Fruits Basket Episode 10

Fruits Basket Episode 10

It’s Valentine’s, After All

It’s Valentine’s Day in the world of Fruits Basket, and for those of you who don’t know, that’s February 14th. However, even if you did know that, what you may not know is that Valentine’s Day works a bit differently in Japan than it does over here in the U.S.

In Japan, Valentine’s Day is a day for girls to give chocolate to the boys they like, not the other way around. Then, a month later on March 14th, is a day known as White Day on which boys give chocolate to the girls they like. I don’t know why it’s called White Day, but I’m sure Google could tell you if you’re interested.

So what would we expect to happen in a Valentine’s Day episode of Fruits Basket? Well, we would expect the pretty boy, Yuki, to receive a lot of chocolate from his many adoring fans. And indeed that’s exactly what happens. Although instead of his locker being overflowing with chocolate, each girl threw out the chocolate of the girl before her so only one remained.

Tooru, Hana, and Uo from the anime series Fruits Basket
Tooru, Hana, and Uo

Even Kyo received chocolate from a single girl despite his bad attitude. But, he doesn’t have time to be happy about this gift for two reasons. The first is that Valentine’s Day is a dangerous time for male members of the zodiac because they never know who’s going to attempt to hug them.

However, the second and more important reason is because Kyo knows that Kagura is bound to appear at some point. And appear she does. But before I get into discussing how Kagura is the best girl in the series and how I liked her pink outfit, let’s talk about something more serious.

Yuki and Kyo

We know that Yuki and Kyo don’t get along. We’ve known this since the first or second episode, whichever one introduced Kyo. However, up until now it seemed like their feud was purely due to the zodiac legend in which the rat tricks the cat into being late for the banquet.

In this week’s episode some new information is revealed, which seems to hint that there may be more to their relationship. Sure, the zodiac legend still likely plays a role in their feud, but as we’ve learned from the likes of Hatsuharu, the zodiac legend doesn’t dictate who you are.

The reality is that Yuki likely doesn’t hate Kyo because he’s the cat zodiac. As we’ve seen in the past, Yuki doesn’t actually want anything to do with the zodiac. Instead, it’s likely that his hatred of Kyo stems from Kyo constantly trying to start fights with him and generally being annoying.

So why does Kyo do that? Is it really because he thinks he can take Yuki’s place as a true member of the zodiac if he defeats him? Unlikely. Instead it seems to be more about proving his own self-worth and strength.

In this episode we were shown a very short flashback in regards to Yuki and Kyo’s past, and in it I’m pretty sure we were shown a fight of some sort with someone getting injured. This could mean a lot of things, but my guess is that this wasn’t a fight between Yuki and Kyo.

Instead, I’m predicting that when they were children, Yuki stood up for Kyo and fought someone in his place. This likely mad Kyo feel inferior to Yuki, and now he always challenges Yuki to fights because he wants to prove that he’s not someone who needs to be saved.

Double Date

Alright, let’s be honest, as fun as it is to theorize about characters’ backstories, the real reason you’re here is to read about the double date involving Yuki, Tooru, Kyo, and Kagura. However, there are two unfortunate things about this double date.

The first is that Kagura was no longer wearing her pink outfit, and the second is that we didn’t really get to see all that much of their date. Sure, Kagura is cute no matter what she wears, but I liked the pink, okay?

As for their date, we know the group went to see some children’s movie and then went to a family style restaurant after that. But we didn’t exactly follow them around on their date, so there isn’t all that much to discuss. I was really hoping for a lot of Kagura content this week, but sadly that just wasn’t the case.

Though I do think this double date confirms the idea that if Tooru is going to end up with anyone, it’s going to be Yuki. Kyo and Kagura are already a package, despite what Kyo wants, so even if he seems to be flirting with Tooru at times I don’t think those two really have a chance.

Shigure Souma

And now back to some more serious content. While Tooru is out on her double date, Shigure volunteers to deliver Tooru’s Valentine’s Day chocolates to the main Souma estate. Specifically, Tooru made chocolate for Hatori, Momiji, and Hatsuharu.

It’s during this visit that it’s revealed Shigure has some sort of plot which involves Tooru.

Apparently when they were younger, Shigure, Hatori, and “A-ya” all had a similar dream which ended in tragedy for the latter two. However, Shigure’s dream has still yet to be crushed and he’s determined to do whatever it takes to fulfill it. That said, we currently have no idea what his dream is.

What we do know is that he needs to use Tooru to accomplish it, and he makes some sinister comments such as saying that he doesn’t care if a few people need to get hurt along the way. Even so, it doesn’t seem like he actually wants Tooru to get hurt, and I suspect this scene is actually intended to bait us into thinking Shigure is evil.

Shigure Souma from the anime series Fruits Basket
Shigure Souma

There are also some other interesting things we learn during this reveal. While it’s implied that Shigure’s plot is sinister, we’re also told that it’s somewhat opposite to Akito’s plot involving Tooru. But why is Tooru necessary for both of their plots? Only time will tell.

It also seems like perhaps there’s some romantic tension between Shigure and Akito. Earlier on in the series it seemed like Shigure really hated Akito when he would mention that she’s getting what she deserves, but now it seems like perhaps they have a more intimate relationship.

And, last but not least, we have this “A-ya” person. I don’t actually know what the -ya honorific implies as the only time I’ve ever heard it used before is by Trafalgar Law from One Piece (and I’m too lazy to look it up right now), but that’s not really what’s important here.

What’s important is what the “A” stands for. You would think it stands for Akito, but Shigure tends to refer to Akito by her actual name, so this seems unlikely. My guess is that once this mysterious “A-ya” is revealed we’ll also get a better understanding of the dream they, Shigure, and Hatori all had.

Conclusion

So what did you think of this week’s episode of Fruits Basket? Are you like me and wish there was more Kagura content? Or did you prefer that the episode focused on setting up more mysteries surrounding the various Souma clan members? Let me know in the comments.

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I stopped my episodic reviews of Fruits Basket here, so instead of episode 11, check out my review of the first season.

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