Arisa Uotani

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Fruits Basket character
Arisa Uotani
Gender	Female
Age	16-17
Height	168.5 cm
Blood Type	O
Sign	Aquarius
Occupation	End of Anime: 2nd year at Kaibara High School Manga: 3rd year at Kaibara High School

Arisa Uotani (魚谷 ありさ Uotani Arisa) is a fictional character in the manga and anime series Fruits Basket.

Arisa is the best friend of Saki Hanajima and Tohru Honda.

Role in the story

Kyoko Honda, Tohru's mother, helped Arisa Uotani give up life as a member of an all-girl gang (Kyoko was an ex-gang member herself). Since then, she— affectionally called Uo-chan by her friends (see Japanese honorifics)— has been very protective of Tohru, and grateful for her mother's influence. Her rough exterior is a misleading first impression, for close friends know her true generous spirit. In school, Kyo Sohma is her adversary (though they are very much alike in certain ways), and they bicker often. Due to her background, The Prince Yuki Fangirls find her scary and violent, and generally stay away from her.

Later in the manga, she falls in love with Kureno Sohma, not knowing he is related to her rival as well as is the personal assistant to the ruthless head of the family, Akito Sohma. Also, In Chapter 71 of the manga, it is revealed that Arisa may be considering becoming a model due to Tohru's suggestion.

Background

During her childhood, Arisa's mother eloped with another man when Arisa was in first grade, causing her father to turn alcoholic after his wife left. This severely saddened Arisa and, like her father, caused her to resort to something in which she believed would make her pain more easy to deal with, though this time it being releasing her sorrow and anger in becoming a violent, aggressive gang-member. One day when she was in middle school, already well into her 'career' as a gangster, she heard gossip from her other gang-members stating that her hero, Kyoko Honda, who had gained a reputation for being a ruthless leader of 'Yankee' gang, was living nearby and had a daughter going to her school. Extremely excited, Arisa went looking for Kyoko's daughter and managed to bump into her during school, though discovering that she was not the Yankee daughter she imagined, but a cheerful, joyful girl named Tohru Honda. Later through Tohru, Arisa met Kyoko, though was furiously upset at seeing that her hero had matured and changed from a terrifying gang-leader to a warm, adorable, caring mother.

Afterwards, Arisa frequently began bumping into Tohru and her mother and slowly began to change through speaking to them and staying at their house, little-by-little learning what was really most important in her life. Finally understanding, Arisa opted to leave her gang and announced her resignation as a member, though was fiercely beaten as 'punishment' by her fellow members. One gang member, however, only known as "Sempai", sympathised with Arisa and rushed to Kyoko's house before Arisa's beating, telling her that she can not save Arisa by herself and needs help. Kyoko succeeded in saving Arisa, and ever since then Arisa became extremely close to the Honda family. Kyoko and Tohru helped to continue to heal Arisa emotionally, and with assistance, Arisa's father finally began working on leaving his alcoholism and soon became a responsible parent. The pair now lives in a unit with one bedroom and one living room. Both she and her father have jobs, his of unknown origins, hers at a coffee shop and convenience store. It is in this convenience store that she meets Kureno Sohma. As of Volume 13 Arisa now works at a family resturant in hopes she will see Kureno Sohma more often.

Relationship with Kureno Sohma

While working at her local convenience store as a cashier, Arisa bumped into a young man carrying a heavy load of bags of food. Suggesting he should not carry such a large amount of things by hand, Arisa directed him towards the baskets in the store. Touched by Arisa's kindness, Kureno thanked her and bowed which caused all of his items to crash onto the floor like dominoes, sending Arisa into laughter, because she thought it was something Tohru would do (In fact, that was Tohru had actually done when they first met in middle school, except it was a stack of notebooks rather than food).

Later, they met again, and he bought her lunch. When they are seated in the restaurant for lunch, Kureno laughs at the fact that he had went to buy groceries, because it was "pointless" and he did not usually do things like that. Arisa, though, is hurt by his words, because she thinks that he meant that their meeting was pointless. She then asks if he is happy, and he says he is very content. This causes her to lose her temper and yell at Kureno, and she storms off. Kureno runs after her, and clarifies the meaning of his words, and admits that he, too, was very glad they met once more. He stroked Arisa's hair and, to her, felt like it was his own way of saying "I love you" (Chapter 50). Arisa's crush on Kureno continued to develop, constantly thinking of and talking about him, but she did not know he was a Sohma. Tohru decides to investigate if the Kureno Sohma is the same Kureno that Arisa loves. She believes that his sudden departure after lunch was because of their nine-year age difference, but in reality, Kureno feels it is for the better if he does not love her back due to the will of Akito, the head of the Sohma family, who does not allow Kureno to associate himself with outsiders. Kureno is also afraid for her, possibly thinking that Arisa would get hurt if Kureno were to admit his love to her (which is what Akito does to many of the people the juuninshi loves).

In Chapter 127, Kureno and Arisa do meet again, this time in the hospital that Tohru is located. Kureno tells Arisa that he doesn't know what to do now that Akito doesn't need him anymore. Arisa then tells Kureno that she has been wanting and needing him ever since.