Fruits Basket: The Final Season Episode 11 Impressions - An Unforgettable Episode

Crow's World of Anime has sponsored reviews of Fruits Basket Final Season in 2021.

Tohru and Kyo…Fruits Basket…Words are now failing me.

Episode 11 of Fruits Basket the Final Season is an emotional watch and if the YouTube reactions I found after watching it were anything to go by I’m not alone in feeling that way. While the episode is titled ‘Goodbye’ my initial thoughts were pretty bleak but honestly this episode manages to be aww inducing cuteness followed by contemplative and cathartic. Overall there’s a sense of resolution as the banquet is finally demystified and finally we are left with a sense of relief.

As always, watching Fruits Basket is akin to going multiple rounds of emotional boxing and I’m just not all that well equipped for having my emotions rocked like that.

Incidentally, spoilers below.

Kyo gets his serious face on.
Image from Fruits Basket Final Season 2019. — *^{_{Kyo, when you look at me like that…}}*

I do know that after watching this episode I am going to have to go an rewrite my list of top 5 anime confessions. Seriously, this one has to absolutely be on that list. I’d put this one on par with the confession in Dakaichi in terms of intensity but given that confession came out of nowhere at the beginning of the story (before we knew either character) and this one between Kyo and Honda has been so long coming…

Yeah, to be honest, the emotional payoff here was just brilliant. Fruits Basket absolutely nailed this moment and honestly if this final season leaves us with nothing else in its final episode, episode 11 has already given me everything I needed to be happy. Sure there are still some unanswered questions but most of what I wanted from this season has been revealed and then some.

I am curious about whether the characters will continue to live at Shigure’s house or whether they will return to the main Soma estate. Will the main Soma estate even remain after all of this? Or are they all going to go and find their own ways. I will admit, I never read the very end in the manga. Once I found out enough about the curse and where the characters were going in Fruits Basket to satisfy my curiosity I put this story away until this rebooted anime.

This post may just be an excuse for pictures of Kyo.
Image from Fruits Basket 2021. — *_{^{Kyo, sometimes Tohru makes us all feel like that.}}*

One thing I am happy season 3 of Fruits Basket has fully resolved is the question of whether Tohru would end up with Kyo or Yuki. From the start of this season it couldn’t have been clearer and honestly, that made this moment all the sweeter. If there had still been some doubt, or if Yuki hasn’t been so clear with Kyo in episode 10, there would be that ongoing awkwardness that usually results when a love triangle resolves.

However, this episode actually had a lot more in it than Kyo and Tohru being utterly adorable. And actually, a lot of it was pretty important. The problem is, that Fruits Basket began its episode by giving me the fan moment I’ve been waiting for forever and so it was a little difficult to focus on the rest while I had my inner fan-girls dancing a conga-line through my brain for the rest of the day after watching the first part of this episode.

God and the cat.
Image from Fruits Basket 2021. — *^{Okay, onto the more serious side of things.}*

So most of the rest of this episode of Fruits Basket really looks at God’s relationship with the animals in the zodiac. We see this through Akito’s genuine pain as the bonds most definitely break. However we also go back to the original story that we were told about god holding the banquet. Only this time, we get a lot more about what happened before the first banquet and unsurprisingly it involves God’s relationship with the cat.

It isn’t at all surprising that a story passed down through generations and between incarnations had become quite distorted and details that should have been remembered were forgotten. The relationships between god and the zodiacs and the zodiacs and the cat became symbolic and chains, mimicking their original connection but the purpose being quite forgotten.

Akito cries.
Image from Fruits Basket the Final Season 2021. — *^{Akito’s finally going to be on her own.}*

Letting go of these bonds, being alone (truly alone) for the first time, is painful and not just for Akito. As we saw from Kureno and others who broke free of the bond previously, it isn’t exactly a happy moment initially. But, if any of these characters are to move forward it is a necessary step.

Honestly, I’d really have been happy with this as an ending. Sure it will be great to see next steps and have a few other questions answered, but in terms of this narrative I kind of feel like this is going to be the emotional peak for me. Fruits Basket episode 11 was incredibly satisfying viewing and will perhaps remain one of my favourite resolutions in anime (I really should do a top 5 list of those).

Images used for review from: Fruits Basket: The Final Season. Dir. Y Ibata. TMS Entertainment. 2021.