Fruits Basket (2019): The Final Episode 1 [First Impressions]

Shadow’s Impressions:

We’re finally here folks. The final season of Fruits Basket. I feel rather conflicted since I do want to see how the rest of the series will be adapted but I’m also not ready for this series to end. I’ve been having such a fun time with this series that it will be hard to see it go. But all good things must come to an end in time. But let’s all enjoy it while we can.

We start up right where we left off last season with Kureno talking to Tohru about basically all of the family’s biggest secrets. Poor Tohru though, she just takes on more and more baggage that it almost seems like it’s eating away at her from the inside out. However, Kureno wasn’t done with his story yet.

After so long of being referenced, we finally formerly meet Ren, Akito’s mother. As if this show didn’t have enough terrible parents. Just from witnessing a small bit of their pretty bad relationship (to put it mildly at least), we can probably assume why Akito is the way that she is. The two absolutely despise one another for a multitude of reasons. Though from what we can garner from their interaction is that Akito’s hatred for women stems from Ren. Especially since she comments on how Ren is always leering at the male Zodiac members and seems almost desperate to keep Hatori away from her when she reaches out to greet him. Though it’s probably safe to say that Ren was a pretty terrible parent. Just taking what we’ve seen of their current relationship, Ren probably had nothing nice to say to Akito growing up and seems to have antagonized her every chance that she got. And even Akito seems to slightly lament over the fact that Ren essentially abandoned her. Though I guess lament wouldn’t exactly be the right word. Accuse seems to be more accurate. But to hear a parent telling her child they don’t need them… as much of a terrible person Akito is, I don’t think she deserves to hear that from her own mother. I feel like I can’t go too far into detail about their relationship or else spoilers. But once we get there, I have some THINGS I want to talk about. More specifically about Ren.

Though one of their biggest source of opposition lies in their views and beliefs of the Zodiac bond. While Akito views the Zodiac bond as genuine that connects her with everyone, Ren views it as unnatural and non existent. While yes, Ren is right that the bond is unnatural and far from genuine, it’s still a thing that exists, something that even Kureno admits to. Since he has been freed, Kureno is somewhat of the “middle man” in everything as he had experienced the bond first hand but once freed, he realized that it was unnatural. He can understand why the other Zodiac members feel like they can’t go against Akito and the only reason that prevents him from leaving Akito is that he’s too nice of a person can can’t abandon a crying little girl.

We also go a little deeper into the curse and how all the current Zodiac members alive at the time essentially became possessed once Akito was conceived and sent all of them crying to Ren (who didn’t even realize she was pregnant). And honestly, if I had four children come up to me and reach towards my stomach while chanting “we’ve been waiting for you,” that would be pretty unnerving. The bond that they have just isn’t something “normal” people are able to comprehend or understand. Everything about it is basically the supernatural. And as much as Ren is a terrible mother (though we’ve only scratched the surface so far), she has a point in saying that the Zodiac bond isn’t a true bond of love. Though the concept isn’t as simple as she makes it out to be. While the bonds don’t exist between PEOPLE, it exists between the Zodiac spirits inside them. So, I guess she’s half right and half wrong. But from how it was explained by Kureno, it almost seems like it isn’t really Akito that truly binds them all to her, it’s the Zodiac spirits inside of them that are forcing them to “Never betray Akito.” They are the ones holding the hosts to the promise all of them made with God.

But PFFFFFFF WOW, that leap out of the room was DRAMATIC. I couldn’t help but laugh because of how unrealistic that jump was lol. Especially since literally in the manga, Akito just slammed her up against a wall. There was no running through walls or anything like that. The animation team really took artistic liberties with that one lol. It was a bit hard to take seriously when portrayed LIKE THAT.

Speaking of which, both Hatori and Kureno seem to be too kind for their own good in regards to Akito. Both of them seem to view Akito as a crying little girl who needs to be comforted. And it’s honestly just sad to Kureno basically suffocate himself out of his free will because he doesn’t have it in him to abandon Akito despite not being bound to her anymore. It’s a terribly toxic situation Kureno is in and basically enables. Which is honestly frustrating because he doesn’t seem to realize the harm it’s actually causing Akito let alone himself. And goodness, the insinuation that Kureno slept with Akito when he came back to reassure her he wouldn’t leave again… ugh… This whole thing is just MESSY.

And after all that, I’m so glad that it wasn’t anyone of the Zodiac to find Tohru at her lowest and that it was one of her closest friends to find her and pick up the pieces. Bless you Hanajima and her “jajajaja.” At that moment, Tohru definitely needed someone outside of the Sohma situation to confide in. Sometimes, we need someone who isn’t related to the people involved to talk things through, allow an outsider’s perception on things. Especially since it could get a little foggy when talking to the people involved.

Not gonna lie, I got a bit emotional when Hanajima said that she was only able to find Tohru because she heard her crying when no one else could. And I’m so glad that she told her that she was taking on WAY TOO MUCH of everyone’s emotional burdens. It’s not her personal responsibility to make anyone happy. She’s focusing so much on others’ feelings that she’s neglecting her own personal issues and it’s taken a toll on her. It’s not healthy and I’m glad that Hanajima addressed this. Calling back to the Idiot Traveler story that Momiji told, the traveler gave and gave and gave until she had basically nothing left of herself. Tohru was on the road to having nothing of herself left.

After watching this episode, I realized that Kureno basically serves as a foil to Tohru and what Tohru could have become if she kept on the route she was going. Both of them are way too kind for their own good, always doing things for the sake of others without thinking about themselves. And if Tohru hadn’t been stopped by Hanahima and Arisa, she would have become like Kureno, bogged and tied down by the burdens of others and unable to smile genuinely anymore. She would have just become a shell of herself, just like Kureno.

But unlike Kureno, Tohru has Hanajima and Arisa (who is such a good friend to come running over from work) who are willing to listen to her and set her straight. Arisa basically tells Tohru to stop trying to carry her burden. And UGHHHHH, I absolutely LOVE this trio’s friendship. And just seeing how much they all love each other made me pretty emotional. They’re there to set each other straight, listen and comfort one another… things like this just absolutely wreck me. I’m glad Tohru has friends who are there for her especially when she gets so caught up in everyone else’s business. And it was because of them that a big weight was lifted from Tohru’s shoulders and was able to genuinely smile again. And now she has decided to tackle one problem at a time instead of trying to solve everything at once. Which is definitely a lot healthier. Bless both Hanajima and Arisa. If it weren’t for them, Tohru probably would have broke.

And then there’s Izuzu… She didn’t get too much of a spotlight this episode, but it’s definitely setting up for what is to come. After Izuzu catches Tohru and Kureno talking, she sneaks back into the estate to most likely try and talk to him, only to be caught by Ren. Which is probably not the person she should conspire with. Especially since Akito already hates her. If she finds out she was working with Ren… ahahahaha… Just bad news all over.

There was also that brief Kyo scene that had no business being so well animated with that 180 pan that is so hard to do in 2D animation.

This season sure started out swinging. I knew I would get emotional, but I didn’t expect to get emotional right at the starting gate. It sure gave us a taste of what is to come when this is the start to the final season. Fruits Basket sure loves giving me lots to talk about, doesn’t it? This final season is going to be doozy. We’re all in for an emotional ride, that’s for sure.

Also oh my gosh there are SO MANY SPOILERS in the freaking opening and ending. I’m also a little annoyed that they spoiled something in particular… Like, come on.

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