English Dub Review: Fruits Basket “See You Later”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

As parent/teacher Conferences begin, Everyone has their own baggage and personal demons to work out such as Shigure representing Tohru and Kyo fearing a future event. But the heart of the episode is when Yuki takes center stage as we meet the 2nd worst character next to Akito in this series…His Mother.


Our Take

On a personal level, nothing hits a kid more than their parents coming across as utterly uncaring towards your feelings or what’s going on with you, or casually act like all the obvious emotional trauma you’re going through isn’t a bad thing. Yuki’s mother treats both her sons like a burden or a tool to be used and discarded if they don’t act according to her expectations, and that’s done as much of a number on Yuki’s emotional state as Akito.

There are also more important flashbacks of Yuki as we see his younger self. And it’s not a pleasant sight. Yuki’s continuous images of his past still remind him of what he must overcome. And just when Yuki is once again about to be silenced by his mother…in comes someone unexpected with the save. And it’s strangely heartwarming and hilarious at the same time watching Yuki’s mom pull a complete 180 when this particular person shows up.

I think what I also appreciate from this show so far is how it attempts to avoid falling into the cliche love triangle trap that shows such as “Blue Exorcist” and “Darling in the Franxx” are infuriatingly guilty of, and proves that both leading male characters can be equally important to the Female protagonist (Tohru) without it being a competition or being in a romantic relationship by having her treated as the ultimate goal/object which I often dislike because it takes any sort of character agency away from them, but thankfully that’s not the case.

There’s also a fun post-credits scene worth checking out for a good laugh but I thought it ended on a decent note.