There are many SPOILERS within, especially for this character. If you’ve watched only the anime do not read.

 

Ok so Akito is the abuser in the manga and the anime. He causes pain to the zodiac and controls the Sohma family. But was that her fault? Was she made to be that way? Did she stand a chance? Could anyone come out of such a life a normal and kind person?

I go back and forth between she and he because for some reason I still see her as he when talking about the early times. She really played that role well. The role that “they” wanted her to play.

Ok I’m going to say it: I think her father was wack.

He wasn’t shit.

Why do people idolise him? Man gave her unhealthy ideals and in the end he didn’t even love her the most, he loved Ren the most. That crazy… anyway… who am I to judge but really?!?!

I remember reading it and being like, “Aw, she loves her dad. She’s messed up because he left her.” But then I was like, “Wait so on his death bed he tells her that he loves Ren more? That all that crap Ren was sprouting was true?”

I don’t think he should have loved either more to be honest. As the story of Joseph shows us don’t favouritise. Even if you like one more keep it to yourself and find a way to love both people equally because someone always gets jealous and hurt. And as the saying goes hurt people hurt others. I find that to be true in this case.

And also she couldn’t be the head of the family as a girl? What kind of patriarchal bullshit was that? And the thing that gets to me the most is he made her into a god. He didn’t see Akito. He only saw the god possessing her and sharing her body.

The way it’s described in Furuba it’s like there are two souls in one. When they get released from the curse they talk about feeling like they’re finally the only one in their body and that there is no more confusion. Even when Hanajima did a read on them she found that there was confusion and warring sides.

So basically what I’m trying to say is: Akito was never a god. She shared her body with a god. And because of her father and the messed up ideals he carried no one saw her for who she was except perhaps Shigure.

And to treat someone like a god is always bad. We’re not capable of handling that. Humans are flawed and when you give humans such power over other’s lives well… read Fruits Basket, that’s what you get. It doesn’t end well.

Then there was Ren. Can you imagine hating your own child and being jealous of a child? I mean she was right, they were getting carried away with the way they treated Akito but why did she take it out on a defenceless baby? Did Akito ask to be born and be a part of the curse? No. Did she tell them to treat her that way? No.

And again why didn’t Akito’s dad Akira say something? Why didn’t he just once say, “Oh hey sorry girl, I still love you. My heart beats for you. This child is proof that our love is superior.” But nah man says it to his child on his deathbed. *kisses teeth* I could fight Akira.

Then there was the workers in the Sohma house who carried on those messed up ideals. They brought Akito up and enabled her behaviour. They didn’t discipline her and they didn’t teach her right from wrong. They didn’t even teach her that the box was just a symbol. They expected her to know because it was obvious to them. That pissed me off. If you don’t teach someone as a child how do you expect them to know as an adult? Knowledge doesn’t just fall from the sky.

I don’t normally have sympathy for such characters. I mean if I were to write about Doflamingo I would go off! I get that he had a hard life but Rosinante had a hard life and turned it around. But even I can understand Doflamingo would have had a chance if that town had treated them better. (But still he was a dick… I think what makes me so against him is that he killed his father. Can you imagine? And he did that in front of Rosinante… no… just no. That was evil.)

That was a tangent but what I mean is I am usually very hard line against certain types of villains but with Akito I really don’t see how that child had a chance. She was more broken than the rest of them and took it out on them. She had no one and was treated like a god when she wasn’t one.

She couldn’t even be a woman. She couldn’t even be herself. She was in a cage that was worse than all the other’s except Kyo’s.

Now whilst I can sympathise with her I don’t think what she did to Rin and Kyo can be brushed off. I don’t think it’s right to say, oh she didn’t know better and to just leave it at that. I’m glad that in the manga we get to see all sides of her character and still have her apologise sincerely.

I love how she doesn’t even stop there. She makes sure that no one will ever suffer in the way they suffered. She breaks the oppressive system and builds a better and healthier one.

She also doesn’t force Rin to forgive her or Kyo. She doesn’t force them to be like, “Oh it’s ok, all is well now.” She lets them go and accepts whatever they give her.

I like redemption stories like this. I got to see a truly awful character change, evolve, heal and make her world a better place.

Akito is such an interesting character who gave me a lot to think about. What do you think of Akito?