Fruits Basket Season Two Part Two includes two Blu-rays and two DVDs that include Episodes 14-25 of the second season of the Fruits Basket reboot anime. The set includes both an English dub and the original Japanese audio with English subtitles.

Fruits Basket Season Two Part Two
English Publisher: FUNimation Entertainment
Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo
Release Date: March 23, 2021

The episodes in this set see the drama and tension increase for the characters and the overarching story. In Episode 14, Kyo is trying to sort out of his feelings after meeting up with Kagura and having her essentially walk away from the obsession she’s had for him over the years. The turmoil doesn’t last long, and by the end of the episode Kyo figures out how he truly feels about Tohru… but doesn’t say anything to her about it. There’s also a focus on the relationship between Haru and Rin, and it’s pretty intense. And finally getting to see what Akito did to cause Rin to go to the hospital was eye opening.

Yuki goes through a lot of development during these episodes as well. He realizes he hasn’t made as much progress as he thought he had. But over the course of this set, Yuki figures out how to deal with the relationship with his parents… with a little unexpected and comedic help from Ayame during the parent-teacher conference. Also, during a talk with Kakeru, Yuki admits that what he’s been longing for and has found in Tohru is a mother figure. It’s also becoming clearer that Machi seems to be interested in Yuki, but he’s too dense to realize it quite yet.

Speaking of the parent-teacher conferences, we get an entire episode devoted to them. Most of the conferences are light-hearted and amusing, which gives the audience a nice break from the drama and tension. Yuki’s is the last conference shown, and of course, this one is much more serious. Not that it didn’t have its comedic moments thanks to Ayame’s appearance, though.

The season reaches its peak with the school’s cultural festival. Tohru’s class decides to put on a performance of Cinderella, but most of the roles are seriously miscast. Tohru’s attempts to be an evil stepsister are amusing, and Hanajima as Cinderella is a hoot. When I read the original manga years ago, I wished I could have seen the play in an animated form, because I knew it would work so well. And I wasn’t disappointed when I saw the result.

During the performance, Uotani gives a speech to Kyo (who is playing the prince), and she’s obviously referring to wanting to see Kureno again. Momiji, who filmed the performance, burns a copy of the recording onto a DVD and gives it to Kureno. When Kureno sees the performance, we can tell that he cares about Uotani, but still feels a sense of obligation to Akito. The season ends with Kureno meeting up with Tohru and revealing some truths to her… including the fact that Akito is really a girl. I thought this was a great way to end the season.

I watched this release just as the third and final season of the Fruits Basket anime had started streaming as a simulcast. Between the ending credits and some flashbacks that appeared in these episodes, I realized that flowers that are referenced in the second episode of the final season appear in the second season as well. By having the luck of re-watching these episodes as the third season is going, I picked up on the fact that this symbolism had actually been hinted at earlier than I had realized.

I really appreciated how the second half of Season Two continued to advance character development, as well as provide important progression for the overarching story. And now that I’m starting to watch the final season, I can also say that these episodes were successful is setting the foundation for what’s taking place in Season Three.

The Blu-ray video is 1080p High Definition 16:9 (HD Native). The audio on the Blu-ray had Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1 and Dolby TrueHD: Japanese 2.0, while the DVD had English 5.1 Surround and Japanese Stereo. I had no complaints about either the audio or the video quality of this release.

The main bonus feature included on this release is “Fruits Basket” At Home with the Voice Actors.” This was an online presentation that included Caitlin Glass (the director and English voice for Machi), Justin Cook (English voice of Hatsuharu), John Burgmeier (English voice of Shigure), Ian Sinclair (English voice of Kureno), Brina Palencia (English voice of Rin), and Tia Ballard (English voice of Kagura). The feature runs a little under a hour, and the panelists answer questions that Caitlin Glass (who is moderating the panel) asks. Overall, this was an enjoyable enough feature. However, as someone who watches the original Japanese audio and not the English dub, I was a little annoyed by the mispronunciation of some of the characters’ names (Kureno, Shigure, and Rin). When you listen to the Japanese audio, you know that the English pronunciations for those names are wrong. Honestly, I find that these incorrect pronunciations are actually harder to say than the correct Japanese pronunciations. That’s just a personal nitpick, though. Like I said, outside of the mispronunciations, I did enjoy the content of this feature. I appreciate getting to see the people behind the voices and learning more about them. The set also includes a textless version of the opening and ending song.

If you’re a fan of the Fruits Basket franchise, and you already own the first three releases of this reboot on home video, then this release of Fruits Basket Season Two Part Two is worth picking up and adding to your home anime video library.

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