Tohru

Tohru
Family	Mama Tohru
Age	Unknown (30s)
Occupation	Antique shop employee, Chi wizard apprentice
Affiliations	J-Team (member), Augustus Black and Section 13; (formerly) Valmont, The Dark Hand and the Enforcers
English Voice Actors	Noah Nelson
Japanese Voice Actors	Naomi Kusumi

Tohru is a main character, antagonist in season 1 and protagonist in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons of the Jackie Chan Adventures series.

History

Little is known of Tohru's past with many details of his early life such as his childhood, adolescent years or even his surname and the identity and status of his father or other family aside from his mother being relatively unexplored. It is known that he was born a native Japanese citizen and even as a child is shown to have been very large. He developed a crippling fear and frequent nightmares of the Japanese demons known as Oni as a boy which was brought unintentially on by his mother who told him stories of their monstrous exploits against disobedient children so he would not misbehave. As an adult he moved to America at some point and became an enforcer for Valmont but did not especially desire such a life, only doing so because he was in need of money indicating he eithier did not recieve a full education or was unable to make enough money through legitimate means to support himself and/or his mother.  Tohru was once the best enforcer for the Dark Hand who led Valmont's Enforcers during most of the talisman hunts on behalf of the dragon sorcerer Shendu, and a personal servant to Valmont. Despite his formidable size and strength, he proved to be no match for Jackie's martial arts skills and Jade's cunning. His string of defeats displeased Valmont so much that, for the hunt for one of the last talismans (the Pig), he hired the then-freelancer Hak Foo to ensure success of the mission - a switch which Tohru greatly resented.

File:Tohru.jpg

Tohru

Eventually, Tohru changed sides when the Dark Hand succeeded in reviving Shendu, who then double-crossed Valmont. Forced to fight Shendu alone, Tohru was quickly defeated and sent flying out the side of the building, which he survived with moderate injuries. After providing Jackie and his friends with the decisive clue to track and stop the demon (specifically Shendu), he turned himself in to Section 13's authorities. When Shendu possessed Valmont and intended to free his fellow demon sorcerers, Jade recruited him into the fledgling J-Team.

As part of the hunt for the demon portals, Uncle chooses Tohru as his apprentice in Chi sorcery. Tohru's magical skills become more proficient and independent over the course of the show. He also develops a sibling-like relationship with Jade, each understanding and protecting the other.

Personality

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Tohru with Po Kong's Chi

Tohru is generally a rather slow person, both physically (because of his great bulk) and mentally. This does not mean that he is completely stupid, only that he goes rather easy on letting his mind do the hard work. During his time with the Dark Hand, Tohru was ruthless and would carry out any orders by Valmont to the limits of his efficiency and, if possible, beyond that. Ever since he quit the Dark Hand and joined the Chans, he has become more demure, easygoing and likeable (mostly because of being in a more friendly place), and is very protective of his new friends and family. He is especially fond of Jade, with whom he has a brother-sister relationship. He even once threatened to turn his old master Valmont inside out if he doesn't keep Jade safe, as well as break free of the Mountain Demon Chi's power when Jade screamed. He often finds himself being pulled into Jade's plans.

Tohru knows detailed and important information about the Oni from childhood stories told by his mother, which become vital during their hunt for the Shadowkhan Masks. He is very fond of kittens, likes grape soda and hates fish (which is a cultural irony, considering that in Japan fish makes up a large part of the local diet). The only things he truly fears are Oni and his formidable and constantly critical mother. He also refuses to hit women, as show when faced with the world's strongest woman, who was hired by Bartholomew Chang.

Trivia

• Tohru weighs 480-485 pounds which he says is too small for a sumo, but in fact the average Japanese sumo weighs 330 pounds. However, the sumos in the same episode were shown to be about 50 percent bigger than him.
• The sumo he faced in the competition closely resembles KOF character Chang Koehan without chain and iron ball.
• The talisman Tohru commonly uses is the Monkey talisman, which he uses to turn enemies into kittens (which Uncle scolded him about in one episode, since Uncle is allergic to kittens). He is also known to use the Rabbit talisman, which allows him to defeat enemies and carry objects over great distances in a short time.
• In the second episode of season 1, he is buried in several crates' worth of fish until he regains consciousness with a bellow of disgust, prompting the line, "I hate fish." This line becomes a running gag, spanning multiple seasons at one point when he lost his temper he even commented on the frequency he is "smothered with FISH".