About Willow, And The Difference Between Forgiving And Forgetting

Yang : Do you want to play 20 Questions ?

Blake : Sure ! What's your favorite color ?

Yang, *laser fucking focused* : Triangle. Do you like girls ?

THEY'RE BABIES YOUR HONOR !!!

wooo v8 pog

I just think that Winter

“Winter’s having a real bad time huh“ [Source]

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Fruits Basket is not about “the power of unconditional love” 

People say a lot of things about Fruits Basket and its themes and Tohru as a character. They say it’s about “the power of love” or the importance of “unconditional love” or “love and forgiveness”. Then they say that Tohru as the main character exemplifies these themes.  

But let’s really think about this. 

Fruits Basket is not about the power of love, or unconditional love, or forgiveness. 

Now Fruits Basket does have a lot to say about empathy, but it says both positive and negative things about it, and at most it is one subtheme of the larger themes of the narrative. 

People will say Furuba is about “love and forgiveness” and even just the positive side of “empathy” because they see this as what Tohru displays. Particularly they feel this is what Tohru displays as her “saving power” in the first climatic moment of the story’s end where she talks to Akito and offers her a hand in friendship. 

But “unconditional love” or “forgiveness” isn’t what Tohru has going for her in this scene that allows for such a powerful start of a resolution with Akito’s character. Nor is it ultimately empathy. Yes, Tohru has a lot of empathy for Akito in this scene, but as stated above, this is at best a subtheme of something larger going on that is the much more powerful play in the story. 

The true crux of this moment in the story is that Tohru relates to Akito. That of course leads to understanding, which leads to empathy, but it’s what Tohru relates to Akito about which is the main driving theme and purpose of the scene and the overall narrative of Furuba. 

Firstly, let’s acknowledge that Tohru isn’t empathizing with Akito in this scene simply because she has some otherworldly power that makes her “unconditionally love” even the most awful of villains. She relates to Akito because she isn’t relating to her as a “villain”, she’s relating to her as herself. Tohru is seeing herself as a villain and understanding her own flaws through Akito. Tohru is having a moment of personal development and growth as she faces down Akito with a knife - Tohru’s focus is as much on herself as it is on Akito. This is even more clear in the manga where these scenes between the two of them have tons of internal dialog from Tohru, where the bulk of it is about her own issues currently going on (with Kyo and her mother) and very little about Akito in front of her. She is talking to herself as she talks to Akito. Tohru is only able to understand where Akito is coming from at this moment because she recognizes that she has been coming from the same place - the untenable desire to hold onto unconditional and everlasting bonds. 

Now let’s talk about that theme. “The untenable desire to hold onto unconditional and everlasting bonds”. Note the word “unconditional”. Now there are a lot of dimensions to the Bond, but one key piece is that the Bond in Fruits Basket is an “unconditional love”. The Zodiac are bonded to (and love) God no matter what God does. There is also bitterness and hatred there after years and years and being bound by this feeling. But that “unconditional love” is supposed to overpower all other conditions - bitterness, oppression, abuse, desire, freedom, individuality. And it does. That’s why the Bond works, because it demands “unconditional love” from it’s members, and is set up to enforce it as the primary feeling they experience. 

So saying that Fruits Basket is about the “(positive) power of unconditional love” could not be further from the truth. Saying that this what Tohru “saves” Akito with could not be further from the truth. The story recognizes that which is unconditional and everlasting as something negative - love included - and, ultimately, impossible. The love between God and the Zodiac. The love Tohru tried to create between herself and her deceased mother. Tohru doesn’t reach Akito through a display of “unconditional love”. She reaches Akito through a recognition and a mutual acknowledgement that “unconditional love” does not exist. 

“It is terrifying to exist in this world, with no guarantee that I’ll be loved”. 

When Tohru offers Akito her hand in friendship, she is showing her that relationships (love) do not have to be unconditional in order to exist. At first, Akito rejects Tohru, saying that the first time she does anything undesirable, Tohru will reject her. Tohru doesn’t say anything and she doesn’t object to what Akito has said. She simply offers her hand again. She is not telling Akito that “I will accept you no matter what” - she is telling Akito that even without a guarantee, it is worth a try. That things don’t have to be unconditional and everlasting and frozen in time in order to exist or be worthwhile. Akito is terrified that if she leaves one absolute (the Bond and the love it guarantees her) then she can only possibly be met with the opposite absolute (no bond, no relationships, and no love ever in her life). Tohru is showing her that this isn’t true. Right here, now, she is offering Akito a chance to form a new relationship - one that may be imperfect, conditional, and limited in scope and time, but nevertheless real. 

This is what Fruits Basket is about. It is about ambiguity and change. It is about the lack of guarantees. The existence of both light and dark. The fallacy of absolutes. The false dichotomies we let rule our lives. 

So there is no absolute love. There is no absolute forgiveness. There is no absolute empathy. Tohru is not a character who, in the end, embodies any of those things. Tohru embodies hope in impermanence and the importance of change - and only after she’s learned to embrace those things herself when her character has been fighting against them for so long, just like Akito. - Mod Red (Christa) 

I saw a post today that really saddened me and so I felt the need to put this out there for everyone. Fandoms can be a lot of fun, but not always, so in case you needed to hear that today...

You're allowed to like any character.

You'll never be a bad person for liking X. Liking a character doesn't mean you condone their actions. You're allowed to find an antagonist interesting. You're allowed to find comfort in a controversial character. You're allowed to love a character and it never gives anyone the right to attack you or ruin your day.

You're allowed to like or find comfort in Enji Todoroki or Akito Soma. You're allowed to like or wish things had gone differently for James Ironwood or Raven Branwen. You're allowed to like Edelgard or Dimitri despite their flaws. Liking a character doesn't make you an abuser. Liking a character doesn't make you a bootlicker. It doesn't make you a fascist. It doesn't mean you're down for murder. It doesn't make you a bad person.

You can like anyone for so many reasons. It doesn't mean you agree with them or condone their actions. It doesn't reflect on who you are as a person.

Don't attack people for simply liking a character. You have NO IDEA why they do or what's going on in their lives. Be kind to each other. We watch & read & play to have fun, to comfort ourselves. We go on Tumblr or Twitter or Instagram to find kinship. What's the point if we become each others' enemy ?

You can disagree about characters, you can find their actions appaling, you can argue that X character is a terrible person. That's fine ! Some characters ARE terrible people and their bad actions aren't acknowledged enough. But you DON'T get to hurt or wish harm upon someone for simply liking a character.

BE KIND.

This is the right mood to approach fanfics with

Do I like reading about my fav in distress/anguish ? Yes. Do I like reading about my fav in distress/anguish if there is no comfort & happy ending afterwards ? NO wtf ??? Who are you monster ?? Give them hope, give them therapy, give them love or istg -

I want angst but if it doesn’t have a happy ending I no longer want it

Eda learning about Luz’s dad for a kofi ;;