Parental Abandonment/Anime and Manga: Difference between revisions

 

* 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.]]

** 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.

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

** {{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 ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'', ''[[xxxHolic]]'''s sister series, nobody has a present set of parents. ''Nobody''. Perhaps the most egregious case would be Sakura, {{spoiler|who had both a mother and father way before the beginning of the series, but had them erased from existence when Syaoran's desperate wish to save her life screwed over the space-time continuum}}.

* 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]]).

* 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).

** 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.

*** 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.