Fruits Basket (2019): The Final Episode 13 [Final Impressions]

And here we are after a long and painful journey, we’ve reached the end of the series. I feel like I don’t have as much to talk about since all the stories have wrapped up but also just started in a sense but sadly we won’t get to join them on their new journeys as regular people. To be honest, I am a bit bummed that we won’t get to follow the former Zodiac members into their new lives and it really is only the beginning for all of them. While it feels like they could have done more with this finale, I think it was very poetic to end with Tohru and Kyo leaving the house since at the start it was those two being brought into the house.

Before we really get into the meat of the episode, Kyo and Tohru go out on their first date and of course, Uotani and Hanajima keep to their promise to crash in on it. They honestly felt like Tohru’s parents in this scene and it was hilarious how they kept teasing Kyo. And I admit when Uotani said bleeped things at Kyo, I just died laughing. You can only imagine what she said to him lol. Though in the end, both of them approve and like Kyo and were just giving him a hard time because that’s their dynamic. But in the end, they basically gave him their blessing as they have become something as surrogate parents to Tohru in a way with them watching out for her. Ugh, both of them are such good friends for Tohru and it honestly hurt hearing Hanajima stating that Kyo is essentially taking Tohru away from them. Though, I’m sure that no matter how far apart these three are, I doubt that’s going to stop them from seeing Tohru. That’s just how strong their friendship is and will continue to be.

Also, oh my gosh, Tohru calling the pony a little Isuzu was one of the most adorable things.

I also really like the symbolism of Tohru going to pick up Kyo’s beads and keeping them as a keepsake since it kind of represents her not forgetting about the past, but as a reminder of who Kyo was in a sense. How she loves him despite his past, embracing the ugliness that he himself hated about himself.

It’s definitely sad to see Tohru leave the other Zodiac members, with just how much she impacted each of their lives in different ways. All of them have come to love her in their own way and all have cherished their time with her. And I absolutely love how it flashes back to how Tohru helped them, no matter how small. It also helped highlight how each of them mattered in some way, even if some were underutilized like say Ritsu lol. It’s also nice to just kind of take a moment and look back at what happened in the past couple seasons and just how much all of these characters have gone through and what they’ve accomplished by the end. And because of her experience with her mom’s death, saying goodbye to all of these wonderful people must be so heart breaking for Tohru. However, because of how much they all love her, they’re sure to find a way to see her again. Even Akito brings this up.

Also, while we’re on the topic of Akito because ever since I started liking her as a character I can’t freaking shut up about her. It’s understandable how she doesn’t want to go to the send off for Tohru because she most likely wants to give everyone else their space and her being there would probably be incredibly awkward for a lot of them. Especially with what Isuzu said earlier in the episode about being unable to forgive Akito for what she did to her. Which is completely understandable because what Akito did to Isuzu was traumatizing and she nearly killed her two separate times. You can’t just get over something like that after that person apologizes. Isuzu needs time and I think Akito respects that which is why she opted to not go. And hey, Isuzu may never be able to bring herself to forgive Akito and that’s fine too. Akito has accepted the fact she may never be forgiven and she has to live with that for the rest of her life. Akito’s past will continue to haunt her, but if she’s still able to move forward and continue becoming a better person, I respect that. And I have to admit, Akito saying that she’ll just go and visit Tohru anytime she wants was rather adorable.

But man, it was so nice to see Kyo and Yuki FINALLY be pleasant with one another. They’re finally just able to talk to each other normally without any petty arguments or fighting. All of their feelings have been laid out to each other and have finally reached an understanding and now they are just so calm around each other and it’s one of the things I had been waiting for this entire series. I honestly wish we could have seen more of this new relationship between them as they actually started bantering with each other in good spirits with them calling each other stupid cat and stupid rat without any hostility or underlying hatred. IT’S SO NICE. They’re finally able to communicate and it’s just so pleasant. They almost seem brotherly now and I’m super happy about that.

But the biggest moment in the episode for me had to be during Yuki’s confession to Tohru. While Tohru ultimately ended up with Kyo in the end, I appreciate it so much that the story didn’t undersell how important Tohru and Yuki’s bond was. While they weren’t romantically involved, Tohru was such a big part in Yuki’s life where thanks to her influence and care, Yuki was able to grow into the sassy king that we all know and love now. Saying Yuki came a long way would be an understatement and it could not have happened without Tohru. She was the one to ultimately bring Yuki out of his shell and become more confident in himself. And him just admitting just how much she did for him was so touching. Especially when he finally confessed that she was like a mother to him. That must have given Tohru just an overwhelming amount of warmth and confirmed the fact that she helped him and how much he loves her. To which extended to everyone else as well. All of them will be thinking about her and wishing her happiness. This fact coming from the person she most likely helped the most must have been so impactful. Especially when he tops it all off by saying that he was glad he met her while also finally, FINALLY calling her by her first name. I admit I felt incredibly emotional hearing Yuki say all of these things and couldn’t help but smile the entire time. IT WAS JUST SO TOUCHING. AHHHH MY HEART. I wish they hugged at the end but whatever, it was still heartwarming as heck.

Okay so I definitely lied about not having much to say about this episode. I really DID have a lot more to say than I expected. And me being the president of controversial opinions, I really did hone in on everything but the romantic pairings in this episode lol. Well, maybe except Hiro and Kisa where I actually let out a gasp because of how much more bold Hiro was in his feelings. I was not expecting their head touch to be animated like that lolololol. But other than that, I really do not care for the other pairings. They’re all fine (well, except for Kazuma and Hanajima because that’s a big NO and thankfully did NOT get together don’t worry) but I feel like all the romantic moments were wasted on me in this episode. Though I am glad that they focused on some non-romantic bonds as well that were just as heart-warming such as Yuki and Tohru and Yuki and Kyo. Because I could definitely get behind those and I felt like there was much more to unpack with those bonds. And I’m actually really happy that the present day was wrapped up with just how much Tohru meant to all the former Zodiac members and she will be dearly missed. All bonds are important, not just the romantic ones and I appreciate that so much.

And then everything ends with Kyo and Tohru being old grandparents and FINALLY showing us Katsuya’s face in his freaking picture. Why they held us off on seeing his face made little to no sense in the anime, but hey… at least they’re giving us an OVA of Kyoko and Katsuya’s backstory as it didn’t get adapted into the anime. So at least there’s that and something to look forward to as Fruits Basket isn’t finished just yet. All of the keepsakes on the family shrine were just wonderful from the Zodiac ornaments, to Kyo’s beads, to the hat that represented the bond that Tohru shared with both Yuki and Kyo. It felt absolutely poetic for the series to end on that hat.

Final Impressions

This series was just an amazing roller coaster. While yes, it did have some severe hiccups in the final season with pacing issues, but once they found their footing like halfway into the series, they absolutely nailed the emotions and deliveries. I know that this entire series was slated for like 64 episodes or somewhere along those lines, but man, if that were the case, they should have shaved off some of the episodes out of the second season in order to give more time to some scenes in the final season. Like, I honestly don’t think the Hatori and Sayu episode needed an ENTIRE episode to themselves. But I guess that’s just a personal preference.

And like I’ve expressed in a lot of my posts for the Final Season, there were just certain things that I felt went by too fast and didn’t have the proper build up. Berry mentioned that she felt like there wasn’t enough Kyo x Tohru moments that built up to the climax of their relationship. Which is definitely true because they cut out A LOT of build up scenes between the two and I’m so sad I won’t be able to see certain scenes be animated like the one where Yuki runs out of the room because he can’t handle the sexual tension between the two. And I honestly am sad we won’t be able to see Yuki being a sassy little punk towards Kyo because those moments were GOLD. There were even a pretty big bonding moment between Ayame and Yuki that was cut out and I’m also disappointed the anime never touched upon Machi’s fascination with Mogeta. So I definitely recommend those who have not read the manga to read it because there are some pretty priceless moments that were never adapted. Not to mention some important moments that didn’t make it in, like why I hated Kakeru back in high school. Not to mention we don’t even get to see his girlfriend in the anime. So more incentives to go read the manga.

Despite the 1st and final seasons feeling rather rushed at times, the series as a whole was an amazing experience. Especially since it finally got an anime adaptation that covered the entire story from start to finish this time. It’s rather interesting to see the differences between the first and second anime adaptation, especially the fact that the 2001 anime was made more into a comedy and didn’t touch upon Isuzu or Kureno because their stories were probably the heaviest and the writers probably felt like they couldn’t make a comedic story about them and were just opted out of the anime all together. So I’m happy that they finally got the adaptation they deserved because both of them are amazing characters, even though I wanted to just smack Kureno over the head at times.

I think one of the biggest changes I experienced from reading the manga to watching this adaptation was how I feel about Akito. I’ve said this before, but when I first read the manga, I ended up not hating her, but I was mostly indifferent towards her because I felt like she didn’t get what she deserved at the end. However, after watching this anime adaptation, I actually ended up liking her a lot more than I expected. Especially since I’m probably a lot more empathetic than I was back in high school and I now enjoy characters who make a proactive desire to change. I’m not sure if I forgive Akito for all that she’s done to the others, but I do respect her for taking steps in the right direction to change things for herself and possibly how the entire Sohma clan functions.

I’ve also come to love Tohru a lot more than I did back in high school. I think I didn’t quite understand the severity of Tohru’s situation and mental state initially. But having gone through similar stages as Tohru, I’ve finally come to really appreciate her as a character because she feels so real and I cannot agree with people who label her as the perfect main character who knows how to help everyone because it was just a front and there is so much nuance to her.

And of course, my boy, Yuki. I’ve come to love him so much more than I did back in high school. Sure I liked him, but I never considered him my favorite character until this adaptation. Though I’m sure it’s mostly because the second season just overdosed us with him, but hey, it gave me all sorts of reason to absolutely love him. And while he wasn’t in the Final Season all that much, he still had very impactful parts. Namely the part where he literally knocked some sense back into Kyo when Kyo was planning to just run away again along with his confession to Tohru which as I’ve already said, was just incredibly heart-warming. And man is he SMOOTH. The times this boy has made me blush throughout the series… he needs to be stopped. Also the way they animated him when he was pretending to throw his key out the window had me ROLLING. I had to pause the episode with how hard I was laughing. But this boy has grown so much compared to how he was in season 1 is just amazing and I loved watching his journey.

This final season was pretty rocky in the first half with how much they skipped over, but overall, I can still look back at this season fondly with how well they handled the second half. Not to mention I legit sobbed in like two separate occasions during the final season while tearing up a little at Yuki’s past episode a bit, which is a first since I never teared up or cried during the first season or when reading the manga. So I can safely say that this adaptation, while rushed, was still fantastic and I honestly am sad that I won’t be able to cover more from this series… unless they choose to adapt the sequel. But I feel like that’s a slimmer chance since it’s not as popular or well known. Though I guess no one knows what the future will hold. Because of the rocky first half, I can only bring myself to give this season at most an 8/10. As a whole though, I’d have to give it a solid 9.5/10. This series held so many laughs and so many tears, but in the end, it was all worth it. I definitely was able to get a lot more out of this series than I did back when I read it in high school and I’m glad this adaptation gave me an excuse to revisit and re-experience this wonderful series. I’m happy I was able to cover the last two seasons and I’m glad you all could join me in this journey of nostalgia lol. Until next time~