| “ | Are you still trying to convince people that nonsense is true? You little fool. How many times do I have to explain this to you? That so-called bond may make you feel something, but it is not real love. That "forever unchanging" story you like to tell yourself is exactly that: A fantasy. A delusion. So of course I pity the ones who have to put up with it. | ” |
| ~ Ren explaining and shows her cold view of love to her daughter Akito as she mocks her before she snaps and attacks her. |
Ren Sohma is the overarching antagonist of the iconic shonen manga/anime romance fantasy series Fruits Basket and its sequel manga series Fruits Basket Another. She is the abusive and estranged mother of Akito Sohma, the widow of Akira Sohma, and the grandmother of Shiki Sohma.
She is the true matriach of the Sohma household whose existence is kept secret form the main cast. Despite not being seen in most of the scenes, she is responsible for turning her daugther into the controlling and insecure villain she is today and by far the Zodiac curse that befell her family members and as well as their emotional turmoil, kickstarting the events of the series when Tohru Honda decides to stay there and help get rid of their curse. She is also known for being one of the worst mothers in anime and manga history.
She is voiced by Ai Orikasa in Japanese and Katelyn Barr in English in both anime adaptations.
Actions & Charcteristics[]
- Being the abusive mother of Akito Sohma and the cause behind Akito using the Zodiac curse to enslave the cursed members, she is the catalyst for the plot of Fruits Basket due to being responsible for her daughter's descent into villainy and being responsible for the emotional turmoil faced by her family members due to the curse that they are experiencing and she even lets Tohru Honda to live at her home, thus kickstarting the events of the series. Her influence is even felt in the sequel series, as Akito, despite trying to redeem herself, is never fully forgiven by the people she hurt, and her grandson Shiki experiences abuse and harassment from her and the Sohma maids, causing him to suffer social anxiety, which would only be discard the moment he met Sawa Mitoma.
- Since the heinous standards of Fruits Basket are low due to the story having many abusers, Ren is easily able to out as the worst as she goes from being a standard abuser to the most personal enemy in the series. This is because she is the one responsible for abusing her own daughter Akito into becoming an abuser just like her, causing most of the members of the Sohma family to endure her abuse and mistreatment on them (including Tohru), and she even drives Rin's parents into abusing her, causing her emotional turmoil, and in the events of the sequel, horribly abuses her grandson verbally and tries to kill him without any remorse at all, and even scars her daughter while attempting to do so, which gives the former PTSD because of the event. Thus she makes her mark as the most heinous character in the entire series.
- She is by far the evilest character in the entire franchise. While her daughter Akito was a villain and has done some terrible deeds, she is a tragic and sympathetic character, who despite her horrible abuse and estrangement on the Sohmas, still cares about them, suffers from insecurity, and just wants to be loved, which accumulates in her redemption. Ren on the other hand is irredeemably evil and has almost no redeeming qualities at all, as she is far past her tragedy of being looked down on as a maid and losing her husband Akira. While she does genuinely love Akira as evidenced by her crying out for him and trying to find a box with his soul, this redeeming quality is minor at best as she mistreated him as well.
- Despite being mentally unstable, she shows signs of intelligence and cunningness, as she was able to manipulate most of the characters into doing her dirty work and manipulating most of the events of the series due to having a bet with her daughter Akito.
- She has some symbolism as she serves as a dark contrast towards most of the characters and a spiritual anti-thesis of the entire work, as it focuses on accepting others who want to help you and let them help heal your trauma and about the true meaning of friendship and family bonds. While Akito learns to cherish them and mellows out to become a better person, Ren doesn't even try to mellow out or reconsider her actions, showing what would happen if Akito never moved on from her pain, she would have ended up like her mother.
Stats[]
| Intelligence | 4 / 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Skills | 4 / 5 | |
| Speed | 2 / 5 | |
| Stamina | 2 / 5 | |
| Strength | 2 / 5 |
For information on stats, review the stats page.