Fruits Basket Episode 21: Fear the waves
Published on August 24, 2019
I was looking forward to seeing Saki's turn in the spotlight, and it didn't disappoint. I liked that this episode framed her story from the perspective of an adversarial character. I appreciate how this series uses its side characters, and it's a good character moment for Saki as well. As with Arisa, though, I look forward to seeing more of Saki's story in the future.
This episode has a cool theme of empathy, posing the question of love as a burden. Good intentions are easy to hide behind, but they can often act as a deceptive form of stress if you're not careful. Just as a general comment, I've been liking the themes that recent episodes in this series have been posing.
I also thought it was great that this theme is introduced through the eyes of Saki's brother, Megumi. The two siblings are an awesome pair, and they seem to work together well. There's nothing wrong with adding more characters, right?
I liked watching this lecture in disguise. For me, it almost seems like it's pointing a finger at the common trope of "trying to protect" someone you love, so I think it's interesting that Megumi calls it a potential burden. He's also correct to point out that Motoko and her goons have effectively claimed rights over Yuki because of their unrequited feelings of affection.
Despite the lesson, I still do feel sorry for Saki after seeing this episode. She probably feels a sense of responsibility to support Tohru after her mother's death, so it's easy to see why it would be hard for her to watch Tohru disappear into the Souma family. After all, the recent episodes have been practically swarming Tohru with the family's members.
This curse plays out like an intense form of psychological warfare, and I think it's awesome.