Time Skip and New Character Designs?

Let’s start off this review of Fruits Basket The Final Season Episode 3 by taking a look at the OP. I don’t remember where I saw this, but someone pointed out that Momiji Souma has a brand new character design in the OP for this season.

Now, we’ve already seen Momiji in The Final Season. Wasn’t he just in the previous episode? And there, he looked the same as he always has. But in the OP, it looks like Momiji has finally hit puberty. So, does that mean we’re going to get a time skip?

At the very least, I think it must mean that we won’t see Momiji again until the following school year — this one just ended. However, that doesn’t seem like enough time for Momiji to grow as much as he appears to have in the OP.

Momiji’s new design is really messing with my expectations for this series. It would be really strange for it to have a time skip of a year or more right now. And I doubt this series is going to extend beyond Tooru, Yuki, and Kyou’s graduation. But at the same time, it looks like Momiji is 3 years older.

Also, Momiji isn’t the only character with an upcoming change in design. If you paid attention to the ED (which apparently I did more than the OP), you’ll have noticed that Isuzu Souma is shown with short hair.

At the end of this week’s episode, it was implied that Akito caught Isuzu sneaking around the Souma estate, had her confined, and cut her hair off. The last time we saw Isuzu, she was with Ren. So I guess whatever those two were planning didn’t go well.

I Hope It Snows Soon

Previously, Kagura Souma was probably the best girl of the series in my eyes. And to her credit, she’s still definitely up near the top of my rankings. But over the course of the 2nd Season and the few episodes we’ve had so far in this season, Isuzu may have surpassed Kagura.

Character design definitely plays a role in how I view characters, though. So once we actually get to see Isuzu’s short-haired design within the series, we’ll see if I still like her as much. Generally, I prefer longer-haired female characters.

But, there’s actually a third character vying for the top spot. I’d call her the dark horse of the competition, but that’s literally Isuzu. Of course, I’m talking about Machi Kuragi. I think this episode did a lot for her character, both in terms of development and just making her seem cuter.

Machi has a very simple character design. But I don’t dislike it. I especially liked the outfit she was wearing within her apartment. She’s wearing dark, dull colors. And while you might at first think this is because she can’t be bothered to wear something “nicer,” it’s actually quite fashionable.

As for her character, there was a decent amount of development added for Machi as well. Yes, we got scenes of her being embarrassed, which was cute. But more importantly, we got an explanation for why she acts in the seemingly erratic way she does.

It’s not that Machi is a delinquent in any way, or even crazy. Her adverse reactions to thinks she perceives as perfect or flawless are symptoms of her past trauma. And I loved the scene toward the end of the episode of Yuki snapping the chalk that was placed in front of Machi. It shows her that someone understands.

Graduation Confessions

Since this episode takes place during graduation season, there were a couple of love confessions that people made. But, what’s different about these confessions compared to regular ones is that since they all involved someone who was graduating, the confessors had no expectations of a “yes.”

Why does this matter? Well, it was a good way to tie together a few different characters’ arcs. And it did so without the trope of someone confessing and having the other person apologize because they actually like someone else.

In a lot of other romance anime, there would be a focus on these failed confessions. But Fruits Basket doesn’t really care about those. Of course, there are failed confessions, such as Arisa confessing to Kureno. However, there are some strange circumstances surrounding why Kureno rejected her, and I feel like they’ll still end up together.

Other than that one, I don’t believe we’ve seen any other failed confessions. We know they happen because girls confess to Yuki (and probably Kyou) all the time — as do boys to Kimi. But failed love doesn’t really seem to be what this series is all about.

Back to the confessions within this episode, though, neither were really confessions. First, we had Motoko Minagawa “confessing” to Yuki by telling him that he made her high school life enjoyable and that she hopes he has an enjoyable future — Motoko is the one graduating.

After that, we had Naohito Sakuragi do the exact same “confession” to Motoko. And, while normally you’d expect someone like Motoko to reject Naohito because she already loves Yuki, she doesn’t. She wishes for him to have a good future as well because she understands exactly what he’s doing, the same thing she did with Yuki.

Conclusion

What do you think of Fruits Basket The Final Season Episode 3? Do you think there’s going to be a time skip now that the school year is over? Has your favorite character changed over the course of the series? And what did you think of the “confessions?” 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 4 is available.

Alone in Secrecy

Last week, I didn’t really consider how the information about Akito Soma’s sex would affect Tooru. But, to be fair, that’s because Akito’s sex doesn’t really matter as far as we know. Why is it such a big deal? Is the leader of the Zodiac not supposed to be female?

I could understand Akito’s sex being relevant if all of the Zodiac members were male. And at the start of the series, as far as we knew, they were. But since we now know that there are also female Zodiac members, Akito’s sex seems to be less relevant.

If you really think about it, why would Akito’s sex matter to any of the Zodiac members who don’t already know it? I guess you could say that Yuki might think differently of her. But at the same time, she still tortured him. And as for everyone else, their relationship with her wouldn’t be any different.

But, regardless of what Akito’s sex means for the Zodiac members, it clearly means something for Tooru. It means that she’s privy to a Soma clan secret that most of the Soma clan — or at least most of the Zodiac members — aren’t.

Why this is important is because Tooru is conflicted about what to do with this information. It supposedly is directly related to the Zodiac members. But at the same time, it’s not her secret to share. And more so, she doesn’t know how they’d react to it.

Maybe the real issue at hand here is that Akito is keeping a secret from most of the Zodiac members. Perhaps that’s the problem, not Akito’s actual sex. Still, I don’t think most of the Zodiac members would care about that lie.

That’s an Unwavering Truth

It’s interesting how Fruits Basket has developed as a story over up until this point. At the start, it was about a girl who found herself intertwined with the mysterious Soma family. The Soma’s curse was the main focus of the series back then.

And while the Soma’s curse is still very much relevant, what role it plays in the series is vastly different. At this point, the series is more about power dynamics within the Soma clan than anything else. Relationships, secrets, and revenge are the name of the game.

Honestly, though, I’m probably more invested in this series now than ever before. Meeting all of the Zodiac members was fun for a while. But the first season and a half were basically just setting up the cast of the series. Now that the characters are established, we can get to the real story.

The one reason that Akito’s sex matters is because of the dynamic between herself, Kureno, and Shigure. We can now see why the relationships between these three have felt so out of place. It’s effectively a love triangle in which the characters also all hate each other.

Akito keeps Kureno around to keep herself from being lonely, while also being in love with Shigure instead. Kureno is free from his curse but stays by Akito’s side out of pity. And Shigure loves Akito but also hates her for effectively tossing him aside.

It’s these relationships that have kicked off the struggle for power within the Soma clan. Akito wants to maintain her control, Shigure is effectively the wild card, and Ren Soma was brought into the equation by Shigure as the one who wants to disrupt Akito’s control.

The Ultimate Revenge

I have to say, I thought the way Shigure got revenge on Akito was pretty amazing. I think the kids would call it “epic,” or even a “chad move.” Because Akito slept with Kureno, for some unapparent reason, Shigure decided to sleep with Akito’s mother Ren.

So, how did all of this come to pass? Well, it all started with Akito apparently just ghosting Shigure. He said he would always be there for her, he never went anywhere, and she just stopped coming to him for an unknown reason.

However, based on Akito’s reaction in this episode, it seems like she didn’t necessarily intend to abandon Shigure. Again, we don’t know why this is, but it appears that Akito felt like Shigure didn’t want her around for some reason, so she stopped seeing him.

From there, we have to fast forward until, at some point, Akito sleeps with Kureno. We know that Akito loves Shigure, and Kureno isn’t really interested in Akito like that. So, we can assume Akito did this in an attempt to fill the void in her heart left by Shigure.

It’s unclear exactly how Shigure found out about this. On one hand, I could absolutely see Akito rubbing it in his face to try to make him jealous. But on the other, I could also see Shigure finding out by stalking Akito or something.

What I find funny about this whole situation is how Shigure responds to it. Does he confront Akito or Kureno about it? Of course not. He goes and sleeps with the one person Akito hates more than anyone else: Her own mother.

When we were first introduced to Ren, it was implied that she was isolated by Akito because of how she raised Akito. But now, it seems clear what the real reason for Ren’s isolation is.

Conclusion

What do you think of Fruits Basket The Final Season Episode 2? Can you think of a good reason why Akito’s sex matters? Are you more interested in the current events of the series or those from earlier on? And, did Shigure’s choice of revenge surprise you? 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 3 is available.

Akito and Ren

Way back when the first season of Fruits Basket was airing, I reviewed the first 10 episodes weekly before eventually dropping it from my review schedule. Obviously, I continued to watch it despite not reviewing it, though.

With that in mind, I’m not sure how long these weekly reviews of the Final Season are going to last. If the season is more than one cour (I don’t know how long it’s going to be), then I’d at least like to review every episode from the first cour.

Anyway, let’s start off this discussion of the first episode of the Final Season by going over this whole thing with Akito and Ren Soma. Akito being a woman wasn’t a surprise to me, but the introduction of Ren is a bit of a twist.

While I believe the actual reveal about Akito’s sex came in the final episode of the second season, I’m pretty sure I’ve known about this since some time during the first season. You know, because people on Twitter love to spoil things.

I don’t remember who spoiled Akito’s sex for me. But I do remember one of the English dub voice actors tweeted out spoilers for which characters were which Zodiac members, and of course, Twitter promoted their tweet and showed it to a bunch of people who weren’t even following them.

At the end of the day, though, I don’t think Akito’s sex is a big deal. There are Zodiac members of both sexes, so I don’t see why Akito’s would matter. Ren, on the other hand, is a twist because I have no idea if I’m supposed to view her as a villain or not.

Akito has been built up as the villain of the series, and Ren opposes her. But at the same time, Ren also seems villainous.

Everything’s Frozen

I understand that the portion of the episode in which Tooru learns about Kureno’s situation and why he can’t be with Arisa was supposed to be the emotional part. But honestly, most of the emotion from that scene was lost on me for a few reasons.

First of all, I didn’t remember anyone’s names. I was getting Kureno and Hatori mixed up, I forgot that Uotani’s first name was Arisa, and on top of that, Isuzu and Ren look somewhat similar. All of that’s not really the anime’s fault. However, I’d argue that this was a terrible place to start a new season at.

Why would you split an important conversation across two seasons? While paying attention to the new information Kureno was giving us, I was also trying to remember all the information we got from the previous episode six months ago. At least he reminded us that his curse is broken.

The second issue I have with this scene is the animation when Kureno is walking away from Tooru once he’s done talking to her. He awkwardly shuffles away and it was extremely distracting. It basically invalidated any emotions that his story may have brought up.

Finally, and this is an issue I have with a lot of the more “emotional” scenes in Fruits Basket, there’s the way the characters talk. Normally, the characters in this series speak, well, normally. However, when a scene is trying to be more emotional, their speech changes.

They slow their speech down, almost begin to whisper, and pause multiple times mid-sentence. Do you have any idea how annoying it would be if people actually spoke like that? I guess it’s their attempt to give the anime that “ethereal” mood that a lot of shoujo manga have during these scenes.

Nightgown Festival

My final complaint from the Kureno scene also applies to the “nightgown festival” scene as well. But, other than that, I thought this was a pretty good scene. Maybe that’s just because I like the Tooru/Saki/Arisa combo though. Oh, and I guess Megumi is pretty good too.

The main reason I like this season is that it gives Tooru some good character depth and development. We’ve known from the start of the series that she’s not someone who particularly enjoys asking for help from others — such as when she attempted to live out of a tent before moving in with Shigure.

But, Tooru also does recognize that even though she doesn’t ask for help, she receives a lot of support from her friends. And this fact causes her to feel as though she needs to support her friends in various ways as well.

What she still doesn’t really seem to realize is that her very existence is all the support her friends need. Tooru is the one who brings everyone else together and brightens their days. She doesn’t need to go out of her way to support them in additional ways.

I don’t think that Tooru will ever truly accept that, though. She’s not just going to listen when other people tell her to stop trying to help them. However, that doesn’t mean she hasn’t developed as a character at all through this scene.

Rather, I think this scene shows us that Tooru is beginning to understand that there are some things that she can’t do no matter how much she wants to or how hard she tries. And, while she won’t see that as a good thing, it’s an important lesson to learn.

It may help her focus on the things she can do.

Conclusion

What do you think of Fruits Basket The Final Season Episode 1? Did you remember the events of the previous episode? Do you have the same issue I have with the way characters’ speech changes for certain scenes? And, would you participate in a nightgown festival with Saki? 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 2 is available.