| Kana Sohma | |
|---|---|
| Kanji | 草摩 佳菜 |
| Rōmaji | Sōma Kana |
| Description | |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair Color | Light Brown (2019 Anime & Manga) Dark Brown (2001 Anime) |
| Eye Color | Light Brown (2019 Anime & Manga) Dark Brown (2001 Anime) |
| Professional Status | |
| Occupation | Doctor Assistant |
| Affiliation | Sohma Family |
| Relatives | |
| Parents | Unnamed Mother |
| Spouse | Unnamed Husband |
| Debut | |
| Manga | Chapter 12 |
| Anime | Episode 8 (2001) Episode 7 (2019) |
| Voice Actors | |
| Japanese | Haruhi Nanao (2001) Minami Tsuda (2019) |
| English | Libby Smith (2001) Kara Edwards (2019) |
Kana Sohma (草摩 佳菜, Sōma Kana) is an outside member of the Sohma Family, and is, as such, not part of The Chinese Zodiac. She was previously Hatori Sohma's lover and one of the first few "outsiders" to learn of the Zodiacs' Curse.
Appearance[]
Kana is a young adult woman with a petite frame, fair skin, and light brown eyes. She has short, straight hair which reaches down to lower-chin length, styled into a bobbed hairstyle. She is shown to have middle-parted bangs with strands of hair framing her face. In other cases, she has her bangs pulled back into a small ponytail.
Personality[]
She is shown to be very friendly and caring towards those she loves. Kana hopes to be a successful doctor one day. She readily accepted Hatori Sohma after she discovered that he was possessed by the dragon. It is noted by Hatori that Kana's personality is very much like that of Tohru Honda, behaving similarly and having the same overall positive, cheerful and supportive attitude. Mayuko Shiraki describes her as having "an unpretentious outgoing personality".[1]
She appears to be quite sensitive and she was greatly affected by circumstances. When Akito physically assaulted her and Hatori to the point of damaging his left eye, when Akito blamed her for the injury, she took the words to heart and felt immense guilt and not being able to help Hatori.[2]
Story Overview[]
Pre-Fruits Basket[]
Two years before the start of the series, Kana met Hatori when she became his assistant. She once asked him what snow turns to once it melts. Hatori, thinking she was making fun of him, replied the most obvious answer: water. But Kana exclaimed that he was wrong and that it turned into spring. They thereafter quickly fell in love, though Hatori was hesitant to hold her in his arms and let her in into his heart because of his curse.
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Kana accepted Hatori after discovering his curse.
One day, Hatori transformed into his zodiac animal and Kana realized why he never wanted to get close with people, including her; still, she accepted him despite the curse. She wouldn't reject him and promised to stay by his side. The two then became a couple and after two months of dating, and asked Akito Sohma to let them marry. However, an angry Akito took it upon herself to assault Hatori and injured one of his eyes, which induced a traumatic experience for Kana. 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.
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Kana's memories were erased by Hatori.
Overridden with guilt, Kana was unable to lead a normal life following the incident and became immensely depressed. This eventually led to Hatori erasing Kana's memories of their time together as a couple. Before having her memories erased, Kana apologized to Hatori for not being able to protect him.
Not long after her memories are erased, Kana left the Sohma House to further pursue her career. Hatori also followed Akito's suggestion accordingly and abstained from interacting with Kana ever again.[3][2]
After having her memories erased, her best friend Mayuko was confused about the whole ordeal. Since Mayuko had just broken up with Shigure Sohma, Kana exclaimed that she thought that Mayuko and Hatori would suit each other. Mayuko doesn't agree and thinks she would suit Hatori better, but Kana thinks she doesn't match him at all.[1]
Fruits Basket[]
First Year Arc[]
After Hatori changes back to human, he asked Tohru what snow turned into when it melted, and she answered, "Spring!" just like Kana, much to Hatori's surprise. Also like Kana, when Tohru saw Hatori transform, she worried whether to put him in salt water or fresh.
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Kana's happiness after two years.
It is revealed that Kana is engaged to a man not related to the Sohmas. Walking with her friends out in the streets, she explains how she is head-over-heels for her partner, though she feels awkward around Hatori since she thought she had an "unrequited love" for him in the past. However, she was truly happy with her new life. Upon seeing this, Hatori, having witnessed this conversation was happy and silently congratulated Kana.[2]
Second Year Arc[]
Kana got married to her husband and her long-time best friend, Mayuko Shiraki attended the wedding. Ayame Sohma attended the wedding as well, but Hatori chose not to go, fearing that his presence would only cause trouble and trigger "flashbacks".[4]
Relationships[]
Hatori Sohma[]
Kana and Hatori were lovers over the course of two months. They were a very loving couple, as Hatori describes that their two months as a couple was worth hundreds of years of happiness. Kana was very affectionate and supportive of him, so even when she found about the Curse and his transformation, she took it in stride, and told him that she wouldn't reject or leave him. She expressed how happy she was of having met and fallen in love with him, since that is what brought her happiness.
However, things took a turn for the worse when Hatori begged for Akito to let them marry. Akito was enraged and hurt Hatori's eyes, and because of Akito's harsh words and the trauma derived of the incident itself, Kana began to truly believe that Hatori's injury really was her fault. Over time, Kana's pain and guilt began to consume her, she couldn't even look at Hatori without crying, and she almost lost reason. Hatori was then forced to erase Kana's memories in order for her to be happy again. Although Kana briefly expressed that she regretted dating Hatori, she also apologized for not being able to protect him.
Kana later marries another man, though she does express that she did admire Hatori. Since her memories are erased, she believes that she was in an unrequited love. Kana now only sees Hatori as a friend, though she thinks it would be awkward to meet with him again, and as so she encourages her friend Mayuko and Hatori to get together.
Mayuko Shiraki[]
Kana and Mayuko have been best friends since college and are still close as ever in adulthood. They are very supportive of one another, and Hatori mentions that Kana trusts Mayuko a whole lot and that Kana regularly talks about Mayuko, showcasing how much Kana loves Mayuko. When Kana was depressed over the incident of Hatori's eye, Mayuko came to support her through it all, from beginning to end, which Kana appreciated. As best friends, they do everything together and are stated to know everything about each other and can read one another very well. However, one thing Kana couldn't see was that Mayuko was also in love with Hatori. Though Kana did get her memories of her and Hatori's relationship erased, she hopes for Mayuko to find her own happiness now.
Etymology[]
- The name Kana means "good, beautiful" (佳) (ka) and "vegetables, greens" (菜) (na).
Trivia[]
- She shares her 2001 English voice actress with Minami Kinoshita.
- Spring is her favorite season.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Fruits Basket Manga — Vol. 10, Chapter 56
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Fruits Basket Manga — Vol. 2, Chapter 12
- ↑ Fruits Basket Manga — Vol. 2, Chapter 10
- ↑ Fruits Basket Manga — Vol. 5, Chapter 26