History Main / InvisibleParents

* ''WebAnimation/LaceyGames'' while it's established that Lacey lives with her CreepyUncle, the whereabouts of her parents is left ambiguous, as Lacey never making any mentions of them. [[spoiler: The closest indications of her parents might be presented as a group of anthromorphic pigs in the NightmareSequence on the third episode alongside said uncle]].

** ''VideoGame/Persona5'': Hardly any of the crew's parents are seen except for Sojiro Sakura (who adopted Futaba and all but does the same for the MC), Kunikazu Okumura (Haru's father, and one of the ''targets'' throughout the game, [[spoiler:and also dies through no fault of the Phantoms, but they were framed like that]]), [[UpdatedRerelease Yoshizawa's father]], [[spoiler:Masayoshi Shido (Akechi's bastard of a father, and the seeming BigBad of the game)]], and (FromACertainPointOfView) [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/Persona5Strikers Kuon Ichinose]], SOPHIA's creator]]. And the only ones who only get mentioned as alive are Ann's (parents abroad), Ryuji's (father abandoned, mother left to raise him alone), and the MC's (by Sojiro when he mentions them sending the MC to him). [[spoiler:Morgana's nature means he naturally has none]], Yusuke's and Futaba's [[spoiler:and Akechi's]] mothers are mentioned as dead, as is Makoto's father, with no mention of the other parent's fates, and the same goes for Haru's and Kasumi's mothers.

* In ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' Keiichi's parents are nameless, faceless, and barely present. Characters talk to them off-screen. The manga gave both designs but no names. while the anime only showed them from behind.

** Played straight for some of the younger characters. Scootaloo didn't have ''any'' parental figures even mentioned for most of the show's run, resulting in the {{fanon}} that she's an orphan and wants Rainbow Dash to treat her like sister because she never had a family. Episodes like "Parental Glideance" didn't help, as while Scootaloo talks about wishing she had supportive parents like Dash's, it isn't clear if she's referencing her own parents or just talking about wanting parents in general. One of the books and an issue of the comics would reveal that her parents are alive and work abroad, while she lives with her aunts, but none of these characters would appear in the show proper until the final season in an episode specifically addressing Scootaloo's home life.

* Franchise/{{Barbie}} apparently has parents according to licensed books but they're never referenced in the toys, nor [[ToylessToylineCharacter do they have toys]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama:'' We see a few parents in season one's "Message from Home" segments (Owen, Duncan, and Heather's parents, and Gwen's mother), and DJ's mother shows up from time to time, but that's it. {{Justified|Trope}} since the teenage protagonists are on a reality TV show, but you think you'd hear about a lawsuit or something when Ezekiel has apparently been missing from his house for years at this point.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** Ash's father is referenced a few times in early episodes but he's never seen. The closest we ever get is that he's off on a Pokémon journey. Even in flashbacks, Delia is depicted as a single mother.

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', only Madoka's parents are ever seen. While a couple of the girls are later confirmed to be orphans, the parents of the rest simply never show up.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', [[PolarOppositeTwins Dipper and Mabel]]'s parents are only seen at the very beginning of the series, and even then, [[TheFaceless only their arms]] as they get the kids ready for their trip to Gravity Falls. We do know that it was their idea to send them (while Dipper, at least, was reluctant to go), and Stan talks to them on the phone at the end of Season 1, but we don't even hear their side of the conversation. And, for the record, [[spoiler:WordOfGod confirms that they didn't know about the TwinSwitch either]].

* Parents are never seen, and barely even mentioned in ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]''. The only time they're brought up is when Kyon's little sister briefly says something to her mother, and when Haruhi tells Kyon how her father took her to a baseball game as a child. Even in that flashback only Haruhi herself is actually seen as anything but FacelessMasses.

* Most of the characters in the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' game series have no parents (or any relatives at all, for that matter) - which makes it especially weird whenever a character ''with'' parents, like Cream and her mother Vanilla, shows up. Some characters like Knuckles (last of his species and thus his parents are dead) and Shadow ([[ArtificialHuman has no parents]]) have excuses, but characters like Tails and Amy just live alone despite being eight and twelve respectively.

** Probably the most egregious example of this trope amongst the Destiny Islands trio is Riku. Sora, as mentioned, has a mom we hear speak offscreen, and in ''Birth by Sleep'', Riku mentions to Terra that Sora's dad rowed them out to the play island. Kairi has her grandma shown in a few cutscenes, and it's stated she's adopted by the mayor of the islands after she arrives during the meteor shower. Riku, however, has next to nothing regarding any mentions of familial relations. The only evidence indicating he has a family is when he tells Sora in the beginning of ''KHI'' that they may never see their parents again.

** Probably the most egregious example of this trope amongst the Destiny Islands trio is Riku. Sora, as mentioned, has a mom we hear speak offscreen, and in Birth By Sleep, Riku mentions to Terra that Sora's dad rowed them out to the play island. Kairi has her grandma shown in a few cutscenes, and it's stated she's adopted by the mayor of the islands after she arrives during the meteor shower. Riku, however, has next to nothing regarding any mentions of familial relations. The only evidence indicating he has a family is when he tells Sora in the beginning of ''KHI'' that they may never see their parents again.

** Probably the most egregious example of this trope amongst the Destiny Islands trio is Riku. Sora, as mentioned, has a mom we hear speak offscreen, and in Birth By Sleep, Riku mentions to Terra that Sora's dad rowed them out to the play island. Kairi has her grandma shown in a few cutscenes, and it's stated she's adopted by the mayor of the islands after she arrives during the meteor shower. Riku, however, has next to nothing regarding any mentions of familial relations. The only evidence indicating he even ''has'' a family is when he tells Sora in the beginning of ''KHI'' that they may never see their parents again.

* In ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', we hear Sora's mother early in the first game, but never even see the parents of ''anyone'' on Destiny Islands. Sora doesn't mention his parents in future games either, despite being absent for years.

* Susie's parents are never seen in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' despite Calvin visiting her house several times. Susie and Calvin even speak to Susie's mother on two separate occasions, but she remains off-screen both times.

* The entire cast of ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}''. The series is famous for having almost no adults appear on-screen. One very early strip where Lucy enters a golfing competition did have adults in it but it only served to set up the fact that they're still children (She abandons the competition just before it actually starts due to Charlie reminding her that it was almost her nap time).

* Almost everyone's parents in ''VideoGame/Persona3''. Except for Yukari and Mitsuru's fathers, who are rather important to the plot, Akihiko, Ken, Shinjiro, and the Main Character's parents are all dead, Junpei's father and Mitsuru's mother are not dead, Aigis doesn't have parents, and Koromaru's are irrelevant. That leaves all of both of Fuuka's parents and the mothers of Yukari and Junpei.
* ''VideoGame/Persona4''. Luckily for this Persona series cast the parents are present, although except Kanji's mom and Dojima (the MC's uncle), none are seen.
* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': Hardly any of the crew's parents are seen except for Sojiro Sakura (who adopted Futaba and all but does the same for the MC), Kunikazu Okumura (Haru's father, and one of the ''targets'' throughout the game, [[spoiler:and also dies through no fault of the Phantoms, but they were framed like that]]), [[UpdatedRerelease Yoshizawa's father]], [[spoiler:Masayoshi Shido (Akechi's bastard of a father, and the seeming BigBad of the game)]], and (FromACertainPointOfView) [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/Persona5Strikers Kuon Ichinose]], SOPHIA's creator]]. And the only ones who only get mentioned as alive are Ann's (parents abroad), Ryuji's (father abandoned, mother left to raise him alone), and the MC's (by Sojiro when he mentions them sending the MC to him). [[spoiler:Morgana's nature means he naturally has none]], Yusuke's and Futaba's [[spoiler:and Akechi's]] mothers are mentioned as dead, as is Makoto's father, with no mention of the other parent's fates, and the same goes for Haru's and Kasumi's mothers.

* Ness' dad in ''VideoGame/EarthBound''. Aside from the occasional phone conversation he might as well not exist. He is probably a {{Salaryman}}.

** Downplayed for the main cast, as they're all young adults living away from home.

* Almost everyone's parents in ''VideoGame/Persona3''. Except for Yukari and Mitsuru's fathers, who are rather important to the plot, Akihiko, Ken, Shinji, and the Main Character's parents, who are dead, Junpei's father and Mitsuru's mother, who are not dead, Aigis, who doesn't have parents, and Koromaru's who are irrelevant. That leaves all of both of Fuuka's parents and the mothers of Yukari and Junpei.

** Pretty much all the Sailor Senshi who aren't orphans have this problem, except for Usagi. In the [[Manga/SailorMoon manga]], Sailor Mercury is one of the very few ''aversions'' to the trope, [[AmicableExes where both her mother and father are shown sympathetically despite being divorced]].

** The English dub removes Yugi's mother from the show entirely. She doesn't appear that often in the original manga or the show, though, and there is no mention of Yugi's father.