English Dub Review: Fruits Basket “There Was, Definitely”; “That Isn’t What I Want”
Overview
“There Was, Definitely”
Yuki loses himself in thought as he remembers a dark memory from his childhood…
“That Isn’t What I Want”
While the school prepares for the culture festival, Yuki talks about his secret that he’s never told anyone else…
Our Take
Unlike the previous double feature, these two episodes primarily focus on Yuki Sohma but in different ways…
Episode 21 finally delves into Yuki’s backstory as it’s been long overdue, along with addressing the many issues he has with his own screwed up family that changes everything we now know about him as a character, where his dysfunctional relationship with Kyo stems from and hints of Akito’s backstory as well. The cycle of envy and hatred is something to take notice of between Kyo and Yuki. Each of them expresses contrasting feelings for one another without knowing the other’s circumstances. Considering they were just feeble children, their instilled mindsets are understandable, yet unfortunate. All the Sohma’s harbor pain and it makes you wonder what Akito experienced to just snap into such a twisted person in the first place?
Episode 22 further fleshes out Yuki while also putting an end to a long-lasting debate between the fandoms in regards to how he actually feels about Torhu as a person. I also feel like this episode showed how far Yuki has come, but how much further Kyo has to go on his journey. Yuki has grown enough to begin understanding himself, be able to face the past, and reevaluate his relationships with the people around him but Kyo is still at a point where he is stubbornly pushing away due to his past and the feelings of being a pariah within his own twisted family.
Overall, while both being passable episodes for the Yuki fans out there, I have a feeling that the tension between Kyo and Yuki will escalate soon. And we can only hope they can finally come to terms with each other but I doubt that will be something we see until the definitive end of the series.
