English Dub Review: Fruits Basket “I Should Die…”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

In a series of separate subplots. Shigure has to take over for Tohru’s grandfather’s place at a parent/teacher conference, while Yuki & Kyo are faced with some interpersonal demons, and we get to know more about Rin & Haru’s relationship. As Rin has her own inner-turmoil deal with…


Our Take

Remarkably, instead of focusing on a single plot-line, this episode managed to multi-task the proper handling of every each one within the time frame. It’s abundantly clear that everyone has baggage that they’re not willing to divulge, even more so for interpersonal relationships. The aftermath of Kyo with Kagura, Tohru’s own misgivings, and more explicitly, the jarring relationship between Haru and Rin…

Haru is a man of fewer words, but his relationship with Rin was a journey of few highs and many lows regardless of the disturbing implications of their relationship (Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with  Fruits Basket’s creator Natsuki Takaya and her unusual recurring theme of romanticizing incest between certain Sohma family members?). It’s clear that they loved each other, but there has to be something more that kept them apart as the new intro/outro keeps emphasizing a scar behind Rin’s back as a possible clue. Also, Tohru visiting her grandfather and learning this other side of her mother shows that she wasn’t always sunshine & rainbows either…

Overall, aside from the new Opening and Outro which were both well animated, I think the theme of this episode is that figuratively and literally, humans are social animals and can’t live life alone. That’s what Yuki learned when he had his talk with Haru. Despite Yuki trying to take his burdens all on himself, Haru tells him that it’s okay to be selfish sometimes which I can agree on wholeheartedly… Sometimes we need a bit of selfishness in our lives, It doesn’t make us bad people but we can’t be charitable all the time, and we often have desires that we want bad enough and people forget that despite this “Zodiac Curse” thing the show’s central theme is built upon, the Sohma family at their core are still only human.