The Fruits Basket series is centered around the curse of the Souma family, but what exactly does that curse entail? As you probably already know, certain members of the Souma family are effected by the curse of the Juunishi, or the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac. The basic premise of this curse is that those members of the family who have been born with the curse will transform into their assigned animal of the Juunishi when 'huggled' by a member of the opposite sex. Although this concept seems simple, as the story progresses, we find that there is much more to the curse of the Souma family than it first appears.



    At any time, there are fourteen members of the Souma family who are affected by the curse. Out of these fourteen, there are twelve who will each be cursed with one animal of the Chinese Zodiac. At the time the Fruits Basket story is told, Yuki Souma is cursed as the mouse, Hatsuharu Souma is cursed as the cox (or ox), Kisa Souma as the tiger, Momiji Souma as the rabbit, Hatori Sohma as the dragon, Ayame Sohma as the snake, Rin Sohma as the horse, Hiro Sohma as the sheep, Ritsu Sohma as the monkey, Kureno Sohma as the rooster, Shigure Sohma as the dog, and, of course, Kagura Sohma as the boar. There is also a member of the family who is cursed by the cat, who was left out of the Juunishi because of a trick played by the mishevious mouse. Of course, the member of the family cursed by the cat is Kyou Sohma. There is also one member of the family who represents the god of the Juunishi tale for whom the goodbye party that was attended by the animals was thrown for (For more on the Juunishi legend itself, visit our Introduction page). In Fruits Basket Akito Sohma bears this part of the curse, and he heads the family with a facist grip over all of the members lives.



    'Huggling' is an important concept in the curse of the Sohma family. Generally 'huggling' can be hugging, holding, running into, falling ontop of, or pretty much any contact between the torsos of two people. The basic idea is that the cursed members of the Sohma family (excluding  Akito) cannot huggle a person of the opposite sex without transforming into the animal of the Juunishi they are cursed as. However, like the curse itself, there is more to huggling and transformation than just that basic idea. For one, huggling does is not applicable between members of the Juunishi, regardless of their sex. This most likely also applies to Akito, but there is no reference to it in the show. Also, continued huggling means that the person will not transform back into their regular human form. As mentioned in the show a few times, the time it takes for the Juunishi to change back into a human varies, but clearly it does not take more than a few minutes. However, the discretion in time it takes to un-transform does allow for those classic  and embarrassing nudity scenes. Furthermore, transformations can result from weakness. When those with the curse are sick, or weak for any reason, they may transform into their Juunishi form, which is why sickness amoungst the Souma family members is taken quite seriously.



    Although the members of the family who are cursed are each cursed by a specific animal (excluding Akito), they do not necessarily retain the qualities and character of that animal. For example, Hiro Souma, who is cursed as the sheep, seems to have the opposite personality than which the sheep is said to have. Generally, sheep are thought to be quiet and slightly weak-willed, needing guidance from others. However, Hiro's personality is the stark opposite of this. However, many of the cursed members of teh family do display the qualities of their animal. Kagura Souma is a prime example of this. Her tendancy to have violent outbursts (especially when it comes to keeping Kyou in line) is very much like the qualities of the boar by which she is cursed. Also, the cursed family members also do not retain the properties of their animals when they are transformed. For example, Hatori Souma, who transforms into the seahorse (the baby form of the dragon), will not die if he is not put into water. When Hatori transforms in front of Kana Souma, she panics and throws him in a bathtub of hot water. Once he transforms back, he comments that if you threw a real seahorse in a bathtub of hot water, it would probably die. Also, when transformed, the Juunishi are still able to talk. Furthermore, when they transform, the members of the Juunishi do not necessarily change into their animal that is usually accepted by the Chinese Zodiac. As mentioned before, instead of turning into a dragon, Hatori Souma transforms into a seahorse. In Japanese and Chinese folklore, a seahorses have the ability to grow into dragons, and thus, are the baby form of a dragon. Another example of this is Hatsuharu Souma, who transforms into a cow (bull) as opposed to the ox. Also, a mistake that is often made in reference to Fruits Basket is that the Juunishi are cursed with the animal who's year they were born in. This, however is not necessarily true. .Yuki and Kyou were both born in the year of the dog, and Hatori, Ayame and Shigure, although cursed by different animals, were all born in the same year.



    There are few outsiders who know about the Souma family curse. This is why Tohru is so important to the Souma family; she is an outsider who accepts and loves all of them, despite their differences, when they are otherwise separated from the normal world. However, whenever an outsider learns the Juunishi secret, they and the family seem to suffer because of it. For example, Yuki Souma revealed the secret by accident once to a group of friends. The result of this was that all of his friends had to have their memory erased, which hurt him deeply. Another who was allowed to know the secret of the Juunishi was Kazuma Souma. He was not cursed by the Juunishi , however his grandfather bore the curse of the cat before Kyou did. Becuase he knew of the curse, and because of the discrimination against the cat within the family, he was prejudiced against his grandfather, and regretted not forming a relationship with him for the rest of his life. Moreover, Kana Souma, as mentioned before, learned of the curse through Hatori. Kana was very accepting of Hatori when she learned of his curse, and she continued loving him despite it. However, when Hatori and Kana requested Akito's blessings to get married, he denied them and hurt Hatori's right eye, simply because Kana was an outsider. After this, Kana was guilt-ridden; blaming herself for Hatori's injury. In the end, Hatori chose to erase her memory and put her out of her pain. Hatori was forced to erase the memories of when he and Kana loved eachother, and let her leave him, oblivious to the fact that they were so deeply in love. This is the essence of the curse. It forces all of the Juunishi into a life of segregation and loneliness, and whenever they have a hope for happiness, it is snuffed out because of the curse.



    It would seem that the ability to erase memories also comes with the Juunishi curse. In Fruits Basket, the member of the Souma family who has the ability to erase memories is Hatori Souma. We don't know, however, if the ability to erase memories was taught to Hatori, or if he was born with it. Also, we don't know if there is always someone in the family who can do this, or if that person is always the dragon or if they are always a Juunishi. Another thing that is not known about the curse is whether the person cursed by a certain animal is always the same sex. For example, could the next Souma family member who is cursed by the rabbit be female? The only example there is of this is Kyou and Kazuma's grandfather, who were both cursed by the cat, so an answer cannot be derived. Also, there is no explaination given as to why it is the Souma family that is cursed. We do not know if it was random, or if an ancestor brought the curse upon the family.



   SPOILER WARNING --  As mentioned before, there are, at any time, fourteen members of the family who bear the curse of the Juunishi. On top of those cursed with the 12 animals of the Zodiac, there are those cursed as the cat and the god. In Fruits Basket, Akito Souma is cursed as the god. It would seem that in the Souma family, it is the job of who ever is cursed as the god to rule over the family. Akito does so with a cruel and remorseless hand. However, Akito's tyranny is some what understandable, when you consider his position. Akito, being cursed as the god, bears the full weight of the Juunishi curse. He does not face the problem of transformation into any animal, however, Akito is fated with a short life, marked by constant illness. Akito rarely leaves the Souma main house, and he needs constant medical care from Hatori. Akito knows that he will not live a long life and as a result of this ever present pressure, Akito is controlling and malicious. He tells Hatori to erase Kana's memory, hurt Kisa once Hiro admitted his love for her, abused Yuki his whole life, discriminated against Kyou and attempted to sabotage Tohru. His vicous actions make Akito a difficult character to love, however, Tohru, with her ability to understand other's hearts, shows you that Akito is the most tragic member of the Juunishi and you cannot help but pity him in the end. The other famiy member who is a part of the Juunishi curse is Kyou Souma, who is cursed by the cat. Throughout the Fruits Basket series, it seems that Kyou is cursed like all the other Juunishi, but in the form of the cat, who is not a part of the 12 animals of the Zodiac. Because of the fact that the cat was not at the farewell party, and was therefore not included in the Juunishi, Kyou was faced with a life full of rejection and discrimination. However, Kyou's troubles run deeper than just being excluded by the other Juunishi. Kyou has the ability to transform into two other forms, unlike any of the other Juunishi. Throughout the series, Kyou always wears a black and white bracelet on his wrist. When that bracelet is removed, Kyou transforms into a huge, disgusting cat monster. This is the result of him being cursed with the vengeful spirit of the cat, who was tricked and excluded from the Juunishi by the rat. Throughout his life, those who knew of the curse avoided Kyou, and even his mother was afraid of his other form and eventually committed suicide. Kyou and Akito are the most unfourtunate of the cursed Souma's, and the difficulties of their life have left clear emotional wounds on both of them. However, Tohru proves the harsh wounds that these two carry can be healed through love, understanding and acceptance.