Parental Abandonment/Anime and Manga: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'', we have the Kaiba brothers (biological parents died when they were little, adopted father raised Kaiba under a [[Training From Hell|borderline abusive schooling regimen]], then committed suicide after Seto took over his company), Jounouchi/Joey (estranged from his mother since his parents' divorce, and his drunken father is only mentioned once in the first anime series), Anzu/Tea, Honda/Tristan, and Ryuji/Duke with no visible or suggested parents, and Yugi himself, whose mother appears twice, making him for all intents and purposes appear to live with his grandfather, a major supporting character.

** Naturally, it's [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]'' several times. After Tea and Tristan snuck on a boat heading for the private island of the [[Big Bad]] of the season, Tristan wonders if their parents even care that they're missing.

** 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.

** {{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.

** ''[[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}}.

** 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.

** Appears to be subverted by Megumi, whose parents, though never seen, are still around and active in her life -- and whom she seems to wish would disappear.

* ''[[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}}.

** 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.