:Episode 6-"If those people are dear to you":
(focus on Tohru, Uo-chan, Hana,chan)
All is settled now, or so you might think, with Tohru having official
permission from both sides of the concerned families (her
grand-dad and Akito-sama respectively) to stay with the Sohma
Shigure household.... but of course, Tohru still has neglected to
inform the only OTHER people she has emotional bonds with of the
pertinent fact that she has been living with the all-male Sohma
household for some time.
It's time to come clean and tell her best friends, Uo-chan and
Hana-chan, of her current living accommodations, and to tell them
- Tohru being the honest straightforward soul she is - how she came
to be rooming with the "prince" and his cousin. This episode
introduces us more intimately to the emotional bonds between Uo-chan,
Hana-chan and Tohru and - in addition - gives further insight into
Kyoko, Tohru's late mother, who had a major influence on all three
girls. It is also - to my mind - the most slapstick-comedy based
episode in the whole series (which means that
the pictures won't really show the half of it and you really ought
to finish waiting and go out and buy the DVDs available now ^^ to
see this in all its goodness).
Tohru tells her tale and her two friends immediately are deeply
suspicious of the Sohmas motives at harboring the sweet, naive Tohru
in their household:
Hana-chan (crushing a magazine
with both her hands): I wonder if we might have them allow
us over. (Tohru gasps) I'd like to see
with my own eyes whether the environment is appropriate for having
you stay with them.
Uo-chan (full of enthusiasm): That'd be
great, Hanajima! Let's go right away!
(Tohru looks on in disbelief with an open mouth)
Hana-chan: Hold on... If we suddenly show
up, they might not serve tea and snacks.
Uo-chan: You're right. We could be inconveniencing
them. 'kay then, we'll be counting on you to put us up tomorrow
night.
Tohru gives in: Y-Yeah...
(gets her energy back) Okay!
While the Sohmas do not seem to have expected this development
(I wonder if they do all their visiting within
the family, or if the whole clan is just very stand-offish),
Shigure happily enough allows Tohru to invite her friends over -
never mind the problems with the Juunishi curse:
Shigure, happily speculating:
I wonder what kind of girls Tohru's friends are.
Kyo (deadpan): A yankee and a vibe
Shigure turns to stone and his face almost falls
off while turning red.
(for the record: yankee in Japan means something like "uncouth,
rough, probably part of a gang, foreign" - Uo-chan is blonde-haired
after all)
The two boys - who know Uo-chan and Hana-chan after all - are a
bit more worried.
Kyo: Is this really
alright?
Yuki: As long as you don't do anything
stupid.
Kyo: That goes double for you, you damn
rat.
Shigure, suddenly turning serious: Ye...es...
If those two were to learn that we are possessed by the spirits
of the Juunishi, what would happen?
...At the very least I suppose that Tohru-kun would no longer be
allowed to stay in this house.
(completely going happy-go-lucky again)
Well, even so, something surely will turn up, "Que sera sera"
and all.
 When
the girls arrive they, of course, ask Shigure directly how he manages
to finance his household anyway - wouldn't want Tohru to get in
a problematic position, after all ^^. Hana-chan says "Dog!",
and the males almost die of fear that she has discovered her secret,
but there's actually a stray near the house (has Shigure been nervous
and he was called by that? After all that often happens to Kyo and
Yuki).
Everyone is completely flabbergasted that Shigure is a published
writer of good books and heartbreaking romances for women (specially
since Tohru herself didn't know he was a novelist in the first place).
I wonder if he didn't show that romance off, to get attention away
from the fact that Tohru still didn't know what the man of the house
did for work, which might have looked bad to her friends.
 Tohru
(thinking): I'm so happy. I just made another new discovery.
Uo-chan looking on in amazement at Tohru's ecstatic
face.
Since they are already on the subject of as-yet-unknown information
the Sohmas are also curious to find out how Tohru met those two
strange girls, who give off a much stronger and not really tolerant
impression to the boys.
Tohru: They saved
me. "I told you not to step on those, you dirty pug!"
(all the Sohmas look flabbergasted) When
we were in middle school. I had dropped a large number of notes...
(even more flabbergasted)
Shigure: ... You don't say...
Uo-chan: I did have plenty of energy back
then.
Yuki/Kyo: Back then?
Tohru: That's because you were still in
the ranks, Uo-chan.
(Sohma males look extremely shocked)
Uo-chan, cheerfully: Must've been. My
gang debut was in 5th grade, and all.
Tohru: You were always wearing masks,
and such.
Uo-chan: With my eyebrows thinned out,
and wearing long skirts.
Hana-chan: Oh dear. That's true even now,
Arisa.
Uo-chan: I guess you're right. Ha ha ha..
It turns out that Hana-chan loves romance novels, and therefore
puts Shigure on the spot with her demand for the next volume. He's
flattered but also unnerved by her piercing gaze, while Tohru is
just happy that her old friends and new family seem to have interests
in common: "To think that I would
be able to see everyone enjoying themselves like this!"
She thinks of the perfect way to spend the time and goes off to
fetch the necessary items, leaving the Sohmas and her friends sizing
each other up without her buffering presence.
Shigure: So then...
Saki-chan, what brought you and Tohru-kun together?
Hana-chan (in a very disturbing way):
Oh, are you sure you want to hear?
Shigure (discomfited): That is, whatever
brought you together is fine, huh? As long as you're friends now.
Hana-chan (very quiet voice): When we
were in middle school, I transferred into Tohru-kun's class, see?
Shigure: Oh? You transferred?
Hana-chan: Yes... At my previous middle
school I had caused a slight problem...
(horror on all Sohma faces, imagination seems
to be working overtime ^^)
Shigure: Well then..., I have some work
to do, so I will excuse myself. You young folks go ahead and enjoy
yourselves (whisks away out of sight).
Yuki (thinks): He ran off.
Kyo (thinks): He ran the hell away.
With everyone now knowing how Tohru came into their lives and the
preliminary checking out over, Uo-chan voices her insecurity with
the secrecy in which Tohru has acted since she met the Sohmas -
no doubt aware that Tohru herself would only stammer and blush,
if she were called to explain (how do you
explain the Juunishi curse and secrecy if you are not allowed to,
anyway?).
Uo-chan: You
know something... Tohru-kun seems to be fitting right in at this
house. I'm happy for her... and I understand why she was careful
not to say anything to us.
However, we took an oath before Kyoko-san's grave that when the
time came, we would be there to help each other. It may sound like
we overdid it, but for us, Tohru was our first pal and everything...
Tohru... Tohru and Kyoko-san, you see, gave me incredible strength.
The power to climb my way out of the places where I had fallen.
The power to believe I could change myself on my own.
When I met those two, for the first time I thought on my own...
that I wanted to change... that I wanted to be someone who could
proudly say "I am Tohru's friend".
And so this time around, the fact that I couldn't do anything for
Tohru...it bothers me.
After all with only Tohru having to go through this trouble...
is it that she can't rely on us?
Is it that she doesn't value us as friends?
Kyo:
She's not the kind of girl to worry about something like that.
Yuki:
Honda-san is someone who clearly understands other people's feelings.
And - as if to validate his opinion - she comes back with the card
game Yuki wasn't able to join in, the first time they played it
at school (in Episode
3, you might remember): Poor Man, Rich Man (Dai
Hi Min).
Yuki can only stare at her in amazement and gratitude for her thoughtfulness
and memory.
While he sits there, surprised and touched, Tohru even asks Yuki
to shuffle the cards. Which he blushingly accepts (kawaaaaaaaaaaaaaiii
^-^)
~ Eyecatch ~
From here on the episode has in my opinion the best slapstick in
all of Fruits Basket, on a par with some off the funnier Cowboy
Bebop episodes. Lots of eyecatches, lots of fast changes - you really
need to see it in action to appreciate it. The screenshots I took
should give you some impression, though.
The game gets heated very fast, not surprising with Kyo and Uo-chan
taking part. When Kyo disgustedly decides he needs a time out to
go to the bathroom, the exited Uo-chan takes it as a challenge to
block him - daaaangerous water. She bumps into him and POOF!
Kyo seems to have vanished.
That is of course, because Uo-chan isn't looking down where he's
just coming to in cat-form with all his clothes lying in a heap
around him. He manages to quietly drag his clothes to the sliding
door and jumps out into the garden, while Yuki distracts Uo-chan
with some small-talk. Tohru wants to help too, and suggest a different
game "until Kyo-kun comes back from the restroom". Uo
agrees, turns to the table and slips on Kyo's clothes lying on the
floor, starting to fall. Tohru sees this, gets up fast, slips on
the seating cushion and ALSO starts to fall. Yuki shouts for her
to be careful and throws himself below her to cushion her fall,
with the speed of the mouse - which he will become in a moment when
POOF! Tohru lands on him.
Hana-chan looks on calmly, but even she realizes that Tohru has
fallen, so she and Uo-chan run to her side. Yuki Netsumi wriggles
from under Tohru's body and runs like crazy to the garden doors
as well (you really have to see this... words
just can't describe the timing and the facial expressions).
The director used "bullet time" that slow-motion version
of time going past which Hong Kong action movies (and
movies like the Matrix) use so well - and it works here just
as brilliantly to show how everything in reality happens at the
same time.
Tohru assures her friends she's alright, realizes she's lying
on top of Yuki's clothes and desperately wraps them around her hand,
saying she didn't fall at all she was just cleaning (both
the Sohma boys of course now can't get at their clothes, even if
they turn back to human ^^) and proceeds to rub Yuki's clothes
on the floor...
Meanwhile, Yuki and Kyo still in animal-form have a stare-off
underneath the garden-porch side of the house (fortunately
Shigure's house is a traditional Japanese one, with lots of spaces
to hide, built of wood mostly).
The girls are trying to play cards, with Uo-chan complaining how
long Kyo is taking in the restroom, and that - "at some point"
Yuki has disappeared, too. Suddenly the orange paw of a cat desperately
grabs for Kyo's clothes from beneath the garden porch. Hana-chan
and her vibe-detector realize it, but fortunately Shigure shows
up again and loudly tries to distract the guests by wanting to be
part of the game, as well. He brags about how good he is, sits down
to play, when suddenly the orange cat paw changes to a human arm,
which is long enough to grab the clothes ^^. Unfortunately, both
Uo-chan and Hana-chan, have heard the "boom" sound, which
accompanied the change, and comment on it.
(We return to bullet - time)
Tohru starts to panic: This is terrible!
Kyo-kun has returned to his original form!
Shigure starts to panic: Unless something
happens, he'll be seen by those two! And what's worse, he'll be
buck naked!
Tohru has an idea: I know! For now, I'll
just throw him Sohma-kun's clothes here!
Shigure has the same idea: At any rate,
if we don't cover this up now...!
 Both
grab the clothes and try to throw it at Kyo at the same time, but
Shigure is much stronger and when he THROWS the clothes, he also
throws Tohru out the door (*ROFL*)
Shigure: This is awfully heavy... *gasp*
*look of horror* Tohru lands on top of him
POOF!
Tohru is hanging around big dog Shigure's neck, with Uo-chan and
Hana-chan looking on rather disturbed when Shigure saves the day:
"Woof!" *wags tail*
Tohru greets him with lots of warmth, acting as if he is a pet dog
coming to visit :"Pochi-san!"
... Which makes no sense to tall, dark and handsome Shigure-dog,
since he has no spots whatsoever (pochi =
spot), but he decides to go along with her, to Tohru's relief.
Hana-chan, who loves her snacks, realizes there are none left and
asks for the kitchen (she's a help-yourself
lady ^^), turns around and bumps into Kyo who has JUST managed
to get into his clothes and is returning to the living room from
the garden: POOF! (Bullet-time,
the third) Shigure tries to cover up on the effect by jumping
around and barking like mad in his dog-form, while Kyo-cat is falling
to the floor. For some reason Yuki turns audibly into a human at
the same moment, so jumping, barking Shigure grabs his clothes in
the teeth and flings them into the garden.
Outside the sliding door Kyo-cat is just catching his breath, while
Uo-chan comments on the fact that she could have sworn she just
had seen him... (the human Kyo, of course).
Shigure jumps at her and barks, when human Yuki comes in the door
and comments that Pochi might be hungry. Tohru, relieved, jumps
up to lead Shigure to the kitchen, when she almost gets a heart-attack
because Hana-chan stops her.... to ask her to bring some snacks
too. (whatever has happened to Shigure's clothes,
we do not learn :P).
In the kitchen Shigure actually
happily (tail wagging) munches some food in a dog bowl (dog food??).
Tohru: I'm so sorry. I did not intend
for this to be such an inconvenience to everyone.
Shigure *chomping*: Hey, nuffin' to abologishe
for.
Tohru: Even so...
Shigure *looking up*: Tohru-kun, if those
people are dear to you, then they are people dear to us too, you
see?
Shigure may have his manipulative, sneaky, irresponsible side,
but it is he who now makes Tohru finally realize that her "Fruits
Basket"-family also knows that this "onigiri" belongs
in there and therefore will accept her with everything that comes
with her.
Feeling very blessed inside, she wants to return to the living-room,
where Hana-chan, Uo-chan and an increasingly worried Yuki are waiting
for her to return. They look at him suspiciously, so Yuki gets up
to get Tohru.. who just returns with a plate full of round,white
Daifuku buns, and bumps into him.. POOF!
(Bullet-time, version 4, very cool jazzy
gangster-movie music in the background) So now we have a
mouse-Yuki floating in the air, covered in white rice dust, looking
exactly like one of the flying rice balls, begging Tohru to save
him, but she can't tell him from the flying buns, grabs and SQUISHES...
a bun ^^ (don't worry this part is in the
screenshots I took - it's the best slapstick of the episode).
Yuki *covered in the rest of the Daifuku buns,
crying quietly*: "Honda-san,
that's a Daifuku bun. And yet to think you squeezed it so hard that
that much bean paste came out!"
Mouse Yuki and dog Shigure are looking in the clothes dryer to
find some new clothes, but no luck. Kyo-cat is annoyed and thinks
that even if the two girls found out they could simply be made to
forget the whole mishap.
Shigure: That is
so, but would that be alright with you?
Kyo: Would what be?
Shigure: It would mean Tohru-kun's memory
would be erased as well.
*pregnant silence all around, all three look
at each other*
Kyo *exasperated*: I can manage something
in the way of clothes!
We next see Kyo-cat with a set of THREE changes of clothing tied
around his neck (don't ask me how :P),
running out of his room upstairs, jumping down the stairs like crazy
(with the moon and stars as the background
of his will to make it!), when the door to the living-room
opens and Uo-chan plus Hana-chan come out, while he runs down the
hallway.
Uo-chan hasn't seen him and is almost on top of him (Bullet-time,
again) when Hana-chan warns her, and Shigure-dog grabs Kyo-cat
by the neck and drags him to safety into the living-room, crossing
the room in one jump into the hedges of the garden - dog, cat and
three changes of clothes!
Uo-chan hadn't even seen Kyo-cat, but Hana-chan tells her what
she almost stepped on ("An orange
cat, with clothes tied around his neck... *Tohru
freezes in shock, not having seen any of it*... being carried
in the mouth of a dog... who went that way").
Looking into the garden, a naked Shigure (lower
half hidden by a bush) is using blue jeans as a "dry
town rub-down" to throw the girls off the scent, while an also
naked Kyo looks on in disgust.
~ Eyecatch ~
The three girls get ready for bed in Tohru's room, when Hana-chan
comments on what a nice bed it is, which makes Tohru hurry to point
out that Shigure has bought it especially for her (it's
all frilly and pink).
Uo-chan:Huh? What
is he? A grandfather celebrating his first grand-child?
Hana-chan: That's precisely how it appears,
isn't it
When Uo-chan tells Tohru to ask for some more girl stuff as long
as she's staying there, Tohru points out that she doesn't want to
overdo it.
 Tohru:
I've just barely realized what a lucky person I am. *remembering
Shigure: Tohru-kun, if those people are dear to you, then they are
people dear to us too, you see?* I am able to live together
with the Sohmas, and I have you, Uo-chan and Hana-chan, as two wonderful
friends, after all.
Having you always so kindly at my side...
And how much support that gives to me...
If I'm not properly grateful for it all, I will jinx it. I love
you.
Uo-chan and Hana-chan remember Kyo and Yuki:
*Kyo: She's not the kind of girl to worry about something like that.
Yuki: Honda-san is someone who clearly understands other people's
feelings.*
Uo-chan: They do understand her, completely.
Hana-chan:Yes, they do. Tohru-kun is that
kind of girl, isn't she.
Tohru looks surprised.
Hana-chan: Invincible love.
Uo-chan:That's right.
Tohru:Yes...
~ Eyecatch ~
Next morning Tohru is preparing breakfast when a sleep-drunk Yuki
bumps his head into Kyo, who is drinking milk. Tohru compliments
him on not attacking a half-asleep Yuki, although he wants to fight
him so badly. Honest Kyo admits to her that a half-asleep Yuki is
lethal. Which makes Tohru realize he HAS already attempted an attack.
Kyo gets angry thinking about the fact that this fact means Yuki
usually holds back on him when he's awake and gets hit by a now-fully-awake
Yuki, who couldn't sleep through his temper-tantrum.
Kyo keeps challenging him and Yuki keeps putting Kyo off coolly,
when Hana-chan silently appears in the kitchen and shocks them into
freezing with her comment that the two are exactly like Cat and
Mouse. Arisa agrees. Hana-chan compares them to "Tom and Jerry"
cartoons. Both Yuki and Kyo get to grips with the fact that they
forgot they still had guests.
While Arisa thinks that it's rather loud, Hana-chan points out
that the house still seems to be pleasant enough, which makes her
happy, as she had planned a variety of things to do if it had turned
out otherwise (*grin*). However:
Hana-chan:"You
two have considerably... fine vibes."
Yuki/Kyo: "Huh?"
(Shigure listens through the sliding door, alert)
Hana-chan:"Oh, you're unaware? That
too is fine."
Arisa: "Well, we're counting on you
to be nice to her."
Hana-chan:"Tohru-kun, that is."
Tohru's eyes are swimming with happy tears, Yuki
and Kyo look on surprised.
Arisa:"We'll come visiting again,
soon."
Hana-chan:"Indeed. I'd like to pursue
the matter of the unusual vibes about the Sohma family itself."
Kyo gets exasperated just thinking of how much could go wrong again,
although Tohru tries to promise it will all go much smoother because
she will be more careful and because "Uo-chan
and Hana-chan are both really, really good people, so please!!".
Kyo didn't expect her to take his grumbling so seriously, so both
Yuki and him look at her perplexed.
Kyo:"Fine,
whatever you want."
Yuki:"They are Honda-san's friends
after all, right?"
Tohru *beaming all over her face*: "Yes!"
Shigure, alone in the living room, opens his morning paper and...
smiles to himself.
~ END OF EPISODE
to watch a slideshow of the most interesting moments in
Episode 6. You better bring some time though, since the images are
of good quality ;-)
Back to the Top  |
