Ritsu Sohma - Personality
Ritsu is a very gentle and soft-spoken individual, who, when not in one of his frenzies, acts and speaks in a manner befitting any classical Japanese hostess - elegant, seamless, and poised. He makes a beautiful and convincing woman in the traditional Japanese view, both in appearance and attitude. His voice is usually very soft, and light, high enough to easily be mistaken for a female’s.
As described in his history, Ritsu prefers to dress in women’s clothing because he feels more comfortable in them, safer from the expectations of society and his family which he can never seem to meet. I believe cross-dressing comforts him because he does not feel confident enough to wear men’s clothing, as he feels a true man has confidence in himself. Ritsu has incredibly low self esteem, thanks to his parents constantly apologizing to his family for his lack of remarkability and, eventually, his wearing girls’ clothing. He feels he can never do anything right, and that there is nothing about him that makes his existence worthwhile.
Ritsu’s most defining quality is his tendency to over-react any time he feels he has offended, inconvenienced, or otherwise bothered somebody, and apologize profusely in dramatic, violent outbursts. These outbursts include, but are not limited to, screaming, sobbing, shaking, flinging himself about the room and threatening suicide.
He feels that he is a burden and a nuisance to everyone, and though he tries as hard as he can to be a good child and family member, he never feels he is adequate, and feels the need to apologize every time he feels he has done something wrong. His apologies over all the little things, while humorous, always seem to end in him apologizing for his very existence. I believe that by constantly apologizing, Ritsu is trying to make up for the fact that someone as useless as he sees himself is even on the face of the earth.
After his outbursts, he’s quieter and exhausted, but no less apologetic. When not apologizing, he is very polite in all of his phrasing and his voice is very gentle. However, even when calm, he constantly refers to himself in humble or self-depricating ways, shedding a constant light on how lowly he sees himself.