#remembering they were 13 during this whole arc is... very sad. and comedic in a fucked up way

[rosemaryyuri]

just a girl

#rose lalonde #rose #homestuck #art tag #remembering they were 13 during this whole arc is... very sad. and comedic in a fucked up way #communing with the middle school girl besties! >_< (The Ancient Ones) #anyway don't be like me and make a habit of using the select tool as a full medium of art it sucks #<- also why it looks mildly jank in terms of consistency ok i'll stop talking now

[lilac-5ky]

Hellloooo, how's it going? I've just finished gintama yesterday and I legit feel so empty oml i want to go back to when i started it:((( i remember you saying you're still in the process of watching it so which episodes did you enjoy most? For me, i was absolutely in love with episodes 153 and 156+ The umbrella one, it was oh so cute. Hope you're having a great day!!!

istg, I am dreading the moment I finish it! My pace of watching is soooo irregular because part of me is like yay let's get to the good Takasugi centric episodes, but another part of me is BUT IF YOU DO THAT, YOU'LL BE CLOSE TO THE ENDING AND THEN YOU'LL BE LEFT WITH NOTHING! So, trust me, I feel your pain even when I haven't finished watching it. The fact that I know what sort of happens in the movie DOES NOT HELP EITHER!

Anyways, anyways, I have sooooo many episodes that I've loved! It will take ages for me to list all of them but I'll try to mention some of the episodes I really liked for different reasons. Gonna be a looooooong post but eh, Gintama is pure of epicness, what can I say!

(mostly random order, but I'll give a shoutout to my most favorite ones)

Zura Episodes:

Starting this post, I want to give a special shoutout to some of my favorite Zura Episodes. I started Gintama because of his VA and because I thought Zura looked really cool. I knew nearly nothing about the show but I did end up loving Katsura and up to this day he is one of my favorite characters. His episodes are some of the funniest to me and I always end up losing it whenever he appears.

Anyways, said episodes are episode 13 (Captain Katsura), 25 (hot pot),39 (Ikumatsu), 43-44 (go ninja arc), 64 (the interview), 98-99 (Owee arc), 109 (Jackie's nose and Yamazaki LMFAO)

Other than the hilarious Zura episodes, I wanna mention a few more comedic arcs/episodes that I really enjoyed.

Namely, episode 28 (the one with Kondo and Matsudaira being "attacked"), 35 (Matsudaira's daughter and warrior of love Mayo 13),74 (unibrow pandemic), 83 (Shogun's debut and allow me to say that I can't watch a Shogun episode without cracking up), 151-152 (Barber arc, I COULDN'T BREATHE OKAY), 200-201 (Santa arc)

Next on, we have arcs that were funny to me but weren't 100% pure comedy.

For example, Infant Strife arc (51-52) had its sad moments but it has one of the most memorable Gin/Zura interactions (NYAN NYAN)

Mother arc (54-55) was really enjoyable to me too! I love the concept of Hosts and the whole mix up with who the son was, was hilarious. I'm still not over the Just Do it Gin moment or Gura LMAO

Hasegawa Trial (94-95)arc was also pretty funny to me and although Gin tends to lowkey ruin the man's life, his line about giving him a rope to pull himself up was very memorable and touching to me.

Character Poll Arc (182-184), Hasegawa cosplaying Takasugi, Kondo cosplaying Kagura, Yamazaki going full on villain, do I need to say more?

Yagyuu Arc (76-81) This arc had many funny moments. Princess Bubbles, the toilet showdown, Kagura and Sougo teaming up, Kondo shitting himself. In terms of story I wasn’t super amazed but it made me laugh a lot and is still very memorable to me. I also like Kyuubei as a character and, I liked how we got a bit of Hijikata’s backstory.

Then there are a couple of episodes/mini arcs that were on spot for me and I really enjoyed!

Episode 63 painted a better image of Zenzou's character and considering he is one of my favorite characters, I loved that episode. It was cute af, no denying.

Episode 17 is an episode I also feel like mentioning because it was Takasugi's debut. For me it wasn't love at first sight, I actually started crushing on him during Benizakura, BUT, I've rewatched ep 17 many many times since and for that, it deserves a spot here.

Episode 186-187 aka Rokkaku arc. Sougo tends to look like a pretty messed up person (which he is) but I love the few episodes that showcase how he is more than a sadistic little bastard (love him). And so the next arc won’t be surprising, since it’s

Episode 86-87 aka Mitsuba arc. I don’t even wanna talk about this one, it made me cry, it broke me,I felt depressed after watching it. Yet, it was beautiful and to me it’s definitely one of the best Gintama arcs. The story was great, we got to see another side to Sougo and why he “hates” Hijikata. Plus, it’s one of the arcs that really shows the bond between the Shinsengumi. And, finally, I’ve always kinda liked Hijikata but he was never one of my favorites. This arc made me love him and now he is in my top 5 best characters from Gintama.

Episode 148-149 aka Shinsengumi Death Game Arc. This one is quite simple, I am a big horror fan and I love saw as a franchise so there’s that.

Episode 190-192 aka Kabukicho Stray Cat Arc. I am also a big cat person (I MEAN I LIKE CATS A LOT, NOT BIG CATS SPECIFICALLY. ALTHOUGH BIG CATS ARE NICE TOO. ALL CATS ARE. ANYWAYS!) and honestly this arc was the perfect mix between comedy and drama. I loved Hoichi’s story and in general animal stories get to me.

Episode 215 well, for me this is one of the best episodes for many reasons, the most obvious ones being Takasugi and Kamui. God knows how many screenshots I’ve taken from this episode, I loved the story, I loved their team up, I loved how we got to see some moments between the Kiheitai, it was all sooooo so good! I haven’t even watched any other episodes since because I can’t get over the fact that I won’t see Takasugi for another looooong while lmao. Just great episode 10/10 from me.

And now that all the comedic, small arc, character centric episodes are out of the way, I’ll get to my most favorite arcs of all.

7. Episode 31-32 Memory Loss Arc

Up until that episode, Yorozuya kept getting themselves into random Shenanigans and what not, but this small arc right there shows how much they’ve bonded with one another. It’s the first time they face a kind of struggle in their little family and watching how they are unwilling to give up on one another is heart warming to me, especially Kagura’s speech about the branches and the tree.

6. Episode 40-42 Umibozu Arc

I remember how I was dying to know more about Kagura and her backstory. This arc is proof that sometimes the bonds you create with others can be just as strong as blood ties. Even if Umibozu is her father, Gin and Shinpachi are also her family. Plus, I feel like it’s a very realistic take on families. Oftentimes parents don’t understand their children and what they want, something that creates conflict between them even when their intentions are pure. Umibozu doesn’t know how to be a great father and accepts the fact that his daughter will be happier with Yorozuya than with him. He ends up respecting her decision and tries to turn into a better dad, or at least the dad she needs. People say that Benizakura was the first great arc of Gintama but to me, Umibozu arc did a great job as well.

5. Episode 177-181 Red Spider Arc

I absolutely loved this arc and was hyped from the beginning to its end. We got a better look into Tsukuyo as a person, as well as her master, the man who made her into who she is. Jiraia to me was a very interesting character and although I didn’t agree with his views, I can’t deny the fact that they were pretty original. The concept of utter self sacrifice in order to protect people is something you wouldn’t expect from a “villain” type of character and the fact that he wanted to kill her because he couldn’t bear to kill himself (even if it was proven to be false at the end) was quite unique. Also, we got to see a comparison between Tsukuyo/Jiraia and Gin/Shouyou as a student/master duo and how completely different they were. The scene where Jiraia dies and Tsukuyo carries him while Zenzou and Gin talk about how they were unable to carry the burden of their teachers is heartbreaking. On another note, this arc is another arc that includes Zenzou after many episodes of absence, and we get to see more interactions between Gin and Tsukuyo. I’m not a huge Gintsu shipper, but I find their relationship cute and overall this arc had a romantic undertone that I enjoyed for once. PLUS, drunk Tsukki was priceless, hands down.

4. Episode 139-146 Yoshiwara In Flames Arc

I wasn’t too much into the whole Housen thing, in fact he is one of the characters I really disliked and couldn’t sympathize with. But, this arc introduced us to Tsukuyo, Kamui and Abuto. Now I really like Tsukki and Abuto but Kamui? I absolutely adore him! This might as well be renamed to Kamui’s arc because all I could focus on was him LMAO. I it’s a great arc, full of action and epic moments. I love arcs that include red light districts (f.e. I loved the last season of Demon Slayer) as they have a certain appeal, so this arc resonated with me. A notable moment is how Kagura lost it! Even if she is a bit domesticated at this point, the Yato spirit still lives within her and she is crazy strong. The two siblings just stole this arc for me along with the scenes with the kunai knives sticking to, mostly, Gin. Oh and the metaphors were top tier!

3. Episode 101-105 Shinsengumi Crisis Arc

This arc just like Mitsuba's arc, this one portrays the relationship between the Shinsengumi members perfectly! We see what makes Kondo a great leader, how Sougo is loyal to him no matter what, how Yamazaki plays them all and of course, how Hijikata deserves his spot as the Demon Vice Commander. The premise with the cursed sword is a bit silly, not going to lie but somehow, it all works together? There were many emotional, funny and badass moments in this arc, ngl. I still get goosebumps when I remember how Sougo killed all those traitors or Hijikata's speech near the end in which he included tons of anime references. Even when the sword messed with his brain, he still fought it with everything he had and his speech was very touching although hilarious.

Other than the three of them, of course I have to mention Itou, Takasugi and Bansai. First of all, Itou was a very interesting character and I related a lot to him. I've also found myself looking down at others and have justified my loneliness based on similar criteria to his. It's easy to go down such a road and so Itou's story hit me right in the feels. He is such a tragic figure who only realizes his faults at the very end when it's too late. Still, the ending his comrades gave him got me asking who cut onions.

On the other hand, Takasugi was AMAZING in this arc! He appeared for only two scenes yet they were both pretty iconic imo. His dialogue with Itou showcased why Takasugi is such a charismatic person. He is not someone who only knows how to fight well but someone who is particularly insightful and good at reading others. Like I said, I related to Itou so the things he told him really affected me and made me reconsider my own life a bit and see things in a more positive light.

A final thing I wanna mention about this arc is Bansai and more specifically his relationship to Takasugi. One would assume that their relationship is that of leader and subordinate YET, the way Bansai talks back to him when they discuss how the mission went, sheds a different light to it. Takasugi seems to value and respect his opinion and treats him as an equal, while Bansai seems comfortable enough around him to call him by his first name. Their relationship is very balanced in terms of power and intellect and that is something I really liked!

2. Episode 210-214 Four Devas Arc

This is my second favorite arc in Gintama even though I finished it less than a week ago. Through it we learn of the story of Kabukicho and Otose, who always seemed like a very intriguing and interesting character to me. We'd only heard bits and bits about her husband and how she met Gintoki but this arc perfectly shows why she was so keen on taking him in; because to her, Gin was just like her childhood friend Jirocho. Unlike Housen, I really liked Jirocho as a character. Honestly, Otose, him and her husband could very well have a spinoff of their own, they were that interesting and well written to me. Then we had Birabirabirabirako who was adorable although HIGHKEY a psycho. Somehow cute psycho gingers are my weakness so I couldn't hate her even though she got a bit annoying towards the end but hey, can't blame her! She grew up without a father and to her, it was as if he never cared about her.

Notable moments of this arc were: The cemetery fight scene between Gin and Jirocho (HE DIDN'T SAY A SINGLE WORD, I WAS O_O during the entire scene), their teamup against Kada and Harusame near the end, Kabukicho residents uniting to help out Otose and Yorozuya and of course, the final scene between Jirocho and his daughter.

"I have been called boss, warrior and many other names, but I have given them up. I am the father of Pirako Chin, Jirocho."

Words cannot describe how much I loved this moment. He had achieved so much during these years yet he gave up all of his titles to reconcile with his daughter and be her father. He goes as far as to introduce himself to her because after all these years, they barely knew each other! idk, I really liked Jirocho and he is one of my favorite antagonists of the show. Even though Kada turned out to be the actual antagonist but ANYWAYS!

And my number 1, most favorite Gintama arc so far that I'll probably rewatch over and over again until my eyes bleed iiiiiiis.... *drum roll*

Episode 58-61 Benizakura Arc

Who could have seen that one coming, am I right?

Sigh. This arc is amazing to me and will forever be one of my most favorite anime arcs of all times. It's not just about the arc itself, no, it's about the HYPE! Before Benizakura, I wasn't even interested in Takasugi but the way he was teased in the ending and all those small teasers hinting at his return, made me watch the previous episodes in like a day. I was dying to see him, I was literally foaming and honestly, although I've had characters I've liked in other shows, no one ever managed to capture my attention the way he did in the Shura song. And so, a new love story was created and all that jazz LMAO but anyways, let's more to the arc itself.

Everyone had their moment in it, from characters like Gintoki and Kagura who are expected to be great, to characters like Shinpachi and Otae who don't get as much glory. It was the perfect mix of action comedy and had some mystery/thriller vibes to it with the whole Zura/Nizou thing. Also we got to see Elizabeth in a pretty active role for once, other than just the comedic sidekick to Katsura.

Speaking of Katsura, S H O R T H A I R Z U R A. Enough said.

And, of course, I can't not include Kiheitai. We had seen a bit of Bansai and Nizou before but we got introduced to them properly as well as Matako and Takechi who are two characters I really like. (every time I see Takechi, I get tears in my eyes, he is simply hilarious). Although it's not that evident in this arc, KIheitai are basically Takasugi's own Yorozuya and seeing how there is an anti Joui faction that actively does things to oppose the Amanto and the Bakufu, was very interesting. Like yeah, we have Katsura, but he doesn't do that much terrorism nowadays. Takasugi and the Kiheitai is what you'd expect from rebels. And here is where I'd like to also note that despite the fact that Takasugi is a serious character and all that, his crew members seem to be on the comedic side of things which I do find hilarious. It's as if he is a magnet for funny/'stupid' characters, if you consider his relationship to Joui 4 and his Kiheitai.

Tbh, there is so much to be said about this arc. There are flashbacks between Joui 4, we get to see a bit into Takasugi's agenda and why he does what he does, plus we see the difference between him and Katsura as rebels. Katsura started on the more extreme side of things yet after spending more time with Gintoki, he goes milder. Him and Takasugi have the same type of goals and ideals, however their means to achieve that are completely different. They had the same experiences, yet both of them got shaped so differently and yeah, idk, Benizakura is just great because it hypes the entire plot of Gintama. It's the appetizer to a hell of a meal and you can tell from every single scene in it. Both the movie and the episodes were amazing and although I loved Gintama before Benizakura, this arc is the biggest milestone for me as a watcher. It redefined my standards lmao.

funnily enough I realize how I spoke about Takasugi, Katsura and the others, but I never went into the actual plot of this arc. OOPS! The story of the sword and the two siblings is interesting and nice, but it serves as an excuse imo to finally bring Takasugi back into the show and include him to the story. It's a big irony that the main plot of this arc ends up being its backdrop, but with such an interesting character such as him, such things are bound to happen.

Yes, I went into a lot of detail regarding this and considering the whole show from the first episode up to episode 215 took a shit ton of time. I could have easily given a simple answer but I wanted to review them properly, mainly for myself, I guess. Anyways, I hope that if you read all these random ramblings, they weren't too boring, and that for your sake I highlighted the episode just in case you don't feel like reading walls of text LMAO.

#asks #mirto answers #gintama

[connan-l]

All right, so now that I finally digested the final a little I have some random messy thoughts about Fruits Basket 2019. It got really long lol, but this has been stuck in my head for a while so I needed to get it out!

Honestly, it was a very good adaptation and I’m still in awe I was able able to see the whole manga animated. Fruits Basket is pretty important to me, as I read it for the first time when I was around twelve and it was definitely one of the series that impacted me the most — the way it tackles themes of cycle of abuse, loneliness, grief and moving forward still feel very special to me even now (I briefly wrote a post about it months ago after rereading the manga), so of course I was delighted upon hearing the reboot announced and for the most part, it didn’t disappoint. I’d never truly thought I’d be able to see characters like Rin or Machi actually move on screen in my lifetime so in a way it still feel surreal lmao (RIP to Komaki though). It was really refreshing to revisit the story in that way, especially given amusingly enough I am myself in the middle of some big changes in my life where I have to leave things behind so it felt sort of... well, I won’t say empowering per se, but quite encouraging and satisfying to watch Furuba, and especially its final, at this timing, in a way. It wasn’t perfect, there are certainly a lot of flawed directive choices that I question and unfortunately quite some important cut contents — but even at its lowest it stayed all in all good. I’m genuinely a bit stunned there are people who thinks the entire thing is worthless or a failure, because man, I have seen what a bad anime adaptation looks like, and Fruits Basket 2019 definitely isn’t one. Natsuki Takaya herself was clearly very invested and satisfied in that adaptation — I mean, just the fact she drew arts for every single episodes or for the season 3 ending really shows that I think. And while there’s a part of me who will always have a soft spot for the 2001 anime, there’s no contest that the 2019 one is the superior one and more representative of the original manga as a whole.

I believe some people really don’t realize how... uncommon it is to get such a consistently good-looking and complete anime adaptation for a shojo manga? Shojo really aren’t lucky in that prospect usually; they rarely get animated, and when they do they’re usually very bland or outright bad, or they get one short season of like 13 episodes that never receive any follow-ups — even shojo considered like classics tend to get poor treatment, unless they’re Sailor Moon of course or a long-running magical girls franchise like Precure (and even then we could have a discussion about the way Sailor Moon’s treated compared to say Dragon Ball for example, but that’s another topic entirely). So yeah it is quite awesome we were able to get this kind of anime adaptation that covers the full manga with good quality from start to finish, and I am so, so glad it exists and that it managed to revive and makes the series so popular again. (Hopefully its success means we’ll be able to get more good anime adaptation of shojo manga from now on!)

But yeah, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t problems with it and I also understand why some of the manga fans had issues. We were kind of hyped with the fact this would be a complete adaptation and in the end we only got a... sort-of-complete one lol. The art and animation stayed fine during the run (there certainly were some episodes that were uhhh, lacking in that sense, but that’s just how it is sometimes with productions and budget), but I admit I was a bit letdown regarding the direction, where it often seemed… a bit uncreative or heavy-handed. There was some very beautiful and smart shots here and there, but on the whole I really had an issue with the adaptation failing to actually take more ambitious decisions on its visual aspect, especially compared to the pretty pannelling of the manga — and when it did take these decisions it just was… kind of obnoxious and in-your-face, like the show is trying to hold the watcher’s hand (with unnecessary things like Kyo’s father record player derailing or the whole big ropes symbolizing the curse that often slapped you all over the screen, which usually just made me want to roll my eyes because of how annoying it felt.) Multiple people also pointed out the overdramatization of some scenes like the Kyo and Tohru’s confrontation at the end of season 1 or Akito and Ren’s fight which was, indeed, not very good and a weird choice. Fruits Basket is already a pretty dramatic show and these scenes are already intense, there was no need for such over-the-top theatrical display of emotions that only made them comes off as comedic. I’m probably nitpicking here but it also bothered me some characters’ expressions didn’t feel properly retranscribed (Shigure especially, whose characterization depends a lot on that, really suffered from this), or that odd habit of making some big panorama plans instead of focusing on the faces and bodies, which particularly sucks during emotional scenes (like the backgrounds were pretty I guess, but that’s not what was important here lmao).

Also that might be just a personal thing, but can I point out that the openings were pretty disappointing to me... They're not bad, but they all looked so... bland. The songs are fine but the rest feel so uninspired and it's kind of sad... I dunno, I wasn't asking for much but I just think they could've done more than just scrolling each character looking vaguely melancholic or making them walk randomly one after another :/ The endings have at least pretty illustrations and I'm okay with them (I liked what they did with Kyoko’s photo in season 3 too), but the OPs kind of feel as if they ran out of budget and ideas for them or something. I kind of feel the same with the OST as well, where they’re generally fine but were a bit lackluster, and sometimes… they were kind of played at bad times? I remember the Rin episode in season 2 were the music felt a bit out of place and took me out of the immersion, which is a shame cause it was otherwise a pretty good episode. But that might just be a me-thing here lol. The voice actors were awesome though! (The Japanese ones, at least, I didn’t watch any other dubs). I’ve said it before but special kudos to Maaya Sakamoto cause damn she’s so perfect as Akito, and Shimazaki as Yuki and Toyosaki as Rin truly delivered too. I didn’t know Manaka Iwami at all but I was really impressed by her Tohru, especially in season 3 — she really was good at capturing her character’s subtle emotional turmoils (I think she makes a better Tohru than Yui Horie too, although I admit I missed Horie a little lol.)

Anyway, on the topic of lack of ambition, that might be an unpopular opinion but there’s also the fact that I’m sad they didn’t actually... try to change or add more original scenes. By which I mean, obviously we had some changes, but not ones that were really interesting (when they’re not actively detrimental to the story). For example, I was really hoping that we’d be able to get at least one original episode focused on Ritsu (and Mitsuru too why not) in season 2 or 3, or on Kagura or Kisa; I dunno, it would’ve been a good occasion to give something more to the characters that got sidelined in the original manga, or add some moments that would’ve been nice to develop like about Akito post-cliff confrontation, but we never got that. And well, that makes sense now that we know they seemingly had an episode restriction (at least on season 3), but, yeah, that’s still a shame. Honestly in the end Ritsu’s character made even less sense in the anime, because like, it was nice they tried to adapt his introduction episode so that it feels less “you have to adapt to gender norms to feel better about yourself,” (the gender non-confirmity is definitely one of the bits that aged the less well in FB) but then they still made him cut off his hair and give his feminine clothes to Kagura at the end so why lol. (And speaking of his episode introduction, I dislike that they cut off his conversation with Tohru after the suicide attempt, not only for Ritsu but also for Tohru cause it is one of the small instances bringing up her issues that is set up early on and that is crucial to her, but I’ll come back to this later.)

And now about the biggest problem to me being, the cut content and episodes rearangement. So, just so we’re clear, I definitely don’t think an anime adaptation needs to be a page-by-page adaptation of the manga to be good. Every decent adaptation needs to have changes, and the ones that tries to just follow the source material without any heart often tend to get pretty bad. So changes are good! Cut content are needed sometimes. But in Furuba 19, it really... wasn’t the case.

And the most unfortunate thing being that the one suffering the most from this is the show’s main character herself, Tohru.

So, obviously other characters also got done dirty by this; Yuki and Machi’s relationship was so incredibly shifted in the background and rushed it’s almost funny. I’m one of the people who thinks that, while I do think they’re cute, I definitely agree on the fact their relationship was a bit underdeveloped in the manga — and that Machi’s character especially suffered as a result by being a bit reduced to just "Yuki’s love interest" when she was a character with so much more to offer (and as a whole I also tend to agree with the fact that Yuki probably didn’t need a romance at all and that his arc is more meaningful while focusing on his platonic relationships, but that’s another topic entirely) — but man, if the manga already underdevelopped them, then ohhh boy, the anime just completely dropped the ball. It feels very odd because to me it seemed like season 2 was taking their time with setting them up, so if they knew they had only 13 episodes for season 3 then they should’ve started the changes there; instead we got 1 nice Yuki/Machi/Kakeru episode, and then it’s like "Yep, they’re in love, just trust me." (It does makes me wonder if season 3 wasn’t originally supposed to be longer but then got restrained because of budget or covid or something…) Kakeru also very much suffered because of them cutting off his girlfriend and his complicated relationship with Tohru… Now, to be honest, I’ve always found the Kakeru/Komaki/Tohru subplot pretty... contrived and useless, and Komaki’s not so much a character more than a device for Kakeru’s development, but it does have some good moments relevant to the story’s themes (I like the ‘‘you can’t play suffering olympics with people’s pain’’morale) and it is important to his character (and Komaki is cute, I admit), so it was still sad they shafted it entirely. (Also I kind of like the tense relationship between Tohru and Kakeru. The fact they both seem to not appreciate each other even afterwards feel sort of refreshing even if it’s never explored unfortunately orz.) I was still surprised they didn’t actually try to make a Komaki cameo at the end? Cause I think it would’ve fitted and Kakeru’s girlfriend had already been mentioned in season 2 but... for some reason they... didn’t. (Mayyybe we’ll get an OAV like with Kyoko and Katsuya? Who knows.)

One scene that was skipped/rearranged that I’m very bitter over is the whole Tohru/Kagura confrontation and Kagura/Rin scene — it might not seem like much, but the moment of Tohru refusing to forgive Kagura is very important, and I was pretty annoyed they turned Rin’s trauma response to Kagura’s violence and her subsequent apology/hug to a gag, it legit felt tasteless. The Tohrin scene they removed at the very end too was frustating; it was great they managed to fit in the "Rin doesn’t want to forgive Akito" bit at least (I was afraid they’d cut it off entirely), but it was so essential for her to say to Tohru, not to Haru and Momiji (plus the way they put it in felt very random and awkwardly placed there, when they were initially talking about Tohru before orz). OH AND the Akito/Hana friendship too! Yeah I know it’s not a Big deal but I absolutely love the little glimpses of their friendship and it’s very important to me so I’m disappointed over them not including the ‘Ah-chan’ scene… (It was kind of weird that the show sort-of implied Hana and Kazuma got together too cause that’s… not the vibe at all from the manga… oh well.)

Most people I’ve seen generally only bring up season 3 regarding the cuts/rearangement because it’s the most obvious and the biggest offender, but I personally think there were already problems with season 2 and 1. At first glance I didn’t have much issue with some of the rearrangement, because early Furuba can indeed be pretty episodic, but thinking back on it as a whole I think it might’ve been better to leave some stuff, like Hana and Uo’s episodes for example, to season 2 (I do wonder if they did this specifically so the reboot would offer original content and differ from 2001 early on...) and cut off other not-so-important things from S1 & S2 — because as a result season 2 kind of suffer a bit by being The Yuki Season, which, for as much as I love Yuki, did end up being a bit annoying and made his development feel less natural and gradual, as well as the fact it sidelined the other characters a little and left them with not much conclusion in its final. So this added to how much they ended up cutting in season 3, it makes the show as a whole feels really unequal. I think they did overall a good job in season 3 with what they had, and they really nailed some of the dramatic and Kyoru moments (the sheets scene, cliff confrontation and post-hospital confession were practically perfect), but it is a shame that it ended up as an extremely marathoned emotional roller-caster rather than a more well-paced watch that we would’ve had if it had been 20 or so episodes. (I know others argued that season 3 was what it was because there wasn’t enough content left to cover for 22 or 24 episodes, but I disagree and even if there weren’t, it would’ve been the perfect occasion to add original episodes then. But I think it was more of a budget and Covid issue personally.)

But anyway, all of this isn’t actually what I’m the most annoyed with (and YES that’s a already a lot lmao), those are stuff I can live with, but like I said earlier the most problematic is what they cut off from Tohru’s character. And that indeed includes her parents’ backstory.

So, just so I get this out of the way; yes, I do understand why people were relieved to not see Kyoko and Katsuya’s relationship play out on screen, and yes the age gap and teacher-student thing is creepy and I do kind of wish it hadn’t been written that way. (Though I was a bit amused by people who thought we didn’t get the backstory because of the questionable age gap when, uh... you know I very much doubt the anime industry has an issue with that. Like, to start with, we wouldn’t have had Uo and Kureno’s romance if that was the case (even if Uo and Kureno is less problematic, it’s still the same basis of a underage high school girl/20+ adult man relationship), and second there was a literal romcom anime about a high school girl and an adult man that was broadcasted at the same time as Furuba season 3 lmao. So nah, it wasn’t there the problem to them, it was just time and episode restriction, which was pretty much confirmed with the announcement of the OAV focused on them.)

So, Kyoko and Katsuya is definitely Problematic and I agree on their relationship being uncomfortable; however, I’m a bit baffled that people were literally cheering on not having that part in the show, because it is... it is not just like a small bit of family trivia, it is Extremely important and actively essential to Tohru’s character and Fruits Basket’s themes and narrative as a whole. It’s very important to understand Kyoko’s character, of course; to humanize her and finally present her as a very flawed person and not just the idealized mother that Tohru project upon her, and it is extremely important simply to understand Tohru herself as well; to understand where her way of thinking, her trauma and attitude stems from, and this in a way that just isn’t possible to see with the little fragments of that flashback we got or the bits of Kyo and Kyoko’s interactions.

See, Tohru’s character is principally constructed around two things; her grief over her mother and her almost-pathological selflesness and people-pleaser needs that comes from her abandonment issues and loneliness, and her arc is very much about letting go of both of these things and finally moving forward and letting her life change. There’s this perception of Tohru I see sometimes that she’s not a very interesting character especially compared to others like Yuki or Kyo, or that she ‘‘stays the same kindhearted, naive girl from start to finish,’’ and while I deeply disagree with this I know where it comes from. The thing with Tohru is that she is firstly an extremely emotionally repressed character, and so a lot of her depth and development is made through small, gradual details scattered throughout the manga. It’s done in such a way that except for some obvious scenes those small, apparently insignificant moments are easy to miss or disregarded, and unfortunately it is a lot of these details that the 2019 anime cut, or rearanged in a way that feel less impactful or makes less sense; such as, like I pointed out earlier, her conversation with Ritsu after his suicide attempt. As I’ve seen others point out, this result in altering Tohru’s portrayal and rendering her character mostly about her romance, undercutting and downplaying all of her small, subtle character moments and developments, and miss a bit the second part of the story where the narrative actively challenge the ‘savior/therapist/mom’ that other characters and Tohru herself projected upon her.

And as a result it also means undermining things like her parallel and relationship to Akito, which idealistically should’ve been slowly built up throughout the last season but because of how rushed season 3 was in the end felt a little flat. (Akito’s character in general had some issues also because of the unequal pacing and rearranged scenes, though admittedly I think this was also an issue present in the original manga.) Kyo’s character and his romance with Tohru is the one element that managed to get out of this mostly unscathed (although Kyo also does suffer a bit from it), but because of what was removed from Tohru’s character it still inevitably impacted them by making their characters as individuals lacking. It’s not like it is a complete failure, mind you; I think the anime at least did a decent job at showing Tohru is Not Okay even at the beginning in season 1 (they certainly did a better job at it than the 2001 one lol) and managed to roughly portray her issues well enough overall, but it is just… lacking in the subtlety and nuances that, to me, makes her character and writing really special and unique.

(This post explains what I’ve tried to say here in a much more eloquent and better way that I ever could, and this all put into perspective what I basically love so much about Tohru and Fruits Basket in general.)

And, you know, it would’ve been sad but comprehensible with any other character, but here we’re talking about the story’s literal protagonist, which is why it is the part of the adaptation that makes me feel the most bitter. Tohru and her story is truly amazing and well-written, the thing I was looking forward to the most with this reboot — and while I do understand the episode restriction and I do believe they still did their best with what they had — her arc still deserved to receive a full proper adaptation, not a kind-of-half one.

So, yes, I am at least glad they’ll adapt Kyoko and Katsuya’s story in OAV, but the fact that it will never be included in the actual main narrative is still actively detrimental to it, and it will never have the same effect that if it had been played out before the Kyoru sheets scene where it should’ve been. (I hope they also won’t cut the fact that their story is narrated by Kyo, because that is also a very important detail for both Kyo and the story, but I have the feeling they will…)

Welp, that was quite a long, messy rambling. Not sure if anyone will actually read all of it but if you did then congrats lol. I feel in the end I’ve been really harsh and negative with the reboot… I do love it a lot! If someone asked me I would wholeheartedly recommend it (though I guess I would still argue to read the manga first if you really want to experience the story in all its nuances). I think they truly did an impressive job — even with season 3, which a lot of its episodes were beautifully done and did make me tear up a few times lol. I’m just sad it couldn’t actually offer a better, more nuanced delivery of the story’s depths and of one of my favorite manga protagonists that means a lot to me. But that’s an adaptation that so many fans wanted for years and I’m happy and grateful it’s here cause Fruits Basket deserved at least that much!

#Fruits Basket #Fruits Basket (2019) #Long Post #Connan's Ramblings #Text #Fruits Basket Anime