More Somas and Tohru’s Friends
Episode 6
It isn’t often that I’ll criticise the translation in the sub-titles. Whether they are direct translating or just translating the intent, I kind of expect some changes are going to happen for various reasons and until my Japanese is good enough that I don’t need to read them I’m just going to have to accept them for what they are. Yet episode 6 of Fruits Basket 2019 on Crunchyroll has a ridiculous ‘macaroni and cheese’ line during Hatori’s photo op moment that utterly threw me out of the episode and was mostly a completely unnecessary change. However, that will be about my only complaint for this otherwise beautiful episode of Fruits Basket.
This episode is a little more fragmented in that we have the school festival that they had been planning for, we meet Momoji and Hatori, Hana and Uo find out Honda is staying at the Soma’ and the girls go for a sleep over, and we cap the episode with Hatori inviting Honda to come see him on the next day off, though invite is probably the nicest way to put it given he implied a threat without actually threatening her. I didn’t even get onto the part where Shigure goes to see Akito.
Yet, despite everything going on, nothing feels rushed, unnecessary, or dull. Every scene and interaction just feels so rich and the episode as a whole was thoroughly enjoyable.
At the core of episode 6 is Honda. Whether it is her relationship with Yuki and Kyo, her relationship with Hana and Uo, her meeting the other Soma’s, or the flashbacks of her mother, each scene is about the warmth Honda spreads simply by being there. Everyone around her is buoyed by her good nature and optimism and while I really don’t like the overly sweet, good-girl character trope, there’s just no way to dislike Honda. She’s fun to spend time with and I think what really balances her out is that she acknowledges the bad things that happen but chooses not to dwell on them. It is a conscious choice rather than being oblivious to pain and suffering.
Throughout it all, each of these characters got a bit more fleshing out and they continue to be adorable. There’s just no other way to describe it. Watching this show is just so cathartic and fun.
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Karandi James
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Images from: Fruits Basket. Dir. Y Ibata. TMS Entertainment. 2019.
“There’s just no other way to describe it. Watching this show is just so cathartic and fun.”
I think that describes it perfectly!
Maybe I should just make the heading for every review from now on? I somehow doubt my feelings are going to change much at least for the next few episodes.
I’m loving the remake so much!! It’s so fresh and yet so nostalgic, makes me think back to school when all my friends were all talking about the old anime and the manga. I also agree, no way to dislike her, and I also usually don’t like the overly sweet characters. ^^
There’s just something about her that strikes the right note and whether it is the original series or this one Tohru is just a shining star.