| Episode 24 I’ll be keeping this one somewhat short today as well, got a lot going on. This episode gives us a lot of insight into Machi, who has been kept mysterious. She has been clearly distant, at least emotionally and verbally, from those around her. She has trouble connecting in general, and appears to express her emotions in big outbursts of frustration that materialize as destroying things around her. We get more expansion on these aspects this episode. Her room is a wreck, perhaps as a result of the downward spiral she found herself in this episode. She has an awful lot in common with Rat, it seems: a complex developed as a result of feeling isolated and unloved even in public, parents (or at least a mother) who treat her as incapable of doing basic things and excoriate her as a result. She obviously didn’t have an Akito, but she has a severe inferiority complex nonetheless, feeling as though she isn’t worthy of attention or care. She isn’t even worthy of having preferences, like a place she’d like to go to get food or a favorite color, despite clearly having one. And speaking of that favorite color, it just happens to be red, the color assigned to Rat when Manabe was choosing colors for the group, and Rat figures out that it is her favorite color before anyone else, having given her a red leaf that she made into a bookmark (and heatedly refuses to treat as a keepsake despite it obviously being a keepsake). Yes, I can see the writing on the wall: there’s a blossoming romance happening here, giving some greater reason to believe that Rat’s romantic inclinations are aimed away from Tooru. And speaking of Tooru, we’re back at New Years, and she is spending it with Kazuma, Cat and Horse. She desperately wishes for the curse to be broken, unsurprisingly, but her biggest move is getting Rabbit to deliver a CD to Rooster. That is almost certainly the video of their performance, which includes Thuggirl’s frustrations over his lack of contact with her. My guess is that she will be hearing from him shortly. Strangely, Rat is actively deciding to spend it at the Souma estate out of a sense of duty, which will most definitely lead to a lot of drama in the next episode. That starts to show in this episode, where Rat takes it upon himself to forgive those around him who he has blamed (pretty fairly) for his persistent emotional problems. He is taking it upon himself to move on, though of course, Akito wants those feelings to fester, wants him to remain dependent on her for any feelings of worth that he might have. She attacks Rat with a vase, cutting him and demanding that he apologize. There’s some decent comedy to undercut the drama in this scene from Snake, but we’re starting to get the idea of just how much Tooru’s influence will clash with Akito’s efforts to control the Zodiac, a plot line that will likely lead to big physical and emotional confrontations in the Final Season. We end on Ox embracing a sleeping Horse in a moment that will hopefully lead to a mending of their relationship. With the season coming to an end next episode, we’re likely to get some big revelations to drag us into the Final Season, not that I need the drive. |
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| Episode 49 / 24 covers and contrasts the second New Year's Eve banquet of the zodiacs. The events of the past year have left a clear mark on it, as Dog put it "things are breaking". For example windows and vases. The 2nd half-arc is Machi's back story. Machi: Despite her immense future wealth and power, Machi is living in a poor and messy single room apartment. She's severely depressed, as illustrated by her inner monologue and the condition of the room. In one small shot she accidentally drops something on the floor and doesn't even bother to pick it up or look. She in a state of squalidness emotionally, w/r living conditions, and socially. It's close to stupor. We witness a phone call with her mother, who isn't much better than Akito. She drags Machi down telling her she is boring, nobody wants her and other vicious stuff. This is level two, not mere lack of love but pro-active psychological child abuse. Based on what Manabe told to Rat 2 eps ago, this is ongoing for longer. One of the key findings in psychology is that children are not able (yet) to understand what an unjustified and malevolent accusation is, especially when it comes from parents or other loved and trusted persons. The child's mind will break and split to cope with those conflicting emotions. Another typical symptom is Machi's inability to deal with anything positive said about and to her. Being unable to "admit" emotions is another side of that coin, as exemplified in the maple leaf scene. I'm interpeting this not as low self esteem, more as fear of being abused when revealing too much information and emotion to an abusive person. Which her mother clearly is, and in a vicious cycle of self-isolation, depression and more abuse Machi hardly knows any normal persons. She's in a similar position here as Thuggirl was when she first met Tooru, just that her coping mechanism is introvert and passive whereas Thuggirl's was extrovert and violent. Finally we have all the symptoms of a grade 3 depression in the inner monologue when Machi walks trough the town. "I woke up, but I don't want to go there" -> fear of social contact, "my existence is empty", "I'm defective" -> she's de-humanized and drained, Mrs. Pinocchio. "My existence is not required" and "I'm invisible" reminds me of A Silent Voice, where similar visual metaphors were used for depression. Long story short, in the real world Machi would be considered severely depressed and should spend some weeks in a clinic. She won't be able to heal by herself, it's quite serious. But this this is shoujo anime, and literally her prince has come to the rescue. Rat has gone trough similar psychological abuse, and almost instantly understands the situation. He's confused first by her reaction to the "favorite color" question. In the maple leaf scene he's already in control of the situation, and executes the careful treatment a sick Machi needs. He has learnt from the best over the last year: Tooru Freud and what she did for him. Now it's payback time. I agree that all this makes Rat / Machi a likely couple, two tortured souls of noble birth are a good match. Rat can find the purpose he longs or, and help others. He's ready for it because he can now allow the required closeness for this. NYE Banquet: A some zodiacs are in open revolt and meet at Kazuma's (Cat's foster dad) house: Horse, Cat, Tooru. Rat first is with them, but later attends the banquet which leads an escalation with Akito. Who praises him to attend, unlike last year. She suggests he should have a closer relation with her the next year, but his looks and evasive response angers her. She asks him to apologize, which he does half-assedly only. He then muses that he will no longer blame anybody but himself for anything. She hits him with over the head with a vase, creating a bleeding wound. In a post-scene fast cut we see Rat commenting on Akito: I'll never forgive you. Rat has both grown, and his anger was sparked into open fire. Akito's favorite goes into open revolt, similar to Dog. The latter is smart enough to play troll and dumb, Rat isn't that subtle. There are two quick scenes in the closing moments. Rabbit hands over the Cinderella DVD to Rooster, as promised. Ox and Horse are re-united in embrace in Kazuma's house. Overall, the tension is tangible. We've seen cracks everywhere and a lot of emotions are at boiling point. Akito's reaction to Rat probably wasn't enough to quench her anger I'm waiting for the real shit to hit the real fan any time soon. |
inimJan 25, 2022 3:29 AM
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Episode 50 / 25 just like season one the finale is anti-climactic compared to the action driven penultimate episode. It's strong on big official reveals instead.
Dog receives a call by Rooster who has watched the DVD. Rooster feels required to tell Tooru that he will not see Thuggirl again in person. Dog is delighted and says he waited years for Rooster to seek contact. He opens to him he is aware of the broken curse. The show chooses to release this information in two separate scenes, with the key part as a flashback. Talk about effective non-linear writing to increase tension. Then Dog is being Dog again, under a false premise he sends Tooru to a playground where Rooster is already waiting for her. Any intelligence service would happily employ this master troll and manipulator. Rooster himself gets a proper backstory. His curse broke and he doesn't understand the "why?" himself. I don't understand why there is no successor born, what is the nature of the possessing spirits / wandering souls? Was the Rooster spirit destroyed forever? Rooster is portrayed as very diligent, loyal and reliable. After his curse breaks, Akito has a breakdown and begs him on her literal knees to stay wit her forever despite his new (titular) condition. Rooster gives her this promise and being the person he is takes it seriously. In a second scene we watch Rooster watching the Cinderella DVD, and he is clearly moved by and drawn to Thuggirl doing so. In his playground talk with Tooru, he at first gives back the address note and the disk. Tooru doesn't give up and touches him, gently. This is usually Akito's shtick, and wonder if this unconsciously triggers something. Because after this, Rooster openly doubts the decision and is conflicted by his love to Thuggirl (confirmed) and his promise (and sympathy / pity) for Akito. This is pretty much the cliffhanger scene for S3. Well played, show runners. Of course I want to see that. Finally, there is Akito herself. So far she was hard as rock or bat shit crazy. We see a new side of hers, a fragile, helpless and frightened one. She's devastated and in tears after learning about Rooster's curse. Given the supernatural bond, it must be quite a disruption for her beyond what normal humans would experience. For the first time she's not sown as a pure villain. The curse can hurt her as much as anybody else. Ready for a redemption arc? Overall, a fairly technical exposition dump and cliff hanger episode. And devilishly effective at both. |
inimJan 25, 2022 6:24 AM
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| Hello, Onto the crescendo and episode 24. Not going to add much, it's good to see in Machi a chance for Rat to show just how much he's grown and now he can extend that help to someone else. Interesting banquet scenes, Rat's kindness and courage is spreading. Is it just me or do large Japanese traditional rooms with tatami mats, with no furniture look so cold and bleak? A kotatsu on the other hand sound amazing, especially during cold winter days, although from what I've read they mostly use them as they don't have efficient central heating as the walls of most Japanese dwellings are much thinner than we have in the West. So heat just leaks straight out if they tried conventional heating, instead keep the heat under the table and cover with a blanket, voila the kotatsu. On a side note, if you see any ads for the new FruBa prequel movie, avoid them as they contain blatant spoilers on Rat x Tooru x Cat, although after the last couple of episodes it's not much of a spoiler, it's fairly clear what direction the feelings are flowing at this point. Have a good day. |
23feanorJan 25, 2022 2:41 AM
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| Onto Episode 25. We start with a younger Rooster, the Souma we know the least about at this stage, saying that he was free, but still tethered. A fear-stricken, even younger Akito stands behind him looking at something we cannot see. And we’re thrust into the present with the two of them together. Akito has a brief moment of opening up to Rooster, saying that the words she often uses to deride him are things she does not mean. Akito clearly carries something that makes it hard for her to control herself, and though this brief moment gives us a glimpse into a side of her that may be more… real, it’s certainly the side we’ve seen the least. With that, we transition to Thuggirl, Tooru and Wavegirl, with the former looking a bit melancholic. This takes place after New Years, which we briefly flash back to, hearing from Horse in the aftermath of Ox’s tender embrace (which she remains apparently unaware of, as she reaffirms that they are not together). Rat appears, and Tooru finds out about his injury from Akito. Rat asks if she’s proud of him, a very son-to-mother kind of question (affirming his thoughts on their relationship presented earlier), and Rabbit tells her he delivered the video to Rooster. From there, we turn to Dragon and Dog, who are discussing Akito’s having been bed-ridden since New Years. Dog was apparently rejected when he tried to visit, with Akito complaining that he doesn’t put her first. They both discuss Rooster being her favorite, and then Rooster’s being… off, as compared to the rest of them. There’s a few more largely self-inflicted pot shots at Dog. At last, we deliver on the end of the last episode. Rooster watches the video, recalling bits of a conversation with Akito when they were younger, who remarks on his ability to fly while in his Zodiac form, lightly talking about how amazing it must be. This somehow doesn’t seem light, though. There’s a sense that Akito would like to fly away if she could. Despite the smile on her face, there’s definitely sadness here. Rooster finds his own source of sadness in watching the video as he watches Thuggirl’s entreaties on the stage, but before he can reach out to the image on the screen, he thinks back to a crying Akito pleading with him not to abandon her. His hand retreats, the curtain closes, and he buries his face in his hands. Yet, Rooster calls Dog’s house in an attempt to speak to Tooru, ending up getting Dog instead. The proceeding conversation is pure intrigue, with Dog needling him and asking a question that he doesn’t finish – “All this time, is it possible that you’ve actually been…?” Tooru comes home shortly afterward, and Dog, who is no longer on the call, sends her out to get envelopes for him. Of course, this is a scheme to get her to meet up with Rooster on her way to the store. Akito becomes aware that he has left around the same time that they meet up and sends her attendants off to find him. In one of the biggest twists of the series, we find out that Rooster’s curse has already been broken. However, he doesn’t know how the curse broke. Moreover, he seems… sad about it, remarking about how he can no longer fly. This clearly happened when he was younger, and he examines his feelings from the time: about the loss of another presence inside of him and about the vibrance of the world around him, about how he was finally human. It’s unclear that another person has taken on the Rooster at this stage, but everyone clearly thinks that he’s still the Rooster, excepting Akito. And it’s at this point that Tooru seeks the reason(s) for him to stay with Akito, though all he responds with is the DVD, returning it to her and resolutely saying that he won’t see Thuggirl again. He wants what he had with her to be trivial and insignificant and believes that they will be in time, but clearly recognizes that they’re not right now. There are tears in his eyes when he says this, and he remembers his time with Thuggirl in a moment of openness and affection that we’ve never truly seen from him. He wants a relationship with her now that he’s free from the curse, but he knows he can’t have it anyway. The reason he has to stay with Akito is revealed by returning to that scene from the beginning of the episode, where, in a fit of protective rage, Akito retreats with him from her attendants. She clearly felt their bond break, but neither of them appear to know why it happened. Then Akito claims to see a distance in his eyes. She becomes desperate, begging him to stay by his side forever. Those bonds, the including the one that broke in him, are somehow necessary for her own existence, and his presence with her is a comfort that… is honestly difficult to fully grasp at this stage. Dog apparently chalked his response up to pity, saying that it may have been better for him to leave. Still, Rooster affirms his decision, saying that he has sworn to stay repeatedly, and that he will stay until Akito no longer needs him. He feels tethered to her, but will do anything to help her, even if it hurts him. And we’ve seen this theme play out with the Zodiacs and Tooru so many times before: of their eschewing their personal happiness for the sake of others, and in doing so, harming themselves. And, finally, Tooru ends the season by discovering what we already knew: Akito’s female. Not sure how that’s going to affect future interactions between them, but Akito stands naked in front of a mirror at the end (not a gratuitous scene since everything is covered), and there's a sense that her femininity will, in some way, play a role in the coming events of the final season. But only time will tell. It was a good season finale with some solid reveals, even if the drama was a bit more reserved. Got a lot to look forward to in the Final (and somewhat unfortunately shorter) Season, looking forward to it! Was going to put my score for the season here, but I think I’ll chew over it a bit more before I post it among the reviews. |
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| Hello, Episode 25. Not going to add much as you've both covered most aspects of the season finale. Wow I can hear Luffy from One Piece when Akito speaks forcefully (Colleen Klinkenbeard voices Luffy much to my astonishment after falling in love with her dusky feminine sexy voice of people like Erza in Fairy Tail). The way the characters describe and talk about the bond they have with Akito almost makes me believe it's real. So Kureno/Rooster had his bond break, or fray, and Akito convulsively insisted he become her lover to keep him close. Rooster stays out of pity, not love. I wonder if I've misunderstood Rooster and Akito's relationship, and he looks at her as a little sister that he has to stay close to and protect rather than a lover. We also see Akito's deep seated fear of being abandoned by the zodiac members. No sooner had I written this than we see a still image of Kureno/Rooster and Akito in a close embrace, so maybe lovers then. Overall in terms of quality and enjoyment for me, this felt exactly like S1, so have scored it the same, a solid 8/10. Lets see what the final season has in store for us. |
23feanorJan 26, 2022 4:10 AM
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Fruits Basket: The Final (MAL 9.06/10), anidb (9.17/10), wikipedia. This curse will not stand! (Tooru Freud) |
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| @whiteflame55 you betcha. It's midnight here, so ... Episode 51 / 1 continues seamlessly where S2 ended, with Tooru and Rooster discussing Thuggirl and Akito in their secret playground meeting. Rooster tells a lot of Akito's backstory, more details on the mechanics of the curse, and introduces Akito's mother Ren. When Ren became pregnant with Akito, four of the zodiacs lived and were chilren: Dog, Dragon, Snake and Rooster. Before even Ren knew they sensed the event in a dream they all shared, and knew about their god's existence before Ren herself knew about the pregnancy. For undisclosed reasons Ren raised Akito as a boy. Her behavior towards Akito and the zodiac is condescending to say the least, she calls the bond fake. To call the mother-daughter strained is an understatement, it's open hate with mutual death wishes and curses. Welcome to the bad parents club, Ren. The introduction of Ren is cut in a very complex manner, mixing time lines from before Akito's birth, her childhood, a confrontation Ren x Akito witnessed by Rooster near present day, and the exposition scene with Tooru at their meeting. We see Akito's dad in a few flashbacks (long white hair, soft-spoken) but nothing substantial about him is revealed. The meeting is (probably, cut is not clear) watched by Horse. Tooru drops the DVD and her new scarf flies away, she herself breaks into despair and tears. In that state she's picked up by Wavegirl, who sensed the sad waves. The next scene is Wavegirl comedy, she arranges a sleep over in her house. Tooru opens her heart and let's her despair out, mainly about Thuggirl's rejection. More tears, more despair, and a feeling of helplessness. Wavegirl likens Rooster to Tooru, an that their selfless submission under other's feelings is worrisome. Neither of them will ever become happy that way. Enter Thuggirl, who overheard the talk. She is playing strong in the face of the bad news and after some pep talk by Wavegirl's little brother they all sleep. Arriving home at Dog's house in the morning, Tooru is warmly welcome by Rat, Cat and Dog. Cat found her scarf and washed it. The cliffhanger scene has Horse secretly sneaking into the Souma estate again, where she's surprised by Ren. Ren makes her an unknown offer. Then there's the ED, which shows all the couples and ships in happy, future scenes. Sheep and Tiger even hold a baby, Rabbit is re-united with his little sister, Rat is with Machi and Akito is with Dog. They all are smiling big time. Biggest spoiler in anime history, or master trolling? Well, it's shoujo and those tend to end happy. It's still surprising the show-runners don't go for the shipping game, there's little surprise in it left by now. The focus is the "how an they get there" part, the breaking of the curse. Overall, the show wastes no time and pushes all it's arcs together for the final point. I've rarely seen such a total control of pacing and foreshadowing, the story is both constructed using compass and straight-edge and still emotional. Maybe a little bit too much crying this episode, otherwise excellent. |
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| Alright, if we’re getting started, I might as well get in on this (not midnight here, but I’ll cheat. For the last time, Episode 1! One big picture thing: The animation this season starts off with a bang. Seriously, everything took a dramatic step up and it’s gorgeous, particularly for the OP, though the show’s animation in general is similar to the previous ones. The ED is a bit of a step down from the second of S2, but still cute. We start with words on a banquet with the Zodiacs, a promise made in the distant past, and the important of bonds, all narrated by Tooru. Flashes of the elder Zodiacs when they were younger, and a flash of Akito. It comes to mind that Akito is too young to have been the family head when many of the Zodiacs were younger. You have to wonder about that transition period between family heads. We return directly to the end of the last season, where Tooru is shocked by the revelation of Akito’s sex and Rooster (I’m going to keep calling him that until someone else claims it) tells of another encounter that occurred during Tooru’s hidden visit to the Souma estate: Akito and Ren, her mother. Apparently, shocker of shockers, they have issues. Ren chides Akito, telling her that the affections of the Zodiac are a result of their bond and not real love. This sends Akito on the warpath, bodily shoving her mother through a room and out the other side, dragging her to the ground and attempting to choke her. Akito affirms the Zodiac bond as real, and Ren says that the only real love is between her and a mysterious Akira (a character who is apparently dead), leading Akito to threaten her life. We see a brief scene of Akira, an older gentleman with white hair (not elderly, though), telling a much younger Akito that she is “a special child born to be loved” and that everyone was waiting for her. It appears that Akito’s very conception was the defining moment when the bond between her and the Zodiacs began, with each of the elder Zodiacs waking up in tears on that day. This is the scene that was flashed back to at the beginning of the episode. Rooster says that the elder Zodiacs are the only ones that know that Akito is female (find that kind of hard to believe, given how close Rat was with her), and that she appeared to them in a dream, each of them in their Zodiac forms. They even ran to see her on that day. A lot of rapid fire revelations early in this episode. So, we’re left with Rooster’s conflict. He wants to leave, but feels he needs to protect the emotionally wounded Akito. He says it’s his choice, but it doesn’t really feel that way, even if he says it. These events leave both Tooru, who now knows it all, and Akito who doesn’t know where Rooster went or why, in tears. And Wavegirl appears on the scene to save Tooru with her brother and a “Da-da-da-da.” Nice way to break the drama. Wavegirl calls Rat to let him know that Tooru’s in her “custody” and that they’re having an “impromptu nightgown festival”, which is her way to being precious. Apparently, Wavegirl could somehow perceive Tooru’s anguish. Tooru remains torn up, and feels powerless in the face of Rooster’s impossible choice. Wavegirl responds with the obvious: that Tooru herself puts others needs before her own, not unlike Rooster himself. Thuggirl arrives, feelings that she’s responsible as well because her being upset is what drove Tooru to meet with Rooster. Thuggirl assures Tooru that she’s OK, even without Rooster, though that’s hard to believe given what we know of her. Still, Wavegirl’s brother spits mad truth: even if they don’t end up together, their brief semi-romance was not a waste. Thuggirl and Tooru fall asleep together, both emotionally exhausted. Now, back to the Zodiacs. We flashed earlier to Cat, who finds a discarded scarf and realizes that it must be Tooru’s, dropped in her despair, and he chases after it. Horse appears at the Souma compound after witnessing the conversation between Rooster and Tooru, only to be set upon by Ren, who offers to “help” Horse. Rooster looks out on the dawn from his room with Akito, while Tooru reaffirms her commitment to ensure that the “night” that the Zodiacs find themselves in is one she will work to get them out of, one step at a time. She finds her scarf back at Dog’s house, Cat telling her that he found it. There’s a sense that this is here as an indicator that she’s not just here to help others. She’s being helped as well, being picked up when she’s crumpled down as her scarf was in the road. Also, apparently Rat can’t cook. Fun bit of levity towards the end of the episode. Overall, good start to the season. Not taking a break. |
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| Hello, Onto the final season. Question for you guys @inim and @whiteflame55, on Funimation there's an episode 0 for season 3 (31 mins), I can't find any summary or special on mal, so wonder what this is and is it important? Have either of you noticed this episode 0 and did you watch it? Episode 1. Wow stunning new OP. One of the only outstanding issues i can think of is the relationship between Akito and Dog. My guess is that Akito internally is jealous of her mothers natural good looks, beauty and charm and feels she is a threat to her bond and connection with the zodiac males. Not too mention her upbringing as a male, which might have been more effective as a secret in Japanese where the way you speak denotes your gender much more so than in English. Wavegirl and Thuggirl are just brilliant side kicks, Thuggirl is easily my best girl of the series. It's sweet how well Wavegirl and her brother get on and work together in sync. You can feel the increased drama and tension in this season. @inim interesting point you raise about the happy couples in the ED, I missed it as was writing and listening whilst it was playing in the background so had to rewatch it. This is one of the most un-shoujo like shows for the main romance (no rival or obstacle to love except the curse), but yet one of the most shoujo like in the characters, tropes and writing. I love it. It is as you say "how they get there" in terms of couples finding each other and struggling with the curse, rather than the usual mis-communication, love obstacles like parents or the system or an arranged marriage etc or rivals vying for affection of the heroine with the audience all shipping their favourite couples and the big reveal and declaration at the end. @Kuri-cha apart from the VA who gave it away for me, despite the fact Clinkenbeard does voice older males occasionally (not including Luffy), it was Akito's behaviour around the men of the zodiac, draping herself possessively over them, very much like the female equivalent of a harem king or alpha female might be a good description; 'these are my possessions and they will love me'. |
23feanorJan 27, 2022 4:55 AM
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Kuri-cha said: As this season goes on, I'll be curious to how everyone feels about the pacing, as this season had to hit the gas at the expense of some manga content (please don't take that as a negative; it still hits all the essential beats). I have to admit, I was surprised that all of you were referring to Akito as a woman for quite a while! Did it feel obvious from the get-go? It was a huge revelation back in the manga days, but the lack of audio and the more gender-ambiguous artwork helped keep things a mystery. It does seem like it’s off to a rapid start for this series. The VA definitely helped to make it more obvious. I think if I was watching this in Japanese, that would’ve been a harder call because I know quite a few male characters who have female VAs and I would’ve second guessed it. As it was, I was surprised when they started referring to her as male. |
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| Episode 2 And the Akito-focused final season continues. Akito dreams of an interaction with Dog when they were younger where Dog tells her he loves her more than anyone else. His relationship with her is particularly strange, and that may have begun with this affirmation. Akito may feel that she’s due more from him because he declared this. Over a brief interaction with Dog, Tooru struggles to mention what she learned from Rooster, feeling that it would be too invasive (though Dog seems to know anyway). Tooru generally struggles with talking to any of the Zodiacs about it, concerning herself with how they will react to the information. Much as Rooster did say that the younger ones don’t know about Akito’s sex, I would be surprised if they were all in the dark, so there’s some question about whether this knowledge would be a revelation. Into this reverie steams the three members of the Rat fan club, wearing cloth over their heads to look like ninjas, having apparently stolen flowers made by Rat. Apparently, Cat has his own followers who stole his as well, leading to his needing to make more. This leads to a manhunt to find the people who stole their flowers. A nice bit of levity that serves a dual purpose: comedy and leaving Tooru and Cat alone. Tooru starts to suggest that someone in the Zodiac may have broken their curse, but Cat dismisses it as theory. She becomes flustered, and he gives her a flower he made himself to help calm her down. Meanwhile, Rat runs into Machi, who was looking for him, apparently with the goal of giving him a flower she made (which he says is worse than the ones he made… a bit dense). Dog visits Akito to bring her a homemade red flower. She asks him if he remembers “that day” where he affirmed he loved her more than anyone. It’s unclear when this happens as, in a later scene, he then runs into his editor, and uses her as an excuse to get away before saying hello to Akito. His editor nonetheless sees Akito and, like so many others, believes she is a man (though she ends up saying Akito is beautiful, hinting at a perception she has yet to fully grasp). This doesn’t prevent Akito from noticing him as he left, and Dog sees her and smiles as he leaves. We flash back to the conversation between him and Rooster and fill in some gaps. Dog became fully aware of Rooster’s curse having been broken during this conversation, and intuits that the reason Akito keeps Rooster close is to prevent the other Zodiacs from knowing that it happened. Dog says that he hates Rooster, and the latter pleads with him to not reject Akito, implying that Dog is the one she loves most. Perhaps remembering this, Dog finds Akito in her room and apologizes for not greeting her. Akito’s response is… to accuse Dog of having slept with her mother, which he acknowledges as true. This apparently led to his expulsion from the estate and current exile. Akito accuses him of seeking the expulsion, suggesting that he wanted Ren more than Akito. Yet, Dog reaffirms his devotion to Akito. This all leads to the reveal of what’s been bothering Dog so much: Akito slept with Rooster. It seems that, in keeping Rooster as her “favorite” of sorts, he felt that she rejected his affirmation, and dearly feels the sting. He both loves her so much that he wants to spoil her sometimes, and others… “I want to crush her to a pulp.” The scene ends with Akito kissing Dog on the lips, resulting in them sleeping together. Yes, there’s a love here alright, but the infatuation here is… difficult. Akito commands the love of all the Zodiac, and to focus her attention on one and give them her total devotion is anathema to her. The same cannot be said for Dog, who may struggle with whether his affections are genuine or the result of his bond, but also struggles with the knowledge that he is on the outside looking in, that he doesn’t have the closeness that he wants to this woman to whom he is totally infatuated. Tooru thinks about Horse, both concerned for her general absence and unsure about whether to deliver this newfound information to someone on the same path as her. She goes looking for Horse at her school, but finds that she’s been absent. We know she ran into Ren and that they’re working together, though it’s unclear what they’re doing. A lot of intrigue early in this season. Finally getting some depth on Dog, which is nice to see. Certainly the dark character that he framed himself as. |
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| Hello, So I turned 40 today, woo hoo and am soon going to become a dad, so i can look forward to dad dancing and an obsession with smoked meat/fish apparently. Am planning on watching something fun, but can't decide what, it's not like I can't watch any of these shows any other day, maybe an action movie and something easy to watch, either One Piece or Tenchi Muyo OVA 2. Onto episode 2. So we're getting into the relationship between Dog and Akito, something the show has hinted at since the beginning. So the romantic coupling of Tooru x Cat and Machi x Rat are given more time in this episode. Cat giving Tooru a white flower, some symbolism there me thinks. So we finally learn something that I spoiled myself a week ago. Akito and Dog were once lovers (and from what i gather only those two to begin with) but Akito wanted the other zodiac members as lovers also (or didn't want them to have other people as lovers), and spurned Dog in favour of Rooster, which was the final straw for Dog. This caused a huge rift between Dog and Akito and he has been jealous of Rooster and bitter ever since, despite knowing that Rooster only stays out of pity and not love, so Dog can't really blame Rooster, this is Akito's choice, she chose Rooster over his genuine love, that must've hurt Dog deeply. Wow so Dog slept with Akito's mother, that has to have pissed off Akito. Which Dog did because he was deeply hurt by Akito sleeping with Rooster, so revenge sex then. This show doesn't shy away from describing real life sexual relations, unlike most shoujo, which only cryptically refer to sex (excluding Utena, although it was a bit mysterious even then). I've got a horrible feeling that if I were one of the zodiac males, i might have ended up like Dog, completely head over heels for Akito (even though I'm not exactly fond of thin women), that vulnerability of hers attracts me maybe, but she would have driven me mad with jealously behaving as she does, and I would have reacted exactly like Dog does, by seeking affection from other women, but finding no comfort there either. It's getting interesting. Watching the ED back today my guess on showing the couples happy together is due to the fact this adaption is a long finished manga, so the ending is already known, except anime only watchers ofc. The character designs in the ED look like they're taken from the manga directly. The only couple we don't see is Tooru x Cat, like there may be some change later (the trailer for the prequel movie completely gives the game away). |
23feanorJan 28, 2022 2:48 AM
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| I'm quite busy again these days, the torture never stops. I may get behind watching / writing again. One quick note @23feanor: The other two shoujo with explicit sex are Nana (R+) and KareKano (PG-13). The latter scene got the director fired from an already strained production hell team. In Josei it's common and they even have babies from it, but that is a natural given I guess. https://myanimelist.net/anime/877/Nana https://myanimelist.net/anime/145/Kareshi_Kanojo_no_Jijou Edit: Not shoujo tagged, but there are a few anime with realistic sex life, including betraying your partner, promiscuity, revenge sex etc. Other than school days. White Album 2 is PG-13, the rest R+ - it's not really very graphic. It's just "content" as in adult behaviour is good enough to get something tagged R+, no need for actual female nipples on display. https://myanimelist.net/anime/18245/White_Album_2 https://myanimelist.net/anime/32949/Kuzu_no_Honkai https://myanimelist.net/anime/147/Kimi_ga_Nozomu_Eien |
inimJan 28, 2022 5:08 AM
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| Episode 3 We begin the episode with Machi, who is upset that it’s snowing in spring, though not for the reason you’d expect anyone else to be upset. She’s frustrated because it covers up all the flaws in the natural world. We’ve already known that she has a problem with others who conceal aspects of their true selves and is adept at seeing to the core of others, so this isn’t a terribly surprising perspective coming from her. The chalk she pushes to the floor seems appropriate, given how neatly placed it was and the relation of its pristine white to the snow. Going to bet now: we will learn in this episode why she lashes out destructively when she’s upset. Graduation is arriving shortly, bringing many of the issues of the Soumas to a head as they come that much closer to the end of their lives as free people. They still have a year left (I like that this show doesn’t put a clearly ticking clock on these characters - it could just as easily have made them seniors), but it still weighs on them. We learn that there’s a rumor about Machi that she tried to kill her brother. Machi’s recalls her parents sending her to live alone after claiming she was jealous of her much younger brother, saying that she would “feel more comfortable on her own.” Her parents apparently believe that she did try to kill him because he was named the heir of the family due to both she and Manabe being deemed unsuitable, but Rat doesn’t believe it. To get the truth of it, both Rat and Manabe head over to Machi’s place. Rat quickly sees to the core of Machi, even as she’s trying to push him away. Anything that seems perfect or too orderly actively scares her. Her parents required her to be perfect or face punishment. So, like any human, she was imperfect and punished, and grew to hate anything that was perfect. What he doesn’t know is that her little brother became an excuse for her family to start belittling her, calling her plain and uninteresting. She was discarded, and blamed for being discarded despite having worked so hard to live up to her mother’s expectations. Her mother’s words made her feel that she was a mistake, one without direction or purpose now that her mother had taken even that away from her. What she needed from her mother was support, praise even, to let her know that what she did had value. And Rat provides just that. This leads to her opening up. She wasn’t trying to hurt her brother, only to cover him with a blanket on a cold night. It’s the first time we’ve seen that she has a strongly caring side, perhaps one built on trying to help her brother surmount the same expectations her parents had long placed on her. However, her parents, distrusting and dismissive of her in general, could only see what they believed was resentment and jealousy in her motives, thinking she was trying to harm him. Rat finds a very sweet way to respond, saying that the perfect layer of snow would allow them to carve their own pattern into it with their footprints, together. It’s a promise that she’s not alone, that he’s not rejecting her and is even actively willing to support her. It’s also a promise that they will disturb that expectation of perfection together, that they will add a bit of their imperfect selves to the white, perfect blanket of snow. Considering how many people have likely heard her story and refused to accept her version of the events, saying this after she has explained is clearly a big gesture to her. The snow disappears before he can make good on his promise, but he clearly is committed to it for the future. A new box of pristine chalk that threatens to incite her fear and animosity is slid in front of her, and Rat reaches over and snaps one in two before she can react strongly. He recognizes her psychological trauma and takes steps to mitigate it without drawing attention to it. Motoko, the head of Rat’s fan club who is also graduating, asks to meet with him privately and he agrees. She’s flustered at first, but she just says that she’s glad to have met him, to have the experience of going to school with him. She wants to thank him for that experience. There’s no profession of love, as I expected, just sincere joy at their shared experience. Rat feels that it’s more than he deserves, but thanks her for it all the same. We turn to the graduation, the reactions of those graduating, and a largely empty school beyond. And we finally get some payoff for Naohito, a character who has been little explored from the Student Council. It was strongly hinted that he was infatuated with someone who loved Rat, and now we know that it’s Makoto. They each wish each other happiness, and he says goodbye (perhaps more of a see you later in the hopes that they will have a chance at some point). The episode ends with intrigue. Boar worries about an absent Horse, whom everyone believes to be in the hospital despite not having found where she is. We end on a shot of Horse in a kimono bearing a pair of scissors, held in a way that suggests she plans to use it as a weapon. Good on this series for making me care about so many side characters. Machi isn’t the best of those, but her story really resonates with Rat’s. Well done episode. |
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inim said: Edit: Not shoujo tagged, but there are a few anime with realistic sex life, including betraying your partner, promiscuity, revenge sex etc. Other than school days. White Album 2 is PG-13, the rest R+ - it's not really very graphic. It's just "content" as in adult behaviour is good enough to get something tagged R+, no need for actual female nipples on display. https://myanimelist.net/anime/18245/White_Album_2 https://myanimelist.net/anime/32949/Kuzu_no_Honkai https://myanimelist.net/anime/147/Kimi_ga_Nozomu_Eien Thanks for the suggestions. I have all 3 in my ptw list. I've heard good things about White Album 2, in terms of romance anyway. Rumbling Hearts is supposed to be rather dramatic and upsetting in the same vein as Clannad AS, so I've read. Hope your project work goes smoothly. |
23feanorJan 28, 2022 8:36 AM
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| Episode 52 / 2 introduces a dark love polygon of Ren, Rooster and Dog and at the center (as usual) Akito. They mutually hurt each other, also as usual. The story has 3 relatively simple themes and arcs. Axito x Dog's 'romantic' backstory, Toou struggles with not being able to share her new information about the curse, and some school comedy about paper flower thieves. The art is in the execution, cutting, and interweaving of time lines and those three arcs. It's really masterful. Primary example is giving a flower to somebody, which is contrasted trough time lines, couples and arcs. For example right after Cat gave a white flower to Tooru, they counter-cut into the past where Dog gives a red flower to Akito. Overall each arc is split into at half a dozen scenes, and they are often linked with those themed parallel shots and narrative elements. To make it even more powerful, the narrative order isn' chronological, the story jumps and leaps tough time for key scenes. If S1 was the finest hour of the "acting", this episode's hero is the cutter and once more the writer. Akito x Dog arc: Earliest scene has Akito as pre-pubescent child and Dog as a teen. Akito begs Dog for his eternal love, which he promises. He literally tells her "I love you". He seals it with a flower and a kiss. But their love grows cold, eventually Dog sleeps with Ren. Out of revenge Akito sleeps with Rooster and forces Dog to leave the main family house. He's not really sorry, maybe even provoked that with his infidelity, as Akito implies without a comment by Dog. Next time leap is into the recent past, when Dog had a press event in a hotel, where at the same time Akito had a formal diner. Dog's hapless editor (she had a slapstick episode along with board earlier) does more slapstick. Dog carries her away after she yet again mismanaged a situation with the press. Later Akito and Dog meet, and Akito just asks if he had sex with his editor - which he neither denies nor confirms. Akito and Dog somehow land in a room and start to say nasty stuff to each other, mutual accusations from the past. He did, she did: You slept with Ren! You slept with Rooster! You slept with the editor! and so on. Then the mood changes and we get a seriously awkward romantic scene, with Kudos from the hedgehog dilemma. Akito turns away, Dog stops and kisses her, they embrace, next shot the morning after, naked in bed. At least they have a love life, of sorts. A related side arc is the call between Rooster and Dog in the present, maybe the same call they arranged Tooru x Rooster's playground meeting. Long story short: they hate each other because of their feelings for Akito. Rooster tells Dog to be more friendly to Akito, she'd love him. And Dog tells Rooster he always had a gut feeling about his broken curse. And they mutually agree that they hate each other. There's the 2nd arc with school comedy centered around stealing paper flowers. The main purpose is to create room for bilateral scenes and Tooru's inner monologue. She tries to figure out with whom she can share the Rooster curse / Akito gender secrets. Her first candidate is Cat, whom she gives careful hints but who completely fails to get it. After some musing about candidates, she decides she wants to see Horse for a serious talk. Sherlock Tooru visits Horse's school, but she vanished and only rumors about her whereabouts are floating. What's clear is that she hasn't attended school since New Year's Eve. Tooru sets on a quest for her in the cliffhanger. Overall, give that cutter a medal. Among the best episodes in terms of "technical quality" and narrative construction. P.S. |
inimJan 28, 2022 2:21 PM
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| Hello, Just had a huge bday meal with the whole family, kids included, so am going keep this short before I pass out from the meat sweats. Episode 3. This took place at school mostly and showed the seniors graduating, one of the best 'farewell to the senpai's' I've seen. Rat showed some real growth listening to the main girl from his fan club, and she even had a moment to shine when 'Short-stuff' from the student council president gave her the same speech she had given to Rat moments before. We get more info on Machi's upbringing and some real romantic development between Machi and Rat. Rat showed just how much Tooru has helped him as he's able to in turn give Machi some desperately needed praise and attention. Then we end on Boar and the question Tooru has been asking, where is Horse? We know that she's with Ren working on some plan to break the curse. One thing we see again in this episode, neglectful, nasty, uncaring parents for Machi, who seem that way, just because (well to begin they raise Machi to be perfect so as to inherit the family business but still seems rather extreme). Especially the 'did Machi try and kill her brother' scene. It would take some seriously messed up parents to instantly think the worse of their daughter and assume she's trying to kill her younger brother when they see her with a blanket in hand. And the fact they straight up didn't believe her, how little do they think of their own daughter. I agree with @whiteflame55 it's a credit to this show and the writers how they're able to make me care about such a large and varied secondary cast, eg Machi, Dog's editor who's mostly played for comedic effect, Bunny's sister Momo, Manabe (he used the pretence of taking the trash out to give Rat and Machi time to talk, very considerate and mindful of Rat's positive impact on his step-sister). |
23feanorJan 29, 2022 10:16 AM
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| Didn't mention it during my last post, but Happy Birthday @23feanor ! If you're getting the meat sweats, then your family did it right. Will say as well that Machi's parents don't have the same excuse that the various Zodiac parents. I have some sympathy for Rabbit's, Rat's, Cat's, and even Horse's parents responded to their births. I have basically none for Machi's mother in particular, though her father seems like a piece of work as well. Their willingness to not only discard her, but to think the absolute worst of her when she was pulling a blanket over her brother (to the point that they effectively estranged her, placing a clear physical distance between them), just shows that to them, she was more of a tool. The relation to Rat's mother is there, but at least in his case, she was faced with the curse on top of her efforts to gain favor with the Souma family. All Machi's parents were facing was the prospect of not inheriting a leadership role in their own family. |
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| Episode 4 Akito has a box containing her father’s ashes that she shows to Rooster, like you do. We’re also spending time with Sheep and his new baby sister. He is finding being a big brother to be a good push for him to get away from his insecurities, wanting to become stronger for her sake. This leads to him opening up to Ox about Horse’s fall, how it was caused by Akito due to their romance. When this was initially reported to him, the fall was framed as an accident. He then pleads with Ox to get Horse to stop in her efforts to break the curse, thinking they’ll only bring suffering. But all Ox does is pat him on the head and leave. Sheep also admits fault for Tiger’s injury at Akito’s hand which she may not have previously been aware of. Yet, Tiger is the one who feels badly. She feels as though the guilt he suffered was due to her ignorance. They both end up in tears, but almost certainly will draw closer because of it. He overhears that Horse didn’t go to her graduation and that she’s been in the hospital. However, as we learn from Ox, no one seems to know where she is or what she’s doing. Despite that, Ox doesn’t show active concern. That doesn’t stop him from trying to go see her, though. We watch Rooster seeing a brief conversation between Akito’s attendants. He follows one of them with a tray of food, who is heading to the house where the Cat was previously isolated, and where the current Cat stands to go after he graduates. The attendant refuses to tell Rooster why she is there, saying there she can’t say. He tries to take the task away from her, and it becomes clear that Horse is in there and hasn’t eaten for days. He finds her in the house, long strands of hair on the floor. This part of the story is set to collide with Ox’s revelations. In a fit of cold fury, he returns to the Souma compound, confronting Akito. She denies that she pushed Horse off the balcony. Ox has always had a… different relationship from the other young Soumas with Akito. He’s not afraid of her in any obvious way, and just seems to shut himself off emotionally when he’s with her. This is the first time we’ve seen him get emotional in her presence. He gets mad at her for her cruelty to the Souma women. Akito says that she doesn’t know where she is, but Rooster barges in and tells him: Dragon took her to the hospital, for real this time, though her life is not in danger. He also tells her that she was in the room meant for the Cat. This leads to a full on outburst from Ox, who thinks she was lying about knowing where Horse was. The central conflict is presented straight up here: Akito views all the Zodiac members as chiefly having the duty of loving her. If they love someone else, even another Zodiac member, she views them as derelict in their duties. You can call this jealousy and, in a sense, it is. But to me, it’s not quite. She feels that it’s inherent: the wind blows, waves crash, the world keeps spinning, and the Zodiacs love her first and foremost. It is their natural state. Denying it is absurd and inherently wrong. This dynamic both pushes against other relationships and pushes back on anyone who sees themselves as deserving of more of her affection (as with Dog). Akito affirms this more strongly later. This is why he brings out her father’s ashes at the beginning of the episode: he told her that this was the natural order of things, that she was special and deserving. This confrontation almost leads to blows, Ox punching the pillar right behind Akito. Yet, Ox is mostly mad at himself. Like many of the other Soumas, he feels immense guilt for having caused the woman he loves pain. He feels the love he had for her is worthless. When he leaves, both he and Akito are drawn back together. Their history wasn’t all bad, and Akito actively cries out for him. Yet, Rooster tells him to leave and go to Horse, who apparently said his name as her first word when Rooster arrived at her isolated room. Rooster is later told by Akito’s elder attendant that he should have left the Horse where she was if Akito wished it, despite her decrepit state, viewing him as aligning with Ren and telling him that all the Zodiac members are nothing but monsters without their bonds to Akito. This separation yields the most important moment in the episode: the bond between Ox and Akito frays. Meanwhile, Horse runs from the hospital. We learn what happened to her: she tried to see Rooster after Tooru’s dramatic conversation with him, ran into Ren, who told her that she knows how to break the curse. But this would be a trade: Horse needs to find something of Ren’s in Akito’s room. What she wanted was the box containing Akito’s father and Ren’s late husband. Needless to say, Akito found her. Visually, this is depicted as a series of bonds strung around them, almost as if it were a cage. Akito brings Horse to Cat’s room, and begins cutting off her hair and telling her that Akito never wants to see Horse again, threatening to take Ox’s sight (likely in a manner similar to what she did to Dragon) if she refuses to stay in exile. Horse, ever willing to put herself through physical hell, says that she will stay there until she dies. Horse says that Akito reminds her of her mother when she got mad. Considering what we know of her mother and the trauma she put Horse through, it shows how much she fears Akito. Horse collapses after her escape, despairing that she couldn’t find out how to break the curse. Meanwhile, Ren remarks on her failure, and denies having knowledge of how the curse is broken, suggesting that she was lying to Horse. She has apparently long held hatred for Horse, though it’s unclear why. Horse then imagines herself back at Cat’s house, and Ox coming to see her, with Ox wanting her to return home and abandon her task. But, this is real, just on the side of the road instead. Ox carries her home, telling her that she needs to accept help just as he has learned to see when she needs it. For once, Horse responds with kindness, telling him that she’s home. And he welcomes her. This isn’t the end of their strife with Akito and Ren. There’s still a lot for both of them to handle. But they sure have come a long way. Beautiful episode. |
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| Episode 53 / 3 develops the romance Rat x Machi and her backstory. Part 2 of the episode is a long montage about the end of the school year and the parting of the senpai generation. Machi hates perfection and order. We get multiple visual examples: perfectly lined chalks in a box, fresh know and using steps to break it's perfection, Machi's room and messy living conditions. Her brother Manabe talks Rat into a visit, which turns into room cleaning and renovation. Under the pretext to bring out trash this shrewd panderer leave Rat and Machi alone. They mutually open up, and Rat breaks Manchi's shell at record speed. A little too fast for my taste, actually. At the heart of Machi's backstory is that she thrown out by her step-parents after she tried to suffocate her baby brother. Which is represented as a malevolent and intentional lie by her parents to justify the preferred treatment of her baby brother. In a classic Cinderella setting, her step-mom hates her for being the daughter of "that other woman". At the same time step-mom pushed Machi into perfection and required success in school. At the same time Machi was emotionally abused, with constant blame, discontent, and flat out cold rejection. Part two is said long montage about end end of the school year. It features the most pompous and cheesy school anthem in all of Japan, and a weird miXed message farewell speech of Mrs. Prince Yuki Fan Club President and Rat. She's given a long speech about how much she loved Rat, not earning his emotion and a lot of tears. One again, too much for my taste. Also the quick romance with the ex-President is a very forced and lazy "bittersweet happy end". There are two cliff-hangers of sorts. First is Sheep visiting his mom on the wet-bed to see his newborn sister. His mom tells him that if he hugs the baby and turns into his Sheep form, she'll embrace them both. A rare display of parental love towards a cast member, whose backstories usually make Kinderheim 511 look like a tropical paradise hug fest. The second is Horse, still missing and now looked after by Boar as well. We see scissors and cut long her in the last scene, so is the life changing hair cut trope coming Overall, the construction of the episode was similar to the previous one. Unfortunately by a lesser writer and episode director. The cheese was too thick in many places, subtlety is missing. The plausibility of Machi's backstory isn't really good. The episode has a lot of melodrama for the sake of it. Also the pacing is too fast, Machi x Rat came out of nowhere and they almost kiss. I can see the "two tortured soul mates" logic, but still wished the show took the time it took for the other romances. |
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| Episode 54 / 4 is the story of Horse and Ox. It once again uses he techniques of interwoven time lines, dialogs and events cut non-linearly to maximize tension. This episode the execution if flawless again. After Horse witnessed the playground revelations Rooster had for Tooru, she entered the Souma compound. She was caught by Ren and tricked into stealing Akito's "treasure" from her room. It's a box with Aktio's father's ashes, who of course doubles as Ren's late husband. Ren offers Horse the bargain to tell her how to break the curse when she steals that artifact for her. Horse is caught in the attempt by Akito, and we see the rope visualization of the curse entangling Horse. Akito cuts off her hair and incarcerates her in the "cat house" prison. There Akito threatens to blind Ox if Horse should put up any resistance, and Horse complies. Multiple people are worried about Horse's disappearance, and NYE is long ago. On their quests, Ox learns from Sheep about the abduction. Sheep was a witness but kept silence, which he regrets now. Ox leaves the scene to confront Akito. There's an emotional apology competition between Sheep and Tiger in the aftermath, too Japanse for me to appreciate I guess. The 2nd person to find out is Rooster, who follows a Souma domestic servant with food to he cat house. He eventually finds a hunger striking Horse, calls Dragon to bring her to the hospital. In parallel Ox enters Akito's room and directly and openly asks her about Horse's whereabouts. He's angry and desperate, jus having learned about Akito's attempted window murder. He pushes Akito around, literally. He is the one closing distance between the two while delivering an emotional attack. Akito denies her involvement or to know about Horse's whereabouts. But she's the party moving backwards when Ox keeps pushing. The scene ends with Rooster announcing that Horse was found and brought to the hospital. We see Akito devastated and afraid, a mere shadow of herself. Both the open revolt of Ox and Rooster's "betrayal" nag on her. She looks intimidated and confused, the first time she loses a fight against a Zodiac. There's an important symbol used, the red rope we've seen to symbolize the zodiac curse and the bond with Akito. We saw it entangling Horse earlier, she has total control over Horse. We see a single rope before Ox confronts Akito. And during that we see a single thread breaking. Ox's courage and determination, his selfless love for Horse, and Akito's double play and injustice seem to have an effect on the strength of the curse. It seems Ox is moving towards freedom. Rooster seems to notice a change as well, he sends Ox away to Horse (who said your name first when she was freed). He tells Ox never to come back, which has a double meaning of course. As long a the bond exist, Ox has no choice but always to return to Akito. So Rooster sounds more like saying "flee, you are free now!". In a brief aftermath scene, Rooster is confronted by Akito's right hand domestic servant lady. She calls him a traitor, and asks who's side he's on: Akito or Ren (latter using visual story telling). In the final scene we have some wholesome female wish fulfillment. Horse collapses on the street, and her Ox in Shiny Armor picks her up. He carries her over shoulder, another time the "Ox" metaphor is played. More emotional monologue, love forever promise, and the lovers are re-united. With primary school kids replacing the cherubs. Another symbol they pull is showing how the "ghost" of "the old Horse" remains lying on he ground, as if her past died in the scene. The ghost of the past than vanishes into the light. Overall, another top tier episode with a tightly narrated story of injustice and hate over which true love prevails. Almost a fairy tale, including the "happily ever after" ending. |
inimJan 30, 2022 2:43 PM
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| Episode 55 / 5 is Rabbit's. It sees him breaking the curse and the continued downfall of Akito's power over the zodiacs. We start of with a sequence of mini-scenes of would be couples Snake x Mine and Dragon x Bookworm discussing future plans. There's a short scene of kindergarten age Akito and her dad wo tells her the story of the zodiac. He explains she is the god, born to be special and born to be loved. We see present day's Akito, small, fray, depressed and hiding in a corner. She's clearly going trough a major crisis. There's a brief exchange between Dragon and Dog about Akito. Dragon accuses Dog of not being nice to Akito for no good reason, to which he replies he's not a nice person. Then he goes to enigma mode: time progresses, and I wish she would follow. Clearly talking about Akito and her failure to adapt to a changing curse. Then there's the rope with loose thread symbol again, and this time the rope tears apart. Akito immediatela notices this and becomes more frightened and confused. She visits Rabbit in his mini-house at the compound, both of them already know. Akito begs him to stay, but Rabbit sends her away. Himself feels confused and will contact her tomorrow. In inner monologue his decision is already pretty clear, he wonders how such a small and fray person could have this power over him. The next day Rabbit unrelentingly declares full divorce. He can't stay near Akito and will leave. Akito slaps him and calls him a monster and a traitor, to no effect. Last episodes mini arc about love rivalery with Cat over Tooru is revisited, Rabbit calls it unrequited love. I start to understand @Kuri-cha's question about the pacing of S3 now. Rabbit's whole "I love Tooru" arc is covered in only 2 episodes and a handful of short scenes. The item can be checked, but there's of course no emotional depth in this. It feels like the show hastes to close all side arcs before the big finale. This is similar to the rushed high-speed romance Rat x Machi, and to a lesser degree to the fairly tale-ish happy end for Ox and Horse. 75 episodes would have been better pacing. Then rabbit visits his step-family and meets his step mother. She is surprised how much he has grown, a recurring symbol this episode. She's very friendly towards Rabbit, no sign of a past conflict. She also talks about a future event, the planned family vacation. Rabbit would love to be part of it but somehow got used to the reality he's not part of that family. Enter another borderline cheesy "I'll have my own family" monologue and Rabbit leaves in a cheerful mood. An average episode, as discussed above the pacing of the show gets out of hand. It's a bit sad to see well developed side arcs being shut down this brutally. Of course we need the time for Dog x Akito, Cat x Tooru, Rat x Machi and to complete Akito's backstory. Maybe even her future, if she has any. The curse crumbles, and Dog's prophecy comes true. If only we had 20 eps left and not merely 8 for this. The opening mini-arcs / scenes alone had material for their own episode(s). |
inimJan 30, 2022 4:23 PM
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| Hello, Hope you both had a good weekend. Episode 4. So all the secrets are spilling out about Akito's mistreatment of the zodiac members and the injuries she caused to Horse and Tiger leading to a string of events. Sheep really seems to have grown since the birth of his baby sister. Does Ox know or guess t hat Akito is female i wonder? Ox should have smacked Akito in the mouth but he did well confronting Aktio, something Dog or any of the others have never done. Emotional episode and ending with love conquering hate. Good voice acting in the english dub for this episode. Part of the problem with the curse and Akito is the people like the old hag servant that enable Akito and repeat the cycle of abuse and power over others that Akito wields. They help foster a sense of duty within the entire Souma family and estate that backs up the bond of the curse. I loved those little kids looking up at Horse on Ox's back. Nicely wrapped up for those two. Episode 5. Wow Bunny has suddenly grown up. A proper bishi. Almost sounds like a different voice actor for him. Hearing Bunny declare his feelings for Tooru to Cat was unexpected. The breaking of his bond and conversation with Akito for Bunny was fairly abrupt but satisfying. It seems like Tooru's influence has aided in breaking one more thread of the bond that forms the curse. |
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23feanor said: I'd think those are the pacing issues @Kuri-cha talked about. Last episode Rabbit mentions "oh, btw, I love Tooru and I'll take her if you don't" to Cat. This episode he did the final waiver already. This is all too casual, quick and without emotional depth. My guess is that there is a tad more drama in the manga. It may also help to explain the curse breakage. The question is this: If something can be treated only this superficially and without real story impact, why not drop it from the anime adaption completely. Pacing would win, being true to the source would suffer.Episode 5. [...] Hearing Bunny declare his feelings for Tooru to Cat was unexpected. |
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inim said: 23feanor said: I'd think those are the pacing issues @Kuri-cha talked about. Last episode Rabbit mentions "oh, btw, I love Tooru and I'll take her if you don't" to Cat. This episode he did the final waiver already. This is all too casual, quick and without emotional depth. My guess is that there is a tad more drama in the manga. It may also help to explain the curse breakage. The question is this: If something can be treated only this superficially and without real story impact, why not drop it from the anime adaption completely. Pacing would win, being true to the source would suffer.Episode 5. [...] Hearing Bunny declare his feelings for Tooru to Cat was unexpected. I'd agree. It does seem as if the anime in S1 and S2 took care to show gradual development and growth and has had a slow paced build up, so the sudden jump in events and pacing is very noticeable. I'd also agree that S3 should have had more eps, maybe 20ish overall to keep the same pacing throughout the entire series. |
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| I decided to take a day off from this. This season has been an emotional rollercoaster so far, so I wanted to collect my thoughts. I’ll also pare down the post this time to focus on those things that stuck with me. Episode 5 In many ways, this episode is about each of the Zodiacs more directly confronting their realities. Rather than empowering, there’s a sense of resignation here. Everyone feels as though they don’t want to drag someone down with them, either by telling them the truth to push them away, or by shutting themselves off. It’s not all negative, but there’s something negative to all of them. Onto Rabbit. From the moment he appears on the scene, his growth spurt is jarring. Having seen the growth spurts from Tiger and Sheep as well, it’s not incredibly surprising, but it is setting up changes for his character that feel a little unearned. Sheep had some rapid character growth in the last episode, but it felt like him coming to terms with his destructive behaviors. It doesn’t feel like that with Rabbit. His dreams of proposing to Tooru and his pushing on Cat both seem forced in a way other relationships haven’t in this series. His perception of Akito changing also has no build up. Maybe that’s part of the point, given the hard shift from Rooster when his curse broke (his transition from doting Zodiac to pitying Akito). Breaking the curse seems to have somehow broken him in a way that it didn’t for Rooster, resulting in a sense that he’s not quite sure which bonds remain after so many unconditional ones were broken. That may explain why he goes to see his mother before running off to seek his happiness, to finally distance himself from a bond he wanted before. All of this is really an unfulfilling and apparent end for his character’s arc. Nothing to do with his younger sister, with whom he’d developed a bond without ever interacting. Very little with his mother, who never found out about their relationship, and nothing to do with his dad. Even the relationship with Tooru just seems tacked on without anything meaningful except, maybe, to push Cat forward. I can’t tell if their aim here was just to refocus to other characters with the limited time that they had, but this was a waste. Aside from all this, we’re getting more on the Dog-Akito dynamic, with Dog revealing more of his motivations. It’s strange, but he does seem genuine in his statement that he doesn’t care about their curse. His statement to Tooru suggests that he wishes that his attractions were given to someone kinder than Akito, an interesting perspective given how Akito feels that Dog should be kinder to her. Akito, meanwhile, is terrified that the Zodiacs are splitting from her. This… seems important, but remains unexplained. Somehow, the Zodiac spirits are actively able to break their bonds by changing something about themselves, whether it’s how they perceive her or how they perceive someone else in comparison to her. First Rooster breaks it, then Ox frays it, now Rabbit broke his. I’m sure we’ll come to understand it, but I can’t seem to determine what changed in all three. Anyway, unfortunately a very weak episode due to the Rabbit elements. As others have said, it looks rushed and misses almost all opportunities for nuance, even as it gives other characters like Dog opportunities to build their motivations. |
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| Hello, Episode 6. So we finally hear from Dog about the breaking of the curse, which will happen naturally according to him, and they will be the final members of the zodiac and will attend a final banquet. Now we come to the final play and Dog brings pressure to bear on Tooru, tugging on her heart strings and on Cat's impending imprisonment, hoping to push her into some action, although I'm not sure what. Maybe Cat is the key to breaking the curse for good, being a physical monster. I like some of the camera shots in the scene between Tooru and Cat, a reflection in the circular mirror on the street. Tooru is anguished because the love for her mum is being replaced, or over written by her love for Cat. Cat meets Tooru's grandad and we learn more about Tooru and her past. We finally hear from Tooru herself on how she feels about Cat. This episode had me in bits. That hug through the sheet was sweet. We get a hint at a memory of Cat's shared with Kyouko, something about either her death, or maybe the death of Tooru's dad maybe, as we hear Kyouko say "i won't forgive you". I wonder what's coming next now we know how both Tooru and Cat feel about each other. I've been waiting for this episode since the series began and it delivered. What this episode and show tells me is that good shoujo romance can be done without over the top melodrama and rooftop confessions in the last half of the last episode, or pointless love rivals. |
23feanorFeb 1, 2022 2:39 AM
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| Episode 6 Dog is being… a lot more blunt in these episodes, saying that the Zodiac curse is coming to an end while simultaneously saying that Cat’s curse serves a necessary function that remains unclear. There is some indication that it balances some monstrous aspects of the curse in general, but why it must be sealed away and why it would matter if the other Zodiacs have their curse break is a mystery. In general, it’s unclear why Dog believes that the curse is naturally coming to an end and what will break it, though Dog sets up for a drama-filled banquet to come where many of their bonds to Akito may be snapped. Tooru’s struggling with her love for Cat, recognizing both the difficulty of breaking the curse and the fact that her love is, at least to her, coming at the cost of her devotion to her mother. There’s a sense that putting Kyoko first is necessary to sustain Tooru herself, to sustain some set of promises that are still unclear. Nonetheless, we know they’ve been the basis for a lot of her choices, including the choice to work after she finishes high school, despite having no one to work for. Yet, it appears that she’s resigned herself (odd way to say it) to loving Cat more in her desperate struggle to save him, even if that means putting her mother second. That being said, Kazuma makes a good point: does she love who he is, and not just out of compassion for his circumstances? We previously didn’t know why she has fallen for Cat, only that there is something there. We hear a bit of her actual desires here, how her efforts to “save” the Zodiacs are just excuses shoring up that desire. We spend a bit of time with the best boy, Tooru’s grandfather. His explanation (to Cat no less) for why he keeps calling her Kyoko is a bit different than what I surmised before, essentially functioning the same way as Tooru’s picture of Kyoko: keeping the two together and ever present, even after Kyoko’s passing. It’s fascinating to hear a bit about her father as well, and to hear that she picked up something as important as her basic speech pattern from someone she basically has never spoken of in detail. Particularly tragic is that her attitude was carefully selected to make her mother want to stay with her after her father’s passing. I don’t feel like the relationship between Kyoko and Katsuya is all that well established, though they were clearly very close, and concerns of other family members that Tooru didn’t look like Katsuya must have hit them both hard. What all this does is make Tooru look quite a bit more guarded than we would have expected. Who she really is, underneath the facade of her father’s behaviors, seems an important question to answer and it’s unclear that even she knows. When you wear that disguise for so long, when doing so is what holds you together, is that distinguishable from who you are? Cat confronts her with this information in a pretty direct way, forcing her to confront these aspects of herself and her perceptions. She talks about having made her “dad the bad guy” to avoid what she felt was an inevitable loneliness that would follow on her mother leaving her along with her father. The episode ends on two big moments that will likely impact the rest of the season. Tooru looks down at her picture of Kyoko and doesn’t see her there anymore (she’s in the picture later when she drops it). When she looks up, she sees a phantom of Kyoko behind Cat. Given her response, this probably represents her guilt in choosing Cat over her mother, a decision she seems set on even if she hasn’t made it definitively. The bigger moment comes from Cat. There have been suggestions for a while that Cat was somehow involved in Kyoko’s or Katsuya’s death - the “I’m sorry” he whispered into a sleeping Tooru’s ear, fragmented memories of him with Kyoko, a half-recalled and angry “I’ll never forgive you!” from Kyoko - but this is confirmation that he was at least there when she died. A lot of built up melodrama this episode. Lots to deliver on and a short time to do it. |
whiteflame55Feb 1, 2022 6:38 PM
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| Episode 56 / 6 introduces Tooru's reverse Oedipus complex backstory. First scene is Dog discussing the curse with Horse and a bit later Tooru. He's sober and frank, and even casually drops the news that Rooster broke his curse. Horse shouldn't have known that, still shows little surprise. They previously agreed to withhold the detail of Horse's imprisonment in the cat house from Tooru. Dog repeats his thesis that the curse crumbles, and we see a montage of events (Ox confronting Akito etc.) supporting this. Then they discuss the fate of Cat, who Dog (and Horse by not saying anything) see as kind of a "zodiac sacrifice" so the other 12 can feel a little less as monsters and better. Tooru insists he needs to be saved before graduation. When he asks her if she wants to save him out of love, Tooru runs off. Next two scenes are another double dialog scene interwoven with smart cuts. First there's Kazuma, Horse and Boar discussing her stance towards Cat with Tooru. In parallel there's Cat and (agreed: best boy) grandpa incidentally meeting at Koyoko's grave on her memorial day. Grandpa tells the story of the lonely child Tooru was. There was constant rumor that she doesn't at all look like her dad, which I guess is polite Japanese to say Kyoko betrayed him. Tooru feels to be in a competition with her dad about the love of her mom, which strikes me as a little odd for a child. Aren't daughters expected to all in love with dad and see mom as the rival? After her father's death she came up with another weird plan: by imitating his über-polite manner of speech she wants to remind her mom of him and by this win more love from her. This is another weird plan, even for a Kindergarten girl. @Kuri-cha mentioned that Manabe's role in this is missing in the anime, and yea: Tooru's motivation doesn't really make sense as it is presented. Meanwhile Tooru is pushed by everybody (Kazuma, Horse, Boar) and their Dog (rim shot) into making a clear statement on er stance to Cat. Horse in particular asks the tough question if she loves him out of pity and the wish to help and protect. We learn that in the past a Cat had a child with the domestic servant looking after the prisoner. Tooru cracks and reveals Cat is the most important thing in he world for her. As @whiteflame55 worked out in great detail, this is conflicting with her almost unhealthy compassion for her late mom. And which makes Cat her daddy surrogate, of sorts. Tooru is as clearly in love as confused about it herself. Comic relief Boar overhears this and shouts at her: just do it! Next is a flashback showing a young Cat and Kyoko in a relaxed talk in the park. He's shown a photo of Tooru, and later watches her secretly trough a window. The big showdown then is Cat and Tooru meeting each other on the roof. Cat very directly confronts her with the backstory he just has learned from grandpa, driving Tooru to tears quickly. The color scheme is reds, oranges and browns once more, accompanied by a slow piano plus violin duet. Tooru confesses to remember her dad and her mixed feelings about him. She justifies her badmouthing of dad as a means to protect herself from loneliness. Cat generously "forgives" her, once again de-facto substituting her dad. The orange saturation of the color design is turned up to eleven and they embrace. Poof, orange haired cat transforms into an orange cat in an orange cloud of smoke under an orange sky. Thanks for making that point clear, show runners. Next scene is inside and with normal lightening again, contrasting it as harsher and "more real". The imagery, however, is the opposite. Tooru shows Cat a photo of her dad, an has a vision of her dead mother standing behind Cat. Who himself sees the gray cap and has a flashback in which he's standing net to a dead Kyoko in a pool of blood. He regained this suppressed memory in this very moment. Tooru drops the image of her home and it cracks, hiding her face. Next in the ED we see that photo, with those cracks - now it's clear why this was important. One more illogical detail: Why Cat back then apologized to a sleeping Tooru when this episode we are told he just remembered his involvement (of whatever sort) in Kyoko's death and her dying "I'll never forgive you!" curse? Overall a good episode with a lot of development and (somewhat flawed logically) backstories. Tooru found her dad in Cat, and Cat found somebody he can apologize to (for whatever he did)- So both finally confessed and mutually can make good for a tragic backstory. To be revealed in a future episode coming to a theater near you soon. |
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| @inim I remember mentioning this when Cat said to the sleeping Cat "I'm sorry" and thought it would be important later, so tis sudden re-remembering of this event puzzled me also. Then we had his awkward behaviour at Kyouko's grave visit. I couldn't tell who the dead person was and the blood Cat stepped in, i guessed Tooru's mum or dad (although we heard Tooru's dad died from illness). Cat is somehow linked to one of their deaths. I wonder whether Cat will decide that he is guilty and will voluntarily go into the Cat prison house and it will be up to Tooru to break the curse to free him. Although Tooru has some clear daddy issues, for me there is definite attraction between the two of them and Tooru sees Cat as a guy, whereas she looked at Rat slightly differently, who was the prince for everyone at school. Maybe Rat is more like the poilte guy she remembers her dad was, whereas the boyish and rough tough Cat is something different. I think Tooru's inner anguish comes from the fact her new found love for Cat may be taken away if he is locked up, and her worry about losing someone close to her after recently having her mum pass away. Another point from Dog at the beginning of ep 6 was his mention that this is the first time all the zodiac members have been alive at the same time. So up until now only some of the 12 members, God and Cat have been alive at the same time. I'd agree with Dog, this seems significant. I think when i was watching ep 6 yday i may get overly focused on the romance, so helpful to get both your insights when reading your episode reviews this morning @inim and @whiteflame55, thanks. Personally I don't agree about Cat being a surrogate dad for Tooru. From everything we've heard about Katsuya, well mannered and refined, Cat sounds like his polar opposite being brash, angry and outright rude sometimes. Rat sounds like he's cut from the same cloth as Katsuya, polite and well mannered and if Rat had ended up being the love interest for Tooru I would have thought she was going for a fatherly replacement as a partner, but not Cat. I feel that as Tooru is a mother figure for Rat, whether Rat is something of a father figure for Tooru maybe, could be reading too much into this. Onto episode 7. We see Ren reach out and catch Dog's sleeve. It'll be interesting to discover just how involved Dog and Ren still are, we know they slept together at least once that Aktio referenced, but are they still involved and is that why Dog constantly reminds people how horrid he is? We learn about Ren and Akira. So it was Ren's idea to raise Akito as a boy. We see Dog rebuke Ren and refuse her point blank. Maybe the box with Akira's ashes is important after all, not sure how though? So Ren is the core issue at the centre of Akito's arrogance and unhappiness and her acting out was rebellion at the cruel treatment of a mother that didn't show her any love. Maybe Akito is the poorest and most wretched of all the zodiac. Sheep is the next one to have his bond break, likely due to the influence of his new born baby sister. This episode gave us insight into Aktio and Ren, and also the servants who are equally to blame for propping up the curse and unhealthy family relations. So Akito stabs Kureno, and freaks at the idea of trying to change now. You can tell from Kureno's manner that he genuines cares for Akito, although there's no deep love or desire, just compassion and pity, although this can be the foundation for many fruitful relationships, but not this one. We see a sparrow die and get picked up by Thuggirl and Tooru. Will this be the trigger for Kureno to seek out Arisa? I hope so. Then finally we get Tooru stopping Cat at the door, pouring rain outside "I need to tell you something...." and it ends. Another good strong episode with much needed exposition on Aktio and her position. Tellingly Aktio says "this was my life, no one showed me anything different and I don't know how to ask for it or what to ask for". |
23feanorFeb 2, 2022 2:30 AM
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| Episode 7 Kyoko mentions custody as it relates to Tooru. It appears that Tooru’s parents separated at some point. I had assumed that her father dying had caused their separation, but that wouldn’t require a custody battle. A lot about this relationship is just really unclear. Speaking of unclear, it is still uncertain what body Cat saw, as he seems to transpose Tooru’s in place of Kyoko’s at the end of his dream. Kyoko seems most likely, but it’s hard to say. So we now know that Cat’s mother didn’t even die in a car accident. She walked in front of a train. That’s… morbid. That’d scar someone for life. Ren’s and Dog’s plot thickens. Seems that Dog informed her of the existence of the box containing her late husband, Akira. So, rather than solely being her machinations (she is certainly motivated to get it for some reason, believing it belongs only to her), it appears that Dog sees its retrieval as important for his own purposes, which he says are to have Akira’s spirit haunt Ren instead of Akito. Dog really is a blunt instrument in this season, guy’s gotten pretty mean. Turns out Akira was facing down death when Ren met him. She made Akira fall in love with her, and fell in love with him, much to the chagrin of his attendants. From there, we learn more about Ren’s decision to raise Akito as a boy. Dog believes this stemmed from jealousy over her not being Akira’s number one at this point, though she didn’t show love towards her child in general and seemed to disdain her fate as god. And it seems that machinations were behind a lot of choices that we saw earlier. Rat and Akito’s relationship, despite initially being borne of two roles that hadn’t been reborn in a while (unclear how long in both cases), was largely built by Akito to show off in front of Ren and prove how special Akito was. The moment that probably stands as one of the most consequential in the series - after which Akito tried to paint her whole world black and swallow the Zodiacs into that abyss with her - remains unexplained. Akito herself seems unclear on what that moment was, though everything suggests that it was the death of Akira (which she was present for) that triggered it. So much of this series is built on wagers. Ren wagered that Akito couldn’t keep the Zodiac bound to her. Akito wagered that Cat couldn’t defeat Rat in a fight. Though, even as the consequences for losing these wagers are severe (Akito leaving the family, Cat submitting himself to isolation), calling them the foundation on which these characters stake their motives isn’t accurate. Cat already believed there was no way out, and even without the bet, would have likely resigned himself to his fate. He had a reason to fight Rat regardless. Akito, meanwhile, probably would have thought herself spurned completely enough to be part of the family in name only if the Zodiacs left her. These bets are akin to codifications of their realities. They are hardly bets at all, but rather acknowledgements of what each character is facing. Unfortunately, I think that makes these rather weak as they seem to be in place only to scream to the audience what other parts of the series tell us more subtly. I don’t mind it so much, but I’ve noticed a trend in this season in particular (though it was present in S2 as well) to be more blunt than it has to in order to deliver information. One of those “respect your audience’s capacity to figure this out” moments, imo. Maybe that’s just me. Blunt confrontations have their place, though I’ll admit to being perplexed that now, of all times, Ren comes into Akito’s room brandishing a knife and demanding Akira’s ashes, resulting in Akito actively hucking the thing. Surprisingly, the box appears empty, with the backstory on it being explained as it having contained Akira’s soul rather than his ashes. Akito raises Ren’s dropped knife to slash Ren, but is interrupted by the sudden breaking of her bond with Sheep for… reasons? This one seems to be based on his love for his little sister, but in general, these seem to be based in putting someone else firmly before Akito in priority. That makes it harder to understand, however. Ox placed Horse before Akito ages ago by everything we’ve seen. Sheep’s little sister has been in his life for a while now. Rabbit clearly loved Tooru more (or so he says) for a long time. So, why the sudden breaks? Don’t really have time to sit with that, though. To Akito, the box was a hope to her, that something was there even though she knew nothing was. She attributes her lack of understanding and empathy for others to her upbringing, which always set her apart from others. Rooster tries to guide her toward that understanding, but she feels it’s too late, blaming him for not saying it in the beginning. And then she stabs him in the back. He seems shockingly unsurprised by this. She claims she did this because of his kind of love, which came largely out of pity and led him to stand on the edge between supportive of who she is and actively seeking to change her. She then runs off and he collapses. Thuggirl finds a dead bird and asks if it just got tired… a bit on the nose there, guys, even if this is a pretty decent emotional moment. This is strongly hinting that this injury will end his life, though at minimum, it will clearly put some distance between Akito and her most ardent supporter. Honestly, given how bombastic the actual stabbing was, I found it hard to feel much for Rooster in this scene. Akito was right that his entreaties seemed too little too late, even if the stabbing seems… rash? I don’t know, for me, this kind of drama just doesn’t suit a series that has managed it much better before with much less physically destructive confrontations. I’m kind of torn on this one. A lot of big moments and Akito’s outbursts were obviously going to lead to some major physical harms at some point, but this one just didn’t sit well with me. Still feels rushed somehow. This episode is better in its more muted scenes, and ends with Tooru finally confronting Cat with her feelings. I suspect he won’t be able to accept them. This is a character who has resigned himself to pushing away from love. He won’t reject support, but he can’t let someone love him, because to do so is to resign them to join him in his dismal fate. I look forward to seeing that play out at the start of the next episode. |
whiteflame55Feb 2, 2022 8:22 AM
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| Episode 57 / 7 opens Schrödinger's box, and there's no Cat in it. Kidding. This episode is mainly the story of Akito's parents Ren and Akira, her birth and early childhood, her father's death, and her character's psychological roots. The episode also has two shock value events: Akito stabs Rooster, and Sheep's curse spontaneously breaks. Once again the cuts and narrative are closely intertwined so it's not easy to summarize linearly. S3 uses this technique from the start, so novelty wore off by now but it's still done masterfully. They manage to carry emotions from time line to time line, scene to scene. They pretty much insert micro backstories into scenes and then continue the scene. In a nutshell, the show succeeds where Baccano failed - non-linear writing done right. The show kicks off where the previous episode left, visions. Cat has a nightmare / vision of his dead mom, dead Kyouko, and a shock shot with a dead Tooru in a pool of blood. Then the present day time line (framing the whole episode) starts with Dog visiting Ren on a rainy early morning. The two master manipulators have an ambiguous talk about Akito's box. It was Dog who told Ren about it's existence, seeding her desire to own it. They condescending talk about Horse's failed attempt to steal it for Ren. Dog refuses to try the same, again manipulating Ren in her later knife attack attempt to get it herself. Now that Akito is in depressed mode, he's more and more turning into the puppet master of the events. A soft spoken, troll-ish and very effective tempter. In return Ren tries to tell Dog that he doesn't love Akito for real, he is just not able to see it because of the supernatural (she'd say unnatural) bond. The second present day scene has Akito and Rooster talking about the bond break situation. Akito sits on a window with the box on her lap. There's (by show standards) wooden exposition dump where she explains Rooster how her and Rat being reborn in a long time is special. Both spirits weren't reborn in a long time, this thought was already presented by Dog last episode. She whines about everybody leaving her. Then both story lines meet when Ren enters the room with a Tantou (Japanese dagger), determined to claim the box. From the back-flashes it's clear that Akito and Ren compete heavily about "owning" Akira. The box is symbolizing his love, owning the box means owning prerogative of interpretation whom he loved more. In a surprise move Akito tosses the box into the air towards Ren. Akito knows for years it's empty. It was given to her the day her father died by that domestic servant hag, who is also quite a manipulator. Ren is surprised and drops the dagger, which Akito picks up. At that very moment we see the rope symbol and Sheep - his curse broke. There's causality between these events suggested visually, but it's not explained. Akito halts her attempt to stab Ren as a result. The final act has Rooster and Akito outside after the event. Rooster tries to cheer her up, and suggests her to leave the family behind. This could end her suffering from the collapse of the curse, and by that the "old order" represented by the domestic servant hag. Akito muses she always knew the box was half empty, but it was 50:50 that the story with Akira's soul was true. A pretty clear reference to Schrödinger's cat. Rooster embraces Akito to comfort her, and she in cold blood stabs his back. Rooster tells a maid rushing for help to look after Akito rather, and collapses. Next is a really good counter shot to a dead bird, found by Wavegirl and a co-worker. She guesses it may have been killed by a cat (!) or flown against a window. These are the scenes I love the show for. Interwoven into the "rainy morning" arc there's a lot of backstory. Akira was a rich dying man, Ren was a domestic servant who won his love using manipulative expertise. They married and Akito was born, rejected by her mother Ren. Her dad was well aware of her role as zodiac and almost brainwashed her into thinking of her as special and owning the 12 zodiacs. He literally tells a child she was "born to be loved", no surprise adult Akito has this absurd feeling of entitlement. While Ren hated the person, she still made sure Akito was raised as a boy and her gender kept secret to help her claim on the massive heritage and family wealth of Akira's family. The second key event of the backstory is Akira's death, when Akito was at pre-school age. The domestic hag made sure only Akito was called when the end was near, not Ren. Even on his death bed Akira confirmed his "you are special" message to Akito. He tells her she was promised eternity and everybody waited or her. How to raise a narcissist with messiah complex 101. The manipulative domestic servant hag at that time gave her the empty soul box, which Akito kept, see the "symbol of Akira's love" and "Schrödinger's soul box" discussion above. Then Ren enters the scene and they pretty much over the dead body start to fight about "bragging rights" whom he loved more. That toxic relation lasts well into present day, as previous episodes showed. We end with the usual cliffhanger, this time it's Tooru holding back a leaving Cat after diner. She opens to him she has something important to say ... and cut. Overall, good drama, good non-linear story telling. The writing style creates a stringent emotional flow trough the different lines. One hardly notices how wildly the narrative jumps, it feels consistent. I buy into the Ren + Akira backstory and how Akito became what she is. Rooster's stabbing is less well motivated, and like @whiteflame55 noted emotionally too cold. The curse of a rushed 13 episode finale strikes again. |
inimFeb 2, 2022 3:49 PM
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| @inim you're spot on about FruBa getting non linear story telling right where Baccano fails. About the custody for Tooru, my initial guess was regarding a custody battle following Katsuya's death, so Kyouko may have lost Tooru to a family member being judged unable to raise Tooru without Katsuya and his calming influence, rather than a custody battle because Kyouko and Katsuya were separated. The show has strongly suggested Kyouko and Katsuya were deeply in love despite their difference status. Akito stabbing Kureno did seem a bit anti climatic, particularly Kureno's response, or lack thereof as @whiteflame55 pointed out, as if he was expecting it. |
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Kuri-cha said: Re: the timing of the breaking, I believe it’s not triggered by the zodiacs’ feelings alone but also by Akito’s faith - or lack thereof - in the bond. The more she begins doubting her hold over them, as well as her father’s promise that she would be irrevocably loved by everyone, the more the "rope" frays. I can’t remember talks of custody involving Tohru, and don’t recall Kyoko and Katsuya ever being separated, but Kyoko was a 15/16-year-old dropout when she gave birth. That, and she abandoned her daughter in the early aftermath of his death (which, in part, lead to Tohru’s obsession with imitating him in an effort to make her mom stick around upon Kyoto’s return). I’m guessing those factors came up when it was being decided whether Kyoko was fit to raise a child or whether she even wanted to raise a child (depending on when this dialogue showed up). Appreciate the insights! If it is a two-way street (which also would explain why Akito’s father impressed upon her that she was so special - he effectively was securing those bonds), then I’m still at a loss for explaining the timing. Rooster and Ox both make sense in terms of the timing of their breaking and fraying those bonds, respectively, but both Rabbit and Sheep seem so random. Neither apparently visited Akito recently, and if their separation somehow led to her lack of faith, the particular moment of it just seems random. It doesn’t help that, now that we know the bonds can be frayed and not just broken, that we have only seen that happen once. You would expect the bonds to degrade rather than simply break if it’s just the result of a continual distance effect. As for the custody thing, yeah, that makes more sense than what I said. We don’t quite know what precisely happened to separate Tooru’s parents yet, though we know that part of the inciting incident for that separation was the statement made by their family that Tooru didn’t look like Katsuya. I had assumed for a while that he just died, though I got the implication that they were separated before his death, whether out of choice or other circumstance. I suppose that led me to link their separation to Kyoko’s statement about custody. Makes more sense for this to have been a question of her fitness as a single parent, given her emotional distance after his death. |
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| @inim @23feanor I’m excited that both of you mentioned Baccano! as a point of comparison to the non-linear storytelling in Fruits Basket! I actually just finished watching the series (will post a review sometime soon), and I’m of a similar opinion that it failed in its non-linear storytelling. Was honestly a bit surprised how much trouble I had tracking everything that was going on in the story, especially given that they used year stamps before each scene. The fact that we almost always know where we’re placed in time for Fruits Basket without any time stamps is a testament to how well the series has oriented us, and I agree, the product of these scenes together is always greater than just the sum of them. Don’t think I’ve seen non-linear storytelling done so well in anime. |
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| @Kuri-cha Yeah, Ox’s curse hasn’t broken yet. It frayed, and it might have broken if Rooster hadn’t intervened. I’m interested to see more about why their bonds are breaking, looking forward to the show exploring it a bit since at least Dog seems to know why it’s happening. Whether he can explain the details (or, if he can, whether he’s willing to do so) is a different question. |
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whiteflame55 said: @inim @23feanor I’m excited that both of you mentioned Baccano! as a point of comparison to the non-linear storytelling in Fruits Basket! I actually just finished watching the series (will post a review sometime soon), and I’m of a similar opinion that it failed in its non-linear storytelling. Was honestly a bit surprised how much trouble I had tracking everything that was going on in the story, especially given that they used year stamps before each scene. The fact that we almost always know where we’re placed in time for Fruits Basket without any time stamps is a testament to how well the series has oriented us, and I agree, the product of these scenes together is always greater than just the sum of them. Don’t think I’ve seen non-linear storytelling done so well in anime. I finished Baccano a couple of months ago and had exactly the same problem. It was only in the latter stages of the show when you have all the information that i stopped being confused. |
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| Episode 8 Cat immediately flips the script and asks Tooru if she’s in love with him. In general, he shows efforts to push her away, asking her if her commitment to put her mother first was a lie, which of course cuts to the quick for Tooru, who has struggled with that very tension. In this moment, to take his efforts to push her away to the limit (he has refused to do this before out of concern for losing Tooru from his life, but has been explicit that he will reject her love if she gives it, so this timing makes sense for him) he reveals the truth behind his connection to her mother’s death. He recalls their first meeting and their continued connection, including the first time he saw Tooru. He had promised to find Tooru when she was young and lost, but couldn’t locate her and still blames himself for that failure, despite the fact that she got back safe and sound with Rat. This explains some of the tension between them over that hat. She cuts to the core of his feelings toward Rat at the time, and he leaves and avoids her. Until the day she dies. Apparently, she was killed by a car in a crosswalk. He could have saved her, but he also realized at the time that if he had saved her, he would have transformed. All the details of this compound the tragedy. He ran into Kyoko on that day because he was going to see her and Tooru. He saw Kyoko as someone who was saving him, a true mother figure who accepted him entirely unlike his own, who he felt abandoned by in the end. That line, “I’ll never forgive you!” is what the thinks he heard her say to him after the accident. The bloody specter that visits him in his memories says it loud and clear, but clearly, that’s neither what Kyoko said nor the way she said it. It’s a line that he imposes on himself, one based off of what he saw as his selfishness for refusing to save her just to protect his secret. He sees both current events and this past incident as him running away from his responsibilities and hates himself for it. He also blames his mother’s death on himself, seeing her death as her taking responsibility for having him, but viewing himself as worthy of the blame for being born with this curse. Worse, his father digs this mentality into him. We knew most of this, but having it all said clearly and cleanly is painful. So, how does he handle all of this? He retreats, physically and emotionally, and does all he can to defer the blame to Rat. He needed to impose it on someone else to put it behind him, even if he knew it was illogical. And then he buried it behind him, only to have it resurface when he saw the hat in her room once again. From here, he explains his bet with Akito. One thing that bothers me about this: can Akito form a bond with the Cat? Does she already have a bond with him? If she does, what is the nature of it? The fact that he can transform would suggest that she does, but their relationship is very different from the rest. She outright rejects him, and the feeling is largely mutual. She talks about accepting him into the Zodiac, but is that solely a status symbol, or does it come with the possibility of forming a stable bond between them? There’s so much we don’t understand about the Cat spirit in general, but especially as it relates to Akito, we’re in the dark. So Cat admits to himself that he has fallen in love with Tooru, and says that he’s not worthy of forgiveness, despite asking if she would forgive him. None of this apparently surprises Tooru at first, who stands quietly and listens throughout. But it’s her response that is probably the strongest moment in the episode. She refuses the choice between forgiveness and refusal to forgive. She also refuses to believe that those were Kyoko’s last words, but even if they were true, she rejects them as wrong, professing her love for Cat and telling him that nothing he says can change that. At that, Cat says he’s disappointed in her and runs off, abandoning her. Rat follows close behind, but goes the wrong way. That confrontation may still be a ways off. The episode ends with Akito approaching Tooru, knife in hand. That confrontation has been a long time coming, and this time, there’s no one here to act as a buffer between them. Akito is more unhinged than ever, and Tooru finds herself lost and hurt, so this is bound to be painful. An excellent episode that pays off a lot of the series so far. |
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23feanor said: I finished Baccano a couple of months ago and had exactly the same problem. It was only in the latter stages of the show when you have all the information that i stopped being confused. And here I thought it was just me. Glad to hear I’m not alone in that. |
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| Episode 58 / 8 sees Tooru confessing her love to Cat, but is all but happy. Cat is tormented by guilt he feels for the death of Kyouko, his own mother, and self-pity for good measure. Of course the main scene takes place under a gray sky and in the pouring rain. The voice actors were poked with pointy sticks to get that extra melodramatic suffering into their performance. The episode also serves as a connection point of many past events, Cat's narration brings formerly stand-alone scenes from many previous episodes into chronological and causal order. The first scene continues the last episode's cliffhanger seamlessly. Tooru confesses to Cat, who already saw it coming. He's not happy, because he feels unworthy and unable to accept this. His answer is: If you love me, then I'm sorry for you. Anybody remembers Radiohead's chorus "I'm a creep"? Like that. Cat then starts to tell his "How I met your Mother" story to a silently listening Tooru. In the pouring rain, where else. This flashback takes most of the episode, and pulls in parts of pevious scenes by short references, so it feels longer and heavier than it actually is. Another nice technique I haven't seen too often before. Chronologically, the story starts with a very young Cat the night before his mother committed suicide. He witnesses his parent's argument over him from the outside. This may be the first building block of the colossal feelings of guilt surfacing during the flashback. Each new event and setback added more of it. In psychology they say to be able to love somebody, one must first love one self. Cat clearly does not, quite on the contrary. Cat moves to his adoptive dad Kazuma and meets a young adult Kyouko in a park (scene seen before). They befriend and start to meet more often there, the place is near Kyouko's work place. She easily breaks his defenses with a head pat and acceptance. Cat's inner monologue here is disbelieve such kind and open people exist, he has been rejected all his life. "My existence was forgiven", he phrases it. We also have the scene where he's shown Tooru's photo and peeks her trough the window again (scene seen before). Next is the "Tooru can't find back home" scene with the gray cap (scene seen before). We learn the cap changed ownership quite often: Kazuma bought it for Cat, who lost it, Rat found it, lost it when bringing Tooru back, Kyouko found it, wanted to give it to Cat as thank you for his help. Cat recognizes it, declares it tainted by Rat and rejects. So it ends up with Tooru eventually. Rat is very angry and disappointed (with himself) because he didn't find Tooru and by that can return something to his savior Kyouko. He runs off, never to return to her. He channels his emotion into hatred for Tooru's "finder" Rat, an outlet he uses more often in the future. Then there's a decade time skip, to the day of Kyouko's fatal car accident. Cat and her were waiting on a pedestrian traffic light when Cat recognized her (but not vice versa, she was standing with her back to him). At that moment a driver loses control over their car and runs into the pedestrians. Cat has that extra second in which he could push Kyouko out of the danger zone. He let's it pass unused out of fear to transform into cat form because of the physical contact. Kyouko lies in the pool of blood / "won't forgive you" (scene seen before) and Cat leaves, unrecognized by the bystanders. Time skip and we see Rat recognizing Tooru as Kyouko's daughter on the first day she's in Dog's house (scene seen before). Rat's emotions at that point is completely dominated by self-hatred, guilt, envy for Rat's position and as a result hatred towards him. Another time skip and we revisit the scene in which Akito (back then at her peak power,in retrospect) psychologically torments a defenseless Cat (scene seen before). It's that scene where she offers him the bet about beating Rat only once to be spared from the cat house. Then there's that main "I'm a guilty creep" montage. Another time skip and we are in the "dandelion trample" nightly conversation with Kazuma (scene seen before). If I recall it correctly this was after he revealed his monster form to Tooru which is also briefly shown (scene seen before). The final scene has Tooru replying to this story. She rejects the idea her mother's last words were "I'll never forgive you". She adds and if that were here last words, she will stand against her mother's mistake. She confirms her love, despite the revelation about her mom's death. Drained completely from reporting traumatic memory after traumatic memory, Rat runs away into the rain. And the cliffhanger: Knock,knock, who's there? Akito with the dagger, about 10 meters from Tooru, seconds after Cat left. Uh,oh. Overall, quite a meta-episode connecting a lot of dots. Very melodramatic, but not cheesy. An excellent episode indeed. |
inimFeb 3, 2022 3:27 PM
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| Hello, Since we moved into our new flat we've been using our old tv that had been sat in a garage for 3 years and took a good deal of time to get going every morning. Very pleased when our new tv arrived this morning and it looks amazing. Can't wait to watch these final episodes in glorious hdtv, although not sure that matters when it's animated. Episode 8 and sounds like I'm in for some more Tooru x Cat drama. Tea and biscuits at the ready. Seeing the exchanges between Kyouko and Cat I can't wait for the prequel movie to see more of her and Katsuya, although the eng dub may take a while after it's release. Intense episode. First episode I can think of where it's all one scene, although with Cat's past memories of Kyoko. So everything is now in the open and we learn Cat's history with Kyoko. I wasn't his fault (if he had saved her he would have transformed and outed the Souma secret about the zodiac, instantly earning him imprisonment i assume, tough choice for a troubled lad to make), I'm guessing Cat either misheard Kyoko in those final moments due to his guilt, or she was talking to the driver who hit her maybe, cursing him for taking her away from Tooru? Episode 9. So Tooru Freud finally gets round to understanding Akito. Tooru talks to Akito and finally breaks through her steel shell that Akito has encased herself within for so many years. Then as they are about to connect, Tooru falls off the cliff (same one where her tent used to be) and everyone comes running, Rat and Cat included, to find an injured Tooru. Cat casts aside his stubborn self pity when he sees Tooru injured and cries over her, at which point she recovers consciousness and they kiss, ahh. Will the other zodiac members believe that Akito didn't push Tooru, even if Tooru tells them herself, especially after Akito stabbed Kureno? Will this help speed up the breaking of the bond? Bunny meets Akito outside the hospital and we hear her come to some important realisations about herself and her relationship to others, mainly Kureno and how she's been suffocating his kind nature. Surprisingly to me Bunny is one to give Akito the speech that convinces her to take the next step, and she visits Tooru. I guess the final banquet won't be high drama but a final meeting of all parties in a spirit of friendship, or something similar. Really good couple of episodes. |
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| Episode 9 Tooru begins by confirming that she doesn’t believe that Cat was responsible for either his mother’s death or hers. She seems strangely apathetic about the approaching Akito bearing a knife and talking about how everything is over… seems like something she should care about. She does, however, find some empathy for Akito in her fears of being left behind. Doesn’t seem like a “let’s try to understand each other” kind of moment, but hey, that’s what she does best. Even after Akito slashes her, it’s kind of shocking just how willing she is to put her body on the line to reach out. It made sense with Cat because she had already developed a close bond with him. I find it harder to believe here. Akito believes that Tooru caused the Zodiacs to leave her, which makes sense given how much she has become a part of their lives. Tooru recognizes the source of Akito’s loneliness, that in being set above the Zodiac, she was never truly with them, even when they were around. It’s a sensible inference from Tooru Freud that leads Akito to drop the knife and start slapping her, calling her dirty. Tooru… buys into this narrative on the basis that she was bound to her mother for so long after Kyoko’s death… doesn’t seem dirty to me and it didn’t seem like what Akito was indicating. Still, Akito runs away, apparently no longer interested in murderous intent and succumbing to her despair. Tooru follows her and offers to start their relationship over from scratch, which Akito initially rejects on the basis that she doesn’t think Tooru will accept her fully. Still, she finds herself believing in Tooru, and they both reach out… …and then the literal ground falls out from under Tooru. She falls down a cliffside, motionless at the bottom. Akito calls out for help, finding Rat and Dog, the former of whom runs to her. Of course, this leads to questions about whether Akito pushed her. It won’t be easy to accept that this is an accident. Akito had slashed Tooru before the fall. She had the knife. She stabbed Rooster. She admits to the latter, all of the murderous intent bled out of her by Tooru’s kind words and concern for Tooru’s wellbeing. For once, Dog is actually kind to Akito, reassuring her that Rooster will live after calling Dragon and placing his coat over her shoulders. Meanwhile, Tooru hit her head and is bleeding badly when Cat and Rat arrive on the scene. Somehow, Tooru seems faintly aware of Cat’s presence through her unconscious state, recalling the reasons she loves him. In her mind, she has made the active choice of leaving her mother behind for him, of putting him clearly and cleanly first, even if she’s unsure that she’ll be with him. Tooru wakes up and reaches up to Cat, who is crying over her. He kisses her, and she has at last finally reached him as she wished. The remainder of the episode takes place in the aftermath as friends and family concern themselves with Tooru’s recovery. Even Akito comes to the hospital for both her and Rooster. Both of them forgive Akito immediately, even though their injuries are partially or entirely the result of her actions. Akito treats their forgiveness as foolish, but she actively needs them by her side, and her rejections of their forgiveness is actively harming her. Rabbit tells her to take care of them and treasure them for who they are, a good piece of advice. He offers to tell Akito the story of the idiotic traveler, which we heard quite a while back, and effectively reflects who Tooru is in a way that might help Akito connect with her positively. Akito recalls that she imagined Akito sitting next to her at a banquet, not apart or above her, in a connection that runs closer than others have in Akito’s life. The episode ends with a discussion between Dog and Dragon that strongly hints at Dog being behind these events. It’s unclear how he manipulated them precisely, as well as how much of this was random chance, but I’m sure we’ll learn of that soon enough. Overall, a good episode. Might be a great one, but some of the ways things turned out here just seem a little hard to believe, especially given Akito’s knife wielding escapades. I had really thought that Tooru’s mental state after confessing to Cat would make it more difficult for her to connect with Akito, given her inner turmoil, and I had hoped that some of the lingering fears of Akito (built up from their previous interactions) would affect this one. It delivers on a lot, but this does feel like it should have been broken up somehow, even if it takes place over such a short time. |
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