History ParentalAbandonment / AnimeAndManga

** Maria, who is a DoorstopBaby

* In ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'', the parents of the members of the protagonist’s high school football team take little to no interest whatsoever in the activities of their children (with the exception of Komisubi's folks.) But this trope really comes into play during the Death March storyline, when the team is given to the option to spend their entire summer vacation in America, enduring a hellish and potentially life-threatening TrainingFromHell. All of them accept the offer without consulting, informing or even thinking about their parents, and none of them are ever shown contacting their folks to let them know that they'll be on another continent for the next several weeks.
** Which is a shame, because we'd love to see that phone call. "Hi, mom? I won't be home for dinner. I'm going to be pushing a truck from Houston to Las Vegas. I should be back in about six weeks, assuming I don't die of heat exhaustion. Tell sis she can have the Hot Pocket I left in the freezer. Bye!"
** We do see a few scenes on their return from the Death March in volume 11. Some parents are largely kept in the dark, like Sena's parents and Yukimitsu's [[EducationMama mother]], and some get more of the gory details, like Komusubi's dad and Monta's (apparently apathetic) mother.

* ''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???

* There are several in Anime/QueensBlade:

* Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}, was, as a baby, mistaken for a pig that snuck aboard his parents' ship and dropped on Earth.

** Haruka's {{telepathy}} powers plus InnocentlyInsensitive nature also caused this trope--by blurting out the affairs ''both'' her parents had in front of them. Both of them abandoned her to her grandfather, with the mother stated that [[WhamLine she wished Haruka to not been born]].

* 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.

* In ''Manga/DestroyAndRevolution, Makoto's father committed suicide. His mother abandoned him. And his grandmother died from old age. As a result, he has no family.

* The titular character from KimbaTheWhiteLion has his father shot by poachers, while his mother drowned in a boat. Lyra also lost her parents to hunters.

* In ''Manga/KoufukuGraffiti'', Ryou's parents have been working overseas since she was eight. Her grandmother who has been looking after her for the past ''six years'', has died shortly before the beginning the series, making her a case of MinorLivingAlone as well.

** Eren's mother is killed by Titans at the beginning of the series, and his father vanishes in mysterious circumstances shortly afterwards.

* Most of the recurring characters in ''GetBackers'' are over the age of eighteen, but there are several teenagers with varying levels of parental absences. Most of the overage characters had dead or missing parents as well, but there are some semi-healthy adoptive relationships. Also some inversion, since Juubei and Sakura abandoned their family in order to follow Kazuki, and Toshiki is implied to have run away from home after defeating his half-brother. There are flashback scenes that show [[spoiler: that Ban specifically was abandoned for his abilities and handed off to his grandmother, who has the same powers.]].

* Exception: In ''TheTwelveKingdoms'', the parents of Youko Nakajima, who is TrappedInAnotherWorld, are repeatedly shown in the real world worrying about her, before eventually accepting that she is gone for good.

* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Yusuke lives with his drunken, cynical, goodhearted but irresponsible single mother Atsuko, who IIRC was kicked out of her house when she got pregnant at age 14. His actual father is never mentioned in the anime, but Atsuko is seen visiting with a man implied to be his father late in the manga. (Raizen is not actually his father, but an ancestor several generations back.)]

** [[RedHeadedHeroine Lina]]: Parents are alive, but she is apparently enstranged from them. Is terrified of her [[AloofBigBrother older sister, Luna.]]

* Any resident of [[SchoolForScheming Wammy's House]] in ''Manga/DeathNote'' is an orphan. It is never stated how any of them BECAME orphans.

* Shun Ukiya of ''GateKeepers'' harbors more than a little resentment with his father for dying some years before the start of the series, and in turn [[spoiler:his daughter Ayane similarly resents Shun for his heroic sacrifice several years before the opening of the sequel series ''Anime/GateKeepers21'']].

** 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.

** Even the bad guys are not spared. Sasori's first two puppets were made in the image of his parents, who died when he was very young. 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.

* Very consciously [[AvertedTrope averted]] in ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha''. While a good number of the characters had lost their natural parents [[ArtificialHuman or never had parents in the first place]], practically all of them are adopted into families that care for them deeply and raise them in a loving environment. Not surprising considering how the series stresses the importance of family.

* In ''Manga{{Claymore}}'''s first episode, it is revealed that Raki's parents were eaten by a Youma possessing his brother's body. As for Clare, what exactly happened to her parents is unsure, but considering she was a Youma's [[{{Squick}} toy]] for a while, it would be safe to assume her parents were eaten as well. Priscilla's dad, like Raki's brother, was possessed by a Youma who ate her mother and elder brother.

** Also, ''everyone'' in ''SaintSeiyaTheLostCanvas''. Justified since it's set in the 18th century Europe.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' sure loves this trope. In fact, the only character whose parents are both alive ''and'' [[InvisibleParents shown]] is Shikamaru.

*** 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.

* {{Kinnikuman}}, was, as a baby, mistaken for a pig that snuck aboard his parents' ship and dropped on Earth.

** Mitsumi was an orphan who was adopted and raised by [[spoiler:Cyrus, the BigBad. She was once one of the most brutal members of Team Galactic but by the time of the manga has quit.]]

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''

* The protagonist of ''Manga/YourLieInApril'', Arima Kousei, was live alone in his family's house, since his mother already dead and his father is away for business.

* Marnie from ''Anime/WhenMarnieWasThere'' has distant parents who are always away. They leave her in the hands of abusive governess and staff. Anna herself lost her parents at a young age.

* Watanuki from ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'': Orphaned at a young but unspecified age and has been living alone ever since.
** [[spoiler:Well, maybe not. It was recently revealed that [[Manga/CardcaptorSakura his parents]] are still alive somewhere. Just not in his universe. He doesn't remember them due to a DealWithTheDevil or three, and so just assumes them to be dead. His "[[Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle brother]]" does remember them, but ran away from home at the age of seven, and we'll stop there because that’s where the parental ''abandonment'' ends, and something [[Theatre/OedipusRex else]] begins.]]
* In ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', ''Manga/XxxHolic'''s sister series, nobody has a present set of parents. ''Nobody''. Perhaps the most egregious case would be Sakura, [[spoiler:who had both a mother and father way before the beginning of the series, but had them erased from existence when Syaoran's desperate wish to save her life screwed over the space-time continuum]].
** Well Kurogane ''HAD'' parents. [[spoiler: His father was killed in combat and his mother was murdered]]

* In ''Anime/{{Noir}},'' Mireille's parents were murdered when she was a small child. And when Kirika awoke in Tokyo for the first time, she was alone in her apartment, with neither parents nor Soldats agents pretending to be parents.

* Ataru in ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'' still has both his parents, but his father ignores him and his mother frequently wishes he had never been born.
** Weird case, in that they're seen frequently (never dropped or written out) and definitely are raising Ataru, but they're not involved in any stories and don't have names. Leading to one of the most genuinely weird moments, in an OAV, where the mom ''introduces herself'' as "Ataru Moroboshi's mother".

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''

* In the anime ''Manga/StrawberryMarshmallow'', the girls' parents appear rarely, if at all. Indeed, it is several episodes in before Nobue and Chika's are even mentioned, the first proof they even exist. Only Ana's are mentioned regularly, and her mother is the only parent whose face is ever seen.
** Nobue and Chika's mother appears briefly in the manga during a flashback in which she takes her daughters out on a trip.

* ''Anime/DemashitaPowerpuffGirlsZ'' appears to use this trope at first, as the only parents (other than Utonium, who is ''not'' the girls' father, contrary to the original American continuity) that show up for quite some time are Princess' and the Gangreen Gang's. Eventually, some of the girls' parents show up in the final episode of season 1 (the Christmas episode).

* Most of the characters from the anime ''Manga/ElfenLied'' have suffered extreme parental abandonment (or at least the psychological effects of it) similar to those of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The results, needless to say, aren't pretty.
** Yuka never seems to have a father, nor is he even mentioned. Her mother shows up near series end in the manga, and really only seems there to question the wisdom of keeping Nana. Kouta's mother is also never brought up, and the loss of his other family members drives the series. Nana never knows her true parents, and is heartsick when she learns [[spoiler: Kurarama is not her real father. He is Mariko]]'s. Mayu loses her father early on, and it is indicated they may have been close. Her mother was always distant, and turned outright hostile when she learned that her new husband was sexually abusing Mayu. In an act of coldness that has to place her in the bottom 30 animanga abusive parents, she is jealous of her daughter--who is being raped--for the attention she is getting, and later she signs away custody to Kouta and Yuka without blinking. Lucy, it turns out [[spoiler: * end-series warning* was * not* abandoned by her mother. Lucy/Nyu/Kaede's mom was also a diclonius - and then she was used and murdered in the racial eugenics schemes of Kakuzawa. He left Lucy homeless so that she would grow away from Humans.]] Sadly, it worked.

* ''TokyoMewMew'' has ''lots'' of this. Out of the five main girls, only Ichigo (and in the anime, also Retasu) is shown to have a normal family. Minto's parents are too busy to look after her, so she is watched over by her grandmother. Bu-ling has to take care of her five younger siblings because her mother is dead and her father is away -- and she's only nine at the end of the series. Zakuro has no known relatives and apparently lives alone; she's ''fifteen'' at the end. Finally, there's TeenGenius Ryou, whose parents were killed in the {{backstory}}, and [[HoYay whose only family appears to be his partner Keiichiro]].

* ''Anime/LuckyStar'': Konata's mother died when she was very young, Yutaka lives with her uncle and cousin, and Miyuki's father is never mentioned.
** However, the series seems to avert the trope overall. None of the instances cause damage or discomfort to characters or viewers, beyond engendering mild empathy for Konata. Her single-parent relationship with her father is very loving and supportive in both directions (the loli/otaku stuff is played for comedy). The Hiiragi twins, Miyuki and Minami all have delineated, idyllic family lives. Screen time is just too expensive to spend on multiple parental units, because the show isn't about them. Yet ''Anime/LuckyStar'' focuses far more often on family life than comparable shows like ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'', ''Manga/HighSchoolGirls'', ''Hyakko'' and (despite the age differences), ''Manga/StrawberryMarshmallow'', and presents it quite positively.

* Manga/SoulEater: Crona was abandoned by Medusa after her original plan of turning them into a Kishin failed. [[AmbiguousGender Crona]] did however get picked back up again later on - after Crona was starting [[TearJerker to get used to life in Shibusen]] - and knowing Medusa it might have been her intention all along had she not been [[GrandTheftMe temporarily incapacitated]] by getting cut in two.

* In ''Manga/{{Beyblade}}'', Kais father leaves his family to "follow his dream", Talas mother leaves him with his alcoholic father, Bryan share a similar past and Tysons mother is dead while his dad rarly is home (because of his job).

* Subversion: In the ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' 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.

* In spite of being the super-powered, formerly very delinquent representatives of [[OrganizationIndex BABEL]], [[ZettaiKarenChildren Shiho, Aoi, and Kaoru]] have parents. Kaoru's dad [[DisappearedDad left]], but her mom (a famous actress) tries to be supportive. Less a case of Parental Abandonment than [[ParentsAsPeople Parental Not-knowing-how-to-handle-a-super-powered-child.]] While BABEL (and especially [[TeamDad Minamoto]]) do their utmost to give them a good environment, the girls still have a few issues about it.

** If you want emotional issues, Brock seems to be repressing his annoyance at the fact that both his parents ditched him at some point, leaving him to look after the Gym and his nine siblings until Ash turned up. In the fifth episode, Brock's father comes back, having left home to become a trainer, failed at it, and been too ashamed to show his face around his children anymore, instead opting to disguise himself with a beard and adopt an alias. His mom came back too, eventually, and yeah, [[InconsistentDub his mom was never dead, despite what 4Kids implied and never even tried to correct]].]]

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''. 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.]]

** Also, it is revealed that [[spoiler:Hawkeye's mother died when she was young, later followed by her jerkass father, and Roy was raised by a foster mother.]]

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', 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.
** 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 ''Ruby'' and ''Sapphire'' games, on which May is based. If you want emotional issues, Brock seems to be repressing his annoyance at the fact that both his parents ditched him at some point, leaving him to look after the Gym and his nine siblings until Ash turned up.
*** In the fifth episode, [[spoiler:Brock's father comes back, having left home to become a trainer, failed at it, and been too ashamed to show his face around his children anymore, instead opting to disguise himself with a beard and adopt an alias. His mom came back too, eventually, and yeah, [[InconsistentDub his mom was never dead, despite what 4Kids implied and never even tried to correct]].]]

** Alternatively in ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', Red is the only Dex Holder without any mentioned relatives, which leaves the question as to who is managing his house when he's away or who is even supporting him. To make things worse, in the FRLG arc, when he notes how frantic Blue and Green have become due to their kidnapped family members, he muses that he's not freaking out because he doesn't have any family in danger. The wording is vague enough that we don't know if he means that his family's in danger or if he doesn't have any family to begin with.
*** Yellow's only mentioned family is an uncle that is in the plot from time to time, but he doesn't live near her and doesn't seem to keep in touch with her enough to be considered a "parental figure". (He doesn't recognize her Pikachu in GSC, when she's clearly had it long enough to be pretty close to it.) Her parents are never mentioned, either, and she seems to live by herself, despite being 14 (at the time) and not out on a trainer journey.
*** Also in the same manga, Koga and Hayate are [[DisappearedDad disappeared dads]] for Janine and Falkner, and there's no mention of their mothers.

** In ''Manga/PokemonDiamondAndPearlAdventure'', Hareta's father dumped him at Rowan's lab when he was an infant. Hareta's father, like Hareta himself, is kind of an idiot. Rowan however is supposed to be a genius--a genius who decides that Hareta is better off growing up in the forest. So the kid gets let loose in the woods till he's ten, being dumped off by both his father and his father figure. Oh yeah, and no mother is ever mentioned.
*** Mitsumi was an orphan, and she was raised by Cyrus, the BigBad.

** The eighth movie features a Lucario who feels it was abandoned by its trainer, centuries ago, and clearly was just as close to him as a son would be to a father. (When it discovers that he is dead and Ash tries to console it, all Lucario asks is that Ash promise ''never'' to abandon Pikachu.) [[spoiler:As it discovers later, it [[SubvertedTrope was not truly abandoned]]; its trainer died making a HeroicSacrifice to save his kingdom.]]

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Usopp is the only Straw Hat who was actually raised by his biological parents, and his father had left his family. When it comes to other main characters, their parents abandoned them, are dead or [[spoiler:the world's most wanted criminals]] or, puzzlingly, never mentioned. Here's the rundown for the curious:
** Luffy: [[spoiler:Father's a revolutionary and apparently left Luffy in his grandfather Garp's care who trained him and his (adoptive) brother Ace before leaving them in the care of mountain bandits.]] Mother never seen as of yet.
** Zoro: No mention of parents at all. Closest father figure he had is his dojo master, with Kuina acting like a CoolBigSis (before her fatal accident anyway).
** 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.
** Nami: Orphaned, twice over. First time, her original village was destroyed by a pirate attack where she was adopted by Bellemere (along with her adoptive older sister, Nojiko, who actually rescued baby Nami from the ruins and carried her around in her arms until they met up with Bellemere). Second, when Arlong invades Cocoyashi and kills Bellmere in front of Nami's eyes. Genzo, the town's sheriff, sorta act like a father figure though.
** Chopper: The most literal of the trope as he was ostracized, then kicked out, by his herd. His second father figure does this too but only out of concern for him before he later blows himself up.
** Robin: [[spoiler:Father died and never shown, mother Olvia left her with her brother who had a very uncaring and abusive wife. Olvia returns to meet her, only to be killed in the Buster Call raid.]]
** Franky: [[spoiler:Thrown overboard by his parents and somewhat adopted by Tom, who gets hauled away thanks to Spandam's actions.]]
** Brook: Like Zoro, his parents aren't mentioned - he is well into adulthood when his past is shown. And anyway, since Brook is over 80 years old, it can be safely assumed that his parents are dead.

** ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'' has Itsuki, who is shown to be living with her mom, grandfather and (at one point) sickly older brother, but no sign of her father. And Yuri's dad had been missing for three years when he went to search for the Great Heart Tree [[spoiler:then came back and became one of the series' BigBad who works for the BiggerBad]]. This is also Tsubomi's entire ''backstory'', as her parents were always at work and she spent her time with her grandmother. This lasted for thirteen years before she finally had an emotional breakdown and admitted her loneliness. Her entire story is essentially her recovering from it and becoming a better person.

* The anime and especially the manga version of ''KareKano'' both subverts and uses this trope. Of the two main characters of the OfficialCouple, Yukino is shown to have a much healthier family life than her beau Soichiro. In both cases the parents are present, but Soichiro's "parents" are actually his foster parents who are biologically his uncle and aunt. [[spoiler:Soichiro's reunion with his biological parents set the stage for the emotional climax of the manga]]. Tsubasa and Kazuma both have only one surviving parent [[spoiler:who marry each other just as Tsubasa and Kazuma themselves get hitched]]. Other characters have very little mention of family except for Rika's brother. One of them is actually on highly antagonistic terms with his father. And finally, [[spoiler:Yukino's dad is an orphan, himself, and that caused some friction with his wife's family before they got married.]]