Fruits Basket The Final Season Episode 12

Yuki and Machi

Obviously, Haru and Rin are the best couple in Fruits Basket. But which couple is the second best? I went over a few of the couple in Fruits Basket The Final Season back in my review of Episode 11. So for Episode 12’s review, let’s rank them.

I’m tempted to say that Yuki and Machi are the next best couple in the series. Sure, their relationship is the most recent, but recency bias isn’t playing a role in my decision. Machi bias is playing a role. I don’t really care about Yuki, but Machi is cute.

If not Yuki and Machi, then the next best couple would probably be Ayame and Mine. I like their dynamic, as I explained in the previous review. I doubt we’ll get any Ayame x Mine content in the final episode, though. There’s a fairly good chance we’ll get additional Yuki x Machi content that will push them above the competition.

After those two, I guess I’d have to put Kyou and Tohru. I do like Tohru, but Kyou’s not all that special. And their relationship in particular is pretty bland. Though, that’s kind of to be expected from the main duo.

Shigure and Akito are fairly low on this ranking because their relationship is pretty messed up. Also, I don’t particularly like either of them as individual characters either. They both have interesting aspects, but they’re not great.

Hiro and Kisa are kids so I’m going to place them at the bottom of the ranking. And just above them, and below Shigure and Akito, I’ll put Kureno and Arisa simply because we haven’t seen much of them. I’m hoping they’ll be featured in the final episode as well.

Head of the Souma Clan

Even after everything Akito has done to the (former) Zodiac members, she still chooses to remain as the head of the Souma clan. I’m not sure who would have been the new head had she stepped down. I feel like Hatori would have done a fine job.

With Akito staying in power, it almost gives the appearance that she wants to keep ruling over everyone else. We know that’s not the case. But, I could definitely see it coming off that way to the former Zodiac members considering everything she put them through.

She was aware that if she had apologized to them all, it would have seemed like she was trying to avoid responsibility. So why couldn’t she recognize that remaining in power wasn’t a good look? She doesn’t need to be the head of the clan to do good deeds to make up for her tyranny.

One thing I want to touch on regarding Akito is her relationship with Shigure. I’ve seen some people say this is an extremely problematic relationship, and that it ruins the entire series. I clearly don’t agree with that, and neither do most people since this season is ranked as the #5 anime on MyAnimeList overall as of the writing of this review.

But, why does anyone think their relationship is bad? It all comes down to the fact that Shigure is older than Akito and expressed that he loved her when she was still a young child. To them, this is a sign that either he’s into children, or he groomed her.

Shigure never tried to get with Akito when she was a child. And he even kept his distance from her both when she was a child and an adult — so there was no grooming going on. It’s more likely that Shigure was attracted to Akito, at least initially, solely because she was considered special.

Kyouko’s Last Words

Way back in Episode 8 of this season, we learned that Kyouko Honda’s last words were “I’ll never forgive you,” which she said while looking at Kyou. Back then, we had no real context for those words, and to this day, Kyou still doesn’t.

Luckily for us, this week we got to see into Kyouko’s mind during her final moments. This added the much-needed context for the words she spoke — and it was also the first time that Katsuya (Tohru’s father) was featured as a character.

Why did I bring up Tohru’s father? Because when his name was first mentioned in this episode by Kyouko, I thought it was going to have something to do with her last words. It could have made sense for them to be directed at him.

Consider this: In her final moments, Kyouko sees her late husband when she looks up at Kyou. Upon seeing him, she says that she’ll never forgive him (Katsuya) because he’s not still around to watch after Tohru now that Kyouko is dying as well.

To me, that seems like it would have explained away everything. I knew there was no way that Kyouko would actually say that she doesn’t forgive Kyou for not saving her. And if this had been the missing context, I would have accepted it.

However, the true missing context is a bit different. Kyouko did recognize Kyou and her words were for him. However, she didn’t vocalize the first part of her final sentence, which was that Kyou needs to keep the promise he made to her about protecting Tohru. If he doesn’t, then she’ll never forgive him.

This context stays in line with everything we know about who Kyouko was, so I think it’s good.

Conclusion

What do you think about Fruits Basket The Final Season Episode 12? Was there enough Yuki and Machi content? I would have liked a bit more. Do you think the relationship between Shigure and Akito is problematic? And what did you think the context surrounding Kyouko’s final words was going to be? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 13 is available now.