It’s probably been obvious in my posts, but my enthusiasm for Fruits Basket 2019 has been waning a bit in recent weeks.  There just hasn’t been a lot of spark to this adaptation – it has the air of something that’s trying too hard to be (literally) by the books.  Last week’s episode – while fine – may have marked a low ebb, because its 2001 counterpart was so surpassingly great.  If a chunk of it was anime-original, who the hell cares?  Not all change is bad, and this franchise is living proof of that.

However, my spirits were really lifted by this week’s ep, because for the first time since probably April I really felt the tingle of electricity in the air watching this show.  Because this version is so faithful its fortunes are naturally going to be closely tied to the quality of whatever sections of the manga it’s adapting, but there was more to it than that.  This episode was crisp, sharp, visually and tonally impactful from the first frame to the last.  Lots of reasons for that (I’ll get to one of them in a minute) but it’s good to be reminded that this staff is capable of delivering an ep like that.

The first day of school is a common enough theme in anime, but there’s an additional import to this one in that two new Sohmas are entering into the daily routine of the narrative.  I wasn’t a huge fan of Haru’s first appearance in this version (the whole screaming feud with Kyou was tiresome) but he really works here – we see a much more interesting side to him.  He acts the big brother towards Momiji, generally plays it cool, and comes down hard on student council president Takei Makoto (the always entertaining Fukushima Jun) when he harasses Momiji for wearing a girl’s uniform.  In short, Haru’s appeal is really apparent here in a way it wasn’t when we first met him.

As for Momiji, he is indeed wearing a girl’s uniform – which not only the president but also Yuki and Kyou heartily disapprove of.  As usual, Momiji plays his self-assigned role to the hilt, but the iceberg metaphor is never far from the surface for me when Moniji is concerned.  The A-part has a lot of humor (a nice touch was Kyou reading shoujo manga) and it was unusually effective for this series – stuff like Haru’s method of proving to the prez that his hair color was natural (and Tohru not getting it) has been the sort of material this version has tended to flub, but for whatever reason the comedy really worked this week.  A hopeful sign, to be sure.

However, it’s the whiplash contrasts in tone that really define Furuba as a series, and this episode was a prime example.  It’s never overkill to repeat just how incredible a seiyuu Sakamoto Maaya is, whether playing girls or boys (or TBDs) – in a cast generally lacking standout performers, Sakamoto absolutely stands out.  As soon as Akito arrives on the scene everything changes.  Even when Akito is being friendly with Tohru, there’s still a sense of menace hanging in the air (thanks in no small part to Sakamoto).  All the younger Sohmas are on edge where Akito is concerned, but it’s obviously Yuki that’s most unhinged by Akito’s presence.

While we very often see Yuki and Kyou defend Tohru, it’s nice to see the converse happen for a change.  Tohru’s intervention as Akito is terrorizing Yuki is somewhat out of character, but she can see the profound agony this is for Yuki and she acts on instinct.  Details on what happened in the past aren’t forthcoming of course, but it’s pretty clear Yuki underwent something truly harrowing and that it remains a burden on him to this day.  That he doesn’t trust Akito around Tohru is obvious – based on what we see of his memories, there’s absolutely no reason he should.