Headscratchers / Fruits Basket

• I realize Akito's the head of the Sohma family, but why does that make it OK for her to abuse little kids and damage people's eyes? Why does the rest of the family put up with her appalling behavior? When she nearly blinded Hatori, at that point I would have been staging a family rebellion.
  • As noted above, the curse does weird things to those it affects. Akito's position as the god makes it so they can't really go against her, and worst of all, they realize it. It also doesn't help that that creepy old maid was enabling her.
• Okay. Exactly how the hell did Akito not go to prison for what "he" did?!?!
  • The Sohma family was very reclusive and kept to themselves. I got the feeling that they hid most of what went on from the police (anyway, how would they explain to the police that the head of a family is mistreating people because they're possessed by animal spirits of the Zodiac?) Things had gone on that way for so long that it was just accepted as their way of life. Also, when Ren snaps and threatens to stab Akito, one of the maids angrily asks her "did you want to draw the police here?"
  • I hate to answer a question with a question, but for what Akito did to whom? If it was one of the Juunishi, they would never even call the police. Remember when Momiji told Tohru that part of the curse is that they can't blame Akito. Calling the police for someone's actions is pretty much blaming them. Now, why any of the Juunishi don't do anything as their curses are breaking, I can't tell you.
    • Everyone, including Akito, had grown up a little by that point and were ready to smooth out their nasty relationships and move on. Rin, who got the worst of the abuse, is the only member of the Zodiac having trouble with moving on, but all of them want to leave it behind them and get on with their lives. Not to mention, it's pretty hard for people to fight to correct the Sohma ways of thinking without someone as influential as Akito there leading the push for change.
  • Also, it's a sort-of Cruel Mercy. Akito did horrible things to retain the attention of the Sohmas in her terror to be left behind. Now she has to live with the fact that she could have "ruled" them with mercy and kindness but didn't, and that damaged her ties to them save for Shigure.
  • I got the feeling it might have been more out of respect for Tohru than Akito. If there’s one thing to agree on, the entire Zodiac loves Tohru, and know that she is very good with emotionally healing others. They know that she wanted to be Akito’s friend, it’s possible they let it slide because they respected Tohru’s wishes. Plus, Tohru was able to help them move forward from trauma, which likely allowed them to forgive Akito more than if they hadn’t received help.
• From a psychological standpoint, why did Kana blame herself? Sure, she said how she couldn't protect Hatori, but there are some notable things: One: She saw Akito, who she literally just met, injure Hatori. Two: Akito started to blame her for the incident in question. Three: She has no history with Akito since she literally just met him, thus ruling out 'battered wife syndrome' or it's variants and that helplessness that comes from such associations over prolonged periods of time. So how does she blame herself, when she literally just saw her fiancée get blinded by the head of house while she's getting yelled at and blamed for the possibility of him going blind, even though she knows she didn't do it, but the asshole that is the head of house did so? I understand that she could've thought that, if they hadn't met, that wouldn't have occurred. But it is the head of house who did the blinding because he is freaking insane.
  • We don't know what exactly Kana was told besides Akito saying it was her fault. Perhaps Hatori warned her earlier that it would make Akito jealous if their relationship was made public or that it would cause problems. If that were the case then it's not impossible she figured "if Hatori never met me he never would have gone to ask for us to be married and therefore would never have been hurt". Plus, it's not like she's the only character to be overwhelmed/broken by events she couldn't control in the series.
  • Kana was a Sohma, too, although not a member of the core group centered around the Zodiac. Even if she'd never personally met Akito before, it's not hard to believe that she might have been taught to respect Akito as the absolute head of the family - although the Zodiac were the only ones with the metaphysical bond, I imagine the rest of the family were encouraged to respect and obey Akito. After all, any Sohma had the potential to be the mother or father of the next Zodiac member. Having control of the Zodiac doesn't mean much if their parents aren't sufficiently intimidated and brainwashed, and decide to leave the country to protect their child.
  • Also, Hatori was unable to blame Akito. If Kana and Hatori talked about what had happened, she would have realized that Hatori wasn't upset at Akito and probably figured that Hatori agreed with Akito.
  • For what it's worth, imagine what'll happen to the next complete bitch that tries to injure Hatori and then claim it's MAYU's fault? I actually kind of wish she had found out the real truth and confronted Akito.
    AKITO: The Juunshi are mine, Hatori's injury is purely the fault of that dirty bi— ARRRGH! MY BLOOD! SHE PUNCHED OUT ALL MY BLOOD!
• How could Shigure have slept with Ren? In an earlier volume, he mentioned that it would be a little problematic, due to the issue with hugging and transforming. If hugging isn't possible without transforming, how is intercourse?
  • Hatsuharu mentions in the fourth(?) volume, "we could do it without actually embracing" to Tohru before Kyo and Yuki take him down.
    • Ah, okay. That makes sense. Sort of.
    • I thought he meant showing her his pubic hair?
    • Consider also that Shigure only screwed Ren for revenge, not because he actually liked her. As charming as he'd pretend to be, this troper could imagine him refraining from keeping it intimate (not actually holding her during it, etc).
  • Doggy style, haha.
  • Also, there's the obvious fact that members of the Zodiac can hug other members of the Zodiac of the opposite sex without transforming.
    • Except Ren isn't part of a the Zodiac. Unless you're confusing her with Rin?
    • Shigure had sex with her in dog form, then? It could be possible, especially since Shigure's mind is still human when he's in that form, since there is such a thing as bestiality.
    • There are many different sex positions that do not require hugging, and most of them do not require undue contortion. Ren could have simply been on top. As long as she didn't lean down to embrace him, it would be fine.
    • Another idea: In one chapter Kyo hugs Tohru when she's hanging up laundry to dry, using a bedsheet as a sort of "buffer" between them. Might not be hard to arrange such a shield on the bed, and if it's thin enough they could actually get a close approximation of genuinely intimate sex.
    • There was a chapter divider (easy to miss) which showed that Kyo had turned anyway.
  • The last cat had a grandson. Generally, that implies he had sex at some point. The Zodiac probably just received a very interesting version of The Talk.
    • It's possible the previous cat got with another member of the zodiac. We don't hear much about them, so it's possible.
• When they go to the beach house in the manga Haru, Momiji, Kyo, Tohru and Yuki get out of what appears to be a five seater car...who drove?
  • Tohru hugged Momiji and held him on her lap on the way there. Problem solved! ^_^
  • But none of them (Haru, Momiji, Kyo, Tohru or Yuki) are at legal driving age (unless the driving age in Japan is different). Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't really think Momiji sitting on Tohru's lap would have changed anything.
    • Except that if Tohru held Momiji on her lap he would probably transform, and a bunny takes up a lot less room than a human boy.
    • That would mean there is one sit left for the driver, who would be someone else.
    • But no one else gets out of the car... This troper likes to think they wouldn't care about age, being the Sohmas, and would have taught their kids to drive anyway (having first driven a car when I was only 14), and probably Haru can drive somehow regardless just because, well, he's Haru. He does things like that.
    • Actually it is highly likely that the Sohma's being the influential, reclusive family that they are, and since they were going to a privately Sohma owned summer home, might have had a personal driver, who wouldn't have gotten out of the car anyway. They did have personal maids already waiting at the beach house.
• How is Hatori already a doctor when he erases Momiji's mum's memories if Momiji's say 5 (and leaving her in depression for five years is pushing it) then that would make Hatori about 16.
  • They don't teach mind wipes in medical school. He probably learned that somewhere else.
    • Logic aside, though, wouldn't it be awesome if they did? I would totally be a doctor if that were the case.
    • It's explained that Mind Wiping is a skill passed down through generations of Hatori's particular branch of the family. His father taught him the technique, and supposedly he would teach his son.
  • It is also pointed out that Hatori's father passed away while he was still a teenager, so it's reasonable to assume he had to take over some responsibilities as family doctor even before going to medical school.
• They're all cousins...
  • Yeah, but it's a huge family, so they're not all closely related, and some of them probably aren't even blood relatives. For example, you never hear two characters mention that their respective parents are siblings or anything.
  • But the only members that transform are members of the "Main Family" meaning that they are all very closely related anyway...
    • It's possible that they become members of the 'Main Family' by virtue of being Zodiac members. It's been a while since I read the series, so I may be wrong about this, but I don't remember anyone ever specifically stating that Zodiac members were born only to the main family, so they could easily come from different Sohma branches. Possibly their immediate family - parents, siblings, etc. - join the main branch after a Zodiac member is born, which could explain the lack of direct cousins amongst the Zodiac. They just refer to each other as 'cousins' because it's simpler.
    • I just reread the series recently (see: today), and it's said that people who live in the Main House do so because they know about the curse or are related to those with the curse. There's "insiders" who know and "outsiders" who don't, but ultimately they're the same family and there are no factions - which is discussed by servants in a later book.
  • Yes, yes they are. This is something that isn't as frowned upon in Japan as it is in other countries.
  • They're not necessarily first-degree cousins, and their parents aren't necessarily cousins either. Also, keep in mind that the family consists of more than 150 people. I'm not entirely sure if any of them are actually "closely" related, although there's a reference to Hatori being Kisa's uncle, if I'm not wrong.
  • Kisa calls Shigure and Ayame her uncles too, but they're her cousins, not uncles. It's just a term of endearment that she uses, since they're older than her. (In the English dub of the anime, she calls them all "Grandpa.")
  • 'Family' does not necessarily mean the same thing as we think of family. The Sohma family is really more of the Sohma clan, which is very old school Japan and usually consisted of many families with a matriarch or patriarch making all major decisions. They all share the same family name and they all learn to respect the head of the family, but someone like Hatsuharu and Rin, although coming from the same family, are probably fifth or sixth cousins, if not even more.
• I haven't really finished reading the series yet, so it might be explained later, but exactly how did the Sohma family get so rich if a lot of the members had the Zodiac curse (which might have inhibited their ability to work)?
  • The Sohma family is huge, having many members besides those in the zodiac.
  • I guess I was being too specific. I just wondered how they got so rich. Were they once nobility? Do they own a giant fast food chain? How did the Sohmas get so rich? (I have a sinking feeling that it is explained somewhere and that I just forgot)
    • It's never exactly explained. The various members have businesses that seem fairly successful (Aya's costume shop, Shigure's books, etc). Presumably the fact that there are so many and it's such a secluded family also means that there's a lot of inheritance.
    • I've always thought that because of the bond in their family, God blessed them with fortune.
  • It's been explained once somewhere that they are an old and noble family that had many ties with Buddhism, which might also explain how they got Kyo's bracelet.
  • They're an old and noble family and usually, such families have a lot of stocks in various businesses. The Sohma family probably has business ties that are as old as the family itself that provide an extremely comfortable living.
• You know how Dysfunction Junction runs rampant in the series? Well, I can't think of a single particularly bad childhood event for Shigure. Did I just forget something really traumatizing? Should fans make up a story of him being molested as a six-year-old, leading to lifetime of sexual deviancy?
  • As far as anyone can tell, He personally never went through any traumatic rejections everyone else he cared about did. He's the dog though, he's supposed to be loyal and empathetic so, I think he got messed up though osmosis. I don't think anyone needs to make up a traumatic childhood for him, he's witnessed enough bad stuff for a lifetime.
  • He's one of the least screwed-up members of the cast, Sohma or no. It could be argued that his dream when Akito was born was his "traumatic moment," since it informed almost everything he did in the series. And it certainly didn't help that Akito had been having sex with Kureno as well as him.
    • Shigure is the only member of the cast who isn't an emotional wreck. He's a selfish person who accepts and is unashamed of his selfishness, and his honesty with himself allows him to ignore and exploit other people in need in order to get what he wants. Remember, the entire series only happened because he wanted Akito for himself, and the parasitic "bond" between her and the other Zodiac was getting in the way of that.
  • Actually, if you look at it, Shigure did have some trauma: he was in a (mutually) abusive relationship — of some kind, whether they were together-together or not, it was a relationship enough for her to cheat on him with Kureno — with Akito. Akito is emotionally and physically abusive (whether they abused Shigure physically is unknown) and Shigure is also emotionally abusive to them, but this gets passed over because other characters are more obviously traumatised and angsty, and Akito is awful to everyone in general. In fact, one could argue that the toxicity of the relationship contributed to or caused Shigure's ephebophilia; it's said that people who go for younger partners do so because they either can't get people their own age to date them (which Shigure presumably can), or because younger people are easier controlled and manipulated — in that light, of course Shigure likes teenagers, the only serious relationship he's been in was toxic as hell; so he would go for someone younger and innocent he can control, especially when you consider he LOVES manipulating people, he effectively gets off on it (ie. Mitchan, the entire series in general). Whether this is a conscious choice he makes, it's subconscious, or both and he just likes younger girls cause they're attractive is debatable. However, whether one wants to see his thing for high schoolers in this way or not, one can't discard or underestimate the effects of a toxic/abusive relationship on somebody. And he wants to get back with her, and ended up doing exactly that at the end... who wants to bet how long that lasted? They're terrible for each other, which is either why they're perfect or why they're the antithesis of such.
• Why did the anime change Tohru's eye color? It looks odd all the time except the last episode, when all the action happens. It fits the naive, pure, stereotype but still..Her eyes were obviously brown on the first manga cover.
  • I've always assumed that the artists did that to make her look cuter or something, according to them, at least. I guess brown hair and brown eyes didn't appeal to someone so they changed it. It would explain why Yuki's hair and eye color were changed to purple when they were gray originally.
• Why don't the character's ages correspond with their zodiac signs? I mean, you have the dog, the snake and the dragon being the same age.
  • The curse doesn't follow the zodiac years, just the zodiac animal spirits. The dog, snake, and dragon just happen to be born in the same year (I think the Rooster was also). Shigure even mentions that this is the first time that all the animals are alive at the same time which can mean that a zodiac spirit isn't born right after the old one dies.
• This is just an inquiry that kind of annoyed me— keep in mind I'm being completely serious— What happens if a member of the Zodiac gets hugged by a hermaphrodite?
  • They transform anyway, just because the curse is spiteful? I don't know, but I did get the feeling that the point behind the curse was to discourage/prevent the Zodiac from forming relationships with people outside of God's guests.
    • On another note, what if they get hugged by a binary-gendered trans person? Would the curse go by the person's gender or sex?
    • Oh, and another thing: the curse wouldn't even matter for a gay Zodiac member (aside from the exhaustion transformation, of course).
    • I would debate it still matters, if not romantically, then platonically - look at what happened to poor Momiji, getting rejected by his mother. Hiro couldn't hold his baby sister. And Hatsuharu has only expressed interest in other members of the Zodiac (including the very male Yuki), but he's still isolated within the abuse of the family.
    • As to the "what if they were trans" question: The curse responds to biological sex, most likely. Consider Ritsu's case.
    • But Ritsu isn't transgender. Yes, he crossdresses because it makes him feel comfortable, but he still refers to himself as a man.
• What did Tohru see in Kyo? He was a whiny bitch with serious anger issues. If you drop a pencil in his presence, he goes on a rant. I was hoping for somebody to backhand Bitch-Puss.
  • Because every since she was a child, she felt a connection and empathy towards the Cat of the Zodiac. There was even a flashback where she heard the story, cried over the fate of the Cat, and declared her new Zodiac sign to be the Cat. As for Kyo ranting and having anger issues, one of Tohru's best friends was formerly in a gang and threatened to punch out her teeth when they first met and one was completely anti-social. She appears to have spent most of her school days dealing with people ignoring and bullying her. She just looks past it. She doesn't actually love him until later on in the manga, when he starts to mellow, before that she treats him like she treats most other people (which is cheerfully and kindly) And what with all Kyo had to deal with growing up, being a "whiny bitch" is probably one of the better ways he could have turned out.
  • Actually, Volume 20 revealed that Tohru had been in love with Kyo since she chased him after he transformed into that hideous monster which would be as early as Volume 6. That's rather early in the series. As Tohru monologues in the aftermath of her accident she states that her feelings for Kyo grew gradually from the rare and awkward but genuinely kind, embarrassed, and even smiling moments he shared with her. Tohru allows people to treat her pretty badly and yet she still forgives them. I guess her Love Interest would be no different.
  • Also, bear in mind that a fair amount of what makes Real Life relationships work is the ability to look past a Love Interest's flaws.
  • Read the manga. Kyo mellows out a lot as the series goes on; Tohru was always able to see through him to his good traits. His flipping out around her in the earlier volumes is also explained in the end.
• How close are most of the Sohmas genetically? Japan isn't quite as strict about incest as western culture, but no one seems to bat an eye at most of the pairings. Distant cousins? Are any of them close relatives?
  • You answered your own question. Japan is less strict about Kissing Cousins than a lot of other countries.
• So, why does the Dragon look like a seahorse? Does Word of God ever explain why?
  • In the last parts of the manga, Shigure theorizes that the curse is starting to break evident by, among other factors, the mighty dragon getting weaker by now being a seahorse, which is considered to be a baby dragon.
  • It's also mentioned early on in the manga footnotes that the dragon specifically degraded into a seahorse because of the etymology of the word "seahorse" in Japanese. The kanji for "seahorse" is "dragon's child".
• Where does Kyou's bracelet go when he transforms?
  • On a related note, the idea behind clothes falling off is that the animal forms are smaller than the human, right? So then why don't Rin's clothes rip, since a horse is much bigger than a teenage girl? Or does she just have 50 identical outfits (which I wouldn't put past her)?
  • If it's magical and been specifically enchanted for the cat, it's not much of a stretch to assume it's also been magicked to "transform" with him. Having that nice little ginger cat suddenly turn into an ugly stinking beast would unsettle people.
  • Rin’s clothes do rip when she transforms, back when Yuki and Tohru came across her during the beach trip. Tohru runs off to get new clothes for her. That being said, I’m pretty sure that Hatsuharu has a few scenes where his clothes somehow don’t rip despite transforming into a cow.
• I watched this show years ago and something that bothered me tremendously is Kyo being treated terribly by all family members and friends. If I found out my friend turned into some half demon kaiju monster he would be my best friend EVER. The mangaka does not understand boys in the slightest if she thinks young boys wouldn't want to become smelly disgusting monsters. Totally ruined the story for me.
  • The reason for the entire family hating him for that was because of the tale of the banquet, which I'm assuming you didn't read. God made it so the animals would all live forever, but the cat didn't want eternal life. As a result, they all rejected him, and he died. The grotesque form was his punishment for essentially rejecting God. And as for the transforming thing, think about it: His father hated him. He believed that his mother was afraid and ashamed of him (when actually it was his father constantly yelling at her and demeaning her for giving birth to the cat that made her ashamed). His entire family looked down upon him for being the cat. Even at his mother's funeral, all they did was sneer and mock him and whatnot. I don't think any little boy would want that, even if it did come with being a "cool monster". And, FYI, the monster wasn't cool at all. Maybe it'd be cool at first, but I'm certain that any child, boy or girl, would grow sick of it.
  • Go read Calvin and Hobbes and tell me if Calvin wouldn't love being a monster. Now tell me that every one of his family members, including other young boys wouldn't want to either BE or be friends with, said monster. Even if his mother and father hate him preventing the young boys he grew up with from going off to play with the monster cat boy would be IMPOSSIBLE. Sorry, still ruined for me.
    • Number one, Calvin is hardly a typical boy. But even ignoring that fact, there is a huge difference between "turning into a cool monster" and "turning into a monster that everybody is afraid of, is looked down on, and smells bad. It is very heavily implied that Kyo's true form is not only disgusting, but dangerous (he scratched Tohru, who is one of the only people who will put up with him, and she specifically says he's scaring her. And this is Tohru, who is basically a doormat who never speaks up when she's uncomfortable for fear of hurting other's feelings). Not to mention that little kids actually get scared pretty easily. I don't know if you have experience with any non-fictional little kids, but yes, little boys would most likely be scared of the giant creature that looks like it wants to rip their guts out. There's a difference between thinking monsters are cool and actually dealing with one. Add to that the fact that none of the adults (not just his mom and dad) found him repulsive or scary and the kid is going to have serious attachment issues. And even if other kids did play with him (which, really, they wouldn't), there's still the issue that he always believed his parents hated him. I'm sorry, but if you grow up with that notion (and he did grow up with it, literally from birth), you're going to have issues, no matter how cool you are on the playground.
  • I was under the impression that the monster was not only repulsively ugly (even if it didn't look that horrible), but also smelled really bad. And given that there aren't monsters IRL, we don't really know how little boys would actually react to them. I think it would end up like stories where the tough bully suddenly starts wetting his bed after encountering a real monster. Also, because I'm watching Buffy right now, let's compare Kyo to Tara. Her entire life, her father and brother apparently terrorized her (and possibly her mother) for being a demon. She isn't even actually a demon, but the way they treated her was still a horrible experience for her, and she was scared of actually being a demon, even when she knew Anya, and even though she was a witch.
• Why didn't Hattori erase Momiji's memory of his mother? I think losing his memory of her is better than living your life knowing your mother resented you.
  • Momiji blatantly said he wanted to keep all his memories, good and bad, because they're all precious to him. It's a sure thing that he was offered the chance, but explicitely rejected it.
  • It would probably be self-defeating, too. Momiji's father raised him but maintained contact with the mother (including sleeping arrangements since he fathered a sister.) It would probably be difficult to impossible to keep him from rediscovering the truth.
• I know this can be explained easily, because it happened rather early on, but it was a rather "big" moment, so it still irks me: When Kyo told Toru about his training in the mountains, it was pretty much the very first time she saw him smiling, being enthusiastic and happy. 20 volumes later, it turns out that he spent all of that time in a perpetual Heroic BSoD over Kyoko's death, just sitting limply on the ground instead of actually training. Kyo isn't one to fake happiness, so that in-universe explanation does not work either.
  • The best reason I can think of is that he spent the beginning of the training saddened about Kyoko's death, but somehow, his desire to beat Yuki and become part of the Zodiac, like Akito promised gave him the motivation to keep going.
    • Maybe I read it wrong, but I was under the impression that (as shown in the last couple of volumes) they actually made the bet after his mountain training. So he wouldn't have had that motivation yet, which would have explained things.
    • I was always under the impression that Kyo was only happy in that instant thinking about Shishou. Kyo genuinely also loves martial arts, as not only does he enjoy the art itself, but it was the first thing he ever got to -do- after being secluded by his parents most of his childhood (not even allowed to watch TV) and taught to him by the first person to ever truly love him. That said, I think him mentioning training in the mountains was a case of "Lying So Much to Yourself You Start to Believe It". I think Kyo had become an expert at that by that time in his life, from blaming Yuki since he was a child to trying so damned hard to even forget about the incident with Kyoko. It was easy for him to make an aside mention about his recent "training" when really he was just happily thinking about his foster father and his love of martial arts, while burying the rest of the trauma and truth of certain events deep, deep down.
  • Also, there may be a more "meta" reason: The series was originally supposed to be much shorter, it's explosion of popularity was a surprise for the author and publisher. She probably had to do some rewriting and retconing.
• As far as I remember, Kyo is a dragon-thing whenever he's not wearing his bracelet with the beads. But since he was born naked, like everyone is, doesn't that mena he was born as a dragon-thing? So why did the people who saw him being born assume that the dragon thing could be turned into a human, and how did they know how to do it?
  • As for your last point, I imagine that the Soma children are born in a private clinic owned by the Somas or maybe even at home. So I guess the problem of not knowing what's going on didn't come up. As for your first question, that's a bit trickier... are the children born as animals? My guess is not, even though I'd consider them "hugged" while they're inside their mothers. Maybe the curse is activated not while they are still in the womb, but when they are hugged for the first time by someone of the opposite gender? This means, Kyo would have been born as a normal boy... but when they gave him to his mother, he turned into the cat. The present Soma doctor had the beads ready and complications were avoided. Also, I remember that cursed members are born earlier? Perhaps if a woman goes into labor earlier than expected, all precautions are taken.
  • But I still don't get it. Maybe this would be clear to me if I reread the series, but how did they know how to turn a dragon-thing into a human with beads? There must have been some point in the history of humans when the Sohma family didn't know how to do that, so how did they learn to?
    • Well, I got the impression that when the dragon-thing is hugged, it turns into a cat too. So I guess they put it on the cat (which also begs the question why Kyo turns back into a human when he changes back from the cat. Does he already put on the bracelet? But I digress. I can imagine quite well that the first couple of cat-monsters were kept inside that room exactly because they were dragon-things. Maybe, somewhere along the line, a charm that repels the true form was developed, not really in context of the curse but as a general thing, by a powerful miko.
  • No, the Sohma don't change until they're hugged. I specifically remember a scene in the manga where they were talking about Hiro's birth and his mother's reaction to it. He didn't change into a sheep until they placed him in her arms after he was born. I guess they just wait to see what happens after the baby is born.
    • Yup. The same happened to Momiji. his mom didn't reject him until baby!Momiji was first put in her arms and then he changed, which broke his mom's mind.
    • The Sohma's do have a good idea of when a Zodiac member is about to be born, as they are always born prematurely. I always suspected that Kyo was the only member of the Curse that wasn't born as a human, as he technically doesn't exist as one at default either. He has to wear the beads to avoid being a monster and become a human, while the others only have to avoid being hugged to stay in their default human form. I think that might be part of why the specific trauma of giving birth to the Cat is so great.
  • With regards to Hiro's mother, her first reaction wasn't rejecting Hiro; she said "I love sheep!" and that was that.
• Just a pet peeve I have: if Yuki has such a complex over his "feminine" looks, why the heck does he go out of his way to look like a girl? I mean, those tight-fitting Chinese style clothes he wears early on in the series only make him look even more, um, feminine. And he could cut his hair? No? Also, Ayame wears Chinese style clothes too, and you'd think Yuki would try not to look like him if he hates him so much.
  • This makes no sense. There is nothing inherently "feminine" about the Chinese-style shirts he wears. You're acting like they're dresses or something. Yuki probably just likes to look natty. And what do mean about his hair? It's already pretty short in the back. Do you mean his front side bangs? I don't think he's that girly just because of that. And why should he give up clothing his brother happens to wear too just to separate himself from him? That's pointless and reeks of Hitler Ate Sugar. Also, at his core Yuki doesn't hate Ayame. He bitter and distant to him but starts getting past it after Ayame is introduced.
    • You have misunderstood me (partly my fault for not making myself clearer). I was always under the impression that Yuki's androgynous appearance was down to his face and his "unmanly" (womanly is a bit strong) figure/body shape. I am aware that his Chinese-style clothes are not feminine in themselves, but was simply pointing out that the clothes he wears early on in the series, the tight fitting ones, seem to enhance his androgynous figure more than if he wore less tight fitting clothes, and that if he were really self-conscious about this, why not wear baggier clothes. And as for his hair, I was always under the impression that it made him look slightly girlier (having the long bangs), although I have to admit this may be simply me and not true in universe. Although I have to agree with your point about Ayame, I had just simply found it odd that Yuki was so keen to have nothing to do with him earlier on in the series, yet still imitate him. Your explanation cleared it up though.
    • Well, I was needlessly brusque and I apologize. But I will add this much about Yuki's taste in clothing. My source is the Cat Fanbook. Takeya meant for the clothing choices to be unimportant in terms of their characters in some ways but they ended up fleshing the characters out further sometimes. Yuki was created before Ayame and by the time Takeya needed to dress Ayame she just decided he'll wear Chinese clothing, too. However, it's pointed out in the Ayame and Yuki scenes that despite being polar opposites, they are more similar to each other than they think which helps bridge the gap between them. The clothes unintentionally added to this point. Also, Yuki could just be that oblivious to how he comes off.
    • Consider further Toru and Yuki's discussion somewhat early in the story, where Yuki talks about how he manipulates people to like him. His appearance is probably a part of this.
    • Yuki even grew up wearing a kimono and attending an elementary school where a uniform was required (not all Japanese elementary schools do) so his clothing choices were probably influenced by his rich lifestyle growing up. He wears clothes that look more fancy and a Chinese style because that is what he knows but also because it is supposed to reflect is more rigid personality at the time. As the series goes on he starts to wear more loose fitting clothes and baggier sweaters and that are a slightly more "boy-ish" style. Word of God even states that this was intentionally a change that started gradually after he met Kakeru Manabe and he started to develop a more open, and in actually more true to himself, personality.
• So Kyo transforms into a beast when he loses his beads, right? If so, when he transforms into a cat, where do his beads go, and how are they magically back on his wrist when he becomes a human again, even before he puts his clothes back on?
  • Now, I haven't read the entire series, so I could be wrong, but I have a theory that since the beads are most likely enchanted (how else would they keep the "true form" from being revealed), they could transform with him, even if the rest of his clothes don't.
• Is it ever explained why Hatsuharu turns into a cow instead of what he's supposed to be, which is, ya know, an ox? I like Fruits Basket alot, but that just stuck out to me as a really odd and stupid change and sorta ruins Haru's badassery for me. His personality is even meant to be that of an ox (tranquil yet furious if triggered) so yeah ...
  • An ox is simply a cow that's been trained as a draft animal. It's not a separate species. So he does in fact turn into an ox. (Well, ok, I wouldn't trust him to pull a cart where I told him to, heh.)
  • I realized I've made a mistake though, I guess animal!Haru really is a male cow/bull, I just thought he looked completely female at first, but I guess it's the cartoony way he's drawn. Personally I was just expecting something like this◊ which is why his appearance confused me (and I don't know how it is in English, but in my language a "cow" is a female). Oh well.
    • This can be put down to Rule of Cute, (like Hatori's transformation discussed above.)
• After his curse was broken, why did Momiji never try to reconnect with his family considering the major obstacle that led to his mother wiping her memory of him was now gone?
  • I don't think it's going to be that simple. Momiji's mother has spent the past several years believing that Momo is her only child. Even if the curse is broken, there's the possibility that she could have flashbacks.
  • There's also the possibility that even if Momiji understands his mother's rejection, he can't forgive or forget it, especially since it led to him living semi-independently while still in elementary school. Not to mention his father, who promised to "love you twice as much to make up for it", but consistently breaks that promise once Momo is born. It could simply come down to Momo being the only member of his family who actually wanted him. Given that Fruits Basket Another shows them as a full-blown Brother–Sister Team, it might be that theirs is the only relationship that could grow naturally, without being scarred by the abuse and neglect of the past.
• There's an older maid in the manga that serves Akito and basically enables her more than anyone else. She flat out tells Kureno that he should have just left Rin locked in that room and tells Akito that she preferred when she was abusing everyone. I need to know: What was her deal?
  • I actually assumed - largely based on her interaction with Akito at the end - that she was Ren's mother. She's obsessively (she is a Sohma, presumably) focused on tradition. To that end, the Head of the Sohma House is the be-all, end-all of authority. Anyone who goes against that authority should be punished. Akito should demand that authority. Ren was a bad maid for first neglecting her duties, not just that but distracting the head of the house from whatever it is he is doing - and worse still, taking up his time as his wife, moving above her station. That, to me, also explains why she's so unhappy with the way things turn out - all of her rules have been upended.
• Is it ever explained why the Sohma family has the curse?
  • Never explained, but considering the family is more of a clan, I wonder if those first few generations after the curse didn't band together to form the Sohma clan? Maybe they weren't originally blood related, but the population was so small back then, and the curse was still considered a blessing, so it would be easier to find
• Something I realized from the 2019 anime (I don't remember too much of the 2001 version, and it’s been long time since I read the manga). When Tohru declares she wants to stay with Kyo and face his problems with him, he's suddenly back to human, but the bracelet is with Kazuma. How did he change back to human? Is he only in his monster form temporarily when he take the beads off? I always assumed he stays that way until he gets the bracelet back.
  • Rin was shown to be able to transform back into her human form with sheer willpower, so it'so likely that Kyo's de-transformation was linked to his psyche — when his mind was in its most peaceful state.
• The logistics of the curse baffle me. So... the animals of the Zodiac are given immortality, though the cat is not happy about it, and ends up being shunned for "disrespecting God" or something. So how does that lead to the Sohma family getting the curse, and why does it mean that hugging someone else of the opposite sex cause them to transform? Maybe I'm missing the point, but it just doesn't feel fair...
  • It's eventually made clear that the original Zodiac animals did eventually die; their real "immortality" is that they continually reincarnate inside members of the Sohma family, which ensures that the bond the animals and their God share will never be broken and they can all stay together throughout various lifetimes. Unfortunately, that bond has been twisted over the years into something much more toxic and codependent, with Akito in particular using her status as the God to make all the Zodiac members obey her no matter how much she abuses them. The transforming when hugged thing may be just another way to ensure that the Zodiac members never stray too far from each other and break that bond.

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