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the-sage-libriomancer · 7 months

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Okay but just imagine if you had this guy in your friend group who’s a jerk with hardly any redeeming qualities but then your friend group drifted over the years after an incident with two of them and the guy turned into a mere passing thought.

One day you see his name on a student’s form - huh, that’s weird. Maybe the kid’s parents are going through something and he’s staying with his cousin for a while. That goes to the back of your mind as life continues. You notice that the kid stays withdrawn and doesn’t appear to have any real friends even if people idolize him. Then, several months later, he starts coming to school on a regular basis with another student; one of the most sweet and naive people you’ve ever known besides your best friend.

Finally, another student transfers from another school into your class. On his paperwork you notice the jerk’s name as his guardian. You also notice it’s on the sweet girl’s paperwork too. Later, when you talk to her, you find out that instead of living with her grandfather, she’s actually moved in with two boys and their older cousin, known for being a creep and a bastard. The girl promises nothing bad is happening.

The only solace you find in the situation is that the two boys seem to respect her and her female friends mention having visited and approving her living situation. You let it go after these observations.

Then that scumbag shows his face their senior year as their guardian and you wonder how you ever thought it was okay for three teenagers estranged from their immediate families to live with him for three years.

Now imagine your name is Mayu and the bastard’s name is Shigure.

when i tell you that last sentence hit me like a brick to the face -

actually, i think the best part about this scenario is that mayu canonically ends up marrying hatori, which means that she's not only legally related to shigure, she also has to see him all the damn time bc he's her husband's best friend in the world. i'm sure shigure eventually proves himself (especially if hatori vouches for tohru's sketchy living situation with them), but i think it'd be really funny if mayu kept up her grudge against him and made herself the #1 Shigure Sohma hater of the family. she and yuki have roasting sessions of him. if ayame is in the room they team up to make fun of him via a boke-tsukkomi routine. one time shigure drops by to annoy hatori and mayu answers the door wearing a custom "I h8 the year of the dog" t-shirt. it was apparently a christmas gift, but she refuses to tell him who gave it to her. (it was hatori.)

#she gets along great with ayame btw #they're old friends so she's used to the eccentrics #i don't think mayu hates shigure *that* much but the concept is super funny #payback for three years worth of worry and half-dialed child services calls #fruits basket #mayuko shiraki #shigure sohma #it's an ask

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fandom-smut-shots · 2 years

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Hatsuharu Sohma - Year of the Cow

Year of the Cow

Request: Can you do a Hatsuharu soulmate UA One shot where whatever your soulmate writes on themselves shows up on the other’s skin?

A/N: It’s a soulmate AU so I’m gonna make up a rule that soulmates are exempt to the zodiac curse rules.

Also, because I’m biologically female, I automatically write the reader with female pronouns unless otherwise specified. I’m more than happy to write male or gender-neutral readers, I just need to know beforehand.

Words: 1,904

It began on the first day of the school year. You were seated in math class, groaning under your breath as you struggled to scribble down notes as quickly as the teacher spoke. Math was your worst subject, so you had notebook upon notebook filled with equations and long answers. The teacher announced an upcoming test, and you poised your hand over your notes, preparing to jot down a reminder. A glance at your notebook, however, prompted you to write the reminder on your wrist instead. Your once brand-new notebook was flooded with homework and practice tests – you’d lose the reminder entirely if you added it to the chaos. So you held the pen to your non dominant wrist and marked it down.

Math test. Friday. STUDY.

The class eventually ended, and you all but sprinted out to the hallway. One more class and school would be over for the day. You made a stop at your locker to deposit your math book and piles of notes, and writing on your wrist caught your eye. But it wasn’t what you had written.

Huh? What math test?

A shriek fell from your lips before you could contain it. Clasping a hand over your mouth, you slid down against the lockers until you were seated on the floor, staring at your wrist in shock. You understood the culprit immediately, but until now, it had always sounded like a distant dream, not an eventual reality.

Soulmates. Once the younger of the two soulmates begins high school, soulmates can communicate with one another via writing on their skin with ink.

“(y/n)? Are you alright?”

You glanced up from your wrist to find Tohru standing beside you, her eyes wide and head tilted with concern. When you didn’t reply, she crouched down beside you, her gaze landing on your skin.

“Oh! You got your soulmate!”

You nodded numbly. “I didn’t expect it. I’ve met soulmates before but it didn’t seem real until now.”

“You’re a second year, right?” Tohru inquired. “Your soulmate must be younger than you.”

“That’s alright,” you countered. “I wonder if they go to school here.”

“That would be so exciting!” the brunette squealed. “Oh! You’re coming over for Yuki’s birthday party this weekend, right?”

You offered her a nod. “Yeah, I’ll be there. I even got him a present.”

“Aw, he’ll be so bashful,” she giggled. “He hates being the center of attention.”

“Will more of the Sohma clan be there?” you questioned, rising to your feet in preparation for your final class. “That family is so fascinating; I’d love to meet more of them.”

The brunette nodded excitedly as she walked alongside you down the hallway. “Not very many, I don’t think, but a few more will be there! Kagura for sure; she’s always looking for a reason to visit Kyo. Momiji too, and with Momiji comes Hatsuharu.”

You couldn’t understand or describe the tingling that grasped your heart at the sound of Hatsuharu’s name, but it stopped you in your tracks for a second. Tohru was oblivious as she rambled on about how adorable Momiji was, and you let her talk while you lost yourself in thought.

Saturday afternoon found you standing outside the Sohma house, neatly wrapped present in one hand as you lifted the other to knock on the door. It slid open to reveal Shigure, the cousin who acted more like an annoying older brother to Yuki and Kyo.

“Ah, (y/n)! So glad you could make it. Yuki won’t know what to do with the attention of so many pretty girls!”

“Hey, Shigure,” you giggled, stepping around him and into the house. You heard the door close behind you as you ventured into the family room where everyone was gathered around the kotatsu.

“Hey, (y/n)!” Tohru greeted eagerly, and you offered her a smile in return.

“(y/n),” Yuki smiled softly. “Thank you for coming.”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” you countered before holding up his gift. “Where should I put this?”

Tohru gestured to a pile of presents in the corner of the room. “Over there!”

With a nod, you followed her arm, adding your gift to the collection. You then took a seat beside her at the kotatsu, observing the game of cards the group was playing. Kyo was grumbling about how he was going to win, while Yuki argued that he had won every game thus far.

“Are the other Sohmas here yet?” you questioned, turning your attention to Tohru.

Before the brunette could reply, the front door was shoved open, alerting to the presence of the newcomer. In stormed Kagura, whose angry face softened upon catching sight of Kyo. The ginger in question rose to his feet, glaring at the brunette.

“Hey, Kagura!” you greeted. You’d met her briefly before, but you hadn’t gotten much of a chance to speak to her. She offered you a wave before latching onto Kyo like a lost lover, clinging to his arm as he gave in and returned to his seat.

“He’s gotten softer,” you commented to Tohru.

She giggled in response. “He discovered that letting Kagura hang all over him keeps her calm, and keeps her from destroying the house.”

You hummed in acknowledgement, turning your gaze back to the door as it opened once more. The first presence to greet your eye was the most adorable little blond you’d ever seen. His energy level matched that of a toddler as he bounded around the room, offering hugs and greetings.

“Momiji!” Tohru cheered upon the blond’s arrival. “Momiji, this is (y/n). She’s a friend from school.”

Momiji beamed at you as though he wanted to lunge, but he was held back by a hand on his shoulder. Your gaze followed the hand to a tall boy with black-and-white hair, and you’re fairly certain your heart stopped. That tingling in your chest from the other day resurfaced, but you shook your head, instead focusing on being a polite guest.

“(y/n), this is Hatsuharu,” Tohru added.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” you offered with a nod of your head. Momiji was practically vibrating where he stood, his eyes darting between you, Tohru, and Hatsuharu.

"Tohru?” he questioned sweetly.

The brunette nodded. “She knows.”

Momiji released the loudest squeal before breaking free from Hatsuharu’s hold and lunging towards you. You managed to catch him before you fell backward, looking down at the figure in your arms. Rather than the small boy he’d been before, in your arms sat a soft, yellow rabbit. You cooed quietly at him, stroking his ears, while Tohru giggled beside you.

“Momiji doesn’t care much for the rules,” Hatsuharu grumbled.

“He just likes to hug,” Tohru countered.

“I don’t mind at all,” you giggled, watching as Momiji snuggled further into your embrace. You then glanced up at the two-toned boy. “Which zodiac are you, then?”

He grinned. “Take a guess.”

You tilted your head, eyes raking over his figure, using the challenge as an excuse to check him out. Black and white hair, piercings, punk aesthetic, cocky attitude… “The cow?”

His grin widened. “Nicely done, sweetheart.”

Your heart lurched at the compliment and the pet name, but you kept it to yourself. Tohru nudged your side with her elbow, eying the blush dusting your cheeks.

“(y/n)!” Momiji chirped, bounding up to your side, though not close enough to touch. “Can I draw on you?”

The group was in the middle of watching a movie, though side conversations and snacking was also taking place, so Momiji wasn’t being too disruptive.

You offered him a shrug. “I don’t see why not.”

He squealed in triumph and took a pack of pens from his coat pocket. He made himself comfortable beside you as you offered him your left arm, careful not to lean in too close and risk changing his form. He hummed softly to himself as he worked, often switching colors, and you closed your eyes and simply enjoyed the soothing sensations against your skin.

“Huh?” came Hatsuharu’s voice after a few minutes. “Where the hell did this come from?”

You opened your eyes to find him staring down at his left arm, confusion furrowing his brows as he rubbed at the pen lines dancing across his skin. Momiji paused his masterpiece to look over at his cousin, gasping loudly when he recognized his own artwork.

“Haru! That’s what I drew on (y/n)!”

Everyone’s attention turned towards the three of you, movie completely forgotten in the background. Yuki’s eyes widened with interest, Kyo’s brow furrowed in feigned disgust, Tohru’s face brightened with excitement. All you could do was stare at the drawing on Hatsuharu’s arm, matching your own, your heart hammering too loudly in your chest for you to lift your gaze and meet his eyes.

“(y/n)?” Haru called, his eyes gaging your reaction. “Can we talk outside?”

You finally looked up at him with a nod. “Yeah, sure.”

Three years later, you found yourself grinning widely as you approached the Sohma house. Shigure opened the door before you could even knock, greeting you with a smile. You had arrived for a birthday party once more, but this time, it wasn’t Yuki’s. Returning Shigure’s smile, you made your way past him and into the family room. Loud voices overlapping one another met your ears as you looked around the room. Yuki and Kyo had matured some over the years, but putting them in the same room for extended periods of time would inevitably lead to an argument. You chuckled at their antics, alerting them to your presence. Hatsuharu looked up at you from his place on the floor, his cognac eyes widening and his lips splitting into a grin.

“You’re here!”

He rose to his feet in a split second, crossing the room to take you in his arms. You giggled softly as you returned his embrace, wrapping your arms around his neck. The gift bag containing his present dangled from your fingers, and the tissue paper poking out of the opening caught his eye as he released you.

“What did you get me?” he inquired, taking the bag from your hands and tearing out the paper.

“Idiot!” Kyo chided loudly. “You’re supposed to open all of the presents, not just (y/n)’s!”

You only laughed as your boyfriend finally found the small black box at the bottom of the bag, all of its wrapping now piled on the floor. He opened it to find a half-pendant in the shape of a cow head inside a heart on a silver chain, and he met your gaze with a quirked brow.

You pulled at the identical chain around your own neck, revealing the other half of the cow pendant.

His grin grew impossibly wider as he tore the necklace out of its confines (which also ended up on the floor) and reached around his neck to clasp the chain in place.

“I love it!” He then took you in his arms once more. “And I love you!”

“I love you, too,” you giggled, pulling him in for a passionate kiss. He tilted his head to deepen the kiss, his hands grasping at your hips while yours locked behind his head. A chorus of noises sounded around you- cheers, coos, grumbles of disgust- but it was all white noise as Hatsuharu held you.

You grinned up at him as he pulled back long enough for you to take a breath. “Happy birthday, babe.”

#hatsuharu sohma #hatsuharu sohma x reader #fruits basket #fruits basket x reader #reader insert #female reader #hatsuharu x reader #soulmate au

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weirdplutoprince · 2 years

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One thing I find very amusing about fruits basket is that although we very often comment on how Kyo and Tohru are like, deconstructions of some classic shoujo archetypes ( the gentle girl, the tsundere boy) i dont see the fact yuki is also a big subversion of the ‘charming prince’ type being discussed as much? Like, really think of it for a moment.

The guy starts off as like, the sparkly, polite school prince type and everyone wants to know him carnally. He’s flirty, sweet and seems to be somewhat pursuing Tohru from the start. He’s also got this weird fanclub, also pretty common for the archetype, very jokey but ‘normal’. And then he’s got this vulnerable, lonely side which is sold as ‘unexpected’ but its still fairly predictable for this sort of character, cool. Great. So you have all this, and you probably start thinking this is more or less we’ll get from him during the manga but like NOPE. This is the fucking tip of the yuki iceberg and hes actually so much more WEIRD. Because the more you find out about his character origins and his backstory, the more it recontextualizes his behaviour in a tragic but also incredibly funny way LIKE

He is the early 2000′s japanese equivalent of a sickly victorian girl, if she were raised in a cult, and also happened to be possessed by the spirit of a mouse. Literally every fricking yuki fact sounds insane. Like, yes growing up sheltered is expected, but not in the hyper specifc scenario of being sold to the main branch of your evil cult family clan, and being assigned playmate of the worlds most evil 12 years old. Yes he had mysterious respiratory diseases. Yes he was plagued by visions of death. Yes, his most consistent childhood friends were two of his fucked up cursed cousins - ONE WHO DID NOT EVEN LIKE HIM. And then you’re like, ok, that’s a lot, but im sure that can recouncile with the Yuki we know today- NO!! There’s more!!

Because before you can make sense of that, theres also the overwhelming evidence that his way of coping with this was not only moving in with his unreliable straight cousin, but also mimicking his self centered social butterfly older brother for everything!! Think of it!! Where did he learn to put up that princely act!! Who could he have possibly gotten it from!! This mf lived half of his life surrounded by socially inept children and evil old ladies!! It has to be Ayame!! So you’re looking at little yuki, getting his first fricking chance in the real world and literally his first thought is I Need To Be Liked and his only parameter for that is his self centered evil older brother!! So this little guy whose literally only friends are his mentally scarred distant cousins tries to put up a persona which he thinks will make him likeable, and accidentaly speedruns his way to the top of the school’s social pyramid!! Fuck!! He doesn’t know what he’s doing!!

So by the time he actually meets Tohru he’s so deep into this shit he literally has no paramater of how to interact with her outside of either his sickly victorian girl self, or the toned down version of Ayame he constructed for his outside world life!! And this is incredibly funny and tragic because he’s literally friends with her for month before his mind starts going like ‘I feel some form of affection for this girl who moved into my house.’ and it IMMEDIATELY jumps to I MUST BE DESPERATELY IN LOVE WITH HER. So he plays the fucking part!! SDUHFSFD Every time Yuki flirts with Tohru before the mommy confession is literally just his brain going ‘ i care her’ but having no other way to express it other than court her like a fucking shoujo character. Yes, it’s sad compulsive heterosexuality and pretty tragic when put into context, but it’s also hilarious!! dhufshudf Little boy makes one female friend and is so unequipped to deal with it he fucking roleplays being in love with her.

so yeah just *sighs dreamingly* yuki, man...

#falando #fruits basket #yuki sohma #sohma yuki #fruits basket spoilers #furuba spoilers #fruits basket 2019 #i love him hes so sweet and funny #but this part of him is absurdly funny #yuki like yes im in love with honda son literally its so obvious i like...care about her wellbeing and enjoy her company.#thats literally being in love right #RIGHT??#long post #analise #analysis

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ohshcscenerios · 3 years

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1. Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun

Chiyo Sakura tries to confess her love for schoolmate Umetarou Nozaki but his obliviousness mistakes her for a fan of his shoujo manga and he gives her an autographed photo instead. When she clarifies that she wants to be closer to him she finds herself in his apartment drawing for his manga. In this goofball anime Sakura joins his mangaka team while still trying to help him realize her feelings.

2. My Love Story

Takeo Gōda is tall, strong, intimidating, and a hopeless romantic. He wants to find love but every girl he likes has a crush on his popular best friend, Makoto Sunakawa, instead. That is until he meets Rinko Yamato in the spring. This classic romance anime follows two high school students as they fall in love, even when it's inconvenient for others.

3. Kiss Him, Not Me

Kae Serinuma, a female otaku who favors yaoi relationships, locks herself in her room after one of her favorite characters was killed off. When she eventually comes out she realizes she lost a lot of weight and has gained the interest of four attractive boys at her high school. While they fight for her affections Kae secretly hopes they will fall in love with each other instead.

4. Yona of the Dawn

In this action packed anime, Yona is forced from her kingdom when her cousin betrays the throne and kills her father. As the last and only heir of the Sky Tribe she needs to convince the legendary dragon warriors to fight beside her as she reclaims her country. Adventure and romance awaits this red-haired naïve spoiled princess as she follows mystical myth in hopes to save herself and her country.

5. Fruits Basket

Tohru Honda, an orphaned high school girl living in a tent, stumbles upon the Soma home on her way to school. After accidentally hugging Kyo Soma she realizes they are a cursed family, possessed by the Chinese animal zodiacs. In exchange for her secrecy she is allowed to stay with the Soma family where she slowly learns more about the family and the true darkness of their curse.

6. Kamigami no Asobi

Yui Kusanagi, the daughter of a Shinto shrine, is transported to the world of Greek gods after discovering a magical sword. Zeus invites her to attend a high school he specifically created for a troupe of troublesome gods who have no sympathy for humanity. Her job as a human is to help them learn how to love so they can strengthen the bond between gods and humans again.

7. Kakuriyo, Bed and Breakfast for Spirits

Aoi Tsubaki, a young college student, possesses the special gift of seeing ayakashi. One day on her way to class she passes a hungry ogre god and she gives him her lunch box. When she finds her empty lunch box the next day she is transported to the world of ayakashi where she learns she must marry Ōdanna, the ogre god she fed, as collateral for her grandpa's debt. In this mythical anime Aoi must try to pay back her grandpa's debt without marrying - or falling in love - with Ōdanna.

8. Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War

In this battle of wits anime, senior student council president and vice president, Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya, are too proud to confess their love for each other. They try to scheme ways to make the other confess first however both being geniuses they continue to outsmart the other and foil each other's plans.

#anime recommendation #ouran high school host club #monthly girls' nozaki kun #my love story!#kiss him not me #yona of the dawn #fruits basket #Kamigami no Asobi #kakuriyo bed and breakfast for spirits #kaguya sama: love is war #reverse harem

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kon-nemurenai · 3 years

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Two friends and maybe...lovers?

Warnings: trio, mentions of underage sex.

The first time (Y/n) meet Haru and Rin was... a bit weird.

She was shy and longed for friends but scared everyone due her pitch black eyes.

(Y/n) is the daughter of Sohmas who knew the secret of the zodiac curse. She was searching for her cousin when she found them.

(Y/n) found Haru and Rin kissing passionately.

(Y/n) was a blushing mess.

When they noticed her staring at them they panicked.

But with lots of stuttering she swore to never tell anyone else about them.

Since then, neither Rin nor Haru leaves her side.

Haru was sweet, Rin was shy but cute.

Rin talks to (Y/n) using “kimi” instead of “omae” like with the others.

Haru often gifts (Y/n) flowers.

(Y/n) was happy for having two new friends.

The rest of the household still hold a fear towards her, making her sad.

But if someone stared way too long towards (Y/n), Haru would turn Black and Rin would glare with bloodlust.

Rin and Hatsuharu fell in love with her way of always falling yet always rising.

With the time, Rin and Haru decided to include (Y/n) into their relationship.

Now it was harder to hide their relationship due Akito, but they’d take the risk.

Since the pair has been sexually active since so young, they include (Y/n) in their activities.

(Y/n) never expected her first time to being taken by both male and female.

It was a bit difficult due Haru’s curse, but they somehow managed.

(Y/n) didn’t knew whether to feel good for having two lovers or guilty for how good sex was.

Rin and Haru can no longer live without (Y/n).

Haru and (Y/n) attended the same school, so Haru always flirts with her in front everyone.

(Y/n) loved Tohru’s kindness, she was like her mom.

When Rin fell from the second floor, things got complicated.

She broke up with Haru and (Y/n), it was enough that Akito knew about her with Haru, if Akito founds out about their relationship with (Y/n), Rin may die.

Taking courage, (Y/n) did her best to help Tohru and Rin to break the curse and confront Akito.

(Y/n)’s willing to sacrifice her happiness for others.

After the curse broke, Rin and Haru got happy and (Y/n) cried of joy.

Of course, Haru and Rin now have the opportunity to experiment new things during sex with (Y/n), poor (Y/n). ( ꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)

#fruits basket #fruits basket x reader #isuzu sohma #hatsuharu sohma #hatsuharu x rin

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medea10 · 2 years

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My Review of The Pet Girl of Sakurasou

How did I get into this anime? Um…good question. I’m not entirely sure how this one ended up on my list other than it was licensed by Sentai Filmworks.

Sorata Kanda is a student at Suimei High School, a school notorious for its classes in the art field. Sorata finds himself in a bit of trouble when it was noticed that he tries to take in stray cats. The school put their foot down and threw Sorata in the trouble-maker dorm, also known as “Sakura Hall”. The residents are all…I think quirky is the best way to describe them. There’s an energetic animator and goofball (Misaki), a guy into doing playwright and doing women (Jin), a shut-in that’s good with programming (Ryuunosuke), and a promiscuous art teacher/dorm mistress (Chihiro).

What was Sorata’s problem again? He would take in stray cats!

Never mind, I would probably end up there too. And not just for taking in stray cats either.

The dorm mistress Chihiro asks Sorata to pick up her cousin coming in from Europe. She’s going to transfer to the school and is going to stay at Sakura Hall. Mashiro Shiina looks normal and seems kinda aloof. I wonder why she would be in the dorm with the crazy people. Your questions are answered in episode 2. Mashiro is a genius in the art world, but her social skills are lacking. And saying she’s aloof is an understatement! The girl doesn’t even know how to put on clothes or do basic things in order to survive. Not to mention all the literal things she says without knowing what she’s saying.

Let’s just say Sorata gets a heavy-load of misunderstandings when watching over this weird girl in Sakura Hall.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Whenever Sentai or FUNimation is in need of a voice that calls for a high school lad at half-testicles, you can always count on Greg Ayres to be there. I can’t hate on the man, he plays a bunch of funny lads with that distinct voice of his. I know some people find it annoying, but I’m cool with it. Probably because I didn’t complain when he played that butt-monkey on Clannad! Moving on, this anime has just about everyone you would think would be in the dub of a Sentai licensed anime. Luci Christian, John Swasey, Hillary Haag, Kira Vincent-Davis, Shelly Calene-Black, and so many other veterans. I’m also excited to officially hear Natalie Rial in an anime. She is the sister to voice Jesus, Monica Rial.

Now there was one character that felt off hearing from and that was Ryunnosuke. Mostly the big difference between the English and Japanese! Let’s just say that when I heard Blake Shepard’s voice come out, it felt weird. Up until he appeared, I thought Ryunnosuke was a female. Especially when I read prior to his appearance that Yui Horie voiced him. So I almost took a spit-take first hearing the dub. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Sorata is played by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (known for Soma on Food Wars, Inosuke on Demon Slayer, Kirito on SAO, Helios on Sailor Moon Eternal, Petelgeuse on Re:Zero, Yona on Fire Force, and Freed on High School DxD

*Nanami is played by Mari Nakatsu

*Mashiro is played by Ai Kayano (known for Darkness on Konosuba, Alice on SAO: Alicization, Kanae on Demon Slayer, Mayaka on Hyouka, Ryouko on Food Wars, Itsuwa on Index, and Yukika on Ore Monogatari)

*Misaki is played by Natsumi Takamori (known for Mei on Another, Tiaplate on Interspecies Reviewers, Hibana on Deadman Wonderland, Souna on High School DxD, and Saitou on Rozen Maiden: Zurückspulen)

*Jin is played by Takahiro Sakurai (known for Suzaku on Code Geass, Licht on Black Clover, Oshino on Monogatari, Ayame on Fruits Basket 2019, Sting on Fairy Tail, Griffith on Berserk 2016, and Osomatsu in Mr. Osomatsu)

*Ryuunosuke is played by Yui Horie (known for Hanyuu on Higurashi, Tohru on Fruits Basket, Hanekawa on Monogatari, Minori on Toradora, Felix on Re:Zero, Charla on Fairy Tail, and Maria on Umineko)

ENGLISH CAST: *Sorata is played by Greg Ayres (known for Kaoru on Ouran HSHC, Nagisa on Free!, Sunohara on Clannad, Monokuma on Danganronpa, Izumi on Love Stage, Ayato on Angel Beats, Chrono on Chrono Crusade, and Isshiki on Chunibyo)

*Nanami is played by Christina Kelly (known for Alice on Food Wars, Sophia on Chunibyo, and Kouko on Golden Time)

*Mashiro is played by Caitlynn French (known for Mio on Little Busters, Shiro on No Game No Life, Matsurika on Maria Holic, and Kanna on Tamako Market)

*Misaki is played by Luci Christian (known for Wrath & Truth on FMA, Medusa on Soul Eater, Uraraka on My Hero Academia, Nagisa on Clannad, Yukari on Azumanga Daioh, Nami on One Piece, and Hiro on Fruits Basket 2019)

*Jin is played by Scott Gibbs (known for Satoshi on Food Wars, Sora on No Game No Life, and Mitsuo on Parasyte)

*Ryuunosuke is played by Blake Shepard (known for Soma on Food Wars, Otonashi on Angel Beats, Shoma on Penguindrum, Kyousuke on Little Busters, Natsume on Inu x Boku SS, and Laito on Diabolik Lovers)

SHIPPING: Okay, let’s go crazy!

*Sorata x Mashiro: Everything here is just piles upon piles of misunderstandings. Mashiro says a lot of things that have double meanings. She doesn’t intend to do it, she’s just aloof and only pays attention to her art. It wasn’t until the halfway mark of the series when Mashiro feels something she’s never felt before. Prior to this, she only focused on her art and literally nothing else. Now, she wants to try new things for Sorata’s sake. And then she learned about jealousy as she acted on impulse a couple of times due to Sorata paying a little more attention to Nanami. Thankfully, the jealousy never really blew up to proportions that involve cat fights. Just her running away at an important time! You know, that kind of drama.

*Sorata x Nanami: Nanami has a crush on Sorata. It’s been visible from space since episode one. So what do you think is going to happen when someone like Mashiro shows up and says weird shit about sleeping with Sorata, going to a love hotel with Sorata, and Sorata, please do my laundry?! Jealousy’s gonna hit! At the school festival, Nanami got a confession and it was NOT from Sorata like she wanted. It was from her and Sorata’s classmate whom I can’t remember or bother remembering anything about him. And of course Nanami doesn’t want this. Now I do give Nanami credit here as she doesn’t try to delve a wedge between Sorata and Mashiro because she’s the one with the bigger and longer crush. But Nanami’s confession kinda comes out in her creative ways like in her voice over practice.

*Jin x Misaki: So at the beginning, I didn’t know where this was going to go. It was proven that Misaki likes Jin early on. But who the hell knew if this was going to be legit canon? Jin was a playboy and Misaki is eccentrically nuts. However, there were moments sprinkled throughout the series where Misaki would do insane things to get Jin’s attention. We just didn’t know if she was for sure serious about Jin or just messing with him. But then we learn that Jin actually dated Misaki’s older sister once upon a time and this really strikes at Misaki. Once she saw Jin and Fuuka together after so long, Misaki felt more determined to win Jin’s heart by any means necessary. Turns out the two truly love each other, but worry about the other due to things out of their control.

*Ryuunosuke x Rita: We finally met the shut-in, computer programmer face-to-face during the midway point. He only comes out of hiding when he needs to show up to school for important tasks like exams. Sucks for Ryuunosuke because when he emerged after a long time being holed up, Mashiro’s friend from England, Rita came for a visit! Besides wanting to take Mashiro back home with her, she inadvertently falls for Ryuunosuke. Yes, about that! Ryuunosuke hates females. He did not care for that kiss Rita gave him. Or any kiss for that matter!

ENDING: The fun nears its end! The students of Sakura Hall got some pretty grim news. Their dorms are to be torn down effective immediately. Sorata is of course disgusted that the school is going to do it. After all this time he’s spent at the dorms, he’s felt a connection there and with all his friends. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much defense to go on with this. The building is pretty run down and the school usually just sent troublemakers to live there. Misaki and Jin are like days away from graduating so they would be moving away anyways. And Nanami is probably going to be leaving, either for a job or because of her parents.

But then we learn that the school pushed up demolition plans because of Mashiro. Because of Mashiro’s (good) reputation, the school felt as though the dorm has become a hinderance on her art work and wants to do away with the distraction. Sorata was determined to keep both Sakura Hall and Mashiro, but he does end up getting a pile-up in his life during this time. To tell the truth, nearly everybody had a lot of baggage to deal with besides the demolition of their dorm. Nanami ended up failing her audition for this voice actress opportunity and was at a crossroads with a future career and what her parents want. Misaki and Jin are about to deal with a long-distance relationship as Jin is going to college in a different city. And Sorata is dealing with the stresses of getting a game idea accepted.

Sorata took on more when he decided to help his friends try to petition the tearing down of Sakura Hall. Unfortunately, they were unable to get the amount of signatures needed to overturn the school’s decision. On top of that, Sorata got a rejection for his game and took his anger and frustration out on Mashiro. Mashiro thought that if she left, Sakura Hall would be left alone. Thankfully, Sorata and Nanami were able to stop Mashiro before she could hop a train and plane out of Japan. And we do get a touching moment between Sorata and Nanami without the use of jealousy or confessions of love. Just in time, the kids were able to make it to Jin and Misaki’s graduation.

At the graduation, Misaki kinda commandeered the student council president’s speech to the graduating class to her own plan. In the speech, Misaki explained her time at Sakura Hall as the time of her life and pleaded with everyone to oppose the school’s decision to demolish it. With so many students opposing the principal and bringing a lot out in the open, Sakura Hall is saved. Now is the time for many of these kids to go their separate ways. Nanami is going home and whether or not she returns is up to her father (spoiler alert: she stays). Jin and Misaki are going to college, but Jin is going away while Misaki stays in town (best of all they’re engaged and will be wed once they both graduate). And Ryuunosuke is going to do what he does best and if we see him again, we see him again.

With Sorata and Mashiro alone for the moment, they reflect on their first meeting and Sorata gets a kiss on the cheek.

The new school year brings three new students to Sakura Hall; a pervert, an extreme introvert, and Sorata’s baby sister. Turns out she really passed her entrance exam several episodes prior! And Misaki ended up buying the house next door from Sakura Hall! Sorata decided to keep some traditions alive with the new housemates by having a hot-pot celebration, a wild greeting, and a few cats hanging around.

This was pretty nice. I didn’t know what I was expecting when I started watching this. I initially put it on my randomizer list because this was one of the few animes licensed by Sentai with a very decent score. I do wonder if the story continues in manga form. And if so, is there any more progression between Sorata and either Nanami or Mashiro? I’m not mentioning Sorata’s little sister here because, come on man, that’s just nasty! Is there any necessary thing to mention about the new students or were they just added at the end just for hahas? I doubt if anything else will come of this anime as it has almost been a full decade since its airing.

But yeah, cute story. Nothing more I really want to say. If you want to watch this anime, it’s only available to watch on Hi-dive.

Now then, let’s watch something a little more near and dear to my heart besides high school romance in art class.

GAMBLING AND CRAZY BITCHES TIME!

#anime review #the pet girl of sakurasou #mashiro shiina #nanami aoyama #sorata kanda #ryuunnosuke akasaka #misaki kamiigusa #jin mitaka #rita ainsworth

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animefeminist · 3 years

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Honda Tohru and the Strength of Nurturing

Spoilers for Fruits Basket

Back in the ‘00s, in their quest for more gender non-conforming, strong female characters, much of fandom pushed aside heroines who they deemed to be too “girly”. Female characters who put their energy into caring for others, rather than standing up and fighting, were dismissed as passive doormats who exist only for the male cast’s development. One such character was Tohru Honda, the heroine of the classic shoujo manga and anime Fruits Basket. The first part of the remake has made it abundantly clear that Tohru is plenty strong; however, since her strength comes in the form of traditionally feminine roles such as nurturing and protecting those dear to her, audiences tend to disregard her strength because of how these roles are devalued.

Fruits Baskets’ set up does resemble that of a typical reverse harem. Tohru Honda has been living alone in a tent after her mother dies, and finds she’s unwittingly been trespassing on the property of her classmate Yuki Sohma and his cousin. Rather than kicking her to the curb, the Sohmas invite her to live with them, offering her free room and board in exchange for her cooking and cleaning for them. Not long after moving in, she discovers that members of the Sohma family, including her new housemates, are cursed to turn into animals of the Chinese zodiac when embraced by members of other sexes. One by one, she meets and bonds with the mostly-male zodiac members.

The misreading of Tohru as a doormat comes from a combination of genre awareness and gendered expectations. The main characters of so-called “reverse harems”, in which a female protagonist is surrounded by handsome male suitors, tend to be passive and accept whatever abuse comes their way, while the male characters are more active and drive the storyline. Compared to the fantastical and allegorical circumstances of the Sohmas, Tohru’s own situation – recently orphaned and homeless because of her self-sacrificing nature – seems positively prosaic by comparison. The true nature of her strength only becomes clear after pulling back that top layer of expectations and actively engaging with the material.

Read it at Anime Feminist!

#fruits basket #furuba #fruits basket the final #tohru honda #furuba spoilers #articles

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centrally-unplanned · 3 years

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(Spoilers ahead) Partner and I finished Season 2 of the Fruits Basket modern remake this weekend. I had only seen the, uh, 2001 original anime (2001? It was 20 years ago? Fuck), with no exposure to the manga, so a lot of the plot elements were new to me. I liked a lot of the show, but I have some big complaints about it handles its villain, Akito:

1: Akito occupies a very awkward place in this story. He (don’t worry, ill get to that) is the head of the main crew’s family and constantly inflicts abuse on all of its members, and is therefore the source of conflict for the plot, both in past trauma and present attempts as control and gaslighting.

Okay, so stories often have to walk a tightrope with abusive characters like this. Stories are normally pushed along and resolved internally - the main cast is going to experience the pain and drama, and fix it themselves, because that is the arc. For many plots that is easy, but if the story revolves around an abusive sibling/parent figure like Fruits Basket does, you will always be asking yourself the question “uh, why doesn’t anyone call the cops? or why don’t they just leave?” There is a tension between realism in the setting and the needs of the plot.

You can in fact resolve this tension in a lot of ways. If the abuse is primarily mental, slowly building, inflicted out of sight of responsible parties, etc, you can make this work. Lots of people don’t report abuse to authorities, or just move out of their house, but instead deal with it due to it being normalized. Other ways include making the characters teenagers - they don’t think of the world as having authorities outside of family (or school) and its much harder for them to reach outside of that bubble - the classic highschool bully problem. So Akito can work if he is subtle, slowly ramps, and controls his surroundings to hide his abuse from relevant authorities.

Anyway here is Akito pushing a 17 year old girl out of a two story window shattering her back and hospitalizing her for months:

And here he is threatening a 17 year old boy with life confinement in a literal cage unless he, uh, wins a duel with his cousin?

These are the worst moments but they are far from alone. This person is a raving lunatic, which fair enough that the 17 year olds don’t know how to handle that, but Akito himself is no older than 20. And the cast of characters who know everything that is going on includes:

-27 year old *published author* Shigure, who directly cares for both Akito and two of his abuse victims

-27 year old completely-independent business owner, Ayame, who is the *brother* of one of the abuse victims

-27 year old licensed medical doctor Hatori, who lives with and is the physician of Akito.

Hatori is violating every ethical obligation of his profession on the daily, dude is stone cold! This again could work if these characters were bad guys, but they aren’t - they are sympathetic protagonists or in Aya’s case even comic relief! The show wants you to think they are doing their best, Shigure even has a secret “plan” to deal with Akito that he has been planning for *years* and they all have "reasons” why they feel stuck due to the Zodiac curse yadda yadda. But you have to memory hole the fact that they are functioning adults in 21st century Japan, because otherwise Shigure and Hatori in particular reach levels of negligence to the children they care for that it tips right on over into being evil itself.

These kids go to public school, guys!

Now I know what any defender would say - “its the curse!” The whole cast carries the curse of the Zodiac where God invited them in long-ago times to a dinner, Akito is the current manifestation of that God in some form, and so they are bound to him to enact that “dinner” metaphorically in some way by staying by his side (also they transform into their respective Zodiac animals when chest-on-chest contact occur from the opposite sex, because Anime). Again, you can make this work! Show Akito exerting a magical force on characters who stray too far from him, or a compulsion locking them to being forever near the Sohma estate where he lives. Something showing that yeah, the relevant authorities could not handle this and dragging Akito away in chains won’t work. But sadly the show just...doesn’t bother. There is a “curse” but we are two seasons in and any negative consequences of the curse beyond Akito Being An Asshole are Footage Not Found (Kyo is an exception, but not a relevant one), despite everyone pretending like there is. Everyone wants to break the curse? Fine, kill Akito. Then you all get to live in peace and transform into adorable animals when you’d like, curse broken. Just throw “doesn’t cuddle or do missionary position” on your OkCupid profile to make your love life work, no one is gonna bat an eye, and some people will be, lets say, readily down with your particular transformation fetish.

None of this is fatal to the show per se, you can suspend disbelief. But the show takes itself so seriously that you can’t help but think these thoughts, and it colors in particular how the older characters act. And it would be so easy to fix! They just didn’t bother.

2: Can someone explain to me, in the year of our Zodiac Lord 2021, how a character secretly being a girl is a “surprise reveal” worth ending a season on? The final shot of Season 2 is that our resident asshole Akito has some female-presenting nipples, which is apparently a Big Deal? (maybe the show takes place on Tumblr, *zing*) Its the villain, they are an abusive maniac and also metaphorically/actually a divine being. Why does doubling their X chromosome count affect or change anything? I can envision plots where that is relevant, but this was not one! Maybe the next season will build that into the arc, but they haven’t done that yet, so the moment itself falls incredibly flat.

Yet people obviously feel differently from me - as is my habit I checked the reddit threads for the final episode and they are replete with people commenting on how shocking a twist it was, how they looked forward to it as manga readers, etc. Its a classic suspense trick I think, of how you can just have an event be surprising without it being thematically relevant, and it will work as long as you add the right drama bells around it. This was just a pretty egregious example of it.

-----

Between these problems, Fruits Basket has this aura of laziness around its none-core characters that does drag it down. Which is sad since I do actually like how it treats its core cast, even if it is stretched out over twice as many episodes as it needs. I am just guessing here, but beyond just “not caring” and doing it for the drama, I think it stems out of adapting the manga “faithfully”.

So Fruits Basket got an anime adaption in 2001, and the author (Natsuki Tayaka) haaaaated it. It was only twenty six episodes, a ~third of which got consumed just introducing the zodiac cast, so its plot had to be mixed around and truncated, and it was much more comedic and zany in tone. It was still very popular, so demand for a “better” adaptation of the full manga was high, which eventually happened in 2019. This time around Tayaka insisted on a high degree of control and faithfulness - I would bet it was essentially a “shot for shot” adaptation, and I have seen manga/anime comparison compilations to that effect.

The problem lies in how manga are made - they are almost never planned out start to finish. You pitch like a chapter, it gets picked up, and then its being published in tandem to its own production. That means that its pretty rare for the ending to be thought out, and the story figures itself out as it goes. Early manga Fruits Basket is pretty zany! Which means it plays fast and loose with its worldbuilding and its adult characters act silly most of the time. Once the high drama kicks in you realize that doesn’t work anymore, but you have already published it all months ago, no way to revise it now, so you just have to bite the bullet.

An anime adaptation would be a good time to clean that up! Its what Kare Kano did - a manga that starts as a cute highschool romcom and ends in sexual assault, for the anime they tried to create tonal consistency right from the start and change plot details around accordingly. But when the author, burned by a past studio, insists on Complete Accuracy...well then the anime has to bite the same bullets the manga did. And so you get Fruits Basket (2019), a show destined to never rise above its source material.

But hey, if Season 3 ends with Tohru just whipping out a gun, shooting Akito right between the eyes, and walking off into the sunset with a harem of zodiac hotties, then all will be forgiven.

#fruits basket #Fruits basket spoilers #Does a 2001 anime qualify as '90's anime discourse'?

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jojiship · 3 years

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Fruits Basket Season 1 Reviews

I just want to start this review by saying that this is a very subjective review of the season. This is my personal opinion about the show and I hope whoever reads it enjoys it.

The Story

The whole Sohmas being possessed by Chinese Zodiac animals main plotline is interesting and intriguing. I liked the idea of it from the beginning and honestly, it just kept getting better with each passing episode. As someone who grew up in the Balkans, I have little knowledge about the Chinese Zodiac. I’ve known for years that I was born in the year of the Rabbit, but I was always more interested in my other zodiac sign (I’m a Sagittarius). Either way, I’m enjoying the plotline and it was clear by the end of the season, that’s only to get better from now on.

As for the Sohma family, they’re messed up, to say the least. Of course, I enjoyed it and I want to see more of this family dynamic in the next season. I’m really curious to see more of Akito and his relationship with the family, specifically Yuki. What really bothers me is the whole incestuous feeling I get from the family. Kagura’s crush on Kyo made me cringe so bad, but not only because of the incest, the girl clearly doesn’t know a thing about boundaries. Other than the incest, I loved it.

The Characters

Tohru: I loved Tohru. It’s refreshing to see the main character that is so bubbly, loving, caring and optimistic. Her backstory was somehow heartbreaking and heartwarming to see at the same time. It’s always good to see characters have good relationships with their parents, especially girls with their moms. The girl is trying her best and she deserves the world with what she’s been going through. My only drawback with her is that she doesn’t seem to have flaws. I get that where her character comes and why she is such a good person (I love that of her) but honestly, it gets a bit repetitive to watch. If it continued to be like this, I think the refreshment I feel from her character would vanish and I will start seeing her as boring.

Yuki: I enjoyed his character a lot. I loved the whole ‘Prince Charming’ thing he has going on. I’m a sucker for characters who are idealized by their peers to the point that they play that part to hide their true self (I literally wrote a character similar to Yuki). He had character progression as the season went on as he started to open up to people, let himself laugh and generally enjoy his life. I’m interested to see his relationship with Akito and what exactly happened to him those years. Akito (he can fight me) abused him during his childhood and most of his issues stem from that. Hopefully, in season two, I’ll get to see more of this.

Kyo: The star of the season. There is no doubt in my mind that he’s my favourite character so far. From the beginning when he was revealed to be the cat of the Zodiac, I knew that I would be interested in his story. An outsider story is something that I always gravitate towards to and his story got me hooked. Did I expect him to have a true form? No. Did I love it? Absolutely. It was obvious that he was keeping a big secret from Tohru, but man, I didn’t expect that. I gasped when he turned to his true form. I loved the scene where Tohru admitted that she is scared by his true form, but still, wanted to be by his side. The best scene of the season and I’m looking forward to seeing how this storyline progresses. Also, his backstory made me sad and I want to hug Kazuma for taking care of him.

As for the love triangle, I want to say that it’s written very well. The season has ended and I still don’t know if I’m team Yuki or Kyo. Usually, with love triangles, I immediately take a side and I’m annoyed for the rest of the way. However, with these three, I’m curious to see where it goes. What helps is that the love triangle is the main plotline of the show.

Shigure: I desperately want to know more about him. He gives me ‘morally ambiguous’ vibes. I want to see what his goal is and why is he using Tohru to achieve it. There were a few hints here and there, but I want to know more. I want to know all of it. I’m also interested to know more about his relationship with Akito because I’m sure in one episode he said that Akito reaped what he sowed while on the other, he said that he’s doing everything forhim. I have no idea where his intention lies when it comes to Akito. I don’t even know if he’s using Tohru for the ‘greater good’ or for a horrible end-goal.

Hatori: Man, Hatori took me off guard from his first appearance, personality and backstory. First, he was a very attractive man. I do tend to have a thing for dark-haired male characters and Hatori was no exception. However, that’s not the most interesting part of him. At first, he appeared stoic, serious and cold and unsurprisingly, we saw that he was a very kind and gentle person. His insistence that the Zodiacs shouldn’t be loved or love anyone, was upsetting to see. He just seemed like he had totally given up on living for himself and is just living for others. It’s explained beautifully through his relationship with Kana and its abrupt end. Btw, fuck Akito for doing what he did.

Akito: This asshole... For most of the season, he was a looming presence, yet you could feel that he wasn’t a good presence for any of the Sohmas. It seemed like most of them had their grievances with her for good reasons. What he did to Yuki, Hatori and Kisa was horrible. You could see the trauma that he caused Yuki by just that scene between them. He was terrified by Akito and it’s not surprising from the short flashbacks we’ve got. Can’t wait to learn more about him and for some sweet karma to hit him on the face.

I’m went into more detail about the characters I found the most interesting in this story. Of course, I liked a lot of them like Mumiji (he’s my Zodiac). He was such a fun character and his relationship with his family was heart-wrenching to see. I was tearing up alongside Tohru. Hatsu was fine, nothing special. Uo and Hana were lovely and rich characters, both of their backstories were pleasant to me. Their friendship with Tohru is precious. Honestly, I didn’t like Kagura. I’ve grown tired of violent female characters who know no boundaries and I quickly grew tired of her. I’m sure I would like her way more if she stops having a crush on Kyo. Kisa and Hiro were cute characters as well. (again, it’s so weird that he loves her. They are cousins). Ayame was hilarious to watch and I can’t wait to find out more about Ritsu.

Season 2

I can’t wait to start the second season tomorrow. I urgently need to know more about the Zodiac and the Sohma family dynamic. I desperately want to know Shigure’s true intention, Yuki’s relationship with Akito and to find out how this family got cursed in the first place. I can’t wait to properly meet Rin (As a big fan of Rin Tohsaka, I can’t wait to get to know this Rin as well). Maybe this season I will pick a team when it comes to the love triangle.

Average Score: 8.5

#fruits basket #tohru honda #yuki sohma #kyo sohma #shigure sohma #akito sohma #hatori sohma #mumiji sohma #hatsuharu sohma #arisa uotani #saki hanajima #kisa sohma #hiro sohma #ayame sohma #ritsu sohma #rin sohma

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papers4me · 4 years

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Tohru's development is delayed for structural reasons relating to both the plot and other characters. It's not an 'anime' thing so much as a 'theme' thing. It's hard to describe without spoiling but I think it makes sense in the grand scheme of things even though I understand it may not be entirely satisfying.

That’s exactly what I’m trying to say! Thank you for putting it in eloquent words! lol. It’s hella unsatisfying for me. lol. Mainly because I have never seen a female character as unique as tohru. If you ever read my ep 1 review, you’ll notice I called tohru (bland/ kind girl save boy) character & it was yuki who I thought was the only deep main character. Ep, 5 taught me better. It introduced me to the world of a balanced female character (or so I thought at the time).

When it comes to anime/manga in general, female characters tend to fall into two largely loose categories for most of the time. (a) kind orphan feminine girl who fixes the world/boys around her with her smile & clumsy side, prince charming comes to sweep her off her feet (which is not bad but for me meh~). (b) powerful badass independent female protagonist who needs nobody & is perfect & cool & also fixes the world (which is good but it got too saturated in stories). Then you have tohru! she got the kindness & femininity of group A & the independence & strength in saving others of group B while still being human & in so much need of help as she gives others. Her strength is her weakness (her kindness). She urges the sohma’s to open up & face their fears, while she hides hers & refuses to see them! EPIC! when the princes kyo/yuki came to her rescue in ep, 5, they couldn’t do anything until tohru rescued herself by opening up & articulated her fears & needs. “i wanna go home”, enter the boys with their “ok, let’s go home, then”“. Had she not spoken, she would’ve stayed there with the despicable cousins. It was an empowering moment. I saw tohru as a character with real struggle, not the the sohma’s savior.

When she was ignored for the entirety of season 1, I understood it was for structural reasons relating to both the plot & character introductions. Soup ep, came to further solidify how human she is, but afterwards she wears her saving sohma’s cape again & was pushed back again for structural reasons relating to both the plot & other characters. Her time will come, I know, 100% sure of it. but perhaps It’s me who got things wrong, that’s why I’m disappointed, perhaps my fascination with her character is unrelated to the story/its themes & is only my own personal desire. perhaps tohru is indeed the sohma savior first & foremost. That’s her purpose in the story & a bit of inner struggle here & there is needed to strengthen her character, that’s why it doesn’t matter much if it’s pushed as late as the plot structure/story theme needs her to be.

Nevertheless, I’ll still love tohru as my fave furuba character for personal reasons regardless of her relation to the plot. She might not turn out to be the best female character I initially thought her to be, but it’s all good. She doesn’t need to be. She’s just tohru & as long as furuba’s plot turns out well & the sohma’s are saved. It’s all good.

Thank you for the ask & your eloquent words. It made me think of ep.5. one of my fave eps!

#Fruits Basket #Tohru Honda #Anime Only #asks #responding paper #anonymous friends #eloquent ppl

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guerilla935 · 4 years

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Review: Persona 4 Golden

On July 10th in 2008 North American audiences came in contact with Persona 4 on the PlayStation 2. After the success of Persona 3 it sold an easy 193,000 copies in its first week. This game is undoubtedly up with Final Fantasy X and Dragon Quest VIII as one of the best RPG’s on the PlayStation 2. Then on June 14th of 2012 on the PS Vita, Atlus releases Persona 4 Golden, a definitive version of Persona 4 that boasts two new social links, new difficulty levels, new music, improved voice acting, new cutscenes, more persona, new events and areas, motor scooters, the SOS Vox Populi system, trophy support, improved skill inheritance, and a new epilogue and ending. So if you were to play this game then obviously you would play this one. The disadvantage being that you probably don’t own a PS Vita and buying the system and the game will run you about $360 USD new and $160 USD used. The following is why this game is easily worth paying either of these costs.

Like A Dream Come True

Persona 4 is set in the rural town of Inaba located in the Japanese countryside. As the anime protagonist you play as a city boy staying with his detective uncle and kid cousin in this town while attending school, keeping up a social life, and solving a supernatural serial murder case. Inaba is not large, it is maybe 5 or 6 segmented open world areas that open at various times of the day. But each area is lit up with Shoji Meguro’s soundtrack, an epic rock and J-Pop composition, and is populated with familiar faces and beautiful 3D backdrops that bring the small town alive. The ambient air of Inaba bleeds its small town aesthetic and creates a believable home for you for the one in-game year that you are visiting. From every time you hear small town gossip and drama to having to avoid people that you know or make plans with unexpected acquaintances you are always engaged in the town and its inhabitants. The upbeat music and gorgeous anime visuals blend to make a 2008 small video game town feel more alive and natural than most 2019 open world action epics.

I’ll Face Myself

The Persona 4 formula creates a fool proof way to make sure that the player gets emotionally connected to each and every character with enough development to keep you coming back to play the game way more than once. The main story allows you to peer into the teens brains and see vivid and sometimes even frightening representations of their inner struggles. It takes incredibly personal topics like gender identity, society imposed masculinity, female objectivity, and narcissism and lets you cut through it with a huge katana and then validates the feelings. The life that is breathed through each of persona 4′s characters is overwhelming at times and you are always completely engaged in the story because of it. This isn’t just true of the main cast but also of every side character. Throughout your year you’ll meet a gritty detective hell bent on solving a hit and run that killed his wife, a basketball player afraid of losing his family, a rich and pretty girl who uses an ugly personality to mask her fears, and a flirtatious nurse whose loneliness and depression broke her passion. This isn’t even half of them and they are all incredibly gripping stories to attach yourself to. If Persona 4 had one big selling point it would be the individual character development, where the main story stops and starts again at the end of every month the individual characters stories constantly keep you coming back for more. The Persona series is known for its relatable and likeable characters but I fully believe that Persona 4 does this the best. In Persona 3 you see a more niche theme that is more geared toward loss and Persona 5 is very youth centered with a very strong cast, but Persona 4 has the widest range of its cast and the strongest appeal that I doubt we’ll see from the series again. The golden version of Persona 4 adds 2 new characters, original character Marie and fan favorite character Tohru Adachi which are both excellent and add a lot of value to an already stellar crew of characters.

Reach Out To The Truth

The combat in this game is a celebration of the genre, a mash-up of what makes Pokemon, Final Fantasy, and Dragon Quest special. The persona system allows for a full range of customization for the main protagonist. Being able to on the fly change your elemental affinity and move set is a game changer and adds a certain amount of forgiveness for lack of preparation necessary in a game where you might not have another day to go back and change things around. The shadows are all designed in very interesting kind of circus horror type of ways and each is easily identifiable by its visual representation. The dungeons designs become kind of bland after 5-8 floors but thankfully none of them overstay their welcome long enough to be something to make you want a break from the game. The combat follows normal RPG conventions, normal attacks, elemental spells and a few weird ones thrown in there, buffs and heals, its all pretty standard. The set up for combat when all the characters are either surrounding the enemy or are being surrounded doesn’t give you a particular advantage but looks so much better than if they had lined them up for battle like other RPG’s or even against Persona 5 which did away with this feature in favor of the battle line up. This game is before the days of experience sharing so you will have to take multiple trips into dungeons with each of the party members to level them which is something that has kind of been done away with in the past few years and if you are against a grindier experience you could always set the difficulty to the lowest setting (only available in Golden) (This is also how I played my first run of the game) and there is no shame in playing a game on very easy. The addition of new persona in the golden version of Persona 4 will probably go relatively unnoticed by most players just because there are so many in the game already and it doesn’t really give a huge incentive to “catching them all” like a certain other game. You are also not allowed to keep personas past a certain point, you have to fuse or dispose of them in order to catch more so there is no real “getting attached” to them as they come and go so if you were looking for the very popular catch and train method this is not it, you use the persona then throw it in a blender on high till you get something better. And I believe that this approach puts a bigger spotlight on the characters instead of random deities and creatures that don’t add anything to the immediate experience, just the overall mythos and lore of persona which is probably another post in itself. And the characters are where the combat shines, voice lines that don’t become over bearing and cute idle animations with well voiced attack lines give combat a nice touch of personality that feeds into the aesthetic of the rest of the game with its emphasis on its cast.

Verdict

Persona 4 is good by itself but Persona 4 Golden is definitely the way you want to experience this game, I would not even know half of my options for each day without the SOS Vox Populi system. The new events, areas, and characters are just extras but I’m telling you that you SHOULD feel like you are missing out without these. And the new epilogue added is emotional if you’ve never cried after finishing something then you will here. We talk about video games and movies being an escape from real life for some people and Persona 4 not only does that but gives you a home and a life in Inaba that is brief but intimate and rewarding. The 70-90 hours you spend in this game are extremely memorable and unique, if you have the means to play this masterpiece then you are wasting time reading this review when you could be playing Persona 4.

#persona 4 #persona 4 golden #shoji meguro #yaso-inaba #yosuke hanamura #chie satonaka #yukiko amagi #yu narukami #rise kujikawa #kanji tatsumi #naoto shirogane #p4g #p4

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ladyshio · 4 years

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🐉🐗📱

Favorite AU

I haven't read many Furuba AUs honestly. So I have to say the Fruits Basket Chatroom as that is the most AU fic I've read really.

My favorite AU concept is an arranged marriage, enemies to lovers, angst, hurt/comfort epic.

I could see that being a Kyoru fic. Where kyo and Tohru are forced in a political arranged marriage. Tohru secretly resents Kyo because he was the one that commanded an army to the town where she lived and killed her mother, but hides her resentment. Kyo resents Tohru because of course he'd resent the person he is being forced to marry. They are polite to each other but cold to each other. Tohru makes friends in Kyo's family's kingdom, befriending Yuki and at one point wishing she was engaged to him instead of Kyo. Kagura still chases after Kyo and makes plots to get rid of Tohru but after Tohru saves her in a political accident she warms up to her. They even try to make a deal to try to get Tohru out of the marriage. As all of this is going on, kyo and Tohru are forced to get to know each other through various steps in the marriage process. As they go through these trials they slowly start to get to know their real selves. Tohru learns the truth that Kyo actually tried to stop the army from going out that day. Out of spite they gave him the credit but his initial opposition is why he was selected to be the sacraficial prince to marry the princess of another country.

Akito is the current king and is trying to conquer all of the land either through war or through cut throat politics. Tohru and Kyo's arranged marriage was just to let the guards down of her kingdom so they can eventually take over. Akito was secretly raised as a boy as their mother, Ren, would have been a disgraced queen for giving a birth to a female. Much to their dismay once the Akito's father died the thrown didn't go to the queen but their "son". Ren regrets not owning their disgrace and purposely tries to get in the way of Akito's political advances. Including meddling in Kyo and Tohru's arrangement. Shigure is Akito's advisors that accidently discovered their true gender a long time ago unbeknownst to Akito. Shigure just goes along with Akito's plans because they are interesting and enjoys teasing and giving them a hard time. They truly want to take Akito way from the palace so they can live together happily and alone. One thing stands in his way, Akito's secret lover Kureno. Kureno is one of the servants that have been assigned to take care of Akito from a young age. Dressing them, batheing them, following their every whim. He is one of the few people authorized to know Akito is really a woman along with Hatori who is the palaces best doctor (no surprise there). Because Akito has no child, all of their cousins are in line for the throne after them. (Kyo, Yuki, ayame, momiji, Rin, and Kisa)

Ayame is one of the kingdoms best diplomats. He is part of the reason Akito has been able to conquer so much land. Ayame is just utterly convincing and manages to get other countries to hand over their land before they even know what he is talking about. Ayame has no whim to be a ruler himself and enjoys his travels and loves sharing stories. Secretly (not so secretly) his lover is the head maid. There are a lot of rumors circulating about him, including that one. But because there are so many rumors about him no one really knows which ones are true. Not even their brother Yuki knows the truth. Yuki is known for being the princely prince of princes and is the one with the most favor of taking the throne after Akito. Yuki has trained everyday to do so, he feels like a robot that only knows how to be a political prince, and feels very unauthentic. Tohru, his rival's fiance, is the first he feels comfort showing his true self to (though the first time was completely by accident). He considers her his first true friend. When he isn't busy with princely duties or talking to Tohru, he can be found in the gardens. He enjoys their calming beauty and have effortlessly authentic they can be. Over the next few weeks he notices the quality of the garden has gone down. He secretly investigates (as he would never hear the end of it if he was the one that through a fit over some flowers) and find that recently new Gardner's were hired, Machi and Kakeru. Kakeru typically slacks, does things half assed and makes Machi do all the work. Kakeru has the ability to make the garden gorgeous (which is why he was hired in the first place) but his sister doesn't have much experience so the result ends up being subpar. Yuki is upset and tries to talk reason into them. Kakeru is forced to put more effort in the garden and it improves immensely, Yuki learns more about how to keep a garden and finds it immensely interesting and secretly helps in his down time. While helping he gets closer to Machi who is still not the greatest assistant to Kakeru but she never expected to get to where they are now. He was always expected to take over so she was expected to run the fiance aspect but getting hired to do the palace through her out of her comfort zone which is why she isn't so good at gardening. As they learn they begin to fall in love. Also Kakeru was hired because some royals officials drive past his yard which looks like a beautiful garden which he passionately takes care of for his sick wife, Komaki.

Haru is Yuki's attendant and bodyguard. He deeply cares for Yuki and has a good relationship with him but because he is hired to take care of him Yuki doesn't consider him a friend while Haru does. It doesn't bug Haru though. Haru does what he is supposed to. Haru is also secretly involved with the Princess Isuzu. They met while Haru was on the job and kept running into each other when they were younger. Isuzu has always been treated awfully by the King and wishes that someone would assasinate them. Since it doesn't look to be the case she starts undergoing secret training at night so she can assassinate him. This is where she began to notice Haru, he would always catch her as she was sneaking out but let her anyway. It was there little secret. She thought he was weird, especially for letting her break the rules. Haru always said it's because he was only hired to keep track of Yuki so what she does has nothing to do with his work. She ends up falling for him despite knowing that if they are found out he could possibly be executed (because of her status and his job). She began to contemplate if she wants to go through with assassinating Akito because once she won't be able to be with Haru anymore.

Momiji is a prince that was a child of a past political marriage. Because of that he was able to live pretty freely. He is immediately drawn to Tohru and always tries to make her smile. He decides that he wants to be the one to marry her and causes mass chaos in the palace. Momiji's actions is what make Tohru realize that she does have feelings for Kyo and she does want to marry him. Ultimately momiji is rejected, he decides that he is going to sneak away from the palace to reconnect with the family he never knew in the country of his mom's birthplace. (His mom passed while he was young, rumored to have been an planned assassination by the past king, it wasn't. It was suicide as she ostracized by those at the palace and missed her real family.)

KISA is the youngest princess. She is there and no one really pays attention to her so she is really quiet and spends a lot of time reading in the library. The librarian has a son her age that often helps out at the library (Hiro) and he falls in love with her. He figures out which books she is reading and tries to finish them before she does so they can discuss them together. He really doesn't care too much for reading but he loves her smile and how animated she is when she talks about books. Which is the only time she is really animated.

Ritsu is the training to take over as the head for royal fashion. BUT Ritsu is very clumsy and makes a lot of mistakes. Usually everything ends up okay tho. They went to school with Kagura, a daughter of one of the most prominent noble families, and they use her as a model for works. Kagura always uses this as an excuse to go to the palace to see Kyo.

Hatori was hired into the palace as being one of the most prominent doctors of their country. He used to have a wife (Kana) but she was executed when she found out (not through Hatori) that Akito was actually a woman). Because she is an outsider and not an authorized person her existence was a threat. Akito charged her with treason because she found out and she was executed. Hatori only knows that she was charged with treason, not that she found out about Akito. They are hurt that someone so close to him would betray him and their country like that. He closes his heart off until he meets his medical assistant (Mayu). His assistant is supposed to work and learn from him so she can take back his skills and knowledge and teach it to the schools. She ends up finding out about Akito as well, through Shigure as a ploy to get Akito removed from the thrown. Hatori manages to save Mayu from the same date as Kana as he pieces together what is really happening. Mayu is authorized to live but she is not able to return to life outside the palace.

And things play out further from there... Welp if someone wants to write that for me please do.

OTP

This is really hard.

My favorite relationship is Kyoko/Katsuya because of how much it emotionally destroys me.

Otherwise my OTP is Kyoru with RinHaru (cowbell) in close second

Retelling of favorite scene in emojis

🦋🙁🖼️👨‍👩‍👧🙂🙁😟😢😭😭😭😭💔💔

#fruits basket #fruits basket spoilers #furuba #asks #my stuff

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angelsarts · 5 years

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I'm sorry to be a bother but, could we have a new anime list? I don't mind if it involves the animes on the original list!

O-K!! I will friendo!

1. My hero Academia! - adventure, superhero

Born without special powers in a world where 80% of the population has them, Izuku Midoriya still dreams of becoming a hero. An unexpected encounter with the legendary hero All Might gives him a chance to change his fate, but first he must master his newly-acquired Quirk in order to pass U.A.’s entrance exam.

2. Ore Monogatari! - Romantic comedy

With his muscular build and tall stature, Takeo Gouda is not exactly your average high school freshman. However, behind his intimidating appearance hides a heart of gold, and he is considered a hero by the boys for his courage and chivalry. Unfortunately, these traits do not help much with his love life. As if his looks are not enough to scare the opposite sex away, Takeo’s cool and handsome best friend and constant companion Makoto Sunakawa easily steals the hearts of the female students—including every girl Takeo has ever liked.

When Takeo gallantly saves cute and angelic Rinko Yamato from being molested, he falls in love with her instantly, but suspects that she might be interested in Sunakawa. With his own love for Yamato continuing to bloom, Takeo unselfishly decides to act as her cupid, even as he yearns for his own love story.

3. Gakuen babysitter - Comedy-drama, Slice of life, School story

After their parents are killed in a plane crash, Ryuuichi and his younger brother Kotarou are taken in by Youko Morinomiya, the stern chairman of an elite academy whose son and daughter-in-law died in the same accident. The Chairman makes it clear that in exchange for being their legal guardians, Ryuuichi must work outside of class hours at the school’s daycare, where Kotarou will stay during the day.

The series tells the story of the daycare children’s antics as well as how the two brothers adapt to their new lives.

4. Fruits basket - comedy romance slice of life

After her mother’s death, Tohru Honda finds herself living with the Sohma family consisting of three cousins: Yuki, the ‘prince charming’ of their high school, Kyo the hot headed, short tempered outcast, and Shigure the mischievous novelist, if not sometimes that of a pervert. Tohru finds out the Sohma family secret that when a member is hugged by the opposite gender or they are tired out, they turn into the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. Filled with many lovable character and many plot twists along the way, life at the Sohma house will never be the same again.

5. Say I love you - pure shoujo

Friends will only let you down—that is the sad truth Mei Tachibana lives with, ever since she was wrongfully blamed for the death of a class pet by her so-called friends in grade school. Since then, she stays away from people in order to avoid ever being hurt again. However, Mei’s life begins to change drastically when a misunderstanding in high school causes her to encounter popular student Yamato Kurosawa.

Yamato finds her intriguing and insists on being her friend, even though Mei wants nothing to do with him. But when a dangerous situation ends with Yamato kissing Mei to save her from the unwanted attention of a stalker, Mei begins to develop feelings for him. On the heels of her discovery that their feelings are mutual, they start dating and she gains not only a boyfriend, but friends as well. Mei, however, finds it very hard to adapt to this new lifestyle, especially in expressing her true feelings towards Yamato.

6. Yuri on ice - sports

After a disgrace in the Grand Prix Final, Japanese figure skater Katsuki Yuri seeks to retire. Victor Nikiforov, Russian world champion in figure skating is known for his surprises but is feeling stuck when he realises he has no more surprises left. When Yuri dances to Victor’s most famous routine 'Stay Close to Me’ the video is posted online and is seen by Victor. In this moment the Russian world champion decides to move to Japan and become Yuri’s coach. Over the course of various competitions, the two form a powerful bond and see that each other was all they needed to accomplish what both had hoped for.

7. Kyou kara maou - comedy, fantasy adventure with a hint of gayness

Kyou kara Maou! revolves around Yuri Shibuya, your average Japanese teenager. One day, Yuri sees a classmate being harassed by bullies. Thanks to this intervention, his friend is able to escape, but unfortunately Yuri becomes the new target of the bullies in the process and gets his head shoved into a toilet. But instead of water, the toilet contains a swirling portal that sucks him into another world, largely resembling medieval Europe. There, he is told that he will become the next Demon King due to his black hair and black eyes, traits only possessed by the demon’s royal lineage.Yuri’s arrival is met with some skepticism by some of the demons, who view him as unworthy to be their king. However, after Yuri wins a duel by utilizing his magical powers, the demons slowly begin to acknowledge him as their monarch. Yuri must now learn what it takes be a true Demon King, as he tries to keep the peace between demons and humans in this strange new realm.

8. Princess Jellyfish - comedy romance

Ever since her late mother took her to an aquarium when she was young, Tsukimi Kurashita has been obsessed with jellyfish, comparing their flowing tentacles to a princess’s white dress. Now living with five other unemployed otaku women, 19-year-old Tsukimi spends her days as a social outcast dreaming of becoming an illustrator.

However, her life changes forever when one day, a beautiful woman unexpectedly helps her save a jellyfish in a local pet store. From then on, the stranger—confident, fashionable, and the complete opposite of Tsukimi and her roommates—begins to regularly visit the girls’ building. This trendy hipster, though appearing shallow at first, harbours some secrets of her own, starting with the fact that “she” isn’t really a girl at all, but a wealthy male college student named Kuranosuke Koibuchi!

9. Fullmetal Alchemist - adventure, sci fi, dark fantasy

The Elric brothers’ mother is dead and their father has long since abandoned them. Deciding to perform a forbidden human transmutation to bring their mother back, they end up losing their bodies. Now Edward must join the military in order to gain certain alchemical privileges, with his one goal being to restore his brother to his original state. But with war on the horizon it’s only a matter of time before they are both forced to question their morals and ultimately decide the value of human life.

10. The world god only knows - comedy romance

Keima Katsuragi prefers immersing himself in the 2D world, chasing digital girlfriends. However, after answering a mysterious email he finds himself bound by a contract helping the demon Elsie capture 'lost souls’ from the underworld. He must now win over these real-life ladies in order to fill the void in their hearts which these souls have entered, releasing the souls and allowing for their capture. Also to further motivate, if he does not perform this 'duty’ a collar around his neck will explode.

#ask #anon #irontrash #anime #request #shoujo anime #adventure anime #the world god only knows #fullmetal alchemist #princess jellyfish #kyou kara maou #yuri on ice #say i love you #fruits basket #gauken babysitter #ore monogatari #my hero academia

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