When it comes to the representation of marginalized groups in anime, the medium clearly has a long way to go. From members of the LGBTQ+ community to foreigners, people living with disabilities and everything in between, anime may be gradually improving but still has plenty of room for progress.
Another marginalized group that rarely gets talked about in anime is single working parents -- more specifically, single working moms. While single fathers aren’t terribly uncommon in anime (for example, Daikichi Kawachi from Usagi Drop, Kohei Inuzuka from Sweetness & Lightning, Fujitaka Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura and Kakushi Gotou from Kakushigoto), single mothers are far more unusual. This group gets even smaller when single working moms whose partners are dead rather than simply not around are taken out of the equation.
Why Are Separated Working Moms So Rare in Anime?
Of course, this begs the question as to why single working moms who are divorced or otherwise separated from their husbands, partners, boyfriends or lovers are so rare in anime to begin with, even in comparison to their male counterparts.
Perhaps the most straightforward answer is that in Japan, divorce rates are very low compared to those of many countries in the West such as the U.S. While there are something like 3.2 divorces per 1,000 people in the United States, that number in Japan is closer to 1.8 divorces per 1,000 people according to its Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare -- slightly on the rise since the 1990s, but still by no means the norm for established couples.
Moreover, it’s not common in Japan for couples to have children (or even live together) without being married. In fact, Japanese law doesn’t even recognize fathers of children born outside of wedlock -- Article 819 automatically grants sole custody of a child born out of wedlock to the mother. Since this law also means that joint custody following a divorce is likewise very unusual, it can understandably be extremely challenging for single mothers to work at the same time.
Given Japanese law and societal norms, if a single male is seen raising a child in anime, it’s most likely because their wife, and/or the mother of the child, is either seriously ill or dead (something that accounts for the number of single fathers in anime whose wives have passed away due to an unspecified terminal illness, aka Anime Disease). This makes the anime male single parent someone to be pitied -- they are a tragic hero, grieving the loss of someone close to them while simultaneously making some kind of sacrifice in either their professional or personal life.
By contrast, a mother who’s single by ‘choice’ is more likely to be viewed by society as either a bad wife or else just plain irresponsible -- possibly even immoral -- due to her life decisions. Given that many anime, even those aimed at older viewers, are frequently used as vehicles for statements of morality, it makes sense that the creators of these stories would not want to send a ‘bad message’ by talking overly much about divorced or separated mothers.
What Are Some Anime Examples of Separated Working Moms?
Of course, anime is not completely devoid of single working moms whose spouses are just not in the picture rather than actually dead. However, most of these examples are relatively recent, perhaps pointing to a (very gradual) shift in attitude toward divorced or separated women and mothers. Main characters of this type in anime are all but non-existent, but some of the following supporting characters may indicate that some kind of change is on the horizon.
Yasuko Takasu from Toradora fame is one of anime’s most well-known examples of a single working mother whose partner is no longer around. She tells her son Ryuuji that she was married to his father, who died before Ryuuji was born. However, viewers later discover that the father -- an older man who Yasuko dated while in high school -- left her for another woman once he discovered she was pregnant. In the present, cut off from her own parents, Yasuko works as a bar hostess while doing her best to raise Ryuuji so that he won’t ever make the same kind of mistakes.
Two other anime characters who are known to be divorced/separated and working mothers are Usagi Drop’s Yukari Nitani and Sachiko Fujinuma from Erased. However, precious little background info is known about either of them. Yukari is an extremely warm and caring person, but no mention at all is made of her specific circumstances beyond being divorced; in fact, in the live-action film version, she is instead widowed. Sachiko’s history is a little more fleshed out, but only in the manga. A former news anchor, she divorced her husband when her son Satoru was a young child and raised Satoru on her own -- something she felt extremely guilty about.
Most recently, The Aquatope on White Sand also depicts a divorced working mother, Chiyu Haebaru. Initially introduced as a rather disagreeable and ignorant young woman, it’s later revealed that Chiyu has a young son, and that she lost her previous job at an aquarium because she wasn’t able to work any overtime or night shifts. Having married after graduating high school and then divorcing, Chiyu kept the existence of her son a secret for a while at Tingarla at first, purely so that she would be able to keep her job and not inconvenience any of the other staff with her less flexible schedule.
It’s clear from these examples that the number of separated working women in anime leaves much to be desired, as does their place within the text (usually as a side character, and rarely given much in the way of backstory). However, it’s somewhat comforting to know that these women are at least not villainized, and indeed, are characterized by their determined and hard-working personalities while still being kind, loving parents who want the best for their children. Audiences can only hope that this character type is given more thought and screen time in the future.
