Warning! This review on Fruit basket final Chapter five contains spoilers. If you haven't seen the episode yet, I recommend watching it and then going back to read the review.
"You noticed, didn't you?"
Fruit basket final Chapter five begins by looking at some of the zodiac in the future. Akito isolated himself in his room after what happened to Haru. Shigure's rudeness doesn't help his mental state. In the meantime, little Momiji has given his longed for stretch, which arouses surprise and admiration in many. Shigure has a conversation with Hatori about himself and Akito. They all meet at Shigure's and Momiji tries to arouse Kyo's feelings for Tohru. An important change occurs when Momiji's curse is removed but he has no plans to stay by Akito's side. Faced with doubts, loneliness, and frustration, Momiji says goodbye to Akito and decides to move on to the future.
Bad personality?
Before I move on to the star of the episode, I want to pause and talk about Shigure. For a long time we have gradually got to know his true personality. There are times when he has shown himself to be someone who is very dark and cunning. In general, you could say he's a twisted type character, but is that true? There is no doubt that Shigure is not a saint, but honestly who it is. What we must stop is his insolence and simplicity of admitting his actions, shortcomings and virtues. Of all the zodiac, he is perhaps the least dissatisfied with his condition, possibly because he never had enough interest in becoming attached to Sohma's brainwashing. He has the freest mind of all, ironically, he is possessed by the most loyal animal. But his loyalty is not in "God", but in Akito as a simple human being.
Perhaps the story has focused on teaching us a lot about kindness, but it has to be said that not all kindness is good. To this end, we have to speak of Kureno and Hatori, who treated Akito as freely and kindly as possible because they see in her more than one god, a lonely and fragile girl. It's not bad for them to see them that way. What is a mistake is that, at this point, they are unable to see the damage their negligent kindness has done to them. Since they never set him boundaries, Akito grew up believing that he could do anything. There was no one who said "no" to him. The only one who performed this role is Shigure. He doesn't want to hurt her. He hopes that she will become independent of the bond that didn't do her any good.
The relationship between Shigure and Akito is complex as both are in a constant tug of war because of their position. It's true that Shigure doesn't suffer the curse like the rest of the zodiac, but that doesn't mean it doesn't cause him pain, for him, that the pain falls on the difference between him and Akito. He doesn't want a power relationship with Akito, she is the woman he loves, he wants them to be the same. Therefore, Shigure treats them as equals at every opportunity, not as "someone less" as Hatori sees them, or as "lonely girl" as Kureno sees them. Reason why Shigure says clearly that he doesn't want to be Akito's "father", that he longs for her as a woman and wants to be recognized by her as a man.
This aching longing is made even more evident by Shigure's confession to Tohru. Because if he had dreamed of someone like her instead of Akito, he would not have been involved in this tug of war. Because Tohru's kindness would never have been enough to accept such a chain of accidents. Of course, all of this is just speculation that we could never find out.
The solitude of freedom
Now it's time to talk about our star, cute Momiji. The first thing I have to say is that it was quite a surprise to see the big change I am experiencing. It was a bit shocking in the sense that his stretching happened from moment to moment, two episodes ago he was even smaller than Tohru. I have to say that this is a personnel mistake because in the manga, although its growth is also sudden, we have seen some minor growth from earlier chapters. What we got closest to in the anime was the previous season at the New Years party, there Momiji looked bigger, but at the beginning of that season they forgot about that.
Other than that, this episode lets us see not only Momiji's physical growth, but also his spiritual growth. For various reasons, many of us have come to the conclusion that, despite his childish portrayal, Momiji is one of the most mature characters. This chapter confirms this maturity, which is beyond his age. Based on his unrequited love, Momiji is very aware that his love for Tohru is not fraternal, but that doesn't mean he wants to impose his feelings on her. On the contrary, he is extremely respectful of Tohru's feelings. Momiji's maturity is reflected in the act of wanting to support her love before wanting to own it. Maybe Momiji could fight for Tohru's love, but that wasn't necessary, he always knew that there was definitely someone in his heart and that it wasn't him.
The situation is that in addition to wishing Tohru's luck, Momiji asks about the others, including Kyo. Therefore he "confronts" Kyo with his feelings for Tohru, her happiness is important to him. However, this only marks the beginning of its presented maturity. The direct hit is when Momiji is finally freed from the curse. There's no reason for it, it just happens. And unlike Kureno or Haru, Momiji can no longer remain attached to Akito regardless of his crying. The price of his freedom was very high, what follows is loneliness. Breaking the curse doesn't mean he can regain his family or have the girl he loves. In fact, he lost the only "tangible" thing he had, his connection with the zodiac.
Breaking the curse isn't exactly the immediate relief one would expect. There is a great emotional burden for a person, between joy, illusion and hope, fear, restlessness and feelings of guilt. But above all, loneliness appears. You must remember that the spirit that owns you seems almost an alter ego within you, it's another self you've always been with and suddenly it's gone. Despite all of this, Momiji made the best decision and gave up on Akito. In doing so, he showed that the real curse lies in the chains that take away their freedom, because as long as there is life there will always be hope in the future.
details
Similar to the previous review, I am going to mention a few things that I am not going to develop but that are well worth paying attention to.
- This episode started with a slightly out of place sequence. This is especially true for the Ayame and Mine scene as well as the Yuki and Machi scene. In Ayame's case, it's a bit strange that they recorded the scene here as this is part of a sequence in their redemption. It's even stranger to Yuki because her relationship with Machi goes from zero to a hundred, they barely gave us any material to see her together, and we already have a Yuki ready to reveal his secret. This also happens in the manga, but this scene is long after more development.
- Although there was a lot of feeling in the chapter, certain flaws were felt. In the previous episode, chapters 104, 105 and 106 of the manga have been adjusted, while in this scene scenes from 110.111 and 128 and in chapters 115 and 116 have been almost completely adjusted. Obviously there are some gaps that they couldn't fill in completely. With what comes in the next episode, I hope to be able to talk about these shortcomings.
- There is a main arc that has not yet appeared, and it is unclear when it will appear. This part of the story is very important to better understand Kyo and his reluctance to accept Tohru's feelings. It's not just about his future limitation, and it hurts that the anime ignores this fundamental part of the character's evolution.
Final comment
Fruit basket final Chapter five was a very good episode, but manga readers know it could have been a lot better. It is true that there was a lot of emotion released and there was a good storyline for the revelations. However, the omissions he had regarding certain parts of the manga took their toll on staunch fans. Only fans, anime, will not be able to see these flaws because, despite everything, the direction of the episode is not bad or flawed. So yeah, it's just me, a manga reader, who causes a tantrum for changing the recipe.
Before I finish with this review, I can only say how nice it was to see Momiji grow up. I'm not just talking about his stretching, the way he coped with loss and came from loneliness are things I love about his character. That smile he gave us in the end is pure magic. I feel that I am purifying my soul. I have to say that it felt a lot like saying goodbye, maybe it was, even though Momiji's role is still ongoing, there is another task that only he can do and I'll love to see him doing it.
Anyway, these were my impressions of this chapter. Tell me, what did you think of this episode? Did you like Momiji's sudden change? What's your take on the freedom and solitude it brings? The next episode will be another emotional carousel. Prepare your handkerchiefs because incredible moments come between Tohru and Kyo.
