| Well, Japan loves tragedy (just look at the classic literature, for example), that's a fact. Losing your parents is generally pretty tragic. |
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| I always thought that most anime characters are orphans in order to get sympathy points off the audience. Unfortunately, this trope is so overused that it loses all of its impact. In fact, a lot of my favorites are anime where at least one of the main character's parents is still alive. You know, like Rose of Versailles, My Neighbor Totoro, Fancy Lala, Fuujin Monogatari, those are all anime where we see at least one of the main character's parents alive and well. My other favorites are generally ones where the main characters have some sort of special circumstance for not knowing their parents like Princess Tutu (the main character is a duck, so her parents are ducks too) and Haibane Renmei (the Haibane's world is an afterlife of sorts). |
Current FAL Ranking + Previous best::  [ |
| not sure. but it is kinda ridiculous how common it is in anime for kids to not have parents. whether they are dead, on an extremely long business trip. etc. hell, sometimes they dont even explain the situation as to why they dont have parents. |
Hokuto_no_FuzzMay 27, 2011 3:17 PM
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| Because all the awesome male characters usually have non-existent parents and they often get all the girls. I think the absence of parents just makes it easier for the writers to come up with something easy. I mean just look at Sola |
| Because they're ALWAYS working "Overseas" and thus live alone with their siblings..... Bwahaha such a common theme >.< |
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Psajdak said: I mean, I guess one of reasons is that it's a trick to have orphaned character kinda like free from his/her parent's shackles, so they can do whatever they can, but still... I think that's the main reason. Since characters always have to be kids, but realistic parental control and involvement would be a big obstacle for all the shit they wanna have happening in the show. |
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corbenic said: Psajdak said: I mean, I guess one of reasons is that it's a trick to have orphaned character kinda like free from his/her parent's shackles, so they can do whatever they can, but still... I think that's the main reason. Since characters always have to be kids, but realistic parental control and involvement would be a big obstacle for all the shit they wanna have happening in the show. This, I know my mum would never have let me have a harem when I was a teenager, damn obstructive parents |
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| I agree that it is somewhat overused. But, it depends largely on HOW it is used that determines how effective this troupe is. For example, Honda Tohru from Fruits Basket loses her mother and this actually plays a very large part in how her personality is shaped and is thus a defining part of her character. So, in this case, I think it is very much effective. |
| "Yes, I have been deprived of emotion. But not completely. Whoever did it, botched the job." - Geralt of Rivia |
| I always love how parents are always so quick to send there child away to live on their own or just leave them to go visit some foreign country. |
| As others have already said, I think it's a device scriptwriters use in order to: -make viewers sympathize with a character -create a tragic past which will be the main reason for a character's development/attitude/actions (in shonen-esque anime we often find that ''My parents were killed by XY so I'll avenge them"; ''My parents were killed because I was too weak, so I'll become stronger and protect everyone; "My parents died when I was a baby so I never had a chance to have a real home, which lead me astray but after long tribulations I found a new home with my friends" etc, etc) -conveniently remove parents from the scene as they might prove to be an obstacle in the future plot development, be it either a harem guy getting all the girls (which his parents may have disapproved of) or an unsuspecting high schooler being transfered to another world/realm in order to fight Evil; to quote what corbenic said: corbenic said: Since characters always have to be kids, but realistic parental control and involvement would be a big obstacle for all the shit they wanna have happening in the show. Anyway, I agree that the trope has been a tad overused, but if done properly it can be quite effective. |
metamorphiusMay 27, 2011 4:45 PM
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metamorphius said: This, like in series that actually do it properly. Like in Evangelion, that's a more realistic example of what would be more likely to happen to children in this scenario. In many other series, it's just kind of brushed off. "Oh yeah, I forgot, my mom died when I was four. Same with my dad. Yeah, I don't think about it much. Wanna go fight evil?"corbenic said: Since characters always have to be kids, but realistic parental control and involvement would be a big obstacle for all the shit they wanna have happening in the show. Anyway, I agree that the trope has been a tad overused, but if done properly it can be quite effective. I think more or less it's just often done so that they don't have to explain or bother showing their parents. That would require more work for the Character Development/Designer/Creator/etc... department. |
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| not just in anime, but also video games. I always thought that it's probably cos the author does not want to deal with writing parent-child relationship. I thought it could be more interesting esp in shounen. Sometimes even if the parents are still alive, they're often neglected. |
| It creates more drama and more emo past. |
| Erm... to be honest I always just thought it was something that the creators did so that parents wouldn't be in the anime. Like an easier way of getting rid of the parents so that they aren't a nuisance to the plot and the main characters could do whatever they wanted without parent intervention... But I guess i'm wrong. =_= |
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magmell said: Well, Japan loves tragedy (just look at the classic literature, for example), that's a fact. Losing your parents is generally pretty tragic. Pretty much sums it up. I can pick up any book from Japan, especially from the Meiji Era, and it's a gateway to depression. Murakami even released a collection of short stories (Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman I think) that was just filled with despair, and loneliness. He was Modern. Japan seems to be the seed of all the world's melancholy. I really wish I understood more about their culture. |
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| Its tragic and it does give you something for character development... I think is way too overused though, when I watch a new anime and the character doesnt have parents I just dont really care anymore, I dont see it as a powerful story-telling tool since it's really common |
Polarity said: Because it leads to other cliques like living with your childhood friend who secretly loves the MC however he will never notice DUH The correct answer right here. |
lucjan said: magmell said: Well, Japan loves tragedy (just look at the classic literature, for example), that's a fact. Losing your parents is generally pretty tragic. Pretty much sums it up. I can pick up any book from Japan, especially from the Meiji Era, and it's a gateway to depression. Murakami even released a collection of short stories (Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman I think) that was just filled with despair, and loneliness. He was Modern. Japan seems to be the seed of all the world's melancholy. I really wish I understood more about their culture. Murakami's stories are amazing, but yeah, definitely tragic. I hear you though, I wish I could understand why they love tragedy so much, it's really quite interesting. |
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| I think it just allows for more flexibility in the plot. |
| Japanese people seem to have strong family bonds and having an anime portraying kids with no parents or only one parent puts everything into perspective as well as possibly creating a good story. |
 “Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future.” ~ Fulton Oursler |
magmell said: lucjan said: magmell said: Well, Japan loves tragedy (just look at the classic literature, for example), that's a fact. Losing your parents is generally pretty tragic. Pretty much sums it up. I can pick up any book from Japan, especially from the Meiji Era, and it's a gateway to depression. Murakami even released a collection of short stories (Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman I think) that was just filled with despair, and loneliness. He was Modern. Japan seems to be the seed of all the world's melancholy. I really wish I understood more about their culture. Murakami's stories are amazing, but yeah, definitely tragic. I hear you though, I wish I could understand why they love tragedy so much, it's really quite interesting. I feel the same way. I enjoy books of tragedy and ones that are depressing and portray loneliness. The perfect example would be "No Longer Human" by Dazai Osamu. I think Japanese authors especially of the older eras wanted to write about the world as it really was, all the despair, melancholy, and sadness of the world. That is what I think. |
“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future.” ~ Fulton Oursler |
| It's a common trope in anime because the Japanese want their children to grow with a sense of empathy and compassion towards others. Nobody's boy: Remi is the best example of this, and several World masterpiece Theater titles have children that lost or grew up without having their parents around. |
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| Not only Japanese likes this trope. Look at various OC profiles on a various Western roleplay forums. There is plenty of orphaned characters. Some of teenagers hate their parents and wants them to disappear, so they create such a characters for roleplay or fanarts. They will grow adult and shall start to understand all the selfishness of such wish, but now it's still okay for them. Also, 'do whatever I want', 'reason to revenge', 'reason to be dark and\or evil' etc. 'The Orphan' is really popular trope for a fictional characters not only in Japan. |
| The Wizard of Oz made them do it. |
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| I think the topic is wrong, it should be Why is dead parents common in anime? My answer for that is for plot convenience. |
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| maybe the population of old geezers is increasing in japan..lol honestly, they want to straightly focus on the character.. there's no point in having a side character that have no role at all appeared, so, at last they decided to make the parents,,oh well..DIE!!! |
Ghostalker said: This is common in games too. It's merely an overused trope.I think the topic is wrong, it should be Why is dead parents common in anime? My answer for that is for plot convenience. |
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Leon-Gun said: Ghostalker said: This is common in games too. It's merely an overused trope.I think the topic is wrong, it should be Why is dead parents common in anime? My answer for that is for plot convenience. Overused? It is like 50/50 depending on how the writer wants characters to grow up. |
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| It's two less voice actors to pay. Seriously though, it's an easy and simple way to develop a character's background and make people feel bad for them. Bonus points if the parent dies during the anime. It works sometimes, but usually the parents are forgettable anyways. |
| This isn't just in Japanese fiction. It's in tons of stories everywhere. Pick up any YA fantasy novel in your library. Pretty darn good chance the teenage protagonist is an orphan. Much of the anime you probably watch stars young people, too. Death brings conflict. As an orphan, a young character has to make big decisions and take action on her or his own, without the parents doing everything for them. In real life, parents generally wouldn't let their kids go out and have adventures. It's dangerous!! |
| Is ok if they kill the protagonists dads in an anime but let their moms live, I want more MILF in anime. |
| It's probably to make the plot more interesting, I guess. |
| I always thought it was so that the main characters could go of and save the world and no one would question why they were never home. Or perhaps so they could, I don't know, keep a whole harem of women in their house. |
 Where there is no imagination there is no horror. || Arthur Conan Doyle || Happy Halloween! |
| It should have been "Anime Characters" not "Japanese People", the thread title seems so wrong IMO. |
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