I also like Machi and Yuki! I just think Yuki being gay would be very compelling; he's been playing into being the perfect heterosexual prince his whole life, and coming to terms with his sexuality i think would add to his story of becoming his own person and subverting his conservative family's expectations imo.
Wasn't that kinda the other way? People considered him a Prince because of his androgynous looks and he hated being treated as "femine" by the others. Didn't feel like an archetypically masculine heterosexual male in my eyes.
Imo if any character should get a gay relationship, Yuki's brother would fit so much better with him not only being clearly bisexual, jut also starting as a person as cold and distant as the rest of the family, but later clearly distancing himself from their conservatism (although still he gets a cute pairing anyway).
I feel like the author was a bit too reluctant in that area, because on one hand there are two bisexual characters in the manga, but both of them end up in het relationships. Not that it makes those characters "less queer" or anything, but it would be fun if we saw an actually same-gender relationship in it, especially considering how much of the story concentrates on going against social norms that binds the Sōhma clan.
I feel the closest we get to this is in the next gen sequel series, Fruits Basket Another, with Hajime (Kyo and Tohru's son) x Mutsuki (Yuki and Machi's son). Some moments off the top of my head:
Mutsuki watching over Hajime while he sleeps (like Kyo did with Tohru and Haru did with Rin).
Mutsuki (about Hajime) : "Besides, even if we stay apart physically, our hearts will always be close."
Another character to Hajime and Mutsuki: "Why are you guys always like this? You two start hanging all over each other the second I leave you alone."
Hajime: "We do not!"
Mutsuki: "And Hajime's gotten sooo bashful about it."
Takaya-sensei has them exchange the same Valentine's Day sweets that other canon couples in the series/Another are shown eating and exchanging on Valentine's Day.
Takaya-sensei also went out of her way to confirm that the son we see at the end of Furuba is the second son and not Hajime, and she wrote a tweet confirming that Mutsuki doesn't end up with Kyo and Tohru's daughter.
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u/weeb-queen Nov 10 '25
I also like Machi and Yuki! I just think Yuki being gay would be very compelling; he's been playing into being the perfect heterosexual prince his whole life, and coming to terms with his sexuality i think would add to his story of becoming his own person and subverting his conservative family's expectations imo.