User:Sarah.hassle/sandbox

Main Characters

Gin: An alcoholic that once made money by racing bicycles. When his daughter became ill, he threw a race to get the money for her medicine. The scandal came to light and he was banned from the sport. His wife and daughter eventually died and he succumbed to drinking and gambling.

Hana: Hana is a trans woman, and a former drag queen. She was raised by "Mother", a drag queen who took her in after her parents abandoned her. Hana began to work in "Mother's" drag bar as a singer, but she left after attacking a rude customer who called her "old fart". Having always wanted to be a mother she see's the baby, Kiyoko, as a gift from god.

Miyuki: A runaway girl who hated her father's over-controlling ways and during a family dispute she ended up stabbing him. Miyuki ran away from home after the attack and refused to go back. She considers herself a very independent young woman and is rebellious, stubborn, and at times short tempered.

Representations of Families

Susan Napier points out that Tokyo Godfathers is part of a trend in Anime and manga as depicting families in an increasingly dark fashion, showcasing the problems with traditional families, and attempts by people to construct a "pseudo-family" out of a increasingly fragmented and isolating modern Japanese society. It's put forth that despite the seemingly criticisms of traditional families through out the movie, it ends with a more conservative feeling as everyone returns to their traditional/original families. Despite it's seemingly traditional ending, the movie offers a more radicle version of family. Throughout the story these three homeless vagabonds unknowingly form a "pseudo-family" to protect themselves from the outside world and to overcome their personal demons.