function list_to_tree(list) {
  var map = {}, node, roots = [], i;
  
  for (i = 0; i < list.length; i += 1) {
    map[list[i].id] = i; // initialize the map
    list[i].children = []; // initialize the children
  }
  
  for (i = 0; i < list.length; i += 1) {
    node = list[i];
    if (node.parentId !== "0") {
      // if you have dangling branches check that map[node.parentId] exists
      list[map[node.parentId]].children.push(node);
    } else {
      roots.push(node);
    }
  }
  return roots;
}

var entries = [{
    "id": "12",
    "parentId": "0",
    "text": "Man",
    "level": "1",
    "children": null
  },
  {
    "id": "6",
    "parentId": "12",
    "text": "Boy",
    "level": "2",
    "children": null
  },
  {
    "id": "7",
    "parentId": "12",
    "text": "Other",
    "level": "2",
    "children": null
  },
  {
    "id": "9",
    "parentId": "0",
    "text": "Woman",
    "level": "1",
    "children": null
  },
  {
    "id": "11",
    "parentId": "9",
    "text": "Girl",
    "level": "2",
    "children": null
  }
];

console.log(list_to_tree(entries));

// Example usage
var arr = [
    {'id':1 ,'parentid' : 0},
    {'id':2 ,'parentid' : 1},
    {'id':3 ,'parentid' : 1},
    {'id':4 ,'parentid' : 2},
    {'id':5 ,'parentid' : 0},
    {'id':6 ,'parentid' : 0},
    {'id':7 ,'parentid' : 4}
];

unflatten = function( array, parent, tree ){
    tree = typeof tree !== 'undefined' ? tree : [];
    parent = typeof parent !== 'undefined' ? parent : { id: 0 };
        
    var children = _.filter( array, function(child){ return child.parentid == parent.id; });
    
    if( !_.isEmpty( children )  ){
        if( parent.id == 0 ){
           tree = children;   
        }else{
           parent['children'] = children
        }
        _.each( children, function( child ){ unflatten( array, child ) } );                    
    }
    
    return tree;
}

tree = unflatten( arr );
document.body.innerHTML = "<pre>" + (JSON.stringify(tree, null, " "))

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/underscore.js/1.9.1/underscore-min.js"></script>

// Data Set
// One top level comment 
const comments = [{
    id: 1,
    parent_id: null
}, {
    id: 2,
    parent_id: 1
}, {
    id: 3,
    parent_id: 1
}, {
    id: 4,
    parent_id: 2
}, {
    id: 5,
    parent_id: 4
}];

const nest = (items, id = null, link = 'parent_id') =>
  items
    .filter(item => item[link] === id)
    .map(item => ({ ...item, children: nest(items, item.id) }));

console.log(
  nest(comments)
)

 var arr = [
        {'id':1 ,'parentid' : 0},
        {'id':4 ,'parentid' : 2},
        {'id':3 ,'parentid' : 1},
        {'id':5 ,'parentid' : 0},
        {'id':6 ,'parentid' : 0},
        {'id':2 ,'parentid' : 1},
        {'id':7 ,'parentid' : 4},
        {'id':8 ,'parentid' : 1}
      ];
    function unflatten(arr) {
      var tree = [],
          mappedArr = {},
          arrElem,
          mappedElem;

      // First map the nodes of the array to an object -> create a hash table.
      for(var i = 0, len = arr.length; i < len; i++) {
        arrElem = arr[i];
        mappedArr[arrElem.id] = arrElem;
        mappedArr[arrElem.id]['children'] = [];
      }


      for (var id in mappedArr) {
        if (mappedArr.hasOwnProperty(id)) {
          mappedElem = mappedArr[id];
          // If the element is not at the root level, add it to its parent array of children.
          if (mappedElem.parentid) {
            mappedArr[mappedElem['parentid']]['children'].push(mappedElem);
          }
          // If the element is at the root level, add it to first level elements array.
          else {
            tree.push(mappedElem);
          }
        }
      }
      return tree;
    }

var tree = unflatten(arr);
document.body.innerHTML = "<pre>" + (JSON.stringify(tree, null, " "))