#yuchi

HD scans of photographs by Takao Ogata from one of sukekiyo's shows in Tokyo in October 2025, from Rock And Read vol. 122.

Tohru adopted a stray cat for her and Kyo when they moved to the countryside, Kyo dismissed it at first, claiming it was her pet and hers only but overtime he grew to adore it and it brought him a sense of comfort, finally getting to look at a cat without the pain of the curse behind it. The cat is white with light brown spots his name is Kaiya. He lived until Hajime was about 13.

Yuki had a hard time parting with his secret base when he moved away for college. He visited it if he could when going back to Kaibara over holidays but it was never the same. , when he finally settled down into a house with Machi, he made another one, Mutsuki grew up learning a lot about plants and nature.

Hatori considered retiring as a doctor when the curse broke but he shortly changed his mind when Ayame and Mine thought they were expecting (they weren’t at the time) so Hatori decided to keep his position to be there for when the other Sohmas had kids of their own.

Ayame made so many dresses when Mine was expecting that he changed his business to more parent - child friendly to sell kids clothes for fancy occasions. Yuki was the most thrilled about this.

Momiji, Haru and Machi became very good friends after she and Yuki got together and their friendship is chaotic, Momiji is somehow the most responsible when they have shenanigans.

Hatori & Mayu had their wedding on a beach, Mayu is Hatori’s summer and summer is now his favorite time of year.

Kagura and Ritsu meet up once a month specifically to gossip about everyone else. Since his confidence has gone up Ritsu doesn’t mind speaking his opinion more even if it’s a little insulting.

Hiro & Rin remained very close and Rin started babysitting Hinata as her first job after the curse broke. Satsuki was very kind to her and Rin was doing to be open to new things and letting people in.

Uotani and Hanajima always visit Kyo & Tohru in the countryside together. They refuse to make the trip solo and always call specifically Kyo to tell him in advance, so he can be the one to organize the menu for their arrival.

Rin tried to teach Haru to draw once and it went terribly, his artist abilities are more for modeling which he puts into his jewelry making.

Yuki is good at math but bad at English (literature) he tried to write Machi a poem once and instead of swooning, she had to correct his grammar multiple times.

Kisa grew up to be much more confident in herself and as a grown up she speaks her mind in ways that she didn’t think she ever could when she was cursed.

Kagura and Tohru are good friends and Kagura always tell embarrassing stories about Kyo and hers childhood to Kyorus kids

Momiji can cook German and Japanese meals very well. He shares his German recipes with Tohru often.

Kyo always tries to find Tohru hermit crabs every time they visit a beach.

Haru has a tattoo of Rin’s name on his chest, over his heart.

Ayame and Hatori take their daughters o the playground together. Ayame is always enthusiastic about being in their made up games and Hatori always brings a first aid kit in case of any cuts or scrapes but does play with the little girls too, Hibika & Kinu are both very close with their fathers.

Sometimes Momo and Momiji speak in German to comment on others when they are with the entire Sohma group or some of it.

Shigure tried to get a dog once and Akito threatened to kick him out.

Haru & Rin had a gothic wedding.

Momiji & Rin got very close after the curse broke and they bond over fashion a lot.

Momiji curses in German.

Yuki once set a fire in his apartment in college and Kakeru had to put it out.

The former cursed Sohmas and their friends & significant others do meet up for New Years but it’s almost never at the main estate.

Ayame remembers everyone’s birthday and sends each Sohma a very long text message to wish them a happy birthday.

I love how some of the ships that have intrigued me are moon-coded in their essence. I am going to talk about three such ships—Jinmao (TAD), Giyushino (KnY) and Yuchi (Fruba). Two of these ships are canon, and the other is a fanon ship. But what I like about these ships is how their dynamic resembles the moon in terms of literary interpretation: subtle, quiet, serene, turbulent, phased, and layered with angst...

Jinmao is THE romance of their universe, Yuchi appears in the story at a later stage, and Giyushino, being a fanon ship, is all about interpretation of the dynamic....Hence, these dynamics can be compared to the moon in different ways and different capacities...

And this is what I have tried to do. I will be happy to know if you have any other ships that carry this subtext but I am always fascinated with characters or ships that carry lunar essence....

🥀🌙Moon as an Allegory: Jinmao🌙🥀

I have to be honest about Jinshi being a moon-coded character took a little while for me to accept, especially when I watched anime. Here was Jinshi, a charming, panicking peacock trying to get a woman whose poison experiments endanger her life, so moon was not his personality type. It was not until I read light novels (and watched the later season) did I understand how closely moon resembles Jinshi's life. Jinshi moves as sunshine among his people and circle but lives as an embodiment of moon.

His character's poetry is not just passionate, it is calming. His presence is gravitating for Maomao's life, a guide which makes her look at the night of her life in a more open manner (a part of her life she doesn't want to acknowledge)...

Jinshi's waning and waxing phases of guilt, passion, love and awe are a perfect symbol, befitting his title as the Moon Prince. Jinshi meets Maomao as a peacock— charming, annoying and a little too unbecoming— but as Maomao spends more time with Jinshi, she realises that beneath peacock's extroverted-self resides a moonlight-like steadiness.

I don't like how fandom ignores the fact that one of the main things that made Maomao gravitate towards Jinshi was his anchored presence in her life, and not just the material things he does for her. She had someone who is going to be with her through thick and thin—quietly, without making much out of it. And this is something she is going to realise someday with full force (and I will be waiting!!)

Here is the moon illuminating the existence of those he comes across while itself struggling with the burden of light he carries to literally fill the entire empty night sky with light, so that people looking up to him for direction don't get lost...

Jinshi is not just the crown prince, he is also the only sensible choice for taking the crown...The moon may disappear from the sky, it may shrink into a crescent but night travellers cannot rely on stars for long, it has to return as it is the most credible source of illumination... The moon has to return to its job no matter how far it tries to erase its existence...

And here comes Maomao....She is the wilderness. She is the wilderness of valleys and mountains who enthralls the moon with varieties her free spirit resides in. The wilderness that matches the loneliness of the moon with the spirit of life...Yes, illuminating the vast, empty night sky for others can be a lonesome and heavy task but when the moon watches the forests sway and wilderness dance within the trees and flowers, it knows life is acknowledging its existence... Watching the forests in valleys and mountains come to life in the din of night is a rewarding experience, it makes the duty of the moon more bearable...It has so much to look forward to in terms of the wilderness of nature, so much to understand...Jinmao is very 'forest-in-a-full-moon' coded...In these forests, lie secrets and layers the moon has no access to but it has time to understand...It has something to look forward to even after disappearing from the sky...It knows the wilderness of nature will be teeming with stories and it has eternity to watch them unravel....

And for the wilderness? The moon makes the nights more bearable, less scary... Wilderness may dance and reside in these mountains and valleys irrespective of the moon but the night carries in itself some haunting tales and crushing horrors which can subdue the free spirit... But with the Moon illuminating the night sky with its quiet and glowing existence, it makes night more temporal rather than fixation...A free spirit that hops these vast swatches of land is safer from the dangers of night when it knows the moon itself remains the guardian!

Hence for Jinmao, Moon is a transcendental allegory of life itself!

🥀🌙🥀🌙🥀🌙🥀🌙🥀🌙🥀🌙🥀🌙🥀🌙🥀🌙🥀🌙🥀🌙🥀🌙

～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～

🌊🌙Moon as a Metaphor: Giyushino🌙🌊

Now this is a fanon ship, and canon honestly does not have much on them but I want to talk about how Shinobu and Giyuu's first scenes happen in a moonlit night. I am almost a decade late in making these parallels but I wanted to talk about how the moon is their ship dynamic, at least in an abstract way. Both of their lives are smokescreen for a deeper survivor's guilt. Shinobu is a mystery, so is Tomioka in his own way. While she carried an eerie charm when she was introduced, his introduction was more cold and intimidating. But in that arc, full moon night acted as a good setting for how this dynamic would be viewed in fandom— poetic, angsty and silently consuming....

Shinobu's story in retrospect makes her being introduced in night time an interesting choice (all other Hashira were introduced in daylight)...Her character is a poetry of sorts and in this ship, she is the moon-coded - serene, calm and hardly dazzling. She is not like Rengoku whose positivity blazes like sun or like Tengen who amps you up like fireworks, she is quieter in her effect but she shines, like a glimmer of hope in vast night sky for those who are dependent on her. Add angst to their ship's depiction and you have a dynamic piercing through the souls in a quiet way.

She pesters Tomioka but not in an overwhelming way, in a more subtle way. She has a ripple effect on his seemingly stoic exterior and she is the first one we see impact Tomioka in a way that makes us realise his facial expressions can go beyond deadpan! She gets on his nerves and we realise poor Giyuu might be more on intimidated side than one intimidating others!

Some people say Giyushino is very ocean and moon coded, and I could not disagree...Shinobu is like the moon, waning and waxing, hung upon an ocean which is Giyuu's whole life. However, she carries deep loneliness despite her shine illuminating the night for others (esp as a healer) and the only one who could have recognised the depth of that loneliness is the ocean. The ocean is the only one that can make the moon watch its reflection. And this is how fandom brings out the angst in this dynamic. Both are doomed, the moon cannot meet the ocean but its existence will forever be reflected on its surface and the ocean will never reach the moon despite acting as its mirror....

This is their tragedy. She will not always be there, and the ocean will live with or without her but god oh god, only the moon has this quiet way of creating turbulence in the heart of the ocean in the dead of the night!

So, for this ship, Moon acts as a metaphor of doom and mirrors that carried angst, guilt and a quiet depth that could see the other but not meet it...

🌙🌊🌙🌊🌙🌊🌙🌊🌙🌊🌙🌊🌙🌊🌙🌊🌙🌊🌙🌊🌙🌊🌙🌊

～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～

🍁🌙Moon as an Analogy: Yuchi🌙🍁

Fruits Basket is one masterclass in story-telling and as much as I love Kyo and Tohru, honestly I would not have minded her ending with Yuki also. I think Fruits Basket is one anime where you really need story to reach a certain point before you can decide your opinion on implied ships becoming canon. And once you reach that point, you are like oh that makes sense.

However, when Machi was introduced and she had her first rather turbulent intro with Yuki, I was immediately interested even before knowing whether this ship was canon.

Yuki and Machi are the moon-coded dynamic in their universe. They both are again smoke-screen like characters, hiding a consuming guilt beneath their unaffected calm but they both are also meeting in two different stages of their journey. They are more moon-coded in the aftermath than the implied way...Yuki, as the moon-coded character, has borrowed his light (healing) from sunlight (Tohru)... Also, like the moon, he has his legion of admirers who will rave about his poise and write him poems...He meets Machi who has been left empty by the people surrounding her. She is like a barren desert that meets the moon after a scorching day time...He is not the blazing sun, he is like a moon anchoring her, providing the relief she needs after suffering through the day...

He is also the moon to her snow-cladden nights, where the moon may not melt the ice but it surely illuminates it....

Both Machi and Yuki carry similar stillness and emptiness in themselves but Yuki meets Machi like a lonely moon meets the barren desert— scintillating, quiet and healing...She recognises his emptiness despite the admiration from the observers (aka his Prince Yuki facade), she sees the night surrounding him and his emptiness craving sun's warmth. But he has already borrowed light (healing) from the sun, and there are others who need sun more than the moon..So, he has to stop asking too much. And Machi is not someone who can give anything to Yuki, she is herself void. But she can give him acknowledgement and that is what changes everything...

On the surface, a desert and a moon might not be the natural pair but only someone as deprived as desert can acknowledge the burden of loneliness and appreciate the moon for being there despite carrying the same burden. And in return the moon might not fill the emptiness but it surely illuminates the desert's existence!

And this is how Moon becomes an analogy for a dynamic laced with quiet, consuming pain and healing that starts with acknowledgement...

🍁🌙🍁🌙🍁🌙🍁🌙🍁🌙🍁🌙🍁🌙🍁🌙🍁🌙🍁🌙🍁🌙🍁🌙

～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～～⁠>⁠`⁠)⁠～⁠～⁠～

End...........

Next time, I will write about Raven and Rain-coded ships...

I don't know if people do these things anymore but somehow Tumblr has the right audience for these kinds of posts where you are doing Shakespeare-esque analysis of a high school anime ship! So, I contributed my bit to Tumblr discourse....

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