Fruits Basket Questions... (Spoilers)

Ah Sayuni · 22-09-2002, 02:53 PM

At last I finished watching Fruits Basket and I really enjoyed it (except for some Ayame episodes).

There are some things though, that I failed to understand:
Why is Tohrou so depressed on episode 25 after she sees Kyou's transformation?
And how does this lead her to think that she has no right to live with the Soumas?

oh, and what's 'desu'?

I'll be very grateful if someone will be able to answer this.

snowcherry · 22-09-2002, 03:44 PM

I will never, as long as I live, understand why Ayame is so widely unloved.

Anyway, I'd be a little upset too if I had lived with someone for over a year, grown very fond of them despite a very big quirk (cat transformation), and then discovered that their "true" form was that of an unspeakably hideous monster. It was an unpleasant shock. Tohru's reaction seemed pretty natural to me.

I may not recall correctly being that it's been a while since I saw the ending, but didn't Akito confront Tohru to tell her she had no right to live with the Soumas? Besides that, she'd always talked about how the Souma family was doing her such a big favor to let her live with them (almost sounding like she felt guilty), so it'd be pretty easy for Akito to convince her that she had no right to be there---particularly when she was in such a vulnerable emotional state. Akito said something to the effect of "You don't even know our secrets, how can you understand, you have no place with the Souma family," and Tohru being the kind of person she is would definitely take that to heart.

Oh, and "desu" roughly means "it is". Generally used to sound polite, but often overused in anime by "ditzy" characters. Not that Tohru's really -ditzy- per se, but....

Yasei Chi · 22-09-2002, 04:03 PM

Tohru strikes me as very polite, which would prolly also warrant somewhat of an overuse of the suffix "desu."

And yes, Akito did approach Tohru soon after Kyou's transformation, when Tohru was following Kyou and tripped near the tree. And, Akito being Akito, he told her she had no right to live with the Sohma's, that she didn't know their secrets, and what did she think she could do to help anyone? Akito's spiffy sometimes, but there I just wanted to get out the 2x4 and smack him around a few hundred times.

Meh. I like Kyou's true form. It's spiffy and cool. ^_^

Westlo · 22-09-2002, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by snowcherry
Oh, and "desu" roughly means "it is". Generally used to sound polite, but often overused in anime by "ditzy" characters. Not that Tohru's really -ditzy- per se, but....

Can already see people complaining about the dub version having it's characters say 'it is'.

It's the next Rurouni Kenshin that it is.

Ah Sayuni · 22-09-2002, 06:10 PM

hmm...

These are good answers, I guess...
But it still doesn't seem right to me.

What's so depressing about seeing someone, who usually transforms into a cat, turn into something a bit scarier?
It's not like he is in an irreversable state.
Depression is when you surround yourself with sad thoughts and feel there's no hope, or something like that. At least that's how I see it.
I'm not sure how I would've react in her situation, but I still don't see how can someone get depressed by it.

As for was Akito said to her.
I don't think it's the first time she's told she doesn't belong in the Souma family or that she shouldn't get into it. I believe Hatori said that to her... And she already knew Akito was the last man that would welcome her into the family.
That's why I don't think that normaly, Tohru would take Akito's words so bad. Even in her state of shock.

And I, too, think Kyou's transformation is pretty cool

snowcherry · 22-09-2002, 10:01 PM

I don't know what you expected her to do. For all her strength and determination, Tohru is a pretty sensitive, delicate girl. How would she -know- that it wasn't irreversible? No one had said anything implying such. She had no idea of Kyou's true form and she was utterly powerless to help (or so she thought).

Just now I thought of something, and I think it works considering Tohru's personality: maybe when she saw, she finally -did- have some understanding of the Souma curse. She fully realized how horrible it must be, especially for Kyou. Tohru is nothing if not empathic; it must have broken her heart to see Kyou suffer (and he -did- suffer---he ran away screaming "DON'T LOOK!", a pretty good indication of his shame and misery). If all that's not cause for depression, I don't know what is.

Furthermore, it must be kept in mind that this is a shoujo series and as such everyone must overreact to everything for no explicable reason. It's called "melodrama". XP

I may be going out on a limb here, but I think the only reason why Kyou's real form is in any way "cool-looking" is because the art style of the series doesn't exactly convey "unspeakably hideous"

Akito even mentions the -stench-, so I'd guess that it's really worse than just a big orange bug-lizard thing (though that alone...well, I'd get a little hysterical too if I saw something like that in person). I don't know though, maybe it really is just that and I'm just trying to defend everyone's reactions.

And Westlo, I would not doubt it for a second. Undoubtedly people are going to whine about how it sounds stupid, but those same people will also whine about how they hate dubs because the translations aren't accurate enough for them. Gotta love your fellow fans.

Ah Sayuni · 23-09-2002, 02:47 AM

Feeling sorry for Kyou sounds better.
Thank you for coming up with that.

Oh,
and thank you for explaining what 'desu' is earlier.