Remember what Frisk says to Alphys.
"Anime is Real" - Frisk
"Gasp!" - Alphys
No but seriously, in a way, I guess you can say it is real. I mean some people feel attracted to the character because they have some similar real life situation, right? I mean look at people who are like Nagisa from Clannad. Missing classes because they faint a lot or even a decease no one may know about. Or Tomoyo with that one guy in Clannad who keeps sexually harassing her and assuming she is a guy. Or... may Arceus know what i am about to say pain of some anime episode... let's compare to the horrible actions some anime parents choose that can occur in real life. Let's take Hayate The Combat Buttler as an example, the character Shun Ayasaki and his wife.
SPOILEROkay, now this is one of those anime where the point was to be comical. But these topic... I never found it funny after seeing someone suffer through this. So in this anime Hayate, the main character, was born in borderland circumstances. In order for this character to survive, he applies various different jobs in order to feed himself and his family and even pay bills. He even lies about his age to find job. He's a nice kid who helps hard working parents. ... No that's not the case. Shun and his wife refuse to work by gambling money on casino and other machines while using their son and spending away their child money. It's technically kid slavery. And his first Christmas gift (Mind you his first christmas gift from his parents) was the parent's debt which was them owning the mafia over $150 million yen. And they had no problems selling their son to the mafia, neglecting them, and leave him for them while the parents live blissfully.
If you read the spoiler box, I am curious if you all think everything that appears in anime may not be real still. Sure the anime Hayate The Combat Buttler was a comical anime and not everything in it is real. But you cannot neglect some of the situation may be something real.