Akito Sohma

is the main antagonist of the Fruits Basket series. She is the only daughter of Ren and Akira Sohma.

Akito is the head of the Sohma family, and fulfills the role of a "God" of the Chinese Zodiac. Akito is depicted as short-tempered and abusive, and has physically and emotionally scarred many Sohmas. On the other side, Akito herself is a victim, as Ren forced her to live as a male because she was to afraid Akito would replace her in Akira's heart. Akira, in an attempt to give Akito solace, unintentionally brainwashed her into thinking that she was "special" and would be loved by the Zodiacs no matter what she did.

Despite holding utter hatred towards Tohru Honda for "breaking apart her bonds with the Zodiacs", Akito comes to realize that by holding onto the bond, she has hurt herself as much as the others and lets it go with Tohru's efforts to break the curse. In the end, when Akito's antagonism ceases, the curse is broken, and she begins dressing and living as a woman, Shigure Sohma, whom she is in love with, moves in with her.

In Fruits Basket Another, she is married to Shigure and is the proud mother of Shiki Sohma.

Appearance
Akito is a tall, very pale, beautiful, slim young woman with an androgynous appearance. When Tohru first met Akito she noted that Akito was as beautiful as Yuki. For the majority of the series, Akito is seen to have fair skin with short, nape-length black hair and long, messy bangs framing her thick eyelashes and sharp purple eyes. To cover up her female body figure, Akito usually dresses in many layers or male clothing; sometimes normal or oversized. In the Sohma house, she usually wears robes worn by men.

According to Shigure, if Akito had been raised as a woman, she would look exactly like her mother, Ren. Akito shares the same black hair-color and brown eye-color as her mother, as well as the feminine features, though Akito manages to hide them well.

By the end of the series, she grows her hair to shoulder-length and starts wearing traditional and normal feminine clothing, as a sign of her being finally able to live her life as a woman.

In a Fruits Basket Another cameo, it is implied that she ultimately settled on wearing dresses while cutting her hair short again.

Personality
Aside from her occasional bad temper tantrums when she was young, Akito was a nice, gentle, pampered, and sweet girl. Due to her father spoiling her, Akito grew believing that she was born to be loved by everyone and that everyone must do as she says. On the other hand, her mother's psychological and emotional abuse lead Akito to be desperate for displays of affection, and she would go around the household asking everyone if they loved her. However, after Akira's death, after Kureno's curse broke, and as a product of Ren's psychological abuse, including being forcefully raised as a boy and being poisoned with hatred and insecurity by the latter, Akito snapped and changed to a mentally and emotionally unstable person whose kindness warped into insanity and cruelty.

In the present time, even though Akito appears as a frail, level-headed, mysterious, and composed woman at first glance, Akito has horribly abused many of the Zodiac members to take out her anger over her father's death and her mother’s insistence that she is unneeded, worthless and that no one will ever truly love her. She is shown to be an incredibly arrogant, manipulative, selfish, immature, angry, and cruel young woman, who rarely shows any sympathy and can be calm one moment and having a screaming tantrum the next. Akito also insists the male Zodiac members are obligated to only love her because she believes the Zodiac animals should direct all their affection to their God. So whenever one of them directs their attention to anyone other than her, Akito is overcome with fear that she's going to be abandoned like her mother predicted she would. In connection to this, she is extremely misogynistic despite being a woman herself, since she projects her own mother onto every woman she meets. As a result, she gets very jealous of women who "steal" the male Zodiacs' attention. Notable examples are when she threw Rin out of a window because she was dating Hatsuharu, beating Kisa bloody because Hiro is in love with her, and guilt-tripping Kana for wanting to marry Hatori by practically blinding him in one eye. Despite this, Akito cannot fathom being to blame for anything and justifies her controlling and abusive treatment by claiming that a God can do whatever they please and no one can punish them for it.

Despite such things, behind her intimidating and cruel personality, Akito is incredibly insecure, lonely, and terrified of being abandoned and unloved. Because she had it instilled into her mind that she was “God” and that her bonds with the Zodiacs defined her entire existence, she doesn’t think she has any self-worth beyond the said title. She desperately clings onto her position as the “God” only because Ren convinced her she is worthless and will never be truly loved by anyone, and to enforce her belief that she will never alone if she keeps all of them with her, even if she has to resorts to physical and mental torture to make everyone too afraid of her to leave her. Additionally, exactly because she is the “God” and the head of the family, no one reprimanded her or corrected her behavior; the only people who “helped” her either fed her unhealthy issues, ignored her, or abused her; some maids even enabled her to do as she wished, which prevented Akito from ever living normally and learning right from wrong. For this reason, Akito cannot stand the mere prospect of being rejected and unloved by the people in the outside world, let alone live in an outside world she doesn't know anything about, full of strangers.

However, with Tohru being the very first person to try to befriend and empathize with Akito and accept the person truly she is, neither a God or someone raised to be a man, but a normal woman, Akito eventually comes to acknowledge her mistakes and the mistreatment of the Zodiacs. Akito slowly returns to the kind and honest person she was as a child, and aims to become a better person who can help others by taking Tohru's endless kindness and forgiveness as an example. Akito is even willing to reconcile with her mother, who rejects the truce. Akito, even though she knows no good she does will undo the damage she caused for the Sohmas, decides to end the cycle of abuse and defy the family's expectations of her as the head of the family by giving the Zodiacs their freedom and destroying the Cat's room. She learns to accept that not everyone will like her, but she mustn't think that will be the case with everyone. She is also shown to have become an overall happier woman who smiles more often.

In Fruits Basket Another, Akito has become much more self-conscious and regretful of her past mistakes, and has made up her mind that she will spend the rest of her life atoning for her sins in different ways; may it be distancing herself from the Sohmas at all times, not expecting any forgiveness, and feeling like she deserves any pain inflicted upon her. She mentions that she would bear them alone and that they were not her son's burden to bear. At the same time, Akito is mentioned to be close friends with Saki Hanajima and Mine Kuramae, meaning that she has formed new connections outside of the Sohma family. She is also shown to have become more emotionally mature, calmer, gentler, and wiser, and is a very protective and loving mother whose heart began healing by becoming a parent, and she openly encourages her son's happiness and freedom, and is willing to risk her own life for him.

Early Life
Akito was born as the only child to the head of the Sohma family, Akira Sohma, and a maid in the main house, Ren Sohma. When she just was conceived, she had already been possessed by the spirit of the God from the original Zodiac Legend, and she “appeared” in Hatori Sohma, Shigure Sohma, Ayame Sohma, and Kureno Sohma’s dreams where she told them that they would meet soon. Upon discovering her child would be female, Ren demanded that Akito had to be raised as male out of fear that a female child would steal her place in Akira's heart, and she was also overcome with jealousy since Akito would be loved and cherished by many men. She threatened to abort the child unless her demands were met. When Akito was born, her father, the members of the Zodiacs, and everyone at the main house were overjoyed— since a chosen being destined to rule over the Zodiacs had been born. After a while, in compliance with Ren's demands, Akito was presented as a male, with only the four eldest of the cursed Sohmas knowing her true gender.

While Akito grew up hating her mother since she was very cold and poisoned her with hatred and insecurity, she grew up loving her father, as he always was very kind, affectionate and would always share his words of wisdom with her. He was the one who convinced Akito that being born as the Zodiac of God meant that she was special, and she had to live up to the role. He also told her that no matter what, she would be loved by everyone as long she had the bonds that connected her to the Zodiacs.

Both because of her mother’s emotional and verbal abuse and her father’s words that she was a special being, Akito became desperate for displays for affection, and would often ask people like Hatori to carry her in his arms. She was also very close to Kureno, who often comforted her as well, and she expressed that he had it nice due to being able to fly in his Zodiac form— wishing that she could have been a bird too. One day, Akito walked up to Shigure and asked him if he loved her. Shigure fetched a camellia from the garden and gave it to Akito, and confessed that she is always on his mind and that he loves her more than anyone else— that being the “unshakeable truth”. This left a deep impression on Akito, especially since she had already begun to develop affection towards him.

Death of Akira Sohma
At some point in Akito’s childhood, Akira’s illness took a turn for the worst. On his deathbed, Akira tried to comfort the young Akito via telling her not to be afraid, adding that he would always be with her, even if she couldn't physically see him. Akira went onto confess that he had wanted Ren to be the happiest over Akito, because Akito was a "special existence," and therefore she and Ren were special. Akito also got to hear Akira’s absolute last words, in which he lamented that he and Ren never reconciled their differences.

After he passed away, when Ren found out that no one had come to get her when Akira had been dying, she yelled at the young Akito that she was an unwanted existence, and that she had only been a little toy to amuse Akira; Ren also added that, because Akira was dead, no one had any more need of her. Akito countered these statements, telling her hysterical mother that her father had loved her; but because of Akira's parting words, even Akito herself doubted that Akira had loved her the most, fearing that she had “lost” to Ren.

One of the elderly maids, wanting to comfort Akito, proceeded to give her an empty box, claiming that Akira's spirit was inside it, and that he had wanted only Akito to receive such a special gift. All of her life, Akito kept this box hidden away in her room; she told Kureno that part of her didn't believe that anything was inside of the box, yet another part always hoped that maybe there was. After her father's early death, Akito became the head of the Sohma family.

Meeting Yuki Sohma
A while after Akira’s death, Akito met the Rat, Yuki Sohma, for the first time. Upon seeing one another, Yuki began crying, and Akito thereafter hugged him, mentioning that they finally could meet. Akito reveals that she was extremely happy to meet Yuki, the Rat, since she could show off to Ren and prove that her bonds with the Zodiacs were real. For a few years, Akito kept Yuki as a playmate and they would constantly stay in Akito's room and play together. She would tell him that due to the Rat being the “closest to God”, he was “special” just like herself. Occasionally, Akito would have angry outbursts due to Yuki’s coughing, but would always calm down moments after. Yuki mentions that he often saw Akito cry and her being comforted by Shigure.

Akito also witnessed Kyo Sohma’s true form for the first time, and deemed it to be disgusting. During this time, Kureno’s curse also suddenly broke with no forewarning. When Akito sensed this due to their "bond", she went into a hysterical panic, since Kureno's curse breaking was a sign of her bonds with the Zodiacs falling apart, which she thought defined her entire existence. She proceeded to beg and cry for Kureno to always stay by her side and never leave her. Kureno, who immensely pitied Akito and couldn't bear the thought of making her sad, agreed to stay by her side and pretend to be a part of the Zodiac. From there on, Kureno has been by Akito's side at all times and never left the Sohma estate.

At some point, possibly due to Ren’s abuse and Kureno’s curse breaking, Akito's mind went completely insane and she proceeded to constantly paint her walls black and torment Yuki for years. Yuki was verbally, emotionally, and especially psychologically mistreated by Akito; he was locked up in a windowless, dark room for days on end while Akito convinced him that no one would accept him for who he is, that he was absolutely worthless and that no one would ever come to save him. During this time, Yuki accidentally revealed his Zodiac form to outsiders, and thus had to get his friend’s memories of him erased. After this, Yuki asked Akito if he truly was so strange that he had to keep the Curse a secret, to which Akito replied that he did have to, since it was strange for a little boy to transform into a rat. She also told him that any normal person would be repulsed if they knew.

Pre-Fruits Basket
For the following years, Akito kept Kureno by her side at all times, even starting a sexual relationship with him. Shigure became incredibly jealous by this and proceeded to have sex with Ren as a form of revenge. This made Akito even more infuriated, and she thus banished Shigure from the Sohma estate as a punishment.

Throughout the years, Akito has been desperate to prove Ren wrong, and that her bonds with the Zodiacs were indeed real. Because of this, she continued to torment Yuki and often restricted him from doing anything she didn’t want him to do. Akito also began hating women since she projected her own mother onto them, and thus became incredibly violent with women who took the male Zodiac’s attention away from her. For example, she beat Kisa Sohma bloody after Hiro Sohma confessed his feelings towards Kisa to Akito, leaving Kisa to recover in the hospital for two weeks. After Hatori and his then fianceé, Kana Sohma, asked Akito to let them marry, Akito was enraged and almost blinded Hatori's left eye with a shard glass. To make matters worse, Akito berated Kana for Hatori's injuries and guilt-tripped her into believing that wanting to marry Hatori was a mistake she should have never made since she is incapable of lifting the family curse. After Hatori was forced to erase Kana's memories of their time together as a couple, Akito suggested for him to abstain from interacting with her ever again.

Yuki was eventually able to leave the main house and began living with Shigure. Ren commented that the Zodiacs were abandoning Akito, just as she always predicted they would. Akito denied this and claimed they would all come back to her because of the inseparable bond she shared with the Zodiacs. Akito and Ren then made a bet in which Akito was to allow the Zodiacs to form bonds with "outsiders" to test whether they would return to Akito's side. If they did not return, Akito would have to bow before Ren and then leave the Sohma family.

A few months later, Akito somehow found out that Isuzu Sohma and Hatsuharu Sohma were dating one another. She confronted Rin and threatened her to answer which one had seduced the other, and Rin put the blame on herself. This made Akito furious and she proceeded to slap Rin and berated her for taking what’s “hers”, all while reaffirming that she hates women. She then told Rin that she is not worthy of Hatsuharu, that she only exists to make up numbers in the Zodiac, and that she isn’t needed— thereafter pushing Rin out of a window some stories above the ground.

After Kyo returned from the mountains after being away for four months without any notice, Akito severely reprimanded him. She also told him that due to the Zodiac’s fates always being in their blood, Kyo could thus never beat Yuki no matter how much he tried. However, Kyo swore that he would beat Yuki, and as a response, Akito made a bet with him; if he could beat Yuki before graduating high school, she would stop calling him a monster and he could become a full-fledged member of the Zodiac. If he couldn’t succeed, however, he needed to spend the rest of his life in the Cat's Room, to which Kyo accepted. When Shigure later asked Akito if he could let both Kyo and Tohru Honda to live with him at his house, she accepted, since she was confident that she would win her bet against Ren.

First Year Arc
After making the bet with Kyo, Shigure approached Akito about allowing Tohru to stay in his home. Akito, confident that she would win against Ren, consented to this. Since Akito believed that the world was a cruel, bleak place in which unconditional love did not exist outside of the Zodiac bonds, she also believed that Tohru would eventually end up rejecting the cursed Sohmas, causing them to return brokenhearted to her side.

When Tohru leaves the Sohmas' main house after her first visit to there, Akito is seen gloomily staring out of a window at Tohru. Tohru spotted her and got frightened by the gloomy hated aura from Akito.

Before Summer Vacation
Akito is then next seen 'visiting' the school Tohru, Kyo, Yuki, Hatsuharu Sohma and Momiji Sohma are attending. Akito had intended to 'check' on Tohru to see how she was doing. However, due to sheer coincidence, Tohru spots Akito and, without knowing a thing, approaches Akito.

Upon introducing herself properly, Akito pretends to be pleased about Tohru, praising her on being cute and kind. Yuki comes to rescue Tohru, only to find himself being intimidated by Akito's menacing words about her horrific treatment to Yuki in the past. Tohru, however, manages to break off the contact between the two by pushing Akito aside. Akito was seen leaving the school, entering a car to be ferried back. In the car sat Shigure, where Akito speaks ill of Tohru, contradicting her "praises" earlier on.

During Summer Vacation
Akito was manipulated into joining the Sohmas having a vacation at the summer house by Shigure. She brings along Kureno. She arrives at the summer house, uninvited and a bombshell to the Sohmas that were present. She instantly summons all the cursed Sohmas (except Kyo) to visit her, telling them that she "loves you all" and "misses you". She lets them go before the night ended. The next day, she met Yuki when he was taking a walk. She was seen talking to Yuki about something that shocked him and made him "run away". She later attempts to meet Tohru but she ended up 'giving up' as she felt 'sick and hot' and unable to comprehend Tohru playing with the "monster" (Kyo). She had a conversation with Kureno, even commenting that Kureno was "inferior" to her.

Next, she summons Haru, purposely insulting him with the phrase "big, dumb ox" and saying she doesn't want Tohru to meet Kureno. Following Haru's summon came Kyo's. There it was revealed on Akito's true intention on Kyo and how she forced Kyo to understand his feelings for Tohru. It was also revealed that Kyo would be confined for the rest of his life if he does not beat Yuki in a fight, a bet met between Akito and him.

Before being sent home because of Ren, she forcefully meets Tohru, successful the second time, where she tells Tohru to leave the cursed Sohmas alone, staying out of the curse, and revealing that she is the "master of all their souls" or God-like and scratches Tohru's face. Akito confirms that Kureno is the Bird/Rooster of the Zodiac and not her. She later is believed to have traveled home, as she had met Tohru to see her before leaving.

Third Year Arc
It is eventually revealed that Akito had always been lonely and afraid of change. The reason that she clung so desperately to the Zodiac bonds was that she feared that, without them, she would be all alone, and her existence meaningless, just as her mother had always claimed. This revelation occurred after both Momiji's and Hiro's curses broke, and also followed Momiji confronting Akito on such a fact. With the bonds falling apart, Akito—after having wrongfully stabbed Kureno in the back when he tried to calm her down—ran away from the Sohma estate, wondering if everything really was all her fault, and why her world was collapsing so suddenly. Desperate and looking for someone to blame, Akito suddenly realizes that the Juunishi had been slowly but surely leaving ever since Tohru had appeared in their lives...

Akito then walks to Shigure's home and finds Tohru alone outside. Unbeknownst to her, Tohru is not exactly in the best emotional state after her last talk with Kyo, where he explained to her how her mother died and the part he had on it, before she told him like she loved him and being refused by him over his guilt. Akito then comments that Tohru must be happy, because she had "won" and had, in the process, destroyed the only life she had known. Akito then threatens Tohru with a knife; but Tohru, realizing how both she and Akito had been trying to hold onto an "unchanging" reality (Akito clinging to the eternal bonds of the Zodiac; Tohru wanting her mother to always be first in her heart), told Akito that she understood how scary it is to be alone, and instead offered her hand in friendship, even introducing herself as if they had never met before. Akito extended her hand, seemingly to accept the offer, but right before she could the unstable cliff ground collapsed and Tohru fell (in the first volume of the series, just after a landslide destroyed Tohru's tent, Shigure warned her that the ground around the area was unstable and due to collapse again one day). At the sight of her newfound friend falling to what could be her death, rather than gloating or anything similar, Akito screamed to get help for Tohru, ultimately collapsing in tears in Shigure's arms.

When the hospitalized Tohru recovered at the hospital and was finally allowed visitors beyond her immediate family, Akito was surprisingly one of the first to visit (and even more surprisingly, according to Hatori and Shigure, she went alone and entirely on her own accord). Fearful that she would be rejected by Tohru and Kureno (both of whom she'd hurt, emotionally and physically), Akito was told a comforting story by Momiji, who also offered advice that made it possible for Akito to see Tohru and Kureno for who they really are: People whose kindness for others overrides their ability to be concerned about themselves. With that in mind, she finally went to see Tohru, who offered her hand (despite the fact her arm is injured) to Akito in friendship again, which she accepted with a small smile.

Akito also visited Kureno in the hospital, whom she had stabbed in the back; Kureno, however, didn't blame Akito for her actions, and forgave her when Akito cried and apologized to him repeatedly for smothering him all of the years she'd kept him close. From there on out, Akito decided to try to change rather than cling to being "God," and to the memory of her father and what he had wanted her to be.

Later, Kureno left to live in the country with Arisa Uotani, a close friend of Tohru's, and the curse was broken, Akito and Shigure finally confessed their true feelings for each other and reconciled. Akito begins living and dressing as a woman, and in her last meeting with all the formerly cursed Sohmas, she wore a furisode (female kimono), and donned a flower in her hair, something that shocked the younger Sohmas, who had just learned of Akito's true gender. Ritsu even was comically shocked over it.

Epilogue
In her very last apparition, Akito was with Shigure on a date. Shigure asks Akito if she wasn't going to see Tohru and Kyo off, to whic she replies that she won't. However, Akito explains that she can always visit Tohru anytime, either way. Though Akito tells Shigure he can go if he wants to, he responds by saying that she is a "crafty girl", and they lovingly continue on their date. Despite the initial complex relationship Akito had with Tohru, she reminisces on the memories she shares with her, which helped her to get where she is today.

The Three Musketeers Arc
After the curse was broken, Ayame went to pay his respect for Akito since he was visiting Shigure and Hatori. Ayame thinks that Akito will be envious of him for spending a few hours with her "future spouse", as in Shigure, and tells her that he will be bonded with her for life just like she will with Shigure. When he then suggested being partners-in-crimes with her, Akito, put off Ayame's flamboyance, awkwardly rejected the idea by claiming she had work to do.

When Saki wanted to call Shigure, she reached out to Akito first and asked her if she could get her into contact with Shigure. Later, Shigure was briefly surprised by the fact that Saki had the direct head-line to Akito, the head of the Sohma family.

Fruits Basket Another
Eventually, Akito married Shigure, having one son named Shiki Sohma between them. The first few years after Shiki's birth, Akito learned games and bedtime stories for her son's sake, and she would also take him to different places so he could have fun and experience new things. Ever since she gave birth to Shiki, Akito experienced a different kind of joy and love, and thanks him for giving her the opportunity to experience many things for the first time in connection to becoming his mother.

Whenever all the Sohmas got together or there was a long holiday, Akito would always stay away and make sure to leave the main estate and go on a trip or stay at one of the Sohma's villas. But on every New Year's, it is mentioned that Akito spends time Tohru, which she looks forward to. On the other hand, she would make sure to drop Shiki off with everyone else so he could spend time with them and form his own circle of friends. Shiki mentions that Akito had made up her mind that she would never try to join the Sohma family circle, and that it was a way for her to atone for her sins. She wanted to bear her sins and punishment by herself, and was adamant about never letting Shiki bear her burdens.

Despite her efforts, Shiki was targeted by Ren and her maids, and they harassed him and constantly told him that he was a repulsive creature since Akito had given birth to him, that Akito would never be forgiven for her sins, and that she deserved nothing more than being treated like trash. Ren's hostility extended to Shiki to the point where she once attempted to kill him by stabbing him with a knife. However, Akito protected him and took the blow in his stead, scarring her face. After this incident, Akito made the decision to tell Shiki about her past self, her many mistakes and sins, and how she atoned for them. Shiki was very saddened to hear about this, but to him, she was still his kind and loving mother.

Throughout the years, Akito remained a hardworking head of the family and would often work very late. During this time, she would frequently be berated behind her back by Ren, her side of the family, and maids who barely knew her. Shiki notes that no matter if Akito got involved or if she stayed away, and no matter how she lived her life or how much she tried to make it right, the stigma around her never changed. Although Akito is fine with it, it greatly upset Shiki and he compares her situation to a "curse of nothing allowed to change". Because of this, Shiki began training to become the next family head after his mother to change the Sohma's ways and help his mother. While Shigure was over the moon, Akito was on the fence on it. Additionally, Shiki's pent-up anger and frustration regarding the situation with Akito even made him lash out and break a mirror once. And when Akito and Shigure received an apology from Shiki for destroying the mirror, they cheerfully suggested on leaving it broken, as they wanted to remember "the first time Shiki's feelings exploded".

Differences from the source material

 * The most notable difference between the manga and the 2001 anime, is that Akito has always been female in the manga (as well in the 2019 anime), but was male in the 2001 anime. This is because the revelation about Akito's gender wasn't made clear until much later in the manga, when the 2001 anime had already finished airing.
 * Akito both sounds and dresses like a man in the 2001 anime.
 * He suffers from a frail body and it is mentioned that he does not have much time alive.
 * Akito often expressed he fears of dying young.
 * His parents are never mentioned.
 * Akito falls sickly often and is constantly told by Hatori Sohma that he is to remain in her bed. Many see this particular incarnation of Akito as fearful and strong, but he is actually a scared figurehead that can't do anything but hurt and command others.
 * Akito's frail body is apparently caused by bearing the core of the curse.
 * This gives the implication that Akito in the 2001 anime isn't "God", and that it can't naturally be broken in time like in the original manga.
 * Akito's first meeting with Tohru differs between the manga, 2001 anime, and 2019 anime.
 * In the manga and 2001 anime, Tohru officially meets "him" by the window of the Sohma estate. In the 2019 anime, Tohru sees Akito in the car alongside Kureno Sohma.
 * In comparison to the manga and 2019 anime, who showed that Akito had verbally, emotionally, and psychologically abused Yuki, the 2001 anime also shows that Akito whipped Yuki constantly in an isolated room.
 * Akito's role in the true form arc differs as well. She does not appear at all during the manga and 2019 anime, but Akito in the 2001 anime appears before Tohru after she discovered Kyo's true form, and he taunts her about the knowledge of the Sohma family secret. Akito soon leaves when Shigure locates the two.
 * Akito's relationship with Shigure in this version is completely different from their relationship in the manga and the 2019 anime adaptation. In this anime version, Shigure sees Akito as the dangerous head of the family, but is not afraid of him.
 * 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 asks permission to speak with Akito, and Yuki, Shigure, and Hatori to accompany Tohru to the Sohma's main residence to see Akito. After an initially meek exchange, Akito seizes her by her hair in a rage after Tohru is unable to say why she came, but Yuki and Shigure restrain him from hurting her further. However, she begins to feel sympathetic, explaining that he still has a life to live. Releasing her hair from his hand, Akito eventually realizes that Tohru accepts the Sohma family curse.

The God of the Zodiac
Akito is possessed of the Zodiac's God Spirit, who is the master of the souls of the Zodiacs and controls them. Because of this, the Zodiacs and the Cat are incapable of betraying or opposing her, no matter how terribly she treats them. In her presence, their own emotions fade and their bodies cringe in submission; they have no hope of escape, since their hearts ultimately yearn for her. The intense emotional connection Akito shares with the Zodiacs, which can transcend spoken words, or direct interaction, between any of them, is the reason the bond exists, and why it also a curse. Some examples of how Akito's role as the "God" has affected the Zodiacs;
 * When Akito was first conceived, Shigure, Hatori, Ayame, and Kureno all had a dream about her and woke up crying and ran immediately to Akito's mother, Ren, reaching out for her womb, knowing that their God was in there.
 * Yuki and Hatori are not able to blame Akito, despite how much trauma and pain she has inflicted on them, Yuki in particular.
 * As tough people as Kyo and Rin are, they will fear for Akito when she gets serious.

When the curse starts breaking apart, Akito is terrified and desperately tries to cling to the bonds. Despite that, she is able to move on with the help of Tohru, and decides to let go of the bonds and live as herself, not God. When the curse breaks for all the Zodiacs, Akito loses her control over them, and she decides to give them their freedom.

Trivia

 * According to the official Fruits Basket Character Book:
 * Akito is "the worst" when it comes down to clothes, she just wears kimonos all the time. When she has to wear Western clothing, she prefers plain garments.
 * Dressing up disgusts Akito, because she hates to have skin showing.
 * Her mother Ren's existence is one explanation for Akito's fierce hatred of women, and for why Akito is disgusted by Rin's long, black hair.
 * According to an interview with Natsuki Takaya, Akito was enrolled in "better" and "more expensive" schools than everyone else in the Zodiac, though she completed all of her schooling (including high school) by correspondence.
 * When asked in an interview, Takaya said she had always planned on Akito being a female.
 * According to an author's note, Takaya designed Akito and Ren to resemble each other.
 * In a bonus manga from the Banquet Fanbook to commemorate the final character popularity poll results held in Japan in 2006, Takaya, disguised as Mogeta kind of form, said that she’s tempted to make Akito as a man so that she could pair Akito up with Tohru. It was done on purpose just to make fun of Kyo.
 * According to Natsuki Takaya’s Twitter:
 * Akito regularly holds small tea parties with Saki Hanajima and Mine Kuramae. This could also explain why their sons are so close as they are.
 * Akito also likes the foreign cuisine made by Saki's husband.
 * Akito seems to have a connection with camellias. Takaya states that it’s because Akito was somewhat interested in them as a child, especially since she was presented with a camellia flower by Shigure, which left a deep impression on the both of them.
 * In connection to the statement above, the camellia flower was the first present Akito received from Shigure.
 * Aktio was never taught hand games and bedtimes stories as a child, but was taught about it by Tohru when she became a mother.
 * Akito seems only able to spend time with Tohru at New Years, when the Sohma estate celebrates; given she willingly stays away from the former Zodiacs (which would include Kyo).
 * Her star sign is the Cancer.
 * It is also mentioned Akito is a fan of Ari from her favorite TV show Mogeta since she wanted to purchase an Ari plush doll.
 * Akito's age is not given, but she is a few years younger than Ritsu and is said to be at least twenty by Shigure.

Akito Sohma Akito Soma Akito Soma Akito Soma Akito Sohma pt-br:Akito Sohma 相馬あきと