People desperately seeking parental approval in Anime and Manga.
- In Attack on Titan, Reiner Braun originally enlisted out of a desire to earn recognition, out of the belief that doing so would allow them to reunite with their Disappeared Dad and make him proud. It backfires spectacularly: when he finally meets his biological father, the man screams I Have No Son! and throws him out. By then, it's too late to back out of his mission... leading to him becoming a traumatized mass murderer that has lost everything because of his mother's lies.
- Zeke Yeager also has shades of this. He wanted his father to love him and be proud of him, but Grisha was too busy being part of La Résistance and only brainwashed his son into being a pawn. Zeke ends up betraying his parents and turning them into the authorities in order to save himself and his grandparents, who actually did love him. It turns out that Grisha felt extreme remorse over how he treated Zeke and regrets not acknowledging him as an actual person. Much, much later, Zeke is taken on a Journey to the Center of the Mind by Eren and sees Grisha's memories, allowing him to witness Grisha's grief. Through the magic of the Eldian paths, Grisha is able to see the adult Zeke, and finally tells Zeke that he loves him... and begs Zeke to put a stop to Eren's plan of destroying the world.
- Baccano!'s Chane Laforet is prone to bending over backwards to please her father Huey, up to and including giving up her voice just to better keep a secret for him. This is not helped by the fact that Huey, while surprised by her behavior, actively encourages this sort of thing for fun and profit.
- In Baki the Grappler, the mother/son version of this trope is in full effect, as the protagonist Baki devotes his formative years to martial arts, in order to defeat his father in combat, in the hope that victory would gain him his mother's love and respect.
- In Battle Spirits Shonen Toppa Bashin, J is one. it would have saved him a lot of angst and his Face–Heel Turn had his father just spent more time with the family.
- As a kid, Guts of Berserk wanted more than anything to please his adoptive father Gambino, the leader of a mercenary band that took him in. Unfortunately, as this is the Berserk universe, things turn out badly for him. Very badly. Turns out that Gambino was a complete asshole who blamed Guts for the death of his lover Shisu from the plague, and who went as far as to have him raped by one of his men because he considered Guts "disgusting" and he did not feel that he could be "raised to be loyal like a dog." It all comes to a head when Gambino, having lost a leg in battle (the same battle that saw Guts taking violent revenge upon his rapist), gets drunk and heads into Guts' tent in order to murder him, and Guts has to kill him in self-defense.
- Guts’s Kid Sidekick Isidro none too subtly craves his idol’s approval and respect and becomes upset whenever he lets Guts down (i.e fails to protect Casca) and when Cute Witch Schierke makes him look like The Load in comparison. Isidro needn’t have stressed though, as Guts genuinely cares for him even keeping a watch on him in secret when the kid runs away from the group and treats Isidro far better than Gambino did him.
- Farnese appears to be a Well Done Daughter type with her domineering father Federico, as she looks up to him and even burned a toy rabbit he gave to her on his command. But Farnese also refused to be married off and was forced to join the Holy Chain Knights by her father as punishment. Years later Farnese is able to reconcile somewhat with her father and her family in general.
- Bleach:
- They're estranged because Ryuuken rejects his family's Quincy heritage, but Uryuu still desires his father's approval. As a child, Uryuu once promised his grandfather that he would become very strong to prove the worth of the Quincies to Ryuuken. It's heavily implied that Uryuu has misunderstood his father's behaviour and that Ryuuken's encouraging this misunderstanding to hide the truth.
- Rukia always seeks approval from her adopted brother, Byakuya. He spent decades brushing her off by saying not to bother him with 'trivial' matters, resulting in her thinking he hated her. It turns out he was conflicted by two clashing vows that prevented him from getting too close to her. Once Ichigo kicks some sense into his head, he becomes much less obscure about his feelings for Rukia. In the final arc, he finally acknowledges her strength, almost reducing her to tears.
- In Chivalry of a Failed Knight, Ikki Kurogane was shunned by his family for being born weak and lacking natural talent. Ikki then dedicated his life to becoming the greatest swordsman he could be so that he could be a man his father would be proud of. While he succeeded in becoming a Master Swordsman, his father bluntly tells him he will never support or acknowledge him, because Ikki's story of self-improvement completely contradicts his father's philosophy that everyone is born to be "cogs in a machine", which means everyone's talent and rank is predetermined. His father even attempts to sabotage Ikki's progress to prevent him from inspiring others to improve. After getting past the Heroic BSoD, Ikki accepted that his father is an asshole and decided to live only for himself and his friends and girlfriend.
- Confidential Confessions has this in Volume 3. Kyoko's father graduated from Tokyo University, so naturally, she's expected to match up not just by him, but everyone. This, combined with her own weight issues are what drive her to drugs. In an unusual variation, it's not Kyoko, but her father who realizes (after some soul searching) that he screwed up and drove her to the drugs in the first place.
- In DARLING in the FRANXX, all of the parasites are raised with Papa, the head of APE, as a distant surrogate father figure that they are trying to impress. Zorome fully buys into this, and while the others are less enthusiastic, they all nod their heads in agreement when he starts boasting on how they are impressing Papa by defeating klaxosaurs.
- A fairly bizarre example occurs in The Day of Revolution when an intersexed schoolboy opts for gender reassignment surgery largely because he hopes becoming a girl will mend his broken relationship with his cold and distant father (fortunately it's not his only reason.)
- Dragon Ball Z:
- Future Trunks kind of got to have it both ways. Despite being repulsed by his father Vegeta's evil behavior, he still wanted his approval and often behaved deferentially. Vegeta, being Vegeta, considered this a weakness and mocked him for it. He was surprised (and more than a little pissed off) when Trunks actually followed through on his threat to attack him if necessary to prevent Cell's transformation, even though that meant giving up all hope of winning his approval. When Trunks later died at Cell's hands, Vegeta found himself experiencing guilt for probably the first time ever, and went APESHIT on the murderer. Realizing that, after Trunks was revived and returned to his own timeline, Vegeta gave a small but powerful farewell salute.
- Present Trunks also has this towards his father, but Vegeta seems to have learned a small lesson and shows pride in his son from time to time. This generally takes the form of 'land a punch on my face and we'll go to the park for an hour'.
- Gohan himself definitely has shades of this both towards his father Goku and his mentor Piccolo * . He’s not naturally battle-inclined like them despite his essentially bottomless potential but still very much wants their approval and for them to take him seriously as seen in the training for the Androids
. When Goku wants him to fight Cell, Gohan steps up to the plate despite not wanting to fight at all, he does it simply because his father believes in and is counting on him, though it ends up Gone Horribly Right. In Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound all it takes for Gohan to have a Let's Get Dangerous! into Super Saiyan 2, is Goku appearing from the afterlife to save his son from a Bear Hug from the titular villain and tell him to shape up.- Gohan: I know you're out there father! You came back to save me AND I WON’T LET YOU DOWN!
- Gohan is also this towards Education Mama Chi-Chi, he wants very much to please his mother and became a scholar for her. To her credit Chi-Chi in the Buu Saga concedes she was too hard on Gohan which is why she raises Goten without any pressure or high-demands, even training him to fight.
- Canon Broly just wants to please his father Paragus, despite the latter literally putting a Shock Collar on him. Even when Cheelai and Lemo point out what a scumbag Paragus is, Broly just tells them not to badmouth his father like that. When Paragus dies in the Final Battle, Broly activates his One-Winged Angel in despair.
- Durarara!!: Inverted. Shinra can't help but be utterly mortified by his father's incredible stupidity. He doesn't go out of his way to stop his father's less... moral acts, but would rather his father keep it to himself. Shinra really isn't a fan of his father staying at his home and after Celty ties Shingen up for not paying her, Shinra immediately pickpockets him and throws his wallet to Celty.
- Reporter Takashi Jo from the manga Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President also frequently tries to meet the challenges that his long-lost father, Democratic presidential candidate (and Zen Survivor of the Vietnam War) Kenneth Yamaoka, poses to teach his illegitimate son the way of the Evil Genius. Takashi's attempts to understand Yamaoka conflict with his resentment over Yamaoka's abandoning his mother — and the suspicion that her recent, suspicious death was no accident...
- A female example is found in Elfen Lied with Nana who sees Professor Kurama as her father, whom she calls "Papa," because she needed something to keep her from going insane during the torturous experimentation, believing that she is making him proud. Kurama, in turn, sees her as his own daughter and cares very much for her.
- Food Wars!:
- Jouichiro is this to Erina. He was the one who taught her to love food and cooking and was the chef she strove to impress. Funnily enough, Jouichiro's relationship with his son Soma is somewhat vitriolic (mainly due to Jouichiro's immaturity and Soma's extreme competitiveness) but loving, supportive and significantly less dysfunctional than most shonen manga father-son relationships.
- Played more straight during the final arc, where it is revealed that Erina always wanted the approval of her mother Mana, who never once said her dishes were delicious, which is her main motivation to win the BLUE.
- Gender-flipped in Fushigi Yuugi. In the manga (the anime only hints at it), Miaka Yuuki was portrayed as seeking her Education Mama's approval constantly before she was spirited to the Four God's Universe. The manga explained such conduct as a side effect of her parents' divorce: child Miaka saw her mother crying often after Mr. Yuuki left and vowed to not make her cry.
- Toshiki in Get Backers brainwashes Kazuki, steals his soul and nearly murders the kinda-hypotenuse because he feels Kazuki never paid attention to him when they were younger. In actuality, Kazuki watched him for years and knows both him and his "beautiful dance of a fighting style" very well. Subsequently, Toshiki joins Juubei as Kazuki's right-hand man and protector for the rest of the series.
- Girls und Panzer:
- Maho's motivation for following the Nishizumi style of tankery seems to be to please her and Miho's mother. It's actually so that her sister won't feel pressured to serve as an heiress, and so that Miho can live her life her own way. Miho, on the other hand, shows no desire to live up to her mother's standards, and even states in a Heroism Motive Speech near the end of the Little Army manga that her reasons for doing tankery are not "for the sake of (her) home)".
- Mako Reizei is implied to not only be afraid of angering her grandmother but also genuinely wanting her approval, possibly motivated by her guilt over her mom dying after their last conversation was an argument. Her character song makes reference to this ("I don't want to disappoint that person I love").
- Gundam
- In the Mobile Suit Gundam original series, Prince Garma Zabi is handsome, well-intentioned and charming. However, he's also extremely inexperienced and knows he got his spot in the Zabi hierarchy only because he's Sovereign Degwin's favorite son, so this soon leads to an obsession with proving his own worth to his older and more competent siblings (especially Lady of War Kycillia) and his best friend Char Aznable. Which brings him to his downfall.
- Another very dramatic example in the Gundam series, more exactly Mobile Suit Gundam 00. After her whole family is brutally killed, Louise Halevy joins the A-Laws to avenge them. When she does get her revenge by killing their murderer, she has an Heroic BSoD where she pleads for their souls to acknowledge her worth, then cries.
- In After War Gundam X, Olba Frost is a cocky and arrogant young man and Gundam Pilot whose only family is his older brother and partner, Shagia. He's the only person Olba respects and cares for, so he deeply strives to be seen as a worthy person by him.
- Athrun, from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED/Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, seems to acquire this in some form during Destiny (in regards to both his late father and his father's successor, Gilbert Dillandal). And more than anything, his almost blind faith in ZAFT, which his father founded. It's the basis of most of his actions in the early part of Destiny.
- Meer Campbell, also from Destiny, wants to have the approval of the woman she's impersonating per orders of Chairman Dullindal, Lacus Clyne.
- In Gundam Wing, Quatre Raberba Winner grew up believing that his distant father had him created in a lab like his twenty-nine older sisters and that he was just a disposable commodity. When he is brought home by after a period of floating injured and unconscious in space, his father lives long enough to reject him once more before rebelling against the colony government and dying. Quatre's mental breakdown triggers the next major arc of the series.
- Asemu Asuno, the protagonist of the second generation of Gundam AGE, deeply loves and admires his father Flit and spends a lot of time and angst trying to win his praise and be as good of a Gundam pilot. Unfortunately his lack of X-Rounder aptitude and Flit holding him at an ever-increasing distance once Asemu joins the military, and Asemu begins looking towards Woolf as a mentor instead.
- Guel Jeturk from Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is a tragic example. His one initial redeeming trait even at the start of the series when he was a Jerk Jock was his desire to earn his father Vim's approval in spite of all of the power and influence already afforded to him as the heir to Jeturk Heavy Industries. However, after losing his position and bride to Suletta Mercury on top of repeatedly losing duels, his father strips him of his position and exiles him. In spite of this setback, Guel maintains his love for his father and tries his best to regain his approval and thus position by any means necessary. This desire becomes all for naught when, after both men are caught up in the Dawn of Fold's attack on Plant Quetta, Vim mistakes Guel for an enemy due to the latter having hijacked one of the suits the terrorists are using and goes after him in spite of Guel pleading that he's on his side. Guel is forced to defend himself and ends up impaling Vim's mobile suit, only to be then confronted with the awful realization that he had just murdered the father he loves so much. The shock of having unwittingly committed Patricide, even in self-defense, is the driving factor for Guel's Heroic BSoD.
- In Hakuouki, Okita wants to be helpful to Kondou and earn his approval. But due to some help from Serizawa's manipulation, he becomes quickly convinced that the only thing he could do for Kondou is kill his enemies but Kondou would rather not have Okita get his hands dirty. This leads to resentment and jealousy against Hijikata, the person who Kondou relies on the most.
- Arslan in The Heroic Legend of Arslan works hard to try to please his parents who both act rather coldly towards him.
- IDOL × IDOL STORY!: Karin Kokonoe is the daughter of a successful idol producer. While her mother loves her, she's never looked at Karin the same way she looks at idols. Karin decides to quit being a child actress and become an idol instead, despite a string of failed auditions. That's what leads her to become part of the survival audition her mother is managing, so that she can force her mother to look at her the same way she looks at idols.
- Inuyasha: Inuyasha never knew his father but he desires Sesshoumaru's approval. However, Sesshoumaru feels like The Un-Favourite so bullies Inuyasha. Fortunately, their father left a legacy that taught his sons to make peace with his memory and so make peace with each other.
- A female example is found in Layla Hamilton from Kaleido Star, who after losing her mother, swore to not ever disappoint and make her father sad. She couldn't keep her promise when she chose the Stage over a filming career but did reconcile with Dad later.
- The main character from Kimba the White Lion has this relationship towards his father who was killed before he was born.
- Ouhon from Kingdom is desperate for the approval of his father, Ousen - although he tries his best not to show it. His men speculate that the reason for his father's coldness is because he suspects that Ouhon is not his son. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen.
- What Sophie Montgomery from Lady!! actually wants from her mother Jeanne; as she is very desperate for her mom's love and approval, but unfortunately, Jeanne is using her as a pawn as a way of getting inheritance to the Montgomery family fortune and she threatens to send Sophie back to France if she fails to do so.
- Lyrical Nanoha
- Fate desperately seeks her Abusive Mom's approval in the first season. She never does get it, but she overcomes her insecurities after being befriended by Nanoha and Happily Adopted by Lindy.
- Subaru in StrikerS is all about recognition and approval from Nanoha, who saved her life as a child and whom she has idolized ever since. Her ultimate wish is granted at the end of the season, when she evacuates Nanoha from the Saint's Cradle—granted, the Ace of Aces would have probably found her way out on her own, but Nanoha was happy to be rescued by Subaru, nonetheless, because she knew how much closure this would bring to her faithful student and fangirl. Subaru's attitude towards Nanoha contrasts in an interesting manner that of her partner Teana's, who starts off with an outright Rage Against the Mentor but mellows down eventually to a sort of Friendly Rivalry with her. Tea doesn't seek Nanoha's approval, she seeks to beat her at her own game (the shooting magic) — and, ironically, earns a lot of respect from her this way without even realizing.
- Chantez from ViVid entered the Inter-Middle Championship to make her mentor Sister Schach proud of her (and inspire more girls to join the Saint Church). Although their relationship is a lot healthier than Fate and Precia's since Schach is a Stern Teacher rather than an Abusive Parent.
- The Mazinger trilogy treated this trope in a pretty tragic fashion:
- One of the reasons Sayaka from Mazinger Z could be so prideful, impulsive, hard-headed and obsessed with showing off was to get some measure of praise and acknowledgment from her Married to the Job, caring-but-emotionally-distant father. Unfortunately, it did not work very well. In spite of all times she risked her life, Gennosuke Yumi rarely gave praise.
- The case of Tetsuya Tsurugi from Great Mazinger was much worse. He was an orphan with a ton of abandonment and self-confidence issues. He constantly and gleefully risked his life on a daily basis by riding a Humongous Mecha to fight ancient, giant monsters from Beneath the Earth so his adoptive father approved of him. Kenzo actually was proud of him, but he hardly thought of telling Tetsuya that, being more concerned with disciplining him when Tetsuya did or said something stupid (and since Tetsuya was a Jerkass Woobie and an Idiot Hero, it happened frequently). Because of this, Tetsuya was always frightened to death of losing his father if he was not good enough, and he suffered a breakdown at the end of the series when he thought it might happen.
- Subverted in UFO Robo Grendizer. Minister Zuril, one of the Co-Dragons, had a son obsessed with proving his worth to his father, even jeopardizing his life. However, Zuril was proud of him and tried to make him aware of that fact and he did not want him risking his life. Unfortunately, his son did not listen. He kept being obsessed with earning his father's approval, and finally, he committed a Heroic Sacrifice to save his father's life. Zuril became very cold and fatalistic because of it.
- Subverted in Men's Love. Everyone who knows just who Daigo's father is assumes this is why Daigo works so hard. Actually, he just wants to take care of his mom and doesn't even view his dad as a parent, just a difficult employer.
- Naruto is rife with this. A few examples:
- As a child, Sasuke constantly pushed himself to be the best in his class and get his father Fugaku's attention until, you know, his brother killed his entire family. His relationship with said brother is also like this — even after Itachi was believed to have slaughtered the entire clan.
- Hinata Hyuuga, resident Shrinking Violet and Unfavorite of her clan, also desperately seeks approval from her father. She gets her "Well Done, Daughter!" at the end of Part I and seems to be held highly by the Hyuuga Clan in Part II.
- And for the last few: Naruto constantly seeks Sasuke's approval. Rock Lee seeks the approval of Might Guy, who seeks the approval of Kakashi, who seeks the approval of his dead friend Obito. Young Gaara started out seeking the approval of anyone who would give it to him, but nobody did. During the Chunin Exam arc, it seems like at least half of the characters are trying to get some teacher or rival to acknowledge their worth, and the rest are trying to get their crushes to acknowledge their worth.
- Naruto gets his "Well Done, Son!" moment from echoes of his parents in the chakra they left behind. To their credit, they both had a perfectly legitimate reason for not giving their approval sooner...
- It turns out to be a case of It Runs in the Family: Naruto and Hinata's son Boruto is probably the epitome of this trope In-Universe. Having a great childhood with his family — especially in comparison to the hell that both of his parents went through when they were his age — Boruto's life turns upside down when Naruto is appointed as Hokage. Losing his hero's attention and feeling distant to him, Boruto does everything to spend time with his father, even acting out just so he could be lectured by him. On the other hand, his accomplishments are overlooked due to being the son of Naruto and this makes him feel inadequate and insecure, even though he's a prodigy. He doesn't want to enter Chuunin Exams until it's pointed out to him that his father would be watching him. During the exams, when he receives a "Well Done" from his father for passing the test, he is moved to tears. This desperation to keep his father's acknowledgment drives him to cheat. And it goes without saying, everything ends in a fiasco.
- Unusual example in Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Negi really wants his father's approval and in volume one even uses the exact words "well done" when talking about what he wants to hear from his father. On the other hand, his father is a Disappeared Dad rather than emotionally absent.
- In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji Ikari is desperate for any kind of approval from his father Gendō who seems not noticing or not caring. Finally, in the movie End of Evangelion, it is revealed that Gendō actually cared about Shinji — but he was as afraid of his own son as Shinji was of him. His last words before his head gets chomped are "sorry [for all that crap I put you through], Shinji.")
- Gendo does praise Shinji once — just once — over the phone. "Good work, Shinji." That one tidbit of approval is still ringing in Shinji's ears episodes later.
- Asuka is a Gender Flip of the trope. As a young child, she desperately sought her mother's approval of her being selected as an Eva pilot. The problem is that by that time, her mother was too insane to even recognize Asuka as her daughter, much less give her praise. This is because much of her personality was transferred to EVA-02, where her will only really gets to manifest itself through Humongous Mecha action; Asuka catches on, but only near the bitter, bitter end, where otherwise nothing good is happening to her...
- This trope is still obviously present in Rebuild, although Gendo and Shinji are shown to actually try to reconnect. They've made only a bit of progress (with Shinji being stunned by the first bit of praise he's ever received from his father), but it's Eva, so even this much is significant.
- In Noragami, Yato, being a god, survives on praise, and so eagerly committed mass murder at his father's behest because it was the only way he knew how to get praise, earning him the title of "God of Calamity". After Sakura taught him that he could earn thanks from people by helping them rather than having to rely solely on his father's praise, he made it his mission to become a God of Fortune instead and help anyone who needed it.
- Most of Haru's problems in Ojojojo can be traced back to her need to make her father proud of her (despite the fact that he is proud of her). This is best shown in his first appearance when she nearly agreed to an Arranged Marriage despite him explicitly telling her that she didn't have to go through with it.
- One Piece:
- A younger Luffy wanted to be friends with Ace, the older kid living with him, and Ace's friend Sabo, who found him to be a weak, annoying crybaby, and led him into tons of deadly situations to escape him, but he kept coming back. Eventually, Luffy shows how tough he really is, and they become brothers.
- Sanji went through this twice, first with his actual father Judge who put him through Training from Hell and generally treated him like crap for being a sweet little boy. Sanji upon getting locked up and getting a iron mask put on him by his father cried apologizing for "being born weak". Years later Sanji doesn't acknowledge Judge as his father only as an insane old bastard. Sanji also wanted Zeff's approval and support having been trained to be a good cook and fighter by him, and became upset whenever Zeff claimed he was just a nuisance. However when Zeff tells Sanji to look after himself as he leaves the Baratie, Sanji bursts into tears and so does Zeff, showing he did truly love Sanji all along.
- Pokémon: The Series: Verity from Pokémon: I Choose You! lives in the shadow of her successful Pokémon trainer mother and feels that nothing she does is enough for her mom. She left Sinnoh for Kanto and hasn't talked to her since.
- Norman to Ruby in Pokémon Adventures. Ruby is more interested in sewing and contests than battling, however, his father is a gym leader.
- Chibi-Usa and Usagi's relationship in Sailor Moon does not seem to be like this, as they treat each other like squabbling siblings most of the time. However, Chibi-Usa and Usagi's future self Neo Queen Serenity fit in to a T: Chibi-Usa's relationship with her dad King Endymion (future!Mamoru) is very much Daddy's Girl-like, but she half-loves Serenity like the good mom she is and half-idolizes her to the point of inferiority complex. It doesn't help that Serenity is quite Older and Wiser compared to the Usagi we know as Sailor Moon (though sometimes Not So Above It All).
- Saki:
- Nodoka's father seems to disapprove of her playing mahjong, saying that it's nothing more than a game of luck and that the friends she makes are of no use in a "hick town" like the one she lives in. She seems to want him to approve of her playing mahjong, at least to the extent that he will allow her to continue attending school at Kiyosumi.
- Nodoka herself has Maho Yumeno, a kouhai who is striving to get Nodoka's approval, and while she tries to emulate Nodoka, Saki and Yuuki's play styles, she often makes many basic mistakes. As such, Nodoka does end up having to scold Maho, upsetting her, although she acknowledges Maho's efforts.
- Flashbacks in Skip Beat! show the heroine Kyoko as a child doing everything she can to make her cold mother proud of her, such as by working herself into the ground to get perfect scores on her tests (a habit that continued even though they were apart for years when she tried to finish high school).
- In Soul Eater, Kid appears to have his father Shinigami as this. It's mentioned several times that he's Death's heir and as such a lot is expected of him. If he's worrying about something that isn't symmetry, it's being good enough as a death god himself, and his father's where he gets his ideals and expectations from. Would certainly explain his reckless determination to chase after Mosquito, one occasion where his idiocy could not be blamed on his OCPD-like thing. Unlike some other examples, Shinigami has a casual and positive attitude towards his son, the main problem here is that the two rarely talk. Medusa is also this to Crona, being the one person the child 'relies' on and wants to please. Unlike Kid and Shinigami, it's never going to work.
- DECONSTRUCTED: It worked and backfired spectacularly much to Medusa's delight apparently.
- Spy X Family:
- Damian Desmond is routinely ignored by his father and was raised on the idea to not do anything that could harm the Desmond family reputation, leaving him with quite a Inferiority Superiority Complex. He's obsessed with the idea of earning Stella stars to become an Imperial Scholar, hoping that it will impress his father so much that he'll pay attention to him.
- Anya Forger is the same when it comes to her adopted father Loid, though it's coupled with an intense fear of being abandoned. She hates studying, but knows that her getting good grades and earning Stella stars is important to her father's mission for world peace, so she does her best, even if her being Book Dumb means any progress is minimal. She hopes that successfully completing Loid's mission, be it by becoming an Imperial Scholar or Damian's friend, he'll be so impressed and grateful to her that he'll never leave her.
- In The Story of Saiunkoku, Li Kouyuu, who is actually very accomplished for a young man, desperately wants to be helpful to his foster father Kou Reishin. Unfortunately, Reishin, though caring in his own right, is something of a Jerkass Tsundere.
- Inversion: In Tiger & Bunny, the only person who Kotetsu really cares about winning the respect and approval of is his daughter, Kaede. Later on, Barnaby starts feeling this way in respects to Kotetsu.Barnaby: I just aspire to be someone worthy of his trust.
- In Tsukigasa, Kuroe starts crying when his dad unexpectedly forgives him for running away.
- In Umi no Misaki, Shizuku puts her all into being a proper cape maiden to try to get her mom - a previous cape maiden - to approve of her.
- After spending 70+ chapters of trying to find a goal that wasn't already done or easily obtainable, Touta Konoe of UQ Holder! finally settled on making his adoptive mother acknowledge him.
- In Usogui, Floyd Lee gets Supporting Protagonist Kaji to gamble with him by taunting Kaji about his desire for paternal approval. As Kaji's only 'father figures' were fleeting boyfriends that went along with his mother's abuse, it's something that's been desperately missing in his life.
- This is a major plot point in the one-shot manga Vitamin. Sawako wants her mother's praise, so she tries to finish school and get into a good career... However, she becomes bullied by her ex-friends and refuses to go to school, causing problems.
- Few example from Your Lie in April:
- Even despite the abuse he got from her, Kousei's motivation for doing well at piano competitions as a child was to please his mother and make her feel better. Then he snaps after being publicly beaten and says that after doing so much to try and make her happy despite not playing with his friends, practicing, and getting beaten up by her, he just wishes that she'd die already.
- In a way, Takeshi and Emi to Kousei. Takeshi and Emi have been in the same competitions with Kousei since they were children, and Emi even became a pianist after being emotionally moved by Kousei's performance, but they could never beat him and he never paid them any mind (justified, however, because he was busy being abused by his Stage Mom). After Kousei left, they spent two years perfecting and becoming amazing pianists with Takeshi getting ready to go overseas and when they find out that Kousei is returning, they're excited and sign up for the same competition that they've gone through year after year, just to show Kousei how much better they've gotten and how they believe they can stand side-by-side with him. And when Kousei praises Takeshi on his performance, he is incredibly happy.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Mokuba Kaiba was this initially. It's why he tried to murder Jonouchi and Yugi. (He also had issues with solving all his problems with money and/or cheating at this stage.)
- The second (main) anime condenses Kaiba's early character arc down to almost nothing, but in the manga, Mokuba first appears when he forces Yugi to play a rigged game of Capsule Monsters to avenge his brother's honor, Seto having been mindcrushed earlier. He loses, naturally, and reappears in the lead-up to Death-T to challenge them to a rigged game of poison-food roulette. Yami makes him eat the poison since he had the antidote on him. It was all still in support of his brother, but it's not played too sympathetically.
- In the climax of the Death-T arc his character finally reaches its familiar plateau, when he plays Yugi again in the second-to-last stage, and loses, and Seto subjects him to the Mind Rape penalty box of torture. To reiterate more simply: Seto. Tortures. Mokuba.Seto Kaiba: Those pathetic, clinging eyes on my back, I've felt them for years. In the world of games, there's no room for something like brotherly affection. Until you understand that, you'll never be anything but a loser!
Mokuba Kaiba: Please, Seto-sama, I only wanted your approval—!
Seto Kaiba: The loser suffers a penalty game. That's the rule of Death-T! [presses the button] - It's also explicitly that he's pissed Mokuba tried to avenge him since if he lost, that was just dragging the name further in the dust, but if he won Seto would never have recovered from the humiliation. Still, a serious dick move no matter what.
- After Yugi saves Mokuba, the kid explains their backstory with the orphan thing, and after Seto's second, more thorough Mind Crush he gets back his Big Brother Instinct and then they're a regular devoted pair of Morality Chains for the rest of the series, but until Seto turns up to rescue Mokuba at Duelist Kingdom, Mokuba still didn't know if he was ever going to get anything more than that "You'll never be anything but a loser".
