Action Dad / Anime & Manga

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• Oga from Beelzebub seems to not care for Beel, but, if you put a finger on the baby...
  • In Chapter 107, he openly declares himself to be Beel's parent, emphasizing this trope even more.
• Guts from Berserk. Unfortunately, his son was born as a freaky demon thing because of Femto's rape on the pregnant Casca.
• Don't so much as think of threatening Pinoko or Black Jack will cut you to ribbons. Then sew you back up. Then charge you everything you're worth for the trouble... Yeah, it's just that kind of story.
• Bleach:
  • Isshin jumps into action when the Big Bad is overwhelming Ichigo and also protects Ichigo's body when Ichigo's soul is out fighting monsters.
  • Despite utterly refusing to use his power for years and having an estranged relationship with his son because of that decision, Ryuuken jumps into action to save Uryuu from death during a period when his son was Brought Down to Badass. He then restores Uryuu's lost powers to him via Parent ex Machina.
• Whenever he learns that his daughter Ran Mouri and/or his charge Conan Edogawa are or have been in danger, Case Closed's Kogoro Mouri is definitely not pleased. And you do NOT want to provoke a man who looks and acts like a slob, yet is a National-level judoka and acts at his most competent when It's Personal. More than one suspect has been at the receiving end of a powerful judo throw for this. He also acts a lot more professional when he knows a child's life is at stake; this is seen in the kidnapping episode.
• Dragon Ball and its sequels have a lot of Action Dads. The most notable ones being Goku, Vegeta, and Krillin, while Gohan, Goku's son, becomes one later (albeit to a lesser degree than his own dad).
• Fairy Tail: Macao Conbolt. After the timeskip, Alzack Connell also becomes one.
• In the second OAV based on the video game Fatal Fury, titled FATAL FURY 2: THE NEW BATTLE, lead hero/fighter Terry "The Wolf" Bogard has lost his will to fight and live after being beaten by Wolfgang Krauser, only to have a street kid named Tony tag along with him. Tony, who lost his father in a street fight and works as a shoe shine-boy to support his mom Elsa, worships Terry's reputation as a fighter and wants to be his disciple. After the defeat, Terry spends half the special getting drunk and not caring about anything... It is only after Axel Hawk, the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, orders his sparring partner to beat Tony within an inch of his life in a bar (after Terry drunkenly refused to fight Hawk when challenged), does Terry rise out of his funk...and drops Hawk with ONE PUNCH. Even Hawk can't believe it (as his inner narration mentions).
  • In The Movie, Kim Kaphwan gets to show off his Papa Wolf credentials as well. When a Brainwashed and Crazy Cheng Sinzan steps into a party he's attending with the main cast and his family, Kim offers to fight him so his two kids can see him kick ass. His rival, however, soon starts wiping the floor with him, so much that Joe has to be stopped by Andy from breaking in... but the very moment one of the Kim boys begs his daddy to not lose, Kim brings himself back and completely curb stomps his enemy with a single Ho-oh Kyaku.
• Kiritsugu Emiya, Shirou's adoptive father and Ilya's biological father from Fate/Zero.
• In Fruits Basket, we have Kazuma Sohma, foster father to Kyo Sohma. In one chapter of the manga, Kazuma proclaims his intent to protect Kyo single-handedly from the entire Sohma family if he must.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Van Hohenheim and Maes Hughes.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers's Antonio aka Spain goes from Doting Parent Team Mom to Papa Wolf as soon as his protégé, Romano/South Italy, is kidnapped by Sadiq/Turkey.
  • While it's not been seen in canon, fanon often makes England this towards America when they're not paired together.
• In How I Became a Pokémon Card, a Dragonite goes on a wild rampage when he thought his son was kidnapped by humans.
• While not a biological father, Sousou/Cao Cao from Ikki Tousen is this towards his friends. So much, that his Superpowered Evil Side took full control of him whenever he saw them in danger. It first happened with his Unlucky Childhood Friend Chuukou (he thought the bullies at their judo club were attempting to rape her), and later with his Bash Brother Kakouton (who lost his eye while shielding him)). And in the anime series, he also recruited Myousai by protecting her from a rapist and offering her a chance to be his subordinate and fighter instead of a Child Soldier.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders: Joseph Joestar wants to defeat DIO to save his only daughter from DIO's curse. The entire plot of Stardust Crusaders is the series of adventures that Joseph and his grandson Jotaro face during their quest.
  • The Boss in Part 5 technically qualifies in that he is both a fighter and has fathered a child, but he lacks the heart of a dad.
  • Jotaro for Jolyne in Part 6, going so far as to help try breaking her out of prison.
• Sai Nanohara from Jubei-chan is almost always a Bumbling Dad, but once he learns that his daughter Jiyu is the reincarnation and Soul Jar of Yagyu Jubei, he decides not to stay aside and does what he can to help her. In fact, his first Papa Wolf act was calling out Yagyu Jubei himself upon his treatment of Jiyu. To Jubei's very face. And in the Grand Finale of the first season, Sai also manages to give Jiyu/Jubei a Cooldown Hug to dispossess her from Jubei's influence, putting himself at great risk to do so.
• Henry Maaka from Karin is usually a weak-willed wuss, but when his daughter Karin is in trouble, he will let himself burn to rescue her from the hospital people who think she's Delicate and Sickly, but could potentially discover that she's a vampire.
  • Most people try to kill vampires with stakes. Henry uses uprooted trees.
• Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple: The Big Bad, Saiga Furinji, is Miu's father.
• Despite being the hero of Lone Wolf and Cub, Ogami Itto averts this trope — if anything he's an Underprotective Dad. Mainly because his toddler son Daigoro is a samurai too, and though he he does love his kid... if he should be killed, that's a risk that comes with the job.
  • However, Ogami has pulled more than one You Shall Not Pass! for his clients either in the process of getting the job done or to repay a debt of honor: once, he stopped by a village whose men had all been drafted for war and helped them till a field, even to the point of cutting down anyone who tried to pull him away, because he'd been asked to do so by his last assassination target.
• Nanoha's father Shirou from Lyrical Nanoha used to be a professional bodyguard until she was around three or four.
• They may have marital problems in Macross 7, but don't ever think of threatening any of their children or their city or their ship; coz when Mama Bear Milia and Papa Wolf Max Jenius team up, you are definitely screwed. Especially emphasized on their killer combo attack in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 as seen here.
• Kenzo Kabuto from Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger. It is arguable if he was or was not a good father. It is not arguable when his older biological son was about of being killed he sent a Humongous Mecha after the people was attacking him, and when his adoptive son was about of being killed, he blew his assailant and himself up. Therefore, although his parental skills left much to be desired, you DON´T try to hurt his sons.
• Despite being the youngest (male) of the group, Mobile Suit Gundam 00's Setsuna F. Seiei is quite the Papa Wolf for his teammates in season two. This is so pronounced that sensing his comrades all on the brink of death pissed him off to the point that he unknowingly initiates the "Trans-AM burst mode", completely turning the tide of the battle.
  • An ironic example is Sergei Smirnov, who has been called ''Papa Bear'' (because in-universe he's nicknamed "the Wild Bear of Russia") by fans with the description of Papa Wolf in mind. He did fit the Papa Bear description given above regarding his treatment of his son Andrei, but with Soma Peries he was Papa Bear all the way.
• In one of the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing mangas, Marticus Rex aka King Peacecraft performs a badass You Shall Not Pass! in the middle of a burning palace◊, so his butler and his Number Two can take his daughter Relena to safety. He doesn't make it alive, but the others manage to reach safety with the little girl, who later becomes a key player in the story.
• In My Hero Academia, we learn that Pro Hero Rock Lock is a father to an infant son. His cold attitude towards working with the U.A. students stemmed from his concerns of having children participate in a highly dangerous sting operation.
• Minato Namikaze aka the Fourth Hokage from Naruto. In fact, the whole deal with the Nine-tailed Fox has just recently been revealed as the struggle between him and Obito Uchiha, with Obito using Minato's love for his wife/partner Kushina (then-host of the Nine-tailed fox) and their newborn son Naruto (future host of the same Fox) for his advantage. And we already know how THAT ended...
  • Chouza Akimichi also deserves a mention for throwing himself in front of his son Chouji to protect him from Pain, almost getting himself killed in the process. He does it again against the undead Asuma.
  • Hizashi Hyuga deserves a mention here, as the mere realization that his son Neji is a member of the Branch Family sends him into a murderous rage (which is stopped before it can begin courtesy of Hiashi activating his curse seal — and doing so is the first step in causing Neji to spend at least nine years of his life afterward as the inversion of this trope!)
  • Also Hiashi for killing that Cloud ninja for attempting to kidnap Hinata.
• Negi's father Nagi in Negima! Magister Negi Magi, or he would be if anyone knew where he was.
  • Takahata is this way as well, but to Asuna in particular he's an adoptive father. Although only because his self esteem is too low to be her boyfriend.
• One Piece has Garp, Luffy's grandfather and the father of Dragon the Revolutionary.
  • Also, Luffy's actual father, Dragon the Revolutionary, has appeared only once or twice, but one of these appearances puts him squarely here. When Luffy was about to be arrested by Smoker, Dragon shows up and keeps him from using his weapon. Then, a gust of green wind blows through the island, freeing Luffy from Smoker's clutches. It hasn't yet been revealed if the wind was Dragon's doing, but...
  • There's also Usopp's father Yasopp, although it's mostly offscreen. He's a powerful sniper and member of Shanks' crew.
  • From the Dressrosa arc there's Kyros, the father of Rebecca and a legendary gladiator.
  • Also Sanji's biological father Judge Vinsmoke, who is a powerful fighter and runs a family of assassins. Note that this doesn't mean he's not a terrible father.
• Penguindrum: Not even a freaking typhoon could stop Kenzan Takakura from getting medical attention for his ill daughter Himari. And he still had enough pluck to shield one of his sons, Kanba, from a falling lamp. And had his other son Shouma been there, he would've protect the kid too.
• In Pluto, love for his child broke through a robot's aversion to killing, and was then used against him to kill him.
  Gesicht: Even if the world ends, I won't let you go.
• As in the video games, May and Max's dad Norman and Barry's dad Palmer are this in Pokémon: The Series. There's also Clemont and Bonnie's dad Meyer, aka. Blaziken Mask in the Kalos arc.
• Psychic Squad's Koichi Minamoto is just a normal guy who tasked to watch three powerful girls with insane psychic power. But when he gets pissed off enough, such as if someone harms his girls or they're harming themselves, you'll understand why they made him guardian of those girls.
• Saotome Genma and Tendo Soun of Ranma ½ aren't as badass as most of the cast, but they haven't forgotten much of Happosai's Training from Hell.
• Rurouni Kenshin: Kenshin in the manga's Distant Finale.
• Spirit Albarn/Deathscythe from Soul Eater would like to think of himself as a Papa Wolf and certainly steps in whenever his daughter Maka's in serious trouble, but he's a little too much of an unrepentant womanizer for her to take seriously. He still had a pretty goof Papa Wolf moment with his Dynamic Entry when defending her and Soul from Crona.
  • Also note his reaction to Medusa's claims about her child Crona; for the first time in the series, Spirit is upset and angry.
  • The battle on the moon: Spirit may be a womanising twit, but he is good at his job, and pulls off another Big Damn Heroes moment to protect Maka from Crona.
• Spy X Family: The dad part was supposed to only be a cover for Twilight's mission, but he soon becomes a real adoptive father to Anya and continues working as a spy away from the public's eye. Anya, who knows his secret thanks to her telepathy, is super happy to have a badass spy as her new dad.
• Kou Shouka in The Story of Saiunkoku is mostly a Retired Badass who prefers to employ Obfuscating Stupidity and play the role of Bumbling Dad. When his children are threatened, however, he goes out for blood.
• Kotetsu T. Kaburagi of Tiger & Bunny may have a strained relationship with his daughter, Kaede, due to his job as a superhero (which she isn't aware of) meaning that he has to spend a lot of time away from home, but he's not about to let anything harm his little girl. This is showcased when he lifts a collapsed tree to save Kaede from a collapsing shrine even when his powers run out, and later, when Maverick has a gun to Kaede's head, Kotetsu reveals himself to be Not Quite Dead and punches Maverick in the face.

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