I love how no two Sohma are alike. During last week’s episode, we met Ritsu Sohma, a young man with crippling anxiety and a fondness for women’s clothing. This week we met Hiro Sohma, a puffed-up little prince, who just so happens to be the sheep of the Sohma zodiac. I’ve always had a soft spot towards princely characters, and whilst Hiro has a sharper tongue than most, he’s no exception…
Strange anime crushes, we all have them. Some of us, myself included, even have a whole host of them. If pouring through all of the objects of my affection has taught me anything it’s that, rare is it that I’m actually attracted to anybody nice and normal. No, it seems I have a disturbing (and somewhat embarrassing) predilection towards literal monsters, the mentally unstable, the arrogant or otherwise overconfident, or anybody in possession of a nice, fluffy tail. Below are five more of these far from wholesome crushes…
Like a Sohma sushi bar, Fruits Basket is keeping those introductions coming one after the other, as if by conveyor belt. Following Kisa’s introduction during last week’s episode, this week we’re introduced to the monkey of the zodiac: Ritsu. After Kagura, Ritsu is probably my second least favourite Sohma. It will come as no surprise to you, then, that I didn’t particularly like this episode. Despite that, I still have plenty to say about it!
Late at night, while camping out in the hillsides of their hometown, brothers, Hibito and Mutta Nanba, spot what they think is a UFO whizzing its way to the moon. Awestruck, Hibito and Mutta vow to, one day, become astronauts and travel to the moon together themselves. Fast forward 20 years later and Hibito, the younger brother, is well on his way to achieving that dream. Mutta, meanwhile, is chronically unemployed. But could some meddling on the part of his parents, who send his resume to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), be about to change all that? Space Brothers, which first aired in 2012, is a feel-good anime about two brothers supporting and encouraging each other to achieve their shared dream, overcoming the many obstacles that stand in their way. If my synopsis wasn’t enough to convince you to watch this hidden gem, I hope that my review (which you’ll find below) is!
We’ve seen her in every OP and ED since episode one, but during this week’s episode we finally got to meet the littlest (and, arguably, the cutest) Sohma: the tiger of the zodiac, Kisa. It’s a happy coincidence that Kisa’s episode should fall on the very same week I take a look at another victim of bullying: March Comes In Like A Lion’s Hina Kawamoto. It’s interesting that, while the two girls handled it in two very different ways, Hina loudly and defiantly challenging her bullies, Kisa silently bearing up under the weight of her pain, I really think that one was no more or no less brave than the other. It would be easy to argue that Kisa, unlike Hina, (literally) ran away from her problems, but I would argue, even more strongly, that she was, in her own way, just as brave…
