Fruits Basket (2019) S2 Episode 1 [First Impressions]

Shadow’s Impressions:

And we’ve returned to the amazing world of Fruits Basket and have completely crossed over to manga territory! We get a little bit of a flashback tidbit at the start to catch people up in case we forgot anything and then jump right back into it. Though I’m mildly disappointed to have an episode that side-centers around Motoko, I can see what they were trying to do with this episode. Though I guess I can’t complain too much since it was a very Yuki-centric episode. But I must say, I’m not sure how I feel about looking Yuki up and down right at the start of the episode lol. I mean, I love him, he is my favorite, but… hmmmm. Can’t help but feel weird about it when it’s from the point of view of Motoko who was watching him through a window on the second story like a stalker.

I am probably one of the few people who is not a big Kyo fan. I can understand where he comes from with the family drama, however, that doesn’t make his actions okay when they’re not. Which is why I got so frustrated when he just flippantly says really demeaning and rude things about Yuki, completely unaware of how Yuki even feels. The two just really need to communicate, but Kyo seems completely bent on the idea of always seeing Yuki as the bad guy. And it hurts to see that Kyo’s comments really hurt and bother Yuki because it hits a very sensitive spot in Yuki’s already fragile heart.

And then we are introduced to two of the other members of the student council and what an introduction each one had. First we meet Machi who basically destroyed the counseling room before Yuki came in. There’s definitely something going on with her to tear up the room and it becomes even more alarming when she flinches away from Yuki’s touch when he wanted to make sure she was okay. And then there’s Makabe… ah Makabe… I have a lot of… negative feelings towards him as a character. I won’t go into them since those are spoilers, but he did end up making me angry when he was poking fun at Yuki. As soon as Makabe was making fun of Yuki my immediate response was: “punch him.” Maybe I’m just being overprotective of Yuki since punching him at school would definitely not be a good thing, especially for Yuki now as the student body president. Though I will admit that the look on Yuki’s face when he found out that these two were the other student council members was priceless. He just had the look of utter horror and disbelief. And then completely breaks down when he realizes that Makabe and Ayame were cut from the same cloth. Poor Yuki… he’s got a lot of work ahead of him in more ways than one lololol.

And then there’s Motoko’s side of the episode with her being way over the top in her infatuation with Yuki for my liking. However, despite how frustrating she is with her obsessive and possessive behavior, I do appreciation that she is actually aware of how her feelings and actions are necessarily good or healthy. And the fact that she can easily get along with Yuki if she just had a normal conversation with him. Though it probably helps that Yuki has become more sociable compared to how he was at the start, which Motoko actually recognizes it to be due to Tohru’s influence.  At first I was annoyed that Motoko’s jealousy made her see Tohru as an enemy and that Yuki isn’t the same person she met a year ago. But it shows that despite her frustration of having another girl close to Yuki, she can recognize the good that she has been on him, making her a more complex character than I initially gave her credit for.

Though I did laugh pretty hard at when Motoko told Yuki he was beautiful, he definitely gave her his miffed, but sassy smile. Because she literally didn’t realize that she dinged his manly pride and we all know that Yuki hates being praised for his looks, more specifically his girlish features if his run in with Makabe had anything to say on that.

But it seems like Motoko can actually move on with that shot of her walking away from Yuki with a proud smile. So I do wish her well and I hope that she drops her possessive behavior because Yuki ain’t a thing to be owned.

I do like that this season started out with Yuki beginning to branch out to other people rather than strictly staying within the confines of his family and Tohru. It’s as if he’s officially started the actual school life he’s wanted since entering high school and I’m just so happy for him. Yuki has always wanted to get away from his family and interact with normal people, so this is definitely a step in that direction. And while I have… certain feelings towards Makabe, I do like the contrast between Kyo and Makabe’s view of him, where being called interesting by Makabe actually made Yuki happy in a way.

I’m not sure if I’ll be blogging about this, but I’m still curious as to how the rest of the story will be adapted since there have been times where they’ve taken liberties on how to tell the story animated (with some liberties being better than others). Especially since we got some flashes of some of the other cast at the end. But man, that ending was BEAUTIFUL with the animals walking up to God’s banquet in their Chinese Zodiac order. I just loved how it showed cards that showed the characters with their animal.

Possibility of Watching: Guaranteed

Possibility of Blogging: Moderate