Fruits Basket Episode 4 Review: What Year is She?

In Episode 4 of Fruits Basket, we meet a new character called Kagura! We spend most of the episode figuring out what zodiac she is and get to see Tohru bonding with Kagura as well as Kyo. The comedic relief is still strong but we also get some touching moments and strong themes like jealousy.

Japanese Title: なにどしの方なのですか？ (Nanidoshi no Kata nano desuka?)

Episode 4: What Year is She?

Kagura came to look for Kyo. Tohru is in awe because she is powerful and loving. Seeing her interact with Kyo makes Tohru aware that she hasn’t been in love yet. Kagura stays to make dinner for Kyo and the others, but when he refuses to eat, she throws him through the table… Tohru decides to go out with Kagura to buy new ingredients and make a new dinner together, which gives the two girls enough time to bond and make a delicious dinner for the Somas.

Highlights

From cute to rage in 0.01 seconds

I just love the comedy behind Kagura. I wouldn’t watch a full series with just her, but for this episode she was super fun!

Learning more about the curse

We learned that Kagura can hug Kyo without problems, because she is a fellow zodiac. Yuki said there are more female zodiacs and Tohru said she would think about who it could be. I would love to play detective like this too, if I didn’t already know!

We also heard something about Kyo’s ‘true form’ from Kagura. I can’t wait to hear the full story!

Kagura Triggered

Shigure had to trigger Kagura’s jealousy for Tohru. It’s not too bad, since Tohru is a master of being kind with everybody and making them their friends, but I would be scared of Kagura.

Bonding

Aside from the girls bonding, we also had Tohru and Kyo bonding on the roof of the house. Kyo was so cute!

Themes and Trivia

Jealousy

I feel like this episode the theme was jealousy. Tohru is jealous of Kagura for being genuinely in love, without doubting herself and her feelings. Kagura is jealous of Tohru for being able to be close to Kyo. Yuki is jealous of Kyo for being able to make friends easily and Kyo is jealous of Yuki because he is part of the twelve and he isn’t. And then even Shigure mentioned being jealous, though I am not completely sure why…? Is it because Kyo has a girl of his age that he could be close too, if he wanted, while Shigure is alone? Not too sure. But it was a beautiful theme through the whole episode, without getting ugly. That’s what I love about Fruits Basket!

A girl’s greatest dream

It shows that this series is old. A girl’s greatest dream is to get married? Really? To be fair, I did sometimes think about what I would wear if I ever got married. However, that was on the level of how I would think about what I would do for work if I lived in a different country or what I would study at university or what names I think I would give a pet turtle if I had one. Not really because of a big desire to get married or because I thought it was my dream. So yeah, that part of the story could have gotten an update of the script, but I won’t hold it too much against them because for many people in Japan, this is still the way that is ‘normal’ and ‘expected’.

Dokidoki Barometer

This episode it definitely was Kyo! How he talked about his passion on the roof, how shy he got when they ate. It might not have gotten out as much dokidoki as Yuki has given me, but it was so cute and a romantic scene to see them on the roof. Kyo talking normally was a good change of pace!

COMING NEXT: I’ve been fooling myself