Bad Fathers in Anime

I was watching a lot more anime recently, which is ironic because I didn't watch a lick of it while I was in Japan. I guess its the nostalgia. Whenever I watched Anime, I'm was all like "That looks like that one place in Kyoto" or "She dresses like a that one girl," compared to when I watched it before visiting Japan. When I was Otakuing it up this past week, I realized something about the anime I watched: there sure was some terrible fathers in these shows. For every determined young woman or man with some kind of important goal to accomplish, there was a insensitive, misguided, unloving father. Freud would have a field day.

So who are the bad ones? Who is the worst?

Let's start!

Yeah, go ahead and get angry! Minato Namikaze, Naruto's dad, did a lot of good things for a lot of people. The series is in love with this character. But remember the title: Bad father's in Anime. You put a freakin' demon inside your son. Yeah, sure, Minato had a reason. He said that he had faith that his son could handle a giant fire breathing, country destroying fox inside him. A fox that could break free from Naruto's body prison whenever Naruto, a hot head, became uncontrollably angry. So getting bad grades, fighting with rivals, stubbing a toe, breaking a bone, losing a loved one and other things that would piss someone off(and things that happen to Naruto all the time) were not considered in his decision making process. Bad judgment! I the real life equivalent of this kind of action would be me surgically installing a bomb inside the chest of my son and telling him not to blink  more than 7 times a minute. So just don't dust anything or exist in a dry summer's day. YOU SUCK.

Charles Zi Britannia: Lelouch's father from the series Code Geass.

When he isn't taking over the world, encouraging class prejudice and expanding military, he likes to be a bad father.  Following the ostensible death of Lelouch's mother, he comes up with the silly idea of exiling his family to Japan and...he thinks its funny. Seriously, he laughs about it with the most smug  kind of smile. Plus he uses his "power" to kill "god." Calm down religious folks. Not your God, but his idea of God: collective unconsciousness, or individuality. Why? Because he had a bad childhood. Ironically, his son, the main character of the series, is almost just as childish. He becomes a tyrannical ruler controlling almost the entire planet. He differs from his father by doing it for the purpose of giving the world a common enemy, himself, and then had his best friend kill him in public thus (cutely) making the world come together to prevent it from happening all along. So the apple falls FAR from the tree. But he sure did grow on the same evil branches.

Tem Ray: Gundam 0079

Although Charles was bad, Tem Ray, from Gundam 0079, is a combination of bad and annoying. Amuro, his son, the main character, bitches a lot. I mean, a lot. But when you look at Amuro's father, you began to understand why he complains. After saving his Space colony from enemy Mobile Suits(giant robots) using a Gundam( a special giant robot), having never piloted one before, while being 16 years old. His dad simply says, "good job." Not literally but his attitude is kind of like "hey, try my new program for the Gundam. Then you can be better." Even when Amuro becomes aware of the fact that the cost of defending people's lives is more lives and seeks wisdom from his father he is all like"meh...try this program." When Amuro finally sees his mother for the first time since childhood, only to have her say that she is disappointed in him for becoming a soldier even though he has saved so many lives. All of that gets a "...." response. Seriously, this kid gets nothing but more programs from his father, who is proud of him but never says it to him. And no, its not one of those "I am pretending to be indifferent so you won't win my approval too soon and become lazy" kind of deals. Tem just sucks. At least Charles admits that his sons a genius before perusing him in a battle.  Tem is just an unappreciative dick.

Afro Samurai's Father

Not everyone should have kids. Especially if you live a lifestyle of people trying to kill you because of a headband you wear. Not only is that what the Father in of Afro in the series Afro Samurai, but he also brought his son to the fight to sometimes. If I had a million haters trying to jack my shit all the time, I would put that kid in some kind of "my dad lives a dangerous life because he has assassins always throwing Kunais and shit at him" home, or just not have kids. Better yet, I would just give that headband away. Any of the above would do, but none of the above was done. Fail.

Goku from DragonBall series

Most of my friends have heard me make this point. But for those who haven't heard this rant before, here it comes. There is a long list of people I would rather have as a father than this guy. Why? Well, he is rarely there for his kids. Never have I ever seen someone that can do so much but does so little as a father. There are several times throughout Dragonball were Goku could be home with his kids, but chooses not to because he loves fighting more. Common excuses made on Goku's behalf usually mention his various deaths. Fair point. Goku dies like 3 times in the series. Death does make it hard to talk to people and hard to literally visit people.  But what if Goku had the gift of talking to people from the afterlife? Well guess what? He did! King Kai was like a cell phone for Goku when he wanted to talk to his family...but he only used it to talk about fighting, or about wishing him back, to fight someone. However, there still is the factor of him not physically being present for his family...if only there was a way he could possibly teleport anywhere in the universe at anytime, even in death. OH WAIT! HE CAN DO THAT SHIT! So basically, Goku is like god. He has all that power to be anywhere at any time and can talk to anyone but seemingly never uses it. He only uses it for one obsession and that is fighting. Everyone who is a big fan of Gohan, Goku's son, often complains about the direction Gohan's character takes towards the end of the series. Gohan becomes a student. Not a fighter. But if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If Goku wasn't such an ass monkey for fighting, maybe Gohan would learn to love it too. But it was forced on him and always picked first over Gohan. Gohan probably got tired of being thrown into battles all the time. I mean, his dad even convinced him to basically lose a year of his life in a "hyperbolic time chamber" to save the world again. When will you just take him out to see a moive?  And let's not forget the ultimate slap in the face, the last episode of the series where Goku fights some random kid in the yearly tournament (Tenkaiichi Budaki) and then flies off into the sunset with some other child. Why chose to be a father then? You were on a bad father roll! Did your internal daddy clock just strike 12 so you snatched up some other kid and basically raised and trained him. It's creepy. Hide ya kids, Hide ya wife, cause he's training everybody out here...except Gohan and Goten.

I know what you're thinking... "Where is Shinji's father from Evangelion?" He was so bad and boring I didn't feel like putting him on. That and I didn't complete the series... 

However, if you have any other suggestions leave a comment on the bottom!