Warning! This rating on Fruit basket 2 Chapter 16 contains spoilers. If you haven't watched the episode yet, I recommend you watch it and then come back to read the review.
"Ask him about me"
Fruit basket 2 Chapter 16 begins with a hesitant tohru before Souma State, he's there to see Kureno. When we go back, we find that Arisa is still waiting for another encounter with Kureno, but so much has happened that her longing is no longer sustainable. After hearing the man's name in the combination, Tohru suspects it is Souma Kureno and decides to go to Souma State to check on it. While in doubt as to whether to enter or not, she meets Momo, who takes her to Momiji's house and asks him to tell her about her because she wants him to be her brother. After opening with Momiji, Tohru is more determined to meet Kureno. Check it out, but the answer you received is not a favorable one. Back at home, she reflects the wishes that cannot be fulfilled and talks to Kyou. She receives an unexpected response that moves her to tears.
Desires that cross
This week's episode shows us the experience of two types of longing, their weight and pain, and their inability to successfully complete. On the one hand we have Momo, she has a childish and warm interest in the young man who looks like his mother Momiji. Since she first saw him, she couldn't turn her interest away from him. Unfortunately, their attempts to get closer are constantly blocked. His father is desperately interested in maintaining the happiness he thought he would never have again. Therefore, he cannot allow Momo to be associated with Momiji, at the risk of his wife regaining his lost memory.
Then we have Arisa, who has had the illusion of seeing him again since these two accidental encounters with Kureno. Arisa's case differs from that of little Momo because she experiences a romantic longing. She really flew from the gentleman she had met and longed for the opportunity to see him and be with him. It should be said that this illusion was fueled by the apparent interest Kureno showed in both encounters. Arisa is currently on the island "What if ...?" Stranded. The impossibility and reluctance she had demonstrated was a symptom of this, since the opportunities to see each other were never zero.
Both longings are different, but they share the same feeling, in both cases a wish has been born, the wish to be together. It is nice and sad to see that both wishes are guided by the same feeling. The power of circumstances continues to paint the distance between the two desires, but far from clouding the feeling, it has only grown. As a "Romeo and Juliet" effect, the impossibility of being together only increases the desire and longing to achieve the ideal of a common future in which there are no barriers that separate them. Maybe they're two different loved ones, but in the end it's the same longing.
Desires that cannot be fulfilled
Now that we've talked about the birth of desires, it seems fair to think about why they are sinking into impossibility.
The case of Momo and Momiji is summarized in the preservation of the present. Although Momo wants Momiji to be a brotherly figure in her life, this cannot happen due to the curse of the zodiac. It is not for Momo, but for her mother, while Momiji is around, there will always be a chance that she will restore the memories that Hatori erased. Memories she wanted to forget, because if she kept them, she could never recover from the shock of giving birth to a non-human creature. His father's mental fragility is at stake. Momiji understands this better than anyone else and therefore does not blame anyone for the unfortunate situation. Far from it, he's really happy with his sister's feelings, and although he can't stand her now, he appreciates her more than anything.
Then we have the situation of Arisa and Kureno, while nothing holds them back, he is in a different situation. Although he denies that his decision "not to see her again" has to do with the curse, the truth is that he is indirectly related to it. It is not my intention to spoil her, I just want to make it clear that Kureno is special, it is different from the others who are cursed by the zodiac. This is obvious when you consider that it is difficult to see and is always trapped in the deepest part of the Souma state. Do not lose these details as this is important to understand the impossibility of your wish. And although Tohru's words are not wrong, the possibilities of the future really exist, he doesn't seem to be able to accept them, as if he had already given up on getting out of his cage.
A hidden desire
Finally, I want to talk about the Kyou x Tohru scene of the week, and yes, I know it was only a few seconds, but it is so important that it needs to be done. At the end of the episode, we could see Tohru taking refuge on the roof to ponder the desires that were born in the heart and how they could be doomed to be unfulfilled. Not long after, Kyou appears and asks about his day's expedition. She loudly reflects on the desire to be with the person she loves and how difficult it is not to do so, and receives an unexpected response. Kyou swallows his own feelings and jokes with her about the possibility that he has fallen in love. She emphatically denies this, but Kyou assures her that if she did, he would support her love. Answer that makes Tohru cry unexpectedly.
Throughout the episode, it was shown how Tohru was actively involved in transmitting Arisa and Momo's longing feelings. She really took care of both situations and was horrified, and the reason why she became so active was because of her own feelings. We have already seen Tohru trying to bury a feeling deep inside, and how he does it by placing the memory of his mother in front of him. Even in this episode, she did it again, looking for Kureno and telling her about Arisa because she wanted to transmit her own impotence. ""Are still there… “, In contrast to Kureno, Arisa, Momo and Momiji, she no longer has the person she longs for, she has long since left her and now she can no longer pass on her feelings. The whole episode was under this idea, but in the end everything changes.
The reason for Tohru's tears is nothing else than fear and helplessness. Speaking of wishes that are not fulfilled, the Tohru cover has already been opened for us, we know who is in there. Tohru is familiar with the situation of longing because she lives it herself and her heart is less and less able to silence the inside. Her tears reflect the pain she feels at the possibility of a separate future. Because those words, even if they weren't intended, sounded almost like an indirect rejection to them. As if the possibility of a separate future was almost confirmed. That was enough to tear down the barrier Tohru was desperately building to stem his own feelings.
Final comment
Fruit basket 2 Chapter 16 was a very moving episode. It is never easy to respond to the heart's desires, especially when it comes to impossibilities, but this chapter has made it great. The connection they made between different desires was simply phenomenal. The cherry on the cake was the end of Tohru's own feelings. There is no doubt that the purpose of this story is to draw a tear in every episode. Momo's request to be connected to Momiji touched very delicate fibers in me.
Before I finish this, I'll tell you that this week I had a lot of fun with the big animation bug that the episode had. The scene where Tohru falls to the ground talking to Momiji about Momo made me laugh. The whole fall looks so exaggerated and dramatic that for a moment I thought Tohru was cramped. Anyway, between this scene and the beautiful melody of Momiji on the violin, I laughed and cried these days. By the way, the song Tohru Momiji asks is an insert song from season one.
Anyway, this was my impression of this chapter, tell me: what do you think about this episode? When can we speak of an impossible longing? Is there really an impossible longing? Do you think Tohru will face his own heart from now on? What do you think about Momiji's dream? In the manga, Momiji did not speak openly about his dream, but I like that he did it here, it makes his longing for his family more real. It seems that we are about to start the expected school trip, good things await us.
