Ep 9. A Solitary New Year

Tohru Honda enters her New Year by trying to locate a shrine where she can make her first prayer. She runs into a boy who is lost and helps him find his way. Later at the shrine, Tohru comes across the zodiac and offers to bring food for their New Year's feast and she meets the horse of the zodiac. The house of the zodiac does not usually invite outsiders into events that involve them, but Tohru does not know this. Shigure Sohma invites Tohru inside the Sohma house for their New Year's dinner and Tohru meets all the members of the zodiac for the first time.

The New Year's feast at the Sohma's house gets rowdy when Kyo and Yuki Sohma start their usual routine of needling one another. Shigure steps in to diffuse the situation, but Akito Sohma calls him, demanding that he come to their family’s gathering. This makes Shigure leave the party early to meet with Akito. Yuki becomes troubled by the blackouts he has been suffering, though he does not reveal this to Tohru.

Tohru then enters Yuki’s room to leave him his food leftovers from the New Year's feast but she ends up falling asleep next to him. Kyo catches her sleeping with Yuki and carries her out of the room. When she wakes up, she is in the hallway lying on Kyo's lap. Kyo allows her to sleep on his lap for a little while longer and then wakes her up to go back to bed.

The next morning, Tohru wakes up to find that Yuki has left early and left a note in the form of a crossword puzzle for her. Kyo tells Tohru to solve the puzzle to reveal the message, and after she solves it, she finds that Yuki has left to train for his upcoming exams. The theme of the episode is being alone during the New Year, having no one to turn to. Yuki is isolated by his issues with blacking out and feeling pushed away from everyone.

'A Solitary New Year' episode touches on a theme that appears throughout the series. The Sohma family is isolated not only by the curse that has befallen them, but also by their inability to interact with those around them. The members of the Sohma family seek to isolate themselves, while at the same time, they desperately want to connect with others and be a part of society. This episode brings out the theme of the season by focusing on Yuki's feelings of loneliness and his need to isolate himself from others.

Overall, this episode is an excellent addition to the Fruits Basket season 1. It delves deep into the complex relationships between the characters and furthers the overall narrative of the series. The twist and turns keep the audience on the edge of their seats and add a layer of depth to the characters that is often unseen in anime. 'A Solitary New Year' offers a great deal of character development and adds to the overall story of the series. Fruits Basket continues to be a must-watch for anime enthusiasts.