Imagine being this vile that you would try to murder your own grandson. All because of a toxic hatred.
| “ | 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. The "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. | „ |
| ~ This woman talking about bonds and love like she somehow knows much about it. When she's obviously so delousinal. |
"Ah, Thanksgiving. A lovely moment where you spend time with family and friends. Where you eat delicious food, hang out with your loved ones, all that usual family stuff. So for this special day, I'm going to ruin that family mood by proposing a "mother" who doesn't deserve that title to be Pure Evil. Why? Because why not, lol?:)"
Hello everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving! Welcome to one of my most highly anticipated but controversial proposals I have ever made yet. But let's be real, you all should've seen this coming. Because dear God, after all the vile atrocities she committed, she definitely earns her proposal. Because believe me when I say this, she is the worst in this entire series (well, besides a few other characters).
And with that said, let's introduce one of manga/anime's worst parents in history, next to the likes of "parents" like Shou Tucker and Ragyō Kiryūin: Ren Sohma.
What's the work?[]
Fruits Basket is one of the most iconic and well-known shoujo manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya, which would lead to two anime adaptations, with the 2002 adaptation doing a bit of different take on the story, while the 2019 remake follows the same storyline as the manga. At first, your typical comedy series with light-hearted moments, it turned into a serious drama series involving serious topics, such as family drama and abuse. Due to its popuraity, it eventually recieved a sequel series known as Fruits Basket Another.
It follows the story of Tohru Honda, a kind-hearted and sweet young girl who lives in a tent following the death of her mother. She later stumbles upon a estate owned by the Sohma Clan, a clan that is afflicted by a curse known as the "Zodiac Curse", which turns thirteen members of the curse into Eastern Zodiac animals if hugged by the opposite sex that is not a Zodiac member. She was discovered and taken in by the family upon the request of Shigure Sohma, the Dog and owner of the estate, who also lives with two others: Kyo the Cat and Yuki the Cat. The clan are shown to be under an abusive drama life, mainly thanks to the head of the clan, Akito Sohma, the Zodiac God, who wants to ensure that the curse remains so the Zodiac members will belong to her forever. However, her plans get interfere by Tohru, who wishes to help the cursed members so they can be finally free. However, despite Akito's horrific actions, there is one family member who proves herself to be more vile than her: That one being her abusive mother, Ren Sohma.
Who is Ren Sohma? What has she done?[]
Ren Sohma is the overarching antagonist of the entire series. She is the abusive mother of Akito Sohma, the Zodiac God and by far, one of the most horrible parents to have ever existed.
Backstory[]
From what we know about this one, Ren was originally a maid working in the Sohma Estate. At the point when she and Akira have met face to face, and that Ren claims to "comprehending" his feelings of loneliness, to the point of shedding tears before him, that's when the latter had come to the conclusion that she was "different" from all the other maids. (Though, in the reality of it all, Ren had purposely tried to get his attention right from the start). Due to the nature of Ren "understanding" the Sohma Head's apparent loneliness (as mentioned above), knowing that he doesn't have much time to live, it's become apparent that she was chosen to be specifically tasked with having to take care of the sickly and isolated Akira Sohma for his daily needs, including with helping him getting dressed at some point.
Over the course of Akira and Ren continuing to spend time with each other, enough to where they eventually began a special relationship. Their relationship gradually blooms into genuine love. When the oldest maid hears about this, and that she warns Akira to stay away from Ren, who was nothing more than a maid of the household, Akira replied that Ren was the only person who had recognized his suffering. Despite the oldest Sohma maid's warning, ideally after a year or so, they got married. Soon after being married, Ren was heard to be pregnant with Akito, who will hold the title of "God" for the Chinese Zodiac, upon being born into the world, which was more clearer when it managed to attract Shigure, Hattori, Ayame, and Kureno (all four of whom were young children), who had tears in their eyes as they ran up to Ren, who was replused by this sight. She was more replused when she found out that her child will be born as a female, and due to her irrational paranoia that Akira will show more love to their daughter than her, she demanded that they raise Akito as a male, or else she will terminate the pregnancy. With no other choice, shortly after Akito's birth, she was raised as a male.
Throughout her entire life, Ren hated Akito simply because she was the "God" of the Zodiacs, which meant she would be treat lavishly. Eventually, following Akira's death, Ren became more mentally and emotinally abusive towards Akito, insulting her and even stated she would never be loved, which led to Akito becoming self-controlling and abusive towards the Zodiacs. Eventually, the two would make a bet to see who would remain by Akito's side, and whoever loses will leave the Sohma estate.
Meanwhile, she goes around to make people's lives miserable. Case in point, Ren decides to talk with Isuzu "Rin" Sohma about how she have a "happy home". Despite being gravely aware that Rin's parents are miserable and hates her so much. So she pretty much caused Rin's emotional trauma issues. Oh, and she also began seducing Shigure into a sexual relationship, simply to torment Akito (And in Shigure's case, wanted revenge towards Akito for her relationship with Kureno, but that was after he learned this from Ren herself).
Fruits Basket[]
While she doesn't appear much in the series, she does make a short appearance when Tohru was sneaking around the estate investigating about the Zodiac curse. Before Ren could find out who it was, Kureno came in and took Tohru away, ensuring that Ren didn't spot her, while having a short civil conversation with Ren. Of course, Ren cotinues to antagonize Akito further, with their usual confrontation turning violent as Akito tries to strangle Ren before ultimately breaking down. Then, Ren asks Rin for a "favor": that favor to steal a black box containing Akira's soul. In exchange, she will tell Rin information to how to break the curse. Rin desperatly agrees, but unfounrnately, she gets caught by Akito, her hair is cut and sent to the Cat Room for several days. And to make matters worse, Ren knew absolutely nothing on how to break the curse.
Oh but it gets worse for this "poor" woman when she tries to seduce Shigure, only for him to reject her, even stating that the reason he even slept with her was because she had Akito's physical attributes, much to her anger. Shigure even stated that if Ren allowed Akito to live as a woman, it would've been completely different and even tells her how her deep-rooted obession with her late husband is simply going to haunt her to the grave. This drives Ren to slander Shigure for his "ungratefulness" and in a state of despair, calls out her husband's name.
In a unhinged mental state, Ren goes to her daughter's room with a knife, demanding Akito to hand over the box. When she gains the box, Ren eagerly opens it... only for her to discover it's empty. Akito, having losing her composure, tries to kill her, but halts when she senses Hiro's curse broken. Ren smiles gleefully as she sees her daughter didn't attempt to kill her the way she wanted, and is taken back to her room under survillance.
Fruits Basket Another[]
Even as the years has passed, Ren has grown far more worse than she was before. She has still cotinued to be hostile towards the rest of the Sohma clan members, especially towards Akito, still cotinuing to refuse in reconciling with her. Nobody bothers to even visit her in her bedroom, which is understandable, considering how twisted and despicable she is.
Then, during a New Year's Celebration holiday, Ren finds herself at a breaking point to the point that she stabbed her grandson with a knife while wearing a sneer on her face. When Ren attempts to make her attack on Shiki, Akito takes notice of the situation and steps in to take the blow in his place, horribly gaining a scar as a result. And since the incident, she has been placed under heavy surveliance to ensure she doesn't hurt anyone ever again. As a result of her actions, Shiki has became a bit distant towards others, which worsens due to the issues he's facing due to his mother's past. Eventually, Shiki will become more socialble with others, thanks to meeting a certain girl he has fallen in love with.
So any chance of redeeming the woman and letting go of her pathetic toxic hatred? Incredibly and unsurpisgingly doubtful.
Mitigating Factors? Freudian Excuse?[]
My honest reaction to that.
Yeah lol, nope. I can hardly think of anything that would serve as her redeeming qualities, and she doesn't possess any sort of excuse whatsoever. She is mentally unstable, but that doesn't affect her moral agency one bit. And while she was looked down by the Sohma for her background as a maid and her only value was her husband Akira, the narrative makes it absolutely clear that it doesn't justify any of her horrible actions, and it only showcases her narcissistic and envious personality.
Any "kindness" she shows is merely so she could make Akito miserable as possible. For example, she talks very kindly to Rin, but that kindness she shows to her is merely faux and it's cleary obvious that she despises her. She also doesn't give a damn about the other Zodiac members. Hell, she also doesn't love Shigure, only viewing him as a plaything to sastify, and when she was rejected by Shigure to sleep with her, she calls him "ungrateful", which showcases that she's merely lustful.
While some could say she love Akira, I find that doubtful because of two reasons. One: She has more of those yandere tendencies, which is more evident when she wanted to abort Akito because she couldn't handle Akira loving another woman (That "another woman" is your own flesh and blood, you crazy bitch). Two: The fact she had sex with Shigure despite claiming her love for Akira proves that Akira was nothing but an object of obession to her. Not to mention that she didn't want Akira to pay attention to their daughter, but to her and her alone. That's basically showing her "All about me" attitude. And honestly, even if she genuinely loved Akira, I feel like she subverted that big time the moment Akito came in. Because she's been doing everything she can to ensure Akira didn't pay attention to their own daughter and doesn't even seem to care about his own personal feelings regarding Akito. And I don't think even her distraught at Akira's death, while somewhat geninue (and a small somewhat), is still enough to prevent her as she became more hysterical when Akito was by his side, which only worsen her toxic hatred towards her daughter.
Not only that, but she's also a complete hypocrite. She talks about how a man is destined for one woman, and Akira loved no else but her. But this is rather hypocritcial for her to say, when she easily starts a relationship with Shigure without hesistation, and all because she believed he possessed the similraties Akira had: suffering from the Zodiac curse. And because of that, she believes she can ease his pain and somehow falls in love with him because she believed he desired her. This led to Shigure revealing the reason why he slept with her and calling her out for raising Akito as a male rather than a female and mocking her for beliving she needs a box to prove Akira's love for her.
So yeah, all in all, there's nothing redeeming about this bitch.
Heinous Standards[]
OK, so the heinous standards in this series is... a bit small at the very least. That being said, these standards in this series is absolutely vile, as it is realistic. What do I mean by that? Simple. As I mention in the work section, Fruits Basket deals with heavy topics and one of those topics is abuse. And my god, the abuse we are shown in this series is absolutely disturbing but also very realistic.
The one who ultimately sets the standards is none other than Akito herself. She is ultimately the reason behind the Zodiac Curse, which is use to bound the Zodiac members to "love" and/or "respect" her, and the worst part about it is they cannot defy her, due to the curse being a connection of blood, and their feelings towards Akito is that of intense disdain. Because of this, she put her entire family through absolute hell with her physical and mental abuse (especially towards Kyo, Yuki, and Rin). She also does some several kick the dog moments (such as locking up Rin in the Cat, giving her a traumatic haircut, and left her to starve to death and stabbing Kureno), especially towards Tohru with her possibly most cruelest one being attempting to kill her.
But the main reason she can't even count as PE is because she's way too tragic. Ultimately, she is just a woman who just wants to be loved, mainly because she just can't handle being alone. It doesn't help that her childhood was absolutely hellish for her thanks to her sorry excuse of a mother and the Sohma Clan's toxic environment where they made her think that the only reason why she was loved was because she is the "God" to the Zodiacs. Her father tried his best to help her, but he unintentionally made things worse for Akito, with her mental state growing even more unstable due to losing her father. While it doesn't completely excuse her actions (something Akito does note), it ultimately makes her too tragic and eventually, she does redeem herself thanks to Tohru, who still continue to show kindness towards her despite her actions.
The other antagonists in this series are not so great people themselves. Let's count down each of them, shall we?
- There's Kyo's deadbeat father, who physically and mentally abused his son simply because of being the Cat Zodiac. He did the same to his mother, who tries to protect her son but ultimately committed suicide as she couldn't handle the abuse. He then blamed it all on Kyo, which led to the latter growing a guilty conscience on him, which grew worse when witness Tohru's mother Kyoko's death, blaming himself for "causing" her death. Even now, Kyo's father thinks he's not to blame for his horrible actions, and still blames his son, calling him dehumanizing names.
- Rin's parents who are by far one of the most hated characters in the series (besides Ren, Kyo's father, etc.). They horribly abused her so badly to the point she got emotional issues. And this is because they couldn't love her. The fact they don't have any of their face drawn is further more proof of how absolutely vile they truly are, because it's basically dehumanizing them as vile monsters who abused their own daughter and decided to leave her simply because of their hatred towards her.
- And finally, Ayame and Yuki's mother, who is emotionally abusive to both of her sons and tries to use Yuki as a way to get further high up in her social status, practically playing a role in Yuki's tragedy (which was made worse by Akito's abuse on him). She even declared that she shouldn't have given birth to both of them simply because she couldn't control them any longer.
But Ren? Yeah, I can say with full confidence that Ren is the absolute worst of them. She is responsible for her abuse towards Akito both emotionally and mentally, turning poor Akito into the same abuser she is. She even wanted to abort her own daughter, simply because she never wanted her husband to love another woman. Ever since her birth, Ren has been nothing but abusive towards her, both mentally and emotionally, calling her worthless and stating she would never be loved. This turn Akito into a control freak and incredibly abusive towards Zodiac members. She also ruined the relationship between Akito and Shigure, by sleeping with the latter. All of this abuse simply because she wanted to make Akito's life miserable as possible. Talk about toxic hatred towards your own flesh and blood.
There's also her domestic abuse towards Akira by bullying him and emotionally blackmailing him to raise Akito as a boy by threatening to terimante the pregnancy. Oh, and not to mention she was the reason behind Rin's emotional issues as she was the one who urge to ask her parents about their love, which lead to them revealing how much they HATED her and they goes far to abuse her horribly. What's worse is that Ren pretty much knew the outcome, but she didn't care. She then manipulates Rin to try to steal the box from Akito, manipulating into believing she could give information on how to break the curse when in reality that was a lie. This led to Rin being imprisoned and would've starved to death if not for Haru rescuing her in time. And this was all because she possesed irrational hatred towards her. For absolutely NO REASON at all.
A friendly reminder this woman tries to kill her own grandson. who is a child mind you.
And lastly, she then tries to outright murder Akito, simply so she could get the box that contain Akira's soul (when in reality, it was empty) and many years later, she tries to murder her young grandson Shiki, further showing how far she has fallen. She fails thanks to Akito, but it's stated that she gain a horrible scar on her face as a result of Ren's attempted murder. This act also severely traumatized Shiki, who was already facing a lot of issues due to his mother's past, becoming distant and withdrawn as a result.
So yeah, horrible mental and emotional abuse? Manipulation? And even attempted murders? Yeah, I feel like she counts big time.
Final Verdict[]
Controversial as it is, I still give a big yes to one of the worst parents in history. Ren's horrible actions and her influence on Akito is absolutely vile, and because of that, she's definitely earn her place as a pure evil "mother".