Happy Fruits Basket Friday! How have you all be liking the new anime so far? I love the new animation so much, it’s way more expressive.
This week’s installment of “The Psychology of Fruits Basket” focuses on the first spirit of the Zodiac: Prince Yuki the Rat! In continuing with my exploration of Kyoko’s impact on the major players, I find that Yuki’s connection is definitely a stepped removed from Kyo’s. She still had a large impact on his growth, however, through Tohru.
Yuki’s evaluation is super layered. Not only do we have his childhood traumas from Akito, as well as his abandonment by his biological family, but there is also a mired layer of difficulty from the mythology associated with his Rat Spirit. If Tohru is the key, then Yuki probably holds the most important lock to unraveling the Sohma curse.
In the Sohma family lore, the Rat is the top Spirit entity second only to the God. I differentiate between the “family lore” and the original “mythology” of the Chinese Zodiac because the Sohmas developed a particular set of expectations related to the possessing spirits over time. For example, the Rat was the first to the banquet and the first to make the Promise. As such, the family of the Rat Spirit receives the largest money stipend from the Sohma estate. The child of the Rat is expected to be physically as well as metaphorically closest to the God figure, which is why Yuki was given to Akito when he was so young. The Rat child also tends to have natural abilities with mental acuity and to perfect martial skills.
The nickname of “Prince” is really not too far off for Yuki, as the Sohma family places the Rat on this high pedestal just below the God. His actions are highly scrutinized from various angles much like some sort of royalty. Yuki is acutely attentive to his actions and how they may be perceived by others, resulting in Yuki having a very cold and closed off countenance. It is commented on repeatedly in the manga in small side comments and author notes in the margins.
In real world psychology, this is considered having a ‘blunt affect’, “affect” meaning one’s ability to express emotions. It is not quite the same as a flattened affect in which a person can not express any emotion at all. Those with blunted affect have a muted or restricted emotional expression. This is typically associated with extreme anxiety or fear which makes a lot of sense in Yuki’s case due to the abuse he suffered from Akito.
A blunted affect also has a high correlation with PTSD which may be quite appropriate for Yuki. Some of the main symptoms needed to diagnose PTSD are:
A trauma (both Akito’s abuse as well as the event when Yuki shifted in front of the group of children that subsequently had their memories erased)
Re-experiencing the trauma during daily life (Yuki’s almost forceful explanation of that memory to Tohru when he worries she may have her memory erased, Yuki’s freezing when Akito comes to see him at school)
Avoidance of stimulus related to the trauma (moving out of the main house, avoiding Akito at all costs)
Hyper vigilance tendencies such as being easily spooked, or easily moved to anger
In light of this, let’s return to the scene I first cited in my Kyoko post with Tohru and Yuki protecting the garden from the storm.
Tohru: Still, my mother always said it’s better to believe than doubt. She said people aren’t born with a conscience. We’re only born with “wants,” she said, like appetite and material desires. In other words, survival instincts. The conscience is something that develops, like our bodies. It’s our heart that grows inside of us. She said that’s why there are different forms of kindness, depending on the person…. Sohma-kun, your kindness is like a candle. It suddenly lights up.
One of Tohru’s best skills is the ability to see into people’s hearts and accept them for who they are unconditionally, a trait instilled in her by her mother. As Tohru shares her insights and views on the types of kindness of people, Yuki quietly takes it in. Though we do not get any insights as to his thought process in that moment, the genuine smile he shares for the first time in the series is a huge clue. (I was personally amused by the the shining sun coming out from behind a cloud in the new anime at this point to emphasize it.)
One of Yuki’s triggers appears to be people not accepting him for who he truly is. If we consider the fact that just a few days before this Tohru said she wasn’t “sickened” by his Rat form and combine it with her expressing joy at becoming closer friends with him in this scene, we can speculate a huge amount of relief washing over Yuki. Tohru has validated Yuki for Yuki, rather than only seeing him for the Rat. This is a big break through for Yuki and we continue to see emotive growth from him through the series as he heals from his trauma.
This healing is what expedites the unraveling of the Curse. Yuki learns how to be Yuki, instead of the Rat, and therefore the power of the possessing Spirit fades. That is why Yuki skipping the New Year’s Banquet in order to spend it with Tohru was such a huge deal. I felt this fact was downplayed a little in the old anime where as in the manga it is commented that there is an uproar amongst the family that the Rat, the legendary first animal, missed the Banquet for the first time in the history of the Curse/Promise.
There is a big overarching theme throughout the story instilled by Kyoko: Be yourself. You don’t need to be someone that you’re not for the sake of others. As Yuki learns this lesson from Tohru, his separation from the Sohma Curse is expedited. This is why Yuki treasures Tohru so much as a friend. She grants him the things he’s been craving his entire life: Unconditional love and appreciation for just being himself. Just like Kyoko did to all of those around her.
What Fruits Basket character would you like to see me review next? Leave a comment either here or on any of my social media (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Patreon) and be sure to follow me for updates on my next post!
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