Tohru Honda

Tohru Honda
Fruits Basket character
Tohru Honda holding Kyo Sohma in cat form
Created by	Natsuki Takaya
Voiced by	Yui Horie (Japanese) Laura Bailey (English)
Profile
Relatives	Kyoko Honda (mother, deceased) Katsuya Honda (father, deceased) Unnamed grandfather Kyo Sohma (husband/boyfriend) Kazuma Sohma (adoptive father in law) Saki Hanajima (best friend/adoptive mother in law) Hajime Sohma (son)

Tohru Honda (本田 透, Honda Tōru^?) is a fictional character in the manga and anime series Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya. She is the main protagonist, noted for her cheerful optimism, altruistic nature, and great sympathy for others. Takaya created her with an unusual perspective on the world, to balance her empathy.

Tohru is an orphaned high school student who, after meeting Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure Sohma, learns that thirteen members of the Sohma family are possessed by the animals of the Chinese zodiac and turn into their animal forms if they are embraced by anyone of the opposite sex or when their bodies come under a great deal of stress. As the series progresses, Tohru meets the rest of the zodiac and the family's mysterious head, Akito Sohma, and resolves to break the curse that burdens them.

According to Natsuki Takaya in interviews, Tohru Honda was the first character she created for the series, with Yuki and Kyo Sohma soon after. When asked how she came up with Tohru's personality and background, she said:

I thought that for a girl to accept other people's feelings so wholeheartedly, she'd have to have a slightly unusual way of looking at things so that she wouldn't be crushed by having so much empathy. But I still worried that I needed something else to flesh her out. And then the thought, "Oh, yeah--I'll make her use super-polite language, and use it incorrectly!" came to me all at once. After that, her character was completed in no time.