long and useless

Akito? Who's Akito?

So, I 'picked up' hanatoyume on Saturday (though when I say pick-up, it really means akujunkan went to buy it for me as I sipped coffee and read one of my manga... I ♥ you!) and after reading it through, I thought about a lot of things. Furuba is ending in a few chapters (three, it seems) but I feel like there's still so much more to be said.

flamika has a great list here but that's a lot of dead important plot points that, while unnecessary I suppose, is still something I'd want to see end. I mean, in a way it's good for us fanfic writers because we can imagine the thousands of ways the different threads would mean, but to have Takaya-sensei confirm some of them for us would truly be great. I want to see Ren and Akito have a knock-down, drag-em-out fight. Maybe not literally, but who doesn't want to see the two of them have a little something more than words? It's about closure. Sure, Ren is madcrazy, but there was a part of her that loved someone and even if that made her a terrible mother in the process and terrible person in general, I still wonder whether Ren, in her own crazy way, was protecting Akito. She'd told Akito over and over that the Juunishi hadn't loved her, didn't love her in the true way that Ren and Akira had loved each other and you know what? That's true. As horrible as it is for a mother to say that, it was true.

Of course, the Juunishi loved Akito in their way and I think part of Takaya-sensei's thought is that there are many kinds of love and that there's no one right love. There's self-sacrificing live, between Haru and Kisa, devoted love, between Ayame and Hatori, desperate love, between Ren and Akira, absolute love, between Kureno and Akito, and so many others. The love for Ritsu by his mother, Kagura's acceptance and subsequent release of Kyo (oh, calm my breaking heart), and yes, Akito's twisted and all-consuming love for her Juunishi that probably would have destroyed her in the same way Ren's had self-destructed if not for Tohru. I'm so so so so glad for Tohru. She wasn't perfect, she didn't try to be perfect, and she knew there were some hurts she couldn't heal but there were others that she could. That's the girl of Fruits Basket.

Arisa's disappointment was understandable in a way. I think she wanted to hate Akito. I think she wanted with all her being to hate the person who'd caused Tohru's injury and had stabbed Kureno in the back but she couldn't because Uo-chan's not that kind of person. They recognize that Akito is beating herself up for everything in the past and knowing Saki, she can probably feel Akito's pain and suffering. Whereas Saki wasn't accepted for her mysterious powers, Akito wasn't accepted for her gender and perhaps, just perhaps, there's an inherent bond in that.

Which explains why Saki would call Akito Aa-chan! =) I swear I giggled like a school girl because Akito's facial expression and reaction to Saki's pet name is just, just, just... ;_; just so wonderful because it's the reaction of a slightly reserved girl who can't quite believe someone would give her such a disgustingly cute nickname. It's the reaction of someone who has just sweatdropped.

It's the reaction of someone who wasn't jealous, angry, bitter Akito! ♥

I mentioned it but darn it, I want a sitdown between Akito, Hatori, Ayame, Kureno, and Shigure! They were the first to love her and they were the first to see her. They're the most loyal to Akito, forgiving her for almost everything she's ever done and the ones who could do the least in face of everything she did wrong. I love that contrast between them and the younger Juunishi. It also makes me wonder whether Ritsu and Kagura were deliberately left out since they're both older than the rest of the Juunishi and might possible remember an Akito who smiled rather than raged.

I'm going to miss this series. ;)

In other news, I get to go to Tokyo three times in the next two months. And every single one, including hotels, will be comped. =) I feel happiness bubble up in me!