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“Family” can feel like a fraught word. For every kid fortunate to be brought up in a loving, empathetic environment, there’s another kid raised in an abusive or neglectful home. It’s no surprise that more and more people are embracing the concept of chosen family, especially when blood relatives act like no kind of family at all.
When it comes to storytelling, family drama will always be a major driving force behind characters’ decisions. While many stories fixate on saving a sibling or parent, more often than not, anime protagonists have significant scores to settle with a terrible parent or two. These characters, right or wrong, have good reason to betray those that failed to cherish them.
Trigger Warning: This article includes references to child abuse and suicide.
10 Lelouch Is A Jerk, But So Is His Dad (Code Geass)
Code Geass isn’t a series known for subtlety. Rather the opposite, this rebel revenge epic is as blatant with embracing its tropes as it is with its product placement. In true anime fashion, it’s not surprising that Lelouch Vi Britania has a massive score to settle with his terrible father, Emperor Charles zi Britania.
As the fallen prince of the Holy Britanian empire, Lelouch blames his father for his mother’s death and his sister’s traumatic injuries and becomes determined to overthrow the entire family line and the empire itself for good measure.
9 Gendo’s Reputation Precedes Him (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
At this point, Gendo Ikari’s reputation as “worst dad ever” is an anime establishment. Cosplayers dressed as Gendo, carrying “Father of the Year” mugs have become a convention staple, and it’s clear as day that Gendo isn’t concerned about the happiness of his son, Shinji Ikari.
Gendo is an uncaring, cold presence in Shinji’s life, constantly endangering his son, forcing him to pilot an EVA despite his protests and rapidly accelerated depression. Yet even though Shinji despises his father, he can’t help but long for Gendo’s approval. Their relationship is as doomed as it is ugly, and Gendo’s more than earned his bad name.
8 Killua Had Every Reason To Run Away From Home (Hunter X Hunter)
Born into the prestigious Zoldyck family, poor Killua was doomed to a violent childhood. Instead of toys, young Killua was given assassin training. Instead of kindness, he was tortured with brutal electricity. A needle was implanted in his head in the hopes of making him more ruthless, all in the hopes he’d become the best assassin of all time.
Is it any wonder that Killua runs away from home? When he meets Gon, he finally gets to be a kid, albeit a very deadly one. Killua couldn’t care less about living up to the sinister family legacy.
7 Yukio Encourages His Parents’ Suicides (Bleach)
Yukio Hans Vorarlberna isn’t a major character in Bleach, and he’s far from the only character coping with family drama. Even so, Yukio’s story is worth mentioning because it seems especially dark, even as villainous origin stories go.
Yukio inherited his family’s lucrative business, but not through traditional means. Yukio was a quiet, disaffected child. Disappointed in Yukio and his speech impairment, his parents locked him in an empty room and neglected him. Eventually, Yukio robbed his parents and ran away, and his parents, their lives in ruins, committed suicide soon thereafter.
6 What If Your Parents Are State Terrorists? (Mawaru Penguindrum)
It’s fair to say that Mawaru Penguindrum is a zany show, a strange sojourn into the weird mind of creator Kunihiko Ikuhara. Ostensibly about the antics of three siblings, one of whom is being kept alive by a strange penguin-shaped hat, the show initially feels random to a fault. But there’s more to the story than initially meets the eye, and the Takakura siblings have some dark secrets.
In a show full of whimsy, the darker moments feel especially poignant. The audience learns that the Takakuras have been orphaned because their parents were terrorists who attacked the Japanese subway system, killing a dozen innocent people in an incident parallel to the real-world Sarin Subway attack of 1995. These children are living in a state of disillusionment that makes it hard for any of them to function, uncertain how to cope with the reality of who their parents were.
5 Todoroki Hates Endeavor, But Dabi Hates Him More (My Hero Academia)
The Todoroki family is a hot mess, pun intended. Enji Todoroki, known as Endeavor, is the second most successful pro-hero of all time, but being second-best has never been good enough for him. Determined to dethrone All Might as the number one hero, Endeavor agrees to an arranged marriage with Rei Himura, whose family is renowned for their Ice Quirk.
Endeavor is an abusive father and husband. He has children with Rei solely as a means of surpassing All Might, determined to raise an all-powerful child. His children are tools used to fuel his obsession, and it’s no wonder his wife falls prey to a psychotic break and pours boiling water on the face of her youngest son, Todoroki. The eldest son, Toya, nearly kills himself trying to live up to his father’s expectations. Who can blame Todoroki for refusing to cater to his father, denouncing his father in every possible way?
4 Everyone Has Reasons To Despise Being A Sohma (Fruits Basket)
There are few families who need therapy more than the Sohmas of Fruits Basket. The Sohmas suffer a fate worse than most shojo characters, despite how sweet the story might seem from the outside. A curse dictates that 14 family members are vessels of the zodiac and transform into animals when embraced by members of the opposite sex.
While this may sound like fun, the Sohma family exists in a perpetual cycle of abuse, incest, and neglect so cruel that it beggars belief. Kyo Sohma is banished by the family because he houses the unwelcome cat zodiac, while Akito, the heartless Sohma head, traps Yuki Sohma inside and physically and mentally tortures him throughout childhood. There’s not a single Sohma who isn’t traumatized.
3 Itachi Was Forced To Massacre His Entire Clan (Naruto)
Naruto fans have had decades to come to terms with Itachi Uchiha’s tragic circumstances, but it seems like an impossible thing to ask. Itachi was caught between a rock and a hard place, forced to choose between the fate of his village and the fate of his own clan. In the end, he chose to massacre his own people for the sake of Konoha when the Uchihas’ ambitions threatened to destroy innocent lives.
Tragically, Itachi’s brother, Sasuke, the sole Uchiha survivor, doesn’t understand why his brother went rogue and so loathes him with every fiber of his being.
2 Hyakkimaru’s Father Took Everything From Him (Dororo)
In Tezuka’s Dororo, Hyakkimaru’s fate is sealed the very instant he is born. In an effort to make his lands prosperous, Hyakkimaru’s father Kagemitsu Daigo makes a deal with demons on the eve of his wife giving birth. Daigo gets his wish, and demons devour Hyakkimaru’s infant body. As a result, Hyakkimaru is born without limbs, eyes, or several of his organs, deaf, mute, and deformed in the name of his father’s greed.
Though Daigo sends Hyakkimaru away to die, he survives and gradually reclaims his stolen body parts. When retribution comes to Daigo, it will be entirely justified and entirely not enough to undo his cruelty.
1 Ragyo’s Abuse Is Beyond Heinous (Kill La Kill)
It’s hard to think of a single more abusive parent in all of anime than Ragyo Kiryuin of Kill La Kill. Plenty of anime villains are monstrous and violent, but few are guilty of sexual abuse, let alone against their own children. And yet Ragyo’s cruelty knows no bounds, and she regularly molested her daughter, Satsuki, throughout her youth. Ragyo used her other daughter, Ryuko, as an experimental guinea pig before dumping her in the garbage. By the time the daughters finally muster the skill to wreak revenge on her, Ragyo’s demise could not come soon enough.
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