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EP. REVIEW: Fruits Basket


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KitKat1721



Joined: 03 Feb 2015
Posts: 953
PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2020 4:04 pm Reply with quote
I think combining the two chapters worked fine for me, but honestly that might partially be because the Yuki + Ayame scenes (with a couple notable exceptions) all kind of blend together in my head when thinking back on the manga. Same thing with some of the student council relationships. I don't know if I would have remembered these were separate moments unless I already knew in advance.

I agree that Ayame's brand of comedy is probably the most hampered by the reboot's more grounded tone. A more off-the-wall directorial style is just always going to fit him better, but I don't think its going to bother me that much in the grand scheme of things. If anything, it does make his over the top efforts to connect with Yuki all the more apparent. I did really love the comparison between making clothes and gardening, all under the umbrella of wanting to create something. That was probably my highlight of the episode.

Also, I did wonder if they were going to change up or modernize the dress Mine put Tohru in at the end, but nope haha
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KitKat1721



Joined: 03 Feb 2015
Posts: 953
PostPosted: Sat May 02, 2020 3:03 am Reply with quote
I don't remember it being explicitly shown before that the Soma family actually owns the hospital Rin (and presumably earlier patients like Momiji’s mother or Kisa) stayed in, and that's horrifying. It also sheds some new unfortunate light on just how much reach and power the Soma family has in regards to easily keeping “family matters” under their control and out of public view.

I’m glad the show does actually seem to be addressing Kyo’s regret and guilt again over hurting Tohru since the anime adaptation won't seem to include his quick apology made in the manga. That guilt is something he seems unable to really bring up or address while still clearly on his mind since we’ve seen him pondering over it a couple times. It kind of bothered me how it was brushed off (especially considering how exaggerated him catapulting her off the cliff was), but I think I can see the angle they’re going.


It is really nice to see Yuki reaching out to Haru this time around instead of vise-versa. Haru has always been a fantastic friend to Yuki in more ways than one, and really an emotional rock for some of the Somas in a way Yuki hasn’t had the chance or emotional capacity to be. Their whole talk was just really honest and sweet. They’ve always had a strong friendship, but for Yuki to be the first one to initiate that tough conversation and even share more of his own feelings is a big step. I also think overall, their conversations this week felt a bit more natural this week compared to last week’s Yuki and Ayame’s “let’s attempt to unpack ten years of complicated emotions towards each other in one session” episode.

Also, looks like we have some new casting announcements for a new character appearing soon:
(ENG) https://twitter.com/fruitsbasket_en/status/1256165214480982016
(JPN) https://twitter.com/fruitsbasket_en/status/1256161691512930304

Was not expecting that English casting at all, so I'm interested to hear it!
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animefan1238



Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 299
Location: Ma
PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2020 3:47 pm Reply with quote
It has been so long since the other half & I read the manga. When we watched the episode I said, "I think he's part of the zodiac." As the episode went on my other half said, "I think you're right." Got confirmation at the end. Good to know my mind isn't going. LoL.
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catandmouse



Joined: 02 Mar 2011
Posts: 213
PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2020 4:21 pm Reply with quote
For me Uo and Kureno’s romance is my least favorite one spoiler[( I was also not a fan of the Hana/Shishou hints from later on in the story).]
It just didn’t make sense to me. I feel like a romance like theirs would fizzle out as soon as Kureno saw more of the world and met more people because there was no buildup. They just met, liked some qualities and called it love. spoiler[(and maybe they didn’t end up together in the long run. There was no hints of Uo anywhere in Furubana)]
Their romance reminds me of the main romance from Takaya’s post- Furuba, and I wasn’t a fan of that series for that reason.
Anyway, there was a haunted house segment in Fruits Basket Another, so it was fun to revisit Tohru’s experience and compare it to Sawa’s (Furubana’s protagonist). I think Sawa handled it better spoiler[ she was choking Hajime, Tohru’s oldest son the whole way through, but she didn’t bump into anything ]. In Furubana, the protagonist is accompanied by spoiler[Haru’s kids, Yuki’s kid and Tohru’s kid. Only Momiji’s kid was missing from that ensemble.]


Last edited by catandmouse on Wed May 06, 2020 11:06 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11364
PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2020 9:03 pm Reply with quote
^ I'd say you ended your last spoiler tag too soon. :/

The thing I liked best about this episode was that the zombie in Haru's tale had an arrow in his head even as a child. Laughing
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catandmouse



Joined: 02 Mar 2011
Posts: 213
PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2020 11:08 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
^ I'd say you ended your last spoiler tag too soon. :/

The thing I liked best about this episode was that the zombie in Haru's tale had an arrow in his head even as a child. Laughing


I apologize for that. I didn’t put that last segment under a spoiler tag because I didn’t consider it a spoiler. I’ve fixed it just in case for future readers.
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Clematis



Joined: 16 Feb 2017
Posts: 66
PostPosted: Thu May 07, 2020 4:29 pm Reply with quote
I saw no issues with the romance between Uo and Kureno. You can have the perfect chemistry going with people you just met, and if it evolves into something more than friendship, that's perfectly ok.
Same for Hanajima's, really. I never saw anything wrong with their choice of mates, or mates to be.
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Maidenoftheredhand



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 2633
PostPosted: Thu May 07, 2020 6:16 pm Reply with quote
Most of the romances in Fruits Basket are pretty awful in my opinion with there being a couple exceptions. The good thing is I feel the main romances of the series are those exceptions. For spoiler reasons I am not going to mention the ones I am referring to.
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KitKat1721



Joined: 03 Feb 2015
Posts: 953
PostPosted: Fri May 08, 2020 1:50 am Reply with quote
I never had an issue with the possibility of Kureno and Uo, but I can see how others would. Yeah in real life under realistic circumstances, that age gap its pretty suspect. Given Kureno's pretty apparent stunted maturity + the lack so far of a drastically uneven power gap, it never really bother me that much. Age gap romances are already par for the course in romance (particularly shoujo with its target demographic), and its way easier to get behind when its not presented in an obvious "power dynamic fantasy" lens (see every manga about a girl falling in love with her boss/teacher/puesdo father-figure/etc...).

The second factor is just how quickly they fall for each other in the span of two short meetings. I think this story thread is just highly dependent on how you feel about love at first sight narratives in general, which can be pretty divisive in any media. spoiler[While I appreciate how diverse in origin and often messy Fruits Basket couples can be, given how little they really interact in the story at large I think I like what they represent more than the actual execution.].

Even if I can't talk much about why yet, Kureno has always been super interesting to me. His inclusion in the story adds so much color to the story on a thematic level, and its honestly always stuck with me. Really looking forward to seeing more of him.
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catandmouse



Joined: 02 Mar 2011
Posts: 213
PostPosted: Fri May 08, 2020 12:41 pm Reply with quote
I wasn’t referring to age gaps in some of these romances, just that I believe that once Kureno sees more of the world and meets more people his very strong attachment to Uo might wane. I can understand people hitting it off from the beginning and making things work, I just don’t feel like Kureno and Uo were that couple. As for other romances in Fruits. Basket being awful, I have to agree. There is at least one other romance from the main series that is very squicky if you think about it, but that one won’t be reveal till much, much later.
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KitKat1721



Joined: 03 Feb 2015
Posts: 953
PostPosted: Wed May 20, 2020 11:36 pm Reply with quote
While I keep finding new moments in this adaptation that add so much context in hindsight to later revelations, there were several things I hadn't noticed before even reading this review. For one, I didn't think about the fact that yeah, we never saw Akito expressly forbid Kyo from visiting. Shigure was the one who said he wasn't needed (and everyone assumed that to begin with anyway). I don't know if Kyo was even on Akito's radar at this point. Same with the parallels between Kyo and Hiro.

I may have already said this here or on other discussion channels, but Yuki's moment at the end of Ep. 32, like many of Yuki's previous scenes, hit much harder in the anime vs the manga. I don't know if its the direction/art, the performances, or the fact that Yuki as a character didn't resonate with me as deeply when I was younger, but I was really moved and felt like there were a lot of layers to that whole scene I never appreciated before. If it follows this pattern, I know some upcoming moments that did resonate with me previously are now going to hit me like a truck. Tohru's sudden insecurities and her quiet moment on the balcony broke my heart, but I fully expected that at least.
Quote:
If she doesn't remember her father at all, why does Tohru talk just like him, being hyper-polite to everyone regardless of context?

Maybe I'm completely drawing a blank, but I don't remember this being mentioned in the anime thus far? All I remember being said about Tohru's dad is that we know he suddenly died from a cold (Ep 14).
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11364
PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2020 3:49 am Reply with quote
KitKat1721 wrote:
Maybe I'm completely drawing a blank, but I don't remember this being mentioned in the anime thus far? All I remember being said about Tohru's dad is that we know he suddenly died from a cold (Ep 14).

Same here. There have been a couple of statements about her dad mentioned that have left me wondering, "When did I miss that?" because I usually do. Smile
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A Mystery



Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Posts: 1886
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2020 4:06 am Reply with quote
I do remember the polite dad speech coming up, but there were a few instances in the review where I felt spoiled about things. Like with Rin, we did see her wanting to get something from Shigure in exchange for intimacy, we know Haru's perspective about his relationship with Rin... but that's all the anime viewer really knows. I cannot infer that Shigure acted because of her. The show is quite fast paced and full of little meaningful scenes and details, but still I think with some information the reviewer writes about, you need to know the full manga in and out.
I didn't even register a Ren. Must've forgotten he was mentioned at all. Or she. It. And that Satsuki talked to Hatori.

O well just gotta rewatch these episodes I guess. It was so full of OMG good and dramatic moments.
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KitKat1721



Joined: 03 Feb 2015
Posts: 953
PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2020 4:52 am Reply with quote
A Mystery wrote:
I didn't even register a Ren. Must've forgotten he was mentioned at all. Or she. It. And that Satsuki talked to Hatori.


Ren was definitely just a quick "blink-and-you'll miss it" mention, but all we know from that quick moment is that they exist and shouldn't be discussed (or at least according to Hatori).

But yeah, there's no way viewers would know for sure Hatori was talking to Satsuki last week since we haven't seen what she even looks like in the anime. You can infer it sure, it makes sense that she would be given her pregnancy. But you could also see it as Hatori just talking to any random woman since it would still make a ton of sense for Shigure to close that curtain (given Akito's history when it comes to Hatori's personal life).
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JacobC
ANN Contributor


Joined: 15 Jan 2008
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Location: SoCal
PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2020 8:21 am Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
KitKat1721 wrote:
Maybe I'm completely drawing a blank, but I don't remember this being mentioned in the anime thus far? All I remember being said about Tohru's dad is that we know he suddenly died from a cold (Ep 14).

Same here. There have been a couple of statements about her dad mentioned that have left me wondering, "When did I miss that?" because I usually do. Smile


It came up in episode 17, when Uo asked why Tohru always speaks in keigo (formal Japanese speech), even to her mother and friends. Kyoko clarifies that she picked it up from her dad, who also always spoke in keigo.
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