Parental Abandonment/Anime and Manga: Difference between revisions

* A huge portion of the cast of ''[[Narutaru (Manga)|Narutaru]]'' are missing one or more parents. Of course, this being ''[[Naru Taru]]'', 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 ''[[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.

*** 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.

** Even Minako's case differs depending on the adaptation: in ''[[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon]]'' she appears to be an orphan, with only an agent acting ''in loco parentis'' for her.

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

* 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.

* Watanuki from ''[[Xxx Holic (Manga)|Xxx Holic]]'': Orphaned at a young but unspecified age and has been living alone ever since.

** {{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.

** In a very notable occasion, Ryuu Kumon's father died right before his eyes -- and the audience's eyes, too, making it the one and only confirmed, on-screen death of a character in the ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma 1/2]]'' universe. Mind that Ryuu was six at the time, had already lost his mother, and was left homeless upon his father's death.

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

* 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.

** Played straight with: Seishuu (his parents were good to him, but his mother died in an earthquake and his father was killed by monster), Shoukei (her parents were overthrown and slaughtered for being injust sovereigns) and IIRC with Rangyaku and Keikei (parents died when they were kids, so they live with Rangyaku's boss Enho)

** 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]].

* In ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]'', Ash's father ''seems'' to be alive but not around, for some vague, non-traumatic reason. As well, it seems that not only is it socially acceptable, but a ''cultural expectation'' that if a child wishes to be a Pokemon trainer, he/she has to leave their house at least at the age of ''ten'' and travel the world looking for Pokemon completely alone (unless they find unrelated traveling partners). This is mitigated somewhat by the general helpfulness of the ''Pokemon'' world's residents, and the fact that a Pokemon trainer is [[The Kid With the Remote Control]] of what is potentially an incredibly powerful weapon.

* 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).

* ''[[Soukou no Strain]]'' has an explanation too: the elite are chosen to be Reasoners before birth, and only one character has been shown to have a family member that ''wasn't'' a Reasoner, so they all must be either dead or fighting in the war. Sara's parents did, in fact, die when she was a small child.

* In the anime ''[[Ichigo Mashimaro]]'', the girls' parents appear rarely, if at all. Indeed, it is several episodes in before Nobue and Chika's are even mentioned, the first proof they even exist. Only Ana's are mentioned regularly, and her mother is the only parent whose face is ever seen.

** Nobue and Chika's mother appears briefly in the manga during a flashback in which she takes her daughters out on a trip.

* Both Lavi and Claus in ''[[Last Exile]]'' are orphans, forcing them to spend most of their childhood learning how to fly their fathers' vanship.

* ''[[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.}}

* ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' is very, VERY infatuated with this trope.

** Miaka Yuuki's parents had a REALLY nasty divorce when she was little and she lives with her [[Education Mama|over-exigent mother]] and her college-aged brother Keisuke. {{spoiler|In the manga, her mother re-marries later.}}

*** Soi's parents sold her to a brothel since they couldn't keep her.

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

** In [[Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden]] Takiko's [[Ill Girl]] mother dies of Tuberculosis in the FIRST Chapter, and her father is never around because {{spoiler|he was researching the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho to find a way to save his wife}}, not to mention the fact that he never wanted a daughter to begin with.

* The two sisters in ''[[Binbou Shimai Monogatari]]'' have a deceased mother and a father who ran off to hide from a big gambling bet.

** 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 (Anime)|Lucky Star]]'' focuses far more often on family life than comparable shows like ''[[Azumanga Daioh (Manga)|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.

** 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}}.

*** Father is never seen and supposedly died before Nagi could remember him. She has a few memories of her mother though.

*** Her grandfather is said to have given her some raising, but she is estranged from him from the start {{spoiler|and then she gets cut off from the inheritance.}} Mother figure is Maria.

** Sakuya Aizawa, whose father had an affair, but both parents are alive.

*** Her father, and two of her (full) siblings have been shown, presumably her mother was with the other two children during this event. She lives, and presumably was raised by her two butlers.

* In ''[[Rose of Versailles]]'' there are several cases. Andre's parents have passed away by the time he is 8, so he goes to live with his grandmother. Rosalie's adoptive mother passes away in an accident when Rosalie is a teenager- and Rosalie later finds out who her biological mother is, to her horror. Bernard's mother dies when he is 5. Robespierre's mother dies when he is young as well. Marie Antoinette's mother is still alive, but sends her away to France to get married when Antoinette is only 14 years old. Not much is known about Fersen's parents- though he is very close to his siblings.

** Majorly averted by Oscar, the protagonist, having both her biological parents outlive her! Also subverted by Alain having his mother be alive until he is in his mid 20's.

* Both series of ''[[Hanaukyo Maid Tai (Anime)|Hanaukyo Maid Tai]]''. Both of Taro's parents are dead, and both of Cynthia's parents gave her up to the Hanaukyo family.

* ''[[Super Atragon]]'': Go's father was a merchant marine captain that supposedly died when his ship capsized near Antartica during Go's early childhood. Go's mother died later in life. {{spoiler|His father is Captain Hayate.}}

** Griffith's parents are never mentioned.

** Casca's parents sold her to a noble as a servant (though he wanted her for services ''[[Sex Slave|other]]'' than cleaning and cooking.)

** Isidro is an inversion of the trope, as he left his parents for some reason.

** Schierke's birth parents are never mentioned and it as never explained how she came to be under the guardianship of Flora, but {{spoiler|now that she's dead}} Schierke definitely qualifies.