Why are so many anime protagonists orphans or fatherless?

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WWII left a lot of Japanese families without one or both parents.

Addition - Osamu Tezuka, the first guy that a other mangaka heavily "homaged" likewise "homaged" Walt Disney. The single parent cliche is well known from Disney, even in the early motion pictures.

No, joke in this answer. I apologize.
 
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It's not like that's uncommon in traditional media, for protagonists to have only one parent or no parents in the picture. The fact so many fantasy characters had dead mothers used to be a fairly commonly examined fantasy trope. There's even a TVTropes page on it.

Here's some redditors talking about it:
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Also as far as I understand absent anime mothers is very common too.

I wouldn't know personally because anime is garbage and I try not to think about it.
 
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It's easier for people to get into trouble if they don't have a family there to support them. It's just an easy way to write a character into a situation where they have to fix their problems on their own or actively find people who can help them.
 
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A lot of anime characters are supposed to be teenagers and parents would get in the way of all the wacky antics they get up to.
Though I'd love to see an anime parody where the protagonist has parents and it goes something like:
"No, you're not having an epic battle with the Super-Ultra-Mega-Demon-God today. It's a school night. Do your homework and go to bed!"
"But maa~ he wants to shrowd the world in everlasting darkness and harness the energy crysta-"
"GO TO YOUR ROOM!"

Only better and significantly less autistic.
 
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Penis Drager 2.0 said:
A lot of anime characters are supposed to be teenagers and parents would get in the way of all the wacky antics they get up to.
Though I'd love to see an anime parody where the protagonist has parents and it goes something like:
"No, you're not having an epic battle with the Super-Ultra-Mega-Demon-God today. It's a school night. Do your homework and go to bed!"
"But maa~ he wants to shrowd the world in everlasting darkness and harness the energy crysta-"
"GO TO YOUR ROOM!"

Only better and significantly less autistic.
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That or the mom insists on meeting the Super-Ultra-Mega-Demon-God's parents before agreeing to let her son battle him.
 
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Vingle said:
Or if they have a family, they are overseas or some shit.
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how are they gonna not get laid with their parents around

Absolutego said:
Even when they are in the picture, they tend to be horribly overbearing authoritarians (Evangelion) or totally ineffectual incompetent losers (FMA).
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Hey, Hohenheim was far from ineffectual or incompetent. And Gendo was far from an overbearing authoritarian-- he virtually entirely avoided Shinji outside of his capacity as an EVA pilot. and never had a problem with him quitting either times he tried.
 
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Chocolate Wombat said:
That or the mom insists on meeting the Super-Ultra-Mega-Demon-God's parents before agreeing to let her son battle him.
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Or the mom sacrifices herself to the Super-Ultra-Mega-Demon-God while pregnant. Then she's swallowed whole. Don't worry. The baby survives, but lives a miserable life. He gets cucked out of the sweet release of death when his would-be killer realizes the guy isn't a descendent of the Super-Ultra-Mega-Demon-God. The SUMDG race isn't intelligent enough to instruct someone on how to kill them.

Then he discovers the power of friendship. The end.
 
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They're not orphans or fatherless, you uncultured retard.

Their parents are merely working the traditional Nipponese 22-hour shifts in the rice fields and in the factories building planes, missiles, and Nintendo for make glory of Emperor Hirohito and Admiral Yamamato. The plot just takes place in the 22 hours that they're not home, dumbass.
 
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because the dad is to busy wage cucking to play a part in his son life. its a common thing in japan. i think the co-creator of pokemon even said the reason the dad is never around in the games is because his dad was never around and was to busy with work.
 
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Gravityqueen4life said:
because the dad is to busy wage cucking to play a part in his son life. its a common thing in japan. i think the co-creator of pokemon even said the reason the dad is never around in the games is because his dad was never around and was to busy with work.
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I always thought Professor Oak was secretly Ash's father. That's why he gives Ash a Pikachu and tells him to fill out the Pokedex so he and Ash's mom are rid of him and can continue their affair.
 
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It's a combination of both. Modern manga emerging not long after WWII is what first spawned it. And it stuck around because it's a useful narrative choice. Every parent that's in the protagonist's picture contributes to preventing him from overt risk-taking, either because they outright forbid or prevent him, or because he has an obligation to stick around and support them and can't do that if he's dead.
 
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