Fruits Basket (2019) 14
フルーツバスケット 14
Furuba episode 14

Story Summary/Synopsis

Tohru requests a day off so that she, Uo-chan, and Hana-chan can visit her mother’s (Kyoko) grave. Yuki asks to come as well. Shigure tells Kyo he should go. At school, Uo-chan and Hana-chan discuss how well Tohru seems to be handling the anniversary of her mother’s death. That evening, Momiji helps Tohru with her cleaning. He starts to speak of his mom when she shows up with Momo, Momiji’s little sister. However, Momiji’s mom does not know him.

After she leaves, Momiji tells how his mom rejected him due to his curse. Her mental condition deteriorated over time to the point of her attempting suicide. As such, it was decided that Hatori would wipe her memories and Momiji would be raised by others. Momiji doesn’t like the idea of having memories wiped just because they are painful. Tohru agrees and hugs Momiji, turning him into a rabbit.

On the day of the visit to Tohru’s mother’s grave, Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki meet Hana-chan and Uo-chan at the graveyard. After getting over the shock of seeing Uo-chan in Kyoko’s yanki coat, the group pay their respects at the grave. Kyo asks Hana if she can sense the dead. She cannot, but she does sense the chaos within Kyo. Yuki and Kyo are both horrified that Uo-chan and Hana-chan are doing a picnic at the grave.

Afterward, Hana-chan and Uo-chan watch Kyo, Yuki, and Tohru leave. They comment on the relationship those three have and ponder what would happen if Kyo or Yuki fell in love with Tohru. That evening, Tohru falls asleep on the engawa. Kyo finds her, then apologizes to her. Inside the house, a gust of wind blows some pages and causes Yuki to see Tohru’s tattered baseball cap.

Thoughts/Review

It is good to finally get back into this anime series. Thankfully, Fruits Basket (2019) 14, which was adapted from manga chapters 23 and 24, did not disappoint.

Story Changes: Momiji’s Tale

TMS continues their trend of being very faithful to the source manga material. But, they still make tiny tweaks here and there, none of which were a problem. But I like making note of them, so here goes.

• The anime shows Momiji’s family walking home, which was not shown in the manga. It is a moment that helps bring home Momiji’s loneliness.
• We see Momiji’s mom attempt suicide, which was not in the manga. I thought this was a good addition as it really helped show how messed up she’d become mentally.
• When Momiji is talking about memories of painful events, we see a flashback when Tohru raced to the hospital room where her mother was dead. This was another good addition to emphasize the point being made better than the manga did.
• The anime cuts a flash moment where Momiji is walking past his mom. And that didn’t bother me.

Story Changes: Graveside Visit

There were a lot of minor changes in Fruits Basket (2019) 14, so here are the changes to the graveside visit.

• The joke in the manga about Hana-chan causing flowers to wilt was removed. Not sure why, but that was a bit of a bummer.
• We get to see Kyo wander off in the graveyard and be followed by Hana-chan. I liked this because it showed how Hana-chan was affected by Kyo’s chaotic thoughts.
• The moment where Yuki recalls digging up Tohru’s baseball cap is cut for some reason. I suppose it was felt it wasn’t needed.
• On the other hand, the flashback of Tohru returning to her mother is now clearly linked to Yuki. In the manga, it was not clear if Yuki or Kyo remembered that.

Translation Stuff

As usual, there are some translation things to talk about in Fruits Basket (2019) 14. We have the usual BS of translating mikan as carrots. Man, that had better be fixed in the BD release.

I’m puzzled as to why the adaptation chose “crimson” instead of “red” when it came to translating the Japanese word “aki” (red). Shinku is the Japanese word for crimson, but that’s not what Uo-chan said. Her jacked did have 紅 (Kurenai), which is crimson, but Uo-chan said “akai”, which is “red.”

I give the adaptation credit for not translating “mama” and “papa.” These are not alien terms in English and are actually terms used in English (unlike say “big bro”).

Finally, I didn’t like that the adaptation had Uo-chan and Hana-chan wondering what would happen if Kyo asked Tohru out. They were speaking of both Kyo and Yuki, since at this point, both guys have feelings for Tohru (to one degree or another). And indeed, the conversation between Uo-chan and Hana-chan reflect this. So the adaptation goes wrong on this point.

Food Offerings

There have been a few anime/manga titles where there’s a scene at a gravesite. As such, I’ve seen food offerings left there. But as I watched Fruits Basket (2019) 14, it suddenly occurred to me to find out what happens with food offerings.

Apparently, when one brings food offerings to a grave, one removes said food offerings after you’ve completed your business at the grave. The reason for this is that no one wants spoiled food all around a graveyard. Plus, crows would come in to eat the food and make a mess of things.

So it is weird that the story has Tohru’s grandfather leaving a food offering at Kyoko’s grave. I guess that was done to show he’d been there. In reality, leaving food behind like that would be a big no-no.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Fruits Basket (2019) 14 is another really good episode. I really like how TMS is handling this series.