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Where are the Parents in Anime?

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TheChaos0 said:
That's actually the main reason why many protagonists live on their own or the parents are not featured at all, or if they are, they are happy-go-lucky or there's only one parent. They would get in the way by imposing limitation on what characters can or cannot do. If they are not there, you are free to put a character in any kind of situation.

Of course, working around such "limitations" can make the story more interesting. This trope gets used too often for my liking but it's not really a bad thing. Just sometimes, it feels a bit lazy.
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It's not impossible to write parents off in an interesting way, but if it isn't difficult to avoid making another typical groan inducing backstory.
 
PeakPointMatrix said:
What are you talking about, we met Ash's parents

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You sick fuck
 
SolVanderlyn said:
Dead, aliens/demons, deadbeat dads who left or didn't care, or any mix of those



The one exception is Light's dad. Light's dad is a totally normal guy with a normal job.

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I wonder if the newer generation will learn,

Sasuke, left for years on a mission

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Naruto, too busy being hokage

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well shit xD
 
I think of Sailor Moon:

Usagi's parents are actually there. Her mom moreso.
Ami's dad left the family to pursue painting or whatever. She still has her mom, but she's never seen in the anime. It's my understanding that she does appear in the manga.
Rei has no parents, just her grandpa.
Makoto's parents died in a plane crash. She lives alone.
Minako...I don't even know.

In Yu-Gi-Oh:
Yugi Mutou only has his grandpa, who either has his soul stolen or is running the card shop.
Joey has his mother, but also has an abusive alcoholic dad.
The Kaibas are adopted, and even their adopted father is dead.
 
I just watched a clip from Girls und Panzer and wondered the same.

and what the actual fuck at girls und panzer. someone actually thought 'yup, we're making this' smh
 
Parents wouldn't be ok with enabling the writer's fantasy of having 12 to 14 year olds going on some weird save the world fantasy adventure.
 
someone already answered but yeah, reason is they get in the way. I think the most hilarious case is Slam Dunk: Sakuragi has a family but we never ever see them

uncles and granpas are everywhere though
 
TCRS said:
I just watched a clip from Girls und Panzer and wondered the same.

and what the actual fuck at girls und panzer. someone actually thought 'yup, we're making this' smh
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GuP actually addresses this tho, in the best way possible

it's also the best action anime of this decade
 
Nirolak said:
The anime audience is heavily composed of teenagers, and being teenagers, many of them don't associate good times as spending time with their parents.

Similarly you don't see many prominent adults in anime in general, and when you do, they're often there to be shown up by the true genius and strength of teenagers, because clearly teenagers know everything and have all the best abilities and these think-they-know-everything adults are just getting in their way.

Or, put another way, the audience pandering doesn't only come in the form of half naked women.

The older you get, these types of things tend to stick out more.
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This has to be it. I noticed it too when watching different anime. Parents not around or leave or are dead. Always. Really strange.

Crayolan said:
Parents aren't present in most cartoons, japanese or otherwise.
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I dunno. A lot of the cartoons I remember watching when I was a kid either mostly had parents, or the protags were adults (X-Men, Batman, Gargoyles) but I guess its true to a degree. Anime could escape that lame trope though by not insisting on so many settings being about teenagers.

Its always teenagers or young kids. I know that's the main audience but damn.
 
Something one of my teachers once said that stuck with me was that any properly fleshed out character "came from somewhere" and should therefore have parents that could plausibly have enabled that character to come into being (and if you're a really good writer, those parents should have backgrounds too, and you should be able to see how their own upbringing would lead to them raising the character that they did).

So a lack of parents can be a cheating shortcut in lazy character design, unless one of the keys to that character is their deliberate lack of parenting.

Crayolan said:
Parents aren't present in most cartoons, japanese or otherwise.
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Stereotypical "cartoon characters" aren't exactly known for their depth. Bugs Bunny, for example, doesn't need parents.

Rhomega Beta said:
I think of Sailor Moon:

Usagi's parents are actually there. Her mom moreso.
Ami's dad left the family to pursue painting or whatever. She still has her mom, but she's never seen in the anime. It's my understanding that she does appear in the manga.
Rei has no parents, just her grandpa.
Makoto's parents died in a plane crash. She lives alone.
Minako...I don't even know.
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Minako's parents were seen in the Sailor V manga (which really needed an anime). They're basically clones of Usagi's parents (or rather, Usagi's parents are clones of Minako's parents), which makes sense since Usagi is basically Minako 2.0.
 
You don't think that 10.000 years old dragons, or robots that look like 12 years old prepubescent girls have parents, do you?
 
It's funny because you can hear Sora's mom calling him from his room that dinner in ready in Kingdom Hearts. No fucks given.
 
RedSwirl said:
1) The main target audience for a lot of anime is teenagers.
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So? The main demo for ABC family and Disney shows are kids too. Plenty of parents in those shows. And I was teen once. My fellow kids and I had no problem watching shows with parents in them. Arthur, Hey Arnold, Rugrats, Bobby's World, South Park, Home Movies, etc. Pretty sure we watched a lot of anime with parents as well.

The problem is japan is in a box and can't stop pushing the same tropes they've pushed back in the day, even more so now. Whether its because suits and money are forcing everything to be homogenized or just a lack of creativity, the variety in plots is nearly nonexistent. And the desire to cater to teens isn't the cause of that because they're a lot more open minded than you remember. They aren't concerned about watching shows just because they star people their age. A lot of the most widely iconic anime from back in the day either starred adults or featured them beyond antagonists. DBZ, Ninja Scroll, Trigun, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Tenchi, Beserk. Just like every other industry, they'll watch what's good regardless of who it stars. Today's industry just wants to cater to a niche that is easily exploitable, in the most cost effective way.
 
If they're in High School, its reasonable to assume the teenagers a living in a school dorm, as the commute is much too long for everyday travel, so the parents would be pretty rare to see.

Also, watch Clannad and Toradora, Death Note, Evangelion, and a ton of Ghibli movies.

Edit: I forgot Tamako Market. Parents are great in that.

Watch Tamako Market!
 
_Ryo_ said:
If they're in High School, its reasonable to assume the teenagers a living in a school dorm, as the commute is much too long for everyday travel, so the parents would be pretty rare to see.

Also, watch Clannad and Toradora.
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What about all the shows with train commutes and they either live alone or with a younger sibling in a home they probably can't afford?

The answer is most anime main characters are murderers and anime is teaching kids that to gain happiness you must kill your parents.
 
I feel like this claim is super exaggerated. Most anime characters do have parents that are alive they just don't show up often, are away a lot, or are deadbeats for one reason or another. Also add to that the insane hours Japanese salarymen work when it comes to anime dads in real world settings
 
dity said:
What about all the shows with train commutes and they either live alone or with a younger sibling in a home they probably can't afford?

The answer is most anime main characters are murderers and anime is teaching kids that to gain happiness you must kill your parents.
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You say they can't afford the apartments, which is probably why they murdered their parents. Insurance money and inheritance.

This is getting dark...
 
It's basically young adult lit. Adolescents who are the target demographic are at the point where they don't consider the value of parents, so why include them?

This idea gets more interesting once you start looking at manga targeted for adults. Single dads taking care of young kids everywhere, with their wives conveniently deceased/gone so they can be hanging out w/ that high school girl next door that's in to him but he doesn't know. Hell, I'm struggling to come up with very many series where there's a married couple involved as the main characters, where the story doesn't purely revolve around their relationship -- I suppose Otoyome Gatari counts?
 
muu said:
It's basically young adult lit. Adolescents who are the target demographic are at the point where they don't consider the value of parents, so why include them?

This idea gets more interesting once you start looking at manga targeted for adults. Single dads taking care of young kids everywhere, with their wives conveniently deceased/gone so they can be hanging out w/ that high school girl next door that's in to him but he doesn't know. Hell, I'm struggling to come up with very many series where there's a married couple involved as the main characters, period -- I suppose Otoyome Gatari counts?
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Does dragon ball count? Goku is married, and vegeta is as well. Even if you consider chi chi minor, Bulma is definitely important
 
Chairmanchuck said:
They are overseas on a business trip for 1 year so the highschooler can live in a big house without worrying about anything.
Or the parents live overseas, but still have a house in Japan.

(Thats how its explained in a lot of anime at least)
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Basically this.

Though there are a couple Animes that actually make fun of the absent, useless parents that leave their teenage kids to live alone.

(talking about shonen (and I guess shoujo) of course)
 
parents are downplayed or totally absent in all kid shows cause they'd get in the way of whatever stupid shit the main characters want to get into.
 
This is slightly off topic and I can only think of one anime at the moment that does it but where are the cops in Bleach?
 
There are plenty of parents in the Dragonball series. In Yu Yu Hakusho you have Yusuke's mother who is a pretty shitty mother, but she becomes non-existent ant starting in the 2nd season. Yusuke's father isn't mentioned at all, but I have a feeling his father was probably a hit it and quit it.

Samurai Champloo... I don't recall anyone's being mentioned.

Inyuasha the same and the same also for Ghost in the Shell.
 
Blasian Persuasion said:
Samurai Champloo... I don't recall anyone's being mentioned.

Inyuasha the same and the same also for Ghost in the Shell.
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Samurai Champloo,
it's the reason for the journey. Fuu's searching for the "samurai who smells of sunflowers" which is her dad.

Inuyasha,
his father's dead. He has a fight scene with his brother inside their father's skeleton. Inuyasha's sword is made from his father's fang. His mother is also shown multiple times in flashbacks. Also, we see Kagome's whole family quite a few times.
 
I always love how fucking convenient that parents are always nowhere to be found in anime, every person has those one, and even mostly 2 parents who have business trips all the time or just horny over eachother all the time so go on love vacations constantly, and usually this is never a problem for the character in question, unless its a specific plot point, the character gets by just fine.

This is not a complaint, I just love the absurdity of it.
 
RedSwirl said:
1) The main target audience for a lot of anime is teenagers.

or (I'm just guessing really)

2) Japanese pop media has some weird hyper obsession with middle and high school.
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Because its basically the only time in their lives where they aren't forced to work soulless jobs and might even have something resembling a sex life
Highschool is where they make the most memories and have the most freedom with the least amount of consequences.
 
farisr said:
Samurai Champloo,
it's the reason for the journey. Fuu's searching for the "samurai who smells of sunflowers" which is her dad.

Inuyasha,
his father's dead. He has a fight scene with his brother inside their father's skeleton. Inuyasha's sword is made from his father's fang. His mother is also shown multiple times in flashbacks. Also, we see Kagome's whole family quite a few times.
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Thanks for the refresh. It's been a minute.
 
pgtl_10 said:
I've noticed that parents are non-existent in animes. I've watched and a couple of high schoolers have no parents. I'm now watching K and their are no parents. Rurouni Kenshin is the same thing.

Is there a reason for this cliche?
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Well in Kenshin all of that is explained (they're dead).
 
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