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I feel like Fruits Basket had a missed opportunity to write a great arc for Yuki instead of him ending up with Machi. And I LOVE Machi and their romance is really cute but I didn't feel satisfied with that ending for Yuki.
When I first watched Fruits Basket I was sure that Yuki was supposed to be queer-coded and his arc about self acceptance and love was him coming out of the closet.
The reason for that is because of the way Yuki is constantly presented and the way he reacts to other people.
Yuki always gets mad at Kyo for calling him "girly boy" or "pretty boy".
He tries to put up at tough persona to try to appear more masculine.
He has a fanclub with both girls AND boys crushing on him.
Whenever he "flirts" with Tohru it would come off as awkward (I know it's because he considers her as his mom figure but still!!! And yet he has some unspoken rizz when it comes to flirting with guys tho)
Even his dislike of Ayame and not wanting to be like him was kinda him not wanting to come out of the closet (Ayame also gets a last minute love interest to make him more hetero. I thought he was definitely not straight)
It just made sense to me this was going to be his arc. Especially since Fruits Basket is sooo good at depicting emotions. I thought Yuki's arc was him overcoming his hatred of that part of himself and essentially coming out of the darkness that Akito had made him live in.
When the Student council members were introduced I thought Kakeru was going to be both a foil AND a love interest for Yuki. They just had that dynamic and chemistry that made it seem like Kakeru would change Yuki and help him understand his true self and feelings. I thought Machi was the quiet/ weird side character that would have a similar role as Kimi (comedic).
Then the whole Machi x Yuki happened and I was proven wrong. I didn't hate it but....Kakeru and Yuki just had so much growth in their friendship, I couldn't help but ship them.
I would have been happy with even a Bi-Panic moment for Yuki with Kakeru and Machi (who are both half-siblings)
Yuki just had the perfect personality and backstory for a good coming out arc but it never came to be.
(Ps: I am NOT hating Machi and Yuki's relationship. It's just that Fruits Basket had many opportunities to have gay characters but didn't commit to it)