This Week in Anime

Crying Your Eyes Out with Fruits Basket

Steve
Nicky, I just wanna say, it's a really good thing the final season of Fruits Basket talks about crying so much. That just means we'll have a ton of screenshots to choose from when we talk about how much we cried. Isn't that great? I'm so happy! Hahahahawaaaaaaaahhhhhh

It's also been about a year since we last covered Froob for the column. A lot's happened since then, and we certainly can't cover all of it—we aren't even gonna have time to get to everything in this season—but this is no longer the weird romcom about surprise furries anymore. Froob has evolved into something much more ambitious, and there's only one thing I'm absolutely sure of: I watched all 11 currently available episodes from this season yesterday, and I still feel tired.

Agreed! I'm not at all familiar with the manga or the first anime, so I can't compare it to anything, but I'm really glad I got to experience the story and these characters in this way nevertheless. For example: my life has only been dramatically improved now that I've seen Tohru wallop Kyo with a scarf pompom.

Definitely the most dramatic thing to happen this season, yep.

With payoff!

Can't forget the nugs.

Everyone gets a lot of intergenerational trauma and a little bowl of nugs. It's only fair.

We're really spoiled for choice, and all the choices are horrible. I guess, though, I "appreciate" this season's reminder that shitty parents aren't a Soma-exclusive phenomenon.

Lol yeah Akito's mom explains quite a bit. Also Shigure banging Akito's mom. Really there are a lot of things about and around Akito that finally start clicking into place in this final act.

To be fair they're pretty equal opportunity about the hurting nowadays, but there's little doubt who started it.

Akito's mom...just isn't a good person. Maybe she had some genuine affection for Akira at one point, or maybe she just really wanted a ticket out of servitude, but either way, she really messed up her child.

Fruits Basket's philosophy is to dig into the reasons behind all of its character's psyches, even the most terrible ones. And I think it usually works, because it contextualizes without necessarily "excusing" anybody's behavior. Like, it's easy to pity Ren for obsessing over what turns out to be a completely empty box. But it's also easy to pity Akito for being hung up on Akira's last words, because it is apparently the Soma Family Way to turn love and affection into a messed up zero sum game that makes everyone miserable.

I forgot to actually create this meme, but imagine one astronaut is saying "Wait, you're telling me unresolved trauma is propagated down family lines as long as it continues to be unresolved?" and the other astronaut with a gun is Akito.

Look there was suffering to be had in Uma Musume season 2, lemme tell ya, but those horse girls have nothing on what Rin goes through.

And the really messed up part is that even Akito, on some deep unconscious level, recognizes that these zodiac bonds are wrong and can only be detrimental in the long run. Skipping ahead a bit, it turns out that the power to break the curse was in Akito all along. This also explains why Kureno's was broken first, because their relationship was the closest, the most codependent, and the the worst for both of them. Subconsciously, Akito realized at some point that it had to be broken.

Now of course it would've been better for Kureno to take the hint and not just flock back to Akito's side when that happened. And it would've been much better for Akito to consciously realize this without literally stabbing Kureno in the back. But baby steps, I suppose.

Godddd, Momiji's scene there is so good. Akito is smaller than him now on both literal and metaphorical levels, and it's as liberating as it is upsetting. Like, this season is pretty blunt about using the zodiac bonds as a symbol for toxic familial relationships, but even the dissolution of the worst of those can still be saddled with conflicting feelings. That pain was still a part of you, and it's no small feat to say goodbye to it.

The soundtrack is a deadly weapon wielded with pinpoint emotional accuracy this season. I was felled by it multiple times.

And I should say, I don't think an anime that makes me cry is, by definition, superior than one that makes me laugh, or one that gives me chills. Froob is really good at making me cry, make no mistake, but what I love the most about it is its dedication to big, messy, tricky emotions that require a lot of thought and a lot of heart. More often than not, Froob meets those emotions with inspiring dexterity and delicacy.

And frequent, necessary dunks on Shigure.

All of Fruits Basket is about unloved kids learning how to love each other in defiance of their upbringing, more or less, but these are kids we needed to see that from the most. So naturally, theirs is the relationship that gets the wildest and bloodiest last minute curveball.

Mmm nothing spicier than a conveniently forgotten dead mom.

I still think the "oh I repressed the memory of seeing your mom die because I felt personally responsible for it, only to remember at this, the most melodramatic time possible" thing leans a liiiittle too far into contrivance, but the core of their conflicts, which you just covered, remains strong and resonant. They're both vulnerable people who are scared of letting themselves be vulnerable, but that's also the only way forward for them.

Which, not coincidentally, runs parallel to many other character arcs in the Soma family.

After the Rat and the Cat, the Hat is the super secret 14th member of the Zodiac.

It just so perfectly encapsulates the whole messed up Soma family perspective on relationships that Akito tells Tohru she "won." That's simply no way to think about what love is. And thankfully, Tohru's unflagging empathy helps her connect with the human buried under Akito's long-calloused shell. She does what she does best: makes a new friend.

And they all lived happily ever after. The En—

And to circle back, it also would not be a shōjo manga if we didn't have to fear at least once that our heroine might be stone cold dead.

Never fear: she gets better. And she gets bunnies.

If it takes a little near-death experience to push your waffling feline boyfriend to get his act together, then all's well that ends well, even if it requires a little cat-and-mouse (no offense, Yuki).

But also, Kyo, mister, you better count your lucky stars that Tohru is literally the nicest person on the entire planet.

Under no circumstances are the Tohru Defense Squad to be messed with.

Especially because Tohru, being who she is, absolutely needs someone looking out for her.

And if anyone deserves that, it's definitely her, the human equivalent of a precious cinnamon bun too pure for this world.

The arc Akito takes, especially in this final act, is probably the neatest thing Fruits Basket pulls off. Our perception shifts from cartoonishly cruel villain to a flawed and fascinating character without dismissing or "redeeming" any of those past cruelties. Akito still has a lot to answer for and a long way to go on the path towards healing. But the decision to walk down that path, as scary as it is, is an unequivocal good first step, both for this "god" and for all the wounded left in their wake.

That old lady can still go to hell though.

It's a crowded bracket, but he definitely makes a strong case for himself.

Plus, y'know, foisting the responsibility he felt for his wife's suicide onto his young impressionable and already ostracized son. That part's pretty bad too.

I mean, it's good that Kyo finally realizes that, but it sure does suck that he spent all those years flattened by the weight of that guilt. But his dad also can't take away the real family Kyo has now, which is what enables Kyo to walk away and forwards, one step at a time.

Although Fruits Basket is ending in two episodes, I like that so much of its conclusion feels like a new beginning for so many of these characters. They deserve it.

If you can't do so calmly, do it as loudly as possible. We're allowed. We're only human.

Incidentally that also describes what I looked like watching this scene in this week's episode.

So long, Froob, and thanks for all the tears.