Fruits Basket – 39 (S2 14) – Please Don’t Say Such Things

Haruhatsu used to visit Yuki, but he didn’t come alone. Rin always came with him and sat by the door. When she grew tired of sitting there she left and Haru followed, leading Yuki to wonder: Why’d she come in the first place?

It’s clear that this second cour of the Second Season of Fruits Basket (2019) is going to finally address the horse in the room, i.e. Rin, who’s been glaring enigmatically from the margins throughout the first cour. What we do know of her is that she’s stubborn but also just, which means she always came with Haru because she was protecting him, just as Haru was trying to help Yuki.

Haru reports that no progress has been made with Rin, and that he’s starting to believe her harsh words about being done with him were the truth, although he admits to struggling with uncertainty.

Yuki can certainly relate, as he’s still so uncertain about the “various burdens” in his life he’s not sure the StuCo is the thing he should prioritize, though Haru is glad he’s doing it and wants him to stick with it.

Meanwhile in Shigure’s household, Tooru learns her gramps has thrown his back out and can’t attend the upcoming parent-teacher meetings. Shigure steps in as substitute, almost exclusively so he can see his ex Mayu’s face for the first time since bringing her and Hatori together.

Yuki visits his parents’ house but his mother is out, as usual, so he simply drops the paperwork off to the servants and leaves. He runs into Kagura on the way out, and he notes (somewhat insensitively) that Kyou has been noticeably down and distant since meeting with her.

Kagura puts on a brave face and tells Yuki she’s fine, but that once even the thought of loving someone enters your head, “it’s too late”. Yuki is jealous of her certainty in her love and the need to move past it; all while he wallows in uncertainty—about Tooru, about Akito, etc.

Then Yuki happens to spot Rin, chases her down, and tries to get her to explain what’s going on with her and Haru. He remembers her visits with Haru in the past and now realizes she was protecting him then, so the breakup must mean she’s protecting him again.

Rin is not amused by Yuki’s questions, and repeats her insistance he stay out of her business. She also delivers some barbs, like the fact Haru was the one who begged Shigure to take Yuki in and away from the compound; Haru still calls Shigure sensei in exchange.

Leave it to Rin and her lack of a filter to highlight precisely Yuki’s fear: that he’s being an idiot for trying to live “carefree school life” while ignoring the burdens of people like Haru. Sure enough, Haru appears and is soon locked in a passionate kiss with Rin after seeing her reaction to him considering going away and “dying” if she doesn’t care about him anymore.

Sure, she later slaps him and runs off for asking if she’s still “unable to rise up” on her own like “back then”, but it’s clear Rin does care about Haru and what happens to him—and likely still loves him—but she’s apparently convinced Haru will suffer if they remain together?

Things are still cloudy when it comes to exactly what’s going on with Rin, but the fact she’s so prominent in this episode (and her seiyu Toyosaki Aki has the most lines yet) means we’re sure to learn more about that in due time.

Well, it wouldn’t be Fruits Basket if every other episode or so had a scene that makes the tears well up in your eyes, and this week is no exception as Tooru visits her grandfather. He’s really fine, but due to his back he’s lying supine, unable to move, and struggles to talk, so it looks and sounds to us—and Tooru—like he’s on his deathbed.

Things take a turn when he mentions Tooru’s parents Katsuya and Kyouko, and how he and Katsuya didn’t get along in the past but were brought together by Kyouko. Gramps curses the fact both were taken so soon, and wants to see them again, even as ghosts. When he trails off, Tooru’s heart is no doubt in her feet, until the fearful moment passes and her grandpa takes a breath, having simply fallen asleep.

Regardless, his words about wanting to go see them echo the ones Tooru remembers her mother saying. We see a little bit more of that memory that Tooru has kept a firm lid on all these years—the lid that all but kept her father out of her memory and kept all of the memories of her mom bright happy. Now it looks more and more like Kyouko, wracked with grief over losing Katsuya, took her own life, leaving poor Tooru an orphan.

As Tooru dips her toe into the Souma Curse-breaking pool, perhaps she is already in the deep end of a different curse pool: the curse of believing that somehow she was responsible for her mother’s death. Worse, because no one knows how things went down (except maybe Arisa and Saki), there’s no one to convince her otherwise.

If and when these dark memories continue to surface, they will test Tooru’s resolve to prioritize the freeing of the Zodiac spirits, as well as provide more ammo for Akito to use against her. Even this brief instance of remembering her despairing mother closing the door on her brings her to her knees, but thankfully Kyou is there to help her get up.

I’ve no doubt she’ll continue to rely on him, on Yuki, and on others to reckon with her past misplaced blame and continue the struggle to break that dang curse.

Check out Crow’s writeup here!

The God of High School – 01 (First Impressions) – Stand Tall, Smile Big, Strike Hard

Fresh off the heels of Tower of God—which Hannah enjoyed, though admitted frustration that it was essentially just an extended prologue—comes The God of High School, another Korean webtoon-based anime with “God” in the title and an appealing blend of action, comedy and drama.

After a ominous, cryptic cold open that doesn’t even pretend to explain what’s going on (suffice it to say some guy on an island with designs on blackmailing the prime minister is literally wiped off the map), we dive straight into one of three main would-be Gods of High School, Jin Mori, resident of Seoul.

Waking up from a dream in which he was encouraged by his gramps, Mori realizes he smashed his alarm in his sleep, and must race to the GoHS preliminaries at KORG Arena. He takes a shortcut by riding his bike off a cliff, and immediately it’s apparent that these are no normal humans.

There’s a lot of influence from Durarara!! in the ensuing action, and not just because there’s a purse thief on a motorcycle whom Mori feels compelled to chase (he makes up a sob story about the elderly woman who needs the cash for her grandson’s surgery or some such). The mere fact Mori can keep up with a motorcycle on his bike, and the reasons for doing so, are great shorthand for the kind of character he is: as relentless as he is just.

His first encounter with fellow GoHS contestant Yu Mira is kinetic, to say the least: while she’s admiring the ample muscles of some martial artists who failed to make the cut, she’s absolutely obliterated by Mori (accidentally, of course). Mori attempts a quick apology, but Mira uses her trusty wooden sword to stop him in his tracks.

When she hears he’s chasing a thief, Mira tags along, and provides more offense against the biker as Mori keeps up. She’s about to deliver a decisive blow to the baddie when a road sign jumps out at her and her face is driven so deeply into the metal it creates a ghoulish mask.

The cartoonish amount of punishment these characters can take is matched by the utter hilarity of the way the violence and various acrobatics are rendered. I suddenly realized the episode was almost half-over, but things were so non-stop from the moment Mori jumps on his bike, events fly by effortlessly and breathlessly, evoking shades of Mad Max: Fury Road.

While Mira and Mori fall behind, the motorcyclist’s face ends up meeting the fist of a third GoHS contestant in part-time convenience store employee Han Daewi, and the impact of his punch is akin to the superhuman strikes of Durarara!!’s Shizuo. Daewi knows who to punch and why thanks to a roving rapper live-streaming the chase online.

With the chase finally complete, the three contestants head to the locker rooms of the arena and formally introduce each other, having already demonstrated from their actions in the streets that they’ll be tough competition in the prelims—and perhaps useful allies as well.

The preliminary is wonderfully simple: a battle royale of all the assembled fighters, and the last people standing move on to the tournament proper. There isn’t really any doubt that Mori, Mira, and Daewi will advance, but when a convict with the title “King” enters the battle late, the three seem to meet their match, with Mira giving her best shot and Mori answering the challenge.

This is a show that is deliciously simple in premise, wonderfully energetic with its trademark Studio Mappa action, and as moves along at a rapid clip without causing whiplash. The three main characters look poised to complement one another, while the way the episode ends in mid-fight guarantees I’ll be back for more rock-em, sock-em madness.

All that said, I do find it odd how red everyone’s noses and ears are in closeups…it’s like they’re all suffering from colds!

Random Scattered Thoughts on Avatar: The Last Airbender

I historically would never bother with a non-Japanese animated series. Why mess with an “imitation” of anime when there’s plenty of the real thing? My previous, vague idea of Avatar: The Last Airbender was of just such a quaint, kiddy imitation with English voice actors that could never shape up to the style and depth of the best anime has to offer.

I have come to see these as horrible, ignorant opinions that have thankfully been reversed. A:TLA’s central theme is learning to move forward from past mistakes, and disliking the show sight unseen was definitely one such mistake. Having just completed the 61-episode series on Netflix, I can say without reservation that A:TLA is one of the finest pieces of televised entertainment I’ve ever had the privilege to watch. Talk about a reversal!

Does that mean the show is flawless? Not quite. Without getting into the nitty-gritty, any nitpicks I had with the show are vastly overshadowed by the sheer greatness exhibited by A:TLA in every aspect of what makes a great show: Characters, Story, Setting. All of the fundamentals are not only sound, but staggeringly adept.

Team Avatar, AKA the Aang Gang, is a group of friends, nay, a family for the ages. There’s Aang the Avatar with the weight of the world and past iterations of himself on his slight shoulders. The warm and passionate Katara. Her brother Sokka, with the plans and the jokes. Toph, one of the most stone bad-ass characters ever to grace the screen.

Then there’s Zuko, owner of one of the most dramatic, compelling character arcs of the show (or any show). His delightful, insightful Uncle Iroh. Appa and Momo. Sokka’s awesome Kyoshi Warrior friend Suki. Zuko’s twisted sister Azula and dowright evil dad Ozai. Mai and Ty Lee. The Cabbage Guy. The Boulder. Bumi. There are so goddamn many great characters, and how they grow, mature, learn from and interact with each other is never not compelling.

As I got into A:TLA, it became clear the creators borrowed a lot from the visual language of anime, from the blushing and head veins to the beautiful collection of various characters’ twisted reaction faces. But those are mainly surface resemblances. The creators didn’t just borrow the style, they expanded and in some cases, improved upon it, making something new and unique and excellent.

While this is ostensibly a “kids show” (rated TV-Y7), many of the ideas went far beyond the Saturday morning cartoons of my youth. Themes like pacifism, fascism, genocide and ethnic cleansing, and moral ambiguity were all explored in the stories and characters. It was a show that respected the intelligence of its audience and almost never sugarcoated or delivered easy answers. One of the most compelling was Aang’s eventual realization that because he was the Avatar, he’d never reach the spiritual nirvana to which every non-Avatar air nomad aspired. And, oh yeah, he was the last frikkin’ airbender!

For all of the emotional heart of the characters and their shifting philosophies and dynamics, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the astonishing action of A:TLA, with characters of different nations consistently demonstrating distinct styles of martial arts, all of it masterfully executed by the animation teams. The creativity with which fire, water, earth and air are used by the various benders cannot be overstated.

Many people have written many more and better words about this show, and I seem to be simply gushing about it right now, but suffice it to say, I am a full-blown convert: Avatar: The Last Airbender is legit great TV that transcends imitation anime at every turn. I can’t wait to dive into its spin-off series The Legend of Korra (currently streaming on CBS All-Access in the U.S.)…and to (probably)hate-watch the much-derided TLA live-action film!

Cardcaptor Sakura – 14 – If the Shoe Fits

This week Sakura is given a personal invitation by Yukito to his and Touya’s high school cultural festival. She takes Tomoyo along, but when they arrive at Yukito’s class’ traditional sweets shop (Dagashi Kashi!) they find that Yukito’s other admirer, Syaoran, is already there, and on his tenth or eleventh ramune, should probably be cut off.

We meet Touya’s high school classmate Yoko, whose friends have deemed her the best match for dating Touya. Both are good, kind, capable people, after all. It’s just that the entire high school is blissfully unaware of the reason their two crown princes Touya and Yukito remain without girlfriends. Meanwhile, Yukito beats the entire basketball team to win plushies for Sakura, Syaoran and Tomoyo—in that order.

Eventually, Sakura learns what her brother is up to: playing the role of Cinderella in a gender-swapped school play. She and Syaoran both end up on the floor at the outrageous sight of her big brother—who is not the most naturally gifted actor—in tattered dress and their mutual crush, who wears a can of mackerel on his head for no discernible reason.

As the play progresses and Cindertouya meets Prince Yoko, the Mist Clow Card shows up, rotting away the sets. Yoko starts to fall from the balcony but Touya catches her, but it’s a serious situation. Sakura and Syaoran head to the projection room to get a better view of things; on the way Sakura calls Kero for advice. He suggests she wrap the Mist up in order to secure it.

To do so, Sakura releases the Shadow card for the first time, and successfully captures the card. When the balcony gives way and both Touya and Yoko continue to fall, Syaoran summons wind magic to ensure they land softly and safely. He may not have gotten a card this time, but he does receive Sakura’s genuine gratitude for his quick thinking and help. His tsundere reaction confirms they remain rivals, but his momentary blush indicates Sakura is growing on him.

Like most high school festivals, this one ends with a bonfire dance. Yoko confesses her love to Touya, who predictably turns her down (even she saw that coming), but agrees to her request to dance with her (and only her)—a welcome consolation prize.

As for Sakura, she ends up winning the Yukitostakes when she gets to dance with him while Syaoran can only look on in seething envy. Even knowing full well Sakura has less a chance with Yuki as Yoko has with Touya, there are no words for the pure joy on her face during their dance.