Tohru Honda
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| Fruits Basket character | |
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| Tohru Honda | |
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| Gender | Female |
| Age | 16-17 |
| Height | 156.7 cm (5' 1⅝") |
| Blood Type | O |
| Sign | Taurus |
| Occupation | End of anime: 2nd year at Kaibara High School End of manga: 3rd year at Kaibara High School |
| Animal | N/A |
| Seiyū | Yui Horie |
| Voice Actor | Laura Bailey |
Tohru Honda (本田 透 Honda Tōru?) is the protagonist in the manga and anime series entitled Fruits Basket. Her altruistic nature, benign heart, and usually cheerful bearing earn her a special place in the story. Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima are Tohru's best friends. Both of her parents had died before the story took place, leaving her orphaned and living on her own.
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[edit] Role in the story
[edit] Background
During the beginning of the story, Tohru lives in a tent because both her parents (Kyoko Honda and Katsuya Honda) have died, and her Grandpa's house is under construction. (Her Grandpa asked her if she could stay with a friend during the remodeling, but she did not want to burden them.) Despite the less-than-comfortable conditions, Tohru remains characteristically optimistic, affectionately calling her tent 'my castle'. While leaving her tent to explore the area, she was discovered by Shigure Sohma and Yuki Sohma, whose land she had been camping on. This, the earliest major advance in the plot, leads to her entrance into the Sohma household, where she cooks and cleans in return for shelter. Over time, Tohru's relationship with the Sohmas grows much more complex.
It's also revealed that several of Tohru's quirks (like her speech) actually originates from her imitation of her father's character, or at least what she can recall from what Kyoko and her grandfather had told her about Katsuya. This behaviour seems to stem from the fact that Tohru looked much like Kyoko and almost nothing like Katsuya. Some relatives actually wondered if Tohru really was Katsuya's daughter, and at one point Tohru overheard them discussing this; since then, she decided to imitate her dad's quirks as much as she could, to prove herself as a member of the Honda family.
Another one of her quirks, her tendency to be concerned for people with diseases, comes from the situation surrounding her father's death. Katsuya was originally diagnosed with a fever; however, he did not recover and eventually died of pneumonia.
[edit] Story
Tohru has helped many of the Sohmas, most notably Kisa Sohma, helping her regain her confidence and voice, and Kyo Sohma, staying by his side even when he attempted to push her away by physically harming her. Later in the manga, Tohru and Kyo fall in love with each other, but when she confesses her feelings to him, Kyo - consumed by guilt over Kyoko's death - tells Tohru it's an illusion and runs off.
Tohru goes to follow him, but is confronted by Akito, the head of the family, who has heard the whole thing, and tries to stab Tohru, claiming that she should be happy now that everyone prefers her than Akito, who is now completely alone. Akito stops however, when Tohru tells her how she now knows how it feels to be left behind, causing Akito to flash back to the previous banquet, where she was all alone, even though everyone was there. Tohru wants to start anew with Akito, since the way they met was so poorly done.
After a bit more encouragement, Akito extends her hand to Tohru just as the ground beneath Tohru crumbles, causing Tohru to fall. Akito reacts and starts screaming for help, which brings Shigure and Yuki running. Tohru remains on the ground waiting for an ambulence.
Kyo, at the mainhouse, overhears Shigure telling Hatori what has happened, and shocked goes to find Tohru as Shigure takes care of the panicking Akito. When he sees the badly-injured Tohru he starts crying and pleads in his mind for her recovery. He realizes that he has made the mistake of leaving the one you care about without saying goodbye, not knowing that that may be the last time you can ever speak to them. This also happened with her and Kyoko.
For a moment, Tohru regains consciousness. She tells him that she's alright, but it sounds almost like she's saying goodbye. He tells her to stop talking and that he understands. Then, he gives Tohru her first kiss. At that time, Tohru is unconscious.
Luckily, Tohru survives the fall and is released from the hospital soon after. However, on seeing Kyo (whom had come to take her home), she blushes and pelts off in the opposite direction. She was only semi-conscious when he kissed her, so she does not remember very well, and still feels rejected. Kyo, the faster runner, catches up to her and finally reciprocates her feelings. Soon after confessing they kiss and Tohru tells him that her love for him cannot be beaten. He then pulls her into a hug, expecting to transform into his cat form; however Kyo does not change, indicating that his curse has been lifted(chapter 130).
Since then, she and Kyo have become a couple (much to the jealousy of several girls at their school), and Kyo has asked her if, after graduation, she would come with him when he moves out of town (chapter 134). Though she realizes that it will be sad to leave their friends behind, she knows that leaving Kyo behind would be even sadder. That is why she happily agrees to follow him wherever he goes (chapter 135).
In the final chapter(136) Yuki opens the lid that has closed his memories for so long, and confesses to Tohru how he feels. At the end on the chapter it flash forwards to the future where an elderly couple of Kyo and Tohru are seen from behind, holding hands still very much in love. Their young granddaughter is also shown, and she bears a striking resemblance to Tohru. Now Tohru and Kyo know that they will never again be separated from each other.
[edit] Fruits Basket
Tohru once had a symbolic experience in kindergarten. The class was playing a game called Fruits Basket, in which everyone sits in a circle. The leader of the game, who stands in the center of the circle, names each person after a fruit; when the name of a player's fruit is called, that player gets up and hurriedly changes positions with others with the same fruit name while the person in the center attempts to claim a seat for himself. The player left standing will then take up the center position.
When Tohru first played this game, she was assigned "onigiri" (rice ball), which was fine with her, since she thinks onigiri are delicious. However, it turns out that she was the only person to be assigned onigiri, and as everyone but her got called and she was the only one left sitting, Tohru realized that an onigiri isn't a fruit, and that she'd never be called; Tohru was purposely excluded from the game, merely another of the cruel tricks classmates used to pull on her. In her own words, she came to realize that "there would be no room for a Riceball in a Fruits Basket". However, as the series progresses, Tohru finds a place in which she can belong with the Sohma family.
[edit] Trivia
- Tohru is shown to have brown eyes in the manga, but in the anime she is shown with blue eyes.
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| 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 |
