The episode opens by backtracking to Machi calling Yuki, and Yuki rushing out the door to see her. We finally get to see what happens between these two, and it turns out Yuki’s bond with Akito is broken while he’s talking with Machi. I love how this scene between them transpired. It was awkward, but also sweet. When Yuki suddenly embraces Machi after he realizes the curse is broken, we can see people standing nearby noticing what happened and the shocked expressions on their faces made me smile. This detail was a nice touch of levity for this scene.

After this, we see that the zodiac members have been summoned by Akito… except for Shigure. One of the fears we saw as members had their curses break was wondering if the interactions between the zodiac members would become awkward after losing that connection. Through various characters’ interactions, we see that they still act just as they did before the lifting of the curse. We get to Ritsu in action again, although his reactions to what’s going on don’t come across quite as annoying as when he was first introduced. Everyone is surprised when Akito enters the room, wearing a kimono and looking feminine. Akito tries to apologize, but can never quite get the words “I’m sorry” to come out of her lips. We see she wants to atone for what she’s done, and she acknowledges she’s done some cruel things over the years, but still isn’t able to say those two words. While she’s in the meeting, Akito has flashbacks to Shigure bringing her a present… the kimono. He also gives her an ultimatum about being together. The next time he sees her, that means he will never let her go.

After this, we get a scene between Shigure and Akito, where Akito tells Shigure about what happened at the meeting. She explains that simply saying the words “I’m sorry” sounds too trite and gets her off the hook too easily. But at the end of this scene, these two admit that they love each other. Which then ties up this loose thread.

This is then followed by a scene between Kyo and Tohru at Kyoko’s gravesite. Kyo explains what he wants to do with his future, which includes going to a dojo far away to train with one of Kazuma’s friends. Even though he wants Tohru to come with him, he knows this would take her away from people that she loves. Tohru agrees to go with him without any hesitation, which surprises Kyo. I really liked the interactions between these two, especially when Tohru says that she doesn’t believe that Kyoko’s final words were what she truly meant.

The ending credits started to roll during this scene, and I noticed there was still a bit of time left in the episode, so I wondered where it would be headed. As Kyo and Tohru leave the gravesite, we hear Kyoko’s voice… and quickly discover that we are at the scene of the accident that killed Kyoko. This scene is from her point of view, and the audience gets to learn Kyoko’s side of what happened. It turns out she recognizes Kyo and remembers the promise that the two of them had made. In her mind, she asks Kyo to find Tohru and protect her this time. The “I’ll never forgive you” line was the ending part of her thought, but she only verbalized that portion out loud. What she meant was that if Kyo doesn’t protect Tohru, she would never forgive him. The very last scene of the episode sees Kyoko after her death, reuniting with her late husband, Katsuya. We only get one line of dialogue, which comes from Katsuya: “You fought well”… and this line ends the episode. This last section of the episode nearly had me crying. I’m a little disappointed that the anime wasn’t able to present the backstory of how Katsuya met Kyoko, but with the way this final season went, there was really no good way to include it.

I still can’t believe there’s only one episode left for Fruits Basket The Final Season. This reboot of Fruits Basket has been a part of my life over the past two years, and it seems unreal that the ride is almost over. I’m looking forward to watching next week’s episode to see how the anime will bring everything to a close.

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