Kyoko Honda

Kyoko Honda is Tohru Honda's late mother in the Fruits Basket anime (primarily appearing in flashbacks across the 2019 remake and briefly in the 2001 version). She is depicted as a warm, loving, and wise parent who profoundly shaped Tohru's kind-hearted and selfless personality through her teachings and example.

In her youth (shown more extensively in the 2019 series and the related Prelude film), Kyoko was a troubled delinquent and leader of an all-female biker gang known as "The Red Butterfly" (due to the way her motorcycle's tail lights looked at night). She came from a neglectful family, felt unwanted, and acted out rebelliously until meeting her husband, Katsuya Honda (a kind student teacher), who helped her turn her life around, leave the gang life, and build a happier future.

After Katsuya's early death from illness, Kyoko went through a deep period of grief and nearly gave up, but she pulled herself together for Tohru's sake, vowing to never neglect her daughter again. She raised Tohru single-handedly with endless affection, encouragement, and life lessons (like the importance of finding your own reason to live), while also extending care to Tohru's friends Arisa and Saki. Kyoko tragically died in a car accident shortly before the main story begins, but her memory and words continue to guide Tohru and even impact characters like Kyo Sohma.

In the anime, she's remembered as a fiercely protective, charismatic, and ultimately devoted mother figure whose past contrasts beautifully with the gentle, nurturing woman she became.