Ritsu Soma

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Ritsu in animal form

Ritsu Sohma (草摩利津 Sōma Ritsu) is a fictional character in the manga and anime entitled Fruits Basket. He transforms into the monkey of the Chinese Zodiac whenever he is hugged by the opposite gender or his body comes under a great deal of stress.

Ritsu is an insecure character who dresses in women's clothing to conceal his feelings of inadequacy. He believes that because he sees himself as not particularly intelligent or physically powerful, he brings disgrace upon the Sohma family. He is constantly apologizing for his actions, even when he is not at fault. He can also be suicidal and has a certain spot on his side that makes him faint; Shigure Sohma takes advantage of it quite often.

Ritsu (or Ritchan-san as Tohru calls him) has a small (mostly fan-invented) relationship with Mitchan, Shigure's editor. Both are constantly stressed by Shigure's indifference to almost everything, and have a tendency to overreact.

Ritsu is also one of the few members of the Jyunishi who has never been hurt by Akito Sohma directly or indirectly (Kagura Sohma and Ayame Sohma appear to be the only other ones). This is both surprising and a blessing given that Ritsu tends to dress and act very feminine (a fact that Akito would not tolerate given that she despises the female members of the Zodiac, claiming them to be "stealing" the males away.), especially given the fact that Ritsu lacks confidence.