Bad Parents In Animation (Anime, Western Animation, Eastern, etc)

Hey, man, I was just kidding. Even if he's as compassionate as a mugging, Vegeta being a part of Trunks' life is vastly superior to everyone around him being killed by merciless cyborgs.

edited 24th Jun '13 6:31:13 AM by MsCC93

Although it should be pointed out that Dragon Ball GT is treated as non-canon by a lot of fans, and apparently Akira Toriyama himself. So the relationship between Pan and her parents may or may not count.

How about Jukei from Fist Of The North Star? That dude simply had no chance of winning the Father Of The Year Award. Why? Well, let's count:

1. The man uses the style "North Dipper Shining Stone Fist". It sounds like a good name...except this style is as seductive and corrupting as the Dark Side of the Force. It turned him into a demonic looking version of himself, complete with bulging veins, bloodshot-looking eyes, and purple smokey breath. Fortunately, Ryuken intervened and snapped him out of it before he gave too much of himself into it. It turns out that using this style is like shooting up on drugs, because when Jukei snapped out of it, he apparently had no memory of what he did. Oh, and you want to know the punchline? Ryuken reveals to Jukei that while he was in a violent frenzy, Jukei murdered his wife and child.
2. Even though Jukei admitted that the karma behind the style is too heavy, he decided to train Han, Hyou, Kaiou, and Shachi this style anyway. Supposedly, this was to save the land Shura/Asura from its oppressors, but I don't see any oppressors other than those four, do you?
3. Jukei also proved to be extremely classist, acting like Kaiou's mother died just doing a servant's duty and trying to drive it in home to Kaiou that he's just a servant who should kiss Hyou's butt, even though Hyou is not even half as good as Kaiou.
4. Jukei didn't try treat Hyou any better either, by trying to wipe out Hyou's memories of his brother Kenshirou (even though it didn't work the way he thought it did) and actually tortured Hyou when he was just a child for information about a secret technique. Hyou almost killed himself to prevent the divulging of information, because he would only share it with Kenshirou.
5. Jukei actually wanted Raou to be the saviour of Shura/Asura, not Kenshirou. In fact, it was only because he found out that Kenshirou had defeated Raou and was coming to the land that he decided to try reversing the memory wipe he performed on Hyou. It didn't work, because he found out too late that his memory wipe didn't actually work in the first place...but Kaiou's memory wipe did. He gets killed off.
6. Now, it should be pointed out that he knew all too well what a horrible person he was, and in fact, he went into that confrontation with Hyou fully intending to die in the hopes of atoning for his sins and obtaining redemption. In fact, he died in despair and thinking that he failed in achieving anything.

All things considered, Jukei's death felt like karma. You thought the Jedi Order and Anakin Skywalker's dysfunctional relation in the Prequel Trilogy was first? Sorry, Fist of the North Star beat them to the punch long before that!

I think Charlotte, Stu, and Didi from Rugrats also qualifies. Drew was alright because at least he didn't always neglect Angelica.

Stu and Didi are the worst (But only in Rugrats, not All Grown Up), because they are extremely neglectful to their kids and even unintentionally caused all the kids to go to the jungle in the movie! Chaz isn't innocent eithe, because he left Chuckie at the toy store!

edited 24th Jun '13 6:31:31 AM by MsCC93

Really, they should have just realized Lou couldn't be trusted with children after the first three or so times.

To his credit, Lou looked like he actually tried to look after the kids most of the time, even if his body ended up failing him over and over.

edited 29th Jun '13 5:25:41 PM by MsCC93

Bob and Miriam Pataki. Not just to Helga, but to Olga too. Parental Favoritism, neglect, and stage-parenting all in one package. Granted, they do have moments of decent parenting too, just much less commonly.

Ugh I forgot about them! I think Big Bob is worse. Miriam is just neglectful and all she does is drink alcohol.

edited 23rd Jun '13 9:59:24 AM by MsCC93

How about Clay and Bloberta Puppington from the show Moral Orel? Actually, a lot of the parents in the cartoon are pretty lousy. Although those two went into the marriage thing without any real concept of the responsibilities that come with that and being parents. Not only that, but the community is fundamentalist Protestant, which proves to be quite nightmarish.

I always thought the incompetence of the parents shown in the Rugrats was less direct negligence and more just to show how deceptively elaborate the babies were. Most of the stuff the parents overlooked were fairly realistic mistakes that many parents likely do without a second thought of anything happening. Sort of a gag of "this is all the stuff your kid done while you went to change his bottle".

The show actually did well to show dysfunctional parenting in a mild relatable sense, Drew knows he's spoiling Angelica and is often shown trying to remedy it while Charlotte is a typical workaholic parent who gets occasional redeeming moments. Same for Didi and Chaz's over pampering treatment. Stu might get attention for testing his potentially dangerous toys on the kids, but it's still with good intentions. Attention is put on the fact the kids all are very used to their parent's care and love, and take notice when they are genuinely absent.

edited 23rd Jun '13 11:15:53 AM by Psi001

Is it possible to be a good parent while not depriving your children the opportunity to go on exciting adventures that'll keep the kids watching?

Apart from adventures in imagination I guess, like Muppet Babies . Or when the parents have no choice in the matter (the danger comes to them, or their kid is The Only One who can save the world).

Well, there are Hayate's parents from Hayate The Combat Butler. The mom is a compulsive gambler and the dad just mooches around waiting for the perfect job to fall into his lap. Hayate does all the work and they repay him by trying to sell his organs to the Yakuza. I won't say any specifics, but they screw over his entire life through negligence, stupidity and at times, outright malice.

edited 23rd Jun '13 2:08:18 PM by Zendervai

Um... How did we miss Fire Lord Ozai? Guy gave his son a scar that would have killed him in real life.

And Green Goblin, in every incarnation. (Norman, of course)

And I want to note that in an episode of Fairly Oddparents, Timmy's parents were watching "The Bad Parent Hunter" and saw themselves on the show.

edited 23rd Jun '13 3:57:52 PM by Smasher

What an inexhaustible well of a topic.

King Claudus in the new Thundercats was kind of a dick to both of his kids.

He was a dick to everyone, to be honest. It's my biggest issue with the reboot; we aren't sad to see the Thundercats wiped out. If Slythe wasn't allied with Mumm-Ra, I'd honestly be tempted to cheer for him as he outsmarts and destroys the oppressive empire that rules the planet.

@MS CC 93 "How is Norman a bad father?" In Pokemon special he nearly kills Ruby with Slaking, just because Ruby doesn't want to be a trainer.

But that's the manga and this is an animation thread... so that wouldn't leap to mind immediately.

Question... does Master Splinter from the various TMNT animated series' count as a bad father? Because on one hand he taught his sons from an early age how to fight in a dangerous manner, and lets them go fight ninjas, thugs, aliens, and monsters... but on the other hand he knew that because of what they are, the nature of the world/their origin, and Shredder, that the turtles would be in danger if they didn't learn how to fight.

A ninja master doesn't nanny his charges, even if they ARE his sons.

And really, it isn't like he could teach the Turtles how to be accountants, even if he wanted to.

Frollo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame, if he counts as a father, certainly belongs here.

I don't read the manga, but he sounds worse than most of the parents on here.

If we're including anime, then the top of my list is Mr. Fujinami. From a Watsonian perspective, he's a piece of shit because he does everything possible to force his daughter Ryunosuke into being a man without her consent, with his attempts straddling between him being an irredeemable bastard and him being clinically insane. From a Doylist perspective, he's still a piece of shit because not only is he a one-joke character but he takes Ryunosuke, a character with a very interesting dynamic and potential for development, and turns her into a one-joke character.

A lot of parents in animated stuff don't do a good job parenting, because TV shows and movies are usually aimed at youngsters and usually star them as well, and having them be the center of the story doesn't offer the parent characters a lot of chance to become prominent.

It's very hard to find any Takahashi comedy character who isn't one-note as hell, but yeah, that guy was one of the worst at it, even regardless of his moral compass or lack thereof.

From my observations, Abusive Parents in Anime surpass most Western Animation examples by a wide margin.

• Yu-Gi-Oh!: Mr. Marik/Malik is a real piece of work. He treated Odion/Rishid like a slave rather than a son, adopted or otherwise. He carved an important clue in Marik's back with a hot knife...and a slasher smile. Is it any wonder that Dark Marik's murder of his father came off as a Kick The Son Of A Bitch moment?
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gendou Ikari is so not gonna win any Father Of The Year Award. I mean, he put his son through so much suffering, and he never even lifted a finger to show that he was there for him. And the fact that he was willing to destroy the world and throw his son under the bus just to get an idealized version of his dead wife just comes off as plain selfish. At least Karma got him in the end.
• Saint Seiya: Mitsumasa Kido. Seriously, an old guy who goes around and begets 100 sons, so that he could essentially give them training from hell and pretty much sent the large majority of them to their deaths? This guy is about as terrible as Zeus from Greek Mythology.

edited 24th Jun '13 1:07:07 PM by TiggersAreGreat