Forum - View topicLack of parental figures in anime
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WesW
 Posts: 144 |
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One thing that has struck me about anime is that seemingly 90% of the junior high school-age characters are either orphans and/or living on their own, and that coming across a positive father role is about as rare as a diamond in the rough.
I can understand not writing parents into typical scripts, but why the need to have them dead? Is it a way of developing sympathy for the characters, or something else? I recently read a My Turn column in Newsweek from a Japanese mother who told of the Japanese practice of teaching children to be independent from a very young age. Her first grader has to take three trains on a 90-minute trip to and from school each day, and as is typical in Japan, he does it on his own, with only classmates for companions. Also, regarding fathers, back in the 80's, when Japan seemed on the verge of conquering the economic world, there were frequent reports of how typical white collar workers spent virtually all their time either on the job or schmoozing with the boss at the bar afterwards, and how as a result most children barely knew their fathers personally. Given that this generation of children is now writing the scripts for these shows, I wonder if the lack of father figures is a result of their own childhoods? |
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Interesting coincidence - I was considering a post on this very subject, when I saw this one. Heh, "great minds think alike".
Anyway, yes, there is a certain dearth of parental figures in anime. Either they are absent entirely (either through death, hard work, or job placement abroad), or they are weak, background characters. One reason for this may be to emphasize the independence of the central characters, who are often teenagers. Another, as you note, may be that the lack of parental figures reflects a generation of writers who have grown up without strong parental presence in their lives. Supporting this latter proposition is the fact that the mother figure is demonstrably far more present in anime than the father figure, and more active even when both are present. This fits well into the former Japanese social model of an absent, hard-working father and a stay-at-home domestic mother. This model may disappear from anime as Japanese society abandons it, or it may remain as a fossil of a former social ideal. However, there are examples in anime of families where the full complement of family members are active characters in the anime (e.g. Aishiteruze Baby, where family is an important plot element). However, in such stories, rivalry between siblings and alienation between generations is often a strong factor in the story. It would appear that (in the anime version of reality) when a Japanese family is gathered together, they are far from friendly and intimate. - abunai |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9903 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Not that many orphans.  I agree that most fathers are "invisible," though. The most common stage of them is when their daughter (female protagonist) has been "stolen" away from them (i.e. has a boyfriend).
Most salarymen in that decade don't want to be seen going home early, an indication of not working hard and having no friend in his company. Reminding me an excellent animated short film: Polygon Family, Episode 2. 
Most Asian parents play "good cop (mother), bad cop (father)" to their children, even today. Some even believe that children would not treat their parents with respect if they get too close and intimate -- the result is often quite the opposite. I myself was fortunate enough to have parents willing to spend more time interacting with me rather than watching tickers (see below). A real story: when I visited the house of a friend for the first time, his father was lying on a couch, staring at stock quote tickers on TV, with only his underwear on. Friend (to his father): "My friend." Me: "Good afternoon, Mr. ----." His father: "Mmm." Without moving. I was waiting for him to introduce me to his father, yet he headed straight to his room. I could only follow him, feeling a bit embarressed for not being able to introduce myself properly. After entering his room, I asked him why not introduce me to his father, he laughed and said "Don't bother. He didn't and wouldn't mind if I bring a girl straight to my room."
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Nani?
 Posts: 632 |
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Consider this as well. Notice how much time the students spend at school.
Or as one critic put it, "the Japanese state embraces it's children tightly". The comment was on watching a train on Saturday, summer, rural Japan taking the kids to school for club activities. Basically, they are kept so busy studying that they literally don't have time for anything else, including family or coming to terms with the world on thier own. Therefore parents are irrelevant often.The only stable, intact, loving families I can think of is the Miyazawa family in His and Her Circumstances and the Kotobuki family in SuperGals. All the Best, Nani? |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6921 Location: Kazune City |
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I remember reading in some post about the unaired episode of Koi Kaze (episode 8) that divorce is something of a touchy subject. With this in mind, maybe the writers choose to kill off parents rather than have them divorced if they don't want them in the story. Or maybe there really is a super-abundance of traffic accidents 
Still, you can find some other relatively intact families, like Shuuji's family in SaiKano and Yamato's family in Suzuka. Of course, this doesn't mean that you actually see these families very often, but they are there. Also, it's often the case that when both parental units are around, the story has the kid living on their own somewhere else, like Hideki in Chobits or Izumi and Mitsuki's parents in He is My Master. Of course, I can't exactly call the last example "loving," or sane for that matter. |
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Iemander
 Posts: 443 |
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Why do people even want children if they're going to end up like that, what a boring and dysfunctional life. The purpose of life is still to have fun and enjoy it, not to turn into a machine "for the good of society" (I'm sure the israeliers are going to hit me for this one).
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Nani?
Posts: 632 |
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Some have argued that the goal of Japanese schools is to turn children into machines for the "good of society" or rather "Ideal Japanese" i.e. corporate cogs. I don't know firsthand, but it is notable that many Manga Artists are dropouts and failures (by those standards) just like many Rock and Jazz musicans are not even high school gradutes in the U.S. All the Best, Nani? |
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WesW
Posts: 144 |
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Well, I'm sure that in reality the death rate in Japan is about the same as in the US, and probably somewhat lower for the middle aged, given that far fewer would die in traffic accidents, since Americans drive so much more. However, even for shows set in modern-day Japan, the death of one or both parents seems to be almost a given. Just from the top of my head, here are all the shows I know of with modern-day settings: Fruits Basket- female lead is an orphan, most other characters in similar circumstances Azumanga Daioh- my avatar's character's parents are never around InuYasha- Kagome's father absent, probably divorced Eva- male lead's mother dead, father... "distant" Fullmetal Alchemist (early 20th century)- boys' mother dead, from cancer I believe; father absent, presumed dead or missing My Hime and the show with all the airships- siblings are orphans Ai Yori Aoshi, Bleach- male lead orphaned Negima and Full Metal Panic- male lead is an orphan, though not from Japan Midori Days, Gantz, Tengue Tenge, Gungrave- most characters living independently at 16 and/or orphaned Please Teacher!- rare exception of both parents present, including a caring father I realize that the standard TV show, movie, book, etc. is about people in unique circumstances. I mean, what's entertaining about the ordinary? However, the lead character(s) as orphan(s) seems to be the norm in anime. I just caught the anime bug about a year ago, at age 35, and all the orphans was one of the first things that struck me as I started viewing enough of it to notice trends and conventions. So, I have been wondering for some time if this is just a convenient plot device, or something reflective about modern Japanese society?
I usually think about the Michael Keaton movie Gung Ho, especially the scene where the boss asks the guy to stay and work late rather than attend the birth of his first child. I also remember the reports of how stressed junior high students were about the exam which determined whether they would be able to attend high school or be shunted off to vocational school. I have also noticed how the animes seem to dispute this, such as Negima and the phrase "Elevator School". |
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Super Arrow
 Posts: 334 Location: Australia |
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Well the best "Father" I can think of is Dr. Raizo Kasshu in G-Gundam despite only appearing in a handful Episodes.
Hell, he was essentially Domon's "reason" for the whole Series. |
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TheAlmightyMe
Posts: 19 Location: Los Angeles |
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Normally, I wouldn't nitpick on something like this, however it is important to the story. The couple Kei (I assume this is who you are referring to) lived were not his parent, but his Aunt and Uncle. His parents sent him away as they did not feel they could deal with his condition. The parents in Figure 17 played a fairly strong role in the lives of the children in this series. Granted the main character's Mother had dies, however the father was close to the girls and very emotionally attached to them, and vice versa. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19161 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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One thing I would point out here, guys 'n gals, is that the lack of parental figures is hardly a phenomenon unique to anime amongst animation. Just consider how many Disney films involve young main characters who have intact sets of parents; most often the mother, at least, is missing.
There probably isn't any cultural component to this. I came to the conclusion a while ago that the "missing parent" syndrome is primarily just a dramatic plot device. Young characters lacking one or both parents have stress factors and motivations that characters from "whole" households wouldn't have. And you can't discount the sympathy card, either. (Now, what there may be a cultural component to is the phenomenon of children 14 or younger being allowed to live on their own in a modern-world setting. I can think of several anime series where you see that - Mahoromatic and Neon Genesis Evangelion immediately spring to mind - but it certainly wouldn't be allowed in the States.) Of course that doesn't mean that we don't see terribly conflicted characters who do have both parents still around (see Twelve Kingdoms for an excellent example of that), but missing one or both parents tends to make characters more interesting. |
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Super Arrow
Posts: 334 Location: Australia |
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I wouldn't even say that it's unique to animation: intially Buffy: The Vampire Slayer was going to have Buffy's parents in "Seen but not Heard" roles.
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shirokiryuu
Posts: 714 Location: Northern California (SF Bay Area) |
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I think that even if they are orphaned, they do show feelings towards their family For Fruits Basket, there would be no reason otherwise for Tohru to say at the Sohma's if she didn't have any immediate family... It's true that she is orfaned but she really loves her mother and she hates being a burden to her grandfather. For Azumanga Daioh, if we knew who chiyo's parents were, there wouldn't be the joke of Chiyo's dad, and kinda kills of Chiyo's "super-perfect" image. (even if she does have her flaws). I think the fact you never see her parents is a joke and also to focus on the main characters themselves. In Bleach, are you talking about Ichigo? Only his mother dies when he is young. Even if he is independant, but there there's proof he's close and cares for his family even to his father (no matter how crazy he is) and his sisters Yuzu and Karin. He clearly has very deep feelings for his mother and feels regret/guilt about her death. [/b] |
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freshkazuki
 Posts: 235 Location: Texas |
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I agree that it is partly a dramatic device, and a very old one at that. A lot of Charles Dickens' heroes were orphans who had to overcome a lot of stuff by themselves. Just think of Oliver Twist or David Copperfield! It just all feeds into myth. Probably in a lot of Japanese households, the parents are seen as people you CANNOT talk to about your personal problems, just like in America where kids feel alienated sometimes. I think it also has to do with the fact that unless the anime is specifically about a family, you would just be wasting animation on persons not important to the show.
As for conforming to society, I saw a news piece on the television the other night talking about one of the best-selling books in Japan that is about unmarried women in their 20s and 30s being called "loser dogs" and how some women are starting to fight back against that prejudice. I'm sure that prejudice has some origins in their declining birthrates. |
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shirokiryuu
Posts: 714 Location: Northern California (SF Bay Area) |
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I just thought there were always a predijuice against women .. that they are inferior... but i think i'm thinking too generally, or maybe i'm thinking of confucianism.. |
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