History BecomeARealBoy / AnimeAndManga

* ''Manga/SinnerInTheSeabed'': There are highly rare pills that allow merfolk to become human upon ingesting. The effect is seemingly permanent unless they take a second pill that switches them back to their original form. A mermaid named Riu was hiding such a pill so that she could move onto land [[ForbiddenLove to be with]] her [[InterspeciesRomance human lover]] Yuki. Her BestFriend Jo ends up taking the pill so she can get Yuki's help freeing Riu from imprisonment.

* In ''LightNovel/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'', Ryuunosuke's long-term goal for his ArtificialIntelligence "maid" is to turn her into a {{Ridiculously Human Robot|s}}.

* In ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'', Zelgadis is all angsty about having been [[CursedWithAwesome turned into a human/golem/demon chimera]] and wants to find a cure. Other chimeras that he and his companions come across (mostly in the LightNovels), especially a particular one in a [[ADayInTheLimelight a special side story]], share the same sentiment.

* An essential part of Rei Ayanami's character in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', along with most of her [[ReiAyanamiExpy expys]].
* In the anime ''Anime/ClusterEdge'', artificial soldiers are created by the government to fight wars. The soldiers have no memories and therefore no emotions due to being raised in test tubes. A rights activist gives memories to one of the main soldiers, Chrome, and although Chrome is self aware and very human, he still doesn't believe himself so.
* Despite ''Manga/AstroBoy'' being frequently compared with Pinocchio, he himself rarely expresses a desire to become a real boy (which is somewhat ironic, considering he was originally a ReplacementGoldfish for a real boy). In fact, on the few occasions he does get upgrades to become more human-like, he ends up regretting it and concludes that being the best robot he can be is more important than being more like a human. This trope is played somewhat straight in the story of ''Zolomon's Jewel'' in the manga, which features L-44, a robot who signs up for a dangerous mission that ends up costing him his life because he wants to earn enough money to pay for a {{Nanomachine}} treatment that will supposedly turn him into a human. Also subverted in that the villain of the piece is trying to steal the titular jewel so he can pay for an operation to become a cyborg.

* Subverted in the anime ''Anime/ErgoProxy'', where the robots who become self-aware ''do'' typically come to regret it; in fact, the most common reaction to Becoming A Real Boy is a violent psychotic breakdown from crash-course existential angst and the inability to reconcile their new sapience with a lack of life experience.

* Subverted in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00''. As an [[ArtificialHuman Innovator]], Tieria Erde was created to be a tool in Aeolia Schenberg's grand plan for humanity. Over the course of the series he falls in love, gains a surrogate family, and learns to follow his own will instead of blindly obeying his creator. Yet eventually he[[spoiler: stops living in denial about his true nature, and sacrifices his biological body to upload his consciousness into the supercomputer VEDA. In the end, Tieria finds fulfillment as a thinking, feeling, fully sentient AI, rather than as a human.]]
* Jiro in the anime ''Series/{{Kikaider}}'' is motivated by an incomplete conscience circuit to try and achieve what his creator envisioned as what is required to be "human." However, the ending of the story twists what the audience might expect as the final goal of Jiro, and states that Jiro succeeds in becoming "a real boy" when he becomes capable of [[spoiler:killing the opposing MadScientist who tried to turn him into a heartless killing machine. In other words, humans must be capable of both good AND evil, and they must possess free will.]]
* In the final chapter of ''Manga/KarakuridoujiUltimo'', [[spoiler: [[BigBad Dr.Dustan]] resets time and transforms all the Douji, good and evil, into humans to live out their lives alongside their former masters.]]

* Chachamaru from ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' goes through this rather quickly, as she already has the emotions programmed in; she just doesn't know what they are called. This is because she's approximately two years old and her "parents" are a MadScientist and a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]], not the most ideal choice for social role models. She's amazingly well-adjusted regardless.\\\
She later goes through it again, briefly angsting over whether or not she has a soul. Turns out [[spoiler:she does indeed have a soul, as evidenced by the fact that her Pactio with Negi worked. She ''did'' have to, ahem, work a little harder for it than normal though]].

* ''Manga/GhostInTheShell'' is all about the nature of the "human self" and what remains of it when the original body and brain gets increasingly replaced by cybernetic machines and computer programs. In the [[AWorldHalfFull slighty dystopian future]], most characters struggle with maintaining their "humanity" in a society based on apathy, indifference, and decadence. In ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Stand Alone Complex]]'', they are contrasted with the Tachikoma, which are completely mechanical beings with purely digital A.I.s that never had a soul to begin with, and completely {{subvert|edTrope}} this trope. They are fully aware that they are machines and incapable of having a "ghost", which makes the nature of the "human self" all the much more fascinating to them. They are almost constantly debating amongst each other about the unique nature of humans, which can not be defined scientifically and therefore lies completely outside their own experience. But at the same time their personalities are defined by the amazement and curiosity about the world, their child-like joy of life, compassion and self-sacrifice [[HumansAreBastards that people have mostly lost, making them much more human than the actual humans]], but are completely oblivious about it.
** There's also Kim in ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShell1995 Innocence]]'', who regards machines as perfect and wants to eventually become like one. It's [[ViewersAreGeniuses very]] [[MindScrew complicated]].
* Saati of ''Manga/AILoveYou'' runs off a feedback function that works with her interface (environment), so she continuously learns more. And she wants to be like a real girl for [[LoveInterest Hitoshi]]. [[spoiler: In the last volume, Hitoshi, upon seeing her ''bleed'' from an injury, explains that she basically has become human, because she ''wanted'' to be one. However, Saati decided to return to being an A.I. to rescue her siblings.]]
* Promptly the entire point of ''Anime/KeyTheMetalIdol''. However, [[spoiler: the trope is subverted and deconstructed, like many others in the series, when it is revealed that Key is a human the entire time.]]
* In ''LightNovel/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'', Ryuunosuke's long-term goal for his ArtificialIntelligence "maid" is to turn her into a RidiculouslyHumanRobot.
* A key part of the plot of ''Manga/{{xxxHOLiC}}'' is this for [[spoiler: Watanuki]]. An unusual twist in that he ''is'' technically real... he's just a hollow placeholder generated by the world to fill in for his RetGone'd brother, and so Yuko tries to get him to develop enough emotional ties with the world that, when said brother returns, [[spoiler: Watanuki]] won't cease to have existed in the first place, with the said ties acting as anchors to make his ''temporary'' reality into ''permanent'' reality.
* ''Manga/ArpeggioOfBlueSteel'' features battleships with RobotGirl avatars (called [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Mental Models]]). Some of them are initially seen as humanlike from the start (such as Takao) while other mental models start emotionless and are shown adapting to human behaviour over time. A specific character who exhibits this is [[spoiler:Haruna who starts quite [[TheStoic cold]] and becomes much more capable of emotions and sympathy after spending time with [[ChildProdigy Makie]]]].
* The second half of ''Anime/SaberMarionetteJ To X'' has Lime undergoing an existential crisis, thinking that Otaru won't love her and the others unless they become fully human, so she jumps the chance when the BigBad [[spoiler:Dr. Hess]] offers her a chance to do so. [[spoiler:In the end, they succeed, though they're reborn as infants and with no memories of their previous life.]]
* In ''Anime/CorrectorYui'', [[spoiler: the BigBad Grosser claims that he wants to be alive and not just a part of the Com.Net that must be re-booted]].

* In ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', Zelgadis is all angsty about having been [[CursedWithAwesome turned into a human/golem/demon chimera]], and wants to find a cure. Other chimeras that he and his companions come across (mostly in the LightNovel series), especially a particular one in a [[ADayInTheLimelight a special side story]], share the same sentiment.

** In the ''Sailor Moon S'' Movie, after falling in love with a human scientist named Kakeru, [[NonHumanSidekick Luna]] becomes sad knowing that she cannot be with him because she is a cat. She later becomes human for a short time [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy and encourages Kakeru to be with his childhood sweetheart, Himeko, because that is who he truly loves.]]
** In the fourth ([=SuperS=]) season the Amazon Trio eventually discover that they're merely the animals of their namesakes given human form, and have one last chance to make it permanent or else they'll revert to their original forms for good. Fish's Eye suffers a ''massive'' VillainousBSOD over this and, after conversations with Mamoru and Usagi (and figuring out that Chibi-Usa was Pegasus's host) realizes that he won't "really" be human and that Zirconia is still likely to kill him (and the other two) regardless of what he does. After Hawk's Eye dies to save him, Fish's Eye and Tiger's Eye decide to [[FriendOrIdolDecision use the magic sustaining themselves to restore Sailor Moon instead of staying human]]. They also die (and all three do revert back to their original forms), but Pegasus changes them back and gives them Dream Mirrors of their own, noting that they're indeed human and will be fine before taking them away with him to live in the world of dreams forever.
* In the second series of ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'', [[spoiler: Joe Asakura is revealed to have just barely survived at the end of the first series and converted into a cyborg by a scientist. He's more powerful than ever, but all he wants is to be human again.]]
* As revealed in the [[AudioAdaptation third Sound Stage]] of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' [[spoiler:through a VideoWill implanted in Reinforce Zwei's memories]], a variation of this was the [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots first Reinforce's]] small wish. While she didn't want to become fully human and definitely didn't want to become completely normal, she did dream of the day to live as a human, gathering around the dinner table with Hayate and the Wolkenritter, and sharing smiles with each other from time to time. Alas, as an ArtifactOfDoom and and ArtifactOfDeath, such a wish could never happen unless a small miracle would occur, [[spoiler:a miracle that never came, she noted sadly, as she concluded the recording before proceeding to her HeroicSacrifice]].
* Eureka, the heroine from ''Anime/EurekaSeven'', secretly in her heart wishes to be a human in order to be with her lover Renton. [[spoiler:She was revealed to be an alien life form who had an appearance of a human form with no special powers whatsoever.]] Technically there is no such way known for her kind to turn into a pure human being. Despite having regular human appearance, she constantly feels insecure about the way humanity is going to view her if they find out and fearful of losing the right to stay by her lover's side. In the TV anime version, [[spoiler:she had turned non-human in appearance by growing wings out of her back, which is permanent, but Renton still loves her regardless and they continued to be with each other in the ending]]. However, in the anime film version, [[spoiler:Eureka mysteriously was shown to be an ordinary human girl (without wings and circular red eyes) appearing naked with long hair alongside her lover Renton who was unconscious during her climatic "incident". The movie never showed what really happened to her, leaving viewers to ponder about her fate. She also ended up completely losing her memories and unable to speak, like that of a newborn infant. Eureka had become an existence that depends on Renton's survival/memories, meaning if her lover dies or lost his memories, she will cease to exist (though no solid evidence to suggest whether this is true). Despite these setbacks, she still ended up falling for Renton by kissing his cheek and holding his hands in the ending.]]

* Robot girl Nano from ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'' wants to feel like a real human being. This means getting to go to school is the thrill of her life. Her efforts are hampered, however, by the big wind-up key she has on her back courtesy her eight year old creator (who likes to slip in other modifications when Nano isn't looking).
* The evil knight gundam Deathscythe of ''Anime/SDGundamForce'' has this--being [[StalkerWithACrush obsessively in love]] with the princess of Lacroa, he feels that the only thing keeping them apart is the fact that she's human and he's not, and the crux of his schemes is obtaining enough magical power to turn himself into a human.
* In ''Manga/KamisamaKiss'' [[AsianFoxSpirit Tomoe]] tries to become human [[spoiler: so he can marry Yukiji. His efforts fail and end up triggering a curse that will eventually kill him unless Nanami can find a way to undo it.]]
* In ''Anime/ConcreteRevolutioChoujinGensou'', when Kikko gives the RobotGirl Earth-chan the ability dream, her dreams are of being a human girl with a family.
* [[spoiler:Irene Belserion]] from ''Manga/FairyTail'' is the former human variety, being cursed with the body of a dragon for 400 years as a side effect of Dragon Slayer magic, despite being given a human appearance to alleviate it. This is mainly because the human transformation is only a superficial disguise, as victims of dragonification can no longer experience human sensations. [[spoiler:She resorts to attempting GrandTheftMe to escape her curse, first unsuccessfully on her own daughter, Erza, and again temporarily on Wendy.]]
* Pino from ''Manga/EdensZero'', whose name bears more than a passing resemblance to Pinocchio's, is a little android fairy who dreams of becoming human. The earliest indicator of this is when she chooses a LittleBitBeastly human form for a DigitalAvatar and takes a moment to [[DistractedByMyOwnSexy admire her reflection in a window]], and is noticeably disappointed when she returns to her tiny bot body in the real world.
* Chapter 26 of ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'' stars an EerieAnatomyModel that had been around students so much, it had gained sapience and thought itself a student too. At night, it would tidy up the entire school, which made it well-liked but nonetheless feared. Nube's class came together at night to pretend class while working towards a gentle excorcism, but the revelation it wasn't human was still a huge shock to the model. [[TearsFromAStone It did accept the truth]] and was given a few hours to play with its "fellow" students as if it were a human, allowing it to go peacefully. Nonetheless, its wish to be human was so strong that it was granted by [[UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} Kannon]]. She didn't, however, give him full skin with it, but he's good at hiding that.
* ''Manga/SinnerInTheSeabed'': There are highly rare pills that allow merfolk to become human upon ingesting. The effect is seemingly permanent unless they take a second pill that switches them back to their original form. A mermaid named Riu was hiding such a pill so that she could move onto land [[ForbiddenLove to be with]] her [[InterspeciesRomance human lover]] Yuki. Her BestFriend Jo ends up taking the pill so she can get Yuki's help freeing Riu from imprisonment.
* ''Manga/TheStarOfCottonland'' is about Chibi-Neko, a cat who wants to become human so much that she envisions herself as a CatGirl and [[StylizedForTheViewer is never shown as a real cat]]. Even though she's told it's impossible for a cat to become human, she still searches for a place called Cottonland where her wish can come true.