#fruits basket my beloved. homophobes my beloathed

[astrowaffles]

Can I ask something from Fruits Basket? What do you think are Yuki and Kakeru’s greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? In which moment that you start ship them? What do you love about their dynamic?

You have no idea, how happy I am to found someone who also ship yukeru. Now, I don't hate yuki/machi ship. But most of my fruba moots in a group only love this ship and consider yuki & kakeru just bromance and that kakeru can be a good brother in law for yuki...So when I told them that I ship yukeru, some of them think I'm weird, and some even block me. But I also found someone who told this group that they ship yuki with kyo. Then both of us were blocked by this group. They said that "Fruba is het romance/drama series and there are only m/f ships. Why have to see wholesome male-male and female-female friendship as something romantic." And me and that other moot (yuki/kyo shipper) became bestie.

Sorry for my rambling, love your blog....

hello anon! i took my time answering because i want this to be right, but in the end the best I can do is just give you my opinion on this T-T

Yuki's greatest strength in the beginning is his honesty with himself. he KNOWS what his shortcomings are, though he can't do anything about them. he has lots of strengths by the end!

Yuki's greatest weakness is his insecurity. it lead him to put up walls to prevent anyone getting close, and even tripped him when he was trying to make sincere connections because he believed people could never like him.

Kakeru's greatest strength is his love for people and emotional intelligence. he might be closed-off, confused, and alone, but he never stops putting himself out there for the people who have the courage to ask him for help. he knows exactly how to help everyone around him and only struggles when it comes to his own emotions and backstory. occasionally the way he expresses his care is a bit off though...

Kakeru's greatest weakness is his tendecy to live in his own head. if he had continued to make no attempt to connect to other people, he would have completely spiralled, and it was only thanks to other's care that he got out of his head and stopped living in his memories. his memories make him cold and angry, the opposite of what he wants to be.

As you can see, they are very similar people! I love them because Yuki finally begins to express his snarky, sarcastic side (gremlin boy, i love him) and Kakeru finally begins to express his gentler side, instead of being the harbinger of chaos all the time. I didn't ship them originally - Machi RIGHTS - but the more I thought about the "role of the love interest" in fruits basket, the more I realised Kakeru fit it perfectly for Yuki, and vice versa.

I think there is something beautiful in purely platonic bonds. In that sense, I wish I never found yukeru, because the idea that someone can grow and become their best self purely from the love of their best friend is such a wonderful idea. Also, the anime didn't show many wonderful machi moments (like when she gives yuki fertiliser) and kakeru's iconic girlfriend doesn't appear at all. I don't think I'll ever stop being a multishipper because I just can't decide which is better!

However, even if you view it as a bromance, that's not reason to block someone if you saw them as your friend. There's nothing inherently problematic with yukeru OR yukyo (kyuki?), even if you don't ship it yourself. I don't think I'd ship yuki & kyo in a million years, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. Of course, it's also important to curate your internet experience: if you see a creator who talks a lot about a ship you hate, you are welcome to block them. It's better to block than start an argument! Still, it seems unnecessarily cold to block a friend over a ship disagreement.

Personally, I think you got away lightly - the people who insist that 'such-and-such is a het romance!!!' are usually just homophobic, to be honest. It's one thing to prize platonic relationships, it's another to use them as an excuse to be homophobic.

I'm glad you became besties!!

I actually have a fruits basket blog (@puttingthefruitinfruitsbasket) but i'm not very active because the fandom is so dead. still, you can take a look!

thanks for the ask!!