Fruits Basket Zodiac with Gaijin : Shigure

Guess who Gaijin and I are scrutinizing this week! Go on…guess! Wait how did you…It’s in the title of the post??? well fiddlesticks!

We have arrived at Shigure and if someone needs a bit of analyzing it’s certainly him. I have been looking forward to this one and I hope you guys have as well!

Shigure

Oh, the multi-layered, cunning, flirtatious, but good hearted Shigure Sohma. Do you even have to guess what he is? Our lusty monk is a Scorpio through and through and there is no denying it!  Scorpios are very complex. The most complex zodiac on the chart! The water in them makes them very intuitive and you’ll find them often giving insightful advice. They are what I consider the “deep sea divers”.  They want to go deep and understand themselves from a greater perspective by doing that. Shigure is a writer for crying out loud! All writers do is dive deep. Shigure is very known for “switching” sides of himself often showing that laid-back charisma to occasionally giving very sage advice and actually being an adult.

It’s funny. In the manga, Shigure is just as insightful as he is sexual. He was portrayed as very flirtatious, dark humored, selfish, and even manipulative. Though we don’t see that in the anime, it is something to take into account. Scorpios (I’m sorry for all Scorpios reading this) are known to be the most flirtatious of the Zodiac and are known as the master manipulators of the Zodiac, too. They use the two of those traits together to get what they want romantically more often than not.

IRINA: Remember when I said Ayame was my second favourite character, well Shigure is my first favourite. This character is such a puzzle. Frustrating, dimensional and almost impossible to pin down. How could this man possibly be a dog?

Dogs are supposed to be a good omen. They bring fortune to whichever household they chose to call home. As a successful writer, I suppose you could take that literally. The man makes money, but somehow I don’t know that his family and friends would necessarily call him auspicious.

Moreover dogs are valiant, responsible courage. Man’s best friend and all that. Can anyone even recognize Shigure from that description? Maybe someone slipped up and there’s actually two snakes in the Fruits Basket Zodiac.

But of course, there’s a twist. I won’t reveal anything here in case some of you are watching the series for the first time but I think the key to Shigure’s character lies in the Dog’s most prominent characteristic. Above all else, dogs are loyal to their master. If you know how the story plays out, you know that all of Shigure’s more twisted traits and questionable actions are done because of or in favour of his one and only master. Beloved and revered above all else.

Pain and tragedy may have corrupted some of Shigure’s better intentions but deep down he remains true to the one guiding principle of his sign. He may no longer be the dependable man who can have harmonious relationships with all those around him but he is still the ever devoted and faithful servant he was born to be.