Fruits Basket The Final Season Episode 10

Arisa on the Move

I’ve been saying for weeks now that Arisa and Kureno are going to end up together by the end of the series. That doesn’t necessarily mean they have to be formally dating at that point. It just means that their relationship is clearly going to be headed in that direction.

But, for a moment in Fruits Basket The Final Season Episode 10, I thought that might not be the case. When Arisa and Saki met Akito at the hospital, Saki said to Akito that Kureno had mentioned having someone he had to stay with and that he was referring to Akito.

Initially, I thought that this was going to lead to Akito and Kureno making up and becoming a pair again. However, that thought didn’t last long because I remembered that in the ED, Kureno is paired with Arisa, and Akito is paired with Shigure.

Then, there was also the part with Arisa saying that her time with Kureno was only brief, so she hasn’t exactly earned the right to be sad about losing him to someone else. This made me think that she was going to kind of give up on him.

I still felt like they would end up together. But I was thinking that Arisa would stop trying to be with him and instead it would be Kureno who took the initiative the next time. While this isn’t what happened, I like what did happen much more than what I expected.

Rather than give up on Kureno after realizing that she was only in his life for a small amount of time, Arisa chooses to be a bigger part of his life. She doubles down and forces her way in. I like it; she’s not messing around.

Yuki x Kyou Bromance

The Yuki x Kyou bromance has finally reached its pinnacle. First, Kyou admitted to wanting to be like Yuki. Then, Yuki admitted to wanting to be like Kyou. They both had something which the other didn’t, and which the other wanted.

It’s a lot like the dynamic between Gugu and Rean in To Your Eternity Episode 9, which I reviewed yesterday. Yuki was jealous of Kyou’s “freedom” and the fact that Tohru was always happy around him. Meanwhile, Kyou was jealous of Yuki’s place within the Souma clan.

At the end of the day, neither of them was in very enviable positions because of Akito. Sure, Kyou was free from the restrictions of the clan. But there was a time limit placed on that freedom. After graduation, he was to be locked up for the rest of his life.

As for Yuki, yeah, he got to be an official Zodiac member who was allowed to be part of the Souma clan. But he was also abused for Akito’s entertainment and effectively sold to Akito by his mother. I wouldn’t really want to be either of them.

The real hero of the Yuki x Kyou bromance, though, is Machi. Without Machi, Yuki and Kyou would still be fighting over Tohru and never would have been able to see eye to eye. Also, I guess Kyou doesn’t actually know about Machi yet.

I think that as far as Kyou knows, Yuki is still interested in Tohru. Some of the things he said to Yuki wouldn’t really make sense otherwise. I wonder what his reaction is going to be when he finds out about Yuki and Machi — or everyone else’s reactions for that matter.

Tearing Down the Souma Clan

So, let’s talk about Akito for a bit. She’s had a pretty drastic personality shift in the course of a single episode. But as I said last week, this shift in her character isn’t coming out of nowhere. Based on how her character had been being developed over the course of the series, it was bound to happen.

What’s surprising is that Akito is now moving to dismantle everything she previously stood for at a fast pace. I expected her to break her bonds with the Zodiac members, or allow their bonds to deteriorate (which hasn’t happened yet). But I didn’t really expect her to go out of her way otherwise.

For example, Akito orders that the Cat’s house (jail) is to be demolished. And beyond that, she personally visits the home of Kyou’s dad to inform him that Kyou will be free. These aren’t things she had to do. She could have left the Cat’s house standing and never enforced Kyou’s imprisonment.

As part of her dismantling of the Souma clan traditions, Akito also breaks away from her primary attendant who’s been around since before she was born. Her head attendant doesn’t want the way the clan functions to change because it’s all she’s known.

Akito’s response to that was kind of mean. But at the same time, I do understand why she said it. Basically, Akito says that if her attendant wants to keep living in the past, that’s fine. She’s just going to be left behind if she does so.

When you consider how the head attendant had kind of been the one pushing all of the clan traditions onto Akito, it makes sense that she wouldn’t really be sympathetic. Would Akito really have gotten into the bad position she was in if she wasn’t constantly pushed in that direction by her attendant?

Conclusion

What do you think about Fruits Basket The Final Season Episode 10? Do you like Arisa going on the offensive, romantically speaking? Or would you have rather Kureno made the move? Also, who do you think will have the best reaction to Yuki x Machi when their relationship is revealed? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 11 is available now.