Fruits Basket Zodiac Analysis with Gaijin!

With the new season of Fruits Basket upon us, it’s gotten me thinking of stars and Zodiac and new friends. So when Gaijin you know, the one you should trust, at least about anime, mentioned being both interested in a collaboration and being somewhat versed in astrology, well it’s like it was written in the stars or something. I stand by this, it made me smile! Gaijin, want to take a moment to introduce yourself?

Hey hey! Thank you Irina for the introduction! Super excited and grateful for this collab! I’m the Gaijin from Trust the Gaijin anime blog where I bring you plenty of anime recommendations, anime reviews, and weekly astrology readings on characters. I have been studying astrology and tarot for three years now and can’t wait to share the awesomeness of astrology with you! IRINA TAKE THE STAGE!

So we came up with this nifty little idea, bringing you a side by side comparison of some of the more prominent members of the Sohma family (ok, those whose birthdays we could find) and Tohru, from both the Western and Chinese Zodiac perspective. I’ll be taking the Chinese side. We ended up settling on:

• Aya (Gaijin’s Blog)
• Hatsharu (Irina)
• Momiji (Gaijin)
• Shigure (Irina)
• Yuki (Gaijin)
• Kyo (Irina)
• and of course Tohru (Gaijin)

But before we plunge right in, we figured we’d take a few minutes to explain the differences between the two Zodiacs.

Chinese Zodiac is a classification scheme that assigns traits and personalities to people according to their birth dates and can be used in divination. However, Chinese zodiac is actually roughly based on the orbital period of Jupiter. I was pretty surprised by that. As such, the twelve signs are divided roughly by year. In case you’re wondering, we are currently in the year of the Pig(Boar). The base charts tend to follow lunar cycles instead of star cycles.

These can be further defined through months which can assign a secondary animal to you and fixed elements such as fire, water, wood and metal, to further define your personality.

Furthermore, zodiac has had long standing cultural significance in eastern cultures. Enough that there is even a very popular anime about it. Mind you they make anime about anything so that shouldn’t count for much. What about Western Zodiac?

So Western Zodiac is very similar to what Irina was talking about. Western astrology relates to how our human affairs are influenced by the movements and positions of the solar energies. They influence our personalities, how we handle situations, how we express ourselves, and even down to why we are having a bad week. What’s going on with the planets (that deal with different properties of life) creates energy and that energy affects us.

Instead of being based on a yearly orbital period, Western Astrology is monthly (sort of). Classifying someone to a sign by their exact birth time. In Western pop culture, you often find astrology reduced to sun sign astrology (the position of the sun when they were born) For example, if you were born on Sept 4th you are a Virgo, March 12th is Pisces, etc. However, you also have a Moon sign (your intuition, how you handle emotions,  and what you already know), a Rising sign (what people see when they first meet you), a Mercury sign, Venus sign, Jupiter…like up to 15 more! That’s all based on your exact time and location of birth.

And before we close off this introduction, let’s just remember what got this whole mess started and why the cat is not part of the Zodiac:

Long ago, God told all the animals he was throwing a banquet tomorrow, and not to be late. The mischievous rat told his neighbor, the cat, that the banquet was the day after tomorrow. So, the next day, all the animals lined up for the banquet, and the rat rode there all the way on the cow’s back.

All the animals had fun, except for the cat, who was at home sleeping and dreaming for a banquet that would never come.  

Via https://fruitsbasket.fandom.com/wiki/The_Chinese_Zodiac

…So sad! But I still have hope for the cat in life!

Make sure you look out for Aya’s analysis over on Gaijin’s blog!