Understanding a character's past and relationship with their parents is important in anime because it provides important insight into a character's overall personality. Many popular series have shown the disastrous consequences of abusive or neglectful upbringings.
While some parents in anime shower their children with endless love and kindness or would even risk their lives for them, others have truly missed the mark on parenting. As a result, their children have psychological wounds that can never be repaired and are forced to pick up the pieces that their parents left behind. However, many characters came out stronger because of it.
Updated on July 3rd, 2022 by Sarah Martin: Since this list was published back in 2021, we've added a couple more anime characters who turned out great despite their awful parents.
12 Shinji Ikari's Father Used Him As An Object (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Neon Genesis Evangelion's Gendo Ikari certainly isn't a frontrunner for any "Father of the Year" awards any time soon. He only came back into Shinji's life because he wanted to use him as a test subject, and Shinji experienced several traumatic events as a result.
Gendo's behavior created Shinji's current melancholic, timid personality that fans either love or hate. Even worse, Shinji later found out that Gendo only forced him to endure so many atrocities because he was hellbent on reviving his wife, the only person he ever loved.
11 Gambino Never Loved Guts (Berserk)
Guts' life is a series of misfortunate, traumatic events throughout Berserk. However, it all starts at home. Gambino adopted Guts, but never showed his son any love. The only helpful thing he did was teach him how to fight.
Other than that, Gambino inflicted every imaginable type of abuse on Guts and showed him no compassion. Eventually, he even tried selling him into slavery. Then, he tried to kill Guts after one of his friends died for seemingly no reason. It's hard to find an anime father crueler than him.
10 Saiki K Always Has To Sort Out His Parents' Messes (The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K)
Throughout The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K., the titular protagonist tries his best to avoid inconveniences, which is naturally difficult since he's born with an array of psychic abilities. More so, his parents, Kurumi and Kuniharu, often make it harder for him to steer clear of troublesome scenarios.
Saiki is desperate for a peaceful life, but because of his parents' tendencies to get themselves into ridiculous situations, he's consistently sorting their issues out time and time again, even when he'd rather not get involved. Whether it's spending hours moving furniture around because they simply can't decide where they'd like it to go, getting rid of creepy salesmen who take advantage of his mother, or fixing his father's disastrous mistakes at work, poor Saiki can never catch a break.
9 Ken Kaneki Had A Complicated Relationship With His Mother (Tokyo Ghoul)
Ken Kaneki's life changed beyond comprehension after encountering Rize. As the story of his past unfolded, fans learned of his abusive upbringing. As the protagonist of Tokyo Ghoul, his statement at the beginning of the series was pretty accurate when he said that his life is a tragedy.
Although Kaneki's mother did her best to be a kind and generous person, she also believed that a person would only find happiness through being hurt by others, rather than causing the hurt themselves. This warped Kaneki's views of interpersonal relationships, and when he became half-ghoul and half-human, he constantly made himself the subject of hurt, believing this would protect the ones he loved. It is also revealed that his mother used to psychically beat him.
8 Uchiha Itachi Lived A False Life Of A Villain Because Of His Father's Plans (Naruto)
In Naruto, Uchiha Itachi's father, Fugaku Uchiha, inherited the Will of Fire and tried his best to maintain peace within Konoha as the head of the Uchiha. But over time, a build-up of problematic events led him to conspire a coup d'état so that the Uchiha could take control of Konoha.
To stop this, Itachi was ordered by the village elders to slaughter the entire Uchiha clan. Believing this was the best option to maintain peace as well as being extremely loyal to Konoha, he agreed. Of course, the village is to blame for this situation. But Fugaku could have stopped the coup d'état and found another way to resolve the differences between the Uchiha and Konoha, rather than allowing Itachi to live a painful life.
7 Kyo's Father Was An Abusive Alcoholic (Fruits Basket)
Most of the characters in Fruits Basket didn't come from loving childhoods, and Kyo was no exception. His mother committed suicide, and Kyo's father repeatedly blamed him for it. He berated Kyo for being born as the Zodiac cat and further scrutinized his monstrous true form.
Luckily, Kazuma Sohma took him in and trained him at his dojo for a while. Kazuma isn't his biological father, but he provided Kyo more love than his real father ever did.
6 Grisha Yeager Was Influenced By His Own Father To Become The Parent That He Was (Attack On Titan)
In Attack On Titan, Grisha Yeager was a victim of his father's propaganda, and he only continued the cycle with Zeke and Eren. Though his father's intentions were to save him from suffering the same fate as his younger sister who was killed by Marley's authorities, it just sent Grisha down a twisted path.
Later on, however, his father unknowingly confessed his sins to his grandson, Eren, and broke down as he expressed his regret. However, his actions are unforgivable because Grisha's actions inadvertently caused Eren to start the Rumbling.
5 Killua Zoldyck Was Subjected To Torture Throughout His Childhood (Hunter X Hunter)
The world-renowned Zoldyck family didn't become a famous group of assassins without brutally harsh training. Like the rest of his family members, Killua from Hunter X Hunter was subjected to horrifically cruel circumstances growing up in order to get stronger.
From a very young age, Killua received years of electric shocks that were intended to both build up his resistance to torture and be used as punishment. Although this meant he developed exceptionally strong Nen abilities, it's a miracle he didn't turn into a villain.
4 Nagisa's Mother Tried To Live Vicariously Through Him (Assassination Classroom)
Though many fans make fun of Nagisa's feminine appearance in Assassination Classroom, there's an unfortunate story behind it. Nagisa's mother wanted a daughter so she could have all of the experiences that she missed out on as a kid, but she wound up having a boy.
Still, this didn't stop her from trying to dress Nagisa up like a girl and keep his hair long, even if it isn't what he wanted. Plus, Nagisa was forced to learn how to read a room as a child so he wouldn't anger her because if he disobeyed, she'd verbally abuse him.
3 Shoto Todoroki Was Just A Tool To His Father (My Hero Academia)
In My Hero Academia, Endeavor struggled to accept the fact that he always ranked No. 2 because All Might consistently took the No. 1 spot. He then decided to arrange a quirk marriage with Rei Todoroki, whose ice Quirk countered the drawbacks of his Hellflame Quirk, in order to create the perfect hero to surpass All Might.
Rei gave birth to three children who were seen as failures by Endeavor until eventually Shoto Todoroki was born. Endeavor forced him to train tirelessly and avoid spending time with any of his siblings. Shoto later grew to resent the Half-Hot side of his Quirk and refused to use it for the longest time because it reminded him of his father.
2 Megumi Fushiguro's Father Forgot He Even Had A Son (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Toji Fushiguro is a notorious assassin known as the Sorcerer Killer in Jujutsu Kaisen. He's also Megumi's father. He's mentioned in passing early on in the series when Megumi expresses anger at his father for a variety of reasons; notably, naming him Megumi, a female name, with no regard for his gender.
As the story progressed, Toji because a recurring side character with a pivotal role during the Gojo's Past Arc, during which he claimed to forget who Megumi even is. Shockingly, when he was revived after the seance and defeated Dagon, he asked Megumi his name and was delighted to hear that he chose "Fushiguro" as his surname, rather than "Zenin."
1 Emma's Foster Mother Broke Her Leg and Had Horrifying Motives (The Promised Neverland)
At the very beginning of The Promised Neverland, Isabella played the part of the perfect foster mother for all the children of the orphanage. All that fell apart when Norman and Emma discovered the dark and twisted truth about the outside world.
As the children make various attempts to escape before being eaten, Isabella manages to foil a majority of their plans, and even deliberately breaks Emma's leg in the process. It is later revealed that Ray is in fact Isabella's biological son, yet she was still willing to send him off to be eaten by monsters.