OH GOD, THEY COMBINED THE MOMIJI BACKSTORY AND THE SHRINE VISIT? WHY? WHAT DID MY HEART DO TO DESERVE THIS?
I wasn’t aware that either of these chapters were short enough to condense down into one episode, but in one swoop, episode 14 finishes up volume 4 of the manga.
The first half is dedicated to Momiji’s backstory and his relationship with his family, as well as a little information on the zodiac members home situations. The second half is dedicated to visiting Kyoko’s shrine, so in general, this episode is just filled with a lot of emotions.
Momiji’s backstory has always made me cry, the fact that his mother rejected him so completely that she nearly went crazy and tried to kill herself. The fact that she told Hatori that her only regret is giving birth to him. Yet, he never wants to forget her or the painful things associated with her, the fact that he still loves her and his little sister despite everything. The fact that he comes to the building that his father owns and waits to watch his mother and his sister from afar, knowing he can never be truly a part of their family. It pains me, it pains me so much that he sits and endures it all because he believes that every memory is precious, even the hard memories. I’m not ashamed to admit that I sobbed at this point in the episode, reached over and grabbed my Shigure plush and just strait out cried.
This episode had a large impact on me in the original as well, and the most painful part of this episode was something I read afterwards. If you notice, at the moment that Momiji speaks to his mother, he drops his german accent in favor of talking normally. According to the director, the reason he does this is so his mother won’t catch on and because he accent is optional, it’s something he adapted to too feel closer to his mother.
With all of this wrapped up, we move into the second half of the episode. It’s been an entire year since Kyoko passed away, so Tohru, Hanajima, Arisa, Yuki and Kyo head to the shrine to pay their respects to her. Though something seems to be troubling Kyo.
He asks Hanajima if she can see ghost, or the waves of ghosts and is told no. The noise by the living drowns them out, and his waves, the mental noise from him in that graveyard was screaming. They have a brief party to honor the fact that Kyoko would want them to be rowdy and loud in her memory.
They part and head home and two of the most important things in the episode. As the wind blows through Tohru’s open window, blowing some papers into the hallway. Yuki notices and goes to pick them up, he notices the hat laying in her bedroom and causes him to remember something. A young Tohru, running to hug her mother and wearing that very same hat. What happened with this hat? How does it tie to Yuki? We’ll have to wait and see.
Then, the second thing. Tohru has fallen asleep on the porch, Kyo tries to wake her up but can’t. So instead, he leans in besides her, at a certain angle it looks like he might of kissed her but instead, he leans by her ear and whispers something.
“I’m sorry.”
That’s where the episode wraps and it raises more questions then it answers. This episode was high in emotion, i’m really excited for next week though. Next week marks another one of my favorite pieces of content from the original manga and anime, the lake house episode.
I just wanted to drop a note and let you know how much I enjoy your episode reviews. I vaguely remember hearing about a story where parts of a family turned into Zodiac animals, but this is my first true experience with Fruits Basket. It’s a very lovely story. I really appreciate that you don’t spoil future events, but confirm that some details I pick up on are, in fact, foreshadowing for future plot beats.
It is a great story and it only gets better as it goes. I’m really glad you’re enjoying the reviews.