Tohru Honda
Encyclopedia
is a fictional character
in the manga
and anime
series Fruits Basket
by Natsuki Takaya
. She is the main protagonist
, noted for her cheerful optimism, altruistic nature, and great sympathy for others. Takaya created her with an unusual perspective on the world, to balance her empathy.
Tohru is an orphaned high school student who, after meeting Yuki
, Kyo
, and Shigure Sohma
, learns that thirteen members of the Sohma family are possessed by the animals of the Chinese zodiac
and turn into their animal forms if they are embraced by anyone of the opposite sex or when their bodies come under a great deal of stress. As the series progresses, Tohru meets the rest of the zodiac and the family's mysterious head, Akito Sohma
, and resolves to break the curse that burdens them.
in interviews, Tohru Honda was the first character she created for the series, with Yuki and Kyo Sohma soon after. When asked how she came up with Tohru's personality and background, she said: Takaya gave Tohru a name normally used only for men because she likes to give masculine names to female characters "to balance them out." In addition, Takaya chose to have other characters address her as "Tohru-kun", using an honorific
typically used for boys, because she thought it was "a more dignified form of address."
Laura Bailey
, the English voice actor for Tohru, said in an interview that the aspect of Tohru's character she most related to was her optimism, while the most difficult was her formality. According to her, Akitaro Daichi
, the director of the Japanese anime
series, was particularly concerned that Tohru's "sweetness and formal nature didn't get lost in translation"; Bailey acknowledged that English
does not have the same kind of speech formality as Japanese
, but claimed Tohru's "humble nature can still be communicated through inflections and tone." Bailey reported using the original Japanese performance of Yui Horie
as a basis for Tohru's mannerisms and inflections.
It is said that Tohru's father Katsuya Honda named her Tohru because "it brought out her hidden flavor, like adding salt to sweet things."
fees so that her grandfather does not have to. Yuki once describes her as not the sort who sees her life as a "glass half-empty." Tohru is so kind-hearted that she cannot make herself say mean things while playing a wicked stepsister in a class production of Cinderella
, and when her mother told her the bedtime story of how the cat was excluded from the Chinese zodiac, in sympathy she declared she wished to be born in the year of the cat.
Tohru describes herself as an excellent artist who loves cooking and cleaning. In the original Japanese
, Tohru habitually speaks formally (see Honorific speech in Japanese), but not always correctly. She picked up this habit from her dead father, Katsuya, after he died when she was three, as a way of replacing him in her mother's eyes and from her father's family's statements that she was probably the daughter of a man her mother had an affair with. Tohru tends to be especially concerned for people with minor illnesses. This comes from the circumstances of her father's death, when Katsuya was originally diagnosed with a fever
but eventually died of pneumonia
.
She was raised by her mother, Kyoko, until Kyoko died in a car accident shortly after Tohru entered high school, a few months before the series starts. Tohru treasures her mother's photograph and vowed at her death to keep Kyoko the most important person in her life. Tohru is distressed whenever she feels she is being "unfaithful" to her mother, for example, when she gets failing marks on end-of-term exams, thus endangering her promise to graduate high school, or when she falls in love with Kyo. Tohru eventually realizes that her vow is an attempt to cling to the past, and that Kyoko would have wanted her to move on and fall in love with someone else.
in the care of her grandfather. When his house needs remodeling, she moves into a tent on land that turns out to belong to the Sohmas. When her tent is buried in a landslide during a rainstorm, Shigure convinces her to move in with him and Yuki as housekeeper in exchange for room and board. As she settles in, Kyo Sohma arrives to challenge Yuki. In the confusion, Tohru accidentally embraces him and he transforms into a cat, and when she stumbles into Yuki and Shigure, they transform as well into a rat and dog, respectively. The Sohmas explain that their family is cursed, and they are possessed by spirits of the Chinese zodiac
plus the cat legend says would have been if it had not been tricked by the rat
into missing the induction feast (see Zodiac origin stories). Tohru promises to keep their secret, under the threat of having her memories erased—a compromise agreed to by Akito Sohma, the mysterious head of the family, who orders Kyo live with Shigure as well.
Tohru is soon friends with the three Sohmas—especially her classmates Yuki and Kyo, who she hopes will become friends themselves—and they in turn are slowly affected by her presence. Yuki is especially touched by Tohru's request that, if her memory is suppressed, he remain her friend, which no one had asked him before. Kyo initially appears to dislike Tohru, but he, like Yuki, is "drawn" to her kind heart and gentle demeanor. However, his inability to express his feelings results in frequent impulsive angry comments to Tohru, for which he usually ends up apologizing. Gradually Tohru meets the other cursed members of the Sohma family, and through her kindness and sympathy is able to help Hatori, Ayame, Kisa, Hiro, and Ritsu. Her encouragement to Kisa also helps Yuki face his own self-doubts and accept becoming president of the student council; in addition he knows, by a cap Tohru treasures, that she is the lost little girl he once led home, an act that showed him that he was not as unneeded by others as Akito claimed. Tohru becomes particularly close to Kyo after his foster-father Kazuma Sohma forces him to reveal the monstrous "true form" of his curse; although initially repulsed, Tohru stays with him even after he violently tries to push her away. Both Yuki and Kyo fall in love with her, though neither tells her.
As she learns more about the zodiac curse, Tohru becomes increasingly distressed by its cost to her friends—especially Momiji Sohma's separation from his little sister, Momo, who does not even know they are related, and her friend Arisa's longing for Kureno Sohma, who cannot see her because he is bound to Akito. When she learns that the feared Akito is the "god" of the zodiac
and of the bet he made with Kyo, which could result in the cat being confined for life, she resolves to break the curse. Tohru asks for help from Kazuma, Rin, and Kureno. Despite setbacks and being warned off by Rin—who also seeks to break the curse, in order to free Hatsuharu—Tohru refuses to give up her goal. She eventually receives encouragement and hints from Shigure, who is using Tohru to weaken the curse for his own reasons.
Meanwhile, Tohru's feelings for Kyo develop and she eventually admits he is the Sohma she wants the most to free, because she loves him. This, however, only distresses her further, as she feels she is being unfaithful to her mother's memory. However, when Tohru finally confesses to Kyo, he tells her he knew her mother when he was a child, and that he could have saved Kyoko from the car that killed her except it would have revealed his curse and Kyoko's final word "I won't forgive you!" (Later it is understood that she meant to say "I won't forgive you if you don't take care of Tohru!") But Tohru doesn't believe her mother would say that but if she did she would have to go against it because she loves him. Unable in his guilt to accept Tohru's feelings, he says her love is an illusion and runs away. As she follows him, she meets Akito, who believes that Tohru's kindness to and acceptance of the cursed zodiac members has made them unfaithful to her, weakening their "bond" to the point that Momiji and Hiro have been freed from the curse. As she angrily confronts her, however, Tohru realizes that she is trapped by the past as much as she herself has been, by clinging to her mother's memory, and she extends her hand in friendship to Akito and introduces herself as a new start. However, before Akito can accept, Tohru falls down a nearby cliff when the ground collapses in the rain. The accident makes Kyo realize how much he values Tohru, and also allows Akito to finally break away from the roles she has held for most of her life.
Tohru survives the fall and is hospitalized. As she recovers, Akito accepts Tohru's friendship, and comes to accept both the person she is, instead of the god she has believed her father wished her to be, and the woman she was born as, instead of the man she was raised to be. Meanwhile Yuki, who has realized that what he wants from Tohru is an unconditional "motherly" love, not the love of a woman, convinces Kyo to reconcile with Tohru when she is discharged from the hospital. But Tohru takes off in a dash once she see Kyo because she feels as if she has been rejected, but Kyo chases after her. After catching up with her, Kyo confesses his feelings for her. This acceptance of the cat, the first friend of the god of the zodiac, breaks zodiac curse and all the Sohmas are freed. In the last chapter, she and Kyo are shown packing to move to another city to continue his martial arts
training, so that eventually he can inherit Kazuma's dojo
, and in the final pages, it is revealed that they got married and had a son and a granddaughter.
put it, her characterization is seen as more complex than that even at the start of the series, and more so as series progresses. Her unusual personality is seen by reviewers as a product of her upbringing: She is also seen as resembling her mother as she grows up.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket
, sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese magazine Hana to Yume, published by Hakusensha, from 1999 to 2006. The series was also adapted into a 26-episode anime series, directed by Akitaro...
by Natsuki Takaya
Natsuki Takaya
is the penname of a Japanese manga artist best known for creating the series Fruits Basket, which at one time was the best selling manga in the world. She was born on July 7, 1973. Takaya is left-handed and once revealed that she wanted to be a manga artist since first grade, when her sister...
. She is the main protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
, noted for her cheerful optimism, altruistic nature, and great sympathy for others. Takaya created her with an unusual perspective on the world, to balance her empathy.
Tohru is an orphaned high school student who, after meeting Yuki
Yuki Sohma
is a fictional character from the anime and manga series Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya, and is one of the three protagonists of the story. He is depicted as a popular high school student despite severe self-doubts, and is president of the student council. He is sometimes called "Prince Yuki" by...
, Kyo
Kyo Sohma
is a character in the manga and anime series Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya. He transforms into an orange cat whenever he is hugged by the opposite gender or when his body comes under a great deal of stress. This animal is not in the Chinese zodiac, but legend says would have been if it had not...
, and Shigure Sohma
Shigure Sohma
is a fictional character in the manga and anime series Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya. He transforms into the dog of the Chinese zodiac whenever he is hugged by the opposite gender or his body comes under a great deal of stress. Shigure is one of the oldest members of the zodiac.Shigure repeatedly...
, learns that thirteen members of the Sohma family are possessed by the animals of the Chinese zodiac
Chinese zodiac
The Shēngxiào , better known in English as the Chinese Zodiac, is a scheme that relates each year to an animal and its reputed attributes, according to a 12-year mathematical cycle...
and turn into their animal forms if they are embraced by anyone of the opposite sex or when their bodies come under a great deal of stress. As the series progresses, Tohru meets the rest of the zodiac and the family's mysterious head, Akito Sohma
Akito Sohma
is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the manga and anime series Fruits Basket. Akito is the head of the Sohma clan and is shrouded in mystery and although frail with poor health, is feared and loathed by many members of the Sohma clan....
, and resolves to break the curse that burdens them.
Development
According to Natsuki TakayaNatsuki Takaya
is the penname of a Japanese manga artist best known for creating the series Fruits Basket, which at one time was the best selling manga in the world. She was born on July 7, 1973. Takaya is left-handed and once revealed that she wanted to be a manga artist since first grade, when her sister...
in interviews, Tohru Honda was the first character she created for the series, with Yuki and Kyo Sohma soon after. When asked how she came up with Tohru's personality and background, she said: Takaya gave Tohru a name normally used only for men because she likes to give masculine names to female characters "to balance them out." In addition, Takaya chose to have other characters address her as "Tohru-kun", using an honorific
Japanese honorifics
The Japanese language has many honorifics, parts of speech which show respect, and their use is mandatory in many social situations. Honorifics in Japanese may be used to emphasize social distance or disparity in rank, or to emphasize social intimacy or similarity in rank.The system of honorifics...
typically used for boys, because she thought it was "a more dignified form of address."
Laura Bailey
Laura Bailey (voice actress)
Laura Dawn Bailey is an American actress, voice actress, Singer, Line Producer and ADR Director. She has provided voices for a number of English language versions of Japanese anime films, television series, as well as video games...
, the English voice actor for Tohru, said in an interview that the aspect of Tohru's character she most related to was her optimism, while the most difficult was her formality. According to her, Akitaro Daichi
Akitaro Daichi
is an anime director, producer, and photography director.-Biography:Akitaro Daichi is a native of Gunma Prefecture and a graduate of Tokyo Polytechnic University...
, the director of the Japanese anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series, was particularly concerned that Tohru's "sweetness and formal nature didn't get lost in translation"; Bailey acknowledged that English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
does not have the same kind of speech formality as Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, but claimed Tohru's "humble nature can still be communicated through inflections and tone." Bailey reported using the original Japanese performance of Yui Horie
Yui Horie
is a popular Japanese singer and voice actress. She is sometimes affectionately nicknamed by her Japanese fans.She hosts a radio show called and is the founding member of the singing group, Aice5. She is also a member of the band Kurobara Hozonkai, with the name YUIEL...
as a basis for Tohru's mannerisms and inflections.
It is said that Tohru's father Katsuya Honda named her Tohru because "it brought out her hidden flavor, like adding salt to sweet things."
Personality
Tohru is depicted as polite, optimistic, extremely kind, and selfless. Several other characters, including her friends Kyo, Rin, and Hanajima, tell her she needs to look out for her own interests and not shoulder everyone else's burdens. At the start of the series, she is living in a tent rather than staying with her friends, Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima, to avoid being a burden to them, and she has an after-school job as an office janitor to pay her tuitionTuition
Tuition payments, known primarily as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in British English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Indian English, refers to a fee charged for educational instruction during higher education.Tuition payments are charged by...
fees so that her grandfather does not have to. Yuki once describes her as not the sort who sees her life as a "glass half-empty." Tohru is so kind-hearted that she cannot make herself say mean things while playing a wicked stepsister in a class production of Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
, and when her mother told her the bedtime story of how the cat was excluded from the Chinese zodiac, in sympathy she declared she wished to be born in the year of the cat.
Tohru describes herself as an excellent artist who loves cooking and cleaning. In the original Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Tohru habitually speaks formally (see Honorific speech in Japanese), but not always correctly. She picked up this habit from her dead father, Katsuya, after he died when she was three, as a way of replacing him in her mother's eyes and from her father's family's statements that she was probably the daughter of a man her mother had an affair with. Tohru tends to be especially concerned for people with minor illnesses. This comes from the circumstances of her father's death, when Katsuya was originally diagnosed with a fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
but eventually died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
.
She was raised by her mother, Kyoko, until Kyoko died in a car accident shortly after Tohru entered high school, a few months before the series starts. Tohru treasures her mother's photograph and vowed at her death to keep Kyoko the most important person in her life. Tohru is distressed whenever she feels she is being "unfaithful" to her mother, for example, when she gets failing marks on end-of-term exams, thus endangering her promise to graduate high school, or when she falls in love with Kyo. Tohru eventually realizes that her vow is an attempt to cling to the past, and that Kyoko would have wanted her to move on and fall in love with someone else.
Life with the Sohmas
A few months before the series begins, Tohru's mother died in a car accident, leaving her an orphanOrphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
in the care of her grandfather. When his house needs remodeling, she moves into a tent on land that turns out to belong to the Sohmas. When her tent is buried in a landslide during a rainstorm, Shigure convinces her to move in with him and Yuki as housekeeper in exchange for room and board. As she settles in, Kyo Sohma arrives to challenge Yuki. In the confusion, Tohru accidentally embraces him and he transforms into a cat, and when she stumbles into Yuki and Shigure, they transform as well into a rat and dog, respectively. The Sohmas explain that their family is cursed, and they are possessed by spirits of the Chinese zodiac
Chinese zodiac
The Shēngxiào , better known in English as the Chinese Zodiac, is a scheme that relates each year to an animal and its reputed attributes, according to a 12-year mathematical cycle...
plus the cat legend says would have been if it had not been tricked by the rat
Rat (zodiac)
The Rat is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar, the Year of the Rat is associated with the earthly branch symbol 子...
into missing the induction feast (see Zodiac origin stories). Tohru promises to keep their secret, under the threat of having her memories erased—a compromise agreed to by Akito Sohma, the mysterious head of the family, who orders Kyo live with Shigure as well.
Tohru is soon friends with the three Sohmas—especially her classmates Yuki and Kyo, who she hopes will become friends themselves—and they in turn are slowly affected by her presence. Yuki is especially touched by Tohru's request that, if her memory is suppressed, he remain her friend, which no one had asked him before. Kyo initially appears to dislike Tohru, but he, like Yuki, is "drawn" to her kind heart and gentle demeanor. However, his inability to express his feelings results in frequent impulsive angry comments to Tohru, for which he usually ends up apologizing. Gradually Tohru meets the other cursed members of the Sohma family, and through her kindness and sympathy is able to help Hatori, Ayame, Kisa, Hiro, and Ritsu. Her encouragement to Kisa also helps Yuki face his own self-doubts and accept becoming president of the student council; in addition he knows, by a cap Tohru treasures, that she is the lost little girl he once led home, an act that showed him that he was not as unneeded by others as Akito claimed. Tohru becomes particularly close to Kyo after his foster-father Kazuma Sohma forces him to reveal the monstrous "true form" of his curse; although initially repulsed, Tohru stays with him even after he violently tries to push her away. Both Yuki and Kyo fall in love with her, though neither tells her.
As she learns more about the zodiac curse, Tohru becomes increasingly distressed by its cost to her friends—especially Momiji Sohma's separation from his little sister, Momo, who does not even know they are related, and her friend Arisa's longing for Kureno Sohma, who cannot see her because he is bound to Akito. When she learns that the feared Akito is the "god" of the zodiac
Jade Emperor
The Jade Emperor in Chinese folk culture, is the ruler of Heaven and all realms of existence below including that of Man and Hell, according to a version of Taoist mythology. He is one of the most important gods of the Chinese traditional religion pantheon...
and of the bet he made with Kyo, which could result in the cat being confined for life, she resolves to break the curse. Tohru asks for help from Kazuma, Rin, and Kureno. Despite setbacks and being warned off by Rin—who also seeks to break the curse, in order to free Hatsuharu—Tohru refuses to give up her goal. She eventually receives encouragement and hints from Shigure, who is using Tohru to weaken the curse for his own reasons.
Meanwhile, Tohru's feelings for Kyo develop and she eventually admits he is the Sohma she wants the most to free, because she loves him. This, however, only distresses her further, as she feels she is being unfaithful to her mother's memory. However, when Tohru finally confesses to Kyo, he tells her he knew her mother when he was a child, and that he could have saved Kyoko from the car that killed her except it would have revealed his curse and Kyoko's final word "I won't forgive you!" (Later it is understood that she meant to say "I won't forgive you if you don't take care of Tohru!") But Tohru doesn't believe her mother would say that but if she did she would have to go against it because she loves him. Unable in his guilt to accept Tohru's feelings, he says her love is an illusion and runs away. As she follows him, she meets Akito, who believes that Tohru's kindness to and acceptance of the cursed zodiac members has made them unfaithful to her, weakening their "bond" to the point that Momiji and Hiro have been freed from the curse. As she angrily confronts her, however, Tohru realizes that she is trapped by the past as much as she herself has been, by clinging to her mother's memory, and she extends her hand in friendship to Akito and introduces herself as a new start. However, before Akito can accept, Tohru falls down a nearby cliff when the ground collapses in the rain. The accident makes Kyo realize how much he values Tohru, and also allows Akito to finally break away from the roles she has held for most of her life.
Tohru survives the fall and is hospitalized. As she recovers, Akito accepts Tohru's friendship, and comes to accept both the person she is, instead of the god she has believed her father wished her to be, and the woman she was born as, instead of the man she was raised to be. Meanwhile Yuki, who has realized that what he wants from Tohru is an unconditional "motherly" love, not the love of a woman, convinces Kyo to reconcile with Tohru when she is discharged from the hospital. But Tohru takes off in a dash once she see Kyo because she feels as if she has been rejected, but Kyo chases after her. After catching up with her, Kyo confesses his feelings for her. This acceptance of the cat, the first friend of the god of the zodiac, breaks zodiac curse and all the Sohmas are freed. In the last chapter, she and Kyo are shown packing to move to another city to continue his martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
training, so that eventually he can inherit Kazuma's dojo
Dojo
A is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjōs were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to...
, and in the final pages, it is revealed that they got married and had a son and a granddaughter.
Reception
Tohru has been cited by reviewers as key to the appeal of the series, especially the manga version. Her cheerfulness and sympathy for other characters is frequently commented on: "Tohru is the essence of cheerfulness and faces hardships with a positive attitude while being extremely compassionate to everyone around her." However while "Tohru is notorious in the series for being happy and cheerful even in times of great taxation", as a reviewer at Anime News NetworkAnime News Network
Anime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...
put it, her characterization is seen as more complex than that even at the start of the series, and more so as series progresses. Her unusual personality is seen by reviewers as a product of her upbringing: She is also seen as resembling her mother as she grows up.