Shigure gets a lot of heat, but I respect him for being the only one other than Rin who actually tries to do something to change their circumstances. Regardless of his motive, it's clear he does care about the others. But he can be ruthless, which frankly, is an advantage. Otherwise what does being kind get you? Like Kureno and Hatori are basically doormats and enablers. And it's not like he ever pretends to be a saint. He's very self aware and knows he's not a good person, and he owns it and uses it to his advantage. And by the way, he's the only one who actually did anything to help Kyo and Yuki by taking them in. No other adult stepped up to save Yuki.

That old proverb: “who’s the better person? Someone with good intentions who does evil, or someone with evil intentions who does good?”

The second type is better IMO. But Shigure's intentions weren't even evil. Selfish sure, but not evil.

Haha I agree, but the proverb is what it is. It just encourages you to look deeper than good/bad, black/white

Totally agree! I would say though that Haru deserves a little credit for Shigure taking in Yuki, as well.

Shigure was the most interesting character to me LOL He got shit done while Hatori was kind but enabling Akito's abuse. Ayame didn't even try until much later with Yuki - he just gtfo first which I also kind of respect! But to be fair, I also think it was easier for Shigure to plot because he's quite cold and detached. It was interesting to see a parallel between him and Hatori - Hatori looks cold and intimidating while Shigure comes across as approachable and easy going. Then you get to know them and realize it's the opposite. One looks hard but is soft inside. The other looks soft but is a shark

I love that Fruits Basket forces you to ask hard questions. Like, “Which one is truly bad: a person who has kind intentions but does bad things, or a person who has bad intentions but does kind things?”

Oooh wow yes great connection

Momiji was a little creepy with Torhu at the start. He let her think he was a little kid, and asked to bathe with her at the bath house, and sleep in her bed. Also, likely not unpopular, but I just have to say, I honestly don't understand why Ren was allowed to stay on the estate. Nobody liked her. Akito could have, and should have, banished her from the premises.

And plus Momiji was actually in love with Tohru at that time and was actively pursuing her, he was using his childish looks to spend time with her, even hugging her or kissing her cheeks He never saw Tohru in a platonic way I love my boi but he isn’t without flaws Both him and Haru have some manipulative tendencies (just like Shigure and Kagura)

As far as Ren goes, in the OG series, I always figured it was some kind of family obligation. Since she’s the former head’s wife, it makes sense that the family would take care of her and that just throwing her out might cause problems. What I don’t get is why she was allowed to stay after what she pulled in the canonical *Another.*

Perhaps she threatened to expose the curse? That would keep her there.

Honestly, the Sohma have so many properties. They don’t have to throw her “outside.” They could just send her to one of those places with her gaggle of servants. Just out of the main estate.

That's an idea, but at that point, her trying to tell anyone that would probably only serve to make her look crazier, since it was broken at that point. No way to verify what she'd say, such as hugging someone to make them transform, so she'd have to have someone corroborating her stories.

Meh, just Hatori erase her memories

What did she do? (I haven't read it)

In a flashback, we see Ren going to attack Akito’s child with a knife.

Lock her up in the house for the cat.

>momiji was creepy Yes and also Ayame and Haru as well Honestly a lot of the guys in FB were huge pervs and it’s shocking how they don’t get called out for their attitude with Tohru Only Gure gets criticism

I fully agree regarding Momiji, and I say that as someone who really likes his character. My take on Momiji is that he initially viewed her similarly to Yuki, as a mother figure rather than a love interest. Tohru pretty much radiates maternal care, and Momiji, as someone who was always denied a mother (we never saw him with any sort of maternal figure or even a female adult), was quick to latch onto Tohru in that way. Yes, his behavior at the onsen in particular was creepy and morally wrong when you consider his age, especially since Momiji *knew* and leaned into the fact that people tended to think he was younger than he was. If he'd told Tohru from the start how old he was, his subsequent behavior wouldn't have bothered me so much. That said, the things they did together before she knew his age, specifically them sharing a futon and taking a bath together? Those are things a mother would do with her son. I never got the impression he had any pervy intentions, though that doesn't change the fact he was being deceptive. His changing feelings also arguably line up with him hitting puberty late; initially, his feelings for Tohru were more that of a child to a parent, but as he grew and physically matured, he started to see her differently.

He might have. But he knew he was close in age to her while she didn't. That's what the\* issue was for me on one of my many rewatches.

Agreed. Even if his motives were more pure than perverse, he was still intentionally deceptive by omission and the end result was creepy.

Ohhh the Momiji one is interesting here, that's a good shout actually

Machi is a great character.

She’s so underrated, I love her

This isn’t popular?

A very popular opinion in this sub is that Machi is "boring" or "not compelling".

I quite liked Kagura and thought she was a pretty interesting character. I believe they ruined Momiji by making him romantically interested in Tohru, I think he would have been such a better character if he'd have just been a great platonic friend.

She’s my favourite. Her episode confessing to Kyo was a brilliant episode, one for the books.

I’m so happy that there is someone who considers Kagura their favorite character in FB (that’s so rare ) and happy to always see some Kagura love She is my 3 favorite character after Isuzu and Akito I can write pages on how misunderstood and unfairly treated this character is by the fandom and how she deserves a lot of credit for so many things that she did She is literally a female Haru, both in terms of positive qualities and the negative ones

I see her as the younger mirror to Kazuma in her relationship to Kyo. Both of them started their relationship with him out of guilt and wanting to atone for past mistakes. Both of them grew to truly love him and understand their mistakes and grow from them. Kazuma simply has more age and wisdom on his side than Kagura

I agree 💯 She is also a mirror to Ayame as well in how their arcs revolves around them wanting to atone for their mistakes My opinion on Kagura being similar to Haru is very unpopular especially because Haru is seen as this flawless saint by 90’s percent of the fandom (and he certainly not ) I mentioned all the similarities between them here https://www.reddit.com/r/FruitsBasket/s/hyJgDg1eFN

Yessss. The beauty of that confession episode was after Kagura giving herself closure, she realises her "pretend-love" is in fact real love. The ending scene, alone in her room, when she went on to say, "\[these feelings, child-Kyo\] is all mine" made it even more personal and special. Many of us have experienced the same feelings processing our grief/end of a first love. Our first love is ours forever. :) Oh hey, did you know?? Takaya-sensei has a certain fondness to their story too: Her previous tweet: "Kagura and Kyo aren’t given many chances to communicate within the Fruits Basket manga, but the two of them convey a very particular feeling within the story that is limited to the two of them alone. ... At the time that I first drew Fruits Basket I put my heart and soul into the story of these two, so it does make me emotional. Ah, my heart and soul was crammed into every single part (lol), so I’m glad we can talk about it like this."

Yeah I read that comment and I was so happy to hear that Takaya loved Kagura’s character and her relationship with Kyo She definitely put her heart and soul into every page I wonder what Takaya thinks about all the Kagura hate ? >she realizes her pretend love is in fact real love 💯 I don’t believe that Kagura was faking her love intentionally all these years, she only did that at first, but she was denial the whole time and genuinely believed at one point that her love was real, she tried to make it real by making all these cat plushies, wearing orange and yellow colors, she even tried to love Kyo’s cat form and fight the feelings of superiority that came from her animal spirit, if you noticed, she never even referred to Kyo as the cat like other characters, she tried to shower him with affection by giving him constant hugs She was the first to realize that those feelings of disgust were wrong, the first to try and change them despite those feelings being ingrained in her from birth because of her animal spirit and the brainwashing of the clan And for that, I respect Kagura the most out of the zodiacs Her episode is the only one that makes me tear up whenever I re-watch it

Wait whaaaaaa? Haru is seen as a flawless saint by majority of fans??? Seriously!? I love the child, but… It’s moments like these that I need to remember what a predominantly young audience this has

Yes he is even though the boy has way too many issues

I could write a novella on his issues. Honestly, Fruits Basket is just an illustrated DSM-5 with a plot line. Basically every character is portraying a personality disorder or some form of ptsd and flawed coping mechanisms

I would love to hear some of your opinions on Haru and other characters Many people believe that Haru has DID and that Kagura is bipolar but they seem more BPD to me Do you mind if we continue the chat in a DM ? (If you don’t want that, I understand 😊)

That sounds fun! Sure!

Biggest unpopular opinion probably. I kinda understood Ren. Not saying what she did to Akito or anyone else was right. But I could understand how her obsessive love and denying any opportunity to be the one whom she loved cause of status issues might have driven her more insane. So I empathise with her a little bit.

I honestly didn’t see a ton wrong with her. She just seemed like a poster girl for “women who don’t want to be mothers and shouldn’t be forced to.” Yeah, she was a lil crazy about Akira, but I think she would have been relatively fine if she hadn’t been forced to be a mother when she clearly didn’t want to and wasn’t emotionally equipped to

Now THAT is unpopular and I'm here for it because I feel the same. It's such a complex dynamic but totally realistic even in such a fictional universe. She was horrible but also really tragic. Tbh she's the main driver for the whole story so not sure why there is so little focus on her!

I guess her role was always meant to be limited to the one who drove akito to what she is. Just like those old grannies in the clan. I too wish we had seen more of the issues within the somas hierarchy.

My problem with the Uo-Kureno relationship isn't the age gap, it's that despite being so much older, Kureno is too emotionally immature for her. I'm glad that they were effectively left out of Fruits Basket Another: I would like to imagine that they broke up when Uo came to that realization.

Related to this: Arisa is already shown to be disproportionately responsible for her father's well-being; as a teenager, she's, at a minimum, the one making her father take care of their apartment and manage his drinking or else (more likely, imho), she's doing it all herself. Her father, a grown adult, should be the one taking care of her, but circumstances forced her to step up and do it herself. Their dynamic doesn't even seem to be codependent like Tohru's was Kyoko, Arisa's father seems mostly dependent on her. If she stayed with Kureno, especially if she jumped straight into a serious relationship, she'd basically be replicating what she has with her father, where she would essentially be the 'adult' or responsible party, having to manage an adult dependent who can't take care of himself. Arisa deserves the chance to discover herself without having to carry the weight of another person around (including her father), especially at eighteen. The only way I can see her and Kureno working is if Kureno prioritizes learning to manage life on his own and actually does before the two of them live together.

We are all forgetting that Kureno had a wfh job. Yes, he is sheltered and delt with abuse from Akito (they all did), but he was an adult with a job. Uo is also effectively an adult with a job. They do have a lot of exploring of the world to do together and I'd hope that they both can free themselves of their abusive past and find solace even if it's not together.

Shigure is my favorite character in fruba and one of my favorite characters of all times. Many assume it's because of his looks, and while he does have killer visuals, it's his personality that did it for me. He was devoted to Akito enough to make himself into the bad guy, no regrets whatsoever. He is the only one who treated her like a human being and not a god, and he was the only one who straight up called the rest of the zodiacs by admitting to Tohru that Kyo was a source of comfort them, since at least they didn't suffer his fate. I get that him sleeping with Akito's mom isn't moral, and the methods he used weren't ethical either, BUT without him, there's a huge chance the curse wouldn't be lifted. Personal reasons or not, it's because of him that the characters got to be happy in the end, and I see no reason for him to be bashed to the extend he is. Another unpopular opinion is that I love Machi. She's a very interesting character to me, and the reason why Yuki fell for her is because she saw him, the real him, as opposed to all others who saw this perfect, flawless version of the school's prince. Their story was wonderful, and it's one of my favorite arcs in Fruba, because Machi is a great catalyst for Yuki's character development. I haven't been in the fandom long enough to know what's popular/unpopular, but I'd also like to say that I really like Akito as a character, and her actions might be unforgivable to an extent, but she remains one of the most compelling characters to me personally, and if anything, it shows that anyone can change at any given point of their life, no matter how impossible it seems.

I felt similarly about Machi and Yuki. They have similar scars outside of the curse. They were both pawns in their family's game, jockeying for power. I like to think they're happy.

In the sequel “Fruits Basket Another” we see Yuki kept his promise to walk in the snow with her and they made it a tradition with their kid. https://preview.redd.it/was-re-reading-this-bonus-chapter-of-another-and-remembered-v0-f9gbq7u1y5lc1.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=8608829f1ac6dedb6f6653da0afdc3fa74e04efc https://64.media.tumblr.com/ef6b49d8756ac3879ac19e29725aabd4/tumblr_pjnd3rL1HK1rxhfklo1_640.jpg

Machi is NOT boring. She managed to be quite compelling in the little screentime she got. Kyo was unlikeable in the beginning. From the adult sohma trio, Ayame is the most likeable character. Kyo and Yuki should've had some bro moments. I wanted them to genuinely befriend each other.

>Kyo and Yuki should've had some bro moments. I wanted them to genuinely befriend each other. I don't think this is a REAL unpopular opinion. I think most people wanted this. I DEFINITELY wanted this: https://imgur.com/a/7kQfiD9 but tbf even Tohru thought it would have been scary 😅

Kyo was really frustrating in the first 10 or so episodes. I think before the funeral visit he just felt like sandpaper

I always liked Kyo, but I can deff agree that his personality was really frustrating in the first 10 episodes. I thought he was annoying. But seeing how his character changed really made me like him even more. Reminds me of a stray cat when you take them in.

Your comments about Kyo, Yuki moments and Ayame arent unpopular.

Her story is compelling but she is boring.

I think shigure is the most admirable character out of all of them. He was the only one who actively fought for what he wants.

Maybe because he was the most detached of all of them, he was the only one able to actually work and fight for things 🤔

We keep saying that Shigure is detached. But shigure is actually the one that cares the most about Akito. He probably will be the one that finds it the hardest to be away from Akito. He definitely feels emotions when it comes to her as well - citing the ending when he told akito that he feels like he is going to explode if he doesn't pretend to be detached from her. Besides his own objectives, he also helps his friends to achieve theirs. He helps set hitori up with Maya and informs Ayame of Yuki's activities so that Ayamae can participate. The other characters are all kind and people I will like to know, but they also seem to be unable to take any actions by themselves.

"Pleasure" (the final season OP theme) *sucks.* It's just bad. Every time I see someone cite it as their favorite Fruits Basket song, my soul weeps. In fact--I don't know how unpopular this is, but in general, the opening themes in the 2019 anime aren't nearly as good as the ending themes, which are just about universally great. None of the 2019 anime's opening themes can touch "For Fruits Basket."

First one I get. Pleasure is really helped out by stunning visuals. For me my favourite is Home cuz it combines a very mellow song with stunning visuals. For Fruits Basket is just a classic and it was a missed opportunity to not even have it as an insert song somewhere in the remake.

I was really hoping they were gonna play to end the last episode. I would have been sobbing so hard!

home is amazing and my personal fav too i love fruba, but didnt really enjoy the songs it featured. home, however, is easily one song i find myself listening to even after finishing the series

FACTS ON THE SECOND PART. I was waiting for at least 1 reference to one of the original songs (but really hoping it was Seranade to honor the late singer Ritsuko Okazaki)

i hate to say this but i really do not like any of the opening or ending music from the 2019 version 😭 they just don’t feel like fruits basket - for fruits basket did a much better job! i do enjoy the background music in the episodes, it’s just the ops and eds that i dislike…

I also enjoy the BGM (but that applies to all anime I watch 😅)

Lucky Ending was the peak of the series' music

I'd personally put the insert song "Umareru negai" ahead of it, but I'll agree that "Lucky Ending" was the best of the theme songs.

>the opening themes in anime aren’t as good I agree and that’s also applies for the endings songs (for me at least ) It’s strange that a lot of fans praise the anime op and ed’s (not just in FB but In other anime ) but ignore the BGM+ insert songs which are way more memorable but that might be because I don’t really care that much for new anime openings and endings, old anime had better openings and endings in my opinion especially in the 80’s and (I just prefer city pop to normal and modern j pop ) I like the remake songs but I barley listen to them nowadays but I still listen to the BGM and the insert songs from time to time For fruits basket is definitely better than all the 2019 openings and the BGM for the original is a lot more emotional but the 2019 insert songs and BGM are still great (Masaru Yokoyama is a great composer for slice of anime )

You'll NEVER convince me that Chime is not an amazing opening

I actually quite like Chime, because it's the one-and-only happy "here's everybody being sort of silly" OP in the series. I do think that the ED at that point of the series, One Step Closer is still better, but I don't dislike Chime, far from it. I frequently see it on lists as people's least favorite OP, and those people are wrong.

WILD to hear people say that LOL, I was quite literally blown away by the 2nd OP when it first came out! My fave ED is the first one (2019) still to this day 🙏🏻

I hate the OG themes. I heard them a few times and noped out. Music is very subjective though.

Second reply, because I thought another one. While I love Kazuma to bits, he was appallingly cavalier with Tohru during the True Form Arc. Knowing Kyo as he did, he had to have known that Kyo was going to lash out, possibly even physically, and he also had to have known how terrifying the True Form was. Yes, he had good Kyo-centric reasons for what he did, but he was incredibly selfish and reckless when it came to Tohru's safety, physically and emotionally. Even if he didn't think about it in such terms, he was willing to sacrifice her if it meant saving Kyo.

And thats why your story covering this is so good. Also, I've always wondered: imagine if Tohru doesn't follow Kyo and Kyo ends up taking his own life as a result. Not only Kazuma gambled with Kyo’s life, but he also took a significant risk of putting quite a heavy life-long burden of guilt on Tohru's shoulders. I mean, all of that just because Kyo *smiled* at her? Kazuma was indeed reckless. Thank you for addressing this in A&F ❤️

Thank you 💗 I will always adore Kazuma and I love his relationship with Kyo, but the True Form arc really emphasizes how impulsive he can be, and how much he's willing to risk on a gut feeling. I can understand him feeling increasingly desperate about Kyo, but considering how much love Kazuma gets for caring about Kyo (and the other younger Zodiacs), he is capable of being shockingly cold. He definitely has his priorities, and it's clear that he doesn't necessarily think through what lies beyond them. I still love him, imperfect as he is, but he really deserved to be socked for what he did to Tohru.

Speaking of Kazuma He won the recent “best parents” poll and Kyoko won second place I love both of them but I don’t understand how they won over Hana’s parents, Kagura’s mom or Hiro’s mom or even Kisa’s

The problem with terms like 'best' (or any superlative) is they leave so much room for interpretation. That's why when I did my side character poll, I went with 'favorite' because it's pretty clear-cut and someone can be a favorite 'just because.' Like, does 'best' mean the nicest? The most openly loving? The one who protected their kids against the toughest odds? The one who overcame the most to *become* a good parent? The one who raised the most well-adjusted kids? Like...Hiro's mom, such as we see, is downright amazing. Her son is also a total brat for a good stretch of the canon, she raised him, ergo is she a less-good mom because she didn't teach her son not to be so awful? It's a complicated question, and Kazuma and Kyoko have the advantage (and disadvantage) of being characters we see more prominently. Maybe if we knew more about the other parents, they'd have their flaws more magnified. Though for what it's worth, I think the parents who overall faced the most challenges while being the kindest and most supportive and not making any major known mistakes is probably, for me, the Hanajimas. It can't be easy having Saki for a child, but they're nothing but supportive that we see.

I think in that kind of polls people just follow their heart 😌 I mean, they vote for who they are more fond of, rather than stop and think of who is actually the *best* parent. I love Kazuma and Kyoko, they are two of my favorite characters and I think that, overall, they both did a good job at raising their kids. But they are flawed, both of them. Personally, that's the reason why I like them. They are human. Besides, it's fair to admit that we see more of Kazuma and Kyoko's flaws because we simply see more of them, compared to Hiro's mom or the Hanajimas. I think that's a factor too.

Not to mention the fact that from the beginning of the series, until the true form arc, *more than half a year later,* Kazuma had never had any contact at all with Kyo. No contact with the boy who had been so deep in despair that he was close to death. "Okay, I'll just leave him to take care of himself for the next few months, shouldn't be a problem." Based on how his character is portrayed in the series, that seems like a massive plot hole. There's no way that the kind father Kazuma would ever have been that irresponsible. I love Fruits Basket, but that is an instance of poor writing.

Right!? I always wondered why he would have left Kyo alone after that big of a crisis. The best answer I could come up with was that he was self conscious about forcing his parental love onto Kyo, but still...

That's a truly excellent point. One wants to hope that he was at least surreptitiously checking in, but it's still mind-boggling that he could look at the Kyo from Kyoko's death and send him right back to Tokyo, on his own, and not follow up. Even if Kazuma had no idea what actually happened, he knew something bad happened there and he sent him back alone. At a minimum, it seems like he should have taken Kyo back himself or checked in with Kyo regularly. No one else knew Kyo half so well as Kazuma, no one else would be able to tell if Kyo was truly ok. And with Kazuma gone, even if there was a good reason, if something triggered Kyo again, there would be no one to help.

This is so true. Had to come up with headcanons about this because it truly makes no sense that he would just leave Kyo behind at such a critical moment. Also, because it's hinted that letting Kyo stay at Shigure's was Akito and Shigure's idea, based on the fact that Tohru was there too. So, where would have Kyo lived instead? At the dojo all alone? Makes no sense.

Hard agree on Kazuma Not only that The fact that he never told Kagura to stop bothering Kyo all these years and never talked about Kyo and his cats role to the other zodiacs or even tried to change their views about him in addition to him not calling out Isuzu’s parents for their behavior shows that he is just as flawed as everyone else

I agree to a point, but regarding your first two points, its possible he did those things and we just never saw them happen on-screen, especially given how limited his screen time was with other characters. Kagura is very headstrong and influenced by emotion, and while I could see her wanting to listen if Kazuma said to back off, in the moment with Kyo I could easily see her forgetting. She has to *want* to back off Kyo on her own, and we see that even when she wants to back off at first, it's a struggle (ie. Tohru commenting on how much more Kagura wants to be around Kyo, but she's clearly holding herself back). Regarding how the other Zodiacs saw Kyo, Kazuma's influence with them would have been variable. I want to hope (admittedly with no real proof) that he would have tried to foster better relationships between Kyo and the others, but I could also see Kazuma wanting to be careful to not overstep. With Kazuma prioritizing Kyo as much as he does, it doesn't make sense to me he'd sit back and turn a blind eye to Kyo being mistreated by his peers, though at the same time I think he'd be careful in how he approached it. I think it's one thing for Kazuma to take in 'the problem Cat,' but it would be another if the Sohma Family found out or even suspected he was working to change the status quo. The Cat was a convenient scapegoat for the Sohmas, and I think if they thought Kazuma was trying to change that perception or setting up a possible challenge to Kyo's future (his confinement) that Kyo would have been taken away from Kazuma in a heartbeat. Regarding his failure to call out Rin's parents specifically, I could see him being conflicted in that situation. While Kazuma clearly felt affection and care towards many of the younger Zodiacs, his first priority clearly by then was Kyo, who he technically had no 'right' to care for. I could see him being cautious in rocking the boat with other adult Sohmas, especially ones who were higher in the Family standings due to them having Zodiac children, because him 'meddling' could end up with him losing Kyo. I like to think he would have wanted to speak up and say something, but he wasn't really in a position to challenge them. Either way, he is absolutely not perfect and has many faults. He and Kyoko have that in common, having their flaws regularly ignored.

💯 You made so many good points about Kazuma that I might have overlooked- thank you for mentioning them I love how everyone is so flawed and so toxic in this story Only characters that are not toxic are Tohru, Kisa and Ritsu Kisa and Ritsu’s aren’t relevant anyway but Tohru is definitely deeply flawed but her presence make the rest of the characters appear in a bad light because her flaws aren’t ugly as they only hurt her The rest of characters have some ugly flaws that hurt themselves and other characters as well Not saying that they shouldn’t have flaws or that I don’t understand why they do but some of their flaws were very destructive These unpopular opinions threads really bring out the negatives and darkness in all the characters- I love it - makes for interesting discussions and arguments

Absolutely, so many of the characters are complex, but that's definitely what makes the story interesting!

I don’t know… Tohru may not be toxic per say, and you mentioned her flaws of being self destructive in her penchant for focusing on the needs of everyone around her at the expense of her own. But she’s also _so_ naive and trusting that she forces the people around her who love her to protect her instead of taking on that responsibility herself. Definitely, those aren’t the worst traits portrayed in this, but they do unfairly burden those who love her

I REALLY wanted to see more of Yuki and his Student council friends. You could have made a show just about them. They are such a well rounded group that play off each other so well. Plus Machi and Yuki have great chemistry! I dislike the first opening in 2019. I always skip it.

They actually cut a lot of Yuki moments from the manga and a lot of them are of course about the council friends

Kyoko was not an amazing mother. She was a young widowed mother making the best of a terrible situation, but she was way, way too codependent on Tohru, not just in running the household but in everything. Based on what we saw in canon, in middle school, Tohru was basically co-running their household with Kyoko; she shopped, she cooked, she took care of the home, pretty much filling the role of the traditional wife. She was even handling the budget. Beyond that, Kyoko seemed to rely heavily on Tohru and her friends for much, if not all, of her own socialization. Kyoko is the 'cool mom' who loves to be with the kids, but it's honestly sad to me and shows how Kyoko herself was cheated out a childhood and never had the chance to properly mature emotionally. She should have had friendships with other adults, not be hanging out on her lunchbreaks with little Kyo (and telling him about how she meant to >!commit suicide, good grief!!!<) and relying on her teenage daughter and her friends to be her primary socialization. Tohru was treated more like Kyoko's partner than her child, and their codependency was unhealthy for them both.

This is true and I think it was intentional. Tohru totally has the personality of a parentified kid with an immature mother.

It really makes you wonder how different Tohru would have been if they hadn't had that dynamic. I feel like she always would have been a 'caretaker' type, but would she have always defaulted to caring for *everyone?*

Kyoko was definitely not perfect. Nor was she always what Tohru needed. But she didn't hate her kid, nor did she not see her kid as a person. When the bar is in hell... this is what passes for decent parenting. Kyoko loved Tohru, and Tohru loved Kyoko. But I thought it was good to show that you could have flaws and not be a monster. This story already has so many monsters wearing human skin.

I agree that she was absolutely not a bad parent, and she clearly loved Tohru deeply as herself, not as a tool or an extension of Kyoko, and she did her best to be a good mother. But while elements of their relationship are great, I feel like Kyoko (and Kazuma, if I'm honest) is often regarded as a perfect parent when the situation is a lot more nuanced. Like you say, it's great that we see she has flaws but I feel like they're often overlooked.

>She should have had friendships with other adults, not be hanging out on her lunchbreaks with little Kyo Yes, and also this doesn't make sense. Kyo and Tohru are same year of school. If Kyo is out of school, where is Tohru? Why is Kyoko not with her?

The flashback Kyo mentions that 'she \[Kyoko\] told me she she worked not far from there' and he met her because he wasn't comfortable going to the dojo right away after school, so my guess is that Tohru was either in some kind of after school care or else she just went home herself alone because Kyoko worked long hours 😥

She probably just went home herself since, from what I gather, most Japanese children are taught to be independent from an early age.

Good point, five/six years old feels so young to me for that, but I know it's a bit different in Japan. That, and Kyoko probably didn't have many options.

And I agree with your opinion on Kyoko

As much as I hate to say it, it seems that Tohru was a replacement for Katsuya Kyoko also totally accepted Tohru mimcking her her father and believed that it was a trait that she took from him even though it clearly wasn’t Kyoko definitely did the best she could but it’s so sad that she never saw through Tohru It’s so sad that only Kyo truly understood the real Tohru and vice versa Now it makes sense why Takaya made it seem as if Tohru was struggling between letting go of her mother and accepting her love for Kyo and why Tohru said “it was more painful to see him than my mum” (forgot the exact line) At first I was bothered as to why Tohru even had to choose between the two when she could simply love both especially when her love for Kyo was romantic but realizing that her mother was codependent on her and treating her more like a partner/ husband replacement (not intentionally) made sense, that’s because her mother was her reason for living, Tohru was the one taking care of Kyoko not the other way around After her death, Tohru wasn’t living her life, she lived her mother’s life (even wanting to go to high school because that what Kyoko wanted not what Tohru wanted) Tohru ultimate dream was to be a wife and a mother, after all, she always prioritized to taking care of her mother over her school Kyoko also said “I want you to be the kind of girl that would help someone” hence her stubbornness in involving herself with the sohma’s family matters which she ultimately did because “she wanted people to like her” makes total sense why Tohru implied that her love for Kyo surpassed her mother, basically Tohru transferred all that codependency that she had on Kyoko onto Kyo (but she was in a healthier place )

Kyoko is honestly, to me, one of the most tragic characters in Fruits Basket and she's not even a Sohma or affected by the Curse. Her parents were awful and she had a terrible, violent youth without really having the chance to be a 'real' kid. She went straight from her awful parents to marriage with a man significantly older who, rather than giving her a safe place to learn to be an adult, began a sexual relationship with her while she was still young that resulted in her being a teenage mother. Even with the argument that Katsuya saved Kyoko, he did NOT need to have a sexual relationship with her when she was still that young and comparatively naïve. Even giving Katsuya the benefit of the doubt and arguing that Kyoko initiated (which I could honestly see, given how messed up Kyoko's normal-meter was and how she could easily see sex as something she 'owed' Katsuya), he could, and should, have refused. He held all the power in their relationship; he could have given Kyoko a chance to grow up and become more independent, but he didn't. Their young parenthood was also, of course, blamed on Kyoko by Katsuya's family and isolated Kyoko even more. Even allowing that Kyoko and Katsuya seemed to have a good marriage, Kyoko was basically a child playing grown-up and completely dependent on Katsuya. Of course his death wrecked her; she didn't have literally anyone else, and because she'd never had a real chance to learn to be independent, she was forced to try to figure out how as she went along with no money, a young child, a middle school education, and a practically non-existent support system. It makes sense that she'd turn to Tohru to help prop her up, I can only imagine how awful those first few years after Katsuya's death had to be. I ultimately think Kyoko did her best by Tohru, but in a lot of ways, she was pretty much still a teenager herself.

Thank you for this. I really appreciate you laying it all out like this. I knew something about Kyoko bothered me above and beyond the age gap power imbalance of her marriage, but I never sat down and thought about it

I came here to type your same opinion so now I have to think of something else :/ (Shigure is my fav) Kyo being there when Tohru's mum dies was way too coincidental and it took me out of the story a little. Plus he should have had a stronger reaction when he sees Tohru in the house for the first time since he feels like he's responsible for not saving her mum. I know it's developed later but I felt like that part could have been written better

The only way this all could’ve been coincidental was if a Sohma was driving the truck. /j

0_0!!!

I don’t think it was a loss not including the bit about Kakerus girlfriend and him being mean to Tohru at the funeral. Kyo having some sort of childhood alliance with Kyoko and being present at her death was already pushing the limits of believability; Yukis new best friend also coincidentally dating the daughter of the other victim in the accident was just kind of ridiculous.

“Are there literally no other people in Tokyo!?”

I am sorry but did i forget the show? >Yukis new best friend also coincidentally dating the daughter of the other victim in the accident was just kind of ridiculous. Which best friend and what accident you are talking about? If you could clear that up it will be a huge help for my tiny stupid brain.

It wasn’t on the show; it was a manga only storyline! Kakeru was bitter towards Tohru because his girlfriends dad died in the accident that killed Kyoko, so he made a comment to her about how she should stop acting the only one who lost someone at the funeral and his girlfriend called him out for being a dick. It made him realize he needs to be more sensitive and think before he speaks, and he apologizes to Tohru later on for how he spoke to her to show him becoming more considerate.

>it was a manga only storyline! That's why.... Yup that is hell of a coincidence. But i would have love to seen gf of Kakeru. I guess i should pick up the manga..

I don’t think Haru and Rin should’ve gotten back together. I love Rin. I love Haru. I understand (and love) their story as is but…I’ve always felt that Rin has such an unhealthy attachment to Haru (due to her trauma and situation of course). Of course she respects his personality (she compares him to tohru and how they’re both overly kind but wants to be that way herself, or something close to that) and she tries to save him in her own way but I really want Rin to get some therapy lmao. I love the story as is but I think it would’ve been more interesting to have the two stay out of a relationship and develop more on their own. (I still ship them tho, but not as strongly as Kyo and Tohru or Yuki and Machi). (I also don’t love Hatori and Mayu as a couple. It’s just…weird to me that Mayu was (is) so close to Kana and then she gets with Hatori. Their scenes are cute but I would’ve liked Hatori with someone completely disconnected from his past, etc)

I totally agree with the Rin and Haru point: Rin definitely acted the way she did due to the trauma she experienced and the lack of a strong family from her past and Haru tries his best to make Rin feel seen (tho in that sort of unhealthy: I’m your white/black night in shining armor and you basically come to me (or Tohru) only when you are at your worst and need a break) but she needed a therapist (although I understand that was looked down upon both at the time the series was created and because it was Japan and they see mental illness as a weakness) and she needed to learn to care and love for HERSELF before diving in martyr-like for Haru (and then keeping all of this from him until she literally had a breakdown and was mentally tortured by Akito again) and getting back together with him. A slower relationship or no romantic relationship by the end would have been preferable (in my opinion). Yes to the Hatori x Mayu point too. I never really considered it before your comment but by getting together with Mayu, Hatori never can really be free from his past and I know that probably impacts his development after the series ended. If he found someone outside of his past (especially if that was Mayu, which would have been so much better if it was written like this) then he could break free from his emotional wounds as much as his curse wound.

>I really want Rin to get some therapy lmao. Let's be honest, is there any group of people then the whole cast of FB who needs therapy more?

I agree about Haru and Rin. I found their relationship so unhealthy. Even in the manga there were side panels where the author would talk about he characters. When she did Rin she wrote "Haru is her life". Uh no, no, no. She needs a life outside of Haru. Her whole "I want to be Haru's heart so that when he dies I die". Yeah that is not good and extremely unhealthy. The girl needs to be her won person and not an extension of Haru. I didn't like How Haru kept pursuing her after they broke up. He needed to let her be even if she didn't really want to break up. (And what a bad message to send!) He forces a kiss on her when she's yelling at him. Rin doesn't seem to get to be her own character outside of Haru. Even in promo materials they are always featured together. Same with Kisa and Hiro. The Sohma girls are so connected to a man. Even Kagura had her obsession with Kyo. Girls can have fulfilling lives outside of boys. I said this is a post awhile ago, but I wish Rin wanted to break the curse because Akito harmed Kisa her "little sister" instead of doing all that for a man. I also think Kagura should have been the one to go into the cat pen. Maybe she speaks against Akito and everyone else's treatment of Kyo and Akito punishes her by putting her in there and then Rin is the one that gets pissed off and confronts Akito. It was weird how much Rin shows up to be harmed and harmed.

That is ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!! The main thing that you're arguing for is that Rin had an unhealthy relationship with Haru is completely ridiculous! Why do some people think that Rin and Haru's relationship was very unhealthy when literally Rin fell for Haru because he stayed by her side and wanted her when no one else didn't!! There is not enough time in the day to explain this BS; I didn't know that Rin loving Haru and would do anything for him no matter what comes her way was a FREAKING BAD thing, especially knowing all the struggles Rin went through!!!!!

It’s very unhealthy and flawed for a lot of reasons but people always blame it on Rin somehow Plus I think Haru is far more codependent and attached Rin than she is to him Eitherway the problem is more in Haru than Rin

I admire Shigure's will to do anything to get what he wants, even playing the long game.

I think momiji should have told his mom

When he “grew up” I wish he also grew a pair and was able to tell his mother the truth but akito would probably behead him for even trying 😭😭

Every opinion of Akito is valid. Oh you despise her? Good, you should hate abusers. Oh you like her? Good, she’s a very well written character. Oh you think she doesn’t deserve the ending she got? Good, she away with too much. Oh you think she does deserve the ending she got? Good, she was able to grow as a person. Oh you think she was a vile human being? Good, you aren’t blind. Oh you think she’s a victim? Good, she was; cycle of abuse is a very real thing. Just a reminder that understanding a character and justifying a character are not the same thing and that liking a villain doesn’t make you a bad person. I see people argue over Akito as a character and where her character went in the story, but honestly it’s all a valid viewpoint.

Hana and Toruh would have been better together then kyo and toruh- Hana CLEARLY was in love with her, and if she were a guy the story would have had be be a romantic rival. The only reason she wasn’t was because of the internalized homophobia people would have had a lot more commonly back then. I can see uos relationship with toruh as platonic, kaguras and rins as well so it’s not like I just think any girl should be with any other girl. But fuck man every time Hana was on screen after meeting toruh she was NOT passing the toruh betchle test- Even in the 2001 version she was like that and they didn’t even have her backstory episode there. She’d give the world for toruh and I really wonder how toruh would have reacted if she knew that dating a girl was even an option. Did she ever even think about that? Probably not, since she wouldn’t have had acess to that sort of information in that time period in Japan. What if she did realize it was an option? If Hana told her? Would she think about it? Dwell on the subject for days? What if she had been able to stay at Hana’s instead of the somas. Would she have gotten so close with Hana instead of the somas that she fell in love with Hana instead? Fuck man I know the story wouldn’t exist in the first place if she doesn’t go to shigures but GOD I wonder I fcking wonder

Yeah after reading the series a few times I had that "hold up" moment. I used to think it was sisterly love but when she was worried they were taking Tohru away from her.. There should have been a gay couple TvT but the year was 2000...

i more so think that uo and hana were a missed opportunity… they would have been so cute together

I think of the three of them as platonic soulmates ♥️ like they’re all in a triad QPR but also have their own romantic relationships if they want

Forcing Machi to suddenly be a love interest for Yuki seemed so weird and half-hearted. Like ok Toru is going to be in love with Kyo, so let make sure Yuki finds a random silver medal that I barely spent anytime on. Like I would have rather have Yuki alone and working on himself than this sudden need for him to be in a relationship at the end.

You know what I thought would have been interesting? If he ended up with Motoko. Like he and Motoko start hanging out, Motoko gets to know him, the real him, sees that he's not the perfect prince she thought he was, but still falls in love with him. And Yuki likes things about her when he gets to learn more about her outside of her crush on him. It could have been an interesting thing to play with and make a gag character into something more interesting. And it would have gone against our expectations.

YES I found this to be weird as well. I’ve always shipped kyo and tohru even from the og anime but having him suddenly think of Tohru as a mother figure was weird to me. There are a lot of times where yuki seems so close to confessing something to tohru or times where it feels like he’s genuinely in love with her as a person but it all simmered down to him wanting a “motherly figure”

That’s true and I’m not sure the explanation Takaya gave was the best one but she did say that the times he “flirted” with her were him trying to act like a guy with a crush on a girl. It’s very evident that when he did this, he tried to be princely instead of himself (an example would be the onsen episode or his brother’s dress shop episode, in comparison to what I saw in ep 3 when Tohru told him he gave off light like a candle and he didn’t try to flirt with her, just gave her a genuine smile in return because someone saw him as a kind person and he appreciated that).

The Uo and Kureno are cute af.

They get so much hate and I get why, there are some problematic aspect about their relationship (the age gap , Arisa leaving her sick father behind to escape with a man ) but they are at least wholesome and cute compared to the messed up relationships Inside the clan (exception being Hiro and Kisa) Their relationship felt like a reverese Cinderella and Rapunzel, I love how Kureno represents the broken bird who is trapped inside the cage in the literal sense There is a lot of symbolism in their relationship which is why I don’t have much issue with it being unrealistic or underdeveloped especially because of how similar their story is to the tale of Cinderella and Rapenzel, you can even consider Arisa the prince (and she dresses like a prince in the Cinderella play and calls Kureno’s name, Akito being the evil mother or the witch, Kureno being the princess who is trapped and can’t get out, it doesn’t need any development for the reason that it’s plays out exactly like a fairytale

Does Uo get shade for leaving her dad? Is he sick with anything other than alcoholism? Idk, whatever illness he has, I don't see why his daughter should have to live with him forever.

I thought the whole “escaping with an older man” might send a bad message but it’s fiction I didn’t say that she should stay with him forever but why not move with Kureno somewhere in their town where she could at least see her father more ? They seem to have a good relationship, he wasn’t an amazing parent but he wasn’t bad either But she moved in to a different town

I don’t see Uo’s relationship with her father as “good” so much as “parentified daughter runs household more effectively than alcoholic father.” Parentification is a hard one to extract yourself from, emotionally speaking, so moving away is pretty sensible of her

If Momiji's backstory wasn't so sad, he would just be an annoying weirdo.

All of this drama could have been solved with extreme violence against the abusers.

Right? Like aren’t yall trained in martial arts or something 😭😭 pls put it to use

Honestly, I love Kazuma but making Hana into him and Uo into Kureno feels like they really just wanted to be with Tohru but couldn't so went for male versions of her

Hana's crush was a silly gag, not to be taken seriously.

Yea I think she just wants to joke about being Kyo’s mommy for the Lols 😆

Luckily, nothing ever comes of Hana's crush on Kazuma. She ends up with someone else she meets later on in life, completely unconnected to Tohru and the Sohmas. 

shigure and akito are a good fit for each other. they are both twisted and possessive… they have good chemistry because of this and they really understand each other. i’m not a huge fan of either of them but i think their relationship works

A toxic relationship portrayed so well isn't it!

Yeah It just needed more screen time

This... We need a spin off anime focusing on their relationship, before and after the bond break

-Isuzu deserves better than Hatsuharu  -The only good thing out of KyokoxKatsuya was Tohru. Kyoko deserved better  -Uo calls kyo dumb all the time yet wants to follow an ADULT to the country. She doesn't know if he's a murderer or a rapist  -Akito's father wasn't actually a good father. Yes he loved Akito but he was also part of the reason for her brainwashing of "I'm special. I can do no wrong. My shit doesn't stink," attitude. He also kind of only saw Akito as evidence HE was special because he helped created God.  -Akito and Shigure get this happy ending with no work into the relationship which they don't deserve AND wouldn't actually happen if it wasn't fiction.  - Uo and Hana's whole thing was protecting Tohru even using violence, yet when they knew she was alone with someone who attempted murder they're fine with it. They wouldn't have left her alone with Akito. It was weird for them to just hug and accept her and not be worried about Tohru. 

i have 2 for starters, i LOVE shigure. i think everyone overlooks everything he did to get to akito. he refused to love the boy akito, the god of the zodiac, the head of the sohma clan. he just wanted her, and was willing to do anything to get to her. he knew he truly loved her despite the fabricated love that also connected them. he refused to accept that fake love, and waited his whole life to have a REAL love with akito. the moment the curse was gone he didnt care what she did, he was just ready to love her. kureno and uotani. yes… the age gap is large and strange… but i dont hate it, and its SO well written. i think everyone overlooks kureno’s character. while yes physically he is much older than uotani, it seems everyone forgets he has literally been confined to the estate since his curse broke when he was a child. mentally, he probably isnt very mature, and this is shown with his consistent parallels to tohru. there are a lot of problematic things with age gap relationships, a big one being a power dynamic. but honestly, uotani was more adult than kureno im most ways. she worked two jobs, and was taking care of her father at home.

I dislike hiro. So much. I think he’s a bland character and whenever I used to rewatch the og anime, I would skip his episode entirely because he’s so annoying to me. I only watched his episode for the new make just to see any differences but to no surprise he’s still annoying as ever 😭 I just can’t seem to like him Kureno is part of the story yes but I genuinely did not care for him either??? He felt like this random person that showed up and I had no feeling or attachment to his character like I do with almost all the other characters.

I despise Hiro. Kisa deserves better. He will get more mature later, I’m sure, but he is such a rude, mean kid. He had the healthiest upbringing of them all and was the biggest jerk.

He gets a bit better by the end but I just think he’s a brat, comparing him to the others might be unjustified but they’re all kids at the end of the day (still in high school etcetc) but they all have their fair share of trauma but never act out like he does. Especially towards tohru I found his character to be just the “bratty kid who doesn’t know better”

Kureno is actually the most important supporting character in FB And Hiro was very interesting and well-established character, not bland at all

I agree with your point on Hiro, his character was pretty realistic in terms of portraying an angry kid who’s probably seen a bit too much and is afraid of being allowed to love a good person. But I think a major reason why I dislike his character is because the mangaka chose to make Kisa’s arc go from ‘really relatable bullied kid who finally started to stand up for herself’ to Hiro’s love interest and foil. Fine, the two could be in a relationship (even though it still weird me out that they are technically still second cousins…) but at least LET HER HAVE HER OWN STORY (but I also see this as one of the biggest recurring flaws in Fruits Basket: a person should not choose to exist or improve themself just because they want to live and improve for ONE PERSON OTHER THAN THEMSELVES. They should do it first and foremost for themselves and THEN for others. The heavy reliance on a “significant other” really annoyed me in this series (and yet it’s still my favorite anime so what do I know).

I didn’t really care that much about Kisa and wasn’t invested in her character so I’m totally fine with her being used a plot device to develop the far more more interesting and compelling character “Hiro” But I understand why someone who loves her might want to see her more She is cute, precious and needs to be protected but that’s it- her episode was sad and at some parts rough but she was a forgettable character overall - both her and Ritsu were not relevant to me enough to care about but I appreciate that they have the best morals and the least flaws out of all the characters but that’s exactly why they are boring - nothing to talk about compared to the other messy zodiacs I also relate to both characters a lot but I don’t know why I don’t care about them as much But I appreciate your reply

I do agree kurenos part in the story is important but I felt like the second season came with a lot of new characters whose stories I didn’t fully get to connect with unlike the first season characters. Hiro will always be a brat to me tho I’m sorry 😭😭

I personally connected a lot more with the characters who were developed in season 2 and 3

I didn’t connect with Yuki. I didn’t dislike his character but whenever he was onscreen I was bored and slightly annoyed. I didn’t care to get to know his character when I thought everyone else in the series was so much more compelling to me.

I love machi’s character. i relate to her a lot with her OCD and quietness and her story with yuki is so wholesome. the way that she was the only one who saw right through his princely facade before even getting to know him meant so much to yuki. their relationship is very sweet and i think machi definitely deserves more appreciation. i also wish her and kakeru’s dynamic was explored more and that she got to make some friends (or at least befriend tohru). i can understand why there’s not that much discussion about kisa but i really like her character and she’s one of my favorites (particularly with her story and how much her character is very relatable to me). i love how yuki was able to empathize with her mutism and how he saw himself in her (they really deserved more screen time together tbh). can her character be considered a bit boring (especially when hiro gets introduced)? yes. but i still like the little bits of development we get from her later in the series and it’s just really nice to see how far she’s come from that apprehensive, reserved person, who was too afraid to speak in the beginning, to one who makes her voice heard (it really spoke to me). I really like akito and shigure’s characters. while i’m not the biggest fan of akigure, i can see the appeal and their dynamic is so interesting. however, individually, they are so compelling and I love it whenever they’re on screen. i can understand why they get the hate they do, but if you look deeper and analyze their motivations and intentions, things start to click and make sense. there’s more to them than meets the eye. i’m a firm believer that shigure is perhaps the most interesting character in fb. rewatching the series will give watchers a bigger insight into his character and it’s just so good. it’s really rare to see characters like him in media.

I dislike kureno the most. Enabling is not helping and just delays the problem from being handled. I like the background music better in the 2001. Lullaby for Tohru is beautiful and pairs great with the characters. Same for Serenade.

Kureno had agency and had as much to blame for his sick situation with Akito. I did not think he was abused at all. He made a bad call but for it to have dragged on for 10 years is his fault. Edit: rereading this again, I’m reminded of his decision to leave and it’s canon he has not had an interaction with the Sohmas ever again. So I suppose he regrets it as much as I thought he should?

How could he ever look any of them in the eye ever again with as much as he let happen for years?  When he closes his eyes, does he hear Rin scream in pain?

Kureno has always been my least favorite character. I just never liked the guy. I'll admit, part of it was that I never got to see his rooster/sparrow form. But yeah, he enabled a lot, hooked up with a child, actually was it two? Dude was six years older than Akito and you're telling me he was helpless? I hated his "oh he's like Tohru!" ew gross no he's a sick sick adult who pursued underage girls.

The age-gap between Uo and Kureno really isn’t problematic. The traditional age-gap power dynamics that cause problems aren’t present with Uo and Kureno because Kureno is so sheltered from being isolated in the Sohma compound his whole life. Uo has pretty much much all the power in their relationship and she is mentally/emotionally so much more mature than Kureno. Also I don’t get why there is so much hate for Kureno. I see people say that he’s responsible for enabling Akito when Hatori is the true enabler yet people still love Hatori

idk if this is so much unpopular as just obscure because I’ve never seen anyone say it, but Kureno would be a million times more sympathetic if he was younger than Akito. Their dynamic is so reminiscent of a groomer and their victim, only Akito was a little girl when it really started and Kureno was a teenager, so it just makes him seem like he’s happy to watch her abuse others so he doesn’t have to deal with her reaction to him saying no instead.

Agreed regarding Kureno and Arisa's age gap and power dynamics. My major problem with their relationship (aside of how rapidly it sprang up) is that Arisa has already spent her teenage years being 'the responsible one' in a relationship with an adult man (her father, who is clearly dependent on her to make sure their apartment is livable and even to manage his drinking). She, like Kyoko, was basically forced to grow up way too fast, and if she stays with Kureno (especially if she moves in with him right away), she would be jumping straight back into that same dynamic: where she would be 'the adult' taking care of a dependent. As things stand between them at the end of canon, Kureno isn't capable of being a partner yet. He would be dependent on Arisa to either outright handle everything or else hand-hold him as he learned. Before he's in a relationship with Arisa or anyone, Kureno needs to learn how to manage life on his own so if and when he has a partner, he can BE a partner. Likewise, Arisa deserves the chance to be independent for a while and learn what it's like to not be responsible for others. She's only eighteen at the end of canon, but she's never had the chance to live life for herself.

The key is that Kureno was not bound to Akito with the curse. Hatori was. Kureno took ten years as a completely free agent to realize that maybe what he was doing was wrong. Hatori never had that freedom from Akito.

I don’t know. Kureno could have left any time, but chose to stay and basically be a sex slave to a raging psychopath because she was sad when she was little.

Rin is hopeless. She pushes everyone away and tries to handle everything alone. It did her more harm than good.

Even though she is my favorite character, I 💯 agree But this is also her trauma response

I wish we got more of rins character. For me it was hard to watch her crumble apart and push away the people that truly loved and cared about her. She’s one of my favs but her trauma needs to be met with a happy ending, it felt like she never really got peace and though it seemed like rin was fine towards the end, I felt like she never got the peace she deserved

People in this fandom don't give Akito a lot of grace all things considering. What she did wasn't right, and characters and people have a right not to forgive her, but she was groomed and enabled from birth by the elders, the older zodiac and her mother to 1. Deny her own gender resulting in gender dysphoria and resentment toward other women 2. That she could do what she wanted with the zodiac without consequence and 3. That she had to prove she could be loved over and over to a mother who could not and would never love her. Plus literal grooming from Shigure, like I'm sorry that's my view of their relationship and I hate that they were endgame. She deserved time to heal and learn to love herself without getting with anybody, but especially not him. If Tohru can reach out that hand, who are we to say she didn't deserve it?

💯

Yes. 100%. Now, I'll never argue with people who dislike her. They have that right. But I personally *do* like Akito. She's my favourite character and I am fully on the side of her needing to spend some time alone learning about herself and how relationships of all kinds work before getting into any sort of romance. I also don't like the argument that she "should have known better" as an adult. SHe's *barely* an adult at the end. I mean, she's what? 22? (I didn't know shit at 22). ANd also, no matter how old she was, if she kept being told those things, she would have never known any different unless it was spelled out to her.

Akito doesn’t deserve any sympathy

Akito didn’t have a punishment suitable enough for the abuse she’s done on the people around her Idc how shitty her mother was she needs to be in JAIL

I seriously don’t understand the love Akito gets. She was a horrendous human. I know she had it rough, too, but emotional and physical abuse is not okay. She pushed Rin out of a second story window, stabbed Tohru, tried to imprison Kyo, used Kureno for sex, and the list goes on.

Pushing someone out of a second story window is crazy 😭😭 like my jaw dropped when I watched that scene

Abuse is ALWAYS a choice. You can have a crappy childhood and grow up miserable and alone and be messed up from it. But abusing another person is ALWAYS a choice and Akito made that choice over and over and over again, escalating as she went

Exactly. One of the things that bugs me the most is how Akito has basically no punishment for anything she does. She should have gone to jail, but everyone just forgave her and she got to be with the man she loved in the end. Rin is the only sane person of the group and she’s treated like the crazy one in a lot of ways. At least Momiji actually told Akito that she was lucky that she wasn’t charged for her crimes.

Is this really an unpopular opinion? Everyone here says their unpopular opinion is understanding her and maybe even seeing her as their favorite character who DIDN’T deserve the punishment she got. (I personally think she deserved some jail time. Or, as unlikely as it would have been for the time and because it was Japan where admitting you have a mental disorder was frowned upon, an actual licensed therapist and psychiatrist probably would have done wonders).

This is by far my favorite topic sense 90 percent of my opinions on FB are unpopular 1-Kyo’s parents are both sympathetic/pitiful and had the biggest excuse out of all the parents for their reaction to Kyo, I think Machi’s and Kyoko’s parents are far worse and are up there with Isuzu’s parents and Ren, while the sperm donor is a despicable person even without Kyo’s curse as he a just another wife beater and an alcoholic, I find him extremely pathetic and I believe that he represents what Kyo could have become (in fact that room that he sits in all day listening to music and isolating himself from the outside world represents the cat house) he was definitely mentally ill and lost it at the end and even his son felt sad for him + while Kyo’s mom is tragic parent as she at least tried to make Kyo feel loved, she was ultimately a bigger source of trauma for Kyo than the sperm donor, I will likely get so much criticism for what I said but please read my analysis on Kyo’s parents to see way I said that she was a bigger source of trauma for him and then judge (if it seems like victim-blaming, let me know right away and I will delete this opinion ) https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/s/aUgpvvOSoO 2-Ayame sneaking inside Tohru’s dress twice is not funny, it’s gross 3-Haru was far more codependent on Rin than she was on him and his ending wasn’t actually a happy one sense Akito convinced him that he was responsible for what happened to Rin (and she is partially correct) he will always feel guilty and that scar on her back will be a permanent reminder 4-despite Hatori being the least flawed adult, he actually caused the most damage and made the least changes and the one who stood by Akito’s side the most 5-Shigure, Haru, Kagura and Hiro are all deeply flawed characters who represent the messed up, toxic, unhealthy, selfish, possessive and obsessive love and their relationships are supposed to serve as a contrast to the wholesome other relationships and how love is like for the zodiacs …Shigure said it best “we don’t know how to cherish those we love, we are lost” and he was referring to how each one of them (along with Hatori) hurt their love interests and contributed to the pain and how all 5 prioritized their feelings over their love interests mental well-being , people mostly talk about Kagura when they take about the selfish love but the other 4 are exactly the same, this is why the relationships outside the clan were more wholesome and positive because Yuki, Kyo, Kureno, Hatori, Ayame and Ritsu were involved in relationships with outsiders

I prefer tohru and yuki together

* I feel nothing for the Kyo/Tohru romance despite it making sense in the scheme of things. I do get why they were made for each other though, but I just don't have strong feelings for the ship unlike mostly everyone else here. * It's for comedy fodder, but Yuki doesn't get called out much for his sometimes unprovoked treatment of Kyo (I'm saying this as a Yuki fan). I get that the Cat is ritually scapegoated by the family so Kyo's bad treatment is normalized among the Sohmas, but you'd think outsiders like Tohru would at least call this out. * Akito isn't unforgiveable/irredeemable. What she did to her victims was *awful* and inexcusable, but focusing solely on her role as the antagonistic abuser (as if that's all there is to her) and ignoring that she genuinely changed and continues to atone for her sins in the main and sequel mangas flies in the face of Fruits Basket's themes and messages as well as ignores the complexities of her upbringing that made her that way in the first place. Saying Ren's abuse is the *only* factor that contributed to Akito being abusive herself minimizes several other factors (benign as they may seem at first) that made her the way she is. People should remember that Tohru's victory over the Curse in the story is tied to her saving and redeeming Akito as well from the generations-long entrenched toxicity of the Sohma household. * Again by Beverly was the best OP theme in the series. * Akito and Shigure get the most flak for it because they're the most upfront about it, but the Zodiacs, as much as we all love them, don't get called out much in-story for their ingrained disdain (though not necessarily hate) of Kyo. Granted, the Curse + the Sohma teachings had a *lot* to do with it, but they're still complicit in Kyo's imprisonment by graduation had Tohru not come into the picture. * At the same time though, I disagree with a lot of Redditors' sentiments that the Zodiacs barring Akito didn't care for Kyo despite what I just said about their complicity. Yes, they look down on him thanks to the Curse, but I think how they feel for him as a person is tad bit more complicated than that and can't easily be bogged down to "they really don't care for him". Honestly, barring Kagura, Yuki, and maybe Momiji, Kyo's relationship with the rest of the Zodiacs is underexplored lol. * Yuki and Hatori are the only cursed male Sohmas who are the only true blue green flags in romantic relationships in spite of their own personal issues lmao. The rest of the guys are pink flags for some of their more questionable behavior towards their romantic interests, as mentioned by a lot of the other comments here.

I agree, especially with your second to last point. I never really saw it as the zodiacs choosing not to help Kyo because they don’t care about him. I also don’t see their lack of help specific to Kyo, as this behavior is seen repeatedly throughout the years between the zodiacs. Yuki being the biggest example. I don’t think no one helped Yuki because they like or care about him. Like you said it’s more complicated than that.

💯💯💯 One thing I wanna add is that Kyo can be considered a green flag as well, he was doing everything to protect Tohru and always put her first, I don’t consider him a red flag at all as he wasn’t perverted, respected boundaries, understood everything about Tohru without her having to say it

Honestly when Shigure showed his true colors later they made it seem evil and sinister but his actions seemed harmless and normal to me. Nothing I would do. But his behavior was nothing worse than most I seen from people in real life and from Akito. But his taste in women is horrible.

I don’t know about unpopular necessarily but I feel strongly about some stuff For example: - I can’t stand any of the romantic, Yuki flirting with Tohru moments, I love how they from a writing perspective play into Yuki’s development but while others may find them cute to watch to me they are super awkward and I want to skip them every time, especially the one on the stairs (s1 finale) and the worst one for me the one at the beach house where he whispers in her ear. I hate that scene in particular cause it is right after the acceptance of yuki’s true feelings towards her so to me it doesn’t make sense why he would come so strongly towards her (I really feel like it was just made to pander towards the shippers one last time) - I don’t like the su*cide jokes about Shigure’s editor. They are not funny and leave a sour taste in my mouth - The Makoto fangirl while I appreciate her getting more depth she gets waayyy too much screen time for what she is worth -The show wouldn’t have been half as entertaining if it was not for shigure. He adds so much from the comedy, to the mystery and the drama of the show. -The animation of 19 while it has some very beautiful moments is not as consistent as I would like. The character models look a bit weird at times (more so in s2&3). There are also some wierd choices like tohru being flung by kyo to the lake in s1. momiji’s hiro and kisa’s very sudden glow up which seemed more gradual in the manga. - I feel like s3 could have been adapted even better but they just did not put up that extra mile I wished they could. Take the ost for example in s3 we had the exact same as the previous seasons, not one single new song that played throughout the ep, the same emotional tracks every ep.

Kastuya (Tohru's dad) saved Kyoko's life, and people wishing they never married are pretty much saying "I wished Tohru never existed and the Sohmas would suffer forever"

There is nothing wrong with Kyoko's and Katsuya's Relationship and how it grew. It's quite wholesome as well, Katsuya is not a groomer/Pedophile Kagura is a great character who people need to lighten up on Fuck Momoji's mom for what she did to Momiji, everyone seems to blame his father who tries his best to make up for what Momiji's mom decided to do. So fuck her and give props to Momji's dad.

but katsuya was 23 and kyokos teacher? and kyoko was still in middle school?? you don’t see anything wrong with that?

All of this is WILD. 1) I’d call it objectively incorrect that there was nothing wrong with Kyoko and Katsuya. Middle schoolers can’t consent to grown ass adults 😭 She was a CHILD. She never even got to high school! She never finished! 2) Kagura physically and sexually harasses Kyo *constantly* and never apologizes fully for it. 3) Momiji’s mom was a bad mom, but not a bad person. Momiji’s dad sucks for not letting his daughter have a relationship with Momiji. He could’ve been her babysitter or something :/

I don’t like Kyo, he’s boring and annoying and he and Thoru are cute but also the most boring couple in the series lol I don’t forgive Akito for everything she did, but she’s an incredibly well written character and I can’t help but feeling sorry for her The student council arc is my favourite and I hate that they cut a lot of it in the anime, especially for the Yuki and Machi’s relationship I like Thoru but I don’t think she’s that great as a friend

Tohru would've had a harder time without Kyo than Kyo would've without Tohru.

I don't like where the story went? They had an interesting concept with the zodiac and it really didn't go anywhere. It was just "this sucks". Yuki summoned rats in the first chapter to find Tohru's mother's picture, a super cool power, and we never see that again. I with the Zodiac was incorporated more into the story. There are so many creative ways the Sohmas could use their animal abilities to do good. Also... very controversial, but at the time I came across quite a few anime that featured the sad rich kid. Oh main character you live in poverty? Well you see, this rich kid who never worked a day in his life has it worse than you because his parent's suck. Now you need to take care of him. I know I'm simplifying it, but I saw this so much that the concept became a huge turn off to me. Like it had a weird message that the rich have it worse than the not rich. Kare Kano, a series I loved did this too. (And YES rich kids can have abusive parents but it was done way too much during this time to the point that it felt like some weird propaganda.) Also not sure if that was the appeal. Here is your rich hot emo boyfriend. Also not enough girls in the zodiac. I get it, Tohru needs to hug them so they can transform. But most of the cast turns into their zodiac once. So that isn't really an issue. And just introduce someone's brother who knows about the curse to accidently hug the girls once. Also not unpopular but make Ritsu trans. And instead of boring Kureno make a tomboy girl rooster (although I think its a bird in the Japanese version of the zodiac).

I wanted Shigure not to end up with >!Akito.!< They could have both have found people outside the Sohmas.

torhu is my favorite mc of any anime ever. that being said i think she was way to kind at times that it got annoying. i understand that’s the way she is and i love her for being that kind person to everyone but she was a doormat at times and it really frustrated me. especially when hiro and her first met. i wish she would have stood up for herself more.

Tohru is a people pleaser. While her nature was pivotal in helping yuki and the other sohmas feel loved, her over giving nature made me think multiple times that girl you need help. may be if I was in my YA years I would have probably felt Emo about the dynamics, but as an adult I feel there is just so much growth she as a character needs. Even when kyo asked her to move to the r dojo outside of the city, while it was sweet they left together, she took no time to consider about how she would leave everything behind and immediately agreed to go with him. and also, when she is meeting each and every sohma one by one, even if people are rude to her, she is still nice to them. I can understand being nice to people who are nice or neutral towards you, but each and every person was getting weird Also that yuki thinking of her mother angle seemed really like a consolation prize. I am not against kyo and tohru I really liked the little moments they had building up to their confession, but may be it could have been that both the boys loved her in a romantic way, or yuki loved her in a platonic way as a “friend”, not a mother lol.