Fruits Basket ch.95

July 12, 2004 | 20 Comments

I feel that lately my interest in this manga is kind of muted. This is partly because I've been a bit obsessed with Naruto at the moment and can't get my mind off that series. But it's also because nothing much have happened thus far with this series. There have been some good character development lately but as far as storyline goes, I feel that it still remains as the way it was when the last New Year's Eve story happened. And that was already quite a long time ago. Anyway, unlike the last chapter, this one seems to focus on multitude of characters for a change. The chapter also ends in a non-cliffhanger note just like the last one. This is good because the next chapter won't come out until next month so it will be annoying if a cliffhanger happens at the end of this chapter and the story is postponed for one month.

The story begins with Tohru and Kazuma talking in polite manner to one another. Apparently Tohru and Kyou have been invited to stay at Kazuma's house during New Year's Eve and Tohru, being the polite person that she is, tries her best to be as modest as possible. The way she talks, however, makes it seems as if she's going to become Kazuma's bride and because of this, Kyou teases her accordingly. Tohru then babbles on about how that's not what she meant until Kyou assures her that it was a joke. Never the less, Tohru adds that besides, Hana-chan is already interested in Kazuma. Upon hearing this, Kyou is annoyed and tells Tohru not to decide something like that on her own and proceeds to pinch both sides of her cheeks. The chapter then shows a flashback as to why the two end up staying at Kazuma's house. Apparently for some reason, Yuki decides that he wants to return to the main house for one night this year. Having said that, he's a bit worried because it means Kyou and Tohru will be on their own since Shigure will also come to the main house.

Shigure, being the over the top character that he is, immediately assumes that Yuki is referring to the fact that Tohru will be left all alone with that horny animal, Kyou (the way Shigure saying it makes it seem as if he's a girly girl who screams "you animal!!!" or "hentai!!"). He then tells Tohru that he will ensure that Tohru is protected from that animal's naughty hand, much to Kyou's anger. Yuki then joins in the joke by calling Kyou 'animal' as well. Kyou, in retaliation, asks them if they want to be killed by him. Back to the present, Tohru asks Kazuma what he likes to eat because she will try her best to prepare it. Kazuma tells Tohru that sounds pleasant. He then tells Kyou that he must be happy to be able to spend New Year together with Tohru. But Kyou looks gloomy in response and Kazuma wonders why Kyou responded badly to his joke. Anyway, it turns out that Isuzu (Rin) is also at Kazuma's house at the moment because he invited her after she came out of the hospital and didn't feel like going back to the main house.

Meanwhile, at the Sohma main house itself, Hatori has just finished his dance and is being complimented by Ayame. Shigure then arrives to congratulate Hatori and to tell him that he must be relieved that the burdensome dance is over. Shigure then tells Hatori that he should not have take off his dancing clothes so quickly because he wants to take a picture of him for Mayu (Tohru's teacher). Upon hearing this, Hatori wonders if Shigure is with her again now. Shigure, however, assures Hatori that he should not worry because no such thing has transpired. Hatori then tells Shigure to go back to Akito before he gets lonely. Shigure, however, nonchalantly tells Hatori that Akito is already accompanied by Yuki and Kureno so he should be okay. The chapter then shows Akito and Yuki conversing like two normal people for change. Yuki actually doesn't look afraid whatsoever and Akito actually looks sane. His sanity, however, only last until he tells Yuki that he's glad Yuki decides to return to the main house this year and that he will forgive his transgression.

Yuki, however, tells Akito that his return wasn't for Akito's approval. He also tells Akito that he's over blaming Akito or his mother or Kyou for the misfortune in his life. He thinks that unless one learns from one's experience and fix what is wrong in one's life, that person is a fool. While Yuki says these words, for some reason Kureno cries and starts to remember his childhood life. But before Kureno can go on with his memory, he's disturbed by a noise, which turns out to be that of Akito hitting Yuki's head with a bottle. Akito seems to be offended by Yuki's last comment, which admittedly, can be applied either to Yuki or himself. He orders Yuki to say 'sorry' but Yuki remains quiet until after a while, he decides to give a half-hearted 'sorry'. Very impressive. And he didn't actually shiver whatsoever. Instead he had this 'I don't really care' attitude when he said 'sorry' to Akito. Never the less, Akito accepts the apology and leaves the room in a hurry. What follows then is a voice-over which I think belongs to Yuki, saying that he's sorry but he will never return to Akito's side.

Anyway, Yuki is eventually treated by Hatori who tells Yuki that he may still have to go to the hospital later on. Yuki then tells Hatori that he's sorry for what the way he blamed Hatori in the past (for erasing his childhood friend's memory). Hatori, however, tells Yuki that there's nothing to apologise for and that Yuki is a kind person. Meanwhile, Hatsuharu is seen by Shigure about to leave the main house to see Isuzu at Kazuma's house. Shigure, however, assures Haru that he won't tell Akito about it since doing so won't make Haru change his mind anyway. Back to Tohru and Kyou, they're talking about how in the past Isuzu sometimes come to Kazuma's house and Kyou felt left out by his foster father whenever this happened. The two then talk about New Year's resolution and Tohru tells Kyou that this year she wish for the end of the Sohma curse. The chapter ends with Momiji giving Kureno the DVD of the school play and Hatsuharu arrives at Kazuma's house to hug a sleeping Izusu.

Impression:

This is quite a long chapter where it seems many things have happened. But I think apart from Yuki's minor defiant of Akito, nothing much happened here. I still wonder, however, why everyone is so afraid of Akito. I don't see him as anything but a spoiled brat and yet everyone looks as if they're going to die if they defy him. I guess because all of these times, I see that the only power that Akito has over them is psychological and not physical. So I don't see what they're afraid of. Having said that, even people like Shigure, who doesn't seem to be afraid of Akito, does not seem to make an effort to do something about it. Anyway, this chapter is also preoccupied with a lot of 'couple'. Apart from Kyou/Tohru, there seems to be Hatsuharu/Isuzu, Kazuma/Hana, Hatori/Mayu, and Kureno/Arisa. Nothing seems to change much, however, and that is why I said everything seems to be the same so far. However, one can see that the story definitely tries to progress these 'pairings' by giving them some form of storyline/problem to solve.

Posted by Garten

Comments

July 13, 2004 | Sandra wrote:

Thanks for the detailed description of the chapter. It will be great to see how the story progresses after this.

July 13, 2004 | Garten wrote:

Sorry for those whose comments I deleted. I had to do a massive cleanout of the spam comments and the easiest way to do this is to do a date/time wipeout from the database. The result, however, is that some comments within same date/time are deleted as well. Feel free to resubmit the comment if you feel like it.

July 15, 2004 | Ashley wrote:

*quirks eyebrow* Is that so... well what if I don't want to? lol Anyway... I don't even remember what I said on my last review. So I guess I'll just talk random crap about fruits basket for the moment.

I wonder if Kazuma knows that Kyo once met Tohru's mother?

Where was Kazuma while Kyo met her?

.... I wonder if Hana and Kazuma are going be couple in the future.

@_@ That would be really weird.

-_- Akito... I love him! *drools* Even if he is such a basterd.

Yeah those are just my thoughts on fruits basket right now. If you know any of the anwsers, please tell me!

July 23, 2004 | Dita wrote:

Wow, what a chapter. Nothing much happens, but so many plot build-ups. Takaya has pretty much used up her initial foreshadows like the red cap boy, Tohru's parents and Rin's presence... but she still keeps a lot of things to resolve.

Somehow I don't want all the pairings to get together in the end. Seems too sugary happy. But well, if that's how the mangaka wants it...

July 27, 2004 | Anne wrote:

I though that the voice over was Kureno's and that it's related to the flashback we did not see.

Nothing happens but Tohru/Kyo interaction was a nice moment.

July 27, 2004 | Alla wrote:

This anime movie is realy good. At first I thout thats its going to be boring anime, but I'm glade I was wrong.

July 28, 2004 | Jai-chan wrote:

I, for one, was pleased by all of the interaction between the couples. It takes away from the angst. I Love the Kyo/Tohru pairing and I hope that Takaya-san takes it further. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Chapter 96.

August 6, 2004 | Juanita wrote:

I read your translations for chapters 86-95. I had no idea that things had changed so much! I know, I just ruined it for myself. But I was so curious about the Kyou/Tohru thing... Now I'm SOO happy!! I thought for sure Takaya was probably going to go in the Yuki/Tohru direction, and that made me start to not want to read the next chapter of FB. But I decided to just go an look ahead and see if that really happened... And it didn't!!! I think that I'm the only FB fan that didn't know any of this. I just read the english versions that are barely coming out, and watched the 4 DVD's that came out... so I just ruined the suspense, didn't I? Oh well... that kid with the hat was Kyou?? Whoa... Everybody's probably saying, "Where the hell have you been?" LOL ^_^ I ran around the house screaming, "Tohru and Kyou are going to be together!!" and my family members, exclude my brother, had no idea what I was yelling about. He got mad at me saying, "You ruined it for me!" I was like, "Well... at least you know who she likes more... And it's not Yuki!!" *continued running around* (Note: I'm not usually hyper like that. It's 1 o'clock in the morning when this happened, so... I'm like that when I'm sleepy. -.-;) Kazuma/Hanajime??? How would that work out? Also, I think that Yuki might like Machi! (There names rhyme!) But my main focus is Kyou/Tohru!! I'm looking forward to your next translation of FB, chapter 96!! Bye-bye!

September 1, 2004 | Lee jezebel wrote:

yeh! go yuki! stand up to dat guy! i mean girl @_@.......i realli have to get used to saying dat he is a she...

December 11, 2004 | hikari wrote:

....Fruits Basket is so good!

So are your translations!

January 9, 2005 | Kamus wrote:

So the boy in the red hat was Kyo??????

February 8, 2005 | Kasumi wrote:

Thank you for all your summaries. :3

Actually, the boy in the hat was Yuki. Technically, the hat was Kyo's at first, but Yuki was the one who rescued Tohru.

April 5, 2005 | Lina wrote:

Actually - I think there is a physical element to Akito's power over the juunishi. I am referring back to the time when Akito attacks Tohru at the villa...I believe this is in Vol. 10 or 11. During the scene (and I cannot really be sure because it was a scanlation and I don't know how it will translate out when it is released in the US) I got the impression that because he was the head of the household, namely the role of 'God', it was additionally a part of their curse (and I suppose his) that they be bound to follow his command and that it wasn't something they could help. I understood it as being physically and mentally impossible for them to disobey his will. And until I read this scene, I always felt the same way that you did. I mean - if you think about it, he cannot be THAT strong...he has spent most of his life bedridden.

I know that it would have been tradition to comply to the authority of the head of the household, but allowing that much physical and mental pain to take place seems morbid and unreal - which is why when I read this scene I was easily convinced that they had no control over it. But, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Akito's pride that was responsible for such a presumptuous speech...still I thought he was relaying all of this to her in seriousness. I took it very literally. I think it would be more interesting if what he said was true. Of course, (in anime and manga) any obstacle can be overpowered and if it is just a matter of being mentally terrified of him...then I would think most of them would have rebelled by now. There really isn't much he can do except turn them away from Sohma House. (ex) If Kyo doesn't want to be caged, then all he has to do is leave. Of course, this is assuming that the curse is as you believe (and I initially believed) - that it IS only a mental insecurity. I hope this makes sense; sorry for rambling!

I know you stop at ch 100. I hope you decide to pick it back up again soon when your interest in the series has been revitalized. Take care and all of your hard work is sincerely appreciated!

Lina

October 3, 2005 | Amber wrote:

Um? Wow, I really am behind. So the red hat belonged to Kyou first? Then why did Yuki have it? Have both Yuki and Kyou met Tohru before the beginning of the manga? (I knew one of them would be the boy with the red hat, but it seemed like it could swing either way) Ah well, I wonder if I will be able to catch up at all. Hehehe;)

February 28, 2007 | briana wrote:

so the boy in the red hat was yuki? and the hat belonged to kyo? I knew it was either kyo or yuki but I was thinking it was kyo more. Why would yuki have the hat and also I I only read book 2 & 4 of the manga and I really wanted to know who the boy in the red hat was so I guess you can tell that I spoil things for myself.

November 17, 2007 | maria wrote:

kyo y turhu la desicion

January 16, 2008 | adrienne wrote:

kYO+TOHRU=FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY MAKE THE BEST COUOPLE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i LOVE Fruits basket so much!
im only on book five cause i cant find the rest of the seris.

February 5, 2008 | nalee wrote:

This was such a good book that I was so touched that I always cry when I read the book because I feel like it happens I real life to me. whan I wake up the morning it always felt like I was in the book isay that kyo and tohru are pefect together but I want to know whathappens tom Yuki-chan I hope that he has a happy ending.In this book I loved yuki-chan and kyo-chan so much

February 5, 2008 | nalee wrote: