gracielitamargarita - Tumblr blog

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I AM SCREAMING

KYORU KISS WE GOT IT😭😭😭♥️♥️

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😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

#KYORU MARRIED

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Teen Titans fans be like:

*spits out drink*

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THIS! Her character development has been a long and sometimes slow road, but it's been so worth the wait. I love how our girl is finally embracing her badassery.

underrated moment of today’s episode for me was tohru openly talking about herself. like that little bit to kyo where she’s like “you know, i’m easygoing but i’m actually pretty stubborn when i want to be” something about that just. tohru so rarely talks like that to anyone and it’s so nice watching her relax and be confident with kyo.

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The beautiful slow music, the mutual yearning, and then...

“He got dumped, huh?”

“He got dumped.”

“MEWWW!”

This scene never gets old.

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There's nothing to be afraid of...not if you're with me.

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"She ran like she was trying out for the track team!"

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I say this with nothing but love in my heart for Yuki and excitement for this moment to be adapted...

...but Yuki, ya kind of look like a Karen here. 👀

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No need to talk.

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Kyo :

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Holy mother of foreshadowing

Did anyone else notice that the moment when Kyo hesitantly reached toward Kyoko and she was struck by the car--the moment that we finally got in its complete context in today’s episode (Se3E8)-- was actually foreshadowed as early as chapter 15 of the manga and Se1E10 ("It's Valentines, Afterall")?

Maybe you’ll be like DUH OF COURSE I NOTICED IT or maybe your mind will be as blown as mine was, but either way, Takaya got us GOOD. It's a fleeting moment after Shigure picks on Kyo about the root of his hatred for Yuki. We see a black and white flashback of this moment for all of a second and a half, and then Kyo runs away and Tohru goes after him.

(Also holy shit--the reflection of the car in Kyo’s eye. I never noticed until taking the screenshots just now!)

The fact that Takaya chose to FIRST foreshadow Kyo and Kyoko's relationship with the most climactic component to their storyline is honestly so clever and brilliant. At that point in the series, it was so early on and we had no idea what that moment meant--or that there was even any connection at all between Kyo and Kyoko--but Takaya deliberately put it there, knowing that likely the only way we'd make the connection would be by rewatching or rereading the series at a later point.

Furuba isn't just a fun series to revisit. It's MEANT to be revisited, again and again. And I just freaking love that.

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Fuck. I'm not ready.

Uh oh sisters

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Thoughts on Kyoru in Fruits Basket: The Final as a manga reader

(and bad metaphors about lava cake)

So with next week's impending shit storm of a Furuba episode next week, I've been doing some reflecting on our favorite Mutual Pining Idiots, Kyoru--and thinking about how the anime adaptation's choices in rearranging or removing content has impacted things, specifically with Se3E6.

And just to preface, I think the anime adaptation has been terrific overall. I also think loving something and critiquing something aren't mutually exclusive either. The goal of what I'm about to write is not to incite negativity, just to get some feelings out about my favorite pairing from my favorite manga series and provoke some deeper thought, I guess.

ALSO, I hope you don't mind metaphors--specifically ones about chocolate-raspberry lava cake, because that's what I've decided works best for explaining Kyoru. So FASTEN THOSE SEATBELTS PEOPLE 

MANGA SPOILERS regarding previously omitted content as well as VAGUE ANIME SPOILERS that can be implied/inferred from the ending of Se3E7 under the cut.

I think one of the (many) reasons I find Kyoru to be such a satisfying ship is because of the slow-burn element. Come season 2 through the beach arc, their chemistry is palpable, natural, and growing stronger and stronger with each episode. When Kyo finally admits to himself that he's in love with Tohru in Se2E9, it feels like we've been rewarded with a chocolate lava cake topped with raspberry sauce--it's delicious, complex, and full of gooey and satisfying substance.

Now like many, I'm a sucker for the pining idiot trope--let alone the MUTUAL pining idiot trope--and we do get to see this through the end of season 2 as Tohru's feelings for Kyo become more apparent to everyone BUT her. It's like we're LOOKING at the chocolate-raspberry lava cake, so close that we can ALMOST touch it, but we as viewers aren't allowed to cut into it yet--which makes every little encounter between the two of them all the more exciting, because we wonder what's finally going to allow us to ravish this goddamn lava cake (sorry).

Which is why I realized I'm actually struggling more than I initially thought in the final season. As it's been widely speculated, discussed, and now officially confirmed, we're getting 13 episodes this season. And while like most everyone else, I'd be thrilled with two cours, I don't know the ins and outs of anime production, AND, while I'm bummed, I've accepted that it is what it is--and that it isn't the reason I'm writing this post.

Of course not every panel or fleeting moment can be adapted from the manga to the anime. There were small little cuts here and there over the course of the first two seasons, but nothing in my opinion that's really SO substantial that it drained the lava cake of its filling--maybe some of that raspberry topping, but generally, the good stuff is all there. (Though I do love this moment below from chapter 82, which was skipped over in Se2E19)

The final season has been different, though. As we know in the manga, the inner turmoil for Kyo--and Tohru to an extent--really starts escalating immediately after Cinderella-ish with Kyoko's backstory and Kyo's nightmare from chapters 90-93. I also understand that Cinderella-ish was Se2E23, and with only 2 episodes left in the season, it made sense from a directorial standpoint to end with the Kureno/Akito reveal versus Kyoko's backstory and Kyo realizing he needs to know his place.

But without this context, it leaves moments like the flower scene from Se3E2 less impactful--like a lava cake made by someone who skimped on the filling. To an anime-only (and even as a manga reader), it's likely still a satisfying moment to watch: we know that Tohru clearly has a lot of inner turmoil following her conversation with Kureno. Kyo's turmoil following his nightmare, however--and overall, the sentiment of him thinking he needs to stay away from Tohru, yet still finding himself drawn to her above all odds--is deeply diminished.

Which leads me to the main reason (finally, sorry) that I wrote this post--Se3E6, or the episode when Tohru finally admits to herself AND to Rin that Kyo has taken the place of her mother as the most precious person to her. 

In the manga, Se3E6 is made up of chapters 107, 108, 109, AND 114, spanning the end of volume 18 through the beginning of volume 20 of the TokyoPop mangas. Volume 19 in particular is one of my all time favorite mangas in the entire series for one clear reason: just as we've seen Kyo get to do in season 2, we finally get to see Tohru slowly own her feelings for Kyo, and MY GOD, is cutting into that lava cake and enjoying that delicious filling satisfying AF. The Mutual Pining Idiots are in full swing here, both dealing with inner turmoil but also being unable to stay away from one another either. In addition, they're dealing with normal teenage awkwardness too, which feels like a bonus topping (would nuts go well, do we think? LOL) to the Kyoru lava cake.

But between the producers adapting Momiji's arc prior to episode 6 AND the producers ending episode 6 with a 2-minute horror movie essentially--AND, lest we forget, none of the Kyoko backstory at this point--we lost essentially all of that satisfying filling. 

And again, I understand, only 13 episodes and the producers are trying to make shit work and I do see why they made some of these changes in the overall big picture of things, but I wish it weren't at the expense of Tohru's character development and also for Kyoru, which had been so thoughtfully and delightfully well-developed in the first two seasons.

My biggest issue BY FAR with episode 6 is Tohru's confession to Rin happening before the sheets scene. The producers combined 109 and 114 for the second half of episode 6. In the manga, Tohru is able to openly admit that Kyo is the most important person to her BECAUSE of how he accepts her after she "opens the lid" to reveal the ugly feelings she's been harboring for years about her father. And in the manga, since we have the context of Kyoko's backstory and can see how she nearly committed suicide and left Tohru alone for days, it is gut-wrenching to finally hear Tohru confront and express her trauma in her own words. 

The sheets scene is arguably my favorite scene in the entire series. The anime portrayed it beautifully. Jerry and Laura ripped my heart out with their performances. It was a deeply moving scene (even with all of the changes) and the romance and pining was there--but, I hate to admit it, the feeling of cutting into that delicious lava cake to reveal that even more satisfying filling was not.

And now, come the end of Se3E7, we're approaching the climax of the series that we've been salivating for for so long now, the result of all of this inner turmoil and secrets and deep, deep longing for one another--and it almost feels now like the cake was baked too quickly, in addition to being drained of much of its filling. 

I was debating waiting to write this until next week after we see how Se3E8 goes, but my thoughts have been swirling about and this clown couldn’t help herself. I'd like to end this post on a hopeful and more forward-thinking note, though, if you've made it this far into my novel LOL.

There is definitely the potential to add a little more about Kyoko's backstory in next week's episode. I also expect that we'll hear more of Tohru's inner narrative and thoughts, which I’m really looking forward to. As several others have speculated as well, I predict that we'll be getting chapters 119-122 next week. Despite it being 4 chapters, everything should happen in sequence (versus with episode 6) and there's a lot of action, so I do feel like it won't feel rushed or disjointed. And while I could see them possibly ending with 121, 122 would be my preferred ending for many reasons (manga readers know where I'm going with this ;P) and I honestly see it fitting best there.

And regardless of what happens, I'm looking forward to eating whatever variety of lava cake is served to us next week.

And at the end of the day, we'll always have the manga, which will probably always be my favorite lava cake of all.

(and now I'm hungry for an actual lava cake)

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Rip my heart out why don't you!

(Additional preview image from Twitter)

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All in good fun :) I never post on Tumblr but I’m a guilty lurker and occasional commenter and discovered the Fruits Basket reboot at the end of 2019 after being a devoted fan of the manga back in the 2000s. I love this fandom and am so grateful for all yall and decided to finally post something! 

Inspired my experience in this fandom here on Tumblr, in the Fruits Basket subreddit, and AO3 (hello, strawberry-scented shampoo)

Hey Caitlin Glass, any chance the winner of Fruits Basket Fandom Bingo can get official confirmation on the episode count for Season 3? ;P

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CLOWN NATION: ARE WE READY FOR THE FINAL SEASON?

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when you ship the ray of sunshine with the moody hot-headed mess