Akito Sôma is the head of the Sôma family and occupies the central role of God in the Chinese Zodiac curse that binds thirteen family members. Born as a girl to the family head Akira Sôma and his wife Ren, Akito was raised as a male from birth at her mother’s demand. Ren feared that a female child would compete for her husband’s affection and threatened to abort the baby unless she was presented as a boy. Only a few of the older cursed members, such as Hatori, Shigure, Ayame, and Kureno, knew Akito’s true gender, having dreamt of her on the night she was conceived. This forced upbringing created a deeply conflicted identity, and Akito developed a profound resentment toward both her own femininity and women in general, which she expressed through particular cruelty toward the female members of the Zodiac.

Akito’s father Akira was her only source of warmth and acceptance, telling her she was a special existence. When he died from an illness during her childhood, his parting words left her with a confusing message that she and her mother were both special to him. After his death, Ren told the young Akito that she was an unwanted toy who had only been born to amuse her father and that no one had any further need for her. An elderly maid tried to comfort Akito by giving her an empty box, claiming that Akira’s spirit lived inside it. Even knowing it was empty, Akito kept this box for years as a treasured object, unable to let go of the hope that her father was still with her. These childhood experiences instilled in Akito an overwhelming fear of abandonment and a desperate need to be chosen as the most important person in someone’s life.

Throughout most of the story, Akito presents as cruel, manipulative, and emotionally unstable. She believes the world is a bleak place where unconditional love does not exist outside the bonds of the Zodiac curse. As God, she feels entitled to absolute control over the cursed members, whom she calls her children. She uses physical violence, psychological torment, and the supernatural power of the curse to keep them bound to her, punishing anyone who tries to form meaningful relationships with outsiders. Her fear of being abandoned drives her to make a deal with Kyo, the Cat, promising that he will not be confined to the Cat’s isolated room if he can defeat Yuki, the Rat, before graduating high school. This deal is not a kindness but a method of control, ensuring that Kyo remains focused on a futile rivalry rather than building a life for himself. She also made a bet with her mother, allowing the cursed Sômas to form bonds with outsiders to prove that they would always return to Akito, confident that the outside world would eventually reject them.

Akito’s role in the story is that of the primary antagonist, a figure of absolute authority whose fear and loneliness manifest as tyranny over the Zodiac members. She maintains a particularly destructive hold over Yuki, whom she raised from childhood and confined to a dark room as punishment, leaving him deeply traumatized. She forced Hatori to erase the memories of his beloved Kana after the woman suffered a breakdown caused by Akito’s own cruelty. She stabbed Kureno, the Rooster, in the back during a moment of rage when his curse was already breaking. She scratched Tohru Honda’s face and threatened her with a knife, viewing the kindhearted girl as a threat because Tohru’s unconditional acceptance was helping the Zodiac members form bonds outside the curse. Her relationship with Shigure is complicated, involving both love and manipulation. Shigure loves Akito deeply, but his inability to express that love properly and his own manipulative tendencies created a rift between them. When Kureno’s curse broke early and he stayed by Akito’s side out of pity rather than magical compulsion, Shigure became jealous and left the main house, further isolating Akito and worsening her behavior.

Despite her cruelty, Akito is driven by profound insecurity and the desperate fear that without the curse bonds, her existence has no meaning, just as her mother always claimed. She suffers a mental breakdown as the Zodiac bonds begin breaking one by one, unable to accept that her world is collapsing. Her turning point comes when she confronts Tohru on an unstable cliff. Tohru, rather than responding with anger, tells Akito that she understands the terror of being alone and offers her hand in friendship. When Tohru falls from the cliff and is hospitalized, Akito visits her entirely on her own accord, something that surprises even Hatori and Shigure. With encouragement from Momiji, Akito finally apologizes to those she has hurt, including Kureno, who forgives her without hesitation.

Akito’s development leads her to accept her true female identity, growing her hair to shoulder length and beginning to wear women’s clothing. She reconciles with Shigure, and the two finally confess their true feelings for each other. The curse breaks completely, freeing all the Zodiac members, and Akito is released from the role of God that defined and confined her entire existence. She begins the process of atoning for her actions, no longer relying on magical bonds to hold people close but instead learning to form genuine human connections. As the God of the Zodiac, Akito’s notable ability is the supernatural bond that compels the cursed Sômas to obey her, making it mentally impossible for them to defy her commands. This power is not magic she consciously controls but rather an inherent aspect of the curse itself. Beyond this, she holds absolute authority as the head of the Sôma family, a position that grants her control over the lives and fates of all family members, cursed or not. Her frail health, a physical manifestation of the weakening curse, is another notable aspect of her character, symbolizing that even God cannot escape the limits of the mortal body.