Furuba vol. 20 [Tokyopop edition]

[umadoshi]

Fruits Basket vol. 20, Tokyopop edition. Translation by Alethea & Athena Nibley, English adaptation by Lianne Sentar.

Comments

[hezziwig]

I don't forgive Akito as a character at all, but I also don't forgive Shigure. I do, however, understand a bit of what's going on there. The thing about the coming confrontation with Akito and Tohru is that it's something BOTH of them needed to have happen. Because of what they can't forgive in themselves, they need to come to terms with their other for anything else in the series to come to resolution.

Poor Momiji ;_; I love him more than anyone. I know he couldn't end up with Tohru, but it still breaks my heart.

I think what bothers me the most in this series is that it takes so long for Akito's importance to be revealed. I mean Akito is just this big mystery until you actually have to deal with large amounts of her wanton cruelty in the summer house storyline. Some manga actually finish AN ENTIRE, COMPLEX STORY in 10 volumes.

[umadoshi]

I don't forgive Shigure either, but it's a little harder to pin down exactly what he's actually responsible for. (Although if even half of my suspicions are true, then he's got a heck of a lot to answer for.) The way things play out with Akito and Tohru works for me on some levels--thematically, I guess--but it disturbs me, too. I have to keep reminding myself that Tohru was kept in the dark about a lot of things.

Momiji is incredibly wonderful. (I want to say I can't imagine anyone disliking him, but one of our Toronto friends hates him with a fiery passion. It's quite something. O_o I sort of boggle and let it be.) He doesn't inspire me to talk about him much, but it's kind of because I think his awesomeness is just spilled all over the page and speaks entirely for itself.

*ponders Akito's character development some more*

[seangaffney]

Rin's reaction to Kagura also intrigues me. I note that Rin immediately goes ballistic on seeing the punch - and I think Kagura immediately gets that striking ANYONE in front of Rin right now is a dumb mistake, even before she realizes that she hit Tohru far too hard. (I remember on first reading the chapter a while back how upset I was with Kagura for that. If you are a fighter, you should know how much stregnth you're using all the time, for Christ's sake

[umadoshi]

With Kagura and Rin, my take on it isn't just that hitting anyone in front of Rin at that point is a bad idea--I think she's got some very, very deep issues with physical violence (which adds an interesting dynamic to her falling in love with Haru, given his issues and reputation), and to me that scene is one of the most obvious indications that her parent(s) abused her physically as well as emotionally. (This is something I've been thinking about lately, since I realized that the Tokyopop version of the doctor talking to Kazuma about her in vol. 14 can be read in way that doesn't necessarily indicate physical harm

[hymnia]

Chapter 114

Huh--interesting translation difference in Rin and Tohru's conversation about their fight in ch. 108 and Tohru's decision to stay away for a while. Shadow's translation has Rin saying, "You didn't want to get asked a lot about Kyo so you didn't come, is that it?" and the Tokyopop version says, "I thought you didn't come because you don't like people attacking him."

The Madman version has: "You're worried that people might gossip about you and Kyo."

Chapter 115

When the maids are talking about Ren, and about how none of the 12shi are showing enough concern for Akito, Shadow's translation says, "...They have to be stronger. Akito as well as the 12shi", and the Tokyopop version is "We need Akito-san and the zodiac to pull things together." Which could be read as "we need them to get their act together", but it also sounds a bit like "we need them to keep things going/keep things in balance [something like that]".

Madman: "If only master Akito and the other members would get their act together."

Interesting difference:

[umadoshi]

Thanks for all the cross-referencing! ^_^ It's very neat that you have the other edition.

But to Kyo's way of thinking, if Tohru truly loves her mother, then she shouldn't love the person who "killed" her mother. Remember also what I said above, that Kyo can practically read Tohru's mind. He's using her insecurity over "losing" her mother to push her away.

That's a good point. Frustrating, but it sounds right. ^^

[snapdragon76]

Something I noticed (that I thought was kinda neat), was the parallels of the opening page of chapter 114 and chapter 115. One has Tohru looking afar (to the right) with Kyoko superimposed over and what looks to be water rippling. Captioning says, "The feeling of leaving someone behind

[umadoshi]

I do like that connection between Tohru and Akito in the chapter openings. ^_^ Their stories are so parallel at this point.

And yeah, Akira did plenty of harm to Akito in his own way. The reason Ren upsets me more is that she was so malicious about it, and I get the impression that it never occurred to Akira that he was hurting Akito. :/

[snapdragon76]

Well yeah, I was pissed about Ren's treatment of Akito as well. She did far more damage because she had more time to do so. Akira died when Akito was still quite young.

Plus, I think Akira genuinely loved Akito... unlike Ren.