Kisa Sohma is the Zodiac representative for the Tiger. She is initially shy and reserved, but began opening up to others when Tohru Honda consoled her.
Appearance
Kisa has a golden orange hair color and orange brown eyes. She often wears cute little dresses along with her school uniform.
Story Overview
History
When she started middle school, she was constantly teased for her hair color. Eventually, everyone started pretending that she wasn't there. However, they managed to notice her every time she would say something, and would laugh at her for everything and anything she said. Soon after her class started ignoring her, she sealed her ability to speak. Hatori Sohma said that her words were there, but she mentally shut them off.
She stopped talking to her family, then she stopped going to school, and then she ran away from home. Hatsuharu Sohma found her, and on the way back, he bumped into Tohru and Yuki, who were waiting out the rain. When Tohru saw Kisa, she said, "Aww, what a cute cat!" After Tohru eventually spoke Kisa's thoughts, she began to become very close with her. Yuki helped her to talk again, and then, when Tohru was coming home from school, Kisa went toward her saying "Onee-San..." (big sister or sisterly figure)
Before Summer Vacation
The Appearance of Kisa Sohma, the tiger of the Zodiac
Kisa would start to purposely cause her family problems, and one day she ran away. The whole family was searching for her, but Hatsuharu Sohma found her in a bush, in her tiger form. While taking her back to Shigure Sohma's house, he bumps into Yuki Sohma and Tohru Honda, who are waiting for it to stop raining. Tohru Honda mistakes Kisa for a cat, and tries to pet her. Kisa bites her in her return. Kisa is separated from Tohru, and they go back to Shigure's house to treat Tohru's bite. When Hatsuharu starts talking about Kisa, she bites him too, and then runs off again.
After Kisa runs outside, Tohru goes after her. She finds her in a bush in their front yard, then Kisa bites Tohru again. With Tohru's hand still in her mouth, Kisa's mother comes. She starts to tell Kisa what she has been doing to her, and that she was very hurt that Kisa would run away from her. Tohru (still being bitten) then starts to talk to her mother about what she thinks is in Kisa's mind.
She says "You know, it could be she just didn't know how to tell you. Maybe she was worried about what you would think. Or she was worried that, she'd disappoint you... Maybe she was afraid. And maybe, maybe she didn't want anyone to know. So she tried to hide it. She put on her bravest face, and she did her best to look strong in front of everyone. But still, she knew. She knew she wasn't strong. And the more she tried to hide it, the more ashamed she felt; the more she began to hate herself. And the more she began to be afraid that you would hate her too if you knew the truth. If you knew how scared she was to face the other kids. And maybe, that's the reason she couldn't say anything to you. Maybe that's why she ran away. Because the thing she was most afraid of, the thought that scared her the most, was that her mother would reject her. That she would be hated by someone she loved".
Kisa then transforms back, and instead of biting Tohru, she holds her hand. She starts to cry, and Tohru puts her sweater around her. Kisa remains at Shigure's house, following Tohru "like a baby duck". During a call from Kisa's mother, Tohru discovers that Kisa is always in her mother's thoughts, and that she loves her very much. Eventually, with Tohru's strength, she regains the ability to speak.
Yuki Sohma went through a bit of the same thing. He said that to have confidence, you need to have other people say they like you. Then Kisa thinks of how Tohru always said "I love you" to her, and soon after Kisa goes with Yuki to pick Tohru up from work, calling her "onee-chan" ("sissy" in the English anime dub) and hugging her.
The Appearance Of Hiro Sohma - The Ram of the Zodiac
When Hiro meets Kisa for the first time in several years face-to-face, her first words to him are to return Tohru's notebook to her. They argue about Kisa idolising Tohru, leaving Kisa at the brink of tears. Hiro decides to give in and return Tohru's notebook. When Kisa asks why he had not helped her when she was bullied, Hiro is lost for words but explains to her vaguely why he kept a distance from her (but he never mentions he was behind Akito beating her up). Eventually, Hiro tries to say the words "I love you" but he can not. Kisa, however, understands on the spot that he wanted to say that, and forgives him.
Afterwards, Hiro joins Kisa and Tohru watching Mogeta at Shigure's house.
During Summer Vacation
Kisa and Hiro have their first shown fight over a remark passed off from Hiro about Tohru's 'obsession' with her mother. In the end, Kisa feels some guilt for having sided with Tohru (when naturally, a person should side the person he/she loves, at least in her mind). She decides to apologize to Hiro and goes to Hiro's room, but Hiro accidentally hits her in the face with his door when he decides to apologize to her. They soon make up.
She is delighted when she finds out that Hiro's mother is pregnant.
After Summer Vacation
Sorta Cinderella
Kisa, Hiro, Momiji, and Haru go to see the play put on by Tohru, Yuki, Kyo, and their friends. In the entrance hall, Hiro notices a couple of boys staring at Kisa saying things like: "Check out the cutie!", "Is she foreign?", and "I wanna talk to her a little! Just a little won't hurt!" Hiro warns Kisa to be careful. She responds that she'll be careful not to bump into anyone in that big crowd. Hiro mutters, "It's not the crowd I'm worried about" while glaring at the boys. Haru notices, too, and picks up Kisa and carries her into the auditorium. After the play, Hiro comments, "Crud, what was that?" While Kisa goes on about what a great job Tohru did onstage, it becomes apparent that Momiji got the whole thing on tape, and he says they should put it on a DVD.
Tohru in the Hospital
Kisa and Hiro go out and are near the hospital when they see Kyo vomiting (from running). Kisa is very happy to be able to greet Kyo directly, rather than relying on Hiro to speak for her. Hiro does not like the sight of Kyo's vomit, but Kisa gives him her handkerchief to wipe his mouth. When Kyo sees Kisa and her actions, he remembers how Tohru had treated him before, taking care of him despite being a troublemaker and the odd one out of the Sohma Family.
When her curse breaks at last, she is with Hiro and his baby sister. They appear worried when she begins to cry.
When she and Hiro think about Tohru leaving with Kyo, Kisa goes into an overdrive of emotion. Hiro comforts her, telling her there is no point holding back her emotions and tears. As Kisa cries, she remembers all the memories she had with Tohru, right from the start when Tohru met her for the first time.
The Tiger of the Zodiac
Kisa is possessed by the spirit of the tiger. As she isn't an adult or teenager yet, when she transforms, she is shown as a tiger cub. She has honey brown-colored eyes and orange-colored hair due to sharing similar traits with her animal, the tiger. This has led to kids at school picking on her and eventually ignoring her (in the anime, the silhouettes are shown mostly as girls), but eventually she overcomes this and embraces the fact that she is cursed and is different from other girls but she learns to love herself.
Relationships
Hiro Sohma
Kisa and Hiro have always liked each other very much, but never really mention the word "love". Whatever Kisa says, Hiro always agrees and understands. For example, he watches Mogeta simply because Kisa wanted to watch it with Tohru (and he winds up liking it, too). Another example of this is when Tohru takes Hiro and Kisa to the playground. Hiro does not want to go, but when Kisa replies that she likes it there, he forgives Tohru.
When they were younger, Hiro had told Akito that he was in love with Kisa (something, mentioned by Hatori, is that one should never tell Akito that they love someone). Akito ends up injuring Kisa out of pure rage, putting her in the hospital for 2 weeks. When she is bullied by her classmates, he can not bear to go near her and help out, because he is scared of Akito finding out and hurting her again. In chapter 126 Hiro is trying to confess his love for her and questioning whether she was fine with his not being cursed anymore, but he never really gets it out as Kyo has vomited in front of them. He is with her when her curse breaks. In the final chapter Kisa is holding him by his arm, and when she starts crying about Tohru, Hiro comforts her.
Tohru Honda
Tohru is Kisa's make-believe 'onee-chan,' which means 'big sister'. On the day she meets Tohru, Kisa bites her hand. But after running out of Shigure's house, Tohru finds Kisa and makes a very inspirational speech. After that, Kisa clings to Tohru like a real little sister does to her big sister. She always sees Tohru as her big sister and in the English anime, she always calls her 'sissy'. Kisa loves Tohru very much, and goes on and on about her. She tells Hiro that whenever she's around Tohru, she feels all warm inside. Hiro says he doesn't like Tohru at all due to jealousy, and Kisa is very sad and surprised at his reaction to Tohru.
Hatsuharu Sohma
Kisa looks up to him as an older brother. When Kisa first appears, Hatsuharu is searching for Kisa when he finds out that she has run away from home. He finds her in the bushes in Tiger form and carries her in a blanket but stops when he sees Tohru and Yuki along the way. When she first begins talking again (even though it was only a Mhm'), Hatsuharu grabs and holds her there for a while. He tells her that her voice is beautiful and that it has been such a long time since he and the others have heard it. It is shown that Hatsuharu adores Kisa and treats her like a younger sister when he searches for her in the rain.
Gallery
Trivia
- Kisa calls Tohru "onee-chan", which means "big sister" (she calls Tohru "Sissy" in the English dub).
- Kisa can be a bit clueless at times, as during Somewhat Cinderella, when Hiro Sohma tells her to be careful, she says that she won't "bump into anyone", but he was really telling her that there were other boys who had their eyes on her. She didn't pick up these clues but is saved by Haru.
- Kisa's hair color is similar to Kyo's, but in reality, this is one of the few things they have in common. Kyo was not happy with Kisa staying at Shigure's house, and angrily told her that it shouldn't be that hard to speak. This nearly drove Kisa to tears until Tohru intervened.
- Kisa's name is derived from the second month, kisaragi or "changing clothes month", which is the month of the tiger of the traditional Japanese calendar.
- Kisa feels it is a major accomplishment when she is able to greet Kyo directly instead of relying on Hiro to speak for her.
- Kisa sometimes gets frustrated at Hiro because of his treatment of Tohru. This leads to some arguments, but they are resolved and only add to the closeness of their relationship.
- Kisa and Hiro together is like a tiger and a lamb.
- Kisa considers the "Mabudachi Trio" her uncles, even though they are actually her older cousins, calling them Uncle Hatori, Uncle Shigure and Uncle Ayame. Additionally, since Kisa considers Shigure her uncle she could also see Akito as her aunt, though this is highly unlikely since she put Kisa in the hospital previously.
- As she refers to the Mabudachi Trio as her uncles it is possible she also considers Ritsu and Kureno her uncles as they are in the same age group. If she considers them her uncles it is possible she considers their girlfriends Mitsuru and Arisa Uotani her "aunts".
- Kisa shares both the same Japanese and English voice actor with Lynette Bishop from Strike Witches.
- Kisa is the youngest female member of the Zodiac, and is dating the youngest male of the Zodiac.
- Funnily enough, in book 10, if you look closely when Kisa and Hiro are talking in her room, you can see she has a stuffed tiger on the bed.
- Kisa is a Russian word meaning "Kitty".