Forum - View topicFather figures in anime.
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Spazztik
Posts: 3 |
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As an extra credit project for a sociology class I am researching father/ father figures and I was wondering about father relationships with their children in anime, positive and negative. Does anyone have any ideas about what anime I should watch and why?
[EDIT: Changed your thread title to be a little more specific. -TK] |
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Kimiko_0
 Posts: 1796 Location: Leiden, NL, EU |
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Fathers aren't very common in anime. I'm not sure if that makes your research harder or easier.
Anime with a father present: Lucky Star - Konata's father plays a minor role CardCaptor Sakura - Sakura's relationship to her father is one of the themes Serial Experiments Lain - A rather confusing anime, and Lain's father doesn't play much of a role anyway Ranma ½ - Genma (Ranma's dad) and Soun Tendo (father of the three Tendo sisters) are two of the many characters Of these, CCS is the most serious (regarding Sakura's father anyway), but I suppose the rest of them are also part of a "fathers in anime" overview. (edited to add explanations; sorry about just listing them before) Last edited by Kimiko_0 on Wed Oct 01, 2008 2:34 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Labbes
 Posts: 890 |
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I can recommend Gunslinger Girl here.
While it does not feature fathers, there are a lot of fatherly feelings to be found there. Also, they are shown in a very unusual environment. I am not sure of how much importance Neon Genesis Evangelion and FLCL are here. In EVA, the son feels ignored of the father, and wants to feel loved by him. It is important for the series, but not as much as in Gunslinger Girl. In FLCL, the son feels as if he is the rival of his father over a woman. It is narrated in a very interesting way, and I don't think I really get it, but it might be interesting. If I remember correctly, it is only a minor theme in the series, though. Edit: I forgot Spirited Away - the father is more like damsel in distress here 
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Spazztik
Posts: 3 |
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Thanks a bunch for the suggestions. Some of those will definitely help. . . Sadly I need more that that lol. . . Thanks for a good start!
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Kimiko, listing is not allowed. Please go back and edit some reasons into your suggestions.
And to the general public, I know it's usually frowned upon when new users join and make one-shot attempts to ask for help on their homework, but I did the same thing a few years ago and it got me an A on the project. And in contrast to some of the other users, Spazztik looks to have a good grasp of grammar and spelling, which is always a good sign. As for the topic, I can think of 3 anime for now: Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion - The story is extremely over-the-top in comparison to conventional writing, but the main issue between father and son is a clashing belief in ideologies and the way each one should go about ruling an empire. Yes, there's royalty involved, which means an unbelievable amount of f*cked up plot twists will occur. I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a lot of time on your hands and a high tolerance for outlandish military warfare and heavy-handed politics. It's entertaining to say the least, but probably a bit excessive in terms of incidental content. Themes you could observe include alienation, the power of position/social status, and the lack of love or intimacy that results from all this, eventually leading to the son wanting to kill the father. Neon Genesis Evangelion - More negativity in relation to the father/son pairing. The father is obsessive, unloving, and very shrewd. The son wants to be loved, ends up being used by his father, but in the end still doesn't receive it. I haven't watched the series in a while, but this one in particular is notorious for having lots of father/son issues. I'll even throw in a hint of Oedipus to make things more interesting. Starts out action-y but ends on a psychological and often highly criticized note. Master Keaton - Technically it's father/daughter, but a father's a father. If you pick this one up, it is the most subdued of the 3. It's more of a detective, mystery, and slice-of-life series where each episode stands alone as a sort of allegory to teach various moral lessons, though not feel preachy, which is the real beauty of it all. The father is technically a jack-of-all-trades kind of character and participates in various adventures, but each episode has its own little theme. He's also divorced as a result of his diligence to his craft(s), but you get to see his daughter, and even his father during some of the series. I'm afraid I don't know off the top of my head in which episodes his daughter and father make appearances, but it's a quaint, if very underrated series if you want to do some character analysis. It's a lot more positive than negative-themed compared to the first 2 series. You could look for things like the obvious paternal love, positive reinforcement in vouching for the offspring's lifestyle (all 3 characters kind of dance to their own tune), and maybe even the way Keaton handles his relationship with his daughter post-divorce. Actually, episode 2 is about Keaton having to retrieve a young girl who is being held a "social captive" by her grandmother. And in the process, Keaton befriends the girl and they develop a pseudo father/daughter relationship in which he talks a little bit about his own daughter (I think). Not bad for 20 minutes. Good luck. |
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Kimiko_0
Posts: 1796 Location: Leiden, NL, EU |
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Are you looking just for actual fathers, or more generally for 'fatherly behavior'? Would older brothers or senpai fit into that? Those are very common in anime, so they might be an interesting section for your paper anyway.
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BrentNewhall
 Posts: 31 |
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Great topic! Here are a few others to think about:
Astro Boy (2003 version) was built by Dr. Tenma, very much a father figure, who becomes a tortured soul trying to push his "son" to be the best he can be through conflict and adversity. 50 episodes is a lot to get through, but the ending deals strongly with the father/son relationship. The entire plot of Samurai Champloo centers on the protagonist, Fuu, trying to find her father. Which has all sorts of consequences come the end of the show. Of all things, each season of Digimon deals with parents a lot. Parents are often quite involved in their kids' lives in this series, and have to deal with the various supernatural events occurring in the show. Heck, in the third season, the parents know what the kids are doing and actively encourage them. There's also some serious plot surrounding the character of Henry and his father in the third season. You can look also for Matt's relationship with his father (now divorced) in season 1. Earth Defense Family is all about inter-family angst. The father is a morbidly obese coward, whose family completely disrespects him, and much of the series focuses on his dealings with that. Several episodes of the episodic Boogiepop Phantom deal with teenagers' relationships with their fathers, particularly a driven pianist, and one girl with a serious male complex. In FLCL, the main character deals with a father he doesn't respect, to the point of wanting to kill him. In Clockwork Fighters: Hiwou's War, the children spend most of the series journeying around feudal Japan to find their father, who left home years ago. What they find is a surprise. In NieA_7, the main character (Mayuko) deals with a father who's not there. He's a gaping hole in her life; she uses his wristwatch as her alarm clock, and fondly remembers her childhood at his side. Gundam is ripe ground for parental angst. In the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, Amuro disobeys his father by climbing into the Gundam unit, then accidentally vents his space-suited father into space. He later stumbles on his father in another colony, who is permanently brain damaged due to lack of oxygen when drifting in space. In Zeta Gundam, Kamille's parents are put in grave mortal danger. The first season of Kodocha ends with a lot of drama surrounding the protagonist--a child TV star--and the man who may very well be her long-lost father. Tenchi has to protect both his father and mother when he travels back in time to keep them from being killed, in the movie Tenchi Muyo in Love!. There's some interesting stuff there dealing with the difference between his current father and the teenage version. Various episodes of Mushi-shi deal with fathers, negatively and positively. One of the main characters in Paranoia Agent is a father who's trying to get a house built for his family. But he gets disturbingly possessive of his own teenage daughter. Fathers feature heavily in Hayao and Goro Miyazaki's works, including My Neighbor Totoro (the father's heavily involved in raising his two daughters, as their mother is in the hospital), Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (where an invasion force spoiler[kills Nausicaa's father, the king, requiring her to step up and lead her people]), and Tales From Earthsea (in which the protagonist's murder of his father kicks off the whole story). There's also some sweet bits involving Kiki's father supporting her in Kiki's Delivery Service. Of course, Ranma of Ranma 1/2 is always disagreeing with his irascible father, though that's played almost exclusively for comedy. |
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_Earthwyrm_
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How's about Souchiro Yagami, Light's Dad in Death Note?
In that series, spoiler[Light's pretty much 'in the closet' as the person who his Father hates most in the world.] I think it makes a fairly interesting father/son relationship.
And what about Chiyo-chan's Dad? 
Edit: Whoa. I messed up the BBCode tags big time there. 
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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Astro Boy is actually a pretty good one (2003 in particular).
First you have Dr. Tenma, Astro's true father in what would be a biological sense for humans. Dr. Tenma spoiler[essentially abandons Astro by shutting him down in 2003 version (various other reasons in other series)]. Then, on the other hand, you have Professor Ochanomizu (Dr. O'Shay) and Astro's robot parents (not in 2003 version), who all love Astro and treat him like a normal kid. For your purposes, the 2003 series will probably be better. Astro has a lot of parental figures throughout the shows (his teacher is also a parental figure sometimes in the manga and the 1980 series, but not the 2003 series). This also brings up the issue of biological parents versus father figures, foster parents, adoptive fathers, etc. Sometimes Astro gets grounded or told not to go outside, but in true kid fashion does anyway and you really get the feeling that Dr. O'Shay is Astro's father and caretaker and truly cares for Astro while Dr. Tenma does care for him to some degree, but more as a pet project than a person. If you're in a time rush, I'd suggest watching Astro Boy 2003, at least the first few episodes (2 or 3), the Greatest Robots in the World episodes, some more random ones in the middle until you get a sense for Dr. O'Shay and his attitude towards Astro, and then the last 6 episodes of the series (around 15/50 episodes, or more if you prefer) |
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Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3963 Location: New York state. |
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Let me think of some examples:
In Kare Kano, Hiroyuki is an overprotective father for his daughters and Yukino can get annoyed with his childish antics. Gunslinger Girl explores the various relationships of the fratellos and the tragic backgrounds of each of the girls. Fratello relationships vary between being surrogate family members or the cyborgs being used as tools of the trade by their handlers. The pairing of Angelica and Marco played out as a father-daughter relationship up until spoiler[the effects of the conditioning affected Angelica's memories.] This resulted in Marco beginning to neglect her as he seen any close bond with the girl to be pointless if spoiler[her memories would be lost]. This is especially ironic as Angelica's real father spoiler[attempted to arrange his daughter's murder.] In Koi Kaze, Koshiro and Nanoka's father tends to overworry easily over Nanoka if she isn't home on time and has to lecture Koshiro over being brother to Nanoka. His role is meant to represent the norms of society's expectations of brother-sister relationships being only platonic, which further raises Koshiro's arkwardness and frustration around Nanoka and anyone else who remind him of this role. In Ouran High School Host Club, Haruhi's father is overprotective of her to the point where he will beat up Tamaki if he gets too close to her. He also worries over being any use to Haruhi since she is an independent person. The fact he is an adult version of Tamaki in terms of personality and habits causes Haruhi to often be annoyed and exasperated with her father. |
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Keonyn
Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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People have already presented great examples, but I'll toss in a few more. It's actually kind of ironic that we have a sort of fantasy league going on the IGN Anime boards, and the last competition was which team could present a character better suited to being a parent than their competitor. Anyways, I'll throw in my examples:
Scrapped Princess - This one came to mind first, as this is the character I used for my team in the above mentioned competition. Shannon, while not the father himself, actually takes on the role of the father figure for Pacifica. He's not just the brother and protector, but also the provider, decision maker, and emotional/psychological support. He also takes on the role briefly for Cz as well. Eureka Seven - The legacy left by Rentons father is responsible for a lot of the events in the series, as well as a number of the emotional trials Renton goes through as the series progresses. While the series is lacking this father figure, his role in the story is still quite significant. Steamboy - This movie presents the father figure element as double stacked. You not only have Rays father, who plays a huge role in the story, as well as having a significant impact on Ray himself. But you also have the father of Rays father, Rays grandfather Lloyd, playing a significant role as well, influencing both Ray and Edward. Their relationship is actually one of the key plot elements in this movie, and the impact it has on the events of the film is quite significant. Fullmetal Alchemist - Ed and Als father plays a pretty important role later in the series, as well as providing Ed with motivation; as a result of his absence during earlier parts of the series as well. Last Exile - Another instance of fathers playing the role of motivators through their absence, as Lavie and Klaus arguably live the life they live and do the things they do as a result of following in the footsteps of their fathers. Oban Star-Racers - A lot of Molly's actions are a direct result of her trying to prove herself to her father, who literally hardly even realizes she exists. The struggle between her and her father is a very central element of the dramatic side of this story. Solty Rei - Roys role as a father for both his natural daughter, and the trials that result from him looking for her and spoiler[eventually dealing with her once she is found], as well as his role as Solty's sort of adopted father, are very key to this story. Pretty much the entire dramatic side of this series revolves around these father/daughter relationships, and how those are effected by the other parts of the series' storyline. |
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suna_suna
 Posts: 550 Location: Ohio |
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in Fruits Basket, spoiler[Even while not really his father, Kazuma Sohma is the first one who actually shows Kyo any kind of fatherly love. He is his father in that sense. i think that this can show . that a foster parent can really be just as loving as a biological one.]
i guess Steamboy spoiler[had alot of stuff dealing with the conflicts that arise between Father and Son when their ideals are different] |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4789 |
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For a completely non-academic take on the issue, a decent portion of Bleach devotes itself to a father who enjoys kicking his son's ass at every opportunity. Gotta love Isshin.
I think Inuyasha generated all sorts of nonsensical ideas on why Kagome's dad wasn't so much as even mentioned in the series; I always liked the take on him running off with some hot model abroad. On a more serious note with that, though, the whole dynamic between Inuyasha and Sesshomaru over who best lives up to their father's legacy might garner a bit of material. If you don't feel like dragging your way through the whole series, the third movie kind of contains that dynamic in a nutshell (it's not technically canon story-wise, but it gets the relevant characters' emotions right). |
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Servant of the Path
 Posts: 90 Location: United States |
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Gankutsuou has quite a bit to do with fathers.
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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The main theme in Zone of the Enders is the one revolving around James trying to be a good father. The series begins with him attempting to reestablish ties with his estranged children. In the first episode you get a sense that he has been absent throughout much of their childhoods and feebly attempts (buying a kitten for his tough daughter who works in construction kept me laughing) to win them over. Much like Solty Rei spoiler[James ignores poor Dolores since he is caught up trying to win over his biological children]. I love how he is constantly reading that book on how to be a good father which is full of lame advise.
I really feel as though ZOE is one of those underrated series which sadly often is missed by non-mecha fans. The series is both touching and cute, seriously! |
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