Ren Sohma

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Fruits Basket character
Ren Sohma
Gender	Female
Age	N/A
Height	N/A
Blood Type	N/A
Sign	N/A
Occupation	N/A
Animal	N/A
Seiyū	N/A
Voice Actor	N/A

Ren Sohma (草摩 楝, Sōma Ren^?) is a fictional character in the manga Fruits Basket.

Ren is Akira Sohma's widow and Akito Sohma's mother, and has an antagonistic relationship with the latter.

[edit] Role in the story

Ren was originally a maid within the Sohma household. As a young man, the head of the family, Akira Sohma, was sickly and often required attention, and Ren was the one who gave it to him. While most of the household and servants treated her badly for "bewitching" their master (in fact, several years after this, some of the eldest maids still aren't thrilled with Ren), Akira himself did not, and was won over by her kindness and by the fact that she was the only one whom noticed his great loneliness. Ren spent as much time as possible with him while trying to improve his health.

The two eventually fell in love and married, with Ren coming to believe she was the most important person in his life. On the night Akito was conceived, the four eldest of the Jyūnishi (Shigure Sohma, Hatori Sohma, Ayame Sohma, and Kureno Sohma) had a dream visitation of the zodiac's god-spirit telling them that he/she was to be born soon. The boys awakened from the dream in tears and immediately went to Ren with the news. Ren, however, was fearful that a baby --- especially a female --- would replace her in Akira's heart; she threatened not to have the baby unless it was raised male, no matter what the child's true gender was. Akira, fearing what Ren would do, readily agreed. It should be noted, however, that in various flashbacks of Akito's childhood (while Akira was still alive), she dressed in a little girl's kimono.

When their daughter was born, Akira rejoiced as he recognized Akito was indeed born of the god-spirit, the one who would be loved by all the members of the Jyūnishi. Ren, on the other hand, was less than pleased with the attention Akira showered on their only child, and believed that Akito was stealing away Akira's affection for her. Disconcerted by her reaction, Akira simply told Ren that Akito "couldn't help" being loved by everyone, since she was a child "born to be loved" (chapter 115), adding that Ren was being "difficult." This did not, however, change Ren's great resentment and hatred for her daughter.

When Akito was a young child, Akira's poor health finally caught up with him, and claimed his life. Before he died, Akira told Akito that he'd always wanted Ren to be the happiest about her, since he believed her "godliness" was proof that his and Ren's relationship was special. Right before Akira drew his last breath, he commented that "we never reconciled, did we . . . Ren."

Moments after the late head's death, Ren burst into the room, distressed that his departure had been so sudden that no one had had time to come and fetch her, fueling her anger towards her daughter. She screamed at Akito that she was unwanted and had only been Akira's "toy," before collapsing in a fit of tears over Akira's body.

Ren and Akito became extremely antagonistic. Ren would continually claim that Akito's bond with the Jyūnishi was fake, while claiming that her and Akira's relationship was the "real thing." Sly and cruel, Ren's attitude towards Akito may have had some influence in Akito's great fear of being unwanted and unloved, causing her tendency to lash out at the Jyūnishi to make them fear her, so they will never forget or leave her. Ren also shares a close resemblance to Rin Sohma, which may be partially why Akito is particularly cruel toward the horse of the zodiac.

Ren once taunted Akito that she should treat the Jyūnishi with kindness and respect, or they would hate her and abandon her, because the bonds weren't "the real thing." (Chapter 98) However, as Ren has shown various times throughout the manga, she doesn't care so much about the Jyūnishi as she does instilling doubt in Akito's mind by targeting her worst fear: that everyone would abandon her.

The argument between them boiled to the point where Ren and Akito made a bet. If Akito was so confident in her bond with the Jyūnishi, she should let Tohru Honda live at Shigure's house and allow her to be aware of the Sohma curse. If the Jyūnishi still returned to Akito as she believed they would, Akito may remain head of the family. If her bond with the Jyūnishi broke because they formed "other bonds" with an outsider, Ren would win the bet and Akito would be forced to bow down to Ren and be leave the family forever.

It is note-worthy that Kureno Sohma once told Tohru Honda that Ren was "a bit ill in her body and mind" (chapter 98), implying that Ren may or may not have some sort of mental illness.

Ren has been known to be selfish and manipulative. When Akito once slept with Kureno Sohma, Ren deliberately seduced her nephew Shigure Sohma, knowing that it would anger Akito and that Shigure himself was angry that Akito had chosen Kureno rather than himself. While she never liked her, Ren also pretended to befriend Isuzu Sohma (whom Akito had already hurt many times before) and tried to use the girl to steal the box Akira had given Akito. Isuzu failed, though Ren was able to obtain the box later on when she barges into Akito's chamber and threatens with a knife to seize the box (chapter 117).

When Akito finally surrendered the box, Ren's triumph was short-lived. Ren had always believed the box contained something special of Akira's and was completely shocked to discover that it had always been empty. At that moment, Akito took her mother's knife and raised it above her, ready to kill her mother in a fit of rage, but at the last moment, Hiro Sohma was suddenly released from the curse, causing Akito to immediately halt her actions. The last scene with Ren shows her lifting up the box to the sky, looking very drained and tired.

Ren does not appear again in the manga. After the Jyunishi curse was removed, Akito tried to approach her mother in hopes of a form of reconciliation, but Ren violently rejected her (chapter 133).

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