Fruits Basket: 10 Saddest Things About Kyo | ScreenRant
Kyo Sohma is one of the three main protagonists in Fruits Basket and is beloved by fans for his passionate personality and protective instincts. Kyo provides consistent comedic relief in his fights with Yuki, which he always loses, and his generally surly attitude is more often than not adorable rather than annoying.
However, as the Cat Zodiac, Kyo has had to endure some awful circumstances. He grew up as an outcast and was treated as undesirable by the majority of his family, and his future prospects are bleak as his version of the Zodiac Curse is particularly punitive. While he maintains a cool exterior and pretends that nothing bothers him, deep down Kyo struggles to sort out the years of abuse that he received, and is afraid of what the future has in store for him.
10 He Is Not Included In Family Functions
In the story of the Zodiac, the Cat was tricked by the Rat into not attending God's banquet. To continue this tradition, as the Cat Zodiac, Kyo is excluded from Sohma family functions. Not only is he not invited to the annual banquet, but he is also excluded from regular meetings and is not welcomed in the Sohma compound. Akito completely ignores Kyo when he is around and is not hesitant to show her distaste for him. Kyo pretends to not care that he is excluded, but it's obvious from his demeanor and tone that he wishes he could just be part of the family.
9 The Cat Spirit Is Routinely Mocked
The person possessed by the Cat Spirit in the Zodiac is routinely mocked by members of the Sohma family. The Cat is considered to be stupid for having been so easily duped by the Rat, and Kyo takes those insults to heart. Kyo has a fragile ego, and whenever he is ridiculed by others he immediately becomes angry and tries to initiate a fight. Much like an actual Cat, Kyo is sensitive and does not appreciate it when others laugh at his expense. He detests his status as the butt of the joke, and after countless jibes, he has become sensitive to taunts.
8 He Can Never Defeat Yuki
The Cat and the Rat in the Zodiac are mortal enemies, since the Rat tricked the Cat into not attending God's banquet, forever casting the Cat as an outsider amongst the Zodiac members. Kyo and Yuki continue this tradition, and Kyo considers Yuki to be his chief rival. He will often challenge Yuki to a fight at the smallest insult or taunt. While Yuki never wants to fight Kyo, he also does not avoid conflict or take it easy on Kyo. Since the start of the series, Kyo has never defeated Yuki in a single duel. Kyo is cursed to always lose to Yuki, yet he keeps on fighting despite the odds against him.
7 His Zodiac Form
One of the aspects of the Zodiac Curse that makes Kyo unique is that his Zodiac form is frightening and twisted unlike the more cute and cuddly forms of the other Zodiacs. Also, Kyo is not able to prevent his transformation into this form unless he always wears a bracelet made of prayer beads.
These beads prevent the Curse from overtaking his body, but it also means that he is constantly forced to be on guard so as to avoid reverting into his true form. Kyo lives with the knowledge that he is simply holding his Zodiac Spirit at bay and that if he isn't careful, the Spirit will take over his body.
6 He Is Cursed To Spend His Life In Captivity
The other aspect of the Zodiac Curse that is specific it Kyo is that he is fated to spend his life in captivity. Every Zodiac member possessed by the Cat Spirit has spent part of their life in the Cat Room, a cell designed to hold the Cat Zodiac in isolation away from the other Zodiacs. Kyo made a bet with Akito that he would one day beat Yuki in a duel, and if he won then he would not avoid a life of captivity. Akito agreed to the duel because she was convinced that fate would prevent Kyo the Cat from ever defeating Yuki the Rat. Unless Tohru can break the curse, Kyo faces a future of solitude.
5 He Doesn't Know How To Communicate His Feelings
Unlike Tohru, who has no problem communicating her feelings, Kyo is emotionally illiterate. He does not know how to communicate his feelings apart from anger and frustration. This has led to him having a rather short temper and being widely regarded as a hothead. He is not able to vocalize his feelings for Tohru, preferring to remain in silence and distance himself from his emotions. Kyo does not believe that he has a future or that he can ever break free from the curse, so he distrusts his feelings, as he does not want to cling to false hope and dreams.
4 His Mother Died By Suicide
While most of the members of the Sohma family historically despise the person possessed by the Cat Spirit, Kyo's mother loved him. She did not care that he was possessed by the Cat Spirit, and she defended him and stood up for him as a child.
However, over time she was influenced by the opinions of the other members of the Sohma family, including her own husband, and the pressure became so great that she took her own life. Kyo continues to be haunted by his mother's death and blames himself for it.
3 His Father Rejected Him
The Zodiac who is possessed by the Cat Spirit is spurned by the other members of the Sohma family, and when Kyo inherited the Cat Spirit his own father was no different. His father blamed Kyo for his mother's death, and rejected him, going so far as to abandon Kyo when he was only a child. Kyo's father continues to harbor spiteful feelings towards Kyo, and cannot bring himself to forgive Kyo, even though he bears no fault for his mother's death by suicide.
2 He Was Adopted By Kazuma Out Of Shame
Kazuma Sohma's grandfather was possessed by the Cat Spirit, so he is intimately aware of the horrors that come with the Zodiac Curse. When he was a child, he spurned his grandfather's affections, because he was ashamed and afraid of the Cat Spirit. Kazuma grew up to regret that decision, so when he learned that Kyo was the new Zodiac possessed by the Cat Spirit, he felt compelled to care for him. Kazuma's decision to adopt Kyo is one of the highlights of the series, but it's hard not to assume that a large part of his decision was motivated by his shame for spurning his grandfather years earlier and also pity for Kyo at having to inherit such a fate.
1 He Was Bullied In School
Kyo is not the easiest person to get along with on the best of days, and when he's in a bad mood he's downright difficult. That said, he's a good friend, and liked among his classmates. However, when he was younger, Kyo was bullied by his classmates for his orange hair and his bad temper. He had to endure the taunts and ridicule of his peers for looking and acting differently, and this further shaped him into an angry young man. Kyo finally managed to find a good friend in Tohru and has grown closer to the other Zodiacs, but the memories of those early days remain.