autistic coding in fruits basket
I am autistic, and I tend to get attached to media that I feel represented by. Perhaps that is why I gravitate so strongly to Furuba. While I don’t think it was intentional on Natsuki Takaya’s part, I do think she did a wonderful job of coincidentally creating characters that feel like they are on the spectrum. The name Fruits Basket and the allegory it’s referring to actually mirrors that of an autistic person in a way. I remember reading the background behind “Fruits Basket” and Tohru’s precious mascot, the onigiri, as well as watching the scene describing it in the anime. It immediately resonated with me.
From being singled out as the only one to not fit in the fruit basket, to not realizing that that isolation was teasing, this embodies my autistic experience so seamlessly. An onigiri who doesn't go in a fruit basket.
While I'd like to touch on a few other characters as well, I'll keep the theme of Tohru's autistic coding and start with one of Takaya's answers to an interview question, pictured in the Official Cat Fanbook.
A unique personality and perspective paired with hyper-empathy are qualities carried by many autistic individuals, including myself! There have been many studies linking both lower levels of empathy as well as contrastingly overwhelming levels of empathy in autistic people, such as what Tohru displays. Another fun tidbit, is that we also tend to have more empathy towards animals, which in the context of Furuba makes sense haha ^^
I've seen people argue about Tohru's polite language not being related to autism because it originated from her trying to help her mom who was grieving over Katsuya, but aside from the fact that linguistic differences like more verbose and complex are indeed a trait of autism so is echolalia and mimicry of other's speech patterns!
Here is a diagram of panels featuring Tohru that display autistic traits, in my opinion (If you have issues with quality, please use this link)
While these are brief instances, I thought it would be fun to compile some of my favorites! It may seem like I am grasping at straws, but I just want to give some more overt context to how I feel she displays traits of autism. If you're interested in more elaboration on Tohru's potential autism, I recommend reading @threeshadesofanime 's post titled "Tohru is Autistic", or @/TalesOfTetra 's thread on twitter titled "Tohru Honda And Her Autistic Traits".
The second character I am focusing on is Saki Hanajima, one of Tohru's best friends and also another one of the (in my opinion) most autistic coded characters in Furuba. Though her personality contrasts Tohru's, she undoubtedly shares some of the same traits. Hanajima's powers in themself almost seem like a metaphor for autism. This was pointed out originally by @kdreader02 and I found myself thinking the same thing when I first read it. Hearing everyone's "waves" and loud voices almost seems like overstimulation or sensory overload that many autistic people experience. This scene encapsulates that perfectly, in my opinion
Here are my favorite autistic coded panels of Hanajima's! (If you have issues with quality, please use this link)
Others
While I focused on Tohru and Hanajima, many other characters in Furuba have subtle coding to them, whether it be autistic or other neurodiversities. Haru has some autistic coding, Machi seems very OCD coded, etc. etc. Give me your honest opinions please! Do you agree with my interpretation of these characters?
