Fruits Basket (2019) – 04 [What Year Is She?]

As a complete novice to an already beloved franchise, I have little to no prior knowledge coming to Fruits Basket. Last week, I was wondering about the direction the show would take, whether it stays focused on the core cast, or it completely shoves them aside, giving more space to the side characters. As it turns out, Fruits Basket does a little bit of both. This week, they introduces another member of the Zodiac family, Kagura, with varying degrees of success. At first, it comes rather unexpected (hence took a chuckle out of me), when it’s reveals the timid, feminine Kagura has a violent side of her. It works for one, two times before the joke gets tired, unfortunately. It works first as an introduction to her character and the extent of which she would go for her affection towards Kyou. It still works as a flashback to informs us how long this affection had been going on. It blows up on itself when Fruits Basket levels it up later in the episode, resulted in ruining the whole family’s dinner.

Granted, Kagura has so much more in her characters. Behind her “charging head first into an issue – her Zodiac’s trait”, she is determined, yet insecure; expressive, yet never deceptive. As much as she loves Kyou and wants to marriage the poor man, she’s still conscious enough to understand Tohru’s good intention. But God, I don’t know what I would feel if she kicks Kyou everytime they are on-screen. With her appearance, we learn something interesting about the Souma’s family as well. They compose of both boys and girls (we’ve seen 4 so far), and as someone mentioned there will be more girls in the mix. Like their boy counterparts, if they get touched by the opposite sex that isn’t in the Zodiac family, they’ll transform into their original form. Before the reveal, I couldn’t have guessed the animal representing Kagura. Turns out she’s a little cutie boar (note: not a piggie), and I think I’m not alone when I say that I prefer her animal form much more than her human one.

At the same time, we still have another great scene between Tohru and Kyou when they’re in the rooftop. What Fruits Basket does best is keep peeling the characters’ personality and we keep seeing different side of them, what makes them who they are, what are their insecurities. This one in particular, we learn how enthusiastic Kyou behaves when he keeps babbling about his Master and martial art in general. Serve as a total opposite to Yuki, Kyou knows what he likes and isn’t shy from expressing it. I’ve heard that the side characters are one important element of what making Fruits Basket an endurable shoujo classic, so I expect more from these Zodiac members. The cliffhanger at the end suggests that it’s time for Tohru to decides whether or not she regards this new family as her own family or not, although I feel it’s a bit too early to delve on that angle. Fruits Basket’s strucutr can be conventional at times given how we can see how the plot going moles ahead, but it’s the adept character writing that makes the cast so enjoyable to watch. As far as this new comer Kagura goes, she’s still a good, albeit my least favorite one so far, addition to the cast. Despite my initial worry, this new adaptation of Fruits Basket has been solid so far.