Akito Sohma

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fruits Basket character
Akito Sohma
Gender	Male in anime, female in manga
Age	N/A
Height	163.8 cm (5' 4⅜")
Blood Type	AB
Sign	Cancer
Occupation	Head of the Sohma Family
Animal	N/A
Seiyū	Murasaki Wakaba Yuka Imai (child)
Voice Actor	Chad Cline Aaron Dismuke (child)

Akito Sohma (草摩 慊人, Sōma Akito^?) is a character in the manga and anime series entitled Fruits Basket. Akito is the head of the Sohma clan and is shrouded in mystery and although frail with poor health, is feared and respected by many members of the Sohma clan.

Contents 1 Role in the story 2 Personality 2.1 List of injuries caused by Akito 3 Relationships 3.1 Relationship with Kyo 3.2 Relationship with Tohru 3.3 Relationship with Yuki 3.4 Relationship with Shigure 4 Differences between the manga and anime 5 References

[edit] Role in the story

Akito has scarred many members of the Sohma clan, both physically and psychologically. Since Akito is the head of the family, the other members of the Sohma clan do not oppose him. Although not cursed by any of the vengeful spirits of the Chinese Zodiac, it was revealed in volume 11 of the manga that Akito is the Jade Emperor (God) from the stories about the origins of the Chinese Zodiac.^[1] A possible part of the curse was that Akito would only live to be 21-30 years old, which is why he tries to scar his family, feeling this is the only way to get them to remember him when he's gone (only in the anime).

[edit] Personality

According to the anime, it is revealed that Akito was coerced to take the "core" of the curse at birth; this possibly explains Akito's frailness. Since no one questioned Akito's consent in order to take this responsibility, Akito holds bitterness against the entire Sohma family. (This is not proven true in the manga. See "Difference Between Manga and Anime" below.)

Akito is also a misogynist; it's explained in the manga that Akito feels all male members of the Jyūnishi have to devote themselves to the god of the Zodiac, which is why she tends to hurt the females more, claiming that they are stealing the men away. Akito's hatred for females may also derive from the influence of her parents: her father Akira Sohma, whom Akito remembers fondly, was kind and sweet to her until the day he died, while she utterly hates Ren, her mother, who was cruel and sly and ultimately forced Akito to hide her true gender, claiming that a female heir would damage the clan's reputation.

In chapter 120, it is revealed that Akito has always been lonely and afraid of change. The reason why she clings so hard to the bond that exists between her and the twelve Jyunishi is because she fears that without them, she will actually be the nothing that her mother claims she is and that she will be left alone. So, in her own strange way, she truly seems to love the other members of the Sohma family. Tohru, realizing this, offers her hand to Akito in friendship, but as Akito is hesitantly about to accept, the ground beneath Tohru collapses.

When Tohru, who recovers at the hospital, is finally allowed visitors who are not members of the family, Akito is one of the first of the visitors (according to Hatori and Shigure Sohma, she went alone and entirely on her own accord). Fearful that she will be rejected, Momiji Sohma tells Akito the story of "The Foolish Traveler" and offers her advice that allows Akito to see Tohru and Kureno for who they really are. Kureno, whom she had treated so poorly, still worries about her well-being even as he recovers in the hospital. Akito finally sees that both Tohru and Kureno are people whose kindness for others overrides their ability to be concerned about themselves. With that in mind, she visits Tohru, who offers her hand (despite the fact her arm is injured) to Akito, which she can now accept. From here on Akito decides to try and change rather than cling to being "god" and to the memory of her father and what he wanted her to be.

Towards the end of the manga, after Kureno leaves and the curse is broken, Akito and Shigure finally confess their true feelings for each other and kiss. Akito stops dressing as a male, and in fact her last meeting with the Sohmas, Akito dressed in a female kimono (possibly a furisode) and with flowers in her now longer hair, something that shocks the younger Sohmas as they learn about Akito's true gender.

[edit] List of injuries caused by Akito

• Isuzu Sohma: Pushed her out a window for her relationship with Hatsuharu Sohma, hospitalizing her. Akito later imprisons her in the Cat's Room and cuts her long hair unevenly.

• Hiro Sohma: Indirectly traumatized him when she pushed Rin out of a window while he could see it. Another incident such as this occurred when she attacked Kisa, and Hiro blamed himself for it (for he had told Akito that he loved Kisa.)

• Kisa Sohma: Slapped her across the face, causing her to be slammed into a wall (anime); gave her injuries that caused her to be hospitalized for two weeks (manga) when Hiro Sohma professed his love for her.

• Yuki Sohma: Often abused when he was young (emotionally, mentally, and physically). Akito hit him with a clay pitcher or vase at a New Years banquet because Yuki was being "disrespectful" by forgiving Akito for her past deeds.

• Hatori Sohma: Smashed a vase against his head when he asked permission to marry his co-worker and second cousin Kana, nearly blinding him in the left eye.

• Kana Sohma: Through emotional abuse, Akito brainwashed her into thinking that she was at fault for Hatori's eye injury, which eventually led to her emotional breakdown.

• Kyo Sohma: Threw a bell at him, hitting him in the cheek when he came to visit the Sohma summer home, and slapped him. Akito has also been particularly cruel with her use of psychological torture.

• Momiji Sohma: Punched him in the jaw when he tried to stop him from seeing Tohru (chapter 64); slapped him when he told her he wouldn't stay with her, due to his release from the curse (chapter 116).

• Tohru Honda: Scratched her on her cheek, causing her to bleed when she tried to stop Akito from hurting Momiji further (chapter 65); slashes her arm with a knife and slaps her (chapter 121); pulls her off the ground by her hair and repeatedly tugs on it until warded off by Yuki and Shigure (only in the anime).

• Kureno Sohma: Slapped him (chapter 98); stabbed in lower back, though it's later revealed that he recovers (chapter 118, 122).

• Ren Sohma: Attempted to strangle her, but Hatori pulled Akito back (flashback in chapter 98). Later Akito attempted to stab her, but stopped when she felt Hiro's release from the curse.

• Shigure Sohma: Scratched him on the cheek, believing that he was going to abandon her (flashback in chapter 132).

[edit] Relationships

[edit] Relationship with Kyo

Until recently, Akito viewed Kyo as a "monster" and neither considered him to be part of the Zodiac nor held feeling towards him the way she did the other Jyūnishi. As part of tradition, the Sohma member cursed by the cat must live alone and imprisoned in a room designated for the cat until the day they die, and Akito planned to do the same to Kyo unless he could win a bet: Should he be able to beat Yuki in a fight before he graduated from high school, Kyo would become part of the Zodiac and would not have to be locked in the cat's room.

In chapter 126, Akito confirmed that she plans to have the cat's room torn down, implying that Kyo is no longer going to be imprisoned in the room following his high school graduation. In 127, Kyo finds her near Kazuma's house, where she tells him somewhat awkwardly that "he can live however he likes".

At the end of chapter 129, Akito looks into the Sohma Garden the moment Tohru and Kyo confess their love and hug. Surprisingly, Kyo doesn't transform. The two look shocked, but Akito, sensing Kyo's release from the curse, says "Goodbye."

In Chapter 130, all of the members from the zodiac are freed at once and Akito feels tremendous loss and pain. As all the now freed members (save Kureno, Momiji, Hiro, and Kyo, who were already freed) break down in tears with Akito, she too is freed from her god spirit as a ghostly figure leaves her to collect the rat with thanks for keeping the promise (the curse) for so long.

[edit] Relationship with Tohru

Akito has a tendency to hate women who threaten to steal away the Zodiac, and Tohru is no exception. The two first met on the first day of school after New Years. Akito was kind to Tohru, saying that she was cute and asking her to watch over Yuki and the others. This led Tohru to believe that Akito was a gentle person. Akito quickly proved that that was not the case, however, when she saw Yuki shortly afterwards. Yuki became frightened when he saw Akito speaking to Tohru, since he thought that Tohru was being threatened. Akito was angry with Yuki for not coming to the Sohma house on New Years and threatens to lock him back up in the room where Yuki was kept as a child. Tohru sees that Yuki is upset and pushes Akito away, saying that they need to get to class. Later, Shigure tells Hatori that Akito gloated on the way home, saying that Tohru was stupid and ugly and could not steal the Zodiac members away. Akito then made a deal with her mother: Tohru could stay at Shigure's house. Akito felt that if she could bring the Zodiac members back to her, it would prove her god-like power over them.

When Tohru and the Sohmas visit the summerhouse, Akito is angry with them and also goes, intending to draw the Sohmas away from Tohru and leave her alone. The Sohma members realize this, but they are afraid that disobeying Akito will result in her attacking Tohru. Akito introduces Kureno to Tohru one time, but stops when she sees that Tohru and Kyo building a sand castle together. Akito realizes that Tohru even enjoys being with Kyo, so the cat must be brought along with the rest of the Zodiac to make Tohru completely alone. While speaking to Kyo, Akito guesses that Kyo loves Tohru (he does, but he denies it to keep Akito from harming Tohru) and tells him that Tohru is a monster like him.

On the second to last night of the vacation, Akito is forced to leave because her mother, Ren ("that person") was disturbing the peace at the Main House again. She takes Kureno go to the house that Tohru is staying at and angrily threatens her to keep out of the Sohma’s affairs. Akito cuts Tohru's cheek and tells her how the Zodiac will be kept in an endless feast after graduation and that her (Akito's) own place in the Zodiac is as God. Later, Akito angrily tells Tohru that she (Tohru) succeeded in stealing away the Zodiac members and threatens Tohru with a knife. Tohru tells Akito that she knows how scary it is to be alone and offers Akito her hand. Before Akito can accept it, the ground collapses and Tohru falls, while Akito screams for help. Later, Akito visits Tohru in the hospital. The two reconcile, and Akito admits that she was jealous of Tohru all along, and that she had hated Tohru for being everything Akito was not — kind and beloved by all. Tohru, however, says that she wishes to remain as friends, because if there is good in her, there is surely good in Akito, too.

[edit] Relationship with Yuki

Yuki and Akito have a bitter past. Akito has been emotionally, physically, and mentally abusive towards Yuki; Yuki, as a result, was traumatized since then. In volume 15, when Akito and Yuki were younger children, Akito often had Yuki by her side all the time; she seldom let Yuki out of her sight and never let him outside.

Akito filled Yuki's head with terrible words, such as that he was the most hated of all the Zodiac children. Not only that, but she was slowly chipping away at his will, telling him the world was a black place and that there was no reason to hope and no possibilities to make his life better. She continued this day after day, until Yuki began thinking it was the truth. As a result, Yuki started to get very sick from the emotional strain, especially after Kyo's rejection of his friendship, which confirmed what Akito was telling him. Akito pretended like she wanted to comfort the ailing boy, but when she went into his room she merely taunted him by once again repeating how much he was hated, asking him if he was going to die, and calling him boring.

[edit] Relationship with Shigure

Akito and Shigure have always had somewhat of a close relationship since she was a small child. As is shown in volume 15, Shigure was often the one to hold and comfort her when she was upset, in the stead of her estranged mother, Ren. When Akito was about seven years old and Shigure was fourteen, she asked him if he loved her. In response, Shigure picked a Camellia Japonica and presented it to her. He then embraced her and told her that he did love her.

Years later, after a nasty episode in which Akito slept with Kureno and Shigure slept with Ren, their relationship was soured. Shigure slept with Ren because he had always resented Akito's closeness to Kureno and was enraged upon knowing that they slept together after he was released; after knowing what he had done, she kicked Shigure out of the main house, and since then they were in tense terms.

When the curse was broken however, Shigure re-declared his love for Akito and kissed her. Ultimately (as told by the author, in the post-chapter 136 interview) Shigure and Akito get married but wait a while before having any children.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Differences between the manga and anime

As the anime covers only 45 chapters of the manga (loosely in parts), there are several differences in the character of Akito in both.

In chapter 97 (volume 17) of the manga, it is revealed that Akito is actually female, but was raised to act and appear as a male. The decision to raise Akito male was her mother Ren's who claimed that it was because having a female heir would "cause problems." However, the more likely reason is because of Ren's insecurity over not being first in Akira's heart, and her jealousy of her late husband's great affection for their daughter. This fact is known only by the three eldest cursed Sohmas (Hatori, Shigure, and Ayame), Kureno, and Akito's mother, Ren Sohma. In the anime, however, Akito's gender is still male, and no hints about a possible change have been given.

It has never been confirmed in the manga that Akito will die at 25-30 years old. In the manga, Hatori Sohma (Akito's doctor) reveals that most of Akito's illnesses are psychological, though her father, Akira Sohma, was also quite sickly, and died at a young age. No one in the manga ever mentions anything about Akito dying.

In that same line, it has never been confirmed in the manga that Akito holds bitterness against the entire Sohma family because of her role of the curse. Akira Sohma told a very young Akito that, once he died, the cursed Sohmas would love her forever to make up for the lack of affection from Ren. This casts a new light on the Akito's behavior and her claim that, sooner or later, all the Jyūnishi will come back to her.

In chapter 101 of the manga, Shigure Sohma's editor Mitsuru alias Mitchan, upon glimpsing Akito from afar, comments on how young the head of the Sohma family seems. Shigure replies, "Young? But he's got to be over 20 years of age by now."

[edit] References

1. ^ Fruits Basket manga, chapter 65, pg. 175

view • talk • edit  Fruits Basket
Tohru and Friends
Tohru Honda | Kyoko Honda | Arisa Uotani | Saki Hanajima
The Sohmas
Akito Sohma | Yuki Sohma | Kyo Sohma | Shigure Sohma | Kisa Sohma | Hiro Sohma | Hatori Sohma | Ayame Sohma | Kazuma Sohma | Ritsu Sohma | Isuzu Sohma | Kureno Sohma | Momiji Sohma | Hatsuharu Sohma| Kagura Sohma | Ren Sohma | Akira Sohma | Momo Sohma | Satsuki Sohma
Others
Mayuko Shiraki | Mine Kuramae | Kakeru Manabe | Machi Kuragi | Kimi Toudou | Naohito Sakuragi | Mitchan | Motoko Minagawa