Here, I will talk about the relationship of Mamaoru Amami to his parents in episodes 32-45 of the TV series King of Braves Gaogaigar (GGG). I will focus specifically on how the Amamis respond both to revelations about Mamoru and to Mamoru's doubt concerning something revealed to him that they already knew. Additionally, I will attempt to make the case that the moments which I highlight are one that all anime fans can identify with.
In GGG Mamoru Amami effectively functions as the target demographic's self-insertion character. He is the best friend of the titular mech's pilot, Guy. The chief antagonists in the first arc of GGG are some aliens known as the Zonders who find disaffected people and "Zonderize" them into awesomely evil mecha. Mamoru possesses mysterious powers enabling him to de-Zonderize these monster-bots back into (grateful) people. The above factors combine to allow Mamoru to hang out with the members of Three G, a government organization consisting of awesome robots and hot-blooded heroes. What eight year old wouldn't want to be him?
Initially, Mamoru's parents, Isamu and Aoi, are not aware that Mamoru has become an honorary member of Three G. However, as the crises that humanity faces become ever more dire, Mamoru receives emergency summons more and more often and at less and less convenient times (i.e. during meals, on vacation with his family, etc.). At one point, an enormous space ship descends right in front of the Amamis to pick up on Mamoru at the best of the U.N. Why? The Amamis are not authorized to know that. We can see that they are starting to suspect something before this incident, but certainly afterward they are aware that something quite unusual is going on.
It is here that Isamu and Aoi start to distinguish themselves. From the moment that they suspected that Mamoru was involved in something dangerous, they worry about him, as any good parent would. We observe them, in private, confiding their doubts and fears in one another before going to sleep. Yet, from the outset it is also clear that they trust their son. The fact that Mamoru's dangerous exploits are in the service of the U.N. vindicates that trust.
A few episodes after Mamoru is picked up right in the spaceship, he essentially spills the beans to his parents. He is working with Gaogaigar. In many shows, we would see the mother protest and/or feint. We might even see the father's initial disapproval manifest itself. Then, as every parent of a good soldier ought to do, they would finally assent and approve of their child's actions. The Amami's save their son from enduring this psychological roller coaster. They communicated well behind closed doors; they expressed very adult fears to one another and dealt with them away from their child. Doing this enabled them to support their child when the time came to do so. Ultimately, though, Isamu and Aoi are able to give Mamoru support in such a trying time because they truly and totally accept him.
The Amamis are not stupid or clueless. They are aware of the risks involved with Mamoru being a member of Three G, and they experience anxiety when thinking about the very possible loss of their child. Knowing all of this, they are able to accept Mamoru's choice because they accept him. The love that Isamu and Aoi have for Mamoru is not based on him fulfilling certain conditions or even on reciprocal love. They are his parents. Out of love, they freely allow him to be who he is and they accept the person he becomes. When Mamoru has to abruptly respond to a Three G summons while the family is in the middle of dinner, he apologizes to his father. Mamoru hasn't confessed his big secret to his father yet, but Isamu is pretty much aware of what's going on at this point. He responds, "Don't apologize Mamoru because you're doing the right thing."
It has to be said that a big reason why the Amamis are able to support their son is because of his origin. Mamoru is not their biological child but was delivered to them by a robot lion one snowy night in December. This event was kind of a hint that Mamoru is (1) not of this world and (2) kind of special. For Mamoru's own sake, Isamu and Aoi chose to keep the details of his delivery from him. Of course, when Mamoru's powers begin to manifest themselves, he begins to suspect that he is no ordinary boy. It is revealed to Mamoru throughout the course of the show that he is an alien from The Green Planet, delivered to Earth (The Blue Planet) for a very specific purpose. Once he finds this out, Mamoru experiences what an eight year old can of an existential crisis. Who is he? What should he do? He's not really his parents' son. Mamoru's whole framework, his foundation, has been stripped away.
Mamoru's friends at Three G know about Mamoru's origin and don't view him or treat him differently, so he is able to exist there and execute his duties, though his once-stable domestic life has been turned upside down. How will his family take the news? Will they still love him? Will they disown him? While the Amamis are on vacation, Mamoru must rush off to meet Three G in space. After apologizing, he starts to leave but hesitates. He turns and asks his parents, "I'm not really your kid am I?" Aoi immediately stoops down to hug her son. She replies, with quiet tears, "Oh, Mamoru, you'll always be our child." This is the scene that will stay with me. The Amamais have bestowed such great love on a child that, not only isn't their own, but also does not even come from their world. Now more than ever, Mamoru becomes aware that his parents completely accept him. That is what makes them so special.
Now, you might jump in here and say something like, "How is letting your eight year old son go into space to fight alien invaders anything close to good parenting?" Well, while this may be a valid point, I think it involves a narrow interpretation of the previously described scenes. Yes, Mamoru is meant to be the every-child, but I believe that certain aspects of his young child <---> parent relationship transcend the specific ages and circumstances of the participants. Sunrise knew that, besides the kids, the other demographic watching GGG was adult male mecha fans. The manner in which the story matures later on in the series is an indication of this fact. I believe that the acceptance of Mamoru by his parents was designed to appeal to the adult viewers as well as the younger ones.
We might view the Amami's complete acceptance of the person Mamoru is and the choices he makes as the idealization of our own desire to be accepted by our parents. If we do interpret the scenes in this way, I believe that all anime fans can identify with Mamoru insofar as he is granted the fulfillment of the universal longing that human beings have for complete familial acceptance. In spite of realizing that their son kept something very important from them, his own mysterious origin, and also the doubts he has about their love for him, the Amamis affirm Mamoru's choices and support the person he becomes. When we go our own way in life and begin to make our own decisions, isn't this something that we all want, whether we admit it or not? I don't mean we want to do what our parents want us to do; rather, we each desire that our parents accept who we want to be.
I think anime fans in particular can identify strongly here. The very fact that they are anime fans means that they are probably offbeat folks. After all, in North America, anime is a "strange" niche even within the nerd community at large. We're different from the different guys. In Japan, I hear that most anime fans are assumed to be the wrong side of creepy. Anime is not necessarily a hobby that has attained wide acceptance, so anime fans are used to lacking acceptance of a certain sort. And, since anime fans are, as said, slightly offbeat, perhaps they are more likely to make other less-acceptable life choices. Thus, I believe that they can keenly feel the emotional gravity of that mother's hug, that father's affirmation, of the words, "You'll always be our child."
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