Furuba Re-read

I've decided to do a re-read of my beloved manga Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya. I will blog my thoughts as I go and, be warned, there will be spoilers.

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There’s a lot of isolation in this series. A lot of people feeling alone, different and that they don’t fit in. Tohru shows them that their puzzle pieces do fit but they need to find the right gap and surrounding pieces instead of trying to force themselves into a specific shape. She also shows them that they don’t have to fit in. That they’re beautiful just being themselves.

This is a very interesting scene. Aya’s taking Tohru to dinner and his spilling his heart out to her. This kind of happens to Tohru a lot. People tell their storries to her. It’s very similar to me actually. I’ve had many a people feel comfortable enough around me to tell me things they wouldn’t anyone else.

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I’m really glad that Tohru is clever enough to see this. I know she can be a bit dense at times but she is good at reading people and situations.

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Oh these two. I can only imagine the hilarity, of which Aya will surely regale with us soon, that these two got upto in their school days. Poor Hatori, always having to pull them back down to earth.

A lot of my high-school friends had this kind of joking back and forth with each other. It brings back fond memories.

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Poor Tohru, why does Aya look particularly pleased with himself? Yuki is going to blow a gasket! His very own, estrangled, brother being inappropriate. Tsk tsk.

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I like that other characters are recognizing Tohru’s positive influence on the Sohma family (particularly Kyo and Yuki) and actively thanking her for it. It will go over Tohru’s head because she doesn’t think she’s doing anything bar being herself. And that’s the point.

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Poor wee thing, Shigure is particularly mean to her - I never really found comedy in these scenes. I vaguely, however, recall that there might be a reason or resolution to this at the end??

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The promise to Akito? That he’ll never leave her? Perhaps Shigure wants the curse to be broken so everyone will leave Akito but he’ll stay therefore proving himself and having her all to himself.

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This is one of many quiet, but interesting, conversations between Hatori and Shigure about underlying serious issues.

Shigure is rather selfish in a way. Did he hope Tohru would change things and break the curse therefore freeing Akito to be with him? Is he really just using Tohru and did he really have this all planned from the beginning?

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Shigure is really messed up. He seems to like testing people and pushing them to their limits just to see what they’d do. It’s as if they’re characters in one of his novels. As a writer myself sometimes it’s interesting to put your characters into difficult situations just to see how they’d react and, therefore, learn more about them.

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This is funny because they were just saying that Hatori knows Shigure and here it says that Hatori said something similar.

Also solvent tumbleweed? As in the tumbleweed is dissolving? Perhaps, it’s similar to thinking you’re close to solving something complicated but then the puzzle resets. You’re unraveling the strings but then it gets tangled again.

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This is very similar to my own situation it hurts.

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This chapter is like a character study of Shigure. The fact that the only other person who knows what’s going on in Shigure’s head is Hatori is expanded upon later in this chapter. Hatori can read people pretty well, he just keeps his observations to himself most of the time.

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Ah, the movie double date - what a weird situation! Kyo and Kagura aren’t really a thing and they have their own reasons for this romantic charade, as such, which I’m sure will be explained soon.

I don’t ship Tohru/Yuki (infact I have always shipped Tohru/Kyo so it’s particularly weird that Kyo is also there but with Kagura) so implying that they’re kind of on a date is weird.

All their expressions in this panel are on point though. I do like this ‘unimpressed’ expression that Yuki pulls a lot.

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What are your thoughts on spoilers? I think my audience is well-versed in Furuba so will be fine with them so I will probably say some if I feel I need to.

Please note that this is probably about the third or fourth time I’ve read it and the last time was a long time ago so I can’t remember it all accurately. So you might get a mix of theories, vague memories and actual spoilers.

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So this is young Shigure dreaming of Akito? It must have been hard for him, not knowing what to do or how to help the person he loves.

I understand that feeling. It’s why I’m doing this reread, in a way, tbh. Because I can’t really do much about my situation, and helping the person I love, so I’m trying to help myself. To heal myself through something, Furuba, that holds powerful emotions to me.

Shigure was someone that, I admit, I haven’t previously paid much attention to but I think in this read through I’m analysing him and his actions more. He’s a very complicated person. Takaya creates a cast of vastly different, profound and interesting characters. They all have real motivations, dreams and fears. They go about achieving or overcoming them in their own ways.

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Do you think you could go back and do a reaction post to chapter 16 if that's possible?

Yeah sure, I’ve gone back and done this - uploading now. Was there anything in particular you wanted me to concentrate on and why did you want me to? I didn’t find it a particularly interesting/entertaining chapter to be honest. It’s Shigure-centric with Akito allusions. If anyone wants me to do concentrate on a chapter or wants my opinion on something specifically let me know. :)

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Thank you and welcome to all the new followers! <3