Content Warning: transphobia, queerphobia, gender essentialism
Spoilers for all of Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket is one of my favorite anime of all time. I adore its exploration of how people who’ve suffered incredible trauma can put themselves back together. I adore its portrayal of the radical healing power of kindness as an active choice in a world full of misery. I adore how it showcases the complexities of love and how it can be your greatest salvation if you work to nurture and cultivate it. This show makes me laugh, it makes me cry, but more than anything, it makes me hope. It makes me hope that no matter how bad things get, there will always be a second chance waiting just around the corner. Even two decades after the original manga began publishing, it shines just as brightly.
But I’m not here to talk about how much I love Fruits Basket. Today, I’m here to explore one of its most under-discussed problems: its portrayal of queerness.
my own thoughts below
as the comments pointed out, there are flaws in the article. the problems aren't problem in a vacuum, they can all be interpreted in a good way - and the article didn't touch on that enough.
- the article did acknowledge it with Hatsuharu - a bisexual man loving a woman is a very normal thing to do
- a comment pointed out that Momiji's uniform is a boy's uniform. his transformation from a uwu pookie bear to MAN is realistic too.
- Akito's whole purpose is to denounce the idea of masculine = powerful. it's just that it conflicted with another issue.
- i'm not kind enough to find excuses for Ritsu. that was terrible.
though it's hard not to agree with the article overall. if you look at the full picture, it's obvious that the show is going out of its way to not have queer relationships, and telling you that queerness is a phase. the worst case interpretation is "queerness is mental illness", which i can imagine a vulnerable queer person internalize.
