Good Parents in Anime and Manga

Many parents in anime/manga tend to be pretty awful since it's a good, relateable source of character angst for readers/viewers. But what about the good apples? What fathers and mothers in Japanese animated/comic fiction are an inspiration and did really well?

I will always love Kagome's Mother/Mama Higurashi from Inuyasha. She has one of my favorite scenes in anime and manga which is just her sitting and talking with her daughter and it's really well done and believable.

Soichiro Yagami seemed like a good father.

edited 30th Jan '16 4:39:35 PM by Nikkolas

I might add that parents in anime & manga have a bit of a values dissonance thing though. I mean like Goku's hailed as a good parent in Japan while we here in America don't think a guy who keeps missing out his kids life is a very good thing.

To add, Usagi's mother in Sailor Moon kicks her daughter out of the house for doing poorly on a test. In Japan, it's acceptable. In America, it's child abuse.

I would say Madoka's parent are pretty good in general, makes you wish they were more focused on.

Nanoha's parents are good, if weirdly permissive. Coincidentally Nanoha herself is a good parent.

Most parents/ parental figures in most Slice of Life are usually good parents, too, or at least, trying their best to be.

Magical Girl shows generally have good parents. The standout that comes to mind is Love's mom in Fresh Pretty Cure.

edited 30th Jan '16 7:21:47 PM by Memers

I believe the quintessential Best Anime Parents are usually considered to be Akio and Sanae Furukawa from CLANNAD.

I'd argue most of the parents on the good guys side in the Nanoha franchise. Even Jail seems to care for the Numbers on some level more than just his experiments.

I'd say how we define a good parent also depends. Some mean well but are clearly not exactly skilled at the whole parenting deal while others are sometimes overwhelmed by circumstances or just plain Locked Out of the Loop which limits their effectiveness.

Take for example Tendo Soun from Ranma ½. He's not malicious (unlike say... Genma) but clearly has at best only the most tenuous grasp on how to raise three teenage daughters, and that's without the other madness in their life.

Similarly what little we see of them in Magic Knight Rayearth second half suggest the assorted parental figures of the main trio don't really know how to deal with what happened to their daughters because they just have no context to get a grip on the problem.

edited 30th Jan '16 11:59:17 PM by KnightofLsama

Akiko from Kanon. (Boy, am I feeling pretty nostalgic for that game.)

I guess it depends of the genre and the author's take on it.

Mecha, both Super and Real, are pretty much bad or absent parent dominion while mahou shoujo have parents that are mostly present.

Sei Iori from Gundam Build Fighters. Even if his dad is usually absent because of his unusual job, they still care about him. Given the nature of the show, it shouldn't be too surprising. Right?

oh wait sekai's parents is always absent

Cultural dissonance. In Japan (and the Far East in general), age equals respect and reverence. If two people of different age have different opinions, the younger person is expected to back down and do what his/her elder says, no matter what. Not doing so elicits a reaction along the lines of "I've been doing this life stuff for longer than you are, you ungrateful, snot-nosed brat, so I know what I'm talking about" (except not in such strong language, of course; Japanese are really polite and prefer to avoid conflict).

In the West, this mindset is rather alien due to us being used to the ideas of teenage rebellion and senile seniors. So there's a reason why we Westerners see most parents in anime and manga as being too strict.

edited 2nd Feb '16 4:09:39 AM by amitakartok

Or at least, the West tends to acknowledge that the older generation can be wrong on some things, like a Racist Grandma

I love Clover's parents from Happy Happy Clover

Well as for good parents in shounen. The only one I can think of is Inko Midoriya from My Hero Academia,then again I don't really watch much shounen anime anyway

Maes Hughes and Trisha Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. Hohenheim tries to be, but circumstances got in the way.

But when the parents are nasty, they're really nasty.

While not that many remember the Maple Town series. I loved Patty's mother and father.

I love Bakabon's parents. He has an irreplaceable bond with his Papa, and his Mama loves him a lot too. Call this ignorance, but I don't think I've ever seen a closer father/son bond in an anime.

Maes Hughes is hilarious. XD

Inu Yasha's mom.

Actually, just about all the parents in Inu Yasha were good ones (sans Inu Yasha and Sesshomaru's dad towards Sess and maybe Sesshomaru's mom).

Now I remember. So, all the Inu Yasha parents are good ones.

edited 7th Jan '17 10:45:56 AM by powerpuffbats

No, that was just Sesshomaru being a spoiled brat. Now, I'll admit that polygamy produces such resentment between half-siblings, but the Dog General knew what he was doing in bequeathing Tenseiga to Sesshomaru. Once Seshy learned to care for humans like his father did, he was able to master his own powers and manifest them as Bakusaiga, which is what his father intended all along.

As far as noble and inspiring goes, I'd say Minato and Kushina did a great job in what little time they had. Dying to protect your child is the most noble act a parent can do.

edited 6th Jan '17 8:49:26 PM by mythbuster