Rolling Review – Fruits Basket 2019 – S2 (07)

I hope that’s true, because I have a hard enough time following you as it is.

Episode Synopsis:

An impromptu watermelon-splitting party breaks out at the beach house. Tohru, self-conscious after Hiro’s previous comments, trips over a mention of her mother – a stumble which does not go unnoticed by Hiro himself, and this noticing is in turn noticed by Kyo, who wrings the reminiscence out of her when the pair find themselves alone together.

Yuki, having decided to take a walk by himself, encounters Akito at the beach, while Shigure brings news of the family head’s arrival to the others. The family members trundle off to the nearby annex to formally greet him, except for Kyo, the outcast, who is left with Tohru. When evening arrives with no one having returned, Tohru grows anxious, and heads back to the beach, where she meets Yuki.

Review:

So there’s a big emotional scene with Yuki and Tohru that plays out over the ending credits, and I felt like I was following it pretty well right up until the end, at which point I was reminded that I apparently can’t read between lines of dialogue to save my life (plus I never figured out why it looked like there was a full moon over the water while it was still sunset on the horizon). This is an issue that is probably going to get worse while watching this show, since there’s so much subtlety and symbolism, and I’ve never been completely sure what I’m supposed to be able to read into and what’s still supposed to be mysterious.

Shigure’s scheming remains pretty opaque to me, though his methodology is apparently teetering somewhere between having Hatori’s disapproval and prompting the dragon to intervene. I’ve no idea what’s going on with Kureno or Rin. The nature of Akito’s grip on the family is also elusive, which is potentially due to me being unfamiliar with traditional clan roles. Nobody seems to believe him when he says he loves them at the annex, but they’re all there to hear it anyway. At least the main cast tend to be straightforward enough that I don’t feel like I need to be taking notes to follow the drama. But, now that I say that…

The lead-up to Tohru being comfortable enough to talk about her mother again involves her asking after Kyo’s parents, and he almost tells her what we’ve already been shown in previous episodes, except that he can’t bring himself to say what really happened to his own mother. Honestly, the whole exchange makes me more confused about how he was swayed into almost attending the new year’s gathering – Yuki’s cold relationship with his folks is one thing, but it’s sad to think that Kyo, having been persona-non-grata for so long, could still have held hope that his estranged father would be happy to see him, especially since the audience can now be sure that this wouldn’t have been the case.

(People who haven’t read the manga are encouraged to let me know their [re-]interpretations of that scene – people who have read the manga are encouraged to let me know how the subject of Hiro’s mother’s pregnancy originally came up in conversation)

More sadness is provided by Kisa, who, in the face of meeting someone who put her in the hospital, is verbally concerned not that it might happen again to her, but that it might happen to Tohru. You sweet, beautiful child – I hope that the second half of this show is kinder to you than the first half has been.

Summary:

I hold out hope that everything will eventually be explained.

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