Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You in Anime and Manga.
- In the soft-core Hentai manga Aki Sora, siblings Sora, Nami, and Aki Aoi (who had been having an incestuous affair) were long ago abandoned by their father, and had not seen him since, even when their mother died. When their father was on his deathbed, Sora still refused to forgive him after such a long time. Which is why Aki talks him down by explaining that he left because of the scandal of having sired all three of the siblings with one of his younger twin sisters.
- In the anime version of Angelic Layer, Misaki's Missing Mom Shuko is revealed to have been confined to a wheelchair due to a neurological disease, and she'd gone to Tokyo to do research on it to help look for a cure and hence hasn't seen her daughter for years. This is notably exclusive only to the anime, while in the manga Shuko's excuse is that she's pathologically shy. The manga explanation is cuter, but the anime explanation makes more sense considering Japan's treatment of the disabled: Shuuko mentions that she doesn't want people to look down on Misaki for having "a useless mother".
- In Arachnid, an assassin named Jin Togawa is forced to be promoted as the "Suzumebachi" frontman of The Organization with the threat of several other hitmen hidden around him and his pregnant wife's life on the line. Jin complies, but the supernatural process brainwashes him to the Boss' will and makes him a deadbeat dad who can only look after his now miserable family from afar. Him still being able to do that results in the Boss spitefully ordering their deaths anyway. Suzumebachi kills his wife but is too disgusted to wait for his daughter and finish the job. That daughter is the protagonist Alice, who is manipulated into becoming a formidable assassin herself. For further injury, Jin is killed as he confesses all of this to Alice, not for spilling the beans but just because the Boss needs him dead for Alice to replace him.
- Attack on Titan:
- After 5 years of wondering where his father ran off to, Eren finally learns the reason Grisha abandoned him: he was Dead All Along. Knowing that he had run out of time, Grisha turned Eren into a mindless Titan and allowed himself to be Eaten Alive in order to pass the Attacker Titan and the Founding Titan on to his son. And it's later revealed that Eren himself used the Paths to put the idea in Grisha's head in the first place.
- Rod Reiss tries to claim that he had no choice but to abandon Heroic Bastard Historia. She initially believes him, but later recognizes his attempts to manipulate her and calls him on his bullshit.
- Reiner Braun's father was absent from his life due to Marley's anti-miscegenation laws. His mother claims this is the only thing preventing the family from being together, but this proven to be a complete lie. Just before beginning his mission, Reiner went to meet his father and was promptly rejected by the terrified man. He claimed Karina was a Woman Scorned, so bent on revenge that she'd use her own son to expose their crime.
- Black Clover: Asta and Yuno grew up together in a foster home in Hage, both for completely different reasons.
- Yuno is in truth the only child of the House of Grinberryall, the ruling family of the Spade Kingdom until the Dark Triad deposed them by killing Yuno's father. One of the loyalists absconded with an infant Yuno and crossed the Grand Magic Zone separating the Spade and Clover Kingdoms, before dropping him off at Hage and dying from his wounds. The only thing Yuno had left from his home was the magic stone he always carries with him. When Sister Lily asks Ralph if Asta was brought to them along with Yuno, however, Ralph retorts that he doesn't know what she's talking about.
- As for Asta, his mother Licita dropped him off at Hage because she had a condition that made her suck up the mana of the people around her uncontrollably. Ironically, Asta turned out to have no mana himself, which means Licita's sacrifice was effectively pointless.
- Black Jack: The main character's father, Kagemitsu, left his family in order to protect them from assassins. This is only in Black Jack 21 however; in the original manga this is most definitely averted with Kagemitsu being an incredibly selfish jerk.
- Bokurano. Jun Ushiro and his mother, Misumi Tanaka. That's all. Each medium gives a different reason, but they're all pretty good.
- Played mostly straight in Code Geass with Kallen Stadtfeld and her birth mother, who is actually the incompetent family maid Miss Kouzuki. Kallen assumes her mother stayed on to continue to be her father's mistress, and treats her poorly and puts a sticker over her face on a family photo. Cue the dramatic moment when she discovers her mother actually remained out of love for Kallen, but didn't want to give away the fact Kallen is a half-"breed", and as her mother is jailed, she swears to make Miss Kouzuki her Morality Pet, later taking the sticker out of the photo. Thank God, in the Grand Finale we see Miss Kouzuki free and in her path to recovery, living modestly but happily with a Kallen who's now back to Ashford Academy.
- Played with in R2, where Lelouch discovers his father's reason for abandoning him and his sister in a foreign country was to protect them from his brother, who had murdered Lelouch's mother out of jealousy. On the other hands, Lelouch immediately points out that Parental Abandonment is Not Cool, and that if his parents had really been as concerned about the well-being of their kids as they claimed, they would have figured out a way to protect them without heavily traumatizing one and crippling another, and then invading the nation whose leader had him and his sister as a political hostage... thus nullifying any need for living hostages.
- Yuuki Anzai of Devils' Line was raised believing himself to be an orphan, only to discover in his early twenties that not only are both his parents alive and well, but that they were respectively a scientist and patient in the research branch of the orphanage he was raised in. As for why they never contacted him, they legally couldn't. Yuuki was conceived as part of a scientific experiment on the hybridization of devils and ordinary humans; and while Midori and Tamaki were voluntary egg and sperm donors, taking part required them to sign away their custody rights and ability to contact him. That, and Tamaki is a convicted mass murderer.
- Goku from Dragon Ball Z spent most of Gohan's and pretty much all of Goten's childhood's dead or off training. Ultimately both cases stemmed from the fact he was trying to keep them safe.
- Though when he is around/alive, he really does try to be the best father he can to them. Points for effort, though his Spirited Competitor causes issues in what he thinks are good parenting decisions — he learns his lesson when he goes too far during the Cell saga, just in time to realize his folly and sacrifice himself for Gohan. Until then, though, his former archenemy comes off as a better parent to his eldest son than he is. In Dragon Ball Super he does his best to avoid repeating his mistakes with Goten and spends time with him between training with Vegeta and Beerus.
- Renton Thurston in Eureka Seven AO wasn't there for Ao and Eureka due to being stuck fighting Scubs and Secrets in the original Eureka Seven universe. And had Eureka stayed, the trapar would have killed Ao like it did his stillborn older sister.
- In Fairy Tail, the three Dragonslayers of the eponymous guild (Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy) all have Dragons that taught them their Magic and raised them as children, but they all mysteriously vanished 7 years before the start of the series. Come the Tartaros arc after the Timeskip, we finally learn why they vanished: They were actually sealed inside them (as was all the Slayers who had Dragon teachers) with a special seal, all to prevent them from becoming Dragons like Acnologia. And considering how Acnologia usually acts around others, this was probably a good reason.
- Done with Hohenheim in Fullmetal Alchemist, where he figured out the Big Bad's evil plan and set out to stop him, knowing that his own plan would take many years. He was also trying to become mortal again, however, since he wanted to die with Trisha, though ironically he didn't want to die at the end because Edward finally called him dad and Alphonse got his body back. He still dies next to her tomb, a bittersweet smile on his lips.
- Gundam:
- Mobile Suit Victory Gundam: Hangelg Ewin, the father of series protagonist, Uso Ewin, was actually Jinn Gehennam, the leader of the League Militaire. Likewise, Uso's mother, Mueller Miguel, was also involved in League Militaire, in her case as a mobile suit engineer and spy. This rather neatly explains why Uso was practically left alone with his best friend Shakti Kareen, whose own mother, Zanscare's Queen Maria Amonia, had abandoned her to Earth to protect her from Zanscare's rabid factionalism, to practically raise themselves during their early teenage years.
- Mobile Suit Gundam F91: Monica Arno is the mobile suit engineer who creates the Gundam in the title. Her youngest daughter Reese seems to understand it, but her eldest son Seabook is understandably pissed off at her. The fact that the patriarch of the family, Leslie, has just kicked the bucket doesn't help.
- In Happy World!, the main character's father left him alone at a very young age and for most of his life he thought it was simply because his father didn't love him and saw him as an annoyance. It is revealed his father left him to protect him from his curse, which caused him to only experience misfortune, leading to constant accidents and near death experiences, which could easily have hurt or killed his son. This barely excuses the huge amount of emotional scarring and trauma the main character received from his abandonment, which had a huge affect on him well into his early adulthood.
- Although we don't know the exact circumstances involved with Hinagiku and Yukiji's being abandoned by their birth parents in Hayate the Combat Butler, Hinagiku firmly believes that they had a good reason for leaving them behind. Yukiji doesn't seem to agree.
- A rare female example occurs in Heat Guy J, where we learn that hero Daisuke's mother, Nona, abandoned him and his brother Shun when they were both very young, because she was a Celestial and because she was pressured into it by her evil brother. It's a plot point that Daisuke understands that this trope was in play and has forgiven her, but Shun hasn't.
- Subverted in Hunter × Hunter. Ging left Gon with his Aunt Mito while he was still a baby to further pursue his goals, but only because Mito took full custody and wouldn't let Gon see him. Even before knowing this though, Gon is actually encouraged to become a hunter because he's impressed that it was a job great enough for his father to leave him behind.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency: Caesar Zeppelli hated his father Mario for abandoning him. On finally discovering him in Rome several years later, he stalked him to the Coliseum... whereupon he learned his father had spent those years trying to find a way to destroy the Pillar Men. Since Mario Zeppelli's own father, William Zeppelli (from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood), had died trying to fight monsters, Mario didn't want his own son getting dragged into what seemed to be the family's curse. Also, Lisa Lisa was forced to abandon her infant son; Joseph, after murdering the vampiric commanding officer that killed her husband and being marked as an international criminal.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind: Apart from being the The Don of Passione, Diavolo wasn't even aware that his daughter Trish existed during the years after she was born. Upon discovering this, he orders her retrieval to personally kill her and ensure there's no trace that would lead anyone to him.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean: Jolyne resents her father, Jotaro Kujo, for being absent for most of her childhood. Although he left partly due to work reasons, Jotaro also didn't want her getting mixed up in the supernatural troubles that he's frequently a part of. Subverted in the video game JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven, where Jotaro takes advantage of a brand-new timeline to attempt to be a better father to her. He claims he had to take her to Morioh with him, because she was crying too much otherwise, but the fact that he's hugging her and gently stroking her hair tells a different story.
- Kagerou Daze: Azami is feared by humans as a 'monster' (despite really not looking like one) — created the eternal world and eventually retreated inside for good, effectively disappearing, after seeing some villagers attack her home, believing her husband to be her hostage. She left Tsukihiko and Shion behind to give them a shot at living normally. Shion's extremely slow aging and powers inherited from Azami ensured that didn't happen.
- In Kemono Jihen, Kabane learns that his parents must have cared for him and had a good reason to leave him with his Evil Aunt, as they left him an extremely valuable Life Calculus that can suppress his ghoulish bloodlust.
- Averted in Maid-Sama!: it turns out that Misaki's father, Sayuka, did not abandon his family with his own gambling debt, but that of a friend of his whom he tried to find and help out of his predicament, with every intention of one day returning. This doesn't, however, excuse the fact that he'd abandoned his responsibilities as a father and a husband to help someone else only to return after several years. Nobody lets him forget this, including Sayuka himself.
- Lady!!: George cares for Lynn and Sarah but made a series of poor financial choices and is in some deep debt. He's always away from home because he's trying to work them off. This leads to them being abused by their Wicked Stepmother and his almsot new wife Madeleine, and her two spoiled children.
- In Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger it is both played straight and subverted:
- It is played straight with Kenzo. His sons, Kouji and Shiro grew up believing their parents had died cause a laboratory experiment that went wrong. However, Kenzo's father saved his son's life by turning him into a cyborg. However, neither of them told Kouji and Shiro he was alive because Kenzo was going to build a Humongous Mecha to repel the Mykene invasion they predicted, and train its pilot. And both his father and he wanted to shield Kouji and Shiro from danger and psychological shock. It was not a bad reason, even if it was somewhat weak because Juzo was also building another Humongous Mecha and he raised them, even if he hired a maid because he was nearly always absent. When Kenzo revealed the truth to his little son, it took a long while for Shiro to forgive him. Though Kouji forgave him right away.
- Subverted with Kouji and Shiro's mother. In episode 90 from Mazinger Z, their mother appeared in the Institute, revealing she was alive and asking to meet her sons before telling them why she let them believe she was dead during the intervening years. Shiro was happy to get his mother back, but Kouji was distrustful. It turned out that Kouji was right. Their mother was truly dead and that woman was a cyborg had fabricated by Dr. Hell to infiltrate the Institute and destroy Mazinger from within. So her "good reason for abandoning them" was false.
- Musuko ga Kawaikute Shikataganai Mazoku no Hahaoya: When Lorem reveals who baby Gospel's father is to Chiharu, Chiharu begins crying wanting to know he hasn't been there and helping raising his son. Lorem reveals he has been helping, they just can't see it. Indeed, the flashback following this chapter shows the history of Gospel's father. Gospel's father Zeke worked for C.A.T.T., a group that fought renegade demons and, in the present day, acts as a police force for demons living among humans. He abandoned the job after meeting Lorem, but returned to C.A.T.T. to help keep the by then-pregnant Lorem off the radar as much as possible, as there was increasing scrutiny regarding independent demons once the war finally died down. He went so far as to play up the infamous Lorem as his arch-enemy to keep their own connection secret. He also got Merii released from human custody and anonymously informed her of Lorem's location and Gospel's birth. He has every intention of returning to his family once he's confident Lorem and Gospel will be safe, and is optimistic that day is approaching as the peaceful times weaken C.A.T.T.'s more hawkish mandate.
- There's also a more serious reason Zeke's unique ability is to create a nonlethal poison that can prevent other demons from using their abilities. During the War, this was used as the basis for the Anti-Demonification gas that humans used to secure victory. As Gospel is Zeke's child, there's a very good chance that he's either resistant or immune to the gas; something Zeke is desperate to keep hidden.
- My Hero Academia: Fearing for the life of her child after her husband was murdered by All For One, Nana Shimura, All Might's predecessor and mentor, gave up her son Kotaro for adoption and cut off all ties with him so that he could never be traced back to her, before she too was killed by All For One. Unfortunately, her decision had vastly negative consequences for all parties involved. The formative age at which he was given up left him completely unable to come to terms with the gravity of her sacrifice, and for years he developed a bitter resentment of heroes, believing them to care more about protecting the lives of strangers than protecting their own families. This bled into how he interacted with his family as he forbade any and all discussions of heroes in his household, and often vented his frustrations on his son Tenko due to the latter's admiration of heroes. When Tenko's Quirk awakened for the first time it accidentally kills his dog, sister, mom, and grandparents before Tenko intentionally used it to kill Kotaro for all of his abuse. The traumatized Tenko was then eventually found by All For One, who slowly began to groom the young boy as his protégé, renamed him Tomura Shigaraki and the rest is history.
- Naruto:
- Naruto's father Namikaze Minato, had what he believed was a good reason... Sealing the Kyuubi inside of Naruto to protect Konoha with a Gambit Roulette against Uchiha Madara. As well as preventing war from breaking out when the other major villages realize that the Leaf no longer possesses a Bijuu. Turns out that his mom is not only dead, but was the previous Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails..
- In the Star Village filler arc, Sumaru's parents attempt to steal the star in order to stop the star training that kills most of those who use it, but get discovered by the Hoshikage, who has them leave the village in order to watch over the star from afar and intervene if someone plans on using it again. Sumaru grows up thinking that his parents died defending the star; his father does die from the lingering effects of star training, and his mother indicates that she can't stay with him if she could die at any time. His mother returns to steal the star when the star training resumes after Akahoshi kills the Hoshikage, and dies trying to recover the star.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: like every other trope in the Mecha genre, NGE deconstructs the scientist father who abandons the protagonist to build a robot, then calls the protagonist back to pilot it with Gendo Ikari. It seems like they're setting Gendo up for this one when, right before he gets sucked into Instrumentality aka The End of the World as We Know It, he explains his reasons for ignoring his son for like a decade, mainly that he believed he would have been a horrible father and that Shinji would do better without him. Considering how badly Gendo screwed up his son when they did meet, he might have had a point. This does nothing to redeem Gendo because: 1) It's way too late by then, 2) his Freudian Excuse and subsequent apology to his son don't really fly very well with anybody, and he seems well aware of the fact as he dies, and 3) he dumped a 5-year-old boy with a couple of either distant relatives or complete strangers - depending on the adaptation - without any kind of explanation, only to call Shinji back when Gendo needs to guilt him into putting his life on the line to pilot the weapon he made, complete with the psychological toll that comes with being a child soldier. Hideaki Anno pulls no punches in showing that Gendo Ikari is, indeed, a terrible father.
- In Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Negi's parents are missing because the political climate of the magical world meant that Negi would be a target of their opponents. And later on Nagi's body is possessed by the Big Bad, which understandably means that hanging out with Negi is a very bad idea.
- In One Piece:
- Luffy's Disappeared Dad turns out to be Dragon the Revolutionary who is known as the Most Wanted Man in the world and actively schemes to bring down the World Government. It's been hinted that the man does care very deeply for his family and only stays away for their protection. Considering what the World Government did on the island where they only suspected Gold Roger had a lover and child, we'd say he made a damn good choice.
- Usopp's father Yasopp left him and his mother to become a pirate and never returned. However, Ussop never resented his father for this, since he was chasing his dreams, which was something Usopp admired. There's also strong implications that as a known crew member of one of the Four Emperors, he stays away as much for their own protection as anything, since the Navy and World Government have shown zero qualms about targeting the families of pirates regardless of their own innocence. Although, Yasopp himself doesn't sugarcoat the fact that he essentially abandoned his wife and son, and wasn't there when they needed him.
- Ace's parents, while not exactly abandoning him, had good reasons for not being there for him besides being dead. His mother, Portgas D. Rouge, held him in her womb for over twenty months in order to keep him safe from the enemies of his father. The act ultimately killed her, but would allow Ace to have a relatively safe childhood (at least compared the childhood he would have had). His father, however, is none other than the Pirate King Gold Roger himself, who was dying due to a disease, and only kept away in his dying days in order to protect them, because his enemies basically amounted to the entire world. While Ace is grateful to his mother for her sacrifice (to the point that he took her surname), he has nothing but disdain for his biological father due to all the grief his heritage caused him in life, and made it emphatic that in his eyes, Whitebeard is his true father.
- Oyaji used the only way his harsh life taught him in order to defend himself and his family, pure violence, to get back at the yakuza that tried to burn his home down with him and his family inside. Killing the entire syndicate’s office managed to keep the thugs away, but it also got Oyaji a steep prison sentence, separating him from his dear family, and even when Oyaji got out many years later he tried to keep himself away, reasoning that his existence alone was a violence magnet, so to him being around his family was just putting them in danger. Oayji only goes back to his wife and kids when he realizes he is going to die soon, so he will try to be the best father and husband he can before the time is up.
- In Pokémon Adventures, Ruby has a deep resentment for his father, Norman, for leaving the family for five years. In reality, a frenzied Salamence assaulted Ruby and Sapphire, and the injuries inflicted by Ruby caused it to careen into the Weather Institute. Norman covered it up and was disqualified from his gym leader certification trial as a result. The change in Ruby's behavior left bad blood between both of them. Norman gave Ruby the go-ahead with his Contest campaign after a prolonged battle at the ruined Weather Institute five years later (would have been a birthday gift if Ruby stuck around). Then Ruby found out the motives for Norman's actions. Oops.
- In Psycho-Pass Nobuchika Ginoza's father Tomomi Masaoka left his family because, according to the system that governs their society, Masaoka was a latent criminal who could have snapped at any moment. His options within the laws of their society were thus either permanent incarceration or accepting a position as an Enforcer for the Public Safety Bureau, working as a police "hunting dog" with very limited personal freedom. Masaoka chose the latter.
- Ranma's mother in Ranma ½. Nodoka claims that she agreed to not be around Ranma to make him a stronger man, and that she received constant letters from Genma all throughout Ranma's childhood, which stopped just about the time he and Ranma headed for China — and their absence is why she went personally to the Tendo home. This makes readers realize that this makes Genma an even bigger bastard because he deliberately kept Ranma unaware of his own mother despite writing to her regularly.
- Gale from Rave Master left his family when Haru was one in order to find the Rave stones, which is revealed fairly early on in the manga (or 15 years after he left. Why did no one tell Haru sooner?) This explanation alone is still unacceptable to Haru. When he actually meets Gale and learns that he left to find Rave in order to stop his Big Bad Friend, the leader of Demon Card, Haru accepts him as a father.
- It kinda helped that Gale thought that the Dark Bring implanted in him by King could have created a second Overdrive at any moment, and thus wanted to be as far away from anyone as possible, especially his beloved children.
- In Samurai Champloo, Fuu's father, the Sunflower Samurai, has a very good excuse — as a Christian in isolationist Japan, if he had stayed home, his entire family would be executed.
- In Snow White with the Red Hair, Shirayuki's father, Mikaze, left her in the care of her grandparents and told them to say that he was dead after his wife's death, because her hair colour stood-out too much for her own safety, which is more problematic for a group like the Lion's of the Mountains.
- Superior: Angelica's demon grandfather had abandoned her grandmother when she was pregnant and no one ever knew why. Years later, Angelica runs into him by sheer luck and finds out that he had made a deal with the townspeople that he would leave on the condition that his unborn child wouldn't be subjected to Half-Breed Discrimination. He had actually spent the past several decades viewing himself as a coward and is incredibly relieved when Angelica tells him that his wife understood his choice and never blamed him.
- Yoshimura from Tokyo Ghoul abandoned his child to the Ghoul-infested 24th Ward for a very good reason. The mysterious organization he once served forced him to murder his human lover, and have never stopped pursuing his Half-Human Hybrid child. He sternly refuses to even admit to having one when confronted by them, but at the same time refers to his child as his "only hope" and is willing to impersonate his child in order to throw off pursuers.
- Tiger & Bunny: Kotetsu is a corporate-sponsored superhero, who is unable to take days off to visit his hometown to see his 9-year-old daughter. He does, however, speak to her on the phone regularly, though he never sees through on his promises to see her. The one time he does have a day off, a new Big Bad appears and screws it up. It is revealed that he left after his wife died and hasn't come back to visit his family for over 5 years; when he finally does go back, his daughter is 10 years old and hates him for abandoning her.
- The Vision of Escaflowne:
- Failure Knight Allen Schezar was badly traumatized by his sister's kidnapping and his mother's Death by Despair, and hates his Disappeared Dad for leaving the family. When he does have a chance to call him out, Allen finds out that Leon Schezar was Dead All Along, having been murdered by The Empire because he didn't give them the information he had about the Dragonkin; Mrs. Schezar was depressed to death because she knew her husband was dead since the beginning. Allen then manages to posthumously forgive his dad, and later in the series he gets his still-alive but badly fucked up younger sister back. How badly messed up is she? It turns out that she was captured by Emperor Donkirk and turned over to his wizards, transforming her into the Axe-Crazy (and male) Captain of the Dragonslayers; Dilandau.
- Later on, it turns out Allan is deeper in this trope than expected. HE'S the Disappeared Dad, though he didn't know it at first. It's revealed that Duke Freid's son is actually Allan's due to an affair that took place the night before the Duke's wedding. His wife Marlene didn't even meet her husband until the ceremony, and she and Allan were in love. She didn't tell Allan to prevent any international tension that might result. When Allan found out by reading Marlene's diary and adding up against Prince Chid's age, he tried to own up to the Duke as a show of loyalty. The Duke, though, insisted that Chid was his son because he was the one to raise the boy, which to him was more important. He knew the whole time but didn't mind since he and Marlene didn't fall in love until they were already deep into their marriage.
- In Voltes V, Kentaro Go went back to Planet Boazania to convince his cousin, Emperor Zambajil to spare the Earth from his Alien Invasions, When Zambajil asked him to use his knowledge in science to create weapons for the Boazanian Empire, he refused, and was subsequently imprisoned. He was then freed by Dange, and led more slave rebellions, before leading some members of resistance to Earth as refugees.
- Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl: Kojiro abandoned his daughter and his wife since he discovered his daughter's natural talent in judo. Matsuda then convinces Yawara that her father still cares for her and continues to watch her in tournaments.
- In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, Yusei's father sacrificed his life during the Zero Reverse disaster to ensure that his son would survive.
