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.]]

*** Also, Seto Kaiba and his brother Mokuba were orphans "because I had fired our parents."

** 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.

** 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.}}

* So is Sagara Sousuke from ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]''. Similarly, Kaname apparently has her own apartment and little connection to her family in the anime, though they were referenced more directly in the novels.

** {{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]]).

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

** Meowth of Team Rocket was abandoned as a kitten and had to join a gang for food.

* 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).

** 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.

** 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.

** 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.

* A suprising number of characters from ''[[Baccano!]]!'' are a victim of this:

*** 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.

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