Appreciating Wholesome Dads in Anime - My Top 5
Written by Rei Caldombra 11/4/24
I haven’t tried writing a listicle before, so I’m giving it a shot with a topic I’ve wanted to talk about. That being wholesome dads in anime.
Strained familial relationships are a core part of drama in stories, with anime being no different. And this is a core trope of storytelling for a reason. We’ve had a litany of gripping emotional stories involving poor relationships between parent and child. Intergenerational trauma, what is the meaning of parenthood, the pressure of childrearing, and how social, cultural, and economic factors influence the relationship between parent and child are just a few of the interesting topics these negative relationships allow us to contemplate in stories. And I love all of this when it is done well. But I don’t exclusively want stories like that, sometimes I want parental figures who make you smile with their presence rather than make you sad and contemplative.
Here I am choosing to specifically focus on fathers. Between the binary of mom and dad, dads tend to be portrayed as problematic more often. And many dads that aren’t toxic still tend to be stoic, taciturn, and otherwise not very affectionate fairly often. This makes sense considering Japan’s familial culture, but that makes me enjoy the wholesome dads we do get even more. So here I wanna talk about the dads who truly do their best for their children and aren’t afraid to shower their kids with love. The ones whose positive energy radiates off the screen and makes you feel happy with their mere presence. They don’t have to be perfect and completely devoid of drama or negative traits to be wholesome. It’s more about the intended tone, with these dads and their respective children not harboring negative feelings towards each other directly. And just because they are more wholesome does not mean they lack substance.
I want to be clear that a character does not have to be blood-related to have the title of father, dad, daddy, etc. In this house we support the step-dads, dads who stepped up, etc. They deserve all the love and respect biological parents do. In the words of Marvel dad Yondu-
Please be aware there will be some spoilers for the source material of these anime. The first 3 have some details that go beyond the show synopsis, but in my opinion, they would not hurt your experience if you haven’t seen them. The last 2 do have serious story spoilers, but with them, I am incapable of going deep into how incredible they are without talking about their stories. Those are more serious and in-depth than the first 3. I have another warning in front of those.
Now onto the list!
Gunther (Ascendance of a Bookworm) #5
I’m starting with Gunther because he feels like the standard of a great, loving father who brings that positive energy I want from a wholesome dad. Gunther is the definition of a proud father who lives to see his daughters succeed. He cries his eyes out over his daughters getting their big days in the spotlight, he supports his daughter’s ambitions and will stand up to any force to defend his family. He can be stern, but he always does it from a place of care from his perspective. Main spent most of her life sickly and is not as knowledgeable about the world as he is, so it makes since that he wants to ensure she does not get hurt and/or tricked. And he is willing to change his mind when he is shown a good argument. Even when he doesn’t want Main to spend less time with him and the family or go into a profession/space he does not want, he is willing to let her go when he understands it is the right move. He is the perfect amount of restrictive but supportive a parent should be. And the care he has for his kids radiates off the screen. He is not exactly a deep or gripping character, but being a more simple and standard good dad is not a bad thing. He serves his role in the story very well and always makes me happy with the love he shows for his kids and family.
Naoki Gotoh (Bocchi the Rock) #4
Now onto a different flavor of a supportive dad, we have Hitori Gotoh’s father from Bocchi the Rock. He is the least involved character in this list, but he is still a memorable dad for being wholesome. Though his support is played more goofy than the others, he is still a genuinely good dad. He is a former rockstar who couldn’t be happier that this daughter is interested in rock. He is 100% in support of whatever rock-related activities Bocchi wants to do. After she accidentally breaks a guitar onstage, he tells her about how she can buy guitars that are meant to be smashed. When he learns Bocchi is under the tutelage of Hiroi the crazy rocker, he would be proud if Bocchi became like her (even though she shouldn’t and even Kikuri knows that). Silly support aside, he does genuinely do a lot to help her development. He gave her full use of his old guitar that he had kept in perfect shape and didn’t chastise her when she broke it. He monetized Bocchi’s videos and saved all that money for when Bocchi needed it. He always encouraged Bocchi to follow her dreams, and like the previous dad, literally cries when she gets her big moments. He may not be an objectively great dad as much as the others, but he is a wholesome and funny one I really like.
Rei Suwa (left) and Kazuki Kurusu (right) (Buddy Daddies) #3
Including both of them may be cheating but they come as a pair, and together they’d fuse into the perfect dad. They’re the dads who stepped up… after killing her actual dad (but he was a bad guy who wanted nothing to do with her so it’s fine). They fall into the type of dads who stumble into their roles rather than directly stepping up to them like a biological parent or a step-parent, but once they fall into their roles they are a joy to watch and do a pretty good job. Together they perform the jobs that a parent should for a child- protecting them, having fun with them (whether that’s letting them mess up your cooking or playing video games with them), giving them food (whether that’s giving them high-quality healthy food or letting them have the occasional junk food they demand) and providing a home (whether that’s giving them a clean room or letting them mess up your stuff and personal space). When Miri needs supplies for school, they spend the ridiculous amount of money it takes. Once they realize how much Miri enriched their lives, they are willing to abandon the old status quo they thought they wanted and commit to raising her with everything they have. They aren’t perfect, but I love these bumbling assassins who grow into loving dads. I also love the representation for a family unit that is not normative.
Spoiler for the rest of this list, Loid Forger from Spy Family is not on here. But he fits into the same type of dad as these two and is great for many of the same reasons. So I’ll call him an honorable mention next to the Buddy Daddies.
Warning that with the next two dads, I simply cannot gush about how they beautifully represent being a parent without going into story spoilers. The story beats surrounding them are too meaningful to my love for these characters. So if you want to skip over either of them, go to the bottom of the page and read the last paragraph.
Byakuya Ishigami (Dr. Stone) (BTW I have only watched the anime so my thoughts are based on that) #2
Byakuya is the first of my two favorite dads who gave everything they had to support their kid. And with Byakuya that is as literal as you can get. When he took in Senku and noticed his passion for science, Byakuya set aside everything he could to give him as much science gear as possible. He sold his car and started biking to work just to keep his costs as low as possible and funneled all of that into Senku’s experiments. Even after the world was petrified and he was focused on direct survival, Senku was always on his mind. He worked to his last dying breath to get materials that he believed would help Senku someday. He wasn’t a true genius on the level of Senku nor did he have some premonition that made him certain Senku was the key to the future. He just believed that much in Senku. He believed Senku would change the world for the better, so petrification or not, he did everything he could to help Senku achieve that reality.
The relationship between Byakuya and Senku is truly one of a kind, I cannot talk about Byakuya without talking about Senku. They weren’t the type of parent and child who would tell each other they love each other directly, but their actions towards each other speak their affection louder than any words could. Byakuya did the previously mentioned actions to support Senku’s passion for science. Senku recognized this and used the scientific skills and knowledge he acquired thanks to Byakuya to support him becoming an astronaut. They didn’t look at the screen and say “I love you so I want to support you”, but that sentiment is made very clear from their actions.
Senku was told from the start that Byakuya wasn’t his biological father. He never got the full picture of what happened with his biological father, but he never cared to (and the story itself doesn’t care either). In Senku’s own words- Who gives a rat’s ass about blood? Byakuya was the man who raised and supported him with everything he had, so he’s his dad. The bond they shared is all that matters to Senku. And that’s also how I feel as well. Blood can be a powerful and meaningful thing, but what truly makes us who we are are our experiences. And no amount of shared blood on its own makes positive experiences materialize. What matters is the actions the people around you take. So who cares that Byakuya isn’t his biological father, he is his dad in every way that matters. I consider Byakuya to be the BEST dad in anime currently. But my FAVORITE goes to the last dad.
Akio Furukawa (Clannad) #1
Akio is my favorite dad in anime hands down. Ever since I watched Clannad as one of the first anime I saw, he has always stuck in my mind as a fictional father. He is fun, full of personality, and a deeply doting father despite his rough exterior. He is by far the character with the most drama, but he still has a positive relationship between him and the other characters and wholesome themes and actions that come from his emotional story. And like Byakuya, he gave everything he had to raise Nagisa. He gives a heart-wrenching speech (that I cried to again researching this) about what being a parent truly means. Akio’s lifelong dream was to be a professional actor and he had the passion to prove it. But after Nagisa’s near-death experience when she was young, he changed his dream to hers. The purpose of that speech is that he did not have his dream crushed by having to give up becoming an actor for Nagisa as how she interpreted it. He did not give up his dream, he changed it to be what she wanted. He is happy to slave away making bread rather than act if it lets him reach what would truly make him fulfilled- seeing Nagisa achieve her dream. This moment has never left my brain, and when I think of what a “good parent” is, this is the first trait I think of. Akio not only made the sacrifices needed to make Nagisa happy, but he also did his best to make his child not feel guilty for those sacrifices. Riddling their child with guilt for “all the things we did to support you” comes up in anime but is also a very real issue. And Akio is an example of how a parent and child can have a healthy relationship despite that.
Speaking of heartwrenching, at first Akio and Sanae were not exactly neglectful parents, but were not as involved with Nagisa as they should have been. This led to her nearly dying seeking them out during a snowy day. When he saw her lying in the snow, he got a reality check and realized how much Nagisa truly means to him. The scene of him begging someone to save her is so compelling and in universe is so powerful that the town grants his wish. And while that is very fantastical, the meaning behind a father realizing how much their child means to them in a scary moment is not. As well as how he changes afterward. He quit being an actor so he could pick a job that let him be at home all day. And he uses that time to try to make her life as great as he can.
He is a goofy guy on the surface who makes a lot of jokes (which contributes to why I consider him wholesome), but there is more depth to it than just his personality. He intentionally tries to be very wholesome to his family. He has developed a very hardened worldview as he has raised Nagisa, and part of why he is goofy is because he wants to uplift the mood of Nagisa and Sanae as much as he can. He knows Nagisa could basically die at any moment, and his other family members (including Tomoya later when he officially joins the family) are aware of this too. He puts in a lot of work to make Nagisa’s home as positive as it can be.
As we get further into the story, we see how he also becomes a great father figure for Tomoya. He was harsh on Tomoya like a stereotypical dad is to prospective lovers (which also makes for good comedy), but you see it came from a place of wanting to protect both him and Nagisa. He made Tomoya work his ass off to earn the right to ask for his blessing to marry Nagisa. Not because he wanted to torture him, but because he wanted proof that Tomoya could handle the level of hardship that he went through caring for Nagisa. He knows anyone who married his daughter would need ironclad commitment to both stick with her through the tough times and be able to stay well themselves. He has been through a lot and does not take it out on others. Rather he wants to make sure everyone around Nagisa can handle what being close to her means. Akio is not perfect but is a fantastic dad. He will do his best to make the best home possible for his child and their loved ones.
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And that’s my top 5 wholesome anime dads! Gunther, Naoki Gotoh, Rei Suwa + Kazuki Kurusu, Byakuya Ishigami, and Akio Furukawa. These dads have differences in personalities and the actions they take, but they all commit to protecting and supporting their kids while making me smile with how they show their love.
There are more great wholesome dads out there, feel free to tell me of your favorites! (please put a spoiler warning if you are going into story spoiler territory). I don’t plan to do a lot of lists but please do let me know if you like these. My friend also wrote a great listicle for Blog Under a Log, which I have linked below if you haven’t read that already. Thanks for reading!
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Top 5 Autistic Coded Characters: https://www.blogunderalog.com/blog-collection/my-top-five-autistic-coded-characters-in-anime-as-ranked-by-an-autistic-girl
