History ParentalAbandonment / AnimeAndManga

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' has a great example of non-dead parental abandonment. Amuro Rei's father Tem Rei is very much alive during the majority of the series (and might technically still be alive afterward), but he is a [[MadScientist man obsessed with his work]], and cares little about either his wife or son. By the time Amuro sees him again later in the series, he has gone quite mad after an accident. As for Amuro's mom, Kamaria, she lives on Earth, and is also likely still alive after series end for at least a while, but the two of them are especially estranged due to her extremely strict pacifistic principles (she called her own son a monster for killing a Zeon soldier in ''self-defense''). The novelization also implies that the real reason she didn't leave Earth with her husband was because she was having an affair.

** Yahiko's dad died in the war when he was a baby, his mother was an IllGirl who had to support herself and Yahiko until she passed away and he was adopted by gangsters who used him as a pickpocketer.

* ''Manga/CodeBreaker'': [[JerkAssFacade Ogami's]] parents were murdered; Toki's father is a heartless JerkAss (and also [[spoiler: Prime Minister of Japan and a leader of the Code: Breaker's EDEN organization]]) with no mention of a mom; [[GenkiGirl Sakura]] ''appears'' to be an aversion [[spoiler: but she's actually adopted and has no memory before the age of 5.]] [[CloudCuckooLander Yuuhi]] has no parents [[spoiler: and might not actually be human.]]

** Subverted, however, with May, the daughter of Caroline and Norman. This is probably intentional since it's the only normal family in the series, and since this is also true of the main character in the ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' games, on which May is based.

** Most of the main characters have one or both parents who are never seen or mentioned.
** Subverted in the episode ''Having a Wailord of a Time!'' When the new trainer picks Mudkip as her starter, her father, feeling sorry for the Treeko left behind, decides to become a trainer alongside his daughter, taking Treeko as his starter.

** Jessie's parentage has never been referenced in the anime itself but ''The Birth Of Mewtwo'' radio drama expanded on it. Her father is never mentioned, but her mother was a member of Team Rocket named "Miyamoto". She gave up Jessie up to foster care to give her a better upbringing but wanted to take her back in when she gained enough money. She went looking for Mew twenty years ago in the Andes mountains but hasn't returned. She ''still'' [[AbortedArc hasn't returned]] after nearly twenty real-world years.

* In ''Manga/BlackButler'' Ciel's parents

* Considering its [[{{Shonen}} genre]], with the exception of [[Anime/DigimonFrontier Frontier]], the Franchise/{{Digimon}} franchise subverts this trope. The parents not only play a supporting part helping their kids, they [[Anime/DigimonAdventure help develop the character]], [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 give one of the more]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming emotional aspect to the show]], [[Anime/DigimonTamers or attempt to rescue]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome their daughter from the]] BigBad.

** Ash's father ''seems'' to be alive but not around, for some vague, non-traumatic reason. As well, it seems that not only is it socially acceptable, but a ''cultural expectation'' that if a child wishes to be a Pokemon trainer, he/she has to leave their house at least at the age of ''ten'' and travel the world looking for Pokemon completely alone (unless they find unrelated traveling partners). This is mitigated somewhat by the general helpfulness of the ''Pokemon'' world's residents, and the fact that a Pokemon trainer is TheKidWithTheRemoteControl of what is potentially an incredibly powerful weapon. An early non-canon novelization states Ash's dad is a deadbeat however it has multipledifferences from anime itself. There's no concrete proof of where Ash's dad it, with his mother simply saying he's off somewhere training.

* Rinichi Sagara from ''[[Manga/KanojoNiNaruHi Kanojo Ni Naru Hi Another]] lives with his paternal uncle and insists his parents are dead; the truth isn't much prettier. Sagara's father is a ne'er do well gambler with a habit of skipping town and his mother [[TheResenter resents him for being an ever-present reminder of his loser father and for looking better than she does.]] She lost custody after a nasty incident where he accidentally pushed her down the stairs trying to escape a beating and eventually tries to sell him to human traffickers to settle the debts Sagara's Deadbeat father saddled her with.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has this running the entire length of the series. In Part One, Jonathan Joestar lost his mother when he was an infant in a carriage accident; Dio Brando, meanwhile, also lost his mother as a child, but personally killed his father for being an abusive alcoholic. Part Two has Joseph Joestar, who was raised by his grandmother ([[spoiler:his father having been killed by a vampire and his mother, Lisa Lisa, giving him up to keep him from what now looked like the family destiny, requesting Erina tell Joseph both his parents were dead]]). Jotaro in Part Three actually has both parents, but his father is a famous musician perpetually on tour. In Part Four, Josuke grew without the presence of his father (Joseph), he meets him at the start. Part Five has Giorno Giovanna, his father is Dio [[note]]whose head took over Jonathan's body[[/note]] and is estranged from his stepfather and mother. In Part Six, Jolyne had to live with his father's (Jotaro) frequent absency. Most of the series has her trying to save him. As for part Seven, Johnny's father [[TheUnFavourite shunned him]] as he [[ParentalFavoritism prefered his older brother]]. Johnny got booted out after a fight with him.

*** [[spoiler:Not any more. Shikamaru and Ino's fathers were both killed during the Fourth Shinobi WOrld War. But not before [[DyingMomentOfAwesome passing on strategy and dying words to their children and the army.]]]]

** Shikamaru's luck seems to have probably spread to his teammates. Both Chouji's and Ino's fathers are alive and shown, while in the anime, Choji's mother is briefly shown in Episode 82 of Shippuden, and Ino is shown talking to her off-screen mother in Episode 53 of Part 1 and is later shown in episode 281 of Shippudden.
** [[spoiler:Not any more. Shikamaru and Ino's fathers were both killed during the 4th War. But not before [[DyingMomentOfAwesome passing on strategy and dying words to their children and the army.]]]]

** Even the bad guys are not spared. Sasori's first two puppets were made in the image of his parents, who were killed by Kakashi's dad Sakumo. This extends to the series's original BigBad, Orochimaru, whose parents died when he was fairly young; Nagato and Konan, whose parents were killed in the 2nd Shinobi World War; Obito which like Naruto never knew his parent; Kimimaro, whose father kept him in a cage for most of his life before getting himself and the rest of his clan (barring Kimimaro) killed during their war against the Hidden Mist Village; and Haku, whose father killed his mother and tried to do the same to Haku, who killed him in self-defense.

* Any resident of [[SchoolForScheming Wammy's House]] in ''Manga/DeathNote'' is an orphan. It is never stated how any of them BECAME orphans. [[note]] It's also possible that they aren't ''actually'' orphans, but rather ''[[FridgeHorror kidnapping victims]]'', given that Wammy's seems to exist only to find a new successor to L. This, however, is not confirmed. [[/note]]

* ''{{Gungrave}}'': Brandon (the protagonist) spent his childhood in an orphanage along with his friend, Harry and it's never said how they lost their parents. When Mika Asagi comes into the picture after the timeskip, not only was her father murdered by Harry before she was even born, she witnessed agents of Millenion murder her mother (Maria) before her very eyes (although their main target was Mika herself) as the family butler (who also dies along the way) was ordered to help bring Mika to the one person who can protect her--Brandon. Mika gets thrown for quite a loop, however, when she discovers that Brandon isn't really "himself" anymore--he's the lonely, undead killer called "Beyond the Grave".

* Mitsuha's mother in ''Anime/YourName'' passed away when she was young, causing her father to distant from the rest of the family and Mitsuha to be living with her grandmother and her little sister.

* Rinichi Sagara from ''[[Manga/KanojoNiNaruHi Kanojo Ni Naru Hi Another]] lives with his paternal uncle and insists his parents are dead; the truth isn't much prettier. Sagara's father is a ne'er do well gambler with a habit of skipping town and his mother [[TheResenter resents him for being an ever-present reminder of his loser father and for looking better than she does.]] She lost custody after a nasty incident where he accidentally pushed her down the stairs trying to escape a beating and eventually tries to sell him to human traffickers to settle the debts Sagara's DeadbeatDad saddled her with.

*** Sanji: The first time we see him he's working on a boat, and no mention of other relatives other than his father figure Zeff [[spoiler: Least until late into the series where we find out his family are assassins and Sanji isn't on good speaking terms with his father.]]

* ''Manga/MinamiKe'' is a show about three sisters and their daily lives, ranging in age from high to elementary school. But... where are their parents?

** Gaara's (and his siblings') mother died in childbirth, and his father tried to kill him [[spoiler:before he himself was killed by Orochimaru.]]

** [[spoiler:Asuma]] dies before his child is born. At least the kid will still have a mother in [[spoiler:Kurenai]] and a father-figure in [[spoiler:Shikamaru]].
** According to Kiba, his father supposedly left because of how scary his mother was (whether or not he was kidding about that being the reason or even if it happened at all is debatable).
** Even the bad guys are not spared. Sasori's first two puppets were made in the image of his parents, who were killed by Kakashi's dad Sakumo. This extends to the series's original BigBad, Orochimaru, whose parents died when he was fairly young; [[spoiler:[[TheDragon Pain]]/Nagato and Konan]], whose parents were killed in the 2nd Shinobi World War; Kimimaro, whose father kept him in a cage for most of his life before getting himself and the rest of his clan (barring Kimimaro) killed during their war against the Hidden Mist Village; and Haku, whose father killed his mother and tried to do the same to Haku, who killed him in self-defense.
** [[spoiler:Nagato and Konan]]'s childhood friend [[spoiler:Yahiko]] also lost his parents during the war.

** Kakashi lost his mother to sickness and his father later committed suicide after being disgraced.

* In ''SchoolRumble,'' Tenma and Yakumo Tsukamoto live without their parents. No explanation is given and the father is the only parent seen (and then only in flashbacks). Harima Kenji is living with his cousin and we never see his parents (though he does have a younger brother who I would assume lives with them), Oji Karasuma's parents live in America, and we actually get to see Eri Sawachika's parents but they are still away most of the time, leaving her in the care of the family servants.

* So, if Yamabuki is Nazuna's local school, why is she living in [[Manga/HidamariSketch the Hidamari Apartments]] now? [[spoiler:Her father was sent to work elsewhere just before school started. Unexectedly, Nozuna's mom followed him because "he's useless living alone."]] [[FragileFlower Poor girl]].

* ''NightHeadGenesis'' follows this trope strictly up to a certain point. Naoto and Naoya are abandoned by their parents because they fear the siblings' destructive powers. As a result the brothers spend 15 years in a research facility, eventually escaping only to find out that [[spoiler:their parents have blanked out certain memories and are convinced that the two have perished as children while trying to same a little girl from drowning.]]

*** Hotohori's mother was an iron-fisted FoldDigger in the court and died a few years after he was appointed as the heir to the throne.

** In [[AllThereInTheManuel supplementary material]], it's revealed that Haruka's parents are dead and she was adopted by her's and Keitaro's grandmother.