Fruits Basket is wild because the premise is “Haha! Wow! These Pretty Anime Men turn into Animals when theyre hugged and then when they turn back they’re NAKED!!! ehe silly anime!” but then you watch it and its like. Every Character on this show is physically, financially, and emotionally controlled by one person with immeasurable wealth and power. the main characters stories revolve around their slow recovery from the trauma of physical/verbal abuse, sexual manipulation, and neglect. there’s a love triangle that isnt even about Who Gets The Girl, but rather each individual’s growth as a human being, understanding that they are worthy of love and compassion, that there are people in this world who will love them, unconditionally, and that they DESERVE to be loved. love EXISTS and nothing about them makes them unworthy of whole, unbiased love. that realization is a pivotal part of their healing and it’s a central theme of the show that comes up for each and every character, whose own journeys follow that same thread of healing past wounds with compassion, love, and friendship.
and then they like. barely ever turn into animals.
So I finally watched Fruits Basket last year and immediately decided “okay this is my new comfort anime” and watched it two more times… then promptly forgot about it because I was busy hyperfixating on Outlast
But Anyway I would die for Tohru (and so would all the Somas it would seem)
*holding a megaphone to my mouth* The point of Akito’s story is NOT about whether you forgive her or not! It is NOT about excusing abuse, because the abuser had a sad childhood. It is about acknowledging the pain you have caused to others, and changing your ways so as you don’t hurt anyone else!
It is about recognising that people can change, and deserve to be given that chance, not Catholic ideas of eternal damnation!
Forgiveness barely come into it, and it is honestly a boring conversation.
I know one of the biggest discussions within the fandom and within the series itself is whether or not Akito should be forgiven for what she has done.
Akito has inflicted a lot of harm on the zodiac members and even outsiders like Tohru. She threw Rin out of the window for her relationship with Hatsuharu. She beat up Kisa because Hiro was in love with her. She emotionally abused Yuki and kept him locked away in a dark room. She calls Kyo a monster and plans to lock him up for the rest of his life. The list goes on and on. She is feared by the zodiac members, and because of the bond they cannot quite ever defy her. She’s quite frankly awful. I truly hated her for the longest time. To this day I’m still not a huge fan (obviously).
Up until the third season we don’t really get any backstory on her, we rather see her as a villainous person who terrorizes the family. We then learn that she was treated as special, isolated first by her parents and then by the zodiac members themselves. She wasn’t treated as a part of the group but instead above it. Akito was forced to be a man, which is why she despises the girls. They are allowed to freely be feminine, yet she cannot. She hates the idea of the zodiac members being in love because that will take away from their love for her. She was never truly loved and that is what she yearned for. She wanted to be loved and that’s why she clung to the bonds, it was all she had and all she was taught to want to have.
I don’t think we are meant to forgive Akito or not forgive her. I think we are meant to just understand her. Understand her motivations. Understand that she is to blame. Understand that she knew no better. Understand that she needs to change. I really think that at the core of it, none of the members truly forgave her. I think they chose to move forward and leave the darkness behind. They aren’t forgetting, but learning to walk again. And so is Akito. I don’t think she got a redemption arc but rather the opportunity to reinvent herself through the broken curse that also held her down and her meeting with Tohru, who really saw her loneliness for the first time. She’s getting the chance the rest of them are, to fix the wrongs she did and her parents did. She’s not a villain but not an angel either, she just is.
![[ Unbreakable chain ]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/avatar_cc35e15dcdb1_30.png){kind=avatar}
