Fruits Basket The Final Season Episode 9

Akito’s Redemption

I have to start off this review by saying that I wasn’t expecting Akito’s redemption to happen so soon. There are still four episodes left and most of the Zodiac members’ bonds are still intact. I thought this would happen after all of the bonds broke.

This brings up an interesting question. What’s going to happen with the rest of the unbroken bonds? Are they going to remain as they are currently, just without Akito using them against everyone? That seems like it would defeat the purpose of Akito’s redemption.

Or, perhaps the bonds will dissolve on their own as Akito stops relying on them. Maybe Akito even has the ability to break the bonds herself and will do so willingly. Regardless of how it happens, I still think all of the bonds need to break to complete her redemption.

The whole point of her character arc was her coping with the fact that she was alone by holding onto her bonds with the Zodiac members. Now that Tohru (yes, I’m going with this spelling this week) has shown her that she can forge her own bonds, Akito has to get rid of the Zodiac bonds.

Speaking of Tohru helping Akito, I think the scene pictured above was my favorite part of the whole episode — and maybe even the whole series. I’ve seen a lot of people saying how much they like the Kyou x Tohru kiss scene. But I don’t think that compares to Tohru befriending Akito.

I’d be content with the series ending without Tohru and Kyou being together at this point. Previously, I thought that Tohru choosing Kyou or Yuki was going to be necessary for the series to have a good conclusion. I no longer think that’s the case. Tohru’s character arc has effectively ended alongside Akito’s.

Tohru Died

Something that surprised me was that Tohru actually accidentally fell off the cliff and was injured. I didn’t see that coming at all. There were two scenarios I was thinking could happen, and neither of them were that.

Originally, I thought Akito was going to push Tohru off the cliff after initially reaching for her hand. I figured the outstretched hand was just to bait us into thinking Akito was redeemed and that she would then shove Tohru.

Of course, I thought that because I wasn’t expecting Akito’s redemption to happen this week. And, after getting pushed off the cliff, I thought Kyou would show up to catch her at the bottom — perhaps in his monster cat form — at the last moment.

Now, once we saw that the cliff crumbled below Tohru, my original theory was thrown out. When that happened, I immediately realized that this actually was Akito’s time to be redeemed. But, I still didn’t expect exactly how that redemption came about.

I thought we were going to see Akito grab Tohru’s hand and pull her to safety. Yes, that would have been cliché. However, I think it would have worked well for Akito’s development. That would have been the first time in her life she saved someone rather than hurt them.

Even though that’s not what happened in the end, I still think it worked out well for Akito’s development. This was probably the first time she truly cared about someone else since her father died. And, I don’t think her concern for Tohru was out of place. The whole series has been leading up to this moment by showing us how much Akito fears being alone.

Kyou gets the Girl

As previously mentioned, a lot of people were pretty happy about the kiss between Kyou and Tohru. But when I watched that scene, the only thing I was thinking was, “Kyou, is this really the best time for that? She needs medical attention.”

I get that he wants to show Tohru that he loves her too. But I seriously have to question his timing. Tohru has a knife wound on her arm and she just fell off a cliff and is now bleeding from her head. This isn’t the time for your first kiss.

If he wanted to tell Tohru he loved her at that moment, fine. But kissing her? I’m not sure about that one. That can wait until later, can’t it? Maybe, like, after she’s gone to the hospital and been treated by a doctor? I can’t be the only one who thinks this.

It was also pretty strange that neither Yuki nor Kyou actually tried to help Tohru. Yuki called for an ambulance and warned Kyou that Tohru might have a head injury so he shouldn’t move her. But neither of them tried to stop her bleeding or anything from what we saw.

Kyou, you have a perfectly good shirt that could be used for that. Yeah, he shouldn’t move Tohru, but applying pressure to her head wound probably wouldn’t hurt. Or bandaging up her arm to stop the bleeding since the cut is near an artery.

Perhaps Kyou really thought Tohru was going to die no matter what he did to help her. If that’s the case, I guess he wanted to get in a kiss while he had the chance. So, in that regard, good for him.

Conclusion

What do you think about Fruits Basket The Final Season Episode 9? Did you like how Akito was redeemed in this episode? Or do you think her redemption was too simple? And what was your favorite scene of the episode? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 10 is available now.