No, this will not be a rant about Tohru, a rave about Kyo or Yuki, or about Akito. Yup, they're our main characters, but they're not actually what made this manga stand out for me.
I am going to honour those who kept their wit in the midst of insanity, those who braved the storm that was the rules of the Zodiac. The characters that nearly made me cry were Momiji the Rabbit, Hiro the Ram and Shigure the Dog. Tohru's mom Kyoko, Ritsu the Horse and Hatori the Dragon deserve mention, too.
If you've followed the series, you'll notice something about the characters I picked out. Yes: it's sacrifice. In fact, the whole story sings of sacrifice for the sake of selfishness: guilt and vindictiveness pervade the whole cast, and only Momiji and Tohru truly stay clean. And that's where Momiji comes in. We're led to believe that Momiji's really just a spoilt brat (though cute), but that impression is quickly shattered when we learn his true story - that he has had to abandon his mother and sister for their own well-being. This has virtually meant losing his father, as well. But Momiji takes that loneliness head-on, cries painfully, and moves on, and this courage warms the heart of every reader.
Again with Hiro: we see a brash and prickly exterior, who's all set to be the new antagonist. He's not even cute like Momiji. Yet, his fangs have evidently been sharpened by circumstance - he's this way because he knows no other way. And we learn, too, of his sacrifice for Kisa, later on. In a story full of repression, where home is more like jail, Tohru perhaps has it easiest as the only one who's free to live out her own life.
Explicit sacrifice pervades the entire tale, but every character has their own pain, and the hidden hurts rankle most of all, especially for the lack of sympathy. Shigure has been there, right from the beginning - a fun-loving and seemingly happy writer prone to laziness and providing comic relief. He does have a serious side when protecting our youthful, innocent cast from the Main House, but otherwise remains the cheerful dog we know. Yet, later on, we slowly catch on that he's had history with Akito, and while it's never really said explicitly, it's quite clear that Shigure has suppressed his own wanting to be loved for the best interests of those he does love.
A manga crying for love and belonging. From start to end it's about a family, and the most painful irony is that this family knows nothing about being a real family, and rejects anyone who tries to teach it so - brutally. They go mad, like Momiji's and Kyo's mother; they get hurt, like Hatori's fiance Kana. Perhaps the art could be tweaked, and perhaps a little more normality could be injected - as Kimlinger commented, "good parents are as common as penguins in the Sahara—every single one is either neglectful, smothering, unfeeling, abusive, misguided, or dead". The storytelling, however, is top-notch, and the characters can only continue growing on you even after 23 volumes. This is, undoubtedly, shoujo emotion evocation at its best. Prepare tissues.