Happily Adopted / Anime & Manga

• Miyabi Kagurazaka of Ai Yori Aoshi. Her parents served the Sakurabas before dying in a car accident, so Aoi's parents took her in, where she served as a caretaker to Aoi. Aoi's mother even refers to Miyabi as her other daughter. At the end of the manga, Miyabi gets officially adopted, and refers to her former master and mistress as "Father and Mother", albeit uneasy about calling herself a Sakuraba.
• Mikusa from Arata: The Legend is adopted by the Village Chief of the Himezoku.
• Mikasa from Attack on Titan was adopted by Eren's family, after her own parents were killed. It goes to the point that after their mom's death and dad's disappearance, she considers Eren to be her only family left and stated she will follow him anywhere to protect him.
• Baccano!'s Firo Prochainezo is so attached to his family that he'd slit his own throat simply because they asked. The fact that the family in question is the Camorra is insubstantial. He grew up in the same apartment as the Gandor brothers and is still in a good relationship with them even though they run a different gang.
• Ryuta from Barefoot Gen was orphaned when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and was subsequently adopted by Kimie, Gen's mother. It is noted that Ryuta looks exactly like Gen's little brother Shinji, who was killed along with his father and sister when their house caught on fire because of the bombing. Ryuta is very grateful that he now has a place to live and some food to eat, becomes a surrogate little brother to Gen and goes on journeys with him to earn money for food and supplies.
• Berserk:
  • Zigzagged in the case of Guts. Guts was happily adopted by Sys, at least, when she picked up him as a baby from underneath his birth mother's corpse. It was implied that Guts lived a happy life for his first three years until Sys died of the plague. From there, young Guts was left to the mercy of his adoptive father Gambino, who was far less kind to him as he blamed Guts for Sys's death... Despite all of the tragedy and hell that he has been through and even being reminded of the fate of his birth mother, Guts still regarded Sys and Gambino as his parents.
  • Played straight with Erica, who was adopted by the exiled blacksmith Godo when her village was destroyed and her family killed.
• Black Clover: Being the lowest-ranking of the lowest-ranking devils due to having no magic, Liebe's days in the Underworld were filled with nothing but constant misery and pain since his status made him the target of every other devil's cruelty. One day, one of the devils from his layer tossed him against the gate blocking passage to the living world, expecting him to splatter against it; because of his lack of magic, the gate allowed Liebe to pass unharmed, landing him in the Clover Kingdom. While at first most humans he encountered were reasonably scared of him due to being a devil, he eventually was picked up by a woman named Licita, who tended to his injuries, gave him his name and adopted him as her own child. Licita then became about the only person in Liebe's life to treat him with kindness and decency, and he in turn came to love her as a mother. And then Lucifero learned that there was a devil in the human world who hadn't made a contract with a human...
• Bleach:
  • When humans die, their souls travel to the Rukongai in Soul Society. Since nobody ever finds their blood relatives who died before them, they form adoptive families. Hitsugaya and Hinamori are both adopted by a kind old woman they refer to as their grandmother. Even after they enter the Gotei 13 and become highly ranked Shinigami, they continue to regularly visit her and look after her.
  • Rukia was adopted into the Kuchiki clan as Byakuya's sister because she resembles his dead wife, Hisana, but was treated coldly until she breaks the law by turning Ichigo into a Soul Reaper. This action condemns her to execution, a decision Byakuya supports, much to Ichigo's disbelief. Once Ichigo saves Rukia and the law overturned, Byakuya reveals the truth: as an orphan in extreme poverty, Hisana abandoned her baby sister Rukia. After marrying Byakuya, she searched tirelessly for her sister, and her deathbed request was for Byakuya to find Rukia and protect her as a sister. However, Byakuya caused his aristocratic family so trouble by marrying a commoner and adopting her sister that he made a vow to his deceased parents to never again break the law. When Rukia is sentenced to execution, he is forced to choose his vow to his parents over his vow to his wife. Once Ichigo resolves that conflict, Byakuya and Rukia become extremely close and protective siblings.
• In Blood+, several years before the series started, George Miyagusuku lost his wife and biological children in an accident, and was contemplating suicide when the amnesiac "teen" Saya entered his life. George adopted Saya as well as two boys named Kai and Riku, and it worked out very happily for all of them, especially George, whose life had meaning once again. This made it all the more heart-wrenching when he died trying to protect Saya. The orphaned siblings are devastated, but take solace in the fact that they still have each other. A recurring theme of the series, hinted at by the title, is that blood is relatively unimportant when it comes to family, which is best illustrated by Saya's Evil Twin Diva (and Riku's rapist/killer), and the epilogue showing Diva's twins Happily Adopted by Kai.
• Blue Exorcist has the Okumura twins raised by Shiro Fujimoto. Shame it didn't last.
• Marin's parentage is part of the mystery in Brigadoon: Marin and Melan, but Marin was still quite happy living with her adopted grandparents.
• Rin in Bunny Drop is adopted by her father's grandson after his death, at least in the anime and the live action movie. In the manga post-timeskip, it's made clear she does not see Daikichi as her dad and has fallen in love with him.
• Chance Pop Session:
  • Nozomi is mad at her adoptive parents when she learns the truth NOT because she was adopted, but because they were afraid she'd stop thinking as them as her parents if she did learn the truth.
  • Reika has also been happily adopted by the former pop idol, Kisaragi Akiba, whose music gave her the strength to live.
• Played straight and horribly Subverted for the two main characters of City Hunter:
  • Kaori is the daughter of a criminal who died during a car chase, and the cop chasing her father adopted her. Her adopted father dies well before the start of the series, but her adopted older brother Hideyuki and her love each other as actual siblings, and Hideyuki is actually distraught on her 20th birthday, as he knows he'll have to tell her the truth and doesn't know what will happen. Hideyuki dies before he can tell her, and neither Ryo, to whom Hideyuki explained the truth, and her biological sister Sayuri, who in the end managed to track her down, ever told her, so she doesn't know. Except she found out on her own over a year before, and simply doesn't care because Hideyuki is her brother. Only Ryo knows this, and that's why he never told her.
  • Ryo's adopted father Kaibara was a guerilla fighter who raised him as his own and taught him how to fight and survive in the hell they were living. They loved each other... And then one day Kaibara snapped and dosed Ryo with Angel Dust in an attempt to end the war, and Ryo, once he recovered, tried to kill him in hate. Ryo eventually forgave Kaibara, but he still wants to kill him... Because Kaibara became a monster, and Ryo sees this as his filial duty. Kaibara agrees, hence why he came to Japan to fight him, and as he was bleeding out he thanked Ryo for stopping him.
• In Delicious in Dungeon, human twins Kiki and Kaka were adopted by the Tansus, a gnome married couple, after their biological parents abandoned them. Ryoko Kui's artbook shows they are a happy and loving family.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Zenitsu had no parents and lived an early life where he tried to make a living by walking in groups of equally aimless oprhans, then getting saddled with a woman piled with debts, Zenitsu was taken in by a swordsman demon slaying master; Zenitsu grew fondly of him, going on to affectionally call him grandpa.
• Koushirou (Izzy) Izumi of Digimon Adventure initially withdrew from his adoptive parents after overhearing them discussing his adopted status, and out of feelings of inadequacy began trying to prove his worth to them by burying himself in computer sciences. Eventually, Koushirou's parents opened up to him about his adoption, explaining that Koushirou's adoptive father is a distant relative of his biological father, and that after Koushirou's parents died in a car crash they adopted the orphaned boy as their own. They reconcile after that, and Koushirou very much puts himself in this category.
• Hachi from Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey is an andromorphic dog (in a world of sentient cats and dogs) adopted and raised by cats, and spends much of the adventure trying to rescue his cat mother from the main villain, a Fat Bastard cat dictator.
• Much like Superman, Goku from Dragon Ball is an alien sent from his shortly-after-destroyed home planet, and after landing on Earth is happily adopted by an elderly master named Son Gohan as a child (though there were some snags at first). Unfortunately, Gohan died in an accident some time before the first chapter.
  • The accident was Goku himself, as an Oozaru (a gigantic were-monkey, which all members of Goku's race can turn into at the full moon) stomping on Gohan while going on a rampage. He doesn't find this out until his late twenties, and when he does he vows to apologize to Gohan in the afterlife — although his True Companions worked it out the first time they got caught outside with him on the full moon and decided not to tell him since he was a kid back then and didn't want to break his heart.
  • Although not strictly an adoption, Piccolo runs off with Goku's son Gohan (named after the previously mentioned elderly master) in order to train him after Goku dies and Gohan shows promise as a warrior. Gohan originally hates the ordeal and Piccolo regards him as a tool for fending off the Saiyans, but over the year long exercise they develop a very father-son like bond. It's so strong that even when Goku comes back, Gohan still thinks of Piccolo like family, and Piccolo saves Gohan's life more than once, one time sacrificing his own life to do it.
• Elfen Lied has Mayu, who ran away from her abusive parents and got taken in by the protagonists. They later track down Mayu's mother, who signs over legal guardianship to them without any complaint (she didn't want Mayu in her life anyway). Afterward Mayu is seen living quite happily with Kouta and Yuuka, and says she considers the two of them to be her real family.
• Food Wars!: Akira's relationship with Jun, but with a twist. Jun is emotionally conflicted about adopting Akira, since she loves him deeply, but feels he spends so much time helping her and working on her research projects she is afraid he resents her for denying him a regular childhood, or worse, feels that she took him in just because he has special talents that relate to her work, so she could have a live-in assistant. Akira, on the other hand, considers the time spent helping her to be the least he could do to thank her for getting him off the street and finding a better use for his talents than pissing off street vendors, and his love for his adoptive mother is the driving force behind literally everything he does.
• In Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa, Rose is shown with her biological son, a little boy, and a little girl. It's heavily implied that Rose adopted the latter two children. They're shown happily with her at the end of the film.
• Mamoru of GaoGaiGar spends a short while being distraught over being an alien from space, but gets over it pretty fast.
• Hayate the Combat Butler: Hinagiku Katsura loves her parents, even though they abandoned her and her sister Yukiji over ten years ago, but also loves her adopted parents.
• Hello! Sandybell: Though she didn't know she was adopted, Sandybell lived happily eith her single dad Leslie. When he finds out he's dying from his illness, he tells her that she's not his child by blood - he found her in a wrecked ship in the aftermath of a stormy sea. Thus, while at London, Sandybell tries to gather clues about her biological mother.
• Averted with Arslan in The Heroic Legend of Arslan who loved their adoptive parents but said parents did not reciprocate and acted rather coldly towards their child. It's later revealed that Arslan is not even their child. He is the son of a cavalry soldier and a serving girl.
• Soichiro Arima in His and Her Circumstances. His real mother was a completely abusive women who beat, starved and abused him almost daily and eventually tried to allow him to starve to death. He ends up being adopted by his aunt and uncle who show him the first true love and affection he ever received in his life and accepts them completely as his parents.
• Gon from Hunter × Hunter. He is happily raised by his grandmother and maternal aunt. There's even an instance when Gon is given the opportunity to find out about his birth mother if he wants; he decides he doesn't need to know because he already has a mom.
• Sana of Kodocha is very aware she's adopted, and loves her adopted mother. She does get to meet her birth mother, Keiko, but the story behind her is decidedly tragic.
• Kyo Kara Maoh! has Greta, who zigzags this one slightly. After her mother gave her up to protect her. Long story. she lived her distant family members who ignored and neglected her. She runs away and attempts to assasinate the Demon King, Yuuri Shibuya, whom her adoptive parents hated in a bout to earn their love. However when the assasination attempt fails, and after a short adventure, the surprisingly understanding demon king and his fiancé adopt Greta and actually become very loving father figures, playing this trope straight.
• La Seine No Hoshi: Though Simone didn't know she was adopted for most of her life, she had very loving parents, the Rollands, and was broken when they were ordered to be killed by the aristocrats. She is later adopted by the de Forges family, who are also very caring to her.
• The Lyrical Nanoha franchise loves this trope almost as much as it loves The Power of Friendship:
  • Fate readily accepts being adopted by Admiral Lindy after working through her issues with Precia, her creator.
  • Vivio ends up adopted by Fate and Nanoha. She considers them both her mothers, though the series is still very hesitant to call them a couple.
  • Cinque, Dieci and Wendi are quite willing to be adopted by Genya Nakajima and Nove is, too, after some initial difficulty accepting Genya. Subaru and Ginga technically count, though they were both cloned from their adoptive mother's DNA.
  • And Erio. And Caro. And Tohma. And technically all the members of the Yagami Household who isn't named Reinforce Zwei. Kinda makes you wonder if people in the Nanohaverse still have children the usual way, although calling what happened between Hayate and the Wolkenritter "adoption" is really stretching the definition. In fact, it's faster to count the other way: Out of the main characters, there are three kids who are seen living with at least one blood parent: Nanoha, Chrono, and Lutecia. Out of the secondary characters, there are five, the first two and last two being siblings: Karel, Liera, Griffith, Kyouya, and possibly Miyuki.^note She was Nanoha and Kyouya's cousin who was adopted by their parents in Triangle Heart 3: Sweet Songs Forever and it's ambiguous if that applies in the Nanoha continuity. Pretty much everybody else is happily adopted.
  • First played straight, then zig-zagged with Rinne. She was still a cheerful girl upon being adopted and after attending school for a while, but her confidence starts to waver after she starts to get bullied. It's because of three bullies preventing her from being with her grandfather when he died that Rinne becomes the might-seeking girl who "had the look of somebody who despised the weak," as Fuka puts it. She still smiles while interacting with her family and when remembering her grandfather, but anyplace else and she's as cold as ice.
• Macross Frontier: Ranka Lee is revealed to have been adopted as Ozma Lee's younger sister (presumably he was too young to comfortably call himself her father). The reason being that Ranka's home was attacked by Vajra when she was little, and she and Ozma are the only known survivors of the incident. Ranka's repressed her memories of the event, but after re-learning her past, she doesn't angst about her adoption, since Ozma has always loved her like a real sister.
• Major: When Goro's father Shigeharu Honda is accidentally killed by a dead ball, he's adopted by his fiancée Momoko, who is also Goro's kindergarten caretaker. While it's clear they love each other very much, Goro does give her plenty of headaches with his brash and rebellious attitude more often than not, and when Momoko starts seeing Hideki Shigeno (who was the best friend of Goro's dad when he was alive), he's briefly worried that if they get together she will stop being his mom. After she assures him that will never happen, he accepts their relationship, and even takes the surname Shigeno afterwards.
• Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Kobayashi takes in Kanna Kamui, a younger dragon acquaintance of Tohru's who's the equivalent of a human child. The two develop a strong mother-daughter relationship throughout the series, with Kobayashi filling the void left by Kanna's own neglectful parents.
• The very first Mobile Suit Gundam featured Sayla Mass, also known as Artesia Som Deikun and her brother Edward Mass Casval Rem Deikun, or more commonly Char Aznable being adopted by Don Teabolo Mass after their parents died. By all accounts, they were very happy with him, which made it all the more tragic when assassins attacked them and Don later died from his injuries.
• Relena in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing didn't find out until her father was murdered, but what we see showed that she very much loved her adoptive parents, and she prevents her mother from telling her about her birth parents by hugging her and sobbing "Never stop being my mother!"

• Naruto:
  • Killer Bee was revealed to be A's adoptive brother, selected due to his potential to work in sync with A during battle. Their relationship is quite close including a hefty dose of Big Brother Instinct on A's part.
  • Naruto himself has practically been adopted by Cool Teacher Iruka Umino early on in the series. And it all started with Iruka taking a giant shuriken to the back to protect Naruto. The two are shown on numerous occasions to be extremely close and Naruto even asks him to stand in the traditional father's place in his wedding.
• Natsume in Natsume's Book of Friends was passed from relative to relative (and other foster families) with no one really wanting him. Then he met the kind Fujiwara couple who were the first to offer him to live with them despite rumors of his reputation. Their kindness helped to soften Natsume's outlook on life.
• One Piece:
  • Nami and Nojiko were adopted by Action Mom Bellemere.
  • Chopper, Sanji (somewhat, as he gets into a lot of arguments with his adoptive father but loves him anyway), Franky, Law, and Ace, Sabo and Luffy, too.
• Himari and Kanba from Penguindrum were probably this before their adoptive parents went missing. It's hard to tell due to their parents lack of screen time and the general Mind Screw nature of the series.
• Plastic Memories:
  • Many Giftia are this, being androids who are are taken in by humans as companions. For example, the girl in episode 1 was raised by a woman she considers her grandmother. It made her death all the sadder.
  • Episode 4 introduces the concept of children raised by Giftia. Tsukasa and Isla have to retrieve a Giftia who is raising a boy after their parents passed away. Michiru was also raised by a Giftia father.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • This is a recurring theme with Ash's fire-type starters. They were treated so horribly by their Jerkass original trainers (Charmander and Tepig are both abandoned for being thought of as weak, while Chimchar was forced through Training from Hell and was released because he didn't meet his trainer's high expectations) Ash ends up taking them in and raising them as his own. Charmander had a lengthy rebellious streak when he evolved into Charmeleon and eventually Charizard, until Ash nursed him back to health from a critical injury, reminding Charizard of the kindness he received under Ash's care and once again became just as loyal to Ash as when he was a Charmander. Litten lived on the streets of Hau'oli City as the ward of an elderly Stoutland, with Ash adopting him after Stoutland dies.
  • Zorua from Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions is implied to be Zoroark's adopted son instead of her biological one. However, neither seem to give a darn and Zorua loves his 'Meema' with all his heart. And she loves him right back and is willing to go to any lengths to keep him safe, including going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge when someone intentionally hurts him.
  • This is eventually revealed to be Pikachu's backstory — he was hatched an orphan, but was eventually adopted by a kindly Kangaskhan and raised alongside her joey.
• Pollyanna: Jimmy Bean is later adopted by Mr. Pendleton to make an injured Pollyanna happy. It turns out he's the long lost nephew of Ruth Cariou, resulting in Ruth being Pendleton's Second Love.
• Ai and Zero are revealed to have been adopted in Psychic Academy. During the summer vacation, they're also shown as having a few younger siblings who are also adopted. They don't seem to mind at all — and in fact, Ai's mother even says that if anything, they're even closer than a normal family is because they chose to be a family.
• Reborn! (2004):
  • The boss of Varia Xanxus by any right is supposed to be Happily Adopted as Ninth Vongola's son however due to he was raised as Spoiled Brat he became bitter once he found out the truth. Noted it's not part being adopted he was angry about, but the part Vongola blood in essential to succeed boss seat and he is not qualified.Spoiled Brat then evolve to Omnicidal Maniac
  • Nana Sawada, however, was successful in adopting three mafia children, Futa, Lambo and I-pin. Some fans however still think she is a horrible mother because she's sorta neglectful to Tsuna. (More due to obliviousness than actual malice).
• Despite them all being supernatural warriors — and two of them trying to kill her previously — Hotaru of Sailor Moon is perfectly happy to have the other Outer Senshi as her (three) parents when her father dies. Even in the anime, where she's simply taken from him, by all accounts she's fine with her two mamas and one female "papa."
• Elizabeth of the series The Seven Deadly Sins is actually not the daughter of the king of Lyonesse. She's from the kingdom of Danafor. Whether this means she's adopted or born out of wedlock has yet to be made clear. What is known however is that the King apparently accepted her as his daughter, as evidenced wherein he desperately tried to get her down from a tree despite not knowing how to climb.
• Sket Dance:
  • Bossun. The day he's born, both his parents got into accidents, his father dying and his mother lost her life giving birth to him. He was taken in by a close friend of their parents. He had some angst when he discovered the truth, but in the end he accepted his adopted family as his real one.
  • The Rival Tsubaki Sasuke also turn out to be this. More specifically, he's the Separated at Birth twin sibling of the previous example. The fact that the mother is carrying twins was supposed to be a surprise to the friend. When the doctor aided in their delivery, he decided to hand one twin to the friend and adopt the other one. While he and his wife loved the child deeply, this action haunted him for years. When he finally confessed, both children had momentary angst, but in the end decided they're fine with his decision.
• Spy X Family: Anya dearly loves her adoptive parents and calls them Papa and Mama immediately after meeting them, despite having been adopted and returned by other families four times before. Although Loid and Yor only got married and adopted her to further their own ends, it's obvious that they're growing to love both her and each other.
• Happens quite a few times in The Story of Saiunkoku. Kou Shouka and his wife Shoukun took in Seiran, who is the exiled prince Seien, and Shusui. Shouka's brother Reishin adopted Kouyuu. Sa Enjun rescues Kourin from starvation. The adopted children love and respect their foster parents dearly, sometimes a bit too much.
• In Sunday Without God Ai is adopted by Youki and Anna after her mother dies, and they do their best to make her happy, even hiding the fact she's the only living person in the whole village, and later Julie becomes her guardian after she loses her entire village and reconciles with her birth father Hampnie when he dies. Also, after the Ortus arc baby Celica is quite happily adopted by Scar.
• Sword Art Online: Kirito and Asuna end up adopting a young girl named Yui, who they meet on Floor 22 of Aincrad. It later transpires that Yui is in fact SAO's Mental Health Counseling Program 001; as far as Kirito and Asuna are concerned, that just means they need to make some adjustments to live as a family when they get back to the real world. Every part of the series from the end of the Fairy Dance arc onward shows them as a happy family, with all of their friends fully aware of the dynamic.
• Implied with Mio and Maria in The Testament of Sister New Devil. Even after they tried to deceive Basara, he still considers them family after learning more about their past from his father.
• Toriko:
  • Melk II was adopted by Melk I after he found her abandoned in a forest as a baby. The one thing that marred their otherwise happy father-daughter bond was a years-long misunderstanding due to Melk I's incredibly quiet voice.
  • The Four Heavenly Kings were all found and raised by Ichiryuu. He did a pretty good job, though they all ended up having various quirks.
  • Horribly subverted in the case of Acacia's disciples Ichiryuu, Jiro, and Midora. Acacia and Froese rescued and raised the three in a clear parallel with Ichiryuu raising the Heavenly Kings. But while Acacia only faked being a loving mentor and father so he could manipulate his wards, Ichiryuu's love for his adopted children was genuine.
• Jean Saber from Transformers Victory is a fairly well-adjusted kid, despite having been raised by giant alien transforming robots.
• Vash and Knives of Trigun were Happily Adopted by Rem Saverem for the first year of their life, since bulb-bound plants aren't equipped to raise independent plants like the twins. Rem did pretty well, and both boys were genuinely attached to her.
  • Less so in the anime, where there are other crew members awake and Knives' reasons for going Axe-Crazy are less clear-cut and Creepy Child Magnificent Bastard type stuff.
    • Rem's last words to Vash in the anime are "Vash, Knives o—" and then she is seen mouthing something drowned out by the pneumatic door. Apparently this was meant to be understood as sewa o shimasu; all translations have the sentence as, "Vash, take care of Knives!" Note that the original Japanese is somewhat ambivalent as to just what Rem wanted Vash to do; the translation works well, given that "take care of" could be read as a Deadly Euphemism.
  • On the other hand, manga Rem turns out to have been such a careful mother to them because she's The Atoner: the last time an independent plant was born in the SEEDS ships, she didn't save her from being experimented on until it killed her. Vash forgives her, after a rocky period; Knives...can't. He was going to save her, though, in both versions, when he killed all the other humans. Except she died that they might live.
  • It started out Happily Adopted, but Knives disrupted it by deciding to Kill All Humans.
• Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- has Fai who, after one hell of a messed up childhood, is brought to Celes by Ashura-ou. CLAMP themselves stated in the second artbook that they had a good parent-child relationship. Well, at least until everything goes south before the beginning of the series and the Trauma Conga Line that eventually ends with Kurogane having to put Ashura-ou down after he goes completely insane. Poor Fai just can't catch a break.
• Ruu in UF Obaby accepts Miyu and Kanata as his "mama" and "papa," so they worry about what will happen when he sees his real mother and father through a hologram machine for the first time in a long time. He ends up happily hugging all four of them, having cheerfully decided that he has two moms and two dads.
• In Venus Versus Virus Nahashi adopted Lucia at a young age. Her father was a friend of his.
• Vinland Saga: Thorfinn "Bug-Eyes" was bought and liberated by Leif Eriksson, and seems to have been adopted by him. He consistently refers to Leif as his father, and points out Leif is a much better parent to him than his biological ones (who sold him into service to a monastery because they couldn't feed him) ever were.
• Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun: The series starts with Iruma's Abusive Parents, who tormented and psychologically damaged the boy into having a compulsion to help people when they ask it of him even if he didn't want to, selling the young boy to an elder demon named Sullivan for money. Sullivan, in turn, makes Iruma his official grandson and brings him into the Demon World. Despite the fact some demons will try to kill Iruma if they discover his secret, he ends up magnitudes time happier living with Sullivan and Sullivan's retainer Opera than Iruma was ever with his biological parents.
• Anna in When Marnie Was There initially has trouble seeing her foster family as true family, calling her foster mother "auntie," however, the events of the movie cause her to accept them, and at the end she introduces her foster mother as simply "my mother."
• Elsie of The World God Only Knows has no problem integrating herself into the household of Keima's mom, despite saying that she's the illegitimate daughter of her husband. Subverted at the end of the series when she performs a Cosmic Retcon to make it where she's always been Keima's biological sister.
• The title character of Yotsuba&! is adopted and very much of a Cheerful Child. Sure, she lives solely with her dad Yousuke, but with neighbors she treats as extended family (including calling their mother "Mom" — not to mention treating the daughters as older sisters) and the help of Yousuke's friends Jumbo and Yanda, not to mention Yousuke's sister and mom, she's more worried what this thing in her future called "school" is all about than what sort of family she has.
• You Are Umasou:
  • Umasou, surprisingly considering he's being raised by a Tyrannosaurus rex.
  • That Tyrannosaurus, Heart, was also Happily Adopted by a female Maiasaura — even if he did run away after learning the truth about himself.

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