Fruits Basket (2019) – 21

「売られた電波は買わなくちゃ」 (Urareta Denpa wa Kawanakucha)
“I Never Back Down from a Denpa Fight”

I wasn’t sure if it’d be able to do it, but boy did Fruits Basket do a great job on a Hanajima-focused episode.

As the only driving force of team Tohru-Arisa-Hanajima that hasn’t got an episode to themselves yet, I was growing a little concerned that the story would skip over Hanajima. That and I was very afraid that the story would continue to just use her as someone who would drop big pieces of exposition (usually to the boys) and then just mysteriously disappear since that’s a part of her “character”. Luckily we instead got to see a side of her that rarely comes out.

As the dark and edgy friend who’s motivated by mostly logic and levelheaded reasoning, it can’t be easy to express your feelings when it comes to the people who you truly care about. Looking back at Hanajima’s behavior during this week’s episode, I’m sad I believed her smile after Tohru told her she wouldn’t be able to make it. Because when you think about it, she accepted Motoko’s offer fully knowing that both her and her lackeys were coming to do something nefarious. With that in mind, it wouldn’t be too crazy to think that she’d like the support of her two close friends — especially when you add on the notion that the possibility she would need help could occur. So yeah, I wish I could have noticed that Hanajima wasn’t super okay with Tohru not coming.

That said, by the end of the episode it was clear that part of Hanajima’s feelings were rooted in a little jealousy. A fact that I think really helped flesh out her character since it’s rare that we see any type of emotion escape that deadpan demeanor of hers. Just like a myriad of other characters who share the same archetype, it’s always nice to see them break from it (even if for just a minute or two).

Overall, we got a great episode that gave Hanajima some time to just do her thing. I wish I had more to say, but it’s never bad to get these kinds of episodes every now and then to just unwind and enjoy. Anyways, I’ll catch you guys next week. See you then!

Preview