In the anime, when he was first seen, he was portrayed as a bit of an alcoholic, and, at times, used some of Shikamaru's catchphrases ( 'What a drag' in English and 'How troublesome' in Japanese). Like his son, he thought that women should be tender and sweet, but, as his son says, his wife had him 'whipped', though he appeared to have a few things hidden away that he did not want her to see. Unlike his son, his resolve was much stronger, as even during the most depressing or dangerous of situations, he had been shown to maintain great determination and understanding, as shown from how he had repeatedly helped Shikamaru regain his sense of worth. During the Konoha Crush he had no qualms about choking the Suna shinobi to death, even when one of them was clearly cowering. It was also revealed that he was amongst the few parents who did not order his son to stay away from Naruto Uzumaki.
He instead encouraged Shikamaru to do what he thought was best. Since Shikamaru became a chūnin, Shikaku had taken a greater interest in his son's training and started teaching him the clan's more secret techniques. He also spent a great deal of his time tending to the clan's deer.
