Fathers don't seem to have the best reputation in the GoH/SoT series. There are a lot of them that could openly be regarded as absolute trash. But there also are father figures that haven't messed everything up and were a good parent, so here are the top 5 best and worst fathers in the series. And because the best comes at the close, we start with the dark side of the moon. In this list, I mixed GoH and SoT in general, so don't be confused.

#5 Kahiko Mikamae (SoT, Noka's father)

This dude really messed his whole job up. He allowed Kalani to use his own daughter trying to create a Faller, which didn't quite succeed. He permitted those dirty experiments. People now might start to yell he only did that out of fear, but come on, even Shin risked his entire shit to save Dino and resist Kalani, even if he was pressured and blackmailed by that ass. I don't accept this excuse. That jerk tried to ruin Noka's whole existence! And still, Mikamae's butt was saved by Laslow, Mari, Taji and Jacky. He did a lot of things wrong, that I can tell.

#4 Grand Belchier (GoH, Tori's father)

I wouldn't be surprised if you can't connect a person to this name because it was never openly mentioned. Grand Belchier is Tori Flores' father in the GoH series who left her and his wife behind saying 'Go die in the corner' and insulting his daughter for being the spawn of his greatest nightmare. He's also responsible for the fact Tori detests the opposite gender so much and projects her father's behavior on everyone, even her team- and guildmates. All we know about this man is that he's a business dude and he and Kattlea got to know each other via a dating platform. We recall Mari and Jacky discussing over the fact that relationship didn't really appear healthy at all. We also know Kattlea went from one relationship into the next, only to end up with Mr. Belchier over and over again. To be honest, I'd also be annoyed by her in this case, but that still doesn't justify that he behaves like an ass towards his daughter. It's not Tori's fault for having such an irritating mother. Eventually, he left the family forever.

#3 Ryuuji Saito (GoH, Akira's true father)

While Laslow is known to be kind and generous, Ryuuji Saito is quite the opposite of that. Starting with the fact Akira's true father wasn't rich, he wanted to make Akira disappear quite badly, first trying to drive his wife, Kana Ido, to abort her pregnancy. As she refused, he promised her to get rid of the child as soon as it is born, which drove Mrs. Ido to travel all the way to Unova just to entrust Laslow and Taji with her child. Extraordinary father's love we got here. We also know Ryuuji was an alcaholic living in the slums of Galar, in Spikemuth, where he died of alcohol poisoning some years later. Lucky Akira never got to know this bastard. Can we use this section to thank Laslow and Taji to have taken in and cared for Akira for a moment, please... Thanks.

#2 Satoshi Kataoka (GoH, Taen's father)

It's not surprising to see that jackass of a dad here on this list. While being quite a good daddy for his first child, Maya, Taen only received his hatred. We know Satoshi first didn't want to let Taen alive but in the end took him in in favor of his dead wife, Eriko. However, he never treated him well. This treatment got worse after Maya's death, turning into full-on abuse and even torture after the incident where Lucian shielded Taen. Poor boy didn't deserve that kind of treatment just because of his damn hair color. We also know Satoshi assaulted his kid after the final showdown against Ugoya, torturing him again for 'having ruined his life'. All regards to Taen who handled that quite cool and Lucian who intervened. Luckily, this jackass got what he deserved and rots in prison for 10+ years.

Now, we have reached the number one and we all already know who's respective rank that is. That isn't a secret at all, so... here we go.

#1 Daisuke Nakamura (SoT, Taji's foster father)

Actually, people argue about whether Satoshi or Daisuke earned this spot, but to me, it's clearly Daisuke who slapped and punched Taji only for having trouble with his voice, which is quite normal for Fallers. So, it's not poor blue bean's fault for having difficulties speaking. The treatment he received was just unfair. The most unfair thing was this man's daring to blame the severe bodily harm of his wife he had caused himself on Taji, even forcing his mother to testify against him. That's why poor boy faced a trial and landed in Alola for a year. Daisuke insulted Taji as an alien, just because Fallers are foreigners to this world, and claimed he ruined his life while having driven Taji to even try committing suicide by jumping off Sprout Tower. And in Taji's second trial in Alola, it turns out Daisuke has paid tons of Pokédollars to keep his lie alive, even faking Taji's recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis diagnosis. He really put up great effort to stigmatize our blue-haired previous boy. He even humiliated Taji in front of court, recalling it was 'one of the greatest moments in his life when he saw Taji falling off the tower'. It makes me angry to even know he is just Taji's 'adoptive parent'. Cheers to Laslow who kinda managed to put an end to Taji's misery. Daisuke received his well-earned punishment.

But before we start with the positive ranking, there is a transition spot I have to assign. To Zachary Steward (SoT), who neither is a truly good nor a really bad parent. We know he cares for Laslow only by the fact he supported him the best he could during his depression phase... but we also know what kind of idiotic mistakes he made while Laslow was on his journey. Not even telling his son he got a new wife until Laslow kind of caught them in public. Or revealing to him he was going to have a half brother just via text message. I can understand Laslow's sensitive reaction. But Zachary actually went all the way to Alola to check on Laslow because he was worried since his kid responded to none of his messages. It's also funny how he simply accepted Zeke's 'I'm Laslow's brother'- attitude and the fact Laslow became gay. Zach, you truly are remarkable at times, even with the stupid things you failed to tell your son. We know you're trying to do better.

Alright, now let's move to the positive ranking! Here we gooo~

#5 Lyon Blackwood (GoH, Lane's father)

We only know Lyon's connection to Lane from that one flashback shown in the series- a quite meaningful one. And viewing the way Lane thinks back to his father even years after his death shows Lyon must've done a great job. He even made sure Lane receives one of his most well-trained Pokémon to get through and follow his own road: Yanmega, which we recall to have given even Mari's Gardevoir a hard time to beat it. Lyon's death was tragic and the way he spoke to Lane before it touched many hearts. What a bummer he was to never see Lane grow up. Lyon seemed to be a great guy.

#4 Shin Adachi (SoT, Dino's foster father)

We know Dino isn't... the loveliest guy on the planet earth, but that's why Shin earned a spot here. He took Dino under his wing after he freed him from the clutches of the Æther-Foundation and their disgusting experiments on Fallers. He even accepted Dino's wish to take Zain with them. Shin appears to be capable of handling Dino quite well, supporting him openly. We see that as Shin went back to Alola with Dino and worried about him quite a lot in process. He was ready to confront Kalani or Kurusu or... whoever that guy is now, for having done such cruel things to the Fallers and his fosterling Dino. He was the only Æther-member who had the guts to resist Kalani after all. What a bummer Shin deceased in GoH... he was a great person. RIP.

#3 Taro Nishiki (GoH, Lucian's father)

Yeah, Taro Nishiki... the poor guy totally desperate when Taen was blown off the road by his dear brother Satoshi. Taro is a generous and great man. He worked himself half to death with the Ugoya case to reach Taen... and he supported Lucian on his path to find his cousin. Taro values family quite a lot... you should've been the older one of the siblings to teach Satoshi how family works. Even tho he is working a lot, he still keeps a free spot for his son Lucian and Taen, whom he views as his own child, as well. And we do notice that both of them have a closer connection to him then to Lucian's mother Akane, since Taen even forgot what she looked like. Taro's acceptance towards Taen is iconic and definitely a reason for him to be on this list.

#2 Kazuo Sentaku (SoT, Mari's father)

I like Mari's father just for the reason he is not asking so much. While every parent would dig in with questions when their kids end up with a boy- or girlfriend, Kazuo has that 'noticed, written down and accepted'- kind of attitude. He didn't even tell Mari's mother about Jayden's status just to spare Mari with the embarrassing questions. I call that a genuine commitment right there. He also got Mari and Jacky out of the cross-examination their mothers made regarding their boyfriends. But he also shows commitment in many other ways. He entered the fight against Kyurem to help Mari and he traveled to Alola on Mari's asking to help repairing the machines inside the dimensional research lab. He also kind of spied the lab (and Kalani) for Mari and, as a technical engineer and physicist, lend his assistance to the lab entirely. He really went far to help his daughter and shows to have a sixth sense because he clearly mistrusted Kalani from the start. He never went over-protective but was really supportive. Cool dude over all.

#1 Jayden Yagami (GoH, Yukine's father)

Haha, how surprising... not. Yeah, it is obvious Jayden earned this spot. Because he knows how it is for a parent to lose their child, since that was an issue in his family. He poured Yukine over with all the love he had (which is a lot) and never appears to be mad at him. We all know Jayden is over-protective... not only of Mari, but of Yukine, as well. He does support Yukine but also tries to protect him as well as he can. The relation between the two is warm and Jayden truly, truly cares for Yukine. He was excited when Yukine was to arrive and he showed great care for his own child- which might partly be due to his own experience. Only by the fact Yukine copied a lot of Jayden's 'bad habits' shows how close they are. Long story short, Jayden belongs onto the number one of this list!

So much for that list. I'm curious to read your opinion about this in the comment section!