As I pondered this week’s Manga Moveable Feast, my thoughts naturally turned to poor old Yuki Sohma, one of the lead characters of Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket (Tokyopop). I can’t help but think of him as “poor old Yuki,” even though he has as nice an outcome as just about anyone in the manga. So why is that?
Well, it’s partly Takaya’s fault. For roughly the first half of the series, Yuki is enmeshed in a fairly intense love triangle with his outcast cousin, Kyo, and Tohru, the good-hearted orphan who’s changing the family’s dark destiny. At the midway point of the series, it becomes clear to readers (and Yuki) that he’s out of the running in that particular contest.
Of course, Takaya loves her characters, no matter how vile they may be, and, since Yuki is about as far from vile as any Sohma gets, Takaya uses the remainder of the series to present a series of consolation prizes. Yuki isn’t really central to the breaking of the family curse, but he can live his life in ways that support the value of breaking that curse. As I mentioned in comments on a previous post, there are two subsets of anti-curse folk in Fruits Basket. There are the aggressive, special-ops types like Tohru, Rin, and Shigure who actually take steps to end the damned thing.
Then there’s the “lead by example” type, the “live your lives, go to Disneyland, buy a new car” breed, embodied by Yuki. He may suspect that the rest of his life will be dominated by Sohma sorrow, but for now, he’s going to live as much on his own terms as he can. This is perfectly admirable, though it removes Yuki from the most emotionally resonant part of the narrative. And it forces him into frequent contact with his school’s student council. I get the point of this group, I really do; they’re “real” people outside of the Sohma bubble who have things to teach Yuki. I don’t even dislike them, except for Kimi, who refers to herself in the third person and hence must be destroyed.
And when you learn about Yuki’s specific pain, you want him to keep walking and never look back, no matter how many Kimis he stumbles across along the way.
Now, just about everyone in the series aside from Tohru had parents, particularly mothers, who couldn’t hold it together. They were either too weak to deal with their children’s tragedies, or they were too craven to care. Yuki’s mother falls into the latter category, and, Ren excluded, she’s probably as horrible as a parent gets in Takaya’s fictional universe. The worst thing about her is that her values are the exact opposite of what her sons need to be happy.
But, as I said, Yuki doesn’t let that deter him from pursuing his own values, even in the face of romantic disappointment. It’s perhaps appropriate that he breaks the curse cycle in a number of meaningful ways before the curse itself concludes, because Yuki is the type to do things on his own. That’s poor old Yuki’s burden, but it’s also his strength.
I dearly love Yuki, and I love how you’ve classed his independence as both burden and strength. True, he is forced to dwell outside the main emotional narrative there at the end, but if anyone fills me with heartbursting pride at their personal accomplishments, it’s Yuki.
I would like to add that Kyo’s father is an especially wretched human being, too, though a more pathetic one.
As I mentioned in comments on a previous post, there are two subsets of anti-curse folk in Fruits Basket. There are the aggressive, special-ops types like Tohru, Rin, and Shigure who actually take steps to end the damned thing … Then there’s the “lead by example” type, the “live your lives, go to Disneyland, buy a new car” breed, embodied by Yuki.
I saw the comment you made earlier on this topic, and it really helped put into words some thoughts I’ve had about Yuki’s story in particular. I’m really glad you made this distinction. You’re exactly right.
I also spent a lot of the last half of the story thinking, “poor old Yuki,” though I admitted to Michelle in our Off the Shelf column (still in-progress) just now how much I like Machi, who I suspect is one of the “consolation prizes” you’re talking about. More on that when the column goes up later tonight.
Machi most assuredly is, but the nicest thing that Takaya gives to Yuki, which is also one of the sneakily meanest, funniest things, is when she lets him tell Tohru that, yeah, he thought he was in love with her, but then he realized he was just looking for a non-horrible mommy, which was both totally sincere and kindly meant and kind of a diss at the same time. So… yeah. Loved that.
Ha! Yes, you’re completely right.
The whole relationship between Machi and Yuki goes down as probably my third faviourte relationship in the sereis. After number two arisa and Kirno (IMO latter day Kyoko and Katsuya) and number one Rin and Haru. Machi was just so much the female version of Yuki and seeing Yuki help her come out of her shell as he comes out of his was another nice bit in the sereis but I disgress.
I did notice that Yuki was kind of not being part of the main story towards the end. That the more the story progressed, the more it was focusing away from him. He for a while was one of the main cast that pushed the series but then he started to getting away from them. What you said really does makes sense about being ‘independent’ and shows something about Yuki. Still now I can’t help but think ‘poor old Yuki’ and his consolation prizes with Machi being one of them.
At the time, following the Japanese scans from my copies of Hana to Yume and watching internet chatter, I was upset about where Yuki was going. I certainly didn’t ship Tohru/Yuki, but I thought it was utterly unfair. But it was one of those things, later on (and actually, um, reading it) seemed so perfect, reflecting back on the story to that point. Yuki got to grow up, and out of the Sohmas in a way beyond having the curse broken.
I’m also fascinated by the evolution of the relationship between Yuki and his brother Ayame, and not just because Ayame is awesome.
I never saw Yuki’s conclusion as a series of consolation prizes. I think it’s clear very early on that the pairing is Kyo/Tohru. Yuki is only awkwardly in the running until he finds his own path. It’s awkward because he’s not meant to pursue her that way. He says so himself. What is it, volume 6 or 7 when Kyo’s true form is revealed? That’s the point Yuki realizes that Tohru isn’t meant for him in that way, though I think he also mentions later on that any time he tried to see her as a romantic interest, he felt strange about it. It just took him some time to realize where she did fit into his life. Tohru is one of his first real experiences with someone of the opposite sex, so it’s only natural that he’s drawn to her, I think. And it’s natural that he doesn’t really understand his feelings, because he’s never experienced feelings like that before.
Both Kyo and Yuki were in love wit her for a long time, for different reasons and through different experiences. Yuki loved her because she saved him as a child, but in a way, I think that event built her up in his mind and put her on a bit of a pedestal. With Kyo, he falls in love with Tohru through Kyoko’s stories before ever even seeing her. When he meets her again, all of those feelings come bubbling up again.
Personally, I adore Machi, and I think she brings out a pretty interesting side of Yuki. He’s almost mean to her, in a good-natured, teasing way. It’s fun watching them together.
For the record, I love Kimi, one of the funniest characters in the series.
Oh, Sean… I don’t know what to say to that.
Fight! Fight!
… no?
damn.
Ahaha! I love Kimi too. I’m sure she’d be a horrible person to be around, but as a character she is just hilarious
I came to Fruits Basket a bit late, but I think the student council stuff was always my favourite part of the series… Yuki’s character growth was probably a big part of why I love it; I’m quite fond of the other student council members and their dynamics too. So I guess I never really saw it as “consolation prize” material either (though I can see how it might be considered that by some). I hadn’t thought about it before, but as you point out, it is interesting how that storyline takes Yuki away from the main curse-plot and lets him focus his attention elsewhere.