While I’m sure I’m not the first to broach this topic, I have to ask… What is the matter with the fathers in anime/manga?? At this point, it’s probably a cliché by now, but seriously, why are they so horrible? Do Japanese kids hate their dads so much that they better identify with characters that have bad fathers? Is it a story mechanism that makes it easier to put a kid into some kind of fantastic adventure? (I would imagine it’s easier to get a kid into a giant robot when he doesn’t have a normal, sane father figure to question such behavior for a second.)
To support my point, I present to you a handful of bad dads from the annals of Japanese anime, manga, and videogames.
Tem Ray – Mobile Suit Gundam
Tem Ray is one of the first neglectful, over-worked fathers in anime, distancing himself from his wife and son to design the Gundam. While that’s pretty much standard fare for a robot anime, Tem eventually goes crazy, tries to pass of a piece of junk as being a powerful component to the Gundam, and at the very end of the One Year War, falls down the stairs celebrating and probably dies.
Franklin Bidan – Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta
Also a Gundam designer, Franklin Bidan designs the second iteration of the Gundam, the Mk. II. Following in Tem Ray’s footsteps, Fanklin spends all his time involved in his work at the expense of his son and wife. Ol’ Franky here one-ups Tem, though, by taking on a mistress, which his wife and son find out about. Finally, he engages his Gundam-piloting son in a brief space battle, only to die in the cold expanse of space. His last thoughts are of his mistress. A class act!
Gendo Ikari – Neon Genesis Evangelion
Gendo Ikari comes from a proud tradition of giant robot-designing bad dads, BUT he schools them all. Does he neglect his kid? Of course he does!! But he doesn’t just neglect him… he outright hates him! After sending his son away, he calls him back, just to use him to pilot his huge, weird and dangerous robotic monster. Let’s see…he also clones his dead wife into a child and sort of adopts her, but puts her in harms way and gets her killed twice. He’s also quite the pimp, sleeping with his colleague, which results in her suicide. It’s lonely being a terrible dad, isn’t it? That’s why no one can blame Gendo for then moving on to his mistress’ daughter, and eventually killing her. So he’s kind of not just a bad dad, but a bad person overall, I guess. Gendo!
Dr. Tenma – Tetsuwan Atom
Dr. Tenma can barely hang with the gentlemen above because he’s not really a bad natural dad. After his son dies in an accident, Dr. Tenma creates a robot version of his son to take his place (Atom/Astro Boy). After a few years, Dr. Tenma realizes that this robot won’t age and could never be a true replacement for his son. So what does he do? Well, I’ll tell you – he sells him to the robot circus. Bad anime dads don’t have to be just be bad to their flesh-and-blood children; a robot child can suffice.
Jecht – Final Fantasy X
Jecht is our first non-scientist bad dad, and technically not a bad anime dad since he appears in a video game. Since he is a fictional pop culture character from Japan, though, he’s on the list. Jecht is a star athlete who also happens to be a lazy drunk who verbally abuses his son, Tidus. Here’s where it gets tricky… he does indeed love his son, but doesn’t know how to express it or deal with it. It’s a bit of a gray area, but it’s enough to fall under my watch.
Hirukawa Masami– Paranoia Agent
And finally, we have Mr. Hirukawa. He put a spy camera in his daughter’s room to take pictures of her changing and stuff. Yep, he’s the worst.
I realize that 6 characters do not necessarily constitute a social trend (especially since 3 are kind of related in that they are all part of giant robot anime), but what’s up? Any insights? Is this indicative of a larger issue in Japan? I mean, in America, oftentimes dads are depicted as stupid and lazy, but that’s a commentary on working-class Americans in general, I think. And of course, I do not mean to offend anyone with Japanese dads, but I am very curious about this, but I don’t have enough info to really come up with any conclusions.
Please discuss!
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