Some of the poorest parents can be found in anime.
Abusive parents mess up their kids, relationships, and, inevitably, their own lives. From physical to emotional to even s**ual, that abuse can cause lingering trauma.
Parental abuse is especially horrible, considering they can hide it easily, with the most guilty being in positions of power.
Note: This article discusses disturbing content, including physical, emotional, and s**ual abuse. Viewer discretion is advised, and spoilers are included for all anime discussed. This article reflects the opinion of the author.
Ten most unpleasant parents in anime
10) Enji Todoroki/Endeavor
Endeavor was the runner-up for Number One Hero at the start of My Hero Academia. He is hot-tempered and has a superiority complex the size of a football field!
Endeavor wasn’t kind to anyone who didn’t fit his agenda of being number one. His wife, Rei, married him via an arranged quirk marriage.
Their relationship quickly deteriorated with their first son, Toya, being put through brutal training, turning him into a supervillain. Shoto suffered the same grooming and was beaten when uncooperative.
Endeavor neglected his other kids and sent his wife to a psych ward when she burned Shoto’s face accidentally. The only bright side to him is why he’s the least imperfect parent: he’s trying to improve. He’s the only one on the list who does so.
9) Gambino
Gambino of Berserk could’ve done much with Guts upon adopting him, maybe have him lead the mercenary band.
Gambino blamed a three-year-old Guts for his foster mother dying of plague. At 6, he taught him to fight and cut his nose with a sword. Later on, at the age of 9, Gambino sold Guts out to a mercenary named Donovan, who r**ed Guts and then attempted murder.
Gambino attempted to murder Guts after losing his leg to a cannonball, but Guts killed Gambino in self-defense. Gambino is one of the most sinister parents for traumatizing Guts for life.
8) Medusa Gorgon
A manipulative snake witch and mother to Crona, Medusa Gorgon of Soul Eater, is one of the most unpleasant parents through Crona's treatment.
Medusa replaced all Crona's blood with Black Blood, locked them in a dark room for days, and pressured them to kill a bunny until their sanity broke. Then, they ate the bunny. Crona was labeled a failure after this made them completely dependent on their mom.
After all the abuse Crona endured, they killed their mother after being forced to attack Eastern Europe. Medusa's actions of making dinner and warmly hugging Crona pushed them to the edge, and they killed their mother via repeated stabbing.
This only pushed Crona further into madness, becoming the villain their mother always wanted them to be. They'd be helped by their friends later on, but that stain never left their mind.
7) Jacques Schnee
Jacques Schnee of RWBY emotionally and physically abused his wife Willow into alcoholism, drove his eldest daughter Winter into the military, caused Weiss to rebel against him, and caused Whitley to emulate him to survive his wrath.
Jacques was also the head of the Schnee Dust Company (SDC), mining a multipurpose mineral called Dust. The SDC's abuses included slave labor and mass death owing to lacking safety regulations.
Jacques' lust for power condemned him. Desperate to win the election for councilman, he conspired with wanted criminal Arthur Watts. Watts, alongside serial killer Tyrian Callows, hacked and stole the election from popular candidate Robyn Hill and slaughtered many at an election rally.
Jacques was ousted thanks to Willow's installation of cameras documenting Jacques' abuse. Weiss used footage of the aforementioned conspiracy to have Jacques arrested. He rotted in a cell until military dictator James Ironwood coldly and wantonly executed him.
6) Kazekage Rasa
Facing “the extinction of Suma” due to budget cuts, Kazakage Rasa sealed the Shukaku within Gaara.
Multiple assassination attempts on Gaara’s life drove Shukaku to attack the village. While Rasa stopped Shukaku, he continued to use Gaara. His agreement to attack Konoha got him killed by his collaborator Orochimaru.
During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Rasa and Gaara fought. The former could not reconcile Gaara having friends or being free of Shukaku.
Rasa apologized sincerely for Gaara’s suffering. He recognized his wrongs and tearfully passed with confidence in Gaara to secure a bright future for Suma.
5) Big Mom/Charlotte Linlin
The only female of the Four Emperors, Charlotte Linlin/Big Mom of One Piece seems to have a noble goal: free Totto Land from discrimination. The problem? Her idea of diversity is more like a toy box than a society.
Her title “Big Mom” isn’t an exaggeration, as she considers herself Queen. She considers herself kind, but she constantly extorts other countries for sweets, destroying them if they don’t oblige.
She has 85 children across the world, who are forced into marriages without a choice in the matter and are similarly used much like Gaara and Crona were. This results in emotional and physical abuse, near-death via her soul-harvesting abilities, and being marked for death if they ever think about leaving.
She’d be closer to the number 1 baddest parent if not for the more worldly consequences of the following entries.
4) Charles vi Britannia
Big Mom may be an emperor, but Charles vi Britannia of Code Geass is the Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire. He believed that social inequality was a good thing and that murder and treachery were beneficial!
This apparently stems from a traumatic childhood, witnessing regicide in pursuit of power.
His treatment of Lelouch and Nunally cements his place as one of the top evilest parents in anime. He disowned them after their mother Marianne was (seemingly) killed in front of them.
He only began recognizing Lelouch after the special administrative zone massacre. Nunally was deemed useless to Charles after being blinded following Marianne’s assassination (a Geass placed on her by Charles).
Ultimately, Charles attempted to initiate the Ragnarök Connection. Put simply: fuse everyone into a single entity to “save” all of humanity. After finding all of this out, Lelouch used the full power of his Geass to thwart this insane objective!
3) Shou Tucker
The infamous “Sewing-Life Alchemist” from FullMetal Alchemist/Brotherhood is here for his sickening experiments and their after-effects.
A financially struggling bio-alchemist who somehow produced a chimera capable of speech, Tucker put on a friendly guise but was selfish and devoid of conscience.
The first chimera he produced was his wife. The second one he created was his daughter and dog fused. After his atrocities were unveiled, Tucker calmly claimed anyone would do similarly in his situation.
He’s on this list because, in the 2003 anime, he went on to become a chimera himself and work with Homunculi trying to create an army. He failed to bring Nina back and went mad with grief. His death in Brotherhood seems like mercy by comparison.
2) Gendo Ikari
The number two spot goes to Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Gendo Ikari! The man who abandoned his son and forced him to fight Angels.
After an experiment went wrong with EVA Unit 0 and cost him his wife, Yui, Gendo abandoned the newly born Shinji Ikari and made him live with a teacher.
Gendo’s cold attitude and ultimate lack of care were demonstrated when he replaced Shinji immediately with an AI program that would kill Koji in NGE and attempt to kill Asuka in Rebuild.
He betrayed all his allies, even leaving his compatriot Fuyutski for dead, and tried dooming the world. He would be No 1 if not for trying to resurrect his wife.
His fate in NGE was getting decapitated by Rei after barely apologizing to Shinji. Rebuild offers him a kinder fate of sincerely apologizing to his son, reuniting with his wife, and sacrificing himself to create a better world.
However, he still gets this spot for Shinji’s suffering, but he’s nothing compared to the final entry.
1) Ragyo Kiriyuin
Ragyo Kiriyuin is a combination of everyone on this list with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. She is the most harmful parent in anime.
Ragyo Kiriyuin always had plans for conquest, using alien life fibers. She used Sōichirō Kiryūin to bear two kids: Satsuki Kiriyuin and Ryuko Matoi. Both failed to carry life fibers, so Ryuko was disposed of, and Satsuki groomed.
When Soichiro was discovered to have fled their house with Ryuko, Ragyo presumed him dead after an assassination attempt seemed successful.
Satsuki Kiriyuin endured s**ual, physical, and emotional abuse from her monster mother for well over ten years.
Ragyo ripped Ryuko's heart out during their first fight, beating down Satsuki and the less said about the s**ual abuse committed against Ryuko and Satsuki, the better.
She is the most sinister parent in anime because of all her actions affecting the world of Kill la Kill negatively. Her death via killing herself is the final note to that horrifying story.
Conclusion
These are the ten most dangerous parents in anime. From driving families apart to actively trying to kill them, these most destructive parents are unfit for the role and deserve their ultimate fate of defeat and death.
The ultimate goal of this is to show how even parents can be cold and cruel, and ultimately it takes true courage to stand up to them or otherwise escape such torture.