Parental Abandonment/Anime and Manga: Difference between revisions

Seriously, what's up with the [[Anime|Japanese]] and their fetish for [[Parental Abandonment]]?

 

 

* A huge portion of the cast of ''[[Narutaru]]'' are missing one or more parents. Of course, this being ''[[Narutaru]]'', Shiina's mother is the only cast member who truly abandoned her child. [[Kids Are Cruel|The other cases of missing parents are much more... disturbing.]]

** In the manga, we ARE shown Ryuji's father, but he's not star parenting material by any stretch and only appears for a few chapters.

* The lack of parents in the spin-off ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]'' is even worse. Even if the series does take place at a boarding school, some situations definitely call for parental involvement. Fubuki disappears for a year, and is in a coma for a few days/weeks after resurfacing; his sister Asuka, another student, falls apart over him, but where are their parents? (To be fair, one episode suggests that their mother died when they were very young.) Jun Manjyome runs away for three months; no parents looking for him or threatening the school with a lawsuit. (Indeed, his two older brothers seem for all intents and purposes to be his guardians, but why, after they become estranged, he still has access to an unlimited amount of his family's money, is a mystery.) Ryo and Sho Marufuji's living mother is briefly mentioned in the dub (when Sho talks to Rei in her first apparition, he says their mother said Sho is growing up more alike to Ryo, which suggests they're in good terms and maybe in regular contact), but she's never shown. The show is big on sibling relationships, but aside from an appearance by Hayato Maeda's father in an early episode, not at all with parents and children.

* Likewise Wataru in ''[[Sister Princess]]''. While no genealogy is provided for his (half-?)sisters, the most likely solution to their parentage implies that they are all also missing at least the father whom they must share with Wataru. In the [[Visual Novel]], all the legal ones have alternate endings where they turn out to be [[Not Blood Siblings|adopted]].

** Rei lives with her maternal grandfather in both the anime and manga, but it is only explained in the manga why she does. Rei's mother died of an illness when Rei was little and her father spent all his time at work instead of being with his dying wife, which Rei never forgave him for. Rei was left with her grandfather after her mother's death because her father was too wrapped up in his work to care for Rei; Rei only sees him once a year on her birthday. Her father is a major part of the reason Rei distrusts men so much, though her distrust is shown only in the manga because anime Rei is boy crazy (maybe seeking for a [[Replacement Goldfish]]?).

** Makoto's parents died in a plane crash when she was little, which caused her fear of airplanes. Makoto lives alone and is supported by an unknown relative.

* Maia in ''[[Daphne in the Brilliant Blue]]'' is an orphan -- and the circumstances surrounding how she became orphaned are key to the series' plot.

** Subverted with Gloria. After the group finds a [[Door Step Baby]], she talks them out of turning it in to the police by talking about how horrible orphanages are. Then {{spoiler|it turns out it's her sister's baby, and Gloria left him there to get out of babysitting.}}

** {{spoiler|Well, maybe not. It was recently revealed that [[Cardcaptor Sakura|his parents]] are still alive somewhere. Just not in his universe. He doesn't remember them due to a [[Deal with the Devil]] or three, and so just assumes them to be dead. His "[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle|brother]]" does remember them, but ran away from home at the age of seven, and we'll stop there because that’s where the parental ''abandonment'' ends, and something [[Oedipus Rex|else]] begins.}}

* In ''[[Noir (anime)|Noir]],'' Mireille's parents were murdered when she was a small child. And when Kirika awoke in Tokyo for the first time, she was alone in her apartment, with neither parents nor Soldats agents pretending to be parents.

** Likewise, Chloe's parents are never mentioned, but Altena acts as a surrogate mother figure to her (It's implied that she had done the same for Kirika before the [[Easy Amnesia]]).

** {{spoiler|The fact that A: it is mentioned that Shinji's class are all pilot candidates, and B: none of them ever mentions a mother, except Kensuke, whose mother is explicitly dead, puts the pile of discarded EVA parts seen late in the series in a ''very'' creepy light.}}

* Renton in ''[[Eureka Seven]]'' had no mother, his father died in the 'Summer of Love' incident, and his sister left home when Renton was young. This left him with his paternal grandfather, until he joins the Gekko State in the beginning of the series.

* Ataru in ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' still has both his parents, but his father ignores him and his mother frequently wishes he had never been born.

** Weird case, in that they're seen frequently (never dropped or written out) and definitely are raising Ataru, but they're not involved in any stories and don't have names. Leading to one of the most genuinely weird moments, in an OAV, where the mom ''introduces herself'' as "Ataru Moroboshi's mother".

* Subversion: In the ''[[Sakura Taisen]]'' TV series, Sumire Kanzaki is estranged from her industrialist father and grandfather, who have been absorbed in work for seven years and apparently ignoring her completely, much to Sumire's chagrin; [[Lonely Rich Kid|she has become convinced that they don't care about her.]] In the next-to-last episode, though, we learn it's been because they've dedicated themselves to building a superweapon for Sumire and the Teikokukagekidan all that time, and the father is actually a warm, friendly and loving person. He asks Sumire to forgive him before the last battle, and she does.

* Exception: In ''[[The Twelve Kingdoms]]'', the parents of Youko Nakajima, who is [[Trapped in Another World]], are repeatedly shown in the real world worrying about her, before eventually accepting that she is gone for good.

* Borderline case: The main characters' parents in ''[[Marmalade Boy]]'' are impulsive and flighty, but clearly try to [[Open-Minded Parent|be supportive of their children when they are around at all]]. When both pairs divorce and remarry each other's former spouses, the whole group moves in together to form a single household so that the children don't need to be separated from their parents. However, they leave the two teens alone as they go off on vacations, they repeatedly dismiss Miki's concerns as "taking life too seriously," and never try to determine the cause of Yuu's emotional detachment. The four parents are so in sync with each other that some fans refer to them as "the hive mind."

** Meanwhile, Satoshi is the only other character who has a parent appear, and he's a rich playboy who allowed his dead wife to think he was having an affair to cover the fact that he was having an affair ''with someone else'' (although is otherwise a nice guy, from what we've seen); Meiko can't stand her home, as her parents are incredibly hateful towards each other, both having affairs and emotionally distant (not to mention the mother is apparently an alcoholic); Kei is estranged from his family due to [[Education Mama|the enormous pressure put on him as a musical prodigy]], although he's implied to have patched things up in the end; Cousins Ginta Suou and Tsutomu Rokutanda are rivals because their family constantly compared them to each other growing up (and this throwaway line is the only mention they ever get!); Arimi and Suzu's families are never mentioned at all, beyond the fact that Suzu is Satoshi's cousin and, in the anime, her father gets Yuu his scholarship for an American school. In the anime we have Anju Kitahara, who apparently has a rather normal family life with parents who overprotect her a bit since [[Ill Girl|she has a serious illness]].

** Alternatively in ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', Red is the only Dex Holder without any mentioned relatives, which leaves the question as to who is managing his house when he's away or who is even supporting him. To make things worse, in the FRLG arc, when he notes how frantic Blue and Green have become due to their kidnapped family members, he muses that he's not freaking out because he doesn't have any family in danger. The wording is vague enough that we don't know if he means that his family's in danger or if he doesn't have any family to begin with.

*** Yellow's only mentioned family is an uncle that is in the plot from time to time, but he doesn't live near her and doesn't seem to keep in touch with her enough to be considered a "parental figure". (He doesn't recognize her Pikachu in GSC, when she's clearly had it long enough to be pretty close to it.) Her parents are never mentioned, either, and she seems to live by herself, despite being 14 (at the time) and not out on a trainer journey.

** Subverted in the episode ''Having a Wailord of a Time!'' When the new trainer picks Mudkip as her starter, her father, feeling sorry for the Treeko left behind, decides to become a trainer alongside his daughter, taking Treeko as his starter.

** In ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure]]'', Hareta's father dumped him at Rowan's lab when he was an infant. Of course, Hareta's father, like Hareta himself, is kind of an idiot. Rowan however is supposed to be a genius--a genius who decides that Hareta is better off growing up in the forest. So the kid gets let loose in the woods till he's ten, being dumped off by both his father and his father figure. Oh yeah, and no mother is ever mentioned.

*** Also from DPA, Mitsumi was an orphan, and she was raised by Cyrus, the [[Big Bad]].

* Exception: Lan from the ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' games and anime interacts with both of his parents. His father is a scientist who becomes vital to the series' plotlines, and his mother is a type of moral support when Lan finds that he and Mega Man need to save the world.

* Subversion: In ''[[Jubei-chan]]'', main character Jiyu's mother is dead true to form, but this has made her extremely close to her [[Bumbling Dad]], who is aware she's a (very strange variant of the) [[Magical Girl]]. Their relationship is more important to the series than the plots of the various villains, except where the relationship and the plots intersect.

* In ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'', Fuu's mother died when she was still a little girl. As for her father, {{spoiler|he's the "samurai who smells of sunflowers" Fuu is chasing for most of the series, having run out on her and her mother early in Fuu's life. In his defense, he was fleeing death for being a Christian in the then-still isolated Japan; [[It's Not You, It's My Enemies|had he not left, the whole family would've been slaughtered]]}}.

** Natsuki's [[Disappeared Dad]] is actually still alive, but he's implied to have hooked up with another women while Natsuki was in hospital recovering from the accident that killed her mother (supplementary materials suggest her parents weren't on good terms). Combine that with First District's links to her mother's death, and is it any wonder that Natsuki has issues trusting other people?

* In ''[[Love Hina]]'', most of the Hinata Apartments residents are either estranged from, or just don't seem to have, parents. Motoko and Kaolla are orphans. Sarah is living with Seta, despite apparently having parents overseas (in the anime, where it is inexplicably implied they are abusive; in the manga, though, her parents are deceased college friends of Seta and Haruka). Shinobu lives at Hinata-sou as a result of her parents divorcing and moving away. (Her parents have several appearances, and became part of the plot for some episodes.) Naru lives away from home because she feels she doesn't fit in after her mother remarries. Keitaro has parents, who are mentioned but never seen, although their voices are heard in the first episode and he talks to them by phone occasionally. (In the manga version, though, Keitaro's parents are alive and well; they run a bakery, and Keitaro frequently fights with them over his decision to attend college instead of taking the family business.) Parents aren't mentioned for Kitsune (who is Naru's contemporary) or Haruka (who is ''Seta'''s contemporary, and thus more than old enough to be independent).

** ''[[Heartcatch Precure]]'' has this in spades. Tsubomi's parents were always off on business trips since she was young and [[Stepford Smiler|she hid away her loneliness with a smile]]. It wasn't until one year she finally broke down in front of everyone, leading to her parents quitting their job and moving to another town to start anew. Itsuki is shown to be living with her mom, grandfather and (at one point) sickly older brother, but no sign of her father. And Yuri's dad had been missing for three years when he went to search for the Great Heart Tree {{spoiler|then came back and became one of the series' [[Big Bad]]}}.

* The otherwise-lighthearted ''[[Potemayo]]'' uses this trope with Sunao. His father is constantly abroad on research, and {{spoiler|his mother died prior to the beginning of the series}}.

* Just about every major character in ''[[Saiyuki]]''. In sum: Sanzo's and Hazel's foster fathers are dead; Goku couldn't remember his even if he wasn't (but he is); Hakkai grew up in an orphanage; Gojyo's stepmother (Dokugakuji's birth mother) was killed by Dokugakuji to keep her from killing Gojyo himself; Kougaiji reveres his trapped, frozen mother, but refers to his and Lirin's father by his name; Lirin is well aware that her mother has no use for her beyond resurrecting her father, and wonders if Kougaiji's mother will love her instead; Kami-sama was raised {{spoiler|by Ukoku Sanzo, otherwise known as Nii Jenyi}} and is well aware he was nothing to him but a toy; and Homura was abandoned due to the manner of his birth and grew up in a prison cell. Whew!

* Very consciously [[Averted Trope|averted]] in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. While a good number of the characters had lost their natural parents [[Artificial Human|or never had parents in the first place]], practically all of them are adopted into families that care for them deeply and raise them in a loving environment. Not surprising considering how the series stresses the importance of family.

* ''[[Night Head Genesis]]'' is an instance in which the trope is strictly followed up to a certain point, Naoto and Naoya are literally abandoned by their parents because they fear the siblings' destructive powers. As a result the brothers spend 15 years in a research facility, eventually escaping only to find out that {{spoiler|their parents have blanked out certain memories and are convinced that the two have perished as children while trying to same a little girl from drowning.}}

* In ''[[Tantei Gakuen Q]]'', Kyuu lost his father at an early age and lives only with his mother. {{spoiler|His father, Satoru, was a detective and had to live his life practically undercover until his death.}} Megu's parents are in good terms with her, but they both work abroad and she lives with her older sister Akane. Kazuma lives with his parents in a [[Big Fancy House|huge mansion]], but they're never seen onscreen. Kinta's father is a high-ranked police officer [["Well Done, Son" Guy|with whom he has a rather strained relationship]] until the end of the anime. Ryu is an orphan who lives with his tutor, Yurie, and calls her "mother" in front of others {{spoiler|per orders of his evil grandfather, the villainous King Hades from the Meiousei organization}}

** Yui Hongou's parents are only shown once; in their only appearance, they seemingly are rather normal people. In the anime, her father is never even shown; we only see her mother when she asks Miaka if Yui had taken a detour to her home, which is the first clue about her being swallowed into the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho.

** [[Parental Abandonment]] (more exactly, her parents are going through a really bad divorce) is ''supposed'' to be Mayo Sakaki's [[Freudian Excuse]]. Unfortunately, it comes off as [[Wangst]], and Mayo is ''such'' a [[Jerkass]] that people don't give a shit in the end.

** <s>Several</s> Most of the Seishi are orphans or abandoned. Here are some plot-driving examples:

*** Hotohori's mother was an iron-fisted [[Fold Digger]] in the court and died a few years after he was appointed as the heir to the throne.

*** Amiboshi and Suboshi's parents died in the war, apparently in front of the twins.

*** {{spoiler|Nakago's mother was raped and murdered in front of him when he was a child. In his character novel, he kills the former general of the Kutou army, who is his [[Disappeared Dad]]... of course, this happened after a [[Luke, I Am Your Father]] moment}}.

** The aliens themselves also bear mentioning, as none of them seem to have parents to speak of, save for Quiche, who's seen holding the hand of what might've been a parental figure in the anime. Nothing in the way of relatives is mentioned for Pai or Taruto, who's about Bu-ling's age and yet somehow allowed to go off secure a planet for his people...

* In the ''[[Pretty Sammy]]'' series, Misao's father hasn't been home in years while her mother is always working and frequently leaves her home alone, only putting forth enough effort to have a meal provided.

** Saya and Diva’s biological mother {{spoiler|died long before they were born (they hatched out of cocoons found in her mummified corpse)}} and no information is given on their father, {{spoiler|though it’s probably safe to assume either Nathan is their father or he’s dead.}} They were adopted by the first Joel who {{spoiler|locked Diva in a tower and experimented on her while treating Saya like a princess. Of course when Diva got out she killed him.}} Finally, Saya was adopted by Kai and Riku's stepfather George Miyagusuku in 2004, {{spoiler|only to be forced to kill him as he was turning into a chiropteran.}}

** Kai and Riku were both orphaned and adopted by George, but then lost him for above reason.

** Rosette and Joshua's parents died when a ship they were on sunk. The two were sent to live in an orphanage, but Joshua went [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|insane]] when Aion gave him Chrono's horns, and Joshua froze their caretaker and the other orphans in time.

** Satella's parents were killed by a demon missing his horns, and was raised by her butler afterwards. In the anime {{spoiler|her butler is then killed by the same demon}}.

** Demons have a society set up something like bees, in the sense that they have a queen from which they're all born from -- so technically, none of them have parents (or even completely understand the concept). However, it still plays into the backstory of Chrono and Aion -- {{spoiler|their mother was a human young woman, pregnant with twins, who was kidnapped by the demons and forcibly turned into their [[Hive Queen]], Pandemonium. When Aion discovers this, it causes the [[Freak-Out]] that turns him into the [[Big Bad]].}}

* In ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'', Haruhi and Kyon seem to have parents (who are never seen on-screen) but Kyon is quite perplexed when he meets up with Yuki at her apartment and she's living there alone. Later on, after Ryōko disappears, Haruhi suspects something is up when she discovers that Ryōko's apartment manager never saw her parents -- because she also lived alone, in the same building as Yuki.

* Ayase from ''[[Okane ga Nai]]'' is an orphan whose parents have died when he was still a child and he is living alone when the action begins. This does not last long, though, as he quickly spirited away by Kanou with whom he is forced to live and have sex in order to pay an exorbitant debt. In the manga version, Ayase is shown to treasure every memento that reminds him of his parents, even going to the extent of disobeying [[Seme|über manipulative and forceful Kanou]] to rescue pictures of them from his former apartment that is about to be sold.

* ''Mobile Suit [[Gundam]]'' has a great example of non-dead parental abandonment. Amuro Rei's father Tem Rei is very much alive during the majority of the series (and might technically still be alive afterward), but he is a [[Mad Scientist|man obsessed with his work]], and cares little about either his wife or son. By the time Amuro sees him again later in the series, he has gone quite mad after an accident. As for Amuro's mom, Kamaria, she lives on Earth, and is also likely still alive after series end for at least a while, but the two of them are especially estranged due to her extremely strict pacifistic principles (she called her own son a monster for killing a Zeon soldier in ''self-defense''). The ''[[Gundam]]'' novelization also implies that the real reason she didn't leave Earth with her husband was because she was having an affair.

** Michael Blanc's parents were killed when he was young and he was raised by his older sister until {{spoiler|she killed herself after being court-martialled for accidentally shooting her commanding officer/former lover in battle}}.

** Sheryl Nome was a homeless girl in the slums of the Galaxy fleet before she was found by [[Mad Scientist]] Grace O'Connor and turned into a galaxy-wide pop-idol.

** Also, ''everyone'' in ''[[Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas]]''. Justified since it's set in the 18th century Europe.

* In ''[[School Rumble]],'' Tenma and Yakumo Tsukamoto live without their parents. No explanation is given and the father is the only parent seen (and then only in flashbacks). Harima Kenji is living with his cousin and we never see his parents (though he does have a younger brother who I would assume lives with them), Oji Karasuma's parents live in America, and we actually get to see Eri Sawachika's parents but they are still away most of the time, leaving her in the care of the family servants.

** However, the series seems to avert the trope overall. None of the instances cause damage or discomfort to characters or viewers, beyond engendering mild empathy for Konata. Her single-parent relationship with her father is very loving and supportive in both directions (the loli/otaku stuff is played for comedy). The Hiiragi twins, Miyuki and Minami all have delineated, idyllic family lives. Screen time is just too expensive to spend on multiple parental units, because the show isn't about them. Yet ''[[Lucky Star]]'' focuses far more often on family life than comparable shows like ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'', ''[[High School Girls]]'', ''Hyakko'' and (despite the age differences), ''[[Ichigo Mashimaro]]'', and presents it quite positively.

* ''[[Deadman Wonderland]]'' features Ganta (orphaned in an [[The Tokyo Fireball|earthquake]]); Yo and Minatsuki Takami ({{spoiler|mom abandoned Minatsuki during the earthquake; Minatsuki killed her and much later set her dad up to be killed by her brother, probably out of sadistic boredom}}); and Shiro (no family to speak of other then being childhood friends with Ganta and his mom, and possibly The Director who {{spoiler|implants Deadman organs in her and wants her to kill him. She obliges}}).

* In ''[[Berserk]]'', Casca was thrown out of her house at a very young age because her parents couldn't support her, and was taken in by a noble who wanted another servant girl -- only it turned out that the scumbag didn't want her for cooking or cleaning, and she was saved by Griffith. Guts, meanwhile, was born from a pregnant woman's hanged corpse and taken in by Shisu, a prostitute who had just had a stillbirth and thus saw baby Guts as a [[Replacement Goldfish]]; she later died of the plague. His adoptive father, a mercenary leader... deserved ''everything'' Guts eventually did to him.

* In ''[[Penguin Revolution]]'', Yukari's mother left her and her father when Yukari was young. Early in the first chapter of the series, Yukari's father sends her an email to tell her that his latest business venture has gone bust, he has to "lay low for a while," the lease on their apartment is up ''that day,'' and he's canceling both of their cell phone contracts so she won't be able to reach him even if she tries. Yukari is thus left to fend for herself at the age of sixteen.

** While Ryu's the only one with a normal family, a lot of fans assume his unseen mother to be dead or divorced from the family. (In ''[[Battle of the Planets]]'', oddly enough, Ryu's counterpart Tiny was an orphan like the rest of the team)

* This is the central premise of ''[[Aishiteruze Baby]]'', when Yuzuyu's mother gets stressed out and abandons her to her relatives and Yuzuyu's cousin Kippei is forced to take care of her.

* The protagonist of ''[[Code Geass]]'' has this as part of his [[Start of Darkness]].

* The manga ''[[Bunny Drop]]'' focuses on a young man named Daikichi having to raise a six-year-old girl with this. He wound up with little Rin after her father (Daikichi's ''grandfather'') passed away, there was no mother in sight, and nobody else was willing or able to take her. Daikichi manages to track down Rin's mother, Masako, and decides that the (much younger) woman, while indeed caring about Rin, is in no way mature enough for the job.

** Feiling, Kaoru, Specs ("Megane") and Big Boss all have no visible parents. Reiko appears to live alone except for a governess. Yukino's parents died some eight centuries ago, in the Heian Era.

** However, there is an aversion in Ruriko, whose family is intact and frequently visible.

* ''[[RahXephon]]'' has this happen repeatedly to the protagonist. But then, given that his family tree is more of a [[wikipedia:Klein bottle|Klein Bottle]] it can be hard to tell that this happened, other than one obvious example.

** Firo Prochainezo's mother succumbed to tuberculosis when he was ten years, and his father died of lung cancer before he was even ''born''. He has effectively been raised by [[The Mafia|the Camorra]] since then.

** The Gandor brothers' mother is never mentioned. Their father died when Luck was in his early teens, promoting his eldest brother Keith [[Promotion to Parent|to the role of parent]], and forcing Luck into [[The Mafia|the family business]] at [[Improbable Age|a very early age]].

** Eve Genoard's father and eldest brother were murdered by the Runorata mafia family when she was sixteen. Her mother died early on in her life, and her other brother is missing. {{spoiler|He's in a [[Cement Shoes|cement-filled oil barrel at the bottom of the Hudson River]], and ''[[And I Must Scream|still alive]]''}}. She's being raised by her butler and maid since.

** In the ''Baccano!'' manga, as well as the first ''Grand Punk Railroad'' novel, Jacuzzi tearfully tells the Russo henchmen interrogating him that he doesn't have a mother.

* ''[[Rave Master]]'' is no stranger to this trope. Haru and his sister were both left with a friend when their parents left their island {{spoiler|Their mother later revealed to have been killed by Gale Ravegroove no sooner after finding their father. Who then puts himself into exile when infused with a dark bring that'll destroy the world if he gets emotionally distressed.}} Haru's father returns near the climax of the first part of the series {{spoiler|only to end dying saving Haru from a cave in}}. Musica's family was killed when a evil swordsman tested his newly created sword on them {{spoiler|made from Musica's grandfather whose as it turns out is alive and well if not a drunkard. He gets better after the swordsman defeated}}. Elle's parents apparently died before the storyline. Ruby's father was slain by Doryu. And Jegan destroyed most of Jet and Julia's hometown. Even on the villain end this has happened, Lucia {{spoiler|is the son of Gale Ravegroove whose mother was killed in a raid on [[Demon Card]] headquarters. His father thought he was killed too so he never knew he survived the attack.}} Reina's {{spoiler|father was accursed of a crime he didn't commit and died in prison}} and Deep Snow {{spoiler|who never really had a parent as he was artificially created considered Gale Ravegroove as his father.}}

* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'': Ed appears to have raised herself {{spoiler|until it's revealed that her nutty-to-the-point-of-horribly-neglectful father just dumped her at an orphanage one day and completely forgot about her. When they ''do'' reunite, it takes Ed's father a moment to remember who she even is, and he forgets all about her again seconds later}}.

*** All of the above is played for laughs - [[Refuge in Audacity|and it actually * is* funny.]]

* An odd case in ''[[Real Drive]]'', where both Minamo's parents are alive and well (and even still married), but she was still mostly raised by her grandmother, due to their jobs' requirements. At the time of the series she's mostly cared by her older brother, who calls himself her guardian. Their father works on the same island and at least in theory lives in the same house, but is so often absent that his first appearance doesn't happen before episode 9. Still, Minamo never questions the extreme workaholism of her parents in true Japanese style.

** Which is a shame, because we'd love to see that phone call. "Hi, mom? I won't be home for dinner. I'm going to be pushing a truck from Houston to Las Vegas. I should be back in about six weeks, assuming I don't die of heat exhaustion. Tell sis she can have the Hot Pocket I left in the freezer. Bye!"

** We do see a few scenes on their return from the Death March in volume 11. Some parents are largely kept in the dark, like Sena's parents and Yukimitsu's [[Education Mama|mother]], and some get more of the gory details, like Komusubi's dad and Monta's (apparently apathetic) mother.

** Hiruma has a distant relationship with his father {{spoiler|who does make an appearance at the Christmas Bowl}} and no mother is mentioned.

* Maron Kusakabe from ''[[Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne]]'' was turned into a [[Broken Bird]] because her parents often left her at home alone when she was little because of their jobs, which was apparently fairly traumatizing to the poor kid when she was left alone at night. Even when they were home, the anime at least implies that they fought a lot. Later, before Maron was even in grade school, they both left to work in other countries, and haven't contacted her since when the series begins. She now seems to have a deep-seated fear of being alone, especially at night, and cannot comprehend "love" because her parents weren't around to tell her about it. The only reasons Maron is in any way mentally stable when the series begins are Miyako's family, who live right across the hall and took care of her when she was little, and Finn, whose presence keeps Maron from being alone in the apartment.

* In ''[[Pandora Hearts]]'' Oz's father is not a model of good parenting. He ignores his son so much that Oz ''doesn't even remember his face anymore'', and the last two times Oz met him he a) {{spoiler|told his son he was disgusting and he never wanted him}} and b) {{spoiler|threw him into the Abyss}}. Yeah, [[Abusive Parents|Oz's dad needs the crap kicked out of him]].

** Chapter 78 confirms that {{spoiler|Liz and Patti}} are an example of both this and {{spoiler|[[Son of a Whore]].}}

{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Liz}}''': {{spoiler|I still resent the mother who abandoned both me and Patti, but---... Even though I heard that she was the most beautiful prostitute in Brooklyn, I don't feel any gratitude for her just for giving birth to me, not matter how beautifully she did it...}}}}

* In ''[[Toradora!]]'', Ryuuji Takasu's father is dead {{spoiler|but we later learn that he just walked on his mom when she was still preggers}}, so he lives with his mother Yasuko. OTOH, Taiga Aisaka lives alone because she has problems fitting in at home ever since her mother re-married, and {{spoiler|her father ran away from home after his business went down the toilet, and is quite a [[Jerkass]] otherwise.}} In the end, {{spoiler|Taiga returns to her home so she can deal with her familiar problems.}}

* Is the driving force in the story of ''[[Chance Pop Session]]''. All of the major characters deal with the issue from one side of it, {{spoiler|Akari, Yuki, Nozomi and Reika were all abandoned as children, though the first three have forgotten that fact. And Kisaragi deals with the guilt of abandoning her children years before.}}

* Considering its [[Shonen|genre]], with the exception of [[Digimon Frontier|Frontier]], the [[Digimon]] franchise subverts this trope. The parents not only play a supporting part helping their kids, they [[Digimon Adventure|help develop the character]], [[Digimon Adventure 02|give one of the more]] [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|emotional aspect to the show]], [[Digimon Tamers|or attempt to rescue]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|their daughter from the]] [[Big Bad]].

* Averted ''and'' used in [[Birdy the Mighty]]. In the old OVA series, Tsutomu's family, including both parents, were a hilarious part of the story; but his parents drove away from the story at the start of the much later first TV series.

* The titular character from [[Kimba the White Lion]] has his father shot by poachers, while his mother drowned in a boat. Lyra also lost her parents to hunters.

* ''[[Minami-ke]]'' is a show about three sisters and their daily lives, ranging in age from high to elementary school. But... where are their parents???

** Nowa is a half-elf abandoned at birth, though Alleyne serves as a good surrogate mother.

** Cattleya's major motive for fighting in the tournament is to try to figure out what happened to her husband (and father of her child Rana, which is where it comes into this trope).

** Listy's motive as a bandit is to acquire money for the orphanage where she was raised.

* Ohana the main character of [[Hanasaku Iroha]] is sent to live with her grandmother at a hotspring inn after her mother's boyfriend has racked up substantial debt forcing them to flee.

* In [[Bakugan]] there are several examples:

** Dan's parents are the ones seen the most, but by the third season his dad disappeared and his mother did too by the fourth.

** Marucho's parents were not seen during seasons two and three, but by the fourth his dad reappeared.

** Mira's father died at the end of season two and a mother was never mentioned.

* In ''[[Daily Lives of High School Boys]]'', Motoharu and his sister's parents were never home.