Warning! This review on Fruits Basket 2 Chapter eleven contains spoilers. If you haven’t watched the episode yet, I recommend you go check it out and then come back to read the review.

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“All mine”

Fruits Basket 2 Chapter Eleven begins with a Kagura ready to face her feelings. Homecoming is the beginning of the changes that will bring the new feelings that have arisen in everyone. The first to take action is Tooru, who promptly heads to Kazuma’s house to learn more about the curse and how to break it. Information that Rin is also chasing. Kagura’s appearance makes Kyou decide to talk to her and set the record straight. But she will only accept that talk if they go out on a date together first. The date is only a pretext for Kagura herself to reveal her true feelings. With the cards on the table, Kyou thanks him for his feelings but makes it clear that he did not fall in love with her. The only thing that remains is for Kagura to take his feelings, reflect on them and treasure them.

A world only of them

Resolution is something that must be taken head-on, and that’s exactly what Tooru does when starting to investigate as soon as he returns from the trip to the beach.

She is an entity outside the curse, rather to everything related to the Souma, therefore her first step is to obtain knowledge. His goal is to break the curse and for this he needs to know more about it. And who can provide you with this information is none other than Kazuma, why? Perhaps because he is the grandson of a zodiac, perhaps because he is Kyou’s adoptive father, or perhaps it is simply because of the enigmatic maturity of his past actions. Whatever the case may be, ultimately results in failure, Kazuma is as ignorant of the curse as anyone else. However if it gives you an important clue, the curse is a bond, unbreakable and immovable, that only those who are part can understand.

I had already mentioned it before, but I think it is worth repeating: the curse of the Souma is not something as simple as just transforming into animals, it is something darker. In essence the curse is about a loss of freedom. Those ties Kazuma talks about could well be interpreted as invisible chains that bind and hold them. They are chains so heavy that it is impossible to get rid of them and only those who have them could understand the weight of carrying them.

Although it is true that Akito is irrational and perverse, his words are not entirely wrong. Certainly the zodiacs are a group that cannot be understood by others beyond themselves. But it is also true that a full understanding is not needed to help someone. Sometimes support is all that is needed, and that is the role that Tooru will play.

How is love born?

Putting the situation with the curse a little aside, which still has a lot to tell but it will be for later, it is time to talk about Kagura and his growth. To discuss this I will address three points: his confession of how he started his “love”, Kyou’s response and Kagura’s acceptance.

Love is an ineffable feeling, regardless of the type of love that is professed it is almost impossible to describe it in words. Talking about love is not always accompanied by warm and sweet feelings. That will be the case for Kagura’s love. The reason is simple, how it originated is not something that can be seen as pure and ideal. Kagura herself accepts the horribleness of her initial attitude, since she approached Kyou influenced by a feeling of superiority and complacency. After learning about Kyou’s true form, Kagura ran away but has lived in regret. Because she wants to be “good and pure”, she wanted to be someone with pure feelings capable of accepting everything, but she did not.

Inside her head she began to rationalize her love. If she became attached to Kyou and kept repeating her “love”, then her escape would be forgotten, she could be good. It was only until I saw Tooru’s silhouette go after Kyou, that night when she was approved by Kazuma, who finally understood: love is not something that can be rationalized. Beyond her ideal of being “good and pure”, she became aware that that single desire was already something “dirty”. I build a love in an artificial way, a love that tried to act as “salvation” for both of them, but in reality did not attend to what neither needed. Don’t get me wrong, Kagura did experience love for Kyou, it didn’t start out being love, it took a lot of wrong turns but the feeling exists.

No room for misunderstanding

In Kagura’s love not only do her feelings weigh, there are also Kyou’s. Kagura’s confession is painful, not because it reveals an uncomfortable truth, but because it does so by inflicting harm on herself, that is something that does not escape Kyou. In this chapter he showed us what a true man should do in these situations, answer one truth with another. Kyou’s chivalry is something that really needs to be appreciated. Well, he not only makes things completely clear, but also cares about not hurting the other party more than necessary, but always taking care that this is not a reason for things to be confused.

Kyou’s words may perhaps be cold to an outside observer, “I will never fall in love with you“It is a difficult sentence to overcome. However it must be said that it was what was needed to end his situation with Kagura. The relationship between the two was in a very wide gray zone, neither was benefiting from it but there was no real reason to end it. Finally the reason came, Kyou found a feeling that must be treasured and for this it was necessary not to allow himself to drag on with feelings that are not real.

Knowing how to set clear limits is not everyone’s virtue. A classic in this type of stories is ambiguity, however here they forget about it completely. Both Kyou and Kagura openly express their feelings and avoid the discomfort of leaving things up. And although Kyou rejects Kagura’s love, he makes it clear that he is grateful for those feelings and that she is and will be important in his life but not romantically but as a family.

What only belongs to us

As the last point of this love of Kagura it only remains to talk about how she fits this separation. Maybe they weren’t really in a relationship but, as I said before, they were in a gray area that was difficult to explain. Kyou’s blunt rejection was what Kagura needed to match her feelings. Although it all started badly, she truly developed a love for Kyou, and being able to pass it on to her is a great gain to her personal growth.

When he finally manages to free himself from these feelings that have been dragging him, when he screams in despair that I really love him, while crying in his arms relieved because he believed him, it is at that moment when everything ends. But at least something is certain, that moment is something that only belongs to both of you. It is the story that they both built and tangled, and it is the story that only they could correct and end. Kagura shutting herself up and wanting to appropriate those feelings for herself, at least until dawn, is the most correct thing, because in effect this is something that only belongs to her. No one will experience that pain, no one will cry those tears, no one will mature with the experience, no one except her.

Sharing our feelings only works when we need comfort or encouragement, but Kagura doesn’t need any of this. What she feels was born from her and will die in her, it is not a feeling that needs others to watch over her. It is not selfish to want to keep our hearts to ourselves. The desire to want to protect our memories, our feelings, is completely human. As I said, comfort is something you look for when you need it, but here it was not necessary. Kagura’s growth is born with the confidence to face her feelings for herself, without the need for third parties to subtract blame or recriminate her, about something that only she knows, because they are matters of the heart.

Final comment

Fruits Basket 2 Chapter Eleven has been an emotional and highly stimulating episode. After the beach arch the first changes begin to appear, and it is very pleasant to see that the series makes them flow naturally. The changes of heart that were born on the beach have begun to influence everyone’s decisions. The first to show us these changes with Tooru and Kyou. For her part, she has begun to investigate the curse, while he has decided to set the record straight with Kagura.

If there is one thing I love about this series, it is of course the quality of the plot it handles, the script is a delight. And the best way to contemplate this is through the growth of characters, and of course, the one who takes the palms this time is Kyou. With a clearer and calmer mind, he faces his relationship with Kagura and ends up clarifying that this game of “love” has come to an end. The best of all is to verify that Kyou is true to his nature, he is someone extremely kind and despite the rejection, he is still a gentleman. The anime has not managed to portray him, but it is not only Kagura who decides to save that moment only for her, Kyou also does it, with love or without love, he respects Kagura’s feelings and thanks them.

Anyway, this has been my impression of this chapter, tell me: what did you think of this episode? What was your feeling with the talk between Kazuma and Tooru? Do you think Rin is a future obstacle to Tooru’s actions? How did you feel about the end of the ambiguous relationship between Kyou and Kagura? The next chapter will be for Hatori, and I already feel the tears coming.

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Sweety Otaku

One of the best parts of watching anime is how many times a show can surprise you. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. But if the Otaku know one thing, it's that anything is possible.

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