Characters with long shadows?

[Chloe]

I've been watching Fruits Basket lately, and I am anticipating the last MI box a bit, so that has got me thinking. I found it interesting that Tohru's mother has such a huge impact on that show, although you never actually see her in the flesh. Just little flashbacks and such when Tohru's remembers things she told her. Plus Uotani is devoted to Tohru, largely through her mother's influence on her own life.

Now in MI, After 7 boxes I've yet to even see a complete picture of Seichiro, Kyoko's late husband; but his influence, and how Godai reminds her of him at times is all over this series. Actually, there wouldn't even be a series without him! /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

So I'm wondering; are there other characters in anime that share this trait? I'm curious to see other shows with character's who are almost never seen, but have great effect nonetheless.

edit: It's not really a strong case, but Mireille's mother in Noir might qualify here as well. She may not have had a large amount of influence overall, but she definitely affected the outcome. /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif

[Scribble]

[ QUOTE ]
Kingmole said:
edit: It's not really a strong case, but Mireille's mother in Noir might qualify here as well. She may not have had a large amount of influence overall, but she definitely affected the outcome. /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

In a way, the "long shadow" character in Noir turned out to be <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'> Kirika. Even though we were introduced to her as a new (i.e. innocent) person in Mireille's life, we later find out she killed Mireille's parents, thus setting her whole life in motion</span>.

Parents seem (perhaps appropriately) to occupy most such positions. Shinji's mom in Evangelion was like this. So were Claus's and Lavie's fathers in Last Exile, especially in the way they connected to <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'> Alex's past </span> as well.