Fruits Basket and ‘problematic topics’
Okay … so this is going to be long and messy and lately I am starting to write some long text-posts about the stuff I like here on tumblr what I maybe shouldn‘t do … but since no one of my friends really cares for the things I like and since those thoughts kept pounding in my head I thought the best would be to write them down. So… warning… Spoilers for Fruits Basket (Manga, New/old Anime) ahead. And Warning this will contain some sensitive topics as well. And to warn you for the last time: I am no english native speeker. As for that.
So listen … since one of my favorite animes of all time (Fruits Basket) got it‘s remake I am more than happy to see the new content popping up everywhere. What I don‘t like are some of the interpretations for some story parts.
Furuba isn‘t perfect and has a lot of flaws. The series is about 15 years old right now and things have changed. But what I want to adress is the issue about Furuba containing abusive and pedophile relationships which are romanticized and seen as okay.
I have to say. No. That is not the case and here is why I think this way.
The characters I want to talk about are mainly Akito and Shigure and Kyoko and Katsuya.
Yes. Furuba contains abusive relationships. But those are part of the story and not absolutly positive.
Looking at Akito and Shigure their relationship is very complicated and part of the discussion I mentioned above. When Shigure was very young he had a dream about Akito. The one person he would love. It was kind of a prophecy. A future vision. He sees the one person he is suppoused to be with. The one and only person for him. The dream was about an adult Akito - who was born 9 month later. So Shigure is about 6 years older as Akito and he clung to this dream and the feelings he conects with this: LOVE.
Even after the curse is broken he stayed with Akito. That was his main goal in the whole story. He wanted the curse to break to be with Akito. Not with some child. With the future Akito he saw in his dream. The real Akito, not the one obsessed with the curse (and her dead father).
Shigure is depicted as a typical ‚pervy character‘. An anime trope I don‘t really like but it is used often in anime and is for comedy. It seems japanese people tend to find this stuff funny. I don‘t really like this but I never thought anything about this since I have seen this so often. The pervy old men. Well… Shigure is 26. ‚Old‘ is really a relative vague term in this case but stil his character is used for this. Like Ayame and Mine later.
That his and Akitos relationship is kinda problematic for some people lies in the fact that Shigure is older and clung to his dream – while Akito was stil younger than him. That she will always be younger than him and that Shigure never did anything to her or did anything that would sexualize her (until she is over 21!) is never mentioned by anyone.
A lot of people mention the flower flashback where an 16 year old Shigure gave 10 year old Akito a flower, after she asked him, if he would love her. Shigure told her (depending on the translation) that he has and will always love her and that she is everything he cares about. He gave her a platonic kiss on her cheek and smiles at her with affection. Nothing more.
Yes Shigure was stil 6 years older at this time and Akito was about 10. But consider the story and Shigures futuristic prophecy dream … does this makes him a pedophile?
I don‘t think so - because a pedophile is a person who is sexually attracted to young children and minors. Shigure is not sexually attracted to young children even if he is used for this pervert trope. He is not sexually attracted to the 10 year old Akito. In the flower scene all I saw was affection and, yes, love. But platonic love. People need to learn to understand the difference between love and sex. And romantic, sexual and platonic love. Those feelings can develop and change - but you need to read a story in its context.
Is Shigure a pervert. Yes. Does he like to look at highschool girls – for the sake of the comedy, yes. Is he a pedophile. Fuck no.
Is his and Akitos relationship stil problematic? Hell yes. Because they both love each other to the point where they hurt and manipulate each other. This is not romanticized in the stroy. The have romantic moments, yes, but most of the time the relationship between those two is shown to be everything but perfect or healthy. In the end they come together but they have to work on their relationship. That is how I see this two.
Now to Katsuya and Kyoko.
Again people say Katsuya is a pedophile for marrying a (15?) 17 years old girl.
But again, as for Shigure and Akito, their realtionship is not flawless. Katsuya was a student teacher (a trainee teacher) when meeting Kyoko. He did this because his father was a teacher and wanted Katsuya to live up to this. So Katsuya was studying to become a teacher dispite he didn‘t really liked it (and later cancelled his education). When he meet Kyoko he didn‘t start to meet her because she was a young girl or because he was attracted to young girls. As we see in the manga Katsuya was very popular among the highschool girls and some of them had a crush on him. If he truely was a predetor he could have everyone he wanted … but he didn‘t. He found Kyoko intereseting as a person. A young lonly girl with no goals or ambitions. He wanted to help her and fell in love with her. It just happened.
So yes … he is about 8 years older as her. But when he dicided he wanted to marry Kyoko and spend the rest of his life with her, he cancelled his teacher education, went straight up to her parents house and asked her parents for permission to marry their underage daughter! This happend after Kyoko was released from the hospital and her parents wanted to throw her out of the house. Katsuya suddently appeared at the scene and even Kyoko was surprised. That is why I think he decided before he wanted to marry her and that is why he went to her parents home.
Again. A pedophile is a person who is sexually attracted to children. Katsuya married one girl and stayed with her. Had a child with her. Wanted more children with her as they grew older.
Was it good that a lost young girl who never had a real family or someone who cared for her married someone much older and who she was mostly dependend off? Yes. But that‘s all. I see no other problems here. I think the message that was suppoused to be here was: love can hurt but overcomes everything (even age) and can heal everything. Was it executed perfectly. Well … no. Sadly.
Another thing I found really confusing in this context is the topic of age gabs. Especially with american readers. I have read a lot of posts about relationships between minors. For example: He was 17, she was 13/ 14 … 3 year age gap but he is a grown men and a pedophile. Than: 17 year old girl, 20 year old men. 3 years age gab. Now she is a kid, he is a pedophile. And than I read a lot how people are thrown out of their parents homes the second they turn 18 because now they are grown adults. I am a little confused about this double standarts. Of cause the older you get the more you grow as a person and you become an adult sooner or later. But it is really … strange to me. Where is the line? From what moment on are you a stil a child? A Kid? A teen? A young adult? An aduld? This depends on the situation and circumstances and how people want to interpret this. Because …. regarding to this all vampire stories for example from the last years would be about pedophile vampires. Twilight, Vampire Diaries. Buffy.
So in the end: Fruits Basket has relationships with age gaps. Yes. Some of this relationships contain abusive behaivor. Yes. Are those portrait as absolutly positive and romantic? No. Are there parts of those relationships that are problematic? Yes.
Are there any pedophiles in this series? No. Just no.
Maybe people, especially younger people, should educate themself and learn what this term really means. Age gaps =\= pedophilia.
But in the end you will see what you want to see and read what you want to read in a story.
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