Mothers in anime, as with most other media, are usually loving characters who sacrifice a lot for their children. Such is the case in real life as well. However, some outliers break the mold in a bad way and set a terrible standard for parenting. They can range from being subtle absentees to downright abusive or even violent.
Thankfully, bad mothers in anime are quite a rare breed of characters. But when they do appear, they tend to be memorable and can even cause more damage to the point where they practically create a dramatic origin story for their children. These protagonists, in turn, are typically shy, disturbed, or emotionally fragile characters due to these bad moms.
10 Akemi Hinazuki – Erased
Erased is an anime about a manga artist who discovered that he can go back in time to his younger self. He thus uses this ability to clear himself of a murder accusation that is somehow connected to a former classmate's disappearance back when he was younger.
Akemi Hinazuki happens to be the mother of that said classmate, while the manga artist who could travel through time eventually finds out why his classmate disappeared. Akemi was a villain to her daughter and even prevented her from having any social interaction. This leads to her daughter getting kidnapped, something she also doesn't care too much about.
9 Ren Sohma – Fruits Basket
Perhaps one of the reasons why a lot of people relate to Fruits Basket is that some of their characters have looming parental issues. Akito Sohma is one of those and her narcissist of a mother, Ren, hated her before she was even born. Ren believed that her husband might grow to love their daughter more than her.
That's why she made her hatred and resentment for her daughter clear enough. Akito eventually grew to hate her and in the process, also became a villain herself. To make matters worse, they're the only two in their nuclear family left since Akira, the husband, died.
8 Hayate's Mom – Hayate The Combat Butler
Hayate the Combat Butler is actually a comedy anime that's also a peculiar harem since the lead male is also a maid/butler. However, that doesn't stop the show from tackling a serious subject matter: the fact that Hayate's parents abandoned and sold him to the Yakuza to pay their debts.
It's good that they didn't show the parents' greedy faces or even go into detail about their personalities but selling your one and only child is one of the most deplorable things a parent can do. She also wasn't just coerced into it by her husband; Hayate's mother was all in and had no regrets selling her son.
7 Asuka's Mom – Neon Genesis Evangelion
Some mothers are so neglectful and purposely absent that they end up creating monsters. Thus, their loved ones are subjected to even more pain thanks to the choices they couldn't make for themselves. Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of those kids. While she often behaves like a strong, capable, and independent character, it's more often than not a coping mechanism for her abandonment issues.
Kyoko, Asuka's mom, couldn't recognize the latter as her own daughter. Granted, she was under extreme psychological stress, meaning she wasn't deliberately a bad parent. The doctors did try to give her some dolls made in Asuka's likeness, but she ended up ripping their heads in front of her daughter. It's a miracle Asuka even grew up emotionally strong after seeing such a disheartening spectacle.
6 Saika Gasai – Future Diary
Yuno Gasai from Future Diary is one of the boldest Yandere characters in anime. She doesn't hide her mental issues at all and makes Yuki Amano's life a living hell disguised as a girlfriend experience. Still, one can't wholly blame Yuno for the way she acts. It's her mother that caused it all.
Saika was Yuno's mother and she was lonely and neglected thanks to a busy husband. Saika then took out all her frustrations on Yuno, usually by locking her up in a cage and starving her while calling her a bad daughter. Afterward, she'd burst into tears and ask for Yuno's forgiveness. Years of this ultimately spelled a recipe for disaster.
5 Charlotte LinLin – One Piece
For one of the most competitive "Mothers of the Year" nominees ever in anime, give it up for Charlotte LinLin. She's from One Piece and has no qualms about designating herself as a villain to hinder Luffy and friends. She was once an innocent girl but her strength and simpleton mind made her arrogant, stubborn, and violent.
This carried over to adulthood and by the time she's had children, she considered them as tools. At times, she even encouraged cruel attitudes among her brood. If they get out of line, then they also get harmed. As a result, all her children are afraid of her and dare not defy her plans and goals.
4 Sayu's Mom – Higehiro
Higehiro is one of the latest anime to be released in 2021 and it's about a troubled high school girl named Sayu who ran away from home and slept with several men for lodging. One has to wonder what the parents did to cause this. Well, Sayu's mom hated her so much as to blame her for her friend's suicide.
Also, she thinks it's Sayu's fault that her husband left her, hence her anger and disdain toward her teenage daughter, who had nothing to do with any of her woes. She did order her son, Sayu's older brother, to look for her but only because she was concerned about the media buzzing around her house regarding her daughter's involvement in the local school suicide. Anyone would run away from this trainwreck of a mother.
3 Hiromi Shiota – Assassination Classroom
Nagisa Shiota is the protagonist of Assassination Classroom and almost all the viewers mistake him for a girl. It's his hair and feminine posture that makes his appearance deceptive. Unfortunately, he doesn't even have a choice regarding his appearance because it's his mother, Hiromi, who wanted a daughter but got a son instead.
Hence, Hiromi controlled almost all aspects of Nagisa's life. More importantly, she forced his son to wear feminine outfits and sport a feminine hairstyle, much to Nagisa's resentment. Nagisa also couldn't make choices of his own. Otherwise, Hiromi would get angry if those choices don't align with her preferences. Thankfully, Nagisa's "alien" teacher came to the rescue.
2 Marianne Vi Britannia – Code Geass
Most of the adults in Code Geass are twisted, oppressive, and harsh. That's the recurring theme in the anime as it portrays a world where the youth don't have choices. Even Lelouch's deceased mother was later revealed to be less-than-ideal as far as a parent goes.
Turns out she has the same beliefs as her Emperor husband and wants a world they get to fully control. When it comes to her children, Marianne has no qualms about using them like chess pieces and wouldn't hesitate in disposing of them if ever they get in the way. Worse still, is how she puts up an image of a loving mother, but only superficially loves Lelouch and Nunally.
1 Isabella – The Promised Neverland
The Promised Neverland is a show where a bunch of genius kids discovers that they were being raised in an orphanage to be slaughtered like cattle for their tasty brain juice that their demon overlords love. This kind of farm wouldn't be possible without people like Isabella - highly intelligent women tasked to raise orphans as a food supply. One of those "orphans" is even her own son. She had no problems handing over her children and foster children to demons to be eaten.
Granted, Isabella redeemed herself and only obeyed out of fear. Still, that doesn't excuse the fact that she only rebelled when it was convenient to do so and not when it was good for the children. It's hard to forgive her in that regard, much like how it's also hard to forgive what they did to the anime's second season.