Fruits Basket (Episode 26) – Hello Again

It’s almost the start of summer and Shigure is lamenting the young! Tohru is getting ready for a lot of homework while Yuki is preparing to become the new student president. Change is coming!
What happened?
Motoko, the head of the Yuki Fan Club is leaving for college after the summer and wants to find out who is going to be one Yuki’s team when he takes over as student president. More specifically, she’s worried about there being a girl that might corrupt him in her absence. Of course, the current president is not about to entertain such folie and brushes them off. That just makes Motoko more determined. Meanwhile, Yuki meets with the new vice president and treasurer. Manabe is quite the talker and manages to ruffle Yuki’s feathers, not least because he reminds him of Ayame. The treasurer, Machi is quieter and a little disorganised. They both appear to have ulterior motives for being there. Motoko manages to get a brief moment with Yuki, but it doesn’t go quite as she’d imagined.

What did you think?
This was a pretty seamless reintroduction to the world of Fruits Basket. It raised some interesting things to look at going forward and brought in some new characters that will no doubt upset the dynamic. The thing that most impressed me, however, was how this episode made me feel for Motoko. Up until now, she’d been cast as a villain, pretty much determined to stop Tohru from getting close to Yuki. That hasn’t really changed, but we saw a little more of what’s going on behind the curtain. Not only did she realise that Yuki had changed for the better, but she knew why.
The standout moment of the episode was when Yuki confided in her that he struggled to remain cool. It was something she could relate to and it seemed to bring them closer. At that moment, I found myself questioning why these two couldn’t end up together. Crazy, I know, but that was the strength of that interaction.

What have you learnt?
I’ll be the first to admit that Slice of Life is not one of my preferred genres. At first, Fruits Basket having a supernatural element gave me the comfort to keep watching, but as the series progressed, I realised that the true strength of this series is the characters and the interactions between them. Often, it’s not between the characters you were expecting too, which is great. It’s one thing to show us a character that is an obstacle for the protagonist and then make us care enough about what they are going through to want them to succeed. If only there were a way that everyone could be happy. Who knows, maybe there will be?

Other reviews in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – See You After School
- Episode 2 – They’re All Animals!
- Episode 3 – Let’s Play Rich Man, Poor Man!
- Episode 4 – What Year Is She?
- Episode 5 – I’ve Been Fooling Myself
- Episode 6 – Perhaps We Should Invite Ourselves Over
- Episode 7 – Spring Comes
- Episode 8 – See You When You Get Back
- Episode 9 – Yuki Was My First Love
- Episode 10 – It’s Valentine’s, After All
- Episode 11 – This is a Wonderful Inn
- Episode 12 – You Look Like You’re Having Fun
- Episode 13 – How Have You Been, My Brother?
- Episode 14 – That’s a Secret
- Episode 15 – I Wouldn’t Say That
- Episode 16 – She Said Don’t Step on Them!
- Episode 17 – This Is for Uo-chan!
- Episode 18 – What’s Important Is…
- Episode 19 – I’m So Sorry!
- Episode 20 – I Can’t Believe You Picked It Up
- Episode 21 – I Never Back Down from a Wave Fight
- Episode 22 – Because I Was Happy
- Episode 23 – You Look Well…
- Episode 24 – Let’s Go Home
- Episode 25 – Summer Will Be Here Soon
- Season Two
- Episode 26 – Hello Again
- Episode 27 – Eat Somen with Your Friends
- Episode 28 – Shall We Go and Get You Changed?
- Episode 29 – I Got Dumped…
- Episode 30 – Wait for me, tororo soba!
- Episode 31 – Are you really this stupid?
- Episode 32 – Let’s Start the Watermelon Splitting Contest!
- Episode 33 – Well, It’s True
- Episode 34 – My Precious…
- Episode 35 – Who Are You?
- Episode 36 – All Mine
- Episode 37 – You Cried for Me
- Episode 38 – Sure Thing
- Episode 39 – I Should Just Die…
- Episode 40 – See You Later
- Episode 41 – Ask Him For Me
- Episode 42 – You Will, I’m Sure of It
- Episode 43 – Do You Wanna Kiss?
- Episode 44 – There’s Just No Way!
- Episode 45 – Are You Okay?
- Episode 46 – There Was, Definitely
- Episode 47 – That Isn’t What I Want
- Episode 48 – It’s Cinderella-ish
- Episode 49 – Here You Are
- Episode 50 – I’m Different Now
- Season Three
- Episode 51 – I’ll Hold Another Banquet
- Episode 52 – That’s an Unwavering Truth
- Episode 53 – I Hope It Snows Soon
- Episode 54 – I’m… Home.
- Episode 55 – I Mean… You Know, Right?
- Episode 56 – It Was So Foolish
- Episode 57 – That’s Right, It’s Empty
- Episode 58 – I’m Disappointed in You
- Episode 59 – What’s Your Name?
- Episode 60 – I Just Love Her
- Episode 61 – Goodbye
- Episode 62 – You Fought Well
- Episode 63 – See You Again Soon
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I like that they managed to neatly thread the needle between “recap/introduction” and “actual content”. All too often new seasons lean too hard towards the former (*glares at BNHA*) while returning fans want the latter.
For sure, it would have been a waste of an episode to just do a complete recap. I’d like to think that people watching season two (or four) of a season will be able to remember what happened without too much fuss.