Fruits Basket 2nd Season – 08

I think there’s an inverse ratio between the length of any Kagura appearance and the quality of the episode she appears in (the ones she doesn’t are exempted of course).  Any time I know Kagura is on the menu I’m prepared for the ep to be a washout, but this was pretty solid on the whole – and Kagura disappearing after about 4 minutes (and even more important, never interacting with Kyou) surely had a lot to do with that.

It should be pretty obvious that Akito is the main driver for everything that happens to this cursed family.  The delight Akito clearly takes in forcing everyone else to accommodate is obvious, but we’ve really only hit the appetizer stage (even for this arc).  There’s still the mysterious Kureno, who Akito alternately insults and guards like a precious treasure, and who seems to silently play along with either.  There’s Haru, who Akito delights in toying with a bit this week but seems far less intimidated than most of his cousins.  And of course Yuki, who may be more under Akito’s thumb emotionally than anyone, no matter how he pretends otherwise.

Yuki would be a lot easier for me to sympathize with, honestly, if he weren’t so damn unlikeable most of the time.  His interactions with Kyou are always shameful, but the thing is he seems to have no idea of what his behavior looks like (which is sort of understandable given how much people like Haru and his school harem fellate his ego).  He plays his part to a “T” with Tohru, but as usual her conversations with Kyou are far more illuminating.  The tidbit of information that his rosary is made of human bone (supposedly) is an interesting one.

The arrival of Rin (Isuzu) on the scene – in zodiac form – is a potential wild card here.  Rin insists that Yuki keep presence a secret but she’s not the disappearing into the woodwork type.  The real fireworks, potentially, come from the planned meeting between Akito and Kyou.  This will be a real test for Kyou – he knows full what Akito thinks of him, and what he can expect from that meeting.  Will he give what Akito wants – anger and despair – or has his time with Tohru changed him enough to where he can take Akito’s abuse and turn the other cheek?

Kitsutsuki Tanteidokoro – 07

What is it about Japanese mysteries and two-sen copper coins?  All in all this was one of the more interesting “mysteries” so far, thou as usual with Kitsutsuki Tanteidokoro it’s really more about the characters than the weekly puzzlers.  We have a robbery at a company pulled off by a fake newspaper reporter, a trick coin, and Kindaichi0-san displaying some rather endearing delusions of grandeur.

I’m frankly surprised Kindaichi managed to sustain his embargo against Ishikawa-san for as long as he did – it was the Oen-san incident that really drove him more so than the money.  It was pretty adorable that even as Kindaichi thought he was taking the lead in solving the mystery of the stolen ¥5000 (when in reality he was dancing on Ishikawa’s strings), he still brought in Mirai-kun, the other resident genius in the group, to help him along.

It seems pretty obvious (though it’s never expressly stated) that Ishikawa-san actually did find the money and claim the reward (I don’t know how he would have paid for the Kindaichi bills otherwise), though it’s unlike him not to bask in the glory.  Perhaps he really was concerned about the thief looking for revenge after he gets out.  There seems to be a trend here, with large companies being targeted for disruption – but a more immediate issue is Ishikawa’s health.  Presumably he has tuberculosis, which would align with the historical record, and explain the prologue from the first episode.  Kindaichi will fret over him as usual, I’m sure, but there’s not much even he would be able to do for Ishikawa if that’s indeed the case.  We may see Kitsutsuki take a decidedly darker turn over these last five episodes.