Some people don't seem to fit in anywhere. At home, at school, on the job. Outcasts. Black sheep. Bullied and shunned. This was the first episode going in this early that broke me. This soon. Realizing that Torhu, as beautiful and sweet as she is, has people in her life who actually cannot see how beautiful and sweet and kind she is. Her kind grandfather is the only remnant of her father's side of the family who treats her well. The rest of them treat her like a pile of dog crap they stepped in with their best Sunday shoes on. It's painful to watch. Her father died when she was a tiny girl, and since her mother died the previous year, she puts up with these other assholes (aunt, uncle and shitty cousins) to be around her kind grandpa. So she leaves the Sohma house when the renovations are done to move back in and these jerks have also moved back in and are treating Torhu as if she's not welcome there. The whole story when she is packing up to leave the Sohma's of the childhood game "Fruits Basket" and the children naming her the "Rice Ball" so that she never gets picked to go play with them and her saying it figures since she doesn't belong, is heartbreaking. This is also the episode where one comes to the realization that Tohru and Kyo have a whole helluva lot in common. They are both "black sheep of their families." Well, in Kyo's case an orange cat (and something terrifyingly more, as we find out in a later episode) and in Torhu's case, a "Rice Ball in a Fruits Basket." Being accepted into a family and feeling family love or romantic love is probably the apex of human happiness, and Torhu begins to feel both here: family love probably with Yuki and Shigure and probably the stirrings of romantic love for Kyo. I swear, the first time I watched this, back in 2009 (the old anime) and the boys came and got her from the asshole place with Yuki telling them off for being mean to her, and they walk away, and the scene from childhood pops in her head with the kids shouting "RICE BALL!" I fucking lost it...and sat bawling at least for thirty solid minutes. I think anyone who has been through similar situations in childhood (I was shunned for a whole school term in high school, except for two close friends) and to this day I do not know why) would seriously relate to this episode. The review below is from the 2009 series, but the episodes are pretty much the same for the first season. I like the 2019 series better, but I could not find a really good review on it that showed the emotions it provokes. This reviewer captures it well.
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anime n' mangaI blog about a lot of regular, harmless sci-fi and fantasy anime n' manga, but I'll throw the occasional yaoi n' yuri (gay) posts in here. 'Cus I like that shit too. archives
December 2021
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