Be aware that new Fruits Basket starts off good and turns into an overdone weepfest. First season was great but by the third I was meh. Maybe my heart's too cynical but I just found the drama annoying and drawn out. Like if every pair of animals on Noah's Ark has their own soap opera of issues. I just wanted people to stop crying already. I like a bit of drama but damn. I'm an outlier though. This anime could drown a bus full of Make-a-Wish children and still have at least an 8.5 on MAL and IMDB.

I watched the first four episodes last night, what a weird sensation it gave me. I had completely forgotten about the show's existence until yesterday. That fucking bizarre stop-motion intro with the jumbo shrimp glove that thrusts out of the bowl at the end! And the cast is just a Möbius strip of unrequited feelings, good lord.

I gotta watch it all now. I can't remember how much of it I've even seen, I only recall falling off at some point. Don't think I've ever seen any of the second season.

And now I feel myself gravitating towards that new Fruits Basket adaptation that I had previously ignored...

This is all My Dress-Up Darling's fault. I had completely sworn off "relationship" anime years ago, but now I'm being dragged back into the pit.

Honey & Clover! Holy shit. Haven't thought about that one in forever. That's gotta be going back like 15, 20 years.

I remember that's when subbing wasn't nearly as ubiquitous/punctual as it is today, and I would impatiently watch raws ASAP. I liked the art/vibes of H&C, but the relationship stuff made me a little uncomfortable because I thought she was straight up just a child. And I think it was you who explained to me that she was actually an adult who simply looked like a child, and I was like okay that's not so bad. But really, it still is, just in a different way.

I never finished watching Honey & Clover. You know what, I think I'll try to find it.

No, it's a thing. Especially in romance. Whittle broken bird healed by wuv. But it tends to cross into infantilization in the wrong hands.

Like, in this movie, there was no excuse to her to not be mobile and already have a job. She's a damn adult. That's why I feel like I might be missing something culturally speaking. This plot could've easily been twisted into ocean-stan fascinated by wheelchair girl's ocean-themed artwork and could've become a romance from there. Instead, she's the angry wheelchair trope with no independence and he gets paid money to spend time with her. It's Me Before You set in Japan without the suicide. That's another thing: grandma wasted away money this girl could've used to live. Spending it on this guy as well as gambling. What a bitch!