Sunday is Mother’s Day, a day to think of your okaasan and do something nice for her if you can. Mothers are a big part of anime, and when I asked J-List’s Facebook fans to name their favorite anime mothers, I got hundreds of interesting responses. Some are the simple “good mother” types, like Akiko from Kanon, while others can be well fleshed-out and quite interesting, like Sosuke’s awesome mom from Ponyo or Madoka’s down-to-earth (but so tragic) mother from Madoka Magica. Some mothers have a childish side (Sanae from Clannad, Yasuko from Toradora) which causes problems for their children, while others are bad-ass, like Saya Takagi’s Luger-toting mom from Highschool of the Dead, or Mahiro’s fork-wielding mother from Haiyore! Nyaruko-san, who is a professional monster hunter. One core element of many anime stories is that a mother must die dramatically in order for her child to go on a journey towards adulthood, as seen in Attack on Titan and many others. No discussion of anime mothers can be complete without considering the popular 1976 series 母を訪ねて三千里 Haha no Tazunete Sanzen-ri, or 3000 Leagues In Search of Mother, which helped launch the career of Hayao Miyazaki. It tells the story of Marco, who travels from Italy to Argentina to find his sick mother. In one scene that’s broadcast on natsukashii (nostalgic) anime programs at least once a year, Marco encounters a dying woman and kindly lets her believe he is her son so she can be happy at the end of her life, which never fails to bring on the tears.
3000 light-years in search of Mother. Happy Mother’s Day, mom!
