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The following tropes can be applied to the characters of the Manga and Anime series Fruits Basket.
Main Characters[]
Tohru Honda[]
Voiced by: Hiroko Konishi (JP, drama CD), Yui Horie (JP, series), Laura Bailey (EN), Manaka Iwami (2019 JP series), Nycolle González (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
The heroine of the story, Tohru ends up in the Sohma household after her mother dies and she sets up tent on their property. She forges friendships with Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure, and eventually comes to befriend the rest of the Sohmas as well.
- Adorkable
- All-Loving Heroine: She loves everyone, even Akito, who is disliked by nearly the entire Sohma family.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: In the manga and second anime, she gives one to Kyou after he tells her about how the guilt he feels over what he sees as his part in her mother Kyouko's death.
- All of the Other Reindeer: When she was younger.
- Badass Pacifist: This non-Action Girl teenager manages to calm down Kyo when he reverts to his true form and then she also speaks gently to Akito even when she's screaming and swinging a knife around.
- To add to the first point, Kyo's true from is not only hideous and reeking of dead human flesh but also super strong and super agile. Kyo, in blind fear of being rejected by her slashes her arm which noticeably hurts her a lot. Not to mention she does puke at some point due to the dead human flesh stink.
- And to add to the second: Akito is the God of the Zodiac. A terrifying mix of Manipulative Bitch, Broken Bird and Yandere, who is in a state of complete terror and anger since the Jyuunishi are being released of the curse one by one, which she sees as them abandoning her... and it's her biggest fear coming true. So after stabbing Kureno, Akito is at the lowest point of her life, screaming and swinging the knife she used on him. And yet Tohru manages to not run away, and even offer her kindness... which would eventually kickstart Akito's Heel Face Turn.
- Book Dumb: She has lots of emotional intelligence, but is not an intellectual.
- Blue Eyes: In the first anime. She has Brown Eyes in both the manga and the second one.
- Break the Cutie: Akito tries this on her. It fails, and Akito didn't take it well.
- Care Bear Stare: Hiro thinks she can do this because she can love and tolerate the shit out of anyone.
- Cloudcuckoolander: She can be this on occasion, but on the most part she's level headed. She happens to have quite the active imagination.
- Crash Into Hello: Kyo falls through the roof, shouts at Yuki, and then Tohru trips and falls on him.
- Conveniently an Orphan: Averted, actually. She has a living grandfather and other relatives, but lived in a tent because she didn't want to burden them. Considering how badly her aunt and cousins treat her when she has to move back with them and the grandpa, she can't be blamed.
- Cooldown Hug: With Kyo's monster form, and later with him but through a cloth.
- Curtains Match the Window: In the manga and second anime.
- Cute Clumsy Girl
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Invoked; Tohru is warned by Kagura not to claim she loves Kyo because she pities him.
- Easily Forgiven: Tohru does not hold grudges against anyone.
- Face Fault: Truly, out of ALL the characters, she makes the MOST face faults out of ANYONE. Makes sense though, being the normal person among a family of people who can transform into talking animals.
- Fatal Flaw: Tohru, for all her kindness, has some severe flaws:
- Chronic Hero Syndrome - Greater Need Than Mine: Tohru is fiercely devoted to others, but this has the downside that she does NOT take care of herself.
- Stepford Smiler: Especially in the manga and second anime. The young lady bottles up her insecurities, her emotions, etc., in an attempt to not be a burden to anyone, and it deeply affects her.
- Her biggest flaw is, however, is having her mother as her Living Emotional Crutch. This came from her being briefly but intensely neglected by Kyouko as she was utterly desperate after Katsuya's death, and as she grows up and then loses her in an accident, she promise to always place her mom first in her heart. Which causes her inmense inner strife as she falls for Kyo and realises that her desire to help the Sohmas break their Curse may come less from wanting to help them and more from her love for Kyo, and that she won't be able to always have her mom as the most important person in her life...
- First Kiss: Gets a bit complicated. Kyo and Yuki find Tohru severely wounded after she fell of a cliff. As Yuki leaves them alone a half-conscious Tohru and a desperate Kyo have a small chat, he kisses her as she falls into inconsciousness, and she doesn't remember said kiss. She's shocked when Kyo explains what happened.
- Golden Moment
- Grow Old with Me: With her love interest, Kyo.
- Heroes Want Redheads: Kyo.
- Heroic BSOD: After Kureno tells her that he has no desire to see Arisa again as well as the truth about Akito, Tohru stays in the same spot for hours, until Hanajima comes to save her.
- In the first anime, when she first discovers Kyo's True Form. Akito attempting to break her down further moments later had added to this trauma, and it took a very important crossroads in order to snap out of it.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Has low self esteem hidden under her eternal smile.
- The Heroine: The protagonist who is saving the Sohmas from themselves.
- Heavy Sleeper: According to Takaya, she's the kind of person who can sleep anywhere and through everything. Played rather sadly in her past, as shown in Never Got to Say Goodbye.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Averted, regarding the Sohma curse. Later, played straight about Rin's days in the Cat Room.
- Love Epiphany: In the manga and second anime, she starts having hers when she overhears Shigure telling Rin that the curse is weakening, and realises that if the curse is not broken when spring comes, Kyo will be locked up in the Cat's Room....
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: To her mom, before she died. She had pulled an all-nighter for a test and simply couldn't wake up before Kyoko left home.
- Not So Different: In the manga and second anime's climax, parallels are drawn between how Tohru's devotion to her dead mother ties her down emotionally and the Sohma clan's curse. Specifically their 'bonds' to Akito, who does all of her evil and bitchy deals because she's DESPERATE to not be abandoned by them.
- Plucky Girl: Eternally optimistic but never delusional. As for the bravery, see her entry on Badass Pacifist.
- The Pollyanna: In the Cut Short first anime, where nothing at all gets her down, unlike in the manga and second series that go into more detail in her psyche.
- Romance Genre Heroines: Of The Nurturer variety.
- Shipper on Deck: The lady will ship near everything under the sun as long as the ones in love are happy.
- Sorry I Fell on Your Fist
- Stock Shoujo Heroine: The Trope Codifier for stuff from the late 90's onwards.
- Talking to the Dead: Keeps a picture of her mom in her wallet.
- Team Mom: Taking care of the Sohmas (the ones in Shigure's house at least) is technically payment for living there, but it goes deeper than that.
- Tender Tears
- Tomboyish Name: Her father gave it to her to emphasize her femininity — like adding salt to something sweet to enhance the flavor.
- We Really Do Care
- What Would X Do?: She always quotes Kyoko.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: A more child-like, clumsier version. All the politeness and domestic talent, and so much inner iron she overwhelms everyone she nicely confronts. Also good at cooking Japanese style dishes. In fact, she once had an Imagine Spot about being a Japanese princess.
Yuki Sohma (The Rat)[]
Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (JP), Eric Vale (EN), Nobunaga Shimazaki (2019 JP series), Javier Olguín (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
Tohru's classmate and a member of both the Sohma clan and the school's council, plus the current Rat of the Zodiac. Very popular, pretty and polite, but extremely troubled under his perfect facade.
- Abusive Parents: Like most of the Sohmas, his mother was mostly emotionally abusive (though not above smacking him around a little when she was upset with him). She's notable for the fact that after Yuki confronted her and told her that he wouldn't let her control him anymore, later chapters showed that she might be trying to turn over a new leaf. When she told him, "Try not to push yourself too hard," Yuki noted that it was an oddly motherly thing for her to say.
- In the manga, it was "don't use it wastefully", in regards to a cell phone he needs her permission to get.
- All Take and No Give: Has shades of this but it is never intentional on his part. He seeks Tohru's friendship, listening ear, and understanding quite often and has benefited from Hatsuharu's and Ayame's affection for him whenever he's in a tight spot he is unable to get himself out of. When this trait is pointed out to him by Haru, he resolves to change himself into a person who can give back to the people who care for him.
- Always Someone Better: Kyo has trained in martial arts longer than he has and is more dedicated but he can't reach Yuki's level no matter what.
- Bad Dreams
- Berserk Button: Reminders of his older brother's quirks, Kyo at his worst, being mistaken for a woman, or the mere thought of crossdressing sets him of. Being unpleasant to Tohru is a great way to piss him off, too.
- Bishonen: Enough to be mistaken for a girl. Multiple times.
- Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: In the end, with his underclassman Machi.
- Chick Magnet: Enough that he gets his own Unwanted Harem.
- Curtains Match the Window
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Parodied with Kakeru telling his girlfriend Komaki that Yuki had to dress up as a boy for certain reasons.
- In the first anime, he sounds like a girl (and is voiced by a woman) to to drive the point home. This is averted in the dub and the second anime.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Boys and girls swoon over him, and Haru considers him his First Love.
- Green-Eyed Monster: His fan club.
- He's one himself towards Kyo and a little towards Manabe due to both of them being able to be natural and liked by their peers without having to try hard like he does.
- Surprisingly averted as Kyo and Tohru's relationship develops. Yuki does nothing to break them apart and even tries to help push things along.
- Harmful to Minors: Flashbacks are shown of Akito whipping him.
- Heavy Sleeper: Might as well be sleep on his feet in the morning.
- Ill Boy: When he was younger he had pretty severe asthma and other unspecified health problems, but this improves as he gets older.
- Informed Flaw: Supposedly weak and prone to illness, but he can easily beat down Kyo — who's been training in martial arts all his life — any time he wants.
- Instant Fanclub: The Yuki Fan Club.
- Insulted Awake: Kyo's voice alone is enough.
- Kakeru calling him a "spoiled little rich girl" woke him up, too.
- Involuntary Shapeshifting
- Lethal Chef: Once, he tries to cook when Tohru's spending the night at Saki's house. The result isn't shown but Shigure says it was so bad, it almost "sent him to Heaven"
- Loving a Shadow: His feelings for Tohru were later said to be him looking for the mother he never had.
- Mundane Utility: The Cursed Sohmas have an affinity with the animals that represent their curse, and once Yuki uses it to his and Tohru's advantage by asking the local rats to dig out Tohru's belongings that are buried under mud and dirt.
- Not a Morning Person
- Prince Charming: His fan club gives him the nickname "Prince Yuki."
- Princely Young Man: Subverted, he seems to be a Yamato Nadeshiko type because he looks perfect, but due to his past Yuki is so terrified of rejection that he also is an enormous Stepford Smiler.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He and Ayame look alike a lot, and both resemble their selfish mother.
- Student Council President: Later in the manga and second anime.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Kakeru have a bit of this. Once when Yuki was depressed, Kakeru cheered him up... by throwing a soccer ball in his face.
- He and Kakeru had an insult match that involved them choking each other and then walking off all happy and friendly a couple of panels later.
- Tongue-Tied
Kyo Sohma (The Cat)[]
Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (JP), Jerry Jewell (EN), Yuuma Uchida (2019 JP series), Alan Bravo (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
One of Yuki's cousins, who goes to his and Tohru's same school and is just returning from a training trip to the mountains when Tohru arrives. A very hotblooded young man whose own past is as dark as Yuki's, being the Cat of the Zodiac, and lashes out in pain and anger rather than hiding how hurt he has been.
- Abusive Parents: Kyo's father hates him and claims his mother committed suicide (via throwing herself into a train's path) from shame and disgust at having him, and also believes that Kyou will sooner or later kill him. Later, however, it's stated that Kyo's mother was torn between her love of her son and her fear of his monster form, which led her to being unable to show her affection properly and becoming My Beloved Smother. It's also all but said that she was actually Driven to Suicide by her husband's pressure on her, rather than by Kyo's existence.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Kyo blamed himself a lot about his mother's suicide and his Parental Substitute Kyoko's death in an accident, yes, but in the 2019 series his angst and self-hate gets quite amped up. Especially when he realises Kyoko was Tohru's mother, which is justified because he had Trauma-Induced Amnesia about it.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Kyo is somewhat more prone to yelling and being rude in the 2001 anime than in the manga and the 2019 series, since the Character Development he got in the last two wasn't featured in the first anime.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Despised by more than one member of the Sohma clan since he's the cat. Epecially by Akito, and to a smaller degree Yuki. It's because the Cat is considered as The Scapegoat among the Zodiacs, and the others hate the Cat to feel better about their curse. And Yuki didn't exactly hate him, anyway
- Berserk Button: Threaten Tohru and you will regret it.
- The Bet: All the Cats of the Zodiac become imprisoned in a small pavillion of the main state at some point of their lives. Kyo's own turn was delayed by Kazuma taking him in, and then he betted with Akito that it he ever managed to beat Yuki in a fight, he wouldn't be confined. Akito's Heel-Face Turn and everyone's release from the Curse render this moot, though.
- Broken Tears: He breaks down crying these when he tells Tohru how her mother died, about his own mom's suicide, and how all of this has broken him on the inside.
- Butt Monkey: If someone will suffer Amusing Injuries in the series, Kyo is the most likely target. i.e., Kagura almost always comically beats him up when she shows up.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Not really good about voicing his feelings on anything let alone romantic ones.
- Cats Are Mean: Subverted because he's mean outside, but isn't exactly evil.
- Chekhov's Gun: Beads? A "cursed form?" Well, this certainly won't show up in a few dozen chapters.
- Cute Kitten: He gets teased about this.
- Cute Little Fangs: Has them during some comedic moments
- Does Not Like Shoes: Goes barefoot at nearly every possible moment, even during a footrace!
- Does Not Like Spam: He hates, hates, HATES leeks. (Which are poisonous to actual cats)
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: He fears people getting close to him, since he has difficulty to know if they genuinely love him or just pity him for his curse.
- Dude, She's Like, in a Coma: Near the end of the manga and second anime, Tohru falls off a cliff. While she's lying on the ground unconscious, Kyo kisses her. To be fair, Tohru regained consciousness for a bit when she noticed Kyo was crying. She said some comforting words to him, then lost consciousness again, and then he kissed her. He also wasn't exactly sure whether she was fully conscious or not, as he even confirms that she wasn't after their second kiss when she acts completely shocked that it's their second and not their first.
- Fiery Redhead: Usually shouting, or breaking something.
- First Kiss
- First-Name Basis: At the start of the manga, he called Tohru "you." After The Climax of volume six, he switches to "Tohru."
- Green-Eyed Monster: The first evidence of his attraction to Tohru.
- Grow Old with Me: With Tohru.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: It's incredibly easy to set him off, even without the above Berserk Button.
- Heir to the Dojo: Kazuma wants Kyo to inherit his dojo, but the biggest obstacle is how Kyo will be confined to the Cat's Room. In Another, Kazuma is still running it since Kyo, Tohru and their kids have moved to the countryside (save for Hajime, who attends school in the city).
- Hellish Pupils
- Hot-Blooded: And HOW.
- Instant Bandages
- Involuntary Shapeshifting: Aside from the 'cat if hugged' thing, he has a second one. Those beads? They keep him from transforming into a monstrous, car-sized, stinking monstrosity.
- Intergenerational Friendship: As a child, he had one with an older woman. That woman was Kyouko.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He IS a jerk, but a nice jerk (especially later on).
- Longing Look: Towards Tohru
- My Beloved Smother: His mom tended to keep him sheltered and away from other people. It's implied later on to be his father's decree rather than hers, and that she did love him as much as she could in her difficult situation.
- My Greatest Failure: He tried to save Kyouko from being hit by a car heading her way, but the fear that his Curse would be triggered kicked in and, as a result, he froze... so she got run over and died few steps away from him. This weights very, very, VERY HEAVILY on poor Kyou, and even more so because she told him what sounded like "I won't forgive you" as she was dying of her injuries — she was trying to tell him "you promised to protect Tohru, and if you don't, I won't forgive you", but was too weak to fully say it and he thought she was cursing him with his dying breath.
- My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: He constantly fights Yuki and loses.
- Not Good with People: Because of his tremendous issues.
- Picky Eater: As said above, he hates leeks. Still made Tohru some leek soup when she was sick.
- Please Put Some Clothes On: To a naked Kagura, after she transforms back.
- Power Limiter: The beads. The also serve to block Power Incontinence.
- Sitting on the Roof: Shigure lampshades it. "Sulking on the roof is how he shows he cares." He also has a touching moment at that spot with Tohru where he talks about his uncle and adoptive father.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: With his cousin Kagura. Also with Tohru until the end.
- Sprouting Ears: Especially in the first anime.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Ironically, in the manga he looks a lot like his terrible father.
- Through His Stomach: Cooks for Tohru when she's ill — despite teasing.
- Troubled but Cute
- Tsundere: Male version.
Shigure Sohma (The Dog)[]
Voiced by: Ryotaro Okiayu (JP), John Burgmeier (EN), Yuuichi Nakamura (2019 JP series), Irwin Daayán (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
The Dog of the Zodiac, Yuki's guardian plus the owner of the Sohma house where he, Kyo, Yuki and then Tohru live in. A famous author who's very cheerful and seemingly irresponsible to a fault, but sharper than he seems.
- Abusive Parents: Averted, actually. They're only seen briefly, yet he seems to have a deatached but good enough relationship with them.
- Adaptational Heroism: Due to the condensed nature of the first anime, the audience doesn't see his manipulative side as much as in the manga and the 2019 anime. Hence he simply comes off as a good-hearted albeit perverted guy who wants to free the Sohma from Akito and thinks Tohru is the key for that, but didn't reach the manipulative extremes he did in other FB media.
- At Least I Admit It: Especially in the manga and second series. Shigure is a Manipulative Bastard who can be very selfish and ruthless, and he's very honest about it when questioned.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: In the manga and second anime, he and Akito are a rather twisted example. Shigure admits to Kureno that he loves her more than anything, but that sometimes he wants to spoil her rotten and at others he desires to crush her to a pulp. Plus, his beloved is much more troubled than an average Tsundere and Shigure can be meaner to her than the usual Jerk with a Heart of Gold. After Akito's Heel Face Turn, he drops the facade and returns to her side, sincerely supporting her efforts to get better.
- Bishonen: When he goes to Tohru's school, several of her classmates mention how good looking he is, and one of Mitsuru's coworkers stated that she was attracted to his good looks as well.
- Bishie Sparkle: Of all things, when he sings about high school girls in the first anime.
- Creepy Child: A flashback to Shigure's pre-teen years shows him as this. He explains to Kureno, Ayame and Hatori the extremely convoluted deals between Akira, Ren and tiny!Akito with barely any emotional reactions to it, rationalizing and describing the events almost as if he was an adult. . .
- Crazy Jealous Guy: In both manga and second anime, he admits being this for the person he's in love with: Akito. This is why he grew to loathe and resent Kureno, even when the other man has a Big Brother Worship towards him: he's very jealous of the guy's position as his beloved's companion, and even admits it to him.
- It's believed by fans that Shigure also was somewhat jealous of Yuki in the past, coming from Yuki being "the closest to God" aka Akito. However, he got over it enough to take Yuki under his wing after finding out from Haru about Akito's abuse of the boy.
- The Chessmaster: In the manga and second anime, it's strongly implied that Shigure realised the curse was weakening (as seen in how Kureno and Hatori's Cursed forms are smaller and weaker than they're supposed to be) and started moving things into place once he found someone who could do it - this someone being Tohru. He's not too proud of this, even though he did it to save them all and win Akito's love. Said manipulations included sleeping with Ren (who he said looked like what Akito raised as a girl would look like) and being deliberately distant with Akito.
- Chivalrous Pervert: He's a huge pervert, yes, but he does have his limits and many moments where he's quite serious.
- Handsome Lech: ESPECIALLY in the first anime. Flirts openly with high school aged Tohru when he first meets her, is eager to meet her friends before Kyou describes how...colorful they are, buys her a blatantly Fan Service-y Meido outfit for White Day hoping she'll clean his house in it, and goes to Tohru's high school under the pretense of retrieving her belongings when he was really going to check out the high school girls (sings a little song about it, too).
- Averted with Isuzu when she offers her body if he tells her how to break the curse, but it's back in full force when he comically laments that Hatori didn't tell him he was going to give her a check up.
- Harem Nanny: Takes care of Yuki, followed by Tohru and Kyo.
- I Banged Your Mom: To Akito. Akito was not amused.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: At the start of the series, when Shigure and Yuki discover Tohru camping in the wilderness behind their home, Shigure reacts by pointing and laughing uproariously. He quickly becomes protective of Tohru, to the point where Hanajima and Uotani liken him to a grandfather spoiling his granddaughter. Shigure also happens to push his editor's buttons to the point where she's about a hair away from committing suicide, but he never does so out of actual maliciousness, he just likes pushing other people's buttons.
- Also, in the manga and second anime he has two Goals in Life: To break the Curse, and to be Akito's husband. He won't stop at almost anything to get both of them, sometimes being extremely cruel in his actions towards said goals. He's not too happy about it, but perseveres.
- Karma Houdini: Arguably, his manipulations and mind screws (especially in regards to Akito, the girl he loves and yet still manipulates) never got him in real trouble. He isn't too happy about them, again, but still.
- Manipulative Bastard: In the manga and second anime, especially towards Rin and Akito. To his credit, he didn't take Rin's offer, but he still manipulated Akito like hell.
- Papa Wolf: Shigure dotes on Tohru quite a bit, although whether or not it's for his own personal gain is another matter. (Most likely both)
- Subtly confirmed almost at the end of the manga and second anime. Few after Tohru falls off the cliff, a terrified Akito who's just gone through her Heel Face Turn tells him and Yuki what happened to her... and one of the first things Shigure does is to ask Akito if she pushed Tohru down said cliff, in an absolutely serious tone. This is one of the very few times Shigure is genuinely yet calmly angry at Akito, though when she tells him she didn't do it, he does calm down and later is seen comforting her.
- Parental Substitute - Team Dad: As Yuki's caretaker. Also present, to some extent, in his relationship with Tohru.
- Romance Genre Heroes: Of The Charmer variety.
- Shipper on Deck: He was a real jerk about it, but it's his actions that ultimately lead to Mayuko and Hatori dating.
- When he realises that Tohru is falling in love with Kyo, he sympathizes with her and especially because they could be separated if Kyo is locked-up in the Cat's Room, which reminds him of him and Akito. It's him explaining to her that everyone in the Cursed Zodiac circle has accepted Kyo's destiny that leads Tohru to her proper Love Epiphany.
- Smoking Is Cool
- Smarter Than You Look: Beware. Under the cheerful and charming facade, there's an almost diabolically intelligent and manipulative young man.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Looks like a younger and male version of his mother.
- Temporary Love Interest: Mayu, though it was a mutual arrangement from the start — Shigure basically said "You're lonely, I'm bored — let's date". It was never a genuine romantic relationship and in the end Mayu broke it off because she just couldn't keep pretending it was.
- The Gadfly: Sometimes a means to an end, other times just to be a dick.
- Unflappable Guardian: One that uses Obfuscating Stupidity to his advantage.
- Urban Legend Love Life
- Your Cheating Heart: Turns out he once slept with Akito's mother, Ren. He claims this was only because she slept with Kureno (and because Ren looked like Akito would've looked like, had she been raised as a woman). Akito got so upset that she immediately kicked him out of the main Sohma estate for this.
Akito Sohma (the God)[]
Voiced by: Yuka Imai and Wakaba Murasaki (JP), Aaron Dismuke and Chad Cline (EN), Junko Minagawa (Last Story video-comic), Maaya Sakamoto (2019 JP), Trina Nishimura and Colleen Clickenbeard (EN, 2019) Marisol Romero (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
The God of the Zodiac, Akito is arguably the Big Bad of the series. A very violent and quick to anger person, who turns out to NOT be a flat Card-Carrying Villain but someone with an extremely dark past and who's lashing out in anger over it...
- Abusive Parents: Well, Ren anyway. But her abuse is much more than enough. In Akito's own words: "Mother was cold-hearted, and her anger was always directed at me. I hate her."
- All That Glitters: Akito was told by the Head Maid that a small black box contained her late father's soul - it didn't. She did open the box and see it empty, and being a child back then she thought Akira's soul was invisible, but still felt compelled to keep the box.
- All of the Other Reindeer: There's the strong implication that he's considered a terrible clan leader. When he almost snaps fatally on Ren, one of the maids tells the lead one that honoring "that failure" after trying to stab her mother is an embarrassment.
- Attention Whore: A very creepy and self-destructive version.
- Ax Crazy
- Beautiful All Along: When dressed up in a female kimono, she's very beautiful. Lampshaded by Ritsu's comment when he gets to see dolled-up!Akito and is shocked by how gorgeous she looks.
- Berserk Button: If you're a Sohma, do NOT tell Akito you're leaving the family in ANY way.
- The Bet: Akito made a HUGE one with Ren. It's one regarding the Family Curse, made few after Yuki went to live with Shigure: she'd allow the next person who ever found out about to Curse to keep his/her memories and hang around the Sohmas, to prove to Ren how strong her bonds to the Cursed Sohmas were, and if the person ever managed to break off said bonds, Akito would have to prostrate herself before Ren and leave the clan. It backfired on the two of them: the other Cursed Sohmas were one by one released since the curse was already weakening, but the chosen non-Sohma turned out to be Tohru — an All-Loving Heroine who managed to get to Akito herself and make her pull a Heel-Face Turn.
- Bifauxnen: So much so that the revelation that Akito is not in fact male qualified as one of the biggest reveals in the whole series.
- Big Bad: As close to one as this series has.
- Bokukko: Aside of being a Bifauxnen, she uses "boku" to refer to herself. She keeps doing so after her Heel Face Turn.
- Break the Cutie: Attempts this on Kisa and Tohru. Has this inflicted on her as a little girl, via Ren.
- Break the Haughty: Oh, so much.
- Broken Bird: Manifested less as hypercompetency or great worldliness, but rather through wild mood swings, from crying at the fear of abandonment, to physically abusing family members, including blinding Hatori in one eye, pushing Rin out a window, repeatedly thrashing Kisa, and stabbing Kureno (one of her lovers). . All of which springs from a really bad childhood with a loving Disappeared Dad who died when she was a little girl, a very cruel and arguably crazy Evil Matriarch of a mother, and being forcefully raised as a boy to avoid being seen as a threat by said mother, who poisoned her with hatred and insecurity
- Chronic Villainy: Ultimately averted, Akito's Heel-Face Turn is genuine. She does throw an explosive tantrum that resembles her old ones during a talk with Shigure, but unlike in the past she manages to calm down with a bit of help from him.
- Crashing Dreams: In the manga Akito has a flashback dream where she asks Shigure if he loves her. After Shigure responds, gives her a flower and kisses her, he says her name, at which point so does Kureno, causing Akito to wake up in the car. The scene is changed in the second anime, though: she wakes up in bed with Kureno.
- Creepy Child: As a kid, she's seen painting her room black and claiming she hates everyone, after she snaps as a product of Ren's psychological abuse. Heck, an even earlier memory was all about this: when Akira died and Ren snapped on her child over it and over how only Akito was with Akira when he passed away, Akito simply looked up at her evil mom with Dull Eyes of Unhappiness and spoke in a Creepy Monotone about him telling her that she's loved and wanted.
- Daddy's Child: Akito was very close to his father, Akira. Ren's hatred of her own daughter can be traced to how jealous she was and still is of Akito being "her rival" for Akira's affection.
- Does Not Like Men: Inverted; Akito hates women. Despite being one in the manga and second series. Especially those who try taking the Sohmas away (even if they're Sohmas themselves), due to Ren's abuse.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Tells that to Tohru in the middle of a Villainous Breakdown in the manga and second anime. In fact, Akito's other Berserk Button (aside of the Sohmas leaving the clan) turns out to be this.
- Dropped a Bridget On Him: Everyone not in the know (except Saki and Arisa) reacts like this to The Reveal about Akito's gender. And then, of course, there was the fanbase's reaction...
- Easily Forgiven: Toyed with: The Sohma come to forgive, while Rin doesn't, and hates herself for it. This is due to the fact that they were so over her by that point (especially with the power of Tohru's healing personality), that they didn't even hold a grudge against her (except Rin, again).
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
- Eye Scream: Performed on Hatori. The manga, the first anime and the second series have different takes on how it happened.
- Evil Plan: Originally it was to possess the Zodiac, then it became drive Tohru away and then possess the Zodiac. It fails since the Zodiacs are released anyway - but then Tohru gets to Akito herself. . .
- Fauxshadow: She does a Heel Face Turn about 30 chapters later.
- Femme Fatalons: Once scratched Tohru across the face with them, making her bleed.
- Freudian Excuse: ...Except it really isn't an excuse. More like a "List of Grievances".
- Flower Motifs: Associated with red camellias, which are a symbol of love in the language of flowers. This is also the kind of flower Shigure gave her when she was little and he confessed his love.
- Foreshadowing: Some illustrations very, VERY subtly hinted at the fact that Akito is a woman:
- The cover of volume 15 of the manga has Akito with her kimono slightly lowered on the back, baring her neck. Having a kimono-clad woman exposing her neck is considered as very seductive in Japan.
- In that same manga cover, Akito is sitting with her legs open, kinda forming an "M" with her thighs. This specific sitting position isn't that easy for men (and AMAB people in general) to achieve due to pelvic differences from women/AFAB people
- Checking on the young Akito's toys, one can see bean bags used for the old Otedama children's game, which is seen in Japan as a game for girls.
- The cover of volume 15 of the manga has Akito with her kimono slightly lowered on the back, baring her neck. Having a kimono-clad woman exposing her neck is considered as very seductive in Japan.
- Freak-Out: Happens quite often.
- Heel Realization: Has what seems to be one at the very end of the first anime. And seems to be close to another at the end of the manga and second anime itself. It definitely happens, and she has a genuine Heel-Face Turn..
- Hikikomori: She was homeschooled during her high school years, due to her frail health.
- Ill Person: In the first anime, it's all but shouted that he will die young and doesn't have much time left. The implication is that being the God of the Zodiac will literally kill him. In the manga and second anime, her physical weakness is more psychosomathic than anything, unlike her father's genuine bad health, and may or may not be due to the curse weakening. Still, in Another her and Shigure's son Shiki is rather sickly...
- Involuntary Shapeshifting: No, not really.
- Knight of Cerebus: Furuba was a rather cute and sweet series, though not without it serious moments. Then, Akito arrived to the plot...
- Let Me At Him
- Limited Wardrobe: Almost always seen in a male kimono, though in the manga she also wears suits once in a while and in both manga and second anime he's often seen in a simple all-black outfit.
- MacGuffin: See the All That Glitters entry.
- Manipulative Bastard: Can keep the Sohma under a tight leash with mood swings and abuse.
- Mind Rape: Akito is both a perpetrator and a victim. Thank you, Ren.
- Physical God: Akito is the "God" of the Zodiac.
- Not So Different: Tohru notices at the end that both she and Akito have a similar pain of being left behind and moving on from their lost loves. Akito did near all the shit she did out of terror over the possibility of being left behind by the Sohma (even more after she and her cruel mom Ren betted on Tohru's role in the family, and if she lost to Ren, she'd have to abandon the clan); Tohru, on the other hand, put her late mother on a massive pedestal and was very scared over finding a significant other who'd take the place she left as her (Tohru)'s most important person, causing lotsa trouble when she fell for Kyo, who already felt guilty over his "part" on Kyoko's death.
- Please Don't Leave Me: Akito's biggest fear is to ever be abandoned by the Zodiac and everyone he has known and met. A good part of his horrible behavior is linked to this, as he punishes the cursed ones in an attempt to scare them into staying and punish them for ever entertaining the thought of leaving his side.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Akito is around 19/20, but behaves like a very violent overgrown child with wild mood swings, a god's complex and a gigantic fear of abandonment. Being horribly abused by one's mother from before birth and snapping as an early teen does such things.
- Psychotic Smirk
- Raised as the Opposite Gender
- Slasher Smile
- Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: One of the few Sohmas who despise Tohru. It takes Tohru a LOT to reach for her in the end.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Looks like a male version of his cruel mother Ren. Shigure lampshades it when he tells Ren that one of the reasons he slept with her was how Akito would've looked like her if she were raised as a woman.
- Tsundere: The guy was on the way to become one, until Ren's abuse finally got to him. Yuki recalls Akito yelling at him once, then stopping self and gently picking up a bowl.
- The Reveal: Her real gender
- Unstoppable Rage: Do NOT make Akito mad.
- Villainous Breakdown: An absolutely epic one.
- Villainous Crossdresser: Not by choice.
- What Have I Become?
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Had this young man been in an even more fantastical series, he'd be the Tragic Villain Big Bad who wants to destroy the whole world as revenge for having given him an absolutely horrible life.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: From either Akito towards others, or from Ren towards Akito.
- Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: A good part of Akito's Manipulative Bastard strategy
- Yandere: Hoo boooooy...
Other Zodiac Members[]
Kagura Sohma (The Boar)[]
Voiced by: Yuri Shiratori (JP, drama CD), Kotono Mitsuishi (JP, series), Meredith McCoy (EN); Rie Kugimiya (JP), Tia Ballard (EN) and Ana Elizabeth "Annie" Rojas (Mexican Spanish) (2019 series) |
A college student and the Boar of the Zodiac. Quick-tempered to the point of violence, but quite cheery and affectionate when in a good mood.
- Abusive Parents: Ultimately averted. Her parents apparently used to fight quite a bit over Kagura's condition, but the times her mother shows up in the manga and second anime, she's perfectly okay with Kagura being... herself. The father isn't shown, but it's said in the Cat fanbook that he's still around and he came to support Kagura wholeheartily.
- Adult Child - Older Than They Look — She's a 18 year old college student, and acts like a middle schooler.
- After-Action Patchup: The first anime has her patching up Yuki after he's injured by a Kyo in his monster form.
- Childhood Marriage Promise: Kagura forced Kyo to promise to marry her when they were kiddos. She eventually stops holding him to it.
- Cool Big Sis: Was described as one by Takaya.
- Constantly Curious: In the Backstory, during her first meeting with Kyo.
- Dogged Nice Girl: To Kyo.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: After being rejected by Kyo definitely, when her mom asks her what's wrong, she says she's just realized how self-centered she was and rejects her pity.
- Full Boar Action: as the boar of the Zodiac. In the beginning she is quite aggressive as well.
- Genki Girl: Extremely energetic about her feelings for Kyo.
- The Glomp: To Kyo
- Gray Eyes: In the first anime.
- Love Redeems: Subverted; she tries to invoke this, but realizes in due course that it was as selfish as the behavior she was trying to redeem herself from. She's not too happy with herself when she has this realization.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: She and Ritsu, oh yes.
- Strong Family Resemblance: She's basically a younger, longer-haired version of her Hot Mom.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: Kyou's
- Yandere and Tsundere: She's an odd mixture of both types.
Momiji Sohma (The Rabbit)[]
Voiced by: Miki Nagasawa (JP, drama CD), Ayaka Saitou (JP, series), Kimberly Grant (EN), Kouki Miyata (Last Story video-comic), Megumi Han (JP, 2019 series), Guadalupe "Lupita" Leal and Emilio Treviño (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
A half-German, half-Japanese highschool student who's one year younger than Tohru, Yuki and Kyou, and is the Rabbit of the Zodiac. Girly-looking, cheery and sweet, yet also deeply wounded.
- Abusive Parents: His mother (implied to already be mentally unstable) snapped when she gave birth to him and witnessed Momiji's curse, and completely went the "That Thing Is Not My Child" mode. She ultimately chose to be given Laser-Guided Amnesia regarding him. They may have reconciled in Another
- Bishonen: Once he has a growth spurt in the manga and second anime.
- Brown Eyes: Though he was shown with Blue Eyes in a cover illustration.
- But Not Too Foreign: Half Japanese, half German.
- Cuddle Bug: Loves hugging people, especially Tohru, even though it means he'll transform.
- Dramatic Irony: His mother had her memory of him erased and only knows him as a random Sohma child, and his little sister Momo doesn't know he exists, but his mother expresses concern that "his mother" will worry, and his sister asks to act as her big brother.
- Elegant Classical Musician: Shows quite the talent to play the violin.
- Gratuitous German: Moreso in the manga and second anime.
- Hair of Gold: Nice, affectionate, helpful, a great kid.
- He Is All Grown Up: Later in the manga and second anime, he's shown as still very pretty but noticeably older.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Towards Tohru, in the manga and second anime. He even tells this to Kyou when his Curse is dispelled and he's free.
- Keet: At the beginning.
- Older Than They Look: Looks and acts like a child, but is actually around Tohru's age.
- Parents as People: Momiji's father didn't reject him over the curse and provides well for him, but doesn't let him meet up with his mother or Momo out of fear that the above-mentioned drama will resurface. Momiji doesn't resent or blame his dad, but does say that he's too afraid to lose "the happiness he managed to rebuild".
- Stepford Smiler: His mother's reaction to his cursed form hurt him terribly, but he does his best not to show how much it bothers him. He's also this when he's released from the Curse, as even when he's free he feels that he's lonely due to not having a loving family or Tohru's love.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Sometimes dresses up in female clothes. He later stops doing so, but some of his "manly" clothes are quite girly (ie, he uses chokers, necklaces and his old bunny backpack at times)
Hatori Sohma (The Dragon)[]
Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (JP), Kent Williams (EN), Kazuyuki Okitsu (JP, 2019 series), Jose Gilberto Vilchis (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
A doctor who is the Dragon of the Zodiac and the persona doctor of the clan itself. Quite close to Shigure and Ayame. Also has the power of modifying people's memories, which he has to use to erase those of the outsiders who find out about the Curse itself - until Tohru comes along.
- Berserk Button: A more emotionally subdued version but he's very self-conscious about his zodiac form.
- Bilingual Bonus: Hatori turns into a seahorse instead of a dragon. A Japanese word for seahorse is 竜の落し子 (tatsu no otoshigo), which literally translates to "dragon's baby."
- Bishonen: Similar to the other members of the Zodiac and the Sohma in general. Kakeru asks if there's something he eats to be so good looking.
- Curtains Match the Window
- Eye Scream: Akito nearly blinds him in one eye after he says he wishes to marry Kana.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Having to modify people's memories whenever there's danger of the Curse being revealed to outsiders is not the best for Hatori's self-worth and especially regarding the deals with Kana. It's implied that his closeness to Momiji comes from him having to erase the poor guy's mother's memories and feeling terrible about it.
- Hospital Hottie: He's the family doctor.
- Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: Well, yes and no. He actually transforms into a seahorse, since apparently in Eastern myths dragons start their lives as seahorses. Shigure, however, implies that it's a sign of how the Curse has started weakening..
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Toward Kana.
- Not So Above It All: Has a few of moments of not being completely mature and poised. He tricked Yuki and Kyo into taking a photo of them seemingly smiling together only to playfully give the camera to Tohru by putting on her head. He gave Shigure more injections than necessary because the latter was being annoying. He also threatened to tell Shigure's colleagues every embarrassing story he knew about him since he was four if he told Tohru the secret of his zodiac form.
- Only Sane Man: Compared to his best friends Shigure and Ayame.
- Peek-a-Bangs: Over the hurt eye.
- Psychic Powers: He can modify people's memories to make them forget things. He has to use this skill whenever a non-Sohma finds out about the Sohma curse (save for Tohru), and it takes a heavy toll on his self-esteem.
- Secret Relationship: With Kana, until he tells Akito about it. Akito does not respond well.
- Second Love: With Mayuko.
- The Stoic
- Not So Stoic: At a few key points.
Hatsuharu Sohma (The Ox)[]
Voiced by: Akio Suyama (JP), Justin Cook (EN), Makoto Furukawa (JP, 2019 series), Sebastián Alvabera and Armando Guerrero (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
A highschool student and the Ox of the Zodiac, one year younger than Kyo and Yuki. Rebellious and weird, but good-hearted.
- A Man Is Not a Virgin: Yes, he and his cousin and girlfriend Rin DID go all the way-
- Bishonen
- Bi the Way: Tells Tohru that Yuki was his first love.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: When he becomes Black Haru.
- Multicolored Hair: Part white, part black. Hilarity Ensues when he drags the student council president into the men's room to "prove" it's natural.
- No Sense of Direction: When they were kids, Kyo had to hold his hand and led him to school. At his introduction he states he was 'lost in the dark heart of the urban jungle' for three days.
- Parental Neglect <- -> Parents as People: On one hand, his parents didn't do a lot when he was mistreated by the Sohmas over being the Ox and his mom is said to be VERY concerned over her physical appearance. On the other, they did try to help him deal with his uncontrollable anger via enrolling him in martial arts class and they didn't reject him over the curse.
- Psychotic Smirk: Black Haru.
- Selfish Good: When he properly learns about Akito's abuse ot Rin and confronts her over it, he realises that a good part of his protectiveness of Rin came from him wanting her to be all his rather than him truly wanting to support her.
- Slasher Smile: Black Haru.
- Split Personality: Black Haru.
- Super-Powered Evil Side: You guessed it, Black Haru.
- What the Hell, Hero?: A mighty one to Akito.
Ayame Sohma (The Snake)[]
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (JP, drama CD), Mitsuru Miyamoto (JP), Christopher Sabat (EN), Takahiro Sakurai (JP, 2019 series), Víctor Ugarte (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
The Snake of the Zodiac and Yuki's big brother, who works as a famous fashion designer and owns a popular clothes shop alongside the seamstress (and potential girlfriend) Mine Kuramae.
- Abusive Parents: They disowned Ayame when he was young, apparently because he was too independent for their liking.
- Aloof Big Brother: In the Backstory. By the time the series starts, he's gotten over it.
- The Atoner: Feels guilty for his treatment of Yuki when they were kids, and for how he treated a girl who loved him when he was in school.
- Big Brother Complex: Inverted; Ayame has a younger brother complex.
- Bishonen: Considering he's Yuki's brother...
- Camp Straight: Or possibly Camp Bi the Way.
- Cursed with Awesome: In Japan, white snakes are considered fortuity and Akito is likely superstitious that was granted. As a result, the shape-shifting Ayame is cursed with has spared him from any attacks since it can be disaster for Akito.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: It's the long hair and his effeminate behavior.
- Homoerotic Subtext: Played for laughs with Shigure as a long-running joke between them.
- Large Ham: It's refered to as "steamrolling people with his personality."
- No Sense of Personal Space: Justified when he's in snake form, as he's extremely susceptible to the cold and needs to rely on another person's body heat. Not that this explains him from getting into bed with Kyo (fully clothed) in the middle of the night and snuggling close, mind you.
- Rapunzel Hair: Down to his back.
- Shipper on Deck: Seems to support Yuki/Tohru and Kyo/Kagura judging by how he wants to embroider "I live for Kagura" on Kyo's clothing and "I live for Yuki" on Tohru's clothing. Later, he's a huge Yuki/Machi and Kyo/Tohru fanboy.
- What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Ayame eats his soba, with great confidence.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
Kisa Sohma (The Tiger)[]
Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka (JP 2011), Rina Ueda (JP 2019) Kate Bristol (EN), Sofía Roig (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
A cute, gentle, withdrawn middle schooler who is the Tiger of the Zodiac.
- All of the Other Reindeer - Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics: Her classmates hate her for her unusual looks, so they either ignore or mock her.
- Break the Cutie: Courtesy of her classmates, who bullied the Hell out of her for her hair.
- Catgirl: In a way; she just transforms into an adorable tiger kitty.
- Childhood Friend Romance: With Hiro
- Curtains Match the Window
- Eyes of Gold: Just as adorable as a human, and even sweeter.
- Hair of Gold
- Cute Mute: At the beginning.
- Cute Kitten: Especially when she's already cute as a button as a human girl.
- Morality Chain: When it comes to Tohru, she plays this role for Hiro.
- Onee-Sama: Views Tohru as this. Kisa adores her and follows her around a duckling.
- Parents as People: Her mother is a good person, but she's pretty overwhelmed with Kisa's problems and falls into My Beloved Smother. She eventually gets better about it.
- Zettai Ryouiki
Hiro Sohma (The Sheep)[]
Voiced by: Yuriko Fuchizaki (JP original), You Taichi (JP 2019), Aaron Dismuke (EN), Jared Mendoza (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
The youngest of the current cursed Sohmas, he's about to finish elementary school and later gets into junior high. He's the Sheep of the Zodiac.
- Abusive Parents: Notably averted with Hiro, who, unlike most of the Zodiac, has parents who love him just as he is. Especially his mother Satsuki.
- Adorably Precocious Child: He's a brat. But a cute brat.
- Big Brother Instinct: Invoked in the manga and second anime after the birth of his younger sister, Hinata. Present to an extent in his desire to protect Kisa and Rin, although he's younger than both of them.
- Bratty Half-Pint
- Broken Tears: He breaks down crying when he tells Haru and Kisa what truly happened with Rin
- Crazy Jealous Guy: To Kisa
- Even Bratty Half Pints Love Their Mamas: He really, really worries over his beloved mother, Satsuki.
- Failure Knight: Thinks he failed to protect Kisa from Akito's fury and that's why she was hurt. He fears staying close to Kisa will draw Akito's wrath to her again. Later, he blames himself for not being able to aid Rin, having witnessed how Akito threw her off a window and being paralyzed at that.
- Gakuran: Later in the story, Hiro attends a junior high that has black gakuran as its uniform for boys. He wears the black jacket open with a white shirt underneath.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Lashes out against Tohru for her close friendship with Kisa that comforted Kisa when he couldn't. Realizes this was a dumb move when Kisa herself warns him to back off.
- Hair-Trigger Temper
- Hypocritical Humor: "I can't stand people who complain all the time."
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: More insecure than you'd think. . .
- Momma's Boy: He loves Satsuki and overprotects her.
- Mouthy Kid
- Only Child Syndrome: At first.
- Pet the Dog: His real love and concern for Kisa and Rin soften his Jerkass Facade considerably.
- Secret Keeper: For most of the manga and second anime, the truth about Rin's injuries. It weighs heavily on him. And he pretty much breaks down in tears when he can't hold back anymore and explains the truth to Haru.
- Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: One of the few people not immediately charmed by Tohru, he at first actively baits her. See Green-Eyed Monster.
- Straight Man: Becomes this a few times in the Beach arc after he decides to cool his hostility towards Tohru compared to Cloudcuckoolander Tohru and occasionally Kisa.
- Too Clever by Half: Very smart for his age and knows it. This usually doesn't keep his mouth from getting him in trouble or give him the emotional maturity to handle difficult situations.
- Tsundere: With Kisa. Eventually acts this way to a degree with Tohru as well; while Hiro is never as effusively affectionate toward Tohru as most of the other cursed Sohmas, he does show genuine concern for her and her well-being.
Ritsu Sohma (The Monkey)[]
Voiced by: Mina Tominaga (JP, original), Kengo Kawanishi (JP, 2019), Mike McFarland (EN), Luis Leonardo Suárez (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
A super girly-looking, prone to flailing college student. He's the Monkey of the Zodiac, and his parents handle a hot spring resort owned by the Sohma clan.
- Ambiguous Gender: In-Universe; he's a boy, but due to being a Wholesome Crossdresser, Tohru mistakes him for a girl. Word of God also reveals that his own girlfriend can't tell if he's male or female (not that she cares).
- Apologizes a Lot: Taken to an extreme.
- Character Exaggeration: Played for laughs.
- Demoted to Extra: The number of chapters in which he appears, including his introduction, can literally be counted on the fingers of one hand.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Oh yeah.
- Dropped a Bridget On Him: Tohru is very confused when the lovely young "lady" she had met transforms into a monkey in her arms.
- Fragile Flower: Nearly anything can set off the tears and frantic apologies.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: The root of his problems.
- Large Ham: Because he apologizes that loudly and repeteadly.
- Locked Out of the Loop: The four eldest Cursed Sohma (Shigure, Kureno, Ayame and Hatori) did not tell made VERY sure not to tell him, as the one coming after them, that they had dreamed about Akito being conceived AND that Akito was a girl. They later extended it to the other younger Sohmas.
- Odd Friendship: He and Kagura get along super well. In fact, some flashbacks show them playing dress-up as children.
- Parents as People: As said below, his mother may be a Nervous Wreck (not unlike him) but she loves him with all of her heart and wants him to be happy in his life.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: One of the solutions he tried to not remain quite so insecure, mistakenly thinking that he'd be bullied less. Later in the series he dresses in more masculine clothes (and gives his furisode to Kagura), but keeps his hair long and tied with a small ribbon for a while; at the very end, he cuts it short.
- What Could Have Been: Word of God states that there were chapters written to develop a relationship between Ritsu and Mitchan, but Takaya couldn't find a good spot to use them.
Isuzu "Rin" Sohma (The Horse)[]
Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima (Last Story video-comic), Aki Toyosaki (2019 anime), Brina Palencia (2019 series, EN), Ana Elizabeth "Analiz" Sánchez (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
An Ill Girl and highschool student, plus the Horse of the Zodiac and Haru's girlfriend. Quite embittered due to her horrible past, and determined to break off the Curse of the Sohmas even if it wrecks or kills her.
- Abusive Parents: Mom and Dad pretended to love her, until she (after an encounter with Ren) noticed their love was fake and confronted them about it. They became horribly abusive afterwards, until Rin was hospitalized and they disowned her. Kagura's parents took Rin into their custody; she was so badly damaged, though, that she simply couldn't bond with them despite their good intentions.
- Adapted Out: Since the first anime was Cut Short few before her introduction, she and others didn't appear. The first season of the second series has a scene featuring her and Hiro, though, and she later shows up properly.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl
- Bad Dreams
- Big Sister Instinct: As time passes Rin becomes very, very protective of Tohru. She yells at Kagura for being rude at her regarding Kyo (and in the manga, she actually hits her), and it's revealed that at some point she intended to grab Kureno by the collar and "give him a good trashing" because, in her view, he made Tohru cry.
- Brooding Babe, Gentle Others: The Brooding Babe to Haru and Tohru's Gentle Others.
- Broken Bird: The young lady had it rough and still has it rough.
- Childhood Friend Romance: She and Haru
- Destination Defenestration: Happened to her in the past. When Akito confronts her in regards to her and Haru, Rin says she was the one who started their relationship and an enraged Akito throws her outta a second floor window. She survives but is seriously injured, and that's why she doesn't show up in the story at first - she has to be hospitalized for months, plus her other health problems and her attempts to break out don't help.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: The lady despises pity. This is shown to be deconstructed since she's so focused on her goal to break the curse, it brings her horrifying hardships and yet she refuses help from anyone, which affects her frail health and may bring her to an early grave.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Tohru's reaction after seeing her naked (post-transformation).
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Dresses like that sometimes, as a rejection of the cutesy clothes she wore as a child..
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has heavy scars on her back, thanks to the incident where Akito threw her off a window.. They can be seen in the ED of the 2019 anime's second season.
- Goal in Life: Rin will break the Curse. Even if it kills her.
- Ill Girl: Her traumatic past cause her health problems more than once (Specifically, she has stomach ulcerae) She also has a few psychological problems indicated by her hallucinating that Tohru is her cruel mother whom she is begging not to be angry with her.
- Important Haircut/Traumatic Haircut: Courtesy of Akito, as punishment for following Akito's evil mother Ren's orders and with the added bonus of how she and Ren looked a LOT alike when Rin wore with her long hair down.
- Lonely Doll Girl: In the second anime's flashbacks to her Dark and Troubled Past.
- Ms. Fanservice: By Word of God, "she's the character in charge of sexiness."
- The Ophelia: She has several moments like these, especially when she collapses while looking for info about the curse... and after Akito catches her stealing her treasure, then cuts her hair by force and locks her up in the Cat's Room.
- Please, I Will Do Anything!: In her quest to dispell the curse, she offered herself to Shigure in exchange for info about it. Shigure wisely declined said offer.
- Screw Destiny: She actively tries to break the curse.
- Tsundere: Towards Tohru, after they become friends. And towards Hatsuharu, after she breaks up with him.
- Unwitting Pawn: Ren uses her as one, tricking her into stealing Akito's precious box in exchange for info to break the curse. Boy, does the poor girl pay for it.
Kureno Sohma (The Rooster)[]
Voiced by: Susumu Chiba (Last Story video-comic), Yuichirou Umehara (2019 anime, JPN), Ian Ryan Reynolds (young) and Ian Sinclair (older) (2019 anime, EN), Gerardo García (2019 anime, Mexican Spanish), |
The Rooster of the Zodiac, a quiet and withdrawn man who is Akito's right-hand man of sorts.
- Adapted Out: From the first anime. He had a very early cameo in the first season of the second one, before officially appearing in the series.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Several of the Curses Sohmas seem to hold quite the distrust for Kureno for several reasons: he's the closest to the person who treats them badly, he always seems to hold secrets, and at some point Rin says that he feels like an outsider compared to them. They also seem to sense that his Curse was broken years ago, something that only he, Akito and Shigure properly know.
- Bishonen
- Brought Down to Normal: Sort of, after his curse is broken.
- But Now I Must Go: He moves to the countryside almost at the end, and it's implied that Arisa will soon move in with him.
- Fish Out of Water: Since he lives in the main house and is all but isolated rom the world "thanks" to being Akito's confidant, he finds himself at a loss when he goes out. His eventual girlfriend Arisa is pretty baffled by his behavior when they met.
- Love Martyr: To Akito. Ever since he witnessed Akito's sobbing meltdown when his curse was broken and she panicked over losing him, the guy has decided to forsake pretty much everything and everyone else in his life to stay by his leader's side, even if it hurts.
- Major Injury Underreaction: At some point, Akito snaps on Kureno violently enough to stab him. He's in very obvious pain and bleeding profusely, but he merely tells the terrified maid who notices this to run after Akito.
- Maintain the Lie: Kureno's curse being broken is only known by him, Akito, Shigure, and MUCH later Tohru.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: His Cursed form is more similar to a sparrow than a rooster. Shigure believes it's because the Curse in general is weaker than before.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Regarding Isuzu's situation, since as soon as he finds out she's she's locked up in the Cat's Room, he checks on her well-being and has her taken to an hospital when he sees the confinement was too harsh on her.. He does all of this behid Akito's back, clearly knowing how risky that can be.
- Second Hand Storytelling: When he tells Tohru about Akito.
- Snooping Little Kid: In the manga, a little Kureno sometimes witnessed Akira Sohma's interactions with the maids and especially Ren.. In fact, when Akira and Ren decided to get married and later had a verbal spat with the Head Maid over it, tiny!Kureno was playing alone behind a panel door and overheard everything.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Rin saw him talking to Tohru (during the time he told her that Akito was a girl) from a distance and noticed that she was crying. She was about to confront Kureno on making Tohru cry. . . and THAT was when Ren convinced her to be her Unwitting Pawn. . . leading to her being caught, having her hair cut off, and being locked up in the Cat's Room by the absolutely enraged Akito. . . To be fair Kureno had no idea about Rin seeing him and later he's the one who releases the "captured" Rin.
- We Would Have Told You But: About Akito's history, when he tells Tohru.
Other Sohmas and their associates[]
Kazuma Sohma[]
Voiced by: Norihiro Inoue (JP, 2001 anime), Toshiyuki Morikawa (2019 anime, JPN) Dameon Clarke (EN), Arturo Mercado Jr. (2019 series, Mexican Spanish) |
A martial arts instructor and a non-cursed Sohma, who does what he can to take care of his nephew Kyo and later his niece Rin.
- Adaptation Dye Job: A brunet in the manga and second anime, but has silver hair in the first series.
- The Atoner: As a pre-teen, Kazuma treated the former Cat (his grandfather) quite badly. Upon meeting the new Cat, Kyo, he takes him in, having never been able to forgive himself for that.
- Bishonen: And he's 39.
- Cool Old Guy: Though he's not really old, Kyo will gladly gush about his cool he is.
- Hot Shoujo Uncle
- Important Haircut
- Lethal Chef: He can't even prepare decent tea.
- Older Than They Look: He's 39 during his first appearance in Volume 6. At the end of the series, he should be about 41. You wouldn't guess any of this just by looking at him. Even Takaya admits she draws him very young looking.
- Parental Substitute: To Rin and Kyo.
- Papa Wolf: He will not allow anyone to mistreat Kyo.
Ren Sohma[]
Voiced by: Ai Orikasa (2019 anime, JPN), Katelyn Barr (EN), Kerygma Flores (Mexican Spanish) |
The matriarch of the Sohma clan. She is Akito's very beautiful and also very cruel mother, who loathes her child and does her best to manipulate the Sohmas to her own benefit. She used to be one of the maids in the Sohma state, then she fell in love with Akira alias the leader of the clan and the man who'd be Akito's father.
- Abusive Parents: The worst one in the series, since it's basically thanks to HER that Akito is the Jerkass Big Bad he is.
- Beauty Is Bad: One of the most beautiful moms, but also the cruelest.
- Because Destiny Says So: She believes that she and Akira were destined to love one another.
- Bigger Bad: To Akito, and thus for the entire series.
- The Caretaker - Lady in Waiting -> Florence Nightingale Effect: Ren was not only a maid in the Sohma main house, but Akira's personal maid who helped him in his daily routine and took care of him. There's even a manga panel where she's shown helping him change clothes.
- Child-Hater: She once said that she hated how the then-tiny Ayame, Hatori, Kureno and Shigure swarmed to her and cried. She didn't know it, but their tears were because they sensed she was pregnant with Akito, the future God of the Zodiac. She also notes that she has always hated Rin and considered her useless, and Akito remembers her as a cold mother who refused to even hold him as a little child despite Akira confronting her about it.
- Driven by Envy - It's All About Me: Ren wanted to be the only one in Akira's world, and did NOT take it well when they conceived Akito and therefore she felt unloved. It even gets lampshaded in a flashback by a pre-teen Shigure, who tells the just as young Hatori, Kureno and Ayame what he's heard about it and adds "she's hurt because she's no longer "first" in Mr. Akira's heart"; and she's even seen throwing a Bratty Teenage Daughter-like tantrum in front of Akira and a tiny Akito where she screams that he should love her and only her!
- Early-Bird Cameo: At some point, Tohru was looking for Kureno in the Sohma state and hid in a room, then heard a voice that she believed to be Akito's. It was actually Ren's, but she wouldn't show up for several chapters.
- Evil Matriarch: Ooooh, boy...
- Hot Mom: In her 40's (?), but still gorgeous.
- Ill Girl: She's said to be mentally and physically ill.
- I Lied: When Rin is imprisoned in the Cat's Room after Ren convinces her to steal Akito's box in exchange for info about the Curse, she and her personal maid chat about it. The maid asks if Ren really knows how to break said Curse, and Ren's reply is more or less this.
- Love Makes You Evil: Ren originally worked as a maid in the Sohma state, then was the first person who reached out to Akito's father Akira. Her Face Heel Turn came when she got pregnant and became obsessed with the idea that Akira would care more for their then-unborn child than for her...
- Madwoman in the Attic: It's implied by a talk between her and Shigure that she's confined to her bedroom in the Sohma state (which isn't helped by her apparently weak health), and only some of the maids interact with her. She becomes a real example after being "defeated".
- Manipulative Bitch: To Akito and Rin
- Meddling Parents: To some degree. She doesn't believe in the bond but she doesn't do anything about it except trying to use it against Akito.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The point of Ren's bet with Akito to not erase Tohru's memories was to allow the Zodiac to gravitate towards a stranger and away from Akito (aka "God"), proving to Akito that the bond between the Zodiac and God was false and that no one truly loved her, thereby pushing her into the Despair Event Horizon. The end result was the breaking of the Zodiac curse, Akito pulling a Heel Face Turn and Ren being left with nothing but her rage.
- The Ophelia: A villainous and very creepy example.
- Psychopathic Womanchild: Lots of Ren's actions and motivations can be compared to those of a Bratty Teenage Daughter who only thinks of herself and her love interest. Only said teenage girl can be sympathetic, plus she IS a teen and has room to grow up; Ren is NOT a teenager and is NOT sympathetic at all.
- Smug Snake: Beautiful, evil, sly, manipulative... and not just despicable, but in the end, very incompetent. She has to manipulate her desperate niece Rin to get her late husband Akira's box (Rin then fails and is horrifyingly "punished" by Akito), is humiliated by Shigure when he tells her he only had sex with her because she looks like an older Akito, and once her plans crumble she's left as pretty much as an Empty Shell of her former self.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Ren once asked a young Rin if she and her family actually were as happy as they seemed, leading Rin to ask similar things to her parents and to them cracking and abusing her onwards.
- Villainous Breakdown: And a Villainous BSOD that follows it.
- Yandere: And holy shit, HOW. Even more than Akito!
- You Are Not Alone: Why Akira loved her: he felt all alone and isolated until he met Ren and she showed empathy for his plea.
Akira Sohma[]
The former clan leader, Ren's husband and Akito's father.
Voiced by: Akira Ishida (2019 anime, JPN), Chad Cline (2019 anime, ENG), Arturo Cataño (2019 anime, Mexican Spanish) |
- Arranged Marriage: At some point, the Sohmas and their entrourage were discussing the need ot having Akira to through this so he'd have a wife worthy of his high social position. Naturally, when he personally picked his maid Ren as his wife all of this went to Hell.
- Bishonen: He had an "unearthly beauty", according to his nephew Kureno.
- Hot Dad: Akito's.
- Ill Boy: Which made him a Lonely Rich Kid, locked away in the Sohma state.
- Love Cannot Overcome: His and Ren's relationship was not easy, and by the time he died of his illness, they had grown apart a lot. In fact, his Famous Last Words were by the lines of "So we couldn't get reconciled. . . didn't we, Ren...?"
- Lonely Rich Kid: As head of the Sohma family, people could seldom approach him. He loved his wife because she didn't care about his status and reached for him anyway; in Akira's own words, "Ren noticed my loneliness"
- Parents as People: Akira loved Akito deeply, but due to his illness and his own lack of social skills, he could not help the child deal with the harsh reality around them and especially with Ren's cruel behavior. And for worse, he died very early in life...
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In an attempt to cheer up a saddened Akito, he told her that she was a special child who was destined and born to be loved. After his death and due to Ren's abuse, Akito ended up clinging to Akira's words and twisted it into one of the reasons why she treats the Cursed Sohmas the way she does - they're all destined to be by her side forever, so she's entitled to do anything to keep them from leaving. And when Kureno's curse disappeared, things started going From Bad to Worse. . .
- Uptown Girl: To Ren, his wife, who was a maid in the state.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
Kana Sohma[]
Voiced by: Haruhi Terada (JP original), Minami Tsuda (JP, 2019), Libby Smith (EN), Xóchitl Ugarte (2019 anime, Mexican Spanish) |
A young lady from the Sohma clan, but not afflicted with the curse. She was Hatori's assistant and girlfriend, plus Mayuko Shiraki's best friend.
- Break the Cutie: Oh boy...
- Hospital Hottie: Was Hatori's assistant in his clinic.
- Irony: After having her memories erased, Kana ships her best friend Mayuko... with Hatori.
- Mind Rape: Via Akito, who blames her so much and so loudly for Hatori's injuries that she ended up believing it. She's left in such a huge Heroic BSOD that Hatori erases her memories of their romance so she can get better. She's later Happily Married to someone else, and only remembers Hatori as her never-confessed First Love.
- Naive Everygirl
Satsuki Sohma[]
Voiced by: Mikako Takahashi (2019, JPN), Erica Mendez (2019 anime, EN), Georgina "Gina" Sánchez (2019, Mexican Spanish) |
Hiro Sohma's mother, she makes relatively few appearances late in the manga and the second anime. Gives birth in the manga to a non-Zodiac daughter, Hinata, making Hiro a big brother.
- Children Raise You: Hiro acts like a concerned but exasperated parent to her most of the time. Satsuki remarks in one panel how her son always scolds her. In another panel, she responds with a "Yes, sir!" when he tells her to be more careful while she's still pregnant. (Though her lighthearted tone of voice could mean she just humors him all of the time.)
- Cooldown Hug: She gives one to Hiro when he's released from the Curse and tells her that he has VERY complicated feelings about it.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Such a klutz that Hiro is paranoid she's bound to trip down a flight of stairs. He's especially freaked out when she's pregnant.
- Doting Parent: Aside from Kagura's mother (and maybe, Shigure's), she's among the few only mother of a Zodiac child we see who neither rejected him nor became overprotective.
- Genki Girl
- Good Parents: Satsuki is one of the few parents of Zodiac members who openly loves her kid
- Hot Mom
- Obfuscating Genkiness: She's a lot more aware of Hiro's emotional sore spots than he realizes.
- Open-Minded Parent: Unperturbed that her son turns into a sheep. Heck, when he transformed when she held him for the very first time, her reaction was, "I love sheep!"
- Shipper on Deck: Openly anticipates gaining Kisa as a daughter-in-law, much to Hiro's horror.
- So Proud of You
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: To the letter, with her pre-teen son.
Ookami Souma[]
Voiced by: Junko Yamamoto (JP, original), Sachiko Kojima (JP, 2019), Julie Mayfield (EN), Gabriela Guzmán (2019 anime, Mexican Spanish) |
Ritsu's mother, and the manager of a hot springs resort owned by the clan.
- Apologizes a Lot: And how!
- Canon Immigrant: She apparently appeared in one of Natsuki Takaya's earlier stories.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
- Fragile Flower - Like Mother Like Son: Ritsu didn't get his Fragile Flower side from thin air.
- My Beloved Smother: Sympathetic example, because...
- Parents as People: For all of her faults, she adores Ritsu and sincerely wants him to be happy.
- Stringy Haired Ghost Girl: Not a ghost, and certainly not a young girl, but has the looks and she has been mistaken as a ghost.
The Sohma Maid[]
An old woman who has worked for decades for the Sohma clan, and is Akito's closest confidant.
Voiced by: Hitomi Shogawa (JP) and Linda Leonard (EN) (2019 anime) |
- Adapted Out: Didn't appear in the first anime.
- Adaptation Expansion: The scene where she explains herself to Akito is anime-only
- All That Glitters: She's the one who gave Akito the black box said to contain Akira's soul, in an attempt to help her cope with her father's death.
- Evil Old Folks: Averted, she may work for Akito but is more ultra-lawful than evil.
- Good Old Ways: She swears by those so much, she grows kinda distant from Akito after her Heel-Face Turn. In the second anime, she explains to Akito it's because she was pretty much raised in the Sohma estate as a maid and thus she simply doesn't known what to do now that things are changing so much.
- Kimono Is Traditional: Like all the other Sohma servants.
- Parental Substitute: Since Ren was abusive and Akira died young, she's had a huge part in raising Akito. She's in fact the only woman Akito has always gotten along with.
- Prim and Proper Bun
- Shipping Torpedo: She wasn't too fond of the idea of her fellow maid Ren marrying Akira.
Momo Sohma[]
Momiji's younger sister, born after their mother had her memories of him erased. A very sweet and innocent little girl who doesn't know about Momiji's biological bond to her, but feels drawn to him anyway. It's also said that her first language is German rather than Japanese, explaining how quiet she is.
Voiced by: Saya Tanaka (JP) , Megan Shipman (EN) and Mónica Moreno (Mexican Spanish) (2019 anime) |
- Big Brother Worship: To Momiji... even when she doesn't know he's her brother.
- Crash Into Hello: Her second meeting with Tohru.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Again, she has no idea that Momiji is her brother. She still wants to be close to him and have him as her brother figure. In Another, she now knows everything.
- Mommy's Girl: She's very close to her mother, clinging to her skirt and following her around like a baby chick.
- Shrinking Violet: Very shy and quiet.
- Strong Family Resemblance: To her mother and brother. And in Another, to her niece Mina.
- The Voiceless: Sorta, she had no lines in the first anime.
Tohru's Friends[]
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Non-romantically, towards Tohru.
- Romantic Three-Girl Friendship: And how.
Arisa Uotani[]
Voiced by: Yuka Imai (JP), Parisa Fakhri (EN), Atsumi Tanezaki (JP, 2019 series), Lourdes "Lulu" Arruti (2019 anime, Mexican Spanish) |
A former delinquent who, thanks to Kyoko and later Tohru, was more or less reformed. Fiercely protective of Tohru.
- Berserk Button: Don't mess with Tohru. Seriously, don't.
- Bokukko: She has pretty boyish speech patterns.
- Cool Big Sis: After lecturing to three middle school aged yankii wannabes, they start respecting her and one starts calling her Onee-Sama.
- Delinquents: See Grumpy Bear. Even now, she still carries a metal pipe.
- Grumpy Bear: Until befriending Kyoko and Tohru she was grumpy and violent.
- The Ladette
- May-December Romance: Is paired with Kureno Sohma, who is nine years her senior, at the end of the series.
- New Job Episode: Does various part time jobs.
- Parental Abandonment: When she was very young, her mother left her and her father to marry another man. Her father was so depressed that he became and Alcoholic Dad, and it took him and Arisa years to even mildly rebuild their relationship.
- Peek-a-Bangs
- Star-Crossed Lovers: She and Kureno fell in love with each other over the course of two meetings. However, due to Kureno's obligation to Akito he decided to never see her again even after learning from Tohru that she wanted to be with him. They are reunited after Akito's Heel-Face Turn.
- Volleying Insults: With Kyo.
Saki Hanajima[]
Voiced by: Yuko Minaguchi (JP, drama CD), Reiko Yasuhara (JP, series), Daphne Gere (EN), Satomi Satou (JP, 2019 series), Karen Vallejo (2019 anime, Mexican Spanish) |
Tohru's other close friend, who up until she and Arisa befriended her, was harassed and hated for her Psychic Powers.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Her Strange Girl infamy first brought her bullying, then almost complete isolation... until Tohru and Arisa broke through her defenses.
- Berserk Button: Like Arisa, she will show you no mercy if you hurt Tohru.
- Big Eater: She quite likes eating.
- Book Dumb: She's not really, but she fails her tests because the make-up ones are easier.
- Expressive Hair
- Elegant Gothic Lolita
- Good Parents: Her parents and grandmother are endlessly loving and supportive of her, especially when she was being bullied and ostracized. They also aren't too bothered by her powers. Heck, her little brother Megumi takes after them and is pretty protective of her sometimes.
- Invisible to Normals: Hanajima's denpa waves.
- Psychic Powers: She reads auras and can potentially kill with her "denpa waves". That almost happened in her backstory, where she loses it after being brutally bullied by a boy and wishing for his death... then her powers go haywire and he almost dies.
- Ship Tease: Apparently with Kyo's foster father Kazuma in the manga. They don't get together. Fruits Basket Another features her child, whose father is a foreign chef.
- The Stoic: Always monotone, rarely emotional.
- Strange Girl
- When She Smiles
Megumi Hanajima[]
Voiced by: Omi Minami (JP, 2001), Yukiyo Fujii (2019 anime, JPN), Hollie Townson (EN), Sebastián Alvabera (2019 anime, Mexican Spanish) |
Saki's younger brother, who's quite protective of his older sister.
- Big Brother Instinct: Inverted, he's the younger one.
- Creepy Child: Genre Savvy enough to deliberately exploit it.
- I Know Your True Name: According to him.
- Likes Older Women: He's pretty subtle about it but he mentions once how "interesting" it is for him to be the only boy amongst three women (Saki, Tohru, and Arisa). Then there was his forward comment about visiting Arisa at work to see her in a miniskirt...
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Upon hearing the plan of the Prince Yuki Fan Club girls, he gives them a speech about how they're being selfish by forcing their one-sided affections on Yuki and that he would come to hate them for driving away the people he allows into his life. His words even reach Saki, who had been suffering from her own mild jealousy of Tohru's friendships with the Sohmas.
Tohru's Family[]
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Tohru quotes Kyoko's words quite a few times in the manga; also, Kyoko directly helps Kyo and Arisa in the flashbacks.
- Posthumous Character
Kyoko Honda, née Katsunuma[]
Voiced by: Reiko Yasuhara (JP), Julie Mayfield (EN), Miyuki Sawashiro (JPN, 2019), Jocelyn Robles (2019 anime, Mexican Spanish) |
Tohru's widowed mother, who did her best to raise her alone and also was good friends with Arisa and Kyo Sohma. She was fatally hit by a car when Tohru was starting highschool, leading to her living in a tent laced on Sohma land until Shigure hired her as his, Yuki and Kyo's housekeeper.
- Adult Fear: A flashback reveals a pregnant Kyoko terrified that her relationship with Tohru would go the way of hers with her own mother.
- Also, when little Tohru got lost, Kyouko went ballistic on the police because it was very hard to find her.
- As Kyouko lay dying, bleeding out after being hit by a car, her inner thoughts were about how she didn't want to die - yet not for herself, but because she'd leave Tohru all alone.
- Ascended Extra: She and Katsuya are this in the movie The Story of Kyoko and Katsuya, which covers the manga chapters that expand on their relationship.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Inverted — Katsuya makes fun of Kyoko because she doesn't have eyebrows.
- Broken Bird: Until Katsuya offers her a helping hand.
- Broken Pedestal: Arisa was not happy to discover that the "Red Butterfly" she'd admired had turned into a Doting Mother. However, after she slowly warmed up to her and when she helped Arisa quit her gang, she admired her again.
- Delinquents -> Former Teen Rebel: In her teenage years.
- Hot Mom
- Intergenerational Friendship: With Arisa and with Kyou.
- We Have No Daughter: What her father pretty much says to her face when Kazuma asks them if he has their permission to marry her. Kazuya then takes Kyoko in, and they're soon married.
- Open-Minded Parent
- Parental Neglect: Kyoko's Freudian Excuse when she was young, since the Katsunumas emotionally ignored her and were only worried about her giving them a bad rep. When Katsuya died, Kyoko had an emotional breakdown and started neglecting Tohru for a while. Thankfully, she snapped out of it before any lasting harm could be done, but she regards it as My Greatest Failure.
- The Promise: Kyouko made a young Kyo promise that he'd protect Tohru. In fact, when she told him "I won't forgive you" as she was dying, what she actually meant was "If you don't protect Tohru, I won't forgive you".
- The Red Baron: Was known as "The Red Butterfly" during her delinquent days, since the image of the red taillight on her bicycle was said to resemble a flitting butterfly as she rode it.
- Team Mom: Where Tohru got it from.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: After marrying Katsuya, she is happy to be a loving mother and Housewife and finally experience living in a happy family... and then, in Uotani's backstory, we see that she beats the tar out of a group of delinquents to save Arisa. In Yuki's flashback to when little Tohru went missing, we also see her threaten to "rain death upon [the police's] miserable souls" if they don't find her baby.
Katsuya Honda[]
Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (JPN) and J. Michael Tatum (ENG) (Fruits Basket Prelude - The Story of Kyoko and Katsuya) |
Kyoko's husband and Tohru's father. A salesman and former teacher who died early in life.
- Ascended Extra: Again, he and Kyoko are this in The Story of Kyoko and Katsuya
- Big Brother Mentor: He was this to Kyoko, before they fell in love.
- Bishonen
- Follow in My Footsteps: He says that he didn't actually want to be a teacher, and did it because his dad (a former teacher) and family expected him to.
- Happily Married
- Hot for Student: Downplayed: Katsuya was Kyoko's student teacher and counselor at first, then quit his teaching job before they got married. He was actually going to her house to ask her parents if he could marry her... and quite in time, since he did it right when the Katsunumas were kicking Kyoko out of the house. He gives them a What the Hell, Hero? speech and takes Kyoko in.
- Hot Teacher: Used to be this.
- Hot Dad
- Incurable Cough of Death: Katsuya died of a badly-treated flu.
- Posthumous Character
- Stepford Smiler: Kyoko called him the "Master of Feigning Politeness".
The Honda Patriarch[]
Voiced by: Hiroshi Masuoka and Bryce Armstrong (2001); Ken Uo, Doug Jackson and Eduardo Tejedo (2019) |
Katsuya's father and Tohru's paternal grandpa, an ex-school teacher. He's the only Honda who approved of Katsuya's marriage to Kyouko, and later he treated Tohru kindly when no other Honda would. When the story started, his house was under repairs since his daughter and her family were moving in to take care of him, so Tohru chose to live in her tent instead and that led to her being picked up by the Sohma clan.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Mr. Honda is slow to anger and a bit senile at times, but when he does get pissed off. . .
- Cool Old Guy
- Crack! Oh, My Back!: He seriously sprained his back at some point, so Shigure went to Tohru's school meeting as her guardian.
- Defrosting Ice King: He was a lot colder in the past.
- Grandpa Wolf: He does NOT take it kindly if someone insults Tohru. Not even his other grandkids can get away with it.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Tohru told him that she'd stay with either Arisa or Saki, NOT that she was living in her tent.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: A very old and very tiny man.
- Parents as People: To Katsuya and his unnamed sister. He and Katsuya never were too close, until Kyouko came into their lives.
- Shipper on Deck: He seems to quite like the idea of Kyo dating Tohru, and was the only one among the Hondas who supported Kyoko and Katsuya.
- Your Favorite: He brings Kyouko's favorite food to her grave during a visit.
The other Hondas[]
Katsuya's younger sister plus her two children, a young adult man who wants to be a detective and a teenage girl. They live with Mr. Honda and take care of him.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': The male cousin was the biggest jerk to Tohru, and the story punishes him more for it.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: The male cousin uses glasses and is a huge asshole. His mom is bespectacled in the 2019 series and isn't much better.
- Hot Mom: The aunt is very pretty, especially in the 2019 anime where she looks more like her kids' sister.
- Jerkass: They DON'T like Tohru, and are this to her. The female cousin downplays it a little bit, but her brother plays it straight.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: The lady thought and still thinks Kyouko was a bitch and probably a slut, and transfers this to Tohru in a way.
- Slut Shaming: The male cousin all but calls Tohru a whore who slept around with the Sohma guys. He... didn't get away with it.
- Strong Family Resemblance: In the 2019 anime, the aunt looks a LOT like her son.
The Student Council[]
Machi Kuragi[]
Voiced by: Yuki Kaida (Drama CD); Ai Kakuma (JPN), Caitlin Glass (EN), Alicia Vélez and later Azucena "Azul" Valadiez (Mexican Spanish) (2019 anime) |
The cute but troubled treasurer of the student council. She also is Kakeru's half-sister, the daughter of their dad's legal wife.
- A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 102 of the manga AND the first of half episode 3 in the second anime's third season are pretty much hers.
- Birds of a Feather: With Yuki, due to their Abusive Parents and being pushed towards perfection.
- I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: To Yuki.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: All Machi wanted to do was make sure her baby brother stayed warm while he slept. Her parents and especially her mom came in and assumed she was trying to smother him with a blanket.
- The Ophelia: Yuki met her as one, having trashed the council room due to its "perfection".
- Parental Neglect: Machi and Kakeru are the children of a filthy rich guy, with Machi as the legitimate daughter and Kakeru as the son of the man's mistress. The two were forced by their parents into a bitter inheritance rivalry, the result being that she became quiet, removed from society, and despised anything she considered "perfect."; this is because her mother pushed her to be perfect in everything, as a way to "defeat that woman's son" (read: Kakeru). Later, Mrs. Kuragi openly tells a friend that Machi is "dull" and that she prefers her new baby boy. Oh, and Machi is forced to live by herself, because her parents think she'll try to murder her little brother. Even though she was putting a blanket on him while he slept.
- Shrinking Violet: More like "apparently cold and skittish, but actually shy and awkward"
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With Kakeru, even though they are only half siblings.
- Trash of the Titans: The tiny apartment her parents set her up in after the incident with her baby brother is messy. VERY messy.
- The Unfavourite: To both Kakeru and her baby brother.
Kakeru Manabe[]
Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Drama CD); Takuya Eguchi (JPN), Aaron Dismuke (EN) and José Ángel Torres (Mexican Spanish) (2019 anime) |
Vicepresident of the student council. He's also Machi's older brother (son of her father's mistress) and Yuki's rambunctious best friend.
- Abusive Parents: His mother was the mistress of Machi's father, as said above, and the two were pushed into a Sibling Rivalry that neither child wanted. Mrs. Manabe only stopped treating him that way when Kakeru openly rebelled.
- Aw, Look — They Really Do Love Each Other: Kakeru teases Komaki a lot, but they really do love each other.
- Beta Couple: He and Komaki, to Yuki and Machi.
- Bishonen
- Heroic Bastard: Son of a rich man and his lover.
- Hey, You: Claims this is one of his nicknames.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's impulsive and a bit flighty, but has a good heart. In fact, having told Quit Your Whining to Tohru during her mom's funeral and almost losing Komaki as a result still haunts him years later.
- One Side of the Story: Parodied.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With Machi.
- Wacky Guy
Kimi Todou[]
Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (CD drama); Rumi Ookubo (JPN), Cherami Leigh (EN) and Jessica Ángeles (Mexican Spanish) (2019 anime) |
One of the student council's secretaries, a flighty and coquettish lady.
- Attention Whore: For men, at least.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Kimi was little, a bunch of girls accused her of using her cuteness to get attention. She took it as a compliment and strived to do so from then on.
- Kawaiiko
- Gold Digger: A rare good-hearted version, as she doesn't use the gifts she gets for her own benefit but for the council's.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Cute, vain, spoiled, popular with the boys, and intentionally antagonizes the Prince Yuki Fanclub but is otherwise pretty harmless to everyone else.
- Third Person Person: To make herself look more cutesy.
Naohito Sakuragi[]
The other secretary of the council, and a rather irritable one.
Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama (Drama CD); Aoi Ichikawa (JPN), Micah Solusod (EN) and Bruno Coronel (Mexican Spanish) (2019 anime) |
- A Day in the Limelight: The last part of Chapter 103 in the manga, which is mostly dedicated to Motoko.
- Chew Toy
- The Comically Serious
- The Napoleon: And it doesn't help that Manabe's nickname for him is "Chibisuke."
- Only Sane Man - In his eyes, at least.
- Unrequited Love: For Motoko. He almost confesses to her when she graduates, but goes Tongue-Tied and instead tells her to smile lively. She more or less seems to understand what he means, though. and thanks him.
Prince Yuki's Fanclub[]
- Girl Posse: Minami Kinoshita, Mio Yamagichi, Mai Gotou and Rika Aida. Plus Chie, who was Adapted Out of the 2001 anime but returned in the 2019 one.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Their attitude towards whoever they perceive as a threat to Yuki: Tohru and later Kimi, specifically.
- Romantic Runner-Up: All of them, for Yuki.
- Unwanted Harem
Motoko Minagawa[]
Voiced by: Kaori Shimizu (JP), Jamie Marchi (EN), Mao Ichimichi aka M.A.O (JP, 2019 anime), Dulce Chino (2019 anime, Mexican Spanish) |
The leader of the group, who hates the kindhearted Tohru for being close to Yuki and plans to get rid of her.
- Adaptation Dye Job: She has dark gray hair in the manga and second anime, and light brown hair in the first series.
- A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 103 of the manga is dedicated to Motoko, and to a smaller degree to Naohito.
- Alpha Bitch: Oh yes. She does show a more sympathetic side later, however.
- Hypocrite: She makes a passionate, jealousy-fueled outburst telling Tohru (who was not even present) to stay away from Yuki. She leaves to clear her head and realizes that the selfish fangirls she despises who want Yuki all to themselves have negative qualities that she sees in herself.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She won't stop liking Yuki that easily, but won't chase after him anymore.
- Large Ham: Very loud and passionate
- Strong Family Resemblance: Her daughter Ruriko is a splitting image of her, down even to the dramatics!
- Tongue-Tied: Simply cannot tell Yuki how much she likes him.
Other characters[]
Komaki Nakao[]
Kakeru Manabe's girlfriend, and a good friend to Yuki.
- Adapted Out: From both animes.
- Disappeared Dad: Who died in a car crash. And he actually was the driver who killed Kyoko, by accidentally hitting her with his car before crashing and perishing.
- Family Business: The Nakaos own a cleaning business. At the end Kakeru offered to work for them, but they declined and told them to go to university instead.
- Genki Girl
- Trademark Favorite Food: Meat!
- Tsundere:To Kakeru.
- What the Hell, Hero?: To Kakeru, who told Tohru during Kyoko's funeral that she wasn't the only one who had lost a parent in the accident and that she was whiny and disgusting for openly grieving. Komaki was very pissed off when she found out and almost broke up with him, forcing him to apologize.
Mine Kuramae[]
Voiced by: Miki Takahashi and Amber Cotton (2001 anime); Yuuka Iguchi (JPN), Monica Rial (EN) and Leyla Rengel (Mexican Spanish (2019 anime)
Ayame Sohma's business partner and the seamstress of his store.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's all but shouted that Mine does know about the curse, or at least that something weird is going on with the Sohma clan. When the curse breaks and Ayame hugs her, she's pretty tearful but doesn't seem THAT surprised...
- Adorkable
- Cosplay Otaku Girl
- Love Confession: Ayame did give her one or something very close to it, but he wisely didn't tell Akito about it.
- Meganekko
- Meido/Elegant Gothic Lolita
- Tender Tears: When the newly-released Ayame is finally able to hug her in the manga and second series.
Mayuko Shiraki[]
Voiced by: Naomi Shindo (CD drama), Hitomi Nabatame, Anastasia Muñoz and Rebeca Gómez (2019 anime) |
Tohru, Saki, Arisa and Yuki's homeroom teacher, Shigure's ex-girlfriend and the best friend of Kana Sohma.
- A Day in the Limelight: Episode 12 of the second series's second season is dedicated to her.
- Adapted Out: She did not appear in the 2001 anime.
- Affectionate Nickname: Kana calls her "Mayu"
- Beauty Mark: Under her left eye
- Brainy Brunette: A smart woman with light brown hair.
- Christmas Cake: She's a 20-something unmarried school teacher. Her mom frets about it a bit, since she doesn't want her to be all alone.
- Cool Big Sis - Cool Teacher
- Expository Hairstyle Change: A bonus scribble of the manga that features Mayu and Hatori shows her with short hair. It becomes "true" in the very last chapter.
- Family Business: Her parents own a bookstore, and sometimes she's seen helping out there.
- He Will Not Cry, So I Cry for Him: For Hatori's sake.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Subverted. Mayuko does not know about the curse itself, but she is aware that Kana's memories were suppressed somehow. (Shigure told her while they were dating)
- Second Love: For Hatori. In fact, Mayu even felt bad for "taking Kana's place" in his heart at first.
- Stern Teacher: In class.
- Temporary Love Interest: To Shigure, but they broke it off after a month. Kana tells her "he was a bit cold to you"
- Tsundere: Has traces of this to Shigure and especially to Hatori
- Unrequited Tragic Maiden: Has some traces of this, to Hatori. She loves the guy, but she's also aware of his tragic love life and is the best friend of his lost love. . . Luckily, he comes to love her back.
Mitsuru aka Mit-chan[]
Voiced by: Akemi Okamura (Playing Against Type, JPN); Chinatsu Akasaki (JPN) and Valentina Souza (Mexican Spanish) (2019 anime); Cynthia Cranz (EN, both series). |
A long-suffering young lady who is Shigure's editor.
- Adaptation Dye Job: She's a brunette in the first anime, but has purple-silver hair in the second one.
- Beleaguered Assistant: Well, editor, but Shigure just drives the poor woman crazy.
- Birds of a Feather: With Ritsu.
- Bi the Way: Word of God says that she neither knows, nor cares, if Ritsu is male or female.
- The Chew Toy: Comes with the territory of being Shigure's editor.
- Fragile Flower
- Nice Girl: When she's not running after Shigure or trying to commit suicide, she's a sweetie.
- Suicide as Comedy: When Tohru meets her, she's on the verge of killing herself with a box cutter because Shigure has run off without meeting his deadlines again. Later, we see her writing a suicide note to her parents for the exact same reason. Shigure thinks it's funny.