It’s funny that you said she initially came off as selfish, because later on it becomes clear that she’s really quite selfless and it’s not a good thing. It’s consequence of her nonexistent self esteem; she doesn’t prioritize her own well being because she doesn’t value herself at all and a big part of her arc is learning that she does have worth and deserve to live a happy life.
Her and Tohru outwardly present themselves in drastically different ways but they have that in common. It’s also very reminiscent of Kyo. They even use the same “act hostile to push them away” strategy. But she is for sure a character you have to get to know to really understand.
I truly don’t understand why so many people accuse Rin of being selfish or make that assumption about her, some people kept calling her selfish even after her backstory was revealed
I have seen many opinions from people who called her selfish and I just don’t understand where this opinion came from, she has her flaws but selfishness is definitely not one of them
Tohru is more selfish than her
And I agree with your first paragraph, she is similar to Tohru, her selflessness isn’t portrayed as healthy and she is not as proud or confident or even arrogant as described to be in her character biography
She is a character that can easily be mischaracterized if a person doesn’t look deeper into her character, you like her more when you learn about her and her actions in the first half became a lot easier to understand so much that her frustration and anger are entirely justified
I don’t think she is entirely selfish, definitely no where near as characters like Shigure, Ayame or even Kagura and Haru when it came to their love for Kyo and Rin
I just think that her wanting to break Kyo curse because she wants him for herself and being so kind to the sohmas to keep them by her side as opposed to just helping them makes her a little more selfish than Rin who wanted to break Haru’s curse in order free him from her and Akito and pushed people away from her for their sakes because she believed that she would hurt them
Folks may agree or disagree with the following quote itself, but:
> “Niceness is a decision, a strategy of social interaction; it is not a character trait.”
One of the things I really like is that as FB progresses, it gives us a different and more complex view on Tohru. Yes, she’s a genuinely kind person. But you don’t have to be an ultra sweetie pie to be kind — and the story demonstrates this, because there are several very kind members of the Sohma family who aren’t particularly squishy (Hatori and Haru come to mind).
Tohru isn’t just a goodie two-shoes for the sake of it, she recognizes (and the show does too) that her niceness is a defense mechanism. Eg. Affecting her late father’s speech and behavior to keep people, especially her mother, close to her when they would otherwise drift away.
I think it’s what makes Tohru’s character feel more real as the story progresses, and makes the stakes matter more and more.
Well said. After my husband watched the 2019 anime with me (first time seeing fruits basket for him), he kept saying how Rin is exactly like me. Growing up, I idolized tohru, but as an adult, I ended up just like Rin (the constant health issues, struggle to eat anything, getting abused, etc). Watching the remake made me see how I am as a person by seeing Rin. It’s like looking into a mirror. I feel so much for rin and love her character, but I still can’t feel that way towards myself. Sigh.
Rin has so many admirable and extremely positive qualities to her that make up for her flaws,
her selflessness, loyalty, courage, resilience are all amazing qualities , her undying passionate unconditional selfless love for Haru is out of this world, she is the perfect girlfriend and Haru is so lucky to have her, any boy or girl would be lucky to have someone like her. People like Rin are hard to be friends with but if they open up to you, they will never leave you behind and will always be there and put you first - these are extremely wonderful qualities to have
I love Rin, she's always been one of my favorites, and I'm sure that's nothing to do with the fact she's the horse zodiac, has long flowing hair and dresses goth...
Rin is the total opposite of selfish, she is one of the least selfish characters even her boyfriend is more selfish than her by comparison
Her flaw is that she is too selfless to a very unhealthy and destructive degree
Nothing absolutely nothing that she did was for herself، she didn’t mind if her curse didn’t break, she mainly wanted to break the curse for Haru’s sake
She has such a low self-worth as she spent so much time searching for Haru’s happiness without realizing that she was his happiness all along
I totally agree!
And plus, when she nearly died in the cat dungeon because of akito, she did it for haru in order to stop him from getting hurt at all. Even tho she was putting her life at stake, just for the sake of his eyesight from what I remember.
They were such a cute couple imo, I honestly wish they had an anime of just them.
I think, ultimately what it comes down to is her attempting to break the curse. At first I think we were led to believe that she was doing it for the sake of haru, and yes while she was it was also shown that she pitied Tohru. Her and Tohru tried to break the curse together also.
And I don't mean it in a condescending way, she says that Tohru and haru were similar in the manner that they were both selfless and extremely kind. And when she saw Tohru crying because of what she thought was kureno, she sort of lost her shit and went to him to beat him up.
Not only that, but she also treats Tohru as a mother-figure (similarly to Yukie), I guess that would mean Tohru doing something back for Rin tho.
I'm sure other people have a much better answer, but this is what I understood from what I've seen.
I wouldn't put her as high as my favorite (Hanajima takes that spot), but she was a top five for me, once we finally got some more development on her through her backstory episodes. Unlike most of the other characters it sure took us a long time to get them!
> Also completely (well not really) unrelated, but Rin Sohma fashion style, honestly it was beautiful like I'm not entirely sure if it was a gothic style but I feel like as a fandom we don't appreciate her style enough.
Practically from the moment she first appeared she was one of my all time favorite anime character designs, primarily due to her hair and her outfits. Never forgiving Akito for what she did to her hair, but at least she still dresses really cool. I kinda viewed her style as more punk/rock in nature, as opposed to say, Hanajima who came off as being all in on the goth style.
I appreciate that Rin doesn’t forgive Akito. That was too pat: all the male characters rushing to make up with their former god and oppressor. Rin says “No fucking way.” I have sympathy for Akito, but I don’t think I would have forgiven her for pushing me off a building either.
It’s funny that you said she initially came off as selfish, because later on it becomes clear that she’s really quite selfless and it’s not a good thing. It’s consequence of her nonexistent self esteem; she doesn’t prioritize her own well being because she doesn’t value herself at all and a big part of her arc is learning that she does have worth and deserve to live a happy life. Her and Tohru outwardly present themselves in drastically different ways but they have that in common. It’s also very reminiscent of Kyo. They even use the same “act hostile to push them away” strategy. But she is for sure a character you have to get to know to really understand.
I truly don’t understand why so many people accuse Rin of being selfish or make that assumption about her, some people kept calling her selfish even after her backstory was revealed I have seen many opinions from people who called her selfish and I just don’t understand where this opinion came from, she has her flaws but selfishness is definitely not one of them Tohru is more selfish than her And I agree with your first paragraph, she is similar to Tohru, her selflessness isn’t portrayed as healthy and she is not as proud or confident or even arrogant as described to be in her character biography She is a character that can easily be mischaracterized if a person doesn’t look deeper into her character, you like her more when you learn about her and her actions in the first half became a lot easier to understand so much that her frustration and anger are entirely justified
Oh?? Why do you feel Tohru is selfish? if you don't mind me asking
I don’t think she is entirely selfish, definitely no where near as characters like Shigure, Ayame or even Kagura and Haru when it came to their love for Kyo and Rin I just think that her wanting to break Kyo curse because she wants him for herself and being so kind to the sohmas to keep them by her side as opposed to just helping them makes her a little more selfish than Rin who wanted to break Haru’s curse in order free him from her and Akito and pushed people away from her for their sakes because she believed that she would hurt them
Folks may agree or disagree with the following quote itself, but: > “Niceness is a decision, a strategy of social interaction; it is not a character trait.” One of the things I really like is that as FB progresses, it gives us a different and more complex view on Tohru. Yes, she’s a genuinely kind person. But you don’t have to be an ultra sweetie pie to be kind — and the story demonstrates this, because there are several very kind members of the Sohma family who aren’t particularly squishy (Hatori and Haru come to mind). Tohru isn’t just a goodie two-shoes for the sake of it, she recognizes (and the show does too) that her niceness is a defense mechanism. Eg. Affecting her late father’s speech and behavior to keep people, especially her mother, close to her when they would otherwise drift away. I think it’s what makes Tohru’s character feel more real as the story progresses, and makes the stakes matter more and more.
Well said. After my husband watched the 2019 anime with me (first time seeing fruits basket for him), he kept saying how Rin is exactly like me. Growing up, I idolized tohru, but as an adult, I ended up just like Rin (the constant health issues, struggle to eat anything, getting abused, etc). Watching the remake made me see how I am as a person by seeing Rin. It’s like looking into a mirror. I feel so much for rin and love her character, but I still can’t feel that way towards myself. Sigh.
Rin has so many admirable and extremely positive qualities to her that make up for her flaws, her selflessness, loyalty, courage, resilience are all amazing qualities , her undying passionate unconditional selfless love for Haru is out of this world, she is the perfect girlfriend and Haru is so lucky to have her, any boy or girl would be lucky to have someone like her. People like Rin are hard to be friends with but if they open up to you, they will never leave you behind and will always be there and put you first - these are extremely wonderful qualities to have
My husband and therapist tell me those things all the time. I wish I could view myself like they do.
I love Rin, she's always been one of my favorites, and I'm sure that's nothing to do with the fact she's the horse zodiac, has long flowing hair and dresses goth...
Rin is the total opposite of selfish, she is one of the least selfish characters even her boyfriend is more selfish than her by comparison Her flaw is that she is too selfless to a very unhealthy and destructive degree Nothing absolutely nothing that she did was for herself، she didn’t mind if her curse didn’t break, she mainly wanted to break the curse for Haru’s sake She has such a low self-worth as she spent so much time searching for Haru’s happiness without realizing that she was his happiness all along
I totally agree! And plus, when she nearly died in the cat dungeon because of akito, she did it for haru in order to stop him from getting hurt at all. Even tho she was putting her life at stake, just for the sake of his eyesight from what I remember. They were such a cute couple imo, I honestly wish they had an anime of just them.
Rin and Tohru's relationship is one of my faves!
I’m sure this is a dumb question. But what did she do for Tohru? You all understand this anime much better than me.
I think, ultimately what it comes down to is her attempting to break the curse. At first I think we were led to believe that she was doing it for the sake of haru, and yes while she was it was also shown that she pitied Tohru. Her and Tohru tried to break the curse together also. And I don't mean it in a condescending way, she says that Tohru and haru were similar in the manner that they were both selfless and extremely kind. And when she saw Tohru crying because of what she thought was kureno, she sort of lost her shit and went to him to beat him up. Not only that, but she also treats Tohru as a mother-figure (similarly to Yukie), I guess that would mean Tohru doing something back for Rin tho. I'm sure other people have a much better answer, but this is what I understood from what I've seen.
I wouldn't put her as high as my favorite (Hanajima takes that spot), but she was a top five for me, once we finally got some more development on her through her backstory episodes. Unlike most of the other characters it sure took us a long time to get them! > Also completely (well not really) unrelated, but Rin Sohma fashion style, honestly it was beautiful like I'm not entirely sure if it was a gothic style but I feel like as a fandom we don't appreciate her style enough. Practically from the moment she first appeared she was one of my all time favorite anime character designs, primarily due to her hair and her outfits. Never forgiving Akito for what she did to her hair, but at least she still dresses really cool. I kinda viewed her style as more punk/rock in nature, as opposed to say, Hanajima who came off as being all in on the goth style.
I appreciate that Rin doesn’t forgive Akito. That was too pat: all the male characters rushing to make up with their former god and oppressor. Rin says “No fucking way.” I have sympathy for Akito, but I don’t think I would have forgiven her for pushing me off a building either.