Highlights
- Anime fathers can have a profound impact on their children, especially their sons, either through their love and support or through volatile and harmful relationships.
- Some anime fathers, like Naoyuki Okazaki from Clannad, can go down a destructive path after the death of their loved ones, causing physical and verbal altercations with their sons.
- Relationships between fathers and sons in anime can range from strained to abusive, as seen with characters like Vinsmoke Judge from One Piece, who disregards and mistreats his son Sanji.
Although mothers in anime are known for their wholesomeness, the same can be said for the numerous fathers in anime. Just like with anime mothers, anime fathers can have many roles in whatever series they are a part of, but these fathers are most known for their love for their children, especially their sons.
But just as great fathers in anime are good to their sons, there are other fathers whose relationships with their sons can only be described as volatile. With these fathers at the helm, their sons and fans alike will experience excessive drama and angst.
7 Tomoya and Naoyuki Okazaki (Clannad)
Though Tomoya Okazaki initially had a nice relationship with his father Naoyuki, everything changed when his mother Atsuko died in a vehicular accident. Since then, Naoyuki quit his job and began drinking heavily, which often led to him having physical and verbal altercations with his son.
Near the beginning of the heavily emotional Clannad series, it is revealed that Naoyuki was responsible for Tomoya's dislocated shoulder, having slammed Tomoya against a wall during one of his arguments with him. It is this incident that drove Tomoya down the path of delinquency as a coping mechanism for all the activities he could no longer participate in due to his injury.
6 Vinsmoke Judge and Sanji (One Piece)
While Vinsmoke Judge cared for and prized his powerful three sons and daughter, he absolutely did not care for his third son Sanji, whom he viewed as a failure due to Sanji's genetic modifications not activating as a result of his mother's defiance. As such, Judge had no problem locking Sanji away in a cell and allowing his brothers to bully and torture him.
Years later, Sanji and Judge still hold each other in low regard despite the latter finding a use for Sanji by marrying him to the seemingly kindhearted Charlotte Pudding. Naturally, Sanji still has not forgiven Judge for his cruel treatment of him during his childhood and upon Big Mom's betrayal of the Vinsmoke Family, Sanji wasted no time in severing his familial ties with Judge.
5 Guts and Gambino (Berserk)
Given how the Berserk series is notorious for being dark and horrific, the relationship between Guts and Gambino can be said to be one of the most strained relationships in all anime and manga. Even though it was Gambino who trained Guts in swordplay, this "father-son" relationship was doomed the moment Gambino found Guts.
Reluctant to take him in from the start, Gambino begins to view Guts as an omen upon the death of his lover Shisu. As a result, he begins to horribly abuse Guts as much as he can, including selling him to a degenerate mercenary and attempting to kill him in a drunk rage; in the latter case, he would have succeeded if it weren't for Guts killing him in self-defense.
4 Shoto and Enji Todoroki (My Hero Academia)
Though Gambino is infamous for being one of anime's worst father figures, he has recently had some competition in the form of My Hero Academia's Enji Todoroki, better known by his hero name Endeavor. Though he is outwardly a stalwart figure of heroism, he is notorious for causing much harm and distress to his family, especially his wife Rei, and youngest son Shoto.
When Shoto was younger, Enji subjected him to hellish training in order to make him a hero who could surpass All Might. Unfortunately, not only did this cause Shoto and his other immediate family members unnecessary strife, but it stoked a resentment in Shoto that reached its peak upon Rei's psychotic episode that left him scarred. It is this resentment that initially drove Shoto's refusal to use the fiery half of his Quirk.
3 Kyo and his Father (Fruits Basket)
Even among the Sohma family, Kyo's familial strife was especially great due to his status as the unwanted Cat of the Zodiac. This is only further exacerbated by his relationship with his estranged father, who blames Kyo for his wife's untimely suicide and abandoned him in the aftermath.
Even with Kyo out of his life, his father still cursed him for his wife's demise and was ecstatic to see his son locked away for the rest of his life. Even as Kyo attempted to reach out and make amends, his father still denounced him as a monster, leaving Kyo to realize just how shallow his father truly was in the end.
2 Dario and Dio Brando (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)
Dio Brando may be a horrible person in his own right, but he has also been on the receiving end of his father Dario's abuse. With no love for anyone except for alcohol, Dario was responsible for driving his wife to her death by overwork and using Dio as a means to further his alcoholism, indirectly making Dio into the villain fans know today.
Because of his abusive treatment, Dio has no problem slowly poisoning an oblivious Dario to death. Though even after Dario's death, Dio still finds himself cursing his resemblance towards him, namely when he finds himself drinking.
1 Ivan and Laxus Dreyar (Fairy Tail)
Early on in the Fairy Tail series, it is revealed that Ivan is the one responsible for granting Laxus his signature Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic, by implanting a Dragon Lacrima into him at a young age. His intentions for this, however, were not out of the goodness of his heart; Ivan merely implanted the Lacrima into Laxus out of shame for his weakness.
Despite being highly confident that Laxus will join his Raven Tail guild, Ivan shows no compassion for Laxus's well-being, as shown by his desire to extract the Dragon Lacrima from Laxus despite possibly causing his son's death or irreparable harm in the process. The only value Ivan sees in Laxus is as a tool to finally obtain the Fairy Tail guild's prized Lumen Histoire, which leads Laxus to forsake him during their match in the Grand Magic Games.