There are countless characters that are introduced in the Gintama anime. Some appear once, and some appear several times but aren’t classified as main characters. Among the many names and faces that you have to remember, surely enough, if you’ve seen Gintama, you have definitely seen the “Yoshiwara in Flames” arc! This is one of the more serious arcs of the comedic anime, and it’s bound to leave an impression on you. The climax of this arc is what makes it one of the more special ones, one of the ones that stick with people and is even the favorite of many!

The first time we see Hinowa is when she’s in a room with a man, and from what we know about the arc at this point, thanks to Seita — the character who says his mother is Hinowa — we know that she is a courtesan. At the end of the arc, it’s proven that Hinowa is in fact, Seita’s mother. From that point on in the anime, Hinowa and Seita make up for lost time as mother and son, what with Hinowa wanting to participate more in her son’s life for all the years that she couldn’t. Automatically, she becomes an anime character that most people love because of her devotion to her son!

Amidst the Generation of Miracles in this anime, there’s bound to be a person that ties them all together to make sure they stay in order. Considered a main character, Momoi was the anchor for her boys when they were all in middle school. She held them together and helped them win games and eventually earned her rightful position as the strategist! Along with her insanely good looks, Momoi is the ideal person to take care of a few naughty boys who won’t listen to anyone else apart from her.

While a lot of fans say that Momoi is more of a “girlfriend” type, it’s also good to look at it from a different point of view. The reason she’s “girlfriend” material is because of her devotion to Aomine, along with her romantic feelings for Kuroko. Despite her ties to these two boys, she still takes care of the rest of the Generation of Miracles and is still insanely good friends with them. She calls them familiarly even though they don't attend the same school anymore, which goes to show that she is the nurturing type — even if it’s not obvious.

Each member of the Generation of Miracles cannot come to despise or dislike Momoi, because they know that at one point in the past, she has taken care of them — the ideal candidate for someone who you’d like to be your mother!

If you’ve been a fan of anime long enough, you’re bound to hear of the classics — and Inuyasha is one of them. While the story centres around the fact that Kagome, the female protagonist, accidentally and clumsily broke the Sacred Jewel into small, uncountable pieces, the anime continues to explore and develop her character as she interacts with the rest of the cast.

Although only fifteen years old in the story, Kagome exhibits certain traits that make her appear to be more mature, and in a lot of cases, doting and caring towards her friends. Amongst her friends at school, she’s known as the one who always misses school, but amongst her friends during the times of the Warring States in Japan, she can be called the “mom friend”.

Sadly, a lot of people dislike Kagome at least just a little because she’s always calling out for Inuyasha. However, this is hardly a reason to dislike her at all! Kagome cares about her friends — especially Inuyasha, since she’s in love with him — and will do anything to make sure they are safe. She gravitates towards those who are in need of help — like Shippo, the small demon fox who’s always bullied by Inuyasha — and puts all her effort into making sure no one is hurt.

While there are countless anime characters who possess qualities that could potentially make them seem more motherly, Kagome is certainly a diamond in the rough. Not only is she a flawed character, but the fact that she doesn’t let her flaws get in the way is an admirable quality that adds more perks to her character!

An anime of its genre that’s somewhat unique, Noragami tells the tale of a god and a girl who is only half alive, thanks to a car accident that she was involved in. Iki Hiyori, the female protagonist, makes a deal with the god, Yato, which entails her spirit not leaving her body as often anymore. Essentially, the plot of the anime consists of Hiyori being stuck between the living realm and the dead realm, making her more of a spirit than a person. Without Yato’s help, it’s impossible for her to return to being completely human. Of course, even if she were to go back to being “normal”, she would forget Yato and the many aspects of the spirit realm.

Similar to Kagome in that she’s a high school student, Hiyori is incredibly determined to make sure that her life returns to normal. While she’s waiting to go back to normal, however, she makes sure to take care of those around her as much as she can. Yukine, Yato’s new Regalia for his sword to vaporise evil, can be likened to either a younger brother or a son to Hiyori.

She constantly protects him from Yato’s jabs, and her consideration for the people around her is incredibly moving. Although she doesn’t have as much of a strict vibe as typical anime women who are “motherly”, Hiyori, without a doubt, is a character you would definitely want as your mother!

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun gained immense popularity when it aired, due to its atypical approach to shoujo. While there are other anime and manga out there that are both comedic and romantic, this one seems to take the cake. While it begins with the typical trope where the main girl likes the main guy, how Nozaki responds to her confession is certainly unique — he gives her an autograph instead!

From the very beginning, this anime sets a standard for shoujo that changes our perspective on the genre, even if just a little bit. The remainder of the anime essentially explores Chiyo and Nozaki’s relationship, as well as Chiyo’s helpful nature towards not only Nozaki, but other friends she makes along the way!

Despite being the tiniest character in the anime, Chiyo is also the most reliable, from what we can see in the anime. She is self-reliant and extremely talented, while also being extremely helpful to her friends and classmates — and even teachers!

She doesn’t so much as “take care” of her friends in the same way that other characters might, however, she possesses a certain quality that has all her friends come running to her when they have a problem they don’t know how to deal with. The fact that they all put their trust in her when it comes to difficult situations makes her the “mom friend” by default!

Apart from being notoriously known for having extremely overpowered characters in a single guild, Fairy Tail, the anime as well as the guild itself, is also known for the amount of beautiful women! Many fans of Fairy Tail have a favorite female character that belongs to the Fairy Tail guild and it’s of course, no coincidence that these women are both beautiful and considered to be main characters. Not only that, but the women of the Fairy Tail guild are always strong and badass! This makes the selection for favorite female character from the guild not that difficult!

As dictated from the start, Mirajane is loved by everyone across Magnolia because of her appearances in magazines where she models swimwear and whatnot. Although misleadingly selfish because of her modelling career, Mirajane is actually really one of the most protective characters in the entire series! Being the oldest of three siblings, she has a natural instinct to protect those dear to her.

Not only does she exhibit a caring nature towards her siblings, but towards other members of the guild as well — even those she originally didn’t get along with. If you have a thing for Natsu and Lucy’s relationship, you also know that Mirajane teases Lucy about her “crush” on Natsu as early as 50 episodes into the anime — a quality that only mothers possess!

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is one of the most widely loved anime out there. It’s praised for its plot and character development, as well as the endless surprising plot points that keep presenting themselves as you proceed through the anime. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the mangaka is a woman herself, but one of the reasons the story is so loved is because not only are the men realistically strong, but so are the women! There is true equality in the world of Amestris, and ample amounts of respect from the mangaka to her characters. Although Winry doesn’t appear in the anime as much as Ed and Al, she is still part of their gang and therefore, a main character!

Winry is known for being the beautiful engineer that fixes up Ed’s prosthetic arm when he bashes it up. She always becomes angry with him for not being more careful for her creations, but she still sits at her desk at night working to make it better than the last. She is very much appreciated by the Elric brothers as well as her own grandmother for her hard work and her compassion to make sure Ed and Al return to Resembool safely.

Of course, Winry being in love with Ed plays a small role in how much she cares for him and looks out for him, as well as Al. When she does become a mother, even though we are shown only snapshots of her life with Ed, we can see that she is a doting mother who loves her family with the force of a thousand waves. That is definitely a quality that you’d hope for a mother to have!

Although Clannad has a reputation for being a heartbreaking story that will crush you, there are characters that make the story brighter and filled with more purpose. Furukawa Sanae, Nagisa’s mother, is introduced quite early into the anime — as soon as the first or second episode, in fact. Throughout the series, she doesn’t appear as much until Okazaki begins to date Nagisa, in which she appears every two episodes or so. When she appears in the series along with Nagisa’s father, the jokes and punchlines are much more dead-on, which gives interesting character fluctuations to those involved in interactions with her and her husband!

Sanae’s motherly qualities aren’t quite prominent until Nagisa becomes pregnant. From then on out, Sanae is truly more like a mother than any anime mother that you might know of. She is supportive, understanding, and patient. After the unfortunate death of her daughter, she takes care of her granddaughter and raises her while her son-in-law is in mourning. She makes sure that her granddaughter eats enough and has ample fun while growing into a small child. Not only was she an amazing mother to Nagisa, but she was also a lovely grandmother that wanted the people she loved to have the best of the best!

If you have seen Kamisama Kiss, you know that Nanami is a normal human girl who has been granted the powers of an Earth deity to help her run a shrine that originally belonged to another deity. The story explores her journey in trying to accept her flaws and be an Earth deity worth of her title. Along with two shrine spirits that help her with daily chores at the shrine, she is also followed around by a demon Fox named Tomoe, who she eventually falls in love with. There are many tasks that come to Nanami apart from having to try to make her believers’ wishes come true — and essentially, the plot of Kamisama Kiss is how she deals with each task constructively.

Being someone with the power to change things, Nanami is a character that is naturally inclined to be protective of things and people that are close to her. Her kindness runs deeper than the other characters listed here, merely because her “edge” that sometimes shines through is not as sharp, but rather, her intentions are so pure that there isn’t a single person who isn’t swayed by her words, even if just a little bit. Her desire and need to help those in need not only makes her heroic, but makes other characters able to rely on her for help. An Earth deity who is also protective of you? Who could ask for more!

It is obvious that Kushina does not appear in the Naruto series until Naruto himself is around sixteen years old and is trying to take control of the Tailed Beast that lives inside him. Although she does not play a role in Naruto’s life directly, her life story that led to how she came to live in Konoha is beautiful and inspiring enough that Naruto realises he would have loved his mother the same amount if she had been alive to raise him. Her personality is so similar to her son’s that it’s impossible to dislike her — especially if Naruto is your favorite male character!

When Kushina is introduced into the story, we learn about her hardships after she lost her family and was brought to Konoha to be a vessel for the Nine-Tailed Beast. Her original goal was to be the first female Hokage despite being an outsider. If she had not been bullied for being who she was, there is no doubt that she would have worked her way up to earn that title of leader!

When she tells Naruto the story of how he was born, it is so apparent in her flashback that she loved Naruto with all her heart and the notion of a mother willing to die for her child becomes so obvious in Kushina’s character portrayal. She is a character that moves you to tears with her actions and love for her child — nothing can beat a sentiment as large as that.