Kyo Sohma

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“

I knew it. I knew it all along. Just as there’s rejection in this world, there are people who will reach out to you.

”

—Kyo Sohma[1]

Kyo Sohma (草摩 夾, Sōma Kyō, “Kyo Soma”[2]) is one of the deuteragonists of the Fruits Basket series. He is the adoptive son of Kazuma Sohma, whom he was taken in by after the death of his mother and the rejection from his biological father.

Kyo is cursed by the spirit of the Cat, an animal who would have been part of the Chinese Zodiac had the Rat not tricked him into missing the ceremony. An irregular member of the Zodiac, not only is Kyo discriminated against, disrespected, and has a future of confinement, he also has a true form which is a grotesque and foul-smelling monster— which he turns into when his Juzu bead bracelet is removed. He has blamed all of his misfortunes on his greatest enemy, the Rat, Yuki Sohma, and has dedicated his life to defeat him.

Charismatic and hot-blooded, if a bit socially awkward, Kyo moves into Shigure Sohma’s house with Yuki and Tohru Honda at the beginning of the series. As the story progresses, Kyo falls in love with Tohru, and little by little, his heart heals by finding true love in her. In the process, he finds the courage to live on despite his guilt, misgivings, and hardships.

In Fruits Basket Another, he is married to Tohru and the father of three children, with his oldest son Hajime Sohma acting as one of the main characters.

Appearance

Kyo is a teenage boy with a rather tall and muscular build, who is considered to be very handsome. He has nape-length, bright orange hair with cowlicks sticking out of his head and soft spikes, along with long bangs that hang over his matching orange eyes. His eyes are quite sharp and will occasionally become slit-like.

Kyo wears the standard Kaibara High uniform for males, which consists of a blue sweater (white during summertime) with a white color around the collar and edges, and a yellow shirt underneath (white in the anime). Unlike other students, Kyo wears his school uniform unbuttoned without a necktie, since he hates clothes that are tight around the neck. On other occasions, he mainly dresses in loose clothes and V-shirts. He also seems to like colors like red, orange, and yellow, and often wears clothes in such colors.

He wears a set of Juzu beads, or Buddhist prayer beads, on his left wrist that are red and white (black and white in the 2001 anime) in color, all the way around and every other turn.

Personality

Kyo is a very short-tempered, stubborn, brash, and sharp-tongued person. He is also viewed as charismatic and wears his emotions on his sleeves, which causes people to gather around him, and it also allows Kyo to socialize with outsiders with ease. However, he rarely displays this ability, and rough actions and insensitive remarks are sometimes the only things that come out. Kyo is also quite violent and self-sacrificing, and will frequently end up shouting at people, even people he cares about. This behavior of his is a defensive mechanism to hide the pain he has suffered, and he also doesn’t want to hurt people and is afraid of making people unhappy if they get close to him. He tries to keep people at arm’s length and even resorts to hurting them so they leave him alone because almost everyone in his life has hurt and pitied him so much that he is tired of it. At one point, he even denied that Kazuma was his father because he didn’t want Kazuma to get hurt.[3]

However, thanks to Tohru’s influence, who reaches out to him with a patient and genuine understanding instead of force or pity, Kyo gradually grows into a calmer, gentler, and emotionally mature person.[4] Little by little, his heart heals by finding true love in Tohru, and he can, in turn, help Tohru with her self-doubt. Underneath his tough personality, Kyo is very sensitive and vulnerable and cares a great deal about the people he loves. Evident by his interactions with Tohru, Kyo is a very empathizing, affectionate, patient, supportive, and selfless person who openly encourages her happiness, even if he isn’t a part of it.[5] He has a soft side that he doesn’t like people seeing, and gets embarrassed quickly. He becomes easily flustered when people cry especially people he cares about, but will work through his discomfort to try and help them. He will prioritize their emotional well-being over his own as seen with his interactions with Kagura, Kazuma, and Tohru. He is not very good at expressing his feelings, and therefore occasionally comes off as a tsundere. Kyo is also passionate and determined if he puts his mind to something, most notably martial arts, which he eventually makes his livelihood.

Kyo harbors a strong hatred towards Yuki Sohma, the Rat, in which he is seen to be a very competitive, tough, no-manners, and always-wanting-to-fight boy. At the same time Kyo carries immense self-loathing and guilt, mostly as a result of all the scorn he has received from being exluded from the zodiac as the cat, and what he perceives is his own hand in causing his mother’s suicide and the death of Kyoko Honda. As a result his deep hatred towards Yuki is not cemented on the person himself, but on making a scapegoat, a “bad guy” that could make him feel better about himself, serving as a coping mechanism to keep from mentally falling apart. His inclination to ultimately protect himself despite the consequences (i.e. not saving Kyoko Honda to avoid transforming into a cat in public, and subquently forgetting the car accident and direct the blame towards Yuki) adds to his already piled disgust towards himself, which has at times lead to suicidal thoughts.

It is for these reasons, that he feels undeserving of Tohru’s love and excessively rejects her when she confesses to him.[6] However, Kyo eventually come to realize how unfair and self-serving his way of thinking was, and properly apologizes to Tohru.[7] He also reconciles with Yuki, even developing a budding friendship with him.[8] Kyo decides to never repeat his past mistakes again and keep living on despite his regrets and guilt. He openly anticipates a bright future and wants to live like a normal person by challenging himself and getting involved with the world around him, something he had never done or wanted before.[9] He also becomes kinder, more sensitive, affectionate, level-headed and laidback, smiles more often, and has much less of a temper, which Tohru describes the way the original Kyo was like, untainted by hatred.[8]

History

Early Life

Kyo had a very isolated childhood and was rarely let out from his house by his excessively overprotective mother, since she was afraid of Kyo’s true form being seen. According to Kyo, she would always cover up her fear of his true form by displaying her motherly love, a love he did not appreciate. She would also check that his beads were intact dozens of times every day.[10]

Due to his position as the Cat, Kyo was despised, pitied, and isolated from the other Sohmas, and served the purpose of being the scapegoat for the Zodiacs. On the days he was able to play outside at the Sohma grounds, he would always be alone. One day, Kagura Sohma found Kyo drawing an egg with a tree branch. Kagura, who had hated herself for also being Cursed by one of the Zodiac animals, found solace in Kyo, since she had it better than him and would never suffer as much as he would. From there on, Kagura became friends with Kyo out of pity, and Kyo, unbeknownst to Kagura’s true feelings, happily accepted her friendship.

At some point, Kagura insisted that she wanted to wear Kyo’s Juzu bead bracelet, and she eventually took it by force when Kyo rejected the idea. Unknown of what would happen, Kagura witnessed Kyo’s true form and was horrified by it. Following this, Kyo and Kagura began avoiding one another and Kyo’s mother grew increasingly protective of him.[4]

Death of his mother

While Kyo was resented by the Sohma family, so was his mother, and her husband emotionally and verbally abused her for giving birth to Kyo, for loving him, and for apparently ruining his life. During these moments, she would seek comfort in Kyo. Eventually, the inability to confide in anyone, the abuse she received from her husband, and the shame of having Kyo as a son and the strain of protecting him, led to Kyo’s mother committing suicide by jumping in front of a moving train.

During her funeral, almost every member of the Sohma family blamed the five-year-old Kyo for his mother’s death, including his father. Because of this, Kyo grew very vengeful and did not shed a single tear at his mother’s funeral. He also blamed Yuki for the incident, and threatened that he would kill Yuki and then kill himself to make his father satisfied. Kazuma Sohma, who noticed the absurdity of this treatment and remembered how the last Cat, his grandfather, was treated by the family, took Kyo in. Having the first person to ever understand his struggles made Kyo break down in tears.[3]

Taken in by Kazuma Sohma

In contrast to his mother and biological father, Kyo was well taken care of by Kazuma and was shown the “outside world”. At some point, Kyo began calling Kazuma “Shishou” since none of his students referred to him as much. Kazuma also began training Kyo in martial arts to teach him discipline, and to help Kyo become stronger in his life knowing it will be so difficult being cursed by the cat. The two bonded over their sessions together, and Kyo finally found something he was passionate about.[3] Hatsuharu Sohma, who had begun training martial arts to relieve his anger, occasionally trained martial arts with Kyo in the Sohma dojo.

Kyo received a normal education, and went to the same school as the other Zodiacs, including Momiji and Hatsuharu. However, he still hated his position as the Cat and blamed all of his misfortune on the Rat, Yuki Sohma. During one of the Sohma’s annual banquet, Yuki heard about Kyo, who isn’t part of the Zodiac and therefore cannot join in the banquet. When Yuki sneaked out to meet Kyo and attempted to befriend him, Kyo harshly shouted that he hated Yuki, that his very existence had brought misfortune to him, and that he would be better off dead.[11]

At some point, Kyo received a hat he chose as a present from Kazuma. When he was out walking with his father, his hat was blown away in the wind. When he went to find it, he saw that it was already in Yuki’s hand. Yuki attempted to give it back, but Kyo refused to since he didn’t want to touch anything Yuki had touched, and returned back to Kazuma’s side.[11]

Meeting Kyoko Honda

In the beginning when Kazuma took him in, Kyo often felt like he couldn’t go straight home after school, and would therefore spend time in the neighborhood. One of these days, Kyo met Kyoko Honda, whose workplace was in the neighborhood. While Kyoko instantly took an interest in Kyo for having such an odd hair-color, Kyo was harsh and distant because he was not used to people wanting to interact with him. He also thought it was embarrassing that the two of them shared similar names. But Kyoko’s persistence broke through, and the fact that Kyoko understood and emphasized with Kyo’s situation with his parents, made Kyo think of her as a ray of hope and a person who could make Kyo forgive himself by simply existing.[12]

After their first meeting, Kyo and Kyoko would regularly cross paths and talk about all kinds of things. Kyoko told Kyo about her past as a delinquent, how she met her future husband Katsuya, how she almost gave up when Katsuya died, and how she now was determined to keep living for her daughter Tohru’s sake. As Kyoko continued talking fondly about Tohru, Kyo began wanting to see Tohru for himself as well. He went to check up on her one day when Kyoko was out for work, in which Kyo noticed that Tohru was lonely and sad. Kyo disliked this, and found himself regularly thinking about Kyoko and Tohru and wished that they could be happy forever.

Kyo’s strong feelings about the two of them one day led him to Kyoko’s house, where Kyoko had become hysterical since she had lost Tohru. Kyo promised Kyoko that he would bring Tohru back home safely. However, Kyo later got the news that Tohru already had been rescued by another boy who had a hat in his possessions. Kyo was enraged when he realized that Tohru’s rescuer was Yuki, and feeling betrayed that Kyoko had apparently sided with Yuki, ran away. In spite of Kyo’s insults towards her, Kyoko brushed this off and gleefully shouted that Kyo had to keep his promise to protect Tohru. After that, Kyo never saw or visited Kyoko again.[6]

Pre-Fruits Basket

During Kyo’s middle school years, he was described as a problem child. Since he was constantly bullied by other children for his natural orange hair color, he would beat them “half to death”.[13] This violent behavior of his was often brought to attention to the teachers. One day, Kazuma was called in due to being Kyo’s guardian. However, the fact that Kazuma was made fun of because of Kyo’s mistakes in school, similarly to how Kazuma received inappropriate comments for taking in Kyo when he was a child, made him declare that Kazuma was not his father. Even though he did wish that Kazuma was his real father, he didn’t want to burden him and kept a distance between them.[3]

During his first year in a local boys’ high school, Kyo was taking a walk where he saw Kyoko again. He wondered if he should speak to her, but he suddenly saw a car driving in Kyoko’s direction. Kyo knew that Kyoko was in danger, but he couldn’t act on his desire to help her because if he did drag her out from the way, he would “hug” her and transform. He couldn’t bear the thought of transforming into a “monster” in front of so many people. Kyoko was eventually run over by the car and laid there, dying, when she finally noticed Kyo, the boy she had met so many years ago. When he heard her mutter the words “I’ll never forgive you”, Kyo ran away as he was overcome with guilt, regret, and despair.[12]

After this incident, Kazuma, realizing how utterly broken Kyo was without knowing the exact reason, took him to the mountains to recover, though it said that they went to the mountains to “train”. During the “training”, Kyo grew majorly depressed, couldn’t continue with his day-to-day living, and had given up on his life. Right before thinking that he would be better off dead, Kyo’s thoughts once again shifted to Yuki, and he blamed his mistakes and misfortunes on Yuki.

After coming back four months later, Kazuma informed Kyo that he would be away for a sabbatical training for a while, and that when he returned, they could live together again. Right after he came back to the city, Kyo was summoned to the main house by Akito because his biological dad informed about it. He was also severely reprimanded by Akito due to being away for such a long time. However, seeing how desperate Kyo was, Akito made a bet with him: that if he could beat Yuki before graduating high school, he could become a full-fledged member of the Zodiac. If he wouldn’t be able to, he needed to spend the rest of his life in the Cat’s Room. Kyo accepted the deal, but didn’t particularly care about becoming a true member of the Zodiac. What drove Kyo was that he thought he finally could be happy, since he finally had a concrete reason for hating Yuki and making him his scapegoat, and made it his life goal to defeat him. He immediately went to Shigure’s house to beat Yuki, not knowing that he would find Tohru there.[6]

First Year Arc

Kyo’s first appearance is when he jumps through the roof and challenges Yuki to a fight. Amidst the commotion, Tohru ends up accidentally embracing Kyo, Yuki and Shigure, who turns into a cat, a rat, and a dog respectively, much to her surprise.[14] After explaining everything about the curse and settling down, Kyo was shocked to realize that the girl was actually Tohru Honda, the daughter of Kyoko. This pained him as Tohru’s presence made him unable to forget his guilt for apparently letting Kyoko die.[6]

The next couple of days, Shigure has an angry Kyo transferred to Tohru and Yuki’s school after he apparently had been training for four months in the mountains instead of attending his previous school. Despite his initial anger of having to live under the same roof as Yuki and not accepting Tohru in the household, he becomes good friends with the latter, especially after she confessed that she has always liked the Cat in the Zodiac legend the most.[15]

As time passed, Kyo reunited with Kagura Sohma who is obsessively in love with him, much to Kyo’s fear and annoyance. She almost tells Tohru about his “true form”, but Kyo shuts her mouth.[16] When Tohru briefly returns back home to her grandfather’s house, Kyo and Yuki go to her grandfather’s house due to being bothered by her department, and listen in from the outside as Tohru reveals that she wants to spend more time with the Sohmas and live with them. Kyo and Yuki eventually arrive to take Tohru back to their home, and Kyo tells Tohru that it is alright to be selfish once in a while, causing Tohru to remember her mother giving her the exact same advice when she was young. Thus, Tohru joyfully moves back in with the Sohmas.[17]

For the following months, Kyo takes a part of his school’s cultural festival,[18] and gets to know Tohru’s friends Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima.[19] During New Year’s Eve, Kyo and Yuki unhesitantly planned to spend it at the Sohmas’ family estate for the banquet as Tohru insists that they go with Shigure to celebrate while she stays in the house. However, on their way there, the Sohmas encounter Saki, where she points out that Tohru will truly feel alone as it would be the first time she will spend the New Year without her mother. This causes Kyo and Yuki to rush back home, mentioning that they “want to go home”, whereupon Tohru is tearfully happy that they’re back. Later, Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki climb up to the rooftop to watch the sunrise to start their new year together. Kyo swears that he will beat Yuki this year.[20]

The year starts with Kyo competing against Yuki during an endurance run, though they are interrupted by Hatsuharu Sohma. Haru challenges Kyo to a duel, but once Yuki starts getting sick, Kyo decides to go back to school and plays poker with Saki, Shigure, and Hiroshi and Yusuke.[21] A day before Valentine’s Day, Kyo is invited to a double date with Kagura, Tohru, and Yuki. When Kyo refuses to get along with Yuki, Shigure pushes Kyo too far when he states that, even though he hates Yuki, Kyo is afraid of getting to know him, forcing Kyo to run away. Worrying about him, Tohru catches up to Kyo, encouraging him that he does not have to get along with Yuki if he does not want to.[22]

On Valentine’s Day, Tohru and Yuki accompany Kyo and Kagura for their double date.[23] After the end-of-term tests, Kyo, Yuki, Tohru, and Momiji visit the inn and spend the night there. Momiji later reveals that he and Hatsuharu will be joining her high school as first years, which annoys Kyo.[24][25]

Second Year Arc

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Before Summer Vacation

The second school year begins with Kyo reluctantly accompanying Tohru to meeting Haru and Momiji Sohma. After a few comical incidents, Momiji reveals to Kyo, Yuki, and Haru that Akito has arrived at the school, violently upsetting Kyo. At the end of the day, Kyo is forced to play badminton with Tohru, her friends, and the other Sohmas.[26][27]

At the first anniversary of Kyoko’s death, Kyo reluctantly accompanies Tohru, Yuki, Saki and Arisa to Kyoko’s grave. Tohru is surprised to see how closed off and quiet Kyo is. Saki later talks to Kyo and he is shocked when she tells him his thoughts are filled with regret and “chaos”. As the sun sets and they return home, Kyo discovers a sleeping Tohru and quietly whispers that he is “sorry”.[28] Following this incident, Shigure brings Kyo, Yuki, Tohru and Hatori Sohma to the Sohmas’ lakeside house for a short vacation, though Kyo and Yuki remain silent due to their respective emotional and mental turmoils. Tohru is afraid it is because she is a burden, but they reassure Tohru that they were preoccupied and not at all angry at her, though when they started arguing, Tohru is happy that they are back to normal.[29][30]

During summertime, Kazuma returns back home from his business and visits Kyo at Shigure’s house. Overjoyed at his return, Kyo reminds Kazuma of his promise that he can return to the dojo. Kazuma however believes that it would be beneficial for Kyo to continue living at Shigure’s house because of Tohru’s positive influence. In the belief that Tohru will save his heart and stop Kyo from running away from his problems, Kazuma removes Kyo’s bracelet from his wrist that night and exposes his true form in front of Tohru.

Frightened of ultimately losing her, he runs away and violently pushes her away when she catches up. But Tohru, although scared and initially repulsed, stays with him because she wants to understand him better and live alongside him. Kyo, who had always wished for someone to acknowledge the real him and want to live life alongside him, hugs her and calls her by name for the first time. He vows to always treasure Tohru and be by her side from then on.[10]

Kazuma leaves the house with Tohru seeing him off the next day, but Kyo manages to catch up to the pair, and apologizes for being a burden to Kazuma. Now knowing each others’ feelings, Kyo and Kazuma firmly reconcile their relationship as Kyo vows to become stronger so he one day can call Kazuma his father.[3] Later he asks Tohru about the scars he made on her left shoulder before, and feels relieved they’re already gone and apologizes to her about it.

During Summer Vacation

After discussing the future with Tohru,[31] visiting Kazuma’s house with her,[32] and spending time at a haunted house with Tohru, Yuki, Haru and Momiji,[33] Kyo head to the Sohma beach house during the summer vacation along with Tohru and the other Sohmas. Before going to the beach, a small accident happens in Tohru’s room, causing the windows glass broken by the flying object. He looks at the hat that Tohru holds tightly, then stares at Yuki. During the vacation, Kyo shows how observant he is of Tohru; even when she tries to hide her worries behind a smile, Kyo is the only one to notice her change in behavior. He reaches out to her and urges her to speak out about what she truly wants.[34]

Akito also went to the beach, where she ordered all the Zodiacs, minus Kyo, to spend time with her, so she could isolate Tohru from everyone else. Kyo and Tohru, however, develop a deeper bond, as they spend fun time together and Kyo tells her the truth about his rosary.[35] However, seeing Kyo have fun with Tohru struck a chord within Akito and she thus ordered to have Kyo visit her.[36] On his way to Akito, Kyo bumps into Yuki and they get into an argument, but Yuki refuses to fight back because he knows about how Kyo has made him into his scapegoat and how he can’t defeat him because of their predestined fates.

When Kyo arrives at Akito’s place, she confronts him about the bet they made months ago and how Kyo is already failing. She proceeds to torment him by blaming him for his mother’s death and convincing him that he would be better off dead. Akito soon after shifts the conversation about Tohru; she accuses Tohru of being a “monster” just like Kyo because she accepted his true form. Kyo is angered by Akito’s words since Tohru acknowledging being scared yet still choosing to stay by his side meant so much for him, and he didn’t want her to get insulted because of him. Kyo thinks back on everything Tohru has done for him, and soon realizes, in tears and anguish, that he has fallen so deeply in love with her.[37]

However, Akito tells him that he is not qualified to love someone since he wouldn’t be forgiven for all his mistakes. This struck a chord in Kyo; he thinks back to Kyoko saying the exact same thing to him and blames himself for apparently troubling Tohru. Akito is content by this resignation and makes her decision to lock up Kyo in the Cat’s room once he graduates definite. After the confrontation, Kyo acknowledges that he is completely in love with Tohru, but because of his guilt regarding Kyoko and because of his eventual confinement, he has no wish to make Tohru his. He only vows to spend as much of his time “outside” as he can with her.[1]

After Summer Vacation

After the second term starts, Kyo tells Kagura that he has something important to tell her, and she insists that she will only listen if he goes on a date with her.[38] During their “date”, Kagura realizes how much more level-headed, calm, and gentle Kyo has become. Kagura takes Kyo to the place where she first discovered and ran away from his true form, and ends up she admitting that she had pitied him and used him to feel better about herself, and that the reason she had been so adamant on him returning her feelings is because wanted to ease her own guilt for being repulsed by Kyo’s true form. Kyo tells her that he doesn’t particularly care since the fact that she used to play with him made him very happy. At the same time, he makes it perfectly clear that he will never fall in love with her. Kagura breaks down in tears while repeatedly telling Kyo that she loves him; realizing that somewhere along the line, she had genuinely fallen in love with him. Kyo pulls Kagura into a hug to console her, and thanks her for everything.[4]

Since then, Kyo only focuses on his feelings towards Tohru, helping Tohru as much as he can, and creating memories with Tohru before the graduation. He even doesn’t say anything at the parent-teacher conference about his future as he only thinks of Tohru in his remaining time. At the rooftop, hearing Tohru say it’s only natural to be with someone you love hurts him but he tells her that he’ll have his support when she finds that person. Tohru unconsciously cries and that confuses him, but he comforts her while wiping out her tears by using his long sleeves. During school trip in Kyoto, he gets the love confession from a girl from other class but he rejects her. He doesn’t want Tohru to get the wrong idea so he says it has nothing to do with her, but somehow it hurts her when he says that. Later Kyo is separated from the others to avoid the crowds, Tohru finds him and they decide to hang out together looking for the food stalls. He’s flustered when finding out that Tohru made a cat figurine to complete her zodiac collection in her room. After Isuzu is taken back to the hospital, Kyo asks Tohru if she visits Isuzu because she made a lot of fruit jellies, and Tohru comments of how he is able to guess things about her lately.

When he gets casted as a prince on Cinderella-ish for the school festival, he initially refuses to do rehearsal with the others and doesn’t want Kazuma to watch the play because it’s embarrassing, which Tohru ignores because she will contact him. Yuki, who at that time already makes it clear about his true feelings towards Tohru, tells Kyo that his hat is in Tohru’s hand now, which irritates Kyo. The next day Yuki finds him outside the exit door in the yard because he skips the rehearsal again and says it makes Tohru worry. However, Kyo shouts at him saying to not involve her, and how much he loathes Yuki for being special, until Yuki gives him his sad expression and suddenly Kyo thinks of the lines Kyoko said in the past, that he wanted Yuki to be a ‘bad guy’, otherwise he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. Frustrated with that, he breaks the school window glass with his right hand in the hallway and walks away. Then he finds that Tohru are still waiting for him in the classroom to tell him the script was rewritten to match the casts’ personality. He wonders what she had been thinking when waiting for him, and remembers what Yuki said that it makes Tohru worry about him skipping the rehearsal. Then he closes his body to her and puts his head on her shoulder, while saying he gives up and will do the rehearsal next time. When the day of cultural festival comes, he plays as the prince just like his personality. Everything goes smoothly until Hanajima as Cinderella asks him if he wants to spend his entire life at his castle after he refuses to accept Tohru as evil stepsister to be with him, which Kyo replies coldly so what if it’s true, it won’t bother anyone anyway. Tohru breaks her role by saying that it would make her very sad, but she can’t finish her line and quickly tells everyone to continue with the story. Hearing that line makes Kyo finally aware with the implication. After the play, he finds Kazuma talking with Hanajima which scares him to death. Kazuma says he wasn’t able to watch the play but still comes to school. He asks Kyo about Tohru, which makes him remember about her line again on the play. Later he has awkward conversations with Tohru about the festival stuff, while thinking that it’s unforgivable if he thinks Tohru loves him.

After the cultural festival ends, Kyo does the usual morning routine while thinking about Tohru, and he finds Tohru, Momiji, and Shigure watching the play on DVD. He doesn’t want to watch it so he goes upstairs to take a nap, but smiles at Tohru when saying he should change the clothes before catching a cold. He has a inner conflict of what Tohru would do if he told her he knew about Kyoko, and how his lid has been opened since the play. He pretended that he forgot everything all this time and wonders if it’s a payback for that, wishing that Kyoko blamed on him. Then he remembers when Kyoko said the same thing that she wished for the world to blame on her back then, as well as her dark past as a delinquent, blaming everyone around her including her parents, until she met Katsuya Honda, who told her if she did all of this because she felt lonely. Since they met with each other, Kyoko wanted to change for the better even wanting to quit from the yankee gang, but due to unexpected circumstances she was exiled from her family and began to live together with Katsuya as husband and wife. All the things happened to her family until she found the purpose to live again because of Tohru, she told everything to Kyo when he was little. Kyo thinks if Kyoko was being nice to him why she turned to hate him, then suddenly the image of Kyoko’s body at the accident appears, as well as the image of his mother to tell him to go inside the house, Kyoko saying she’ll never forgive him, and he looks at the image of Tohru covered in blood in front of him. He wakes up from the nightmare, then quickly searches for Tohru in the kitchen and feels glad she’s okay. He’s reminded of Tohru’s line again from the play and thinks that it’s impossible for Tohru to love him because of what he did to his mother and Kyoko, so he wants to bury those stupid thoughts.

Kyo accompanies Tohru again to go to Kazuma’s house to stay during New Years event. Isuzu is also there in the house, and Kazuma tells Tohru that Kyo and Isuzu used to do the hate stare with each other, which later Kyo confirms to her because he didn’t want Isuzu to take Kazuma away from him. Unbeknownst to him, Tohru secretly wants everyone to be free from the curse, and her eyes only focus on him.

On the day when Tohru meets Kureno, Kyo is on his way back home from dojo when he finds Tohru’s white pom-pom scarf laying on the street, as he remembers when Tohru showed him the scarf. He picks it up and washes at home, then tells Tohru the next morning about it. As the graduation for the seniors will be coming soon, everyone in Tohru’s class gets the tasks to make the flower papers as decorations. Kyo reluctantly makes his own portions, but get stolen by his fans along with Yuki’s, and while everyone wants to catch the culprits they want Tohru to stay with Kyo to guard the class. Having told by Kureno about his broken curse before, Tohru asks Kyo what he would think if one of the zodiac members was free from the curse, but he coldly refuses such question like that, which makes Tohru feel sad. Kyo feels guilty not knowing what to do so he makes one flower paper to her, and she keeps it on her shelf until the end.

Third Year Arc

After the incident happened to Isuzu, Haru reluctantly tells Kazuma that she was locked up in the Cat’s room, the glimpse of crying Kyo at middle school that he knew his role makes Kazuma blatantly say it’s the place where Kyo is going to. At night, Kyo unconsciously tells Tohru that Isuzu being stayed at Kazuma’s house won’t make Kazuma feel lonely in the future, which terrifies her. The next day he sees Tohru coming to the dojo after visiting Rin, but she goes away again, and that concerns him. So he goes after her and finds her crying with Shigure on the road, as Shigure tells him it’s because of her fight with Isuzu. He smiles and comforts her by saying it’s okay to cry as much as she wants.

Before the 2nd anniversary of Kyoko’s death, Kyo tells Tohru he can’t go to the cemetery together, but he comes alone later on that day. Struggling with the guilt he has for Kyoko, he remembers that it’s been a long time since he went to the his mother’s grave, and the cruel things his father said during the funeral. He meets Tohru’s grandfather alone and he knows Kyo because his orange hair color made quite an impact for him. The grandfather then says the reason of why he calls Tohru as ‘Kyoko-san’ and why Tohru speaks politely to Kyo, and how Katsuya’s death really impacted both Kyoko and Tohru. Kyo wonders why he told him about Honda’s family personal stuff, to which the grandfather says it’s because Tohru is important to Kyo, and he wants him to treasure her smile. After going back home, Kyo finds Tohru at the rooftop doing the laundry and surprises Tohru. He asks about what Tohru’s father was like, which Tohru replies that the way she speaks is similar to her father’s. But she confesses that she was nothing like him, and makes him as a ‘bad guy’ despite him being kind to her. It’s just to make Kyoko pay attention to her only. He’s reminded that Kyoko knew Tohru did this for her sake. He pulls her closer to him with white sheets separating them, and tells her Kyoko understood about this. Tohru says sorry for expressing her feelings, but Kyo reassures her it’s fine to tell as much as she wants as it won’t disillusion him, and they hug tightly. Tohru finally shows him Katsuya’s photo which reminds him of the sly look the grandfather gave to him before.

Things has become awkward between them since then, especially when Tohru accidentally touches Kyo’s hand and both are flustered, making Yuki quickly go out from the house because he can’t handle the tension. Kyo then asks Tohru if she wants to go out together, which turns out to be a grocery shopping. Seeing that Tohru blushes happily knowing that she’ll go with Kyo makes him slam his head on the wall, thinking that she’s so cute for saying that and making him feel like a perverted old man. Later when the zodiac members plan to have a curry party at Shigure’s house, Kyo sees Kisa and Hiro already there and has a brief greeting with Kisa then goes up to his room. Kisa happily tells Hiro that Kyo is a nice guy after all especially when he’s with Tohru, leaving Hiro to have conflicted thoughts about Kyo. Momiji shows up to him as a grown up boy, he wonders if his new look would make Tohru to accept his proposal, and encourages Kyo to not give up and he will stop thinking about Kyo as the cat. The image of his mother suddenly appears in his mind as he says if it’s this late in the game to Momiji, to which he replies yes but asks him back if he’s okay if other guys will take Tohru from him. Kyo is finally aware that his feelings towards Tohru are so obvious to everyone and becomes panicked.

Tohru visits Rin again but ends up unconscious after her fight with Kagura, so Kazuma calls Kyo to go to his house to pick her up. He’s surprised at first that Tohru had a fight with Kagura, but he doesn’t want to interfere their problems because Kazuma taught him so. He says it’s fine to accompany her to go back home as Tohru at that time already makes up her mind that her feelings towards Kyo cannot be stopped anymore. Then the sudden event happening to Momiji as his curse is broken without warning. Haru, and particularly Kyo, feel like something’s off with him, which Momiji jokingly tells Kyo that his curse is broken. He also adds that Tohru would be happier if it’s Kyo, which frustrates him. Kyo doesn’t want to remember the signs that Tohru loves him, then the image of Kyoko’s body at the accident appears on his mind.

When the school’s off for one day, it’s been raining since morning and Kyo is only silent, watching the sky from his room. After having breakfast he decides to go out but Tohru stops him that she wants to tell him something. However, Kyo asks her first if she’s in love with him, and after seeing Tohru’s expression he can’t handle this anymore while going out from the house. Not being able to hold back his guilty feelings, he’s crying and tells the truth about how he knew Kyoko since he was little, the story behind the hat, and the accident happened to Kyoko. He never thought that he remembered again about Kyoko when Tohru was first introduced at the Shigure’s house after spending his time in the mountains for four months. He also never thought to get closer to Tohru and eventually fall in love with her, and he doesn’t hope for Tohru to forgive him after what he’s done. It shocks him when Tohru says that she still loves him despite the revelation about Kyoko, he doesn’t know how to respond so he only says that makes him feel disillusioned. Suddenly he runs away down to the road near the house, but later hears someone’s screaming from above. He decides to go back to the house and eavesdrops Shigure on a phone call with Hatori, informing that Tohru falls off the cliff. He quickly goes to where Tohru falls off, and sees her lying on the ground. He screams that’s not what he wanted and remembers the nightmare he had before, then Tohru regains her consciousness and tells Kyo who’s crying that it’s going to be okay and caresses his cheek. He holds her hand, reassuring he understands that her feelings reach him and kisses her.

Eventually he doesn’t go to the hospital where Tohru is brought up to, which frustrates Yuki, and the grandfather gives Yuki his blessings to knock some sense into Kyo. Yuki finds Kyo mourning in his room, saying he’d hurt her if he was there, that he can’t protect her. Yuki throws a punch at him that he’s just a stupid cat not a superhero. Kyo yells at him that he wanted to be like Yuki if possible. That makes Yuki double frustrated after Kyo said that and punches him repeatedly that all this time he wanted to be like him too. Kyo is stunned with what Yuki said to him, that Yuki yells at him there are things that he only can do and get his act together. Kyo doesn’t say anything but he goes to the hospital with regretful looks, forgetting that visiting hours are already over.

The next day Kyo’s stopped by Uotani and Hanajima after school as they are mad at him and forbid him to visit Tohru at the hospital. Hanajima tells him that if there’s something he should be doing rather than just wanting an apology from Tohru. He agrees with her that he wants to do something first, which is confronting his father at his house on the next day. His father doesn’t accept Kyo at home and yells at him that it’s all his faults for everything. Kyo accepts that it’s all his fault but says that he doesn’t want to go to the Cat’s house because he wants to spend time with someone for the rest of his life. He says this while his body is trembling, but he’s encouraged by Tohru’s line that it’s going to be okay. His father gets angry and throws an ashtray close to him, then grabs his clothes that he never forgives him for existing. His screaming makes Kyo remember the night before his mother died, that him yelling at both Kyo and his mother they should disappear was what drove his mother to commit suicide. Feeling regretful, Kyo wonders if his mom felt lonely to bear all the pains on her own and he actually wanted her to live but it’s too late. He pulls the father out that he decides to not give up and live his life despite the mistakes he did in the past. After he goes out from the house, he pukes somewhere on the side of the street to make him feel better but Hiro and Kisa notice him. Kisa offers him her handkerchief, Kyo sees Tohru’s image behind Kisa while saying thanks, thinking that he must be sick if he sees a hallucination like that, which makes him want to see Tohru. The maid tells Akito that Kyo’s father calls her to get Kyo into the Cat’s house, but Akito says she wants to tell him that Kyo is now free and the house is going to be destroyed.

Kyo is still forbidden to visit Tohru at the hospital by Uotani and Hanajima, but he wants to clear the misunderstanding that the words he said to Tohru made her think that she’s dumped by him. Yuki suggests him to wait until Tohru is released from the hospital. He is left frustrated that he didn’t think it would cause a misunderstanding between him and Tohru. On the way to Kazuma’s house, Akito just goes out from there and tells him that now he can do whatever he wants, only to get interrupted by Hanajima appearing from Kazuma’s house. Kazuma tells Kyo that Akito spoke to him to destroy that cat’s house, giving Kyo a freedom. He feels perplexed and stunned.

Days later, Haru tells Yuki and Kyo to gather at the main house next week ordered by Akito. They’re confused but glad that Akito has changed drastically, but suddenly Yuki remembers and teases Kyo while saying that Tohru will be released from the hospital on the next day. He runs straight to the classroom to ask Uotani and Hanajima if he can go see her. They finally allow him to pick her up but tease him it won’t be their fault if Tohru runs away from him. The next day he feels nervous since morning until he arrives at the hospital. When he sees her coming out from the main entrance, it clears all doubts about him loving Tohru, that he really loves her so much he could die. But Tohru cries and runs off. Kyo chases after her and apologizes for what he had done to her all this time. He wants to spend his entire life with her because he loves her. Tohru says if it’s okay for her to be beside him and hold his hand, Kyo answers that they’re already holding hands. It makes Tohru cry and he comforts and kisses her, saying that it’s their second kiss.

He then asks if he can hug her eventhough he will transform into a cat. Tohru only says that she loves him so much and that love is invincible, which makes Kyo blushes and smiles happily that there’s nothing to fear as long as he has her. They finally hug each other and prepare for the transformation. However, that doesn’t happen as at that moment, he senses that his curse is broken, and Akito can also feel it from the main house.

Unable to believe it, Kyo rips off his Juzu beads and doesn’t change, confirming that the curse is indeed broken. It makes him and Tohru cry so hard and they hug tightly for quite some time.

Later he confirms about it to Kazuma and he hugs him dearly. Tohru wants to go to the main house to meet Akito with Kyo and Kazuma knowing the fact that the remaining zodiac members are also free from the curse.

The day when the last banquet is held in the Sohma’s main house, Kyo meets Kagura and Momiji in the hallway to tease him, and arrives in the main hall just on time before Akito shows up. He, like everyone else except Ayame and Hatori, is surprised knowing the fact that Akito is a woman all this time. After going home and having a small talk with Tohru and Yuki in the living room, he smiles while saying he’s more shocked that Tohru already knew about Akito’s secret. He feels guilty for doing bad things to Akito before, but at the same time relieved that no more guys to be interested in Tohru. Yuki just laughs spontaneously as he’s leaving the room, and Kyo is just pouting hearing his laughs. Tohru notices that the atmosphere between them has become gentler than before and asks him why, which he teases her that Yuki hit him so hard the screw on his head went flying. He just smiles happily seeing Tohru’s reaction as he caresses her cheek. Tohru thinks that Kyo smiles more often lately and that is his true self all along.

Since Kyo and Tohru start dating and become more clingy than ever, they are teased by their classmates if they’re already going out, which Kyo confirms with a straightforward look on his face. The classmates feel proud he’s changed so much that they want to celebrate it. He spends his time with his classmates playing basketball while waiting for Tohru to finish her final exams she missed when she’s hospitalized. Tohru feels happy when seeing him sitting near the main entrance to wait for her, and Kyo wants to ask something but he’ll save it for later, as he wants to spend their time just the two of them on the summer vacation. They go to the Kazuma’s house and have fun conversations, suddenly Isuzu shows up briefly with bitter look, and Tohru goes after her. Kazuma tells Kyo that not anyone will react the same way regarding Akito because she’s been through a lot. Seeing the heartful moment between Tohru and Isuzu, Kyo feels conflicted with more girls liking Tohru, but he just smiles at her as she also smiles at him.

Kyo feels stressful when Uotani and Hanajima want to go their first date together at the zoo, and they keep teasing him during the date. When they’re at the cat’s place, Kyo sees one cat looking at him and goes away from him, it makes him feel complicated, then Tohru sits beside him while holding one tiny cat, makes Kyo reminisce the day his beads scattered over. He’s unable to move but Tohru collected them because she wanted to protect Kyo of the past, the present, and the future, as well as honor every single one who had to wear the Juzu beads. Before going home and Tohru goes to the restroom alone, Uotani and Hanajima tells Kyo that despite him being dumb, they like him and want him to seriously take care of Tohru even they’re in a far away place. Then they leave him and Tohru alone and Kyo asks her to visit Kyoko’s grave.

Once they arrive, he tells Tohru that he wants to go somewhere far away after the graduation now that he becomes a normal human being, and how he wants to be a part of the world. Then he asks her if it’s possible for her to be with him. Seeing that Kyo talks about his future so happily makes Tohru happy too, so she decides on her own will that she wants to go with him. Kyo is shocked at first because she quickly makes the decision, but she’s already determined and then tells him that Kyoko didn’t hold the grudge against him, and she said that her never forgiving him wasn’t out of hatred. Feeling touched by her determination, Kyo says thank you to Tohru and tells Kyoko that he promises to take care of her for the rest of his life.

Epilogue

As Kyo and Tohru among others have graduated, the couple is moving out of Shigure’s house to prepare to go to another city, where Kyo will study at another dojo in preparation for inheriting Kazuma’s, with Tohru’s full support and the notion of following him wherever he goes. While Kyo and Tohru clean their rooms, they talk about their future together; but they also reminisce about the past and the memories they have created in Shigure’s house over the past three years. Tohru is overwhelmed by emotions and begins crying, and Kyo comforts her and tells her with endings, come beginnings, too.

At the end of the day, Kyo casually greets Yuki and tells him that they’ve put aside food for him when he had decided to visit Shigure’s house for the last time. Yuki asks him if he could speak to Tohru in private, and Kyo tells him that Tohru is in the living room. Before Yuki made his way there, he tells Kyo to stay level-headed and calls him a “stupid cat”. This puts a smile on Kyo’s face, and he, in turn, explains that he needs no looking after and calls Yuki “stupid rat”. This makes Yuki smile as well.

Kyo and Tohru enter a committed relationship with one another, and Kyo is last seen walking hand in hand with Tohru in their old age, as their children and grandchildren talk about their love fondly. It is also shown that Tohru keeps the beads in their home even many years later, to serve as a reminder of his past, and Kyoko narrates to keep walk together hand in hand through happy and sad times as the two grow old together.[39]

Kyo and Tohru have just begun dating and are getting ready to graduate high school. Shigure asks her if she’s happy to spend every second with the man she loves, and she timidly but happily responds that she does. Kyo later separates them and tells Tohru that she can sue Shigure if he ever crosses the line. Shigure later gets Kyo to admit that he doesn’t like others seeing Tohru’s embarrassed and flustered face. Kyo comments “Huh, what if I don’t? Don’t look at her!”, much to Shigure’s amusement. He is later seen on a date with Tohru as her best friend Saki Hanajima and Arisa Uotani accompanies them.[40]

At some point, Kyo married Tohru, having three children between them. Since Kyo is training to take over Kazuma’s dojo, the family settled down in the countryside for the time being. However, it is mentioned that they will eventually return to the city one day.[41]

During the times he worked as a martial arts teacher in the dojo in the countryside, the people visiting would occasionally remark that his oldest son, Hajime Sohma, had begun to look more and more like him as each day passed. Every time someone remarked about this, Hajime noticed that Kyo would have a nervous smile, presumably because of his past as the Cat.[42]

Kyo is also seen in a memory flashback as silhouettes with Tohru, his youngest son, Yuki and Machi, while Hajime played with Yuki and Machi’s son, Mutsuki Sohma, when they were children. When Hajime graduated from middle school, Kyo and Tohru made the decision to tell Hajime about the Zodiacs Curse and Kyo’s past with the Cat’s spirit. After hearing about his parent’s past, Hajime decided to enroll at the same high school they attended, because he wanted to understand which environment they spent their time in to come where they are now.[43] At an unspecified point, Hajime began wearing his father’s Juzu bead bracelet. Since the curse is broken and since he isn’t obligated to wear it, it is heavily implied that Hajime does this to show his respect to both his father and his past struggles as being the Cat.

Although Kyo does not appear in the sequel, he is mentioned by several people; Mutsuki mentions that he regularly sends embarrassing videos of Hajime to Kyo and Tohru. Hajime also mentions that Kyo is still being teased for believing that “Jason” was a bear living by the Sohma Cottage.[44] It is implied that their household is quite hectic, as Hajime says that he never gets a chance to study when he returns home during breaks, and that his parents are quite nosy and make a big deal out of every little thing.[41] It is perhaps for this reason that Hajime has never invited his parents to any school festival.[45]

Appellation

Differences from the source material

• Kyo’s appearance differs between the manga and the anime adaptions:
  • The 2001 anime depicts him with sienna eyes.
  • In the 2001 anime, his school uniform is black instead of dark blue like in the manga and 2019 anime.
  • His Zodiac form had purple eyes instead of orange.
• The 2001 anime didn’t show Kyo apologizing to sleeping Tohru after visiting Kyoko’s grave.
  • This is actually a huge foreshadowing regarding how Kyo actually knew Kyoko and how he feels guilty for apparently letting her die.
• Kyo’s role in the true form arc in the 2001 anime differs slightly from the manga and the 2019 anime:
  • In the 2001 anime, Tohru needs convincing from her friends to chase after Kyo. In the original source, she does so unhesitantly despite her fears.
  • In the 2001 anime, Yuki chases after Kyo as well and restrains him down, showing that Yuki had begun to care for him. This is absent during the original source, as Kyo and Yuki do not develop a budding friendship until the end of the series.
  • In the 2001 anime, Kyo tells Tohru that she didn’t have to love everything about himself (his true form), but in the original source material, Kyo tells Tohru that it would be fine if his mother didn’t love all of him and was afraid of his true form.
• Since the 2001 anime didn’t cover the entire manga and since the manga was still ongoing while it still aired, there are notable differences in the ending:
  • Tohru is accepted by Akito and the 2001 series ends on a bright future day with Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo back at the residence where they live.

The Cat of the Zodiac

The Cat is not an animal included in the Chinese Zodiac, but legend has it that the Cat may have been included had the Rat not tricked it. As a result, he and Yuki (the current Rat) do not get along well, since Kyo blames Yuki for all his misfortune and mistreatment, and drove him to make a deal with Akito Sohma: that if he defeats Yuki in a fight before graduating high school, he would officially be accepted as part of the Zodiac; however, if he does not, Kyo would be confined inside the Cat’s Room for the rest of his life.[6]

Kyo shares some traits which mirror the Cat’s traditional personality characteristics in the Zodiac Legend. He is often seen sitting on a roof because like a cat, he is drawn to high places. In connection to this, he can smoothly land on his feet, even from high places. This is seen when he jumped out of his school window from the second floor without any injuries. As Kazuma mentioned, Kyo likes to hide behind walls when he wishes to talk to someone urgently, and he seems to get frightened by loud noises too, becoming startled like a cat.

Kyo dislikes water, hence hating to swim or go to a beach (shown when the Sohmas went for their summer vacation). Due to this, his mood changes drastically during rain, becoming restless, tired, moody, and more than easily agitated but at the same time no mood to argue or fight. He prefers to wear a loose-fitting t-shirt or jacket because he doesn’t like tight clothing (especially around the neck, since cats hate collars). He has been shown drinking milk quite often as well.

Being cursed by the spirit of the cat, Kyo has orange hair and eyes. This trait of his is genetic, and can be passed down to his children. His eyes become silt-like when his cat spirit stirs in him, for example when he gets angry at Yuki, the Rat (or his ‘natural’ enemy).

While the Sohmas think Kyo’s other form represents the Cat’s anger, in truth the Cat was never resentful. When the “God” cast the curse to reincarnate all 13 of the Zodiac members, the Cat did not want to be re-born again, as it had a good life. Thus the other thirteen shunned him; their scorn is what created the ugly of the Cat.[46] This is why Kyo is the only of the Cursed Sohmas to have a “true form”, and has to wear his Juzu bead bracelet at all times, which was made from human blood and bones, in order to not transform into his so-called “true form”. His true form is a grotesque, foul-smelling, orange-colored monster (dark green in 2001 anime with purple eyes) with orange eyes, and sharp claws and teeth. In this form, he gains superhuman agility, speed, and strength, enough to cause a stone cliff to collapse from a single punch. Because of being the most cursed, it is mentioned that the Cat is a scapegoat and its only purpose was to make the other Zodiac members feel better, since none of the cursed zodiacs would have to suffer as much as the Cat would.

Kyo in his cat form in the 2001 version.

Kyo’s true form in the 2001 version.

Kyo in his cat form in the 2019 version.

Kyo’s true form in the 2019 version.

When Kyo’s curse breaks, he is subconsciously aware of it and rips his Juzu Beads off to confirm it. He also hugs Tohru, and when he does not transform into his true form or regular cat form, he confirms that his curse is indeed broken. Kyo’s curse was the overall fourth to break.[47]

Creation and conception

According to Natsuki Takaya, when she was developing the series, Kyo was one of the first three characters she developed and was “based on a real person who really transformed into a cat and had to wear a bracelet or would turn into a monster…without any hesitation.” She has also stated she deliberately gave Yuki and Kyo different tastes in clothing to distinguish them. Kyo was made as a person with anger issues to give the story a little comedy. Takaya also described the character of Kyo as a powerful force that pulled the story of Fruits Basket along.[48]

Trivia

• According to the Fruits Basket Character Book:
  • Kyo and Yuki are the only cursed Sohmas whose names aren’t part of the poetic names for the months of the year.
    • Instead, the kanji used for Kyo’s name (夾) means “to squeeze/wedge in between,” representing his wish to find a place inside the Zodiac circle.
  • Kyo looks the best in V-neck shirts.
  • He likes rough clothes that are easy to move around in and don’t need looking after.
  • He absolutely hates clothes that are tight around the neck.
  • He never wears any accessories except for his beads, which he only wears because he is required to.
  • He dislikes wearing things that feel oppressive; he even hates wearing socks or shoes.
  • He really liked the pants he was wearing when he first appeared, but since they are all torn up now, he can’t wear them anymore.
  • Kyo is not very picky about food, but he absolutely hates leeks, green onions, and miso. He hates the smell of leeks and the taste of onions, and while he can tolerate miso soup, he can’t stand miso dengaku.
  • Because Kazuma is so appallingly bad at cooking, Kyo became good at it to survive. He also has a knack for forming onigiri.
• According to Natsuki Takaya’s Twitter:
  • Kyo dislikes Chinese Chive.[49]
  • Had Kazuma not picked Kyo up on that day when other Sohmas were berating Kazuma for taking in the Cat, Kyo’s life would already “have met a bad end before he even met Tohru”. That is why Kazuma is a destined person for Kyo.
  • Kyo is naturally good at cooking.
  • Within the Fruits Basket timeline Kyo stills calls Kazuma “Shishou” (Master), but a while after the main series’ event, Kyo has begun calling Kazuma “father”.
    • Takaya also says that Kyo calling Kazuma “father” for the first time would make Kazuma say “What an honor…”, and “fall over at a 90 degree angle. Backwards.”
  • In Chapter 62 (Season 2, Episode 9 in the anime), there was a scene showing Kyo recalling his various memories of Tohru. According to Takaya, it just goes to show that all along he has been unconsciously thinking “I love her”, each time he looked at her.
  • Kyo’s alcohol tolerance is pretty weak.
  • Takaya says that Kagura and Kyo aren’t given many chances to communicate within the Fruits Basket manga, but the two of them convey a very particular feeling within the story that is limited to the two of them alone.
  • Even after the curse broke, Kyo still feels a bit down on rainy days, and thus seeks comfort in Tohru via hugs.
  • The things Kyo says to Tohru in front of her parents’ grave on chapter 134 are essentially a marriage proposal. It’s already stated before on the official fanbook ‘Banquet’.
• Kyo is actually quite air-headed. When he was complaining about having to transfer to the same school as Yuki at the beginning of the series, and Yuki told him he could have just failed his tests on purpose, Kyo was left dumbfounded.[5]
• Because he was isolated when he was young, he is very ignorant about the world. He had never heard about Jason (which he stills get teased about by his children’s friends), and didn’t know what DVDs were.
• In the anime, Kyo is occasionally seen with a fang sticking out from his mouth (a popular trope in anime for “tsundere” characters). Additionally, cat ears sometimes sprout out from his hair.
• Kyo develops a habit of lightly tapping Tohru’s head with his fist, showing that he cares about her in his own way.
• The only known characters that know about his true form are his mother, Kagura, Akito, Shigure, Kazuma, Tohru, and Yuki.
• In the official character popularity polls held by Hana to Yume magazine in Japan, Kyo won the 1st place by a landslide three times in a row.

References

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