Yuki Sohma
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| Fruits Basket character | |
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| Yuki Sohma | |
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| Gender | Male |
| Age | 16-17 |
| Height | 170.5 cm (5'7") |
| Blood Type | A |
| Sign | Virgo |
| Occupation | End of anime: 2nd year at Kaibara High School Manga: 3rd year and President at Kaibara High School |
| Animal | Rat |
| Seiyū | Aya Hisakawa |
| Voice Actor | Eric Vale Kate Bristol (child) |
Yuki Sohma (草摩 由希 Sōma Yuki?), also known as the "Prince of Kaiwaia (or Kaibara) High", is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Fruits Basket. He is often called "Yun-Yun" by his friends and colleagues in the student council of his school. When Yuki is hugged by the opposite sex or if his body is under a great deal of stress he transforms into the rat of the Chinese Zodiac.
Yuki, the rat, being the twelfth month in the Japanese lunar calendar, has no such name derivement. Natsuki Takaya picked the name "Yuki" because she "liked the name". "Yuki" also means snow in Japanese, corresponding with "Ice Prince", another of Yuki's nicknames, although the characters in Yuki Sohma's name respectively mean "reason" (由) and "hope" (希), or "a reason to hope".
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[edit] Role in the story
[edit] Background
Yuki, attractive and popular, is the heartthrob of his high school. Even though he is often encountered by a Yuki fan club run by the crazy girls who love him, he does not accept any girl's crush on him or let any girl hug him. However, he confesses his love for Tohru Honda in volume 11 and end of 10 in the manga series, though it was later revealed that his love for Tohru was not romantic, but actually more along the lines of thinking of her as a maternal figure in volume 14. This is possibly a result of his distant relationship with his real mother (see below).
As a child, Yuki was traumatized by Akito Sohma, the leader of the Sohma family. When Yuki was younger Akito Sohma was cruel to Yuki. She told him terrible things that he could never forget, like that he was the most hated member of the family, and that if it weren't for her he would have no reason to exist. These statements were seemingly confirmed by the behavior of the rest of the family; Kyo proclaimed he hated Yuki, despite the fact he had never met him before and his brother, Ayame, brushed off his cry for help. Everyone else in the zodiac did not speak with him, though that was probably not an intentional snub on their part. On top of being mentally abusive, Akito was often physically abusive as well, and sometimes would lock Yuki away inside a dark room to torment him. As a result of the combined abuse, Yuki has terribly low self-esteem, and suffers from self-hatred and an inferiority complex.
Yuki's worst enemy would be Kyo Sohma, the cat of the zodiac. Hatsuharu Sohma felt animosity towards Yuki during part of their childhood because of the story often told to Haru about the rat taking advantage of the stupid cow, which made Haru develop an inferiority complex towards his older cousin. However, after actually meeting Yuki face-to-face Haru was able to see Yuki's extreme kindness and the two became close allies.
Yuki also feels a close connection with his cousin Kisa Sohma, as Kisa was teased because the children in her class thought she was different from others. Until Tohru Honda touched her heart, she couldn't speak and didn't go to school. Likewise Yuki, despite his popularity, rarely interacted with anyone on a personal level and was extremely private and introverted. Until he met Tohru, Yuki was afraid of becoming close to anyone because of an incident during his childhood when his secret was discovered by his friends during a game of tag, when Akito ordered Hatori Sohma to erase the children's memories, thus leaving Yuki alone and without friends. After meeting Tohru, Yuki started warming up to other people and becomes much more social, and while still keeping his fanclub, begins to pursue his own love interests.
Yuki also appears to have respiratory problems, due to weak bronchi, and gets regular checkups from Hatori to monitor his condition. In his childhood these asthma attacks were apparently frequent, though they appear to be less so in the present. Still, he has to take extra precautions because he occasionally has attacks, which could cause him to transform in public.
After Kyo was freed from the curse, a series of events was triggered and the rest of the cursed Sohma family members became free. Yuki is the last Sohma member to be freed, noticing this as he was talking to Machi. The god spirit had taken the rat spirit, with the god thanking Yuki for keeping his promise for a long time. Perhaps Yuki was the last one to be freed because he was the rat, the first of the Jyunishi.
[edit] Relationship with Mother
The fact that both Ayame and Yuki are members of the Jyunishi is quite unusual since it is very rare that any of the Jyunishi are siblings at any given time. Because their mother was unable to force Ayame to bend to her will, she turned to Yuki and controlled every aspect of his life, including which schools he went to and what he would do after high school in college. Yuki became both emotionally fragile and detached in her attempts to gain status and wealth within the family while she bluntly and tactlessly shot down any attempts he made to refuse her wishes. This changes during a parent-teacher conference in which his mother gave him no say in his future, prompting Yuki to finally refuse her attempts after Ayame burst in dramatically and gave Yuki the confidence to stand up for his own ideals and dreams. Before Ayame's arrival, Yuki's mother countered Yuki's demands for a voice in deciding his future by claiming that he "never had a worthwhile thought in his life" and in his head, Yuki remembered how all his life, his mother refused to let words get to her and let them die, which is why he believed in not putting his own emotions into words. Later in the manga, Yuki asked his mother for a cell phone, the first attempt at making a better relationship with her, and she obliged by signing the paper he needed.
[edit] Relationship with Machi
It is revealed in chapter 125 of the manga that he is in love with Machi Kuragi, a member of the student council who has emotional issues similar to his own. She loves him as well, and they are seen holding hands as they walk.
In Chapter 128, Yuki wants to tell Machi something. He is going to tell her in the student council room, but Kimi interrupts and asks them if they have seen her brush. Kakeru comes in with her. Yuki, still wanting to tell Machi, calls her the following day and asks her if she has free time later on. Speculations say that Yuki will tell Machi about him being cursed, since Yuki is afraid of whether or not Machi will accept that fact.
In Chapter 130, Yuki told Machi he wanted to tell her something. When he is freed from the curse, Yuki changes his mind and tells her he parted with someone who had shared his burdens forever.
In Chapter 131, as Yuki hugs her she asks if she can call him by his first name which he says yes to. He kisses her and tells her she can call him Yuki as many times as she wants.
Yuki moves into his own apartment in the final chapter, and offers Machi the key to it. When she hesitates to take the key (from shyness), he jokingly pretends to throw it out the window.
[edit] Relationship with Ayame
When their relationship is first introduced Yuki shows downright hatred for his brother, ordering Shigure to skin Ayame's snake-form after he is first found inside Tohru's shirt, even when it is later revealed that Ayame was merely doing this to stay warm as a result of being cold blooded. The two had a strained relationship since Yuki's childhood; Ayame tells Tohru that because of his brother's poor health, Yuki and himself would often be separated for long periods of time, to the point Ayame almost forgot he had a younger brother. The rift between the two was cemented when a young Yuki tried to reach out to Ayame after Akito's mistreatment, but Ayame merely responded by pulling away, unable to understand Yuki's motives.
With prompting from Tohru, Yuki attempts to learn about his brother by visiting his store, which despite resulting in a large amount of disgust and shock from Yuki gives the brothers time to be honest with each other, even if that translated to an argument between the two. After Ayame's dramatic entrance during Yuki's parent-teacher conference with his domineering mother, in which he gives Yuki the confidence to reject his mother's control, the relationship between the two seems to improve greatly.
[edit] Relationship with Tohru
While reminiscing in Volume 15, it is revealed that Yuki had first met Tohru as a young girl. He had run away from the Sohma House, and eventually got lost. While continuing his walk, he found the site of Kyoko Honda, who was surrounded by policemen and at first sight looked like she was crying. Yuki hid behind a pole and watched as Kyoko began to scream out the description of her daughter as an "adorable little girl with an adorable dress and adorable-looking pom-poms in her hair." Kyoko said that if she didn't find Tohru, she would "rain death on your (police's) miserable little lives." She began to cry and Yuki realizes that there are some mothers that love their children that much. He remembers that in his haste to leave the Sohma House and get as far away as possible, he had in fact seen a girl; it was lost Tohru. He backtracked and found Tohru, and was about to run back to Kyoko to tell her, but suddenly realized Tohru was following him. He decided to lead her back to her home, and when they had reached their destination, Yuki gave Tohru the hat he was wearing... The one he had gotten from Kyo some time earlier. He then transformed into a rat, (due to being weakened from trouble breathing) and ran behind a corner to hide. As he watched Tohru and her mother reunite, he began to cry, because he was so grateful that he was able to help someone and feel needed at least once in his life. He also started to feel as though maybe the world was not as dark and hopeless as Akito told him it was.
In volumes 10 and 11, Yuki confessed his love for Tohru, but later, he realized that he loved her as a mother. She was always there for him when he needed help. He learned later that Kyo was in love with her so he decided to let him be with Tohru. After that, Yuki and Tohru were still friends.
[edit] Relationship with Kyo
Originally, Yuki did not hate Kyo; he actually wanted to be friends with him. But Kyo refused, as he hated Yuki, the rat, for inherently being superior to the cat. The conversation first started when Kyo dropped his red hat. Yuki picked it up and offered it to him, but Kyo turned the hat down, disgusted that the rat would touch his things.
The hat ended up in the hands of Tohru, who had gotten lost as a child. Yuki (whom Tohru did not recall nor recognize when they met again as teenagers) found her and led her home, giving her Kyo's hat.
It has only very recently been revealed that Kyo never hated Yuki for who he was, but had been so miserable with his life that he felt he needed a scapegoat for all his misfortune. Kyo felt it would only be logical for the cat to blame the rat and began to hate Yuki for this reason alone.
Their relationship has become more overtly complex since this revelation. Kyo has always felt Yuki was more fortunate and always able to take advantage of a situation like one should, thus Kyo's dislike of Yuki stemmed from envy. However, Yuki reveals to Kyo that he is jealous of Kyo, because despite all of Kyo's bad luck and misfortunes, he is not passive like Yuki (something Yuki despises of himself) and able to vocally express his own emotions and thoughts regardless of what they are and also bring happiness to Tohru, something Yuki knows that he will never be able to do in the same way.
[edit] Relationship with Akito
As stated above, Yuki was often abused physically and psychologically by Akito when he was a child of about five years old. His mother sold him out to her as a way of elevating her position within the Sohma family. At first, Akito loved Yuki and treated him decently enough, but when she was about eight she had a nervous breakdown and began to paint her room black. She told Yuki that he had to be "pitch black" like her in order for them to be equal, and then realized that they were not equals. Akito pushed him down and then called him her "toy." After that, she never allowed him to interact with anyone other than her, and began to brainwash him. Recently, it seems that Akito has become more civil with Yuki since the curse has been lifted.
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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 |
