Crying about magical furries and horrible families: Tumblr's #1 problematic manga [FRUITS BASKET]

to avoid further derailing of the CDCF!

 

You all encouraged me to start rewatching the anime :-)

 

I need to finish reading the series, the library only had up to 8 (and of course they got stolen).

 

do itt!! the beginning of the manga is great but it really picks up in quality after the second half, imho.

 

I just saw shigure's speech to tohru about piles of dirty laundry on tumblr and it's amazing how stupidly calm i am now. i was freaking out about entrance exams and how i havent studied At All and stuff but now i'm just... ok, ok, let me start with what's close to my feet.

 

Aaaaah I read FB:A up to chapter 8 and I am so many feelings. I might binge reread the original series when I get home.

Fruits Basket was super important to me in my formative years, and I remember passing the books back and forth with my friends. Silly as the premise was, the amount of care given to the wide variety of dysfunctional families and relationships really helped me in awful times myself. Everyone was hurt, but everyone also deserved kindness and a chance to heal too. And I loved that about it. I loved that characters who would have been written off as 100% evil or completely two dimensional got depth and elaboration and focus on their issues too.

 

I think the strangest thing that happened to me at the time was feeling compassion for Akito. If tumblr culture had been a thing in 2005 i probably would have made whole crusades against Akito, until... I couldn't. I mean, huge asshole is a massive abusive douchecanoe but, damn.

Also i'm really happy it was popular then and not now because can you imagine the tumblr shitstorm about ninety nine percent of the storylines?? about tohru's parents????

 

Tohru's parents, Tohru's friends... yeah no. I'm incredibly glad that it peaked before tumblr came around.

 

here's a link, if anyone wants one to the scans (I don't feel bad linking it bc the american license holder, tokyopop, has been defunct for years)

and yeah, tumblr would have fucked everything up so badly. just look at what they're doing to SU now

 

Spoiler: Fruits Basket Another

ALSO

I want to know why everyone is so interested in Sawa. I mean, I know we're going to find out, but. A couple commenters on the scans said that it might just be the kids picking up Tohru vibes from her but I doubt that. And the Sohma curse is broken, so we know that can't be the particular source of conflict. (A new curse? The curse twisting? Maybe it's Sawa who is cursed?)

I want to know more about her family and her and the reasons everyone in interested and aaaaa. It's interesting too, how this is complete reverse from the original in how those awful family dynamics fall. Tohru's immediate family was adoring and never let her believe that she was something shameful, while all the Sohmas grew up with that hanging over them. Now we have Sohmas who have happy, healthy families and close relations without those issues, and a protag whose family reinforces that she's worthless. SO HM. HMMMM.

(I really doubt that the Next Gen Kids are going to have awful home lives. Occasionally dysfunctional, occasionally off kilter or a bit weird, but I want to say that the mangaka would realize how bad of a basebreaker turning, idk, Yuki into Akito 2.0 would be.)

 

Oh man Fruits Basket was such an important part of my life when I was like 12-14. I want to read it again now

 

Everyone should read fruits basket

 

Like, Tohrus mom marries her 8 years older teacher when she's like, 14-15? And that's the least fucked up thing that happens in her life. There are so many kissing cousins. By God, there are so many BANGING cousins. Half the drama started because banging cousins fuck triangle. I shiver just think about what would happen if tumblr heard about every other thing Akito did.

Also someone would call Kyo abusive because he's aggressive and then I would literally shit an angry brick.

 

Tumblr voice: Akito is transphobic bc ????????

 

Or, even better, Ritsu

 

also, Momiji

 

I just realized I switched momiji with hanajimas brother in the CDCF this is so embarrassing.

Because like. I cried so much about his thing with his mother. It's really upsetting and there's a lot of baggage that I see in him, the thing with his mom rejecting him and then getting her memory erased... It spoke a lot to me and my own father issues. I love that guy. I love momiji

Anyway is there a character in that manga that isn't problematic? Even Kisa-chan likes her cousin.

We shoul make a ranking. Top 10 fruits basket characters that would give tumblr an aneurysm because they're too problematic

(The list is Akito and shigure in various combinations)

 

oh my glob they'd tear Akito apart for being transmasc, and then they'd tear her apart for *not* being transmasc

edit: it might actually be the first time tumblr even pretended to care about transmasc people

 

I don't know. Akito is a confirmed emotional abuser, physical abuser, and depending on how tumblr is feeling about dudes being raped, possibly a rapist. Them being transmasc would probably just confirm they're the devil incarnate and that Tohru is an abuser apologist for feeling sad about Akito's awful situation.

(I never know what pronouns to use for Akito. Akito is Akito's own pronouns.)

 

if it's someone AFAB, then tumblr will almost certainly care about any misdeed the character might have possibly committed in any fanwork ever