, it’s now blocked for building the “climax” reasons. However, the writer is skilled in writing kyo as a character that is easily read, someone who doesn’t know how to act, so you can decipher his feelings from his actions. I don’t mind him not giving inner thoughts if his actions can replace that & communicate his feelingsto the viewers  which is so well-done with kyo but badly done with tohru,(but more on tohru later). what I expect for kyo... it is hard to say!!! It depends on how the writer will solve kyoko’s damned “ I won’t forgive you” words!!! Cuz i see this as one of the most difficult plot twists & obstacles. Kyo’s issues are different from yuki. It isn’t abt self discovery, warmth, or finding friendship or love. It is abt having a right to live, guilt & believing that he isn’t harmful, kyo knows that there are few ppl who loves him but to him these few ppl are the most important ppl in the world, he doesn’t want to hurt them. His life experiences has taught him that his loved ones always end up dying in his place. he carries immense guilt & self-loath. So what to expect... i duno.. Moreover, kyo being the opposite of yuki, so I don’t think he’ll be given everything even if he, just like yuki, deserves everything good. There are things in kyo’s life that cannot be fixed.

Kyo will for sure open his lid, but it will be ugly cuz he’ll have to confess abt his mom’s suicide & him witnessing/being involved in kyoko’s death. He’ll have to tell tohru kyoko’s devastating words & her last painful moments. I duno what to expect beside pain!!!!

“forgiveness/ or lack of ” is kyo’s theme!! will tohru forgive him?? I duno! I find it hard to believe tohru-my-mom-is-my-idol” will do that unless sth changes. But It really doesn’t matter if tohru does or doesn’t, cuz kyo himself will NEVER forgive himself!! There’s comfort in being punished. ppl with genuine hearts & conscious, don’t like escaping punishment for their wrong deeds. If kyo believes truly that he’s at fault somehow, he’ll want to be punished.  

Kyo has stated that “ I won’t take anything away from you anymore” thinking abt tohru. He has given up on her cuz he believes he took her mom from her. His thought process is very realistic & his actions are very logical & matches his trauma, so I don’t know where this will lead to.. I know the writer won’t be cruel with him more than his story already is, but it is so complicated!!!! He can’t accept tohru’s love!! she shouldn’t!!

Unlike yuki’s mother, kyo’s father refuses anything regarding kyo & doesn’t even consider him human. He pushes forward for his imprisonment. I don’t see the writer giving kyo’s father the tiny redemption moment she gave yuki’s mom. Nothing will make kyo’s dad be proud of kyo as he considers kyo to be the cause of all his misfortune. Kyo’s dad is the person kyo shouldn’t & mustn't become. However, kyo got another father who truly loves him & is already proud of him. I love that the writer didn’t cut off kyo’s attachment to his bio dad simply caz he got shisho. Kyo’s dad is a huge reason of why kyo is traumatized. it is not the curse itself. it is the toxic broken home. Every toxic thought in kyo’s mind is imprinted there since early age intentionally by his dad & unintentionally by his mom. So how do I expect kyo will overcome his mom’s gohst & his dad’s demon? I duno too! T_T. ..XD.

his mom & kyoko are dead. If kyo believes he’s the reason...how he’ll ask forgiveness?? I love the theme of dealing with broken things that can’t be fixed. The writer will forever be one of my best authors if she convinced me that she can handle such tough theme.

I feel like I’m repeating I duno a lot, but yeah kyo’s story could go so many directions!!!! but I have trust that wherever it goes, it will be as satisfying as yuki’s. The writer has chosen to put kyo’s behind for epic climatic showdown, it will be thrilling, painful, dramatic & so satisfying. kyo will not be furuba’s tragic ending, the writer showed she prefers ’s optimistic & positive paths despite the trauma. Besides, kyo is tied to tohru, no way such kind soul will be crushed twice by losing her mom & her first love.

(3)-Tohru: The female protagonist with everything individual & personal abt her pushed until Se03 with the most minor foreshadowing & the most trivial symbolism. lol..She doesn’t have eps of inner thoughts abt her own issues like yuki & she doesn’t have big influential eps abt her like kyo... what did she have so I can predict: (a) the nightmare which tells us tohru is still grieving her mom’s loss & (b) the little flashbacks where it shows sth bad traumatized her when she was a baby & it involves her mom locking her? or sth. (c) tohru telling rin that she has things she can’t give up. I don’t have predictions for tohru. I have wishes. I want her to want things for herself. screw the curse, the sohma’s issues, the mom-tohru, the savior-tohru, the supporting-tohru. All that is typical tropes done many times already. Give me a unique female protag who can be kind, but is hurt by her own kindness, someone so altruistic & realizes that I can choose my self first!!! it is okay to be first for once!! Give me someone who even after showing the world I’m okay & optimistic is NOT okay & optimistic but is actually scared & lonely despite all the love surrounding her by the ppl she “saved”. a female protag pursuing her OWN happiness shrewdly but kindly in the most epic combination! This is the tohru I want. how she’ll decide to forgive kyo? I duno. I’ll cheer if she did & I’ll cheer if she didn’t. both situations suit tohru’s mindset.

(4)-Shigure:big giant I duno...lol.. I need to understand this dude first!! He’s the most intriguing. 

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