The “tale of two halves” syndrome is a very common one with Fruits Basket 2019.  When it gives us split stories almost invariably one of them features the good part of the cast and one doesn’t, and so it was here.  But the good parts are often enough to sustain you, if you store the positivity like camels store water in a hump to sustain them through the desert.

The setting for this episode is mostly Kyoto (and a bit of Nara) courtesy of the school trip (which disproportionately take place in Kyoto, both in real life and manga).  That sets the stage for some nice bonding in Arashiyama between Kyou and Tohru, both of whom had forgotten about the trip altogether until Yuki reminded them (which I find a bit hard to believe, to be honest).  Arashiyama is home to the famous Nonomiya Shrine, which – as it’s known as a place to pray for success in relationships – is an extremely popular confession spot.  And Kyou proves surprisingly popular himself, both with two and four-legged suitors.

Kyou of course has no interest in either – which Yuki reassures Tohru of.  But when Kyou tells Tohru it was “none of her business” what he was talking about with unnamed girl, this is one of those rare occasions when I agree with Yuki.  He realizes why this is painful for Tohru, even if neither she or Kyou seem to have admitted it to themselves yet.  But it’s a small blip for the two of them, really.  Eventually they end up paired off together, and as always the contrast in intimacy and familiarity when the two of them are together makes a striking contrast to her times with Yuki.  Kyou always seems to know what Tohru is thinking, and by now he’s become relaxed enough around her to allow himself to smile almost at will and even initiate physical contact.

I don’t like Yuki but I do feel bad for him in the literary sense.  His scenes almost always seem to come down either to Yuki by himself, obsessing over his own feelings, or Yuki paired off with one of the two annoying subsets of the cast he’s tethered to.  It’s no wonder his material tends not to be especially strong, because while Kyou and Tohru’s arcs are built around their interaction with each other and deepening relationship, Yuki’s is almost entirely inward-looking.

It is sort of interesting to speculate on Yuki’s mindset when it comes to Tohru and Kyou.  Frankly I don’t remember it being this obvious in the first anime who the real couple was – that Yuki seemed to have a lot of fight in him, but this one seems rather resigned.  There are really three possibilities here – Yuki doesn’t have romantic feelings for Tohru, he does but has admitted defeat to Kyou, or he’s playing possum and waiting for his chance.  I can’t really answer for spoiler reasons, but I think a deeper perusal of the tea leaves makes is possible to discern which reading is most correct…