APADFTMOM Day 8: The "Single Parent" Subgenre

Today we’re going to be doing something a little different and taking a closer look at a larger topic as a whole instead of picking an individual series and seeing how it expresses itself through larger topics. The “single parent” subgenre is one of my favorites and I find it one of the easiest to read due to mostly being wholesome, cute family-based stories. I was originally going to pick a series from it to elaborate on, but I was undecided between a couple of them and we would have ended up touching on a lot of the same points anyway.






The “single parent” subgenre settles somewhere between comedy and drama with a much heavier leaning towards comedy and usually only light drama, if any. A series within the “single parent” subgenre will typically need to have a main cast consisting of three people: The parent, the child, and a third person who acts as a bridge between the other two. The story is always about how difficult it is for the parent to raise the child alone, but this is rarely what the story is directly centered around. This is used as underlying framework for the events of the series to show the audience these difficulties and how the characters cope with them as opposed to just mentioning them.




Parent characters are good, honest people who were thrown into their roles against their wills. In most cases the parent was in a loving relationship with their spouse before an accident took their spouse away, but it is worth noting that this is not always the case and that the parent role is not strictly limited to actual parents. Shirogane no Nina deviates from this by having the parent character be the child character’s uncle, although their bond is essentially the same as direct parent-child relationships within the genre. The parent character also tends to be a hard worker with an aversion to romance, both of which end up being common points of conflict.




Child characters tend to be written as the best children on the planet to give the audience an understanding of why the parent tries so hard to keep them happy while also making the audience want to see them happy as well. The child behaves similarly to a normal child by being impulsive, silly, and extreme in showing emotion, but there is a very clear divide between when certain emotions are shown. Whereas a normal child may feel upset over pretty much anything at any time, a child character’s negative emotions are mostly funneled into ultimately trivial events and not larger story-related events.




The parent-child relationship tends to be very relaxed and carefree, which helps to feed into the mundane adventures that fuel the series on a chapter-to-chapter basis. That being said, the primary source of series-long conflict is the small one-sided strain on the relationship caused by the parent’s dread of the child asking about only having one parent. When the topic of the missing parent is brought up, the child is generally already at peace with the situation. These moments serve as an introspection on the parent’s side as they come to the realization that they have been worrying on the child’s behalf much more than the child has been worrying.




As stated previously, the “single parent” genre usually includes some kind of third person along with the parent and child to round out the main cast. This third person is an outsider to the family and can be an extended family member, potential love interest for the parent, or just a friend of the parent. The third person exists as a flexible supporting role who can be there for both of the other main characters during times when it may feel awkward to have them together or to give them a break from each other. Chichi to Hige-Gorilla to Watashi does an exceptional job at highlighting this by showing the third person as the one who can have a few drinks with the parent and also go pick the child up from school while the parent is at work. Adding a buffer in the form of someone outside of the family helps to give each family member a sense of privacy from the other and establishes boundaries within the story unique to each character.




Boundaries are a very important part of family-oriented storytelling because the family members need a break from each other every now and then to deal with problems unique to them. This is more true on the parent’s side than on the child’s side; The parent needs a reliable person close by to confide it when it comes to adult matters such as work issues or finances. This sounds very one-sided and can quickly get to be that way, so a little storytelling give-and-take can be done to manufacture some conflict on the child’s side that requires the child to look for assistance but is not pressing enough to bother the parent over. That being said, there is no set conflict ratio or specific boundary needed to keep both halves of the story balanced. A story can have a heavy focus on the child such as Yotsuba to! where the parent has no actual conflict and any issues are mentioned in passing, or there can be a more equal split bordering on the parent’s side outweighing the child’s such as Chichi to Hige-Gorilla to Watashi.




Romance in “single parent” series can be handled in many ways but is overall a very touchy subject. The parent is almost always established as alright with being single in public but with some reserves in private. These reserves generally stem from how a relationship would impact the family as a whole and do not include the parent’s individual happiness until somebody, usually the third person, convinces them to think about themselves a little more. There is a fear of selfishness in this mindset for the parent, and understandably so - They cannot afford to just think of themselves when a relationship would impact their child’s life much more than their own. Needless to say, the child is a much simpler thinker and is usually fine with their parent entering a relationship.




Plot structure within the genre is very interesting as it can be as loose or as rigid as the author needs at any given time. The “single parent” genre is built on the back of casual storytelling about a parent and child enjoying the little things in life and uses the child’s wonder at what they do not understand to make the mundane sound fresh and exciting. A lot of variation from series to series relies on the silliness of the child when put in a new situation. Children are bold and shameless and can have as many reactions to the same experience as there are children in the world. These differed reactions help set the individual child characters apart from each other despite them all essentially being the same archetype.




Heavier material within the story is much more difficult to include within this genre than others due to the genre wanting to showcase the family as a perfectly functional normal family unit as opposed to the constantly struggling family that part of society may expect. Ideally the audience reaction wants to be one of sharing joy with the family and not looking at them with sympathy. The reader is meant to develop a bond with these characters and should want to see them succeed and be happy while not dwelling on the negatives in their lives. Sympathy is a form of pity and once a feeling of pity has been invoked, there is an underlying feeling added to watching the characters grow. They are no longer growing because of their surroundings, they are growing in spite of their surroundings.




It’s no secret by now that I value what makes a character tick just as much if not more than the character in general. That’s why I enjoy the “single parent” genre; There’s a focus on two types of character development as you watch a child grow and a parent come to terms with their situation. There are multiple series I could recommend within this genre:

• Yotsuba to! is a classic and one of the most well-respected manga series on the planet. Its story is geared exclusively towards focusing on the child with the parent acting more like a supporting character.
• Amaama to Inazuma has a heavier focus on the parent than the child while also sprinkling in some cooking knowledge a la Misoshiru de Kanpai!
• Shirogane no Nina keeps a strong balance between parent and child despite there not being a direct blood relation between the two as Nina is the niece as opposed to the daughter.
• Chichi to Hige-Gorilla to Watashi makes liberal use of the third person to support both the parent and the child. It also centers around a strong series-wide story as opposed to threading together small occurrences.

Every series listed above is available in English save for the last, but you know how we feel about most fan translators.