History ParentalAbandonment / AnimeAndManga

* In ''Manhwa/{{Chonchu}}'', the eponymous character suffers a lot from this and tries to hide it by behaving like a rabid dog in need of blood.

** As for everybody else, Bulma is the only character from the original ''Dragon Ball'' with both parents, and they're kind of 'out there,' although [[MadScientist her father]] sneaked into the CompetenceZone once. For those introduced in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Vegeta is an orphan, his mother never mentioned and his father killed when Planet Vegeta was destroyed; the artificial humans killed their creator as they woke up; and there's some distance between Videl and Mr. Satan, but they obviously love each other and Mr. Satan dotes on Pan. Trunks originally seemed like he would end up following the trope (raised by his mother after Vegeta's death at the hand of the androids, and is somewhat emotionally distanced from Vegeta himself once they met), but thanks to some time-traveling, he's nearly thirty and still living at home[[note]]Of course in this case "still living at home" means taking over the family business, the world's largest corporation, which his family owns a controlling interest in.[[/note]].

** Even major villain Big Mom, one of the Four Emperors, fell victim to this trope. [[spoiler:And like Nami, twice over: first, her real parents grudgingly abandoned her on Elbaf after they found themselves unable to deal with their daughter's monstrous strength any longer, then her ParentalSubstitute Mother Carmel disappeared without a trace one day (it's heavily implied that Big Mom [[NightmareFuel accidentally ate her]] without realizing it). While she wasn't shown to be fazed about her parents' disappearance, Carmel vanishing had a hugely traumatic impact on her]].

* ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'': In short, ''everyone'' in Academy City. On its surface, the city consists of over 90% students; there are no accomodations for parents, so all the kids live alone. Much worse, however, is the fact that many parents use this as an excuse to get rid of their kids one way or another. There's even a term for children who have been legally abandoned: "Child Errors." The city, [[TownWithADarkSecret of course]], uses those children as experiments even more than the others. The only parents who actually appear are Touma's and Mikoto's, though a few more are implied; Tokiwadai, for example, is a rich girl school, and mention is made of their parents being able to provide far more money and support.

* Are you one of the main cast of ''Manga/InfiniteStratos''? It sucks to be you if you are. To wit:

* In ''LightNovel/GoodLuckNinomiyaKun'', three six-year-olds were living alone under the same roof, with occasional older sibling support. One can only hope that they had financial support, at the very least. Also interesting is the fact that the protagonist's parents were alive and well, just very distant.

* Sorata of ''LightNovel/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'' originally lives in the neighbourhood, but now lives in the local BoardingSchool as his father was reassigned to Fukuoka.

** [[GagBoobs Naga]]: [[spoiler:See above.]]

* Subversion: In the ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' [[Anime/SakuraWarsTV TV series]], Sumire Kanzaki is estranged from her industrialist father and grandfather, who have been absorbed in work for seven years and apparently ignoring her completely, much to Sumire's chagrin; [[LonelyRichKid she has become convinced that they don't care about her.]] In the next-to-last episode, though, we learn it's been because they've dedicated themselves to building a superweapon for Sumire and the Teikokukagekidan all that time, and the father is actually a warm, friendly and loving person. He asks Sumire to forgive him before the last battle, and she does.

* A suprising number of characters from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' are a victim of this:

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''': Anri witnessed her parents' [[spoiler:commit murder-suicide]], and she currently lives alone without any adult supervision; Mikado's parents sent him off to live alone in a strange city (also without any adult supervision) at age 15; and Masaomi's parents are never mentioned, though if the do exist, they don't seem to mind when their 15-year-old son drops out of school to run away with his girlfriend.

* So is Sagara Sousuke from ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic''. Similarly, Kaname apparently has her own apartment and little connection to her family in the anime, though they were referenced more directly in the novels (They apparently all live near her father's UN job in ''New York'', leaving her by herself in Tokyo).

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': Haruhi and Kyon seem to have parents (who are never seen on-screen) but Kyon is quite perplexed when he meets up with Yuki at her apartment and she's living there alone. Later on, after Ryōko disappears, Haruhi suspects something is up when she discovers that Ryōko's apartment manager never saw her parents -- because she also lived alone, in the same building as Yuki. This makes sense once you realize that Yuki and Ryoko are alien robots made to observe Haruhi.

* Bell lost both of his parents ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'' when he was young and he was raised by his grandfather, who is also deceased by the time the series starts.

* In ''LightNovel/KazeNoStigma,'' Kazuma gets abandoned by his parents after losing a match with his cousin. At least he gets a gold card from his mom, but he bends it to prevent himself from relying on them.

* In ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', [[spoiler:[[MrImagination Rikka]] and Touka's father died three years before the events of the series and their mother left them with their grandparents. The resultant solitude ''is'' the main reason why Rikka behaves this way.]]

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'': Anne's mother was killed in a fire just before her fifteenth birthday. Her father abandoned her with the Claes family shortly afterwards, as the burn scars she received in the fire made her worthless for potential political marriages.

* Likewise Wataru in ''LightNovel/SisterPrincess''. While no genealogy is provided for his (half-?)sisters, the most likely solution to their parentage implies that they are all also missing at least the father whom they must share with Wataru. In the VisualNovel, all the legal ones have alternate endings where they turn out to be [[NotBloodSiblings adopted]].
* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'':

* A few examples in ''LightNovel/TheTestamentOfSisterNewDevil'':

* In ''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}'', Ryuuji Takasu's father is dead [[spoiler: but we later learn that he just walked on his mom when she was still preggers]], so he lives with his mother Yasuko. OTOH, Taiga Aisaka lives alone because she has problems fitting in at home ever since her mother re-married, and [[spoiler: her father ran away from home after his business went down the toilet, and is quite a JerkAss otherwise.]] In the end, [[spoiler: Taiga returns to her home so she can deal with her familiar problems.]]

** In ''Literature/PocketMonstersTheAnimation'', it's explained that the reason Gary is being [[RaisedByGrandparents raised by his grandfather]] is that his parents died in a car crash. (This is not addressed in the anime, however.)
** It also states that Misty's parents up and left her in the care of her older sisters while they went on a Pokemon training adventure, and that Ash's father did likewise when Ash was a baby.

** In ''LightNovel/PocketMonstersTheAnimation'', it's explained that the reason Gary is being [[RaisedByGrandparents raised by his grandfather]] is that his parents died in a car crash. (This is not addressed in the anime, however.)

** Ed and Al lose their mother, and try to bring her back with human transmutation. The rest is, as they say, history. As for their DisappearedDad, [[spoiler:they do eventually reunite, although at different points depending on medium. In the manga, Ed briefly meets up with him shortly after Lust's death early on, while Alphonse is reunited with him in Liore much, much later; he plays a very major role in the overall plot. In [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the first anime]], Ed and Al don't even see their estranged father until very near the end, and he doesn't do much of consequence besides give some backstory to the villain and ineffectually try to stop her on his own.]]