Good and In-Between (Neither Good or Bad) Parents in Anime, Film, WA

I remember making a "Bad Parents" thread, and although it was okay, I felt it got old, so I think we should make a thread about good parents and in-between parents (parents who aren't Parents of The Year, but don't come close to being bad).

Here are my list of Good Parents in my opinion:

• Lois Foutley from As Told by Ginger – She’s an awesome mother towards Ginger and Carl.
• Cinderella's father: He was implied to be a loving father towards Cinderella until his tragic death.
• Bulma/Hercule/Krillin and Android 18 from Dragon Ball Z – Bulma’s shown to be protective towards her kids, but only at times when it’s needed. Hercule may be overprotective towards Videl, but he’s shown to be one of the only decent fathers of the show. Krillin and Android 18 have got to be the best set of parents on the show hands down.
• Pacha and ChiCha from The Emperors New Groove - They were loving parents towards their kids, and their newborn baby.
• Chester and AJ’s parents from The Fairly Oddparents – Chester and AJ’s parents are the only decent parents of the show, because they are shown to be caring. It’s no wonder they don’t have fairies like Timmy does, because their parents are way better than Timmy’s.
• Joe and Bonnie/Neil’s parents from Family Guy – Out of all the parents, I think only these two sets of parents are the decent ones, until Neil’s mother died.
• Anna and Elsa's parents from Frozen. Sure they made catastrophic mistakes, but they did their best to protect Elsa, making them good parents in my book.
• Kim's parents from Kim Possible.
• King Triton and Queen Athena/Ariel and Eric from The Little Mermaid and The Little Mermaid II Return To The Sea – King Triton may have made a terrible mistake by destroying Ariel's grotto, but he’s shown to be a loving father towards Ariel and her sisters. Queen Athena was shown to be a good mother before her tragic death. Ariel and Eric may have made a mistake by lying to Melody, but they made up for it at the end and Melody still loves them.
• Almsot every parent from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is shown to be great parents. Especially Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity's parents.
• Tiana's parents from The Princess And The Frog.
• Trudy Proud from The Proud Family – She’s shown to be strict towards her kids, but not overly strict, so she’s a good mother.
• Ikuko and Kenji Tsukino from Sailor Moon – Ikuko may be an Education Mama and Kenji may be an Overprotective Dad, but they come off as decent parents.

Here are my “In-Between” Parents.

• Gohan and Videl/Chi-Chi from Dragon Ball Z – I put Gohan and Videl here because they don’t get enough screentime with Pan, but I can’t call them bad parents because they obviously have a good relationship with their daughter. Chi-Chi can be too overprotective and too smothering, but she became a much better mom, so she can’t be called a bad mother.
• Simba from The Lion King II Simbas Pride – He was a tad bit too overprotective and lied to Kiara, but he does become a better parent at the end.
• Chris Thorndyke’s parents from Sonic X – They are usually too busy at work to spend time with Chris, and Lindsay even cried and called herself a horrible mother. Plus, they always try to spend time with Chris whenever they can, so they can’t be bad parents.
• Sharon Marsh from South Park – I heard she made a few mistakes as a mother, and fans usually blame her and Randy for Shelley’s bad behavior, but I can’t consider her a bad mother because she at least tries to be a good mother.

edited 23rd Feb '14 11:40:07 AM by MsCC93

Sad that you didn't even put Goku in the "Bad" list. He doesn't even spend any off time with his kid. Only when danger strikes do they bond.

I consider Goofy in Goof Troop a good parent, Peg leaning good but in between and Roxanne's dad in between.

Goofy has raised Max with so much love and care that he comes off as very privileged despite having a Missing Mom. The reason these two have so many Heartwarming Moments especially in the movies is because their relationship is remarkably functional for a Wacky Parent, Serious Child duo.

Peg is a balanced, smart, caring parent who treats her children fairly and does what she can to protect them, but loses some points due to not always noticing when her husband (whom I put through the wringer in the other thread) is being an abusive Jerkass (though, in her defense, she has also reacted occasionally to false alarms such as Pistol throwing a tantrum in "Three Ring Bind.")

Roxanne's dad is... well, rather flat, kind of like Roxanne herself. But in the very limited screentime he has, we can guess that he's an Overprotective Dad, but the kind who is willing to listen to his daughter.

All of the parents in Mulan, but especially Zhou. Zhou reminds me a lot of Goofy in many ways, though he's smarter and he does have a couple of bad moments, but he more than makes up for them by showing time and time again that he adores his daughter.

Quentin Eggert from Pelswick is certainly quirky, but he always treats all of his children with respect and as equals. He listens to Kate, with no Not Now, Kiddo moments to be found, and has broken up with a girlfriend who kept coddling Pelswick and refusing to treat him the same way as other kids.

Dale Gribble on King of the Hill, an oddity given that he is unknowingly raising his wife's love child. Yet he manages to be better than all of the birth fathers on the show, giving Joseph the protection and support he needs while not being judgmental.

Chief Wiggum from The Simpsons is an incompetent cop and a total moron... who also adores his son. He's even willing to eat a melted crayon sandwich that Ralph makes and pretend to like it just to avoid upsetting him. Now that's devotion.

edited 23rd Feb '14 10:24:37 AM by PPPSSC

All the parents from The Flintstones ; their flaws aside, they look out for and want the best for their kids.

Godzilla. Try and mess with any child of his, in any medium.

Kouta and Yuka from Elfen Lied. They end up riding parental herd on a somewhat remorseful monster-turned-toddler ; a girl who spent her life chained to a wall having cannons fired at her head ; a girl whose dream was pounded out of her (version allowing) ; and the job they do with Mayu is not just an upgrade by default. They give a fearful, broken child her life back, and a sense of safety she has never known. They are replete with huge flaws, and one is hated often by the fandom. But once those girls move in, they are their sacred charges.

Haruka and Grandma from Love Hina. Distant or absent, they keep that house from blowing up - until Kanako shows up (though that was possibly at Grandma's behest).

For the "In-Betweeen" category: The father from the Lego Movie. He starts out as an anal-retentive distant figure, but gradually opens up and becomes more accepting of his son's creativity.

I really can't bring myself to call Goku "bad" because with goku, he's not a good parent per se, but he was raised with no parental figures in his life, so it's not surprising that he wouldn't be good.

Also, I'm adding Nigel and Mariamme Thornberry from The Wild Thornberrys for Good Parents.

Thumbs up for Mulan's parents. I love them, because even though Mulan disobeyed their orders, they still loved and prayed for her.

edited 23rd Feb '14 11:45:54 AM by MsCC93

Sharon Marsh kinda started off a poor parent, though I guess as Randy got worse and worse they decided to soften her so Stan's life isn't completely bleak.

Most of the parents in Rugrats seem in the in between area, they're all well intentioned and clearly care for their kids, but all seem to have a clear vice (most of which seemed to have passed off onto their kids, eg. Chaz's neuroses onto Chuckie, Stu's eccentricities onto Tommy), and are completely oblivious to their kids' antics. In fairness, most of the cases things go past them are cases normal parents would make and think nothing of, the babies are that elaborate.

edited 23rd Feb '14 2:08:12 PM by Psi001

Not to mention the Rugrats parents became good parents in the All Growed Up series, so they aren't completely bad.

I forgot to mention that Esmeralda and Phoebus were good parents to their son in the sequel of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.

edited 23rd Feb '14 3:05:43 PM by MsCC93

I'd probably say Tino's mom from The Weekenders.

I also nominate Belle's father, Maurice, from Beauty And The Beast. Also, there's Jasmine's father from Aladdin.

Bob Belcher from Bobs Burgers is a great dad. Even though the family is obviously poor and always trying to make ends meet, he still tries to do what's best for the kids and will stand up for them.

I can't think of any "in-between", but here's some of my "good" examples:

• Helen and Jake Morgendorffer from Daria. They aren't necessarily the most helpful or attentive parents, but it's easy to see that they really do care and that they want the best for their family.

• Monty Uno from Codename: Kids Next Door. He's constantly trying to bond with his son and be a better parent. Plus, he's supportive of his son's decision in "Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S"

• Tino's mom from The Weekenders. She knows her son like the back of her hand and always seems to have good advice.

edited 2nd Mar '14 2:41:16 PM by Explosivo25

Don't forget about Monty Uno's decision at the end of operation Z.E.R.O.

Let's add some Avatar characters, since that franchise always gets accused of bad dads. ;) (Only living ones count, because that seems more like what the OP is looking for)

• Hakoda probably falls into the in-between category: he's a good dad when he's there, but he's been off to war for a couple of years when Avatar: the Last Airbender starts and doesn't come back until the end of the show.
• Tenzin's an awesome dad, and Pema's a pretty good mom, too (from what we see of her). Tenzin's a bit overprotective, but he cares a lot for his kids and he's willing to let go when need be... and he gets some really adorable parenting moments involving baby talk and tiny sky bison.
• Tonraq and Senna are in-between, insofar as they do some things that are great, and other things that are terrible-but-understandable. They clearly have a good relationship with Korra in the present, and Tonraq learns to let go a bit and trust Korra to stand on her own... but they were complicit in her being locked up for years (for her protection, presumably) and lied about their involvement. The sheer number of heartwarming moments they get definitely adds points, though. ;)

edited 2nd Mar '14 5:30:04 PM by Ikkin

The Disney version of Zeus. While the real Zeus was worse than Ozai and Peter Griffin combined (in fact, that's a pretty good description of him, with some Quagmire thrown in), Disney Zeus is probably an in-between because he doesn't interact with Herc very much but he clearly wants Herc to obtain deity.

edited 2nd Mar '14 6:52:22 PM by Smasher

Hank and Peggy Hill, for the all the crap they get from fans, are definitely "In-betweeners."

No mention of Mufasa and Sarabi? Both of them were great parents for Simba. (Even if the latter was mostly irrelevant) Timon and Pumbaa were also great parental substitutes. (Yes, they count as parents, see Word of Saint Paul / Word of Gay.)

edited 2nd Mar '14 7:04:32 PM by Smasher

I just forgot to mention Mufasa in my long post of doom.

I agree. I'd even say Hank was leaning good, honestly.

I always thought Mr. Ping from Kung Fu Panda was a great parent. It would have been so easy for the creators to either make him a disciplinarian who's ashamed of his son, a strict traditionalist who only wants him to secede him in the familial legacy, or someone who honestly has no faith in him. And given the context of the film, it might have helped underscore the theme of "rising above social queues others have placed on you". But instead of following those stupid misunderstanding Dad they made him incredibly mature, caring, supportive and deeply philosophical. It's one of the few times I had to remind myself this is a Dream Works animated comic character.

Also on my short list is: Tiana's parents, Andy's Mom, Woody and Buzz (arguably), Django, Monk Gyatso, Joshua and Margaret the Dog, and Simon Petrikov.

The mom and dad in Birdz. The mom's an artsy free spirit who's pretty lax most of the time, and the dad's kind of stuffy, but still nice to Eddie for the most part.

I couldn't agree more.

Speaking of Maurice from Beauty And The Beast, I actually forgot about Mrs. Potts. She was a good mother to Chip.

Holy shitballs, someone else is aware of Birdz?!?

Face Palm. I can't believe I forgot to mention Professor Utonium! It's clear throughout the whole series that him creating daughters was the right choice. He clearly adores them.

I would consider the Wolfes to be in-between parents. Virginia because she's loving but spoils Heffer, and George because he's somewhat cold and distant but, as I mentioned in the bad parents thread, was still willing to help rear a steer to adulthood, and mostly seems fed-up that Heffer is doing nothing to attempt to better himself as an adult.

• The Flynn-Fletchers and Dr. Doofenshmirtz, with Lynda being more of an in-between since she never gets to find out about the schemes P&H pull off.
• The Doctors Possible are also pretty good, if embarrassing. Ron's parents are good too.
• I think Suga Mama belongs as an in-between, since she does love Oscar despite favoring Bobby. See the episode where Oscar becomes a professional wrestler.
• Do parental substitutes count? If so, then Carl from Up.
• Believe it or not, Dan was a pretty good father to Dennis, especially given that Dan's parents are implied to be terrible. Too bad Dan didn't get to keep Dennis because he's a terrorist.
• Also, Chris and Elese to Dan, as Dan is pretty much their kid anyway. (Although forcing him to go to Canada so they could have a Dan-free vacation was a bad move.)
• The Potato Heads to the LGM's, even if Mr. finds them annoying.
• Being a Deconstructive Parody of the Rugrats parents (at least that's how I see him), Pop falls under in-between. Yes, THAT Pop. Even though he kills his son several times, it's usually by accident/ignorance (like most deaths on the show) and he does genuinely love Cub.

edited 28th May '14 6:44:43 PM by Smasher

King Triton for In-Between.

He does start off as a very close-minded parent, but he warms up near the end of the movie.

Oh, and Fry's parents for both:

Mrs. Fry from what we've seen really loved her son, the fact that she dreamed about him after he got frozen (today!) shows that she loves him.

Mr. Fry was mostly hard towards him, but loved him.

edited 6th Jun '14 2:49:06 PM by powerpuffbats