By Creator
- Once you look past the Fanservice, many of Masakazu Katsura's works turn out to be this. Specially obvious in:
- Video Girl Ai
- I"s; both of them feature highschool students dealing with their friendships, viewpoints in life, and their first romantic and sexual experiences.
By Work
- Akage no Anne, being adapted from Anne of Green Gables, is one of a little girl with big heart and a wild imagination assimilating to her new Arcadian life, making new friendships and rivals along the way. At the start of the anime, she was a loose-lipped, playful cloudcuckoolander and by the end of it, she's more mature and has successfully left a lasting impact on Avonlea.
- Akatsuki no Aria is one set in Imperial Japan, where future Elegant Classical Musician Aria Kanbara begins a rocky journey to stardom and to love.
- Akebi's Sailor Uniform is essentially one for main character Komichi Akebi, as she adjusts to middle school while interacting with other girls her own age for the first time (since she grew up in the remote countryside and was the only member of her elementary school class). At several points Komichi has to stop and consider her overall image and the kind of person she wants to be, especially since her Sailor Fuku makes her stand out despite her desire to be part of a group.
- Albegas: Imagine being an Ordinary High-School Student, and then learning that the fate of the world is on you and your friends' shoulders. As Daisaku manages this newfound responsibility, he also learns important lessons about friendship and overcoming Dark And Troubled Pasts, as well as his complicated feelings for Hotaru.
- Anohana The Flower We Saw That Day: Five friends who have fallen apart after the sixth friend died five years ago are brought back together and decide to work through their trauma after her ghost appears to one of them. By the end, they're all at least on the path to healing and growing up.
- Ashita no Nadja: It starts when Nadja has to leave the only home she has known, travelling with the Dandelion Troupe to find her origins and grow up...
- Asteroid in Love: Relatively unusual among series serialized in Manga Time Kiraranote , the series gives large emphasis on how the cast grows up and seeks self-improvement. More obvious are cases of Grew a Spine that Ao and Mai goes through, but even Mira, who is otherwise relatively static, also sees improvement in her intellectual side.
- Baki the Grappler: Baki Hanma starts the series as a fight-happy and attention-starved 13 year old fixated on defeating his father Yujiro. Over the course of the series, Baki's growth is both physical and mental, most notably when he has sex for the first time with his girlfriend Kozue, after which he's described as having finally "Become a man" in a sense.
- Beastars: The manga is this for every character, but particularly for the protagonist Legosi. The setting is a world where anthropomorphic animals, carnivores and herbivores, live together in relative peace, though with multiple tensions regarding the carnivores necessity to eat meat, their drives and desire for it, the herbivores fears of being eaten, and how society should accommodate those needs. The characters are in the last years of high school, and come to realize the uncomfortable realities lying beneath the facade of the town, as well as having to decide how they want to fit in, or even how they want to transgress the rules of the society they exist in, like the fact that most main characters start realizing how their romantic preferences are taboo for the world at large, most notably, the romance between the carnivore Legosi and the herbivore Haru.
- Black Clover is this for the main characters: Asta, Yuno and Noelle. Asta leave his home to become a Wizard King, Yuno must use his powers to be one of the best Magic Knights for Golden Dawn, and Noelle has to prove herself as a successful Magic Knight.
- Blue Period focuses on the end of high school/start of college in Yatora's life, how he grows up, learns about art, and about himself in the process.
- Bokurano can be interpreted as such. The story begins with a narrative of the protagonist, Waku Takashi, who recalls the event that changes his life, and 14 other kids, during a summer field trip. The death of each pilot can be seen as a metaphor for growing up, in which a child loses its innocence and becomes an adult. The ending also implies that Jun Ushiro was the one to narrate the story, not Waku. This ties to the coming of age theme, given that he experienced the most growth throughout the story, and was alive long enough to witness the "maturity" of other pilots.
- Bokura no Hentai is three coming of age stories crammed into one story. It revolves around three middle schoolers who meet on a website for crossdressers. The story takes place over the course of three years and has their personalities develop and mature. For example, Tamura has to overcome his Dark and Troubled Past and the lingering mental trauma it has caused him. In his case, he never really does.
- Chrono Crusade seems to be a coming-of-age story for Rosette, particularly in the manga. It might be one for Chrono as well, although he'd be a "late bloomer" example as he's Really 700 Years Old.
- A Cruel God Reigns is very much a coming of age story for not only Jeremy and Ian, but also for many of the supporting characters, like Vivi, Nadia, William, Cass, and Marjorie. However, the story focuses mainly on how Jeremy and Ian break into adulthood after the trauma of Jeremy's Rape as Backstory and Ian dealing with the fact that Jeremy killed his father.
- Candy♡Candy covers Candy's whole life since she was taken in by Miss Pony and Sister Maria as a baby, until she's at least in her twenties.
- Cat Street focuses on protagonist Keito's mental development, overcoming her Dark and Troubled Past as a child actress and finding out how she wants to live her life from now onwards.
- Claudine tells the story of a noble young trans man who grows up from a boy to a young man during early 1900s France.
- The Dangers in My Heart: Just as much as the story is about his tender romance with Yamada, the series is also about Ichikawa growing out his Chuunibyou syndrome and overall inferiority complex; pushing past the emotional/mental walls he's built to cope with his personal shortcomings to love and better himself more as a person throughout middle school, wanting to feel like someone that he feels both Yamada and himself can be proud of (He also gets taller... somewhat. About 6cm). Yamada also grows along with him in a similar but more subtle way, becoming more secure about her own issues and the love of those close to her.
- The entire subplot of Dragon Ball Z is essentially Gohan growing up with adventures similar to his father Goku's, albeit far more violent. Like its predecessor, Dragon Ball, the series ends when Gohan is married and has a family of his own.
- A Dog of Flanders (1975): It's a story of a little boy and his dog trying to keep their home running because the other adults in their lives are either dead or unable to. Kill the Cutie And unfortunately, they never grow up.
- Eyeshield 21 boils down to the main character growing out of his wimpy kid mold and becoming a man (albeit a rather wimpy man).
- Fate/Zero has this as a subplot, specifically Waver Velvet, a mage with great potential only marred by his belief of his genetics limiting him and his self-hatred due to how he was treated by others. He learns to stand up for himself, by entering the Holy Grail War and teaming up with a Boisterous Bruiser version of Alexander The Great, who functions as Waver's mentor figure. By the end of the story, he manages to earn Gilgamesh's respect and is the only surviving Master who is better off at the end of the war than he was at the start.
- In a sense, the main character Kiritsugu Emiya could be seen as going through this as well. Though Kiritsugu is an adult, he still clings to childish beliefs about dividing the world into clear cut good and evil, as well as believing that he needs to become a "Hero of Justice" who can destroy all evil and create world peace, at any cost. Kiritsugu in his backstory started to question this ideal because of the tragedies he saw while fighting what he deemed evil but in the main plot, does his best to believe that world peace and becoming a true "hero" is attainable. In the end, Kiritsugu finds out from the Holy Grail that world peace is not possible and morals are extremely complex, to say the least. By this point, Kiritsugu has sacrificed everything from his ideals to his wife and best friend for a shot at world peace, just to get nothing out of it. Kiritsugu does manages to save the world but not give it peace and is left saddened by the fact he needs to grow up and accept the world as it is, as well as how he lost everyone he cared about.
- In addition, Kirei Kotomine, the Foil to Kiritsugu, goes through this as well. Kirei, despite being highly intelligent and capable at almost anything he ever tried, has never felt as if his life is worth living or indeed any life if worth living. There is nothing that brings him joy so he does whatever anyone else tells him to do, and due to this is nothing more than a pawn of the Church and its Ancient Conspiracy. He also has childish aspects in how he tries to cling to simple beliefs about good and evil, specifically any beliefs about good and evil that the Church tells him, all while ironically being an assassin for the Church and also being taught Thou Shalt Not Kill. Kirei eventually finds himself questioning why as an adult he still listens to his father and mentor figure, and does not think for himself. Kirei meets Gilgamesh, who teaches him how to figure out what he truly desires, which Kirei knows deep down but is fearful to accept. Kirei accepts that the only thing that brings him the desire to live and happiness is causing other people to suffer and die. From that point on, he fights in the war for himself and his own amusement, except for wanting to meet and defeat Kiritsugu, who he believes is like him.
- Arguably, many of the main characters are going through this in varying ways, not just the ones above.
- FLCL, but since it's made by Studio Gainax, it's a coming of age story combined with Humongous Mecha, a Mind Screw plot, and loads of confusing and gratuitous sexual symbolism and humor. Basically, protagonist Naota tries really hard to be an adult — or what he considers to be an adult — and picks up the slack for his absent brother, who has left to play baseball in America. This includes taking care of his brother's ex-girlfriend, not enjoying sweet things and trying really hard to come off as stoic and cool. However, after meeting Manic Pixie Dream Girl Haruko, he comes to realise that he should act his age — in this case, being selfish, having fun and acknowledging his childish crush on Haruko.
- Full Moon deals with the protagonist, Mitsuki, having to grow up while dealing with the fact that she doesn't have much time to live.
- Fushigi Yuugi is a coming-of-age story, among other things, for just about all the good guys — especially Miaka. While it takes somewhere between a few weeks to a few months for them to finish their journey in the book, it's only two days in the real world.
- Goodnight Punpun is a particularly dark (and strange) example about a boy (who is stylized like a cartoony bird) and his development as he grows into an adult. He starts off as an optimistic, rather innocent elementary schooler but very quickly takes a downhill journey into cynicism and depression as he ages. The other characters don't fare much better.
- GUN×SWORD is a coming of age story for Wendy. It's not the main plot, but it's a pretty important subplot.
- The main premise of Hidamari Sketch centers on Yuno's desire to be seen as mature. Lampshaded, as she becomes overjoyed every time someone compliments her on her supposed maturity.
- Hello! Sandybell: The story begins when Sandybell is a pre-teen and focuses on her going on a World Tour across Europe to find her missing mother, while coping with the loss of her love Mark, who ran away from home, her job as a reporter for Ronwood Newspapers, and how she helps the many friends she makes along the way.
- Ie Naki Ko Remi: Remy's orphanhood is the center of the story, from her Oblivious Adoption to finding a home in Vitalis (who then unfortunately dies) and her time at the Orphanage of Fear before reuniting with her blood family, the Milligans).
- Hitohira: Shy school girl — check. Situation that forces change—check. Affectionate friends to help her—check. It's still very well done, though.
- Idol Densetsu Eriko combines "loss of innocence" with Break the Cutie, hard. Eriko is a little girl who's adored the idol industry and wants to be a singer, but her parents won't let her. One day, her parents are killed in a car accident, and her Evil Uncle shows his true colours by seizing their company and trying to exploit her for money. Eriko rejects him and decides to follow her dreams anyway, but she's a Naïve Newcomer to the media industry, where the competition is tough...especially when said Evil Uncle is financing her rival, Rei Asagiri.
- Idol Angel Yokoso Yoko is a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things version of this. Both Yoko and Saki are tender-aged young girls who leave their homes to forge their own destiny in metropolitan Tokyo. Because of their innocence and Country Mouse upbringings, they face Culture Clashes and are seen as outsiders, but do their best to become famous like they wanted to while overcoming their own insecurities.
- Much of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 7: Steel Ball Run is dedicated to the character development and growth of the protagonist Johnny Joestar. It's even spelled out at the beginning of the story:”This story is about how I got up on my feet. Not in the physical sense, but how I went from adolescence to adulthood."
- Kaze no Shōjo Emily chronicles orphan Emily assimilating to her new life in Prince Edward Island, Canada after her father dies. Orphan's Ordeal is a huge focus of the series as Emily sorely misses her father and hates how mean her aunt is, as well as being bullied by everyone else for being a Murray (when even she doesn't consider herself one). She also dreams of being a great writer, but is taunted by her Aunt and former teacher for thinking that - not that it'll stop her from trying. We watch Emily grow from a child to a teenager, and the anime ends with her wedding after she's become a successful novelist.
- Kill la Kill: Not only is the show a uniquely female coming of age story (which tend to be more rare), but it's cranked up until the knob pops off. Blood as a metaphor for menstruation, as well as other body image issues? Senketsu is a sailor uniform that drinks Ryuko's blood to transform into a superpowered garter-belt bikini thing. Bullies that the adults never do anything about? The Student Council President runs the school like a dictatorship, and everyone — including the teachers — are under her control. Feel like the entire school is against you? At Honnoji Academy, literally the entire school is actually trying to kill Ryuko. Worried about living up to your parents' expectations? Ryuko and Satsuki (who are sisters, by the way) were designed by their parents to be weapons in various ways. And high and mighty Satsuki is the failed version. Feel out of place among your peers? Ryuko is a Half-Human Hybrid. And of course, The Power of Friendship saves the day at the end, and everybody learns that not only does everybody have their own reasons, but they have their own crazy friends.
- Kokou no Hito is a story about the main character, a highly introverted and lethargic young man, reaching manhood, struggling to get by life as a "solo climber" but finding out that it isn't that easy to just turn your back on society and be a hermit.
- Lady!! starts with 5 year old Lynn losing her mother in a car accident, her older half-sister wanting nothing to do with her, her own father being away at work and her grandfather rejecting her for being half-Japanese. Lynn also faces severe bullying and maltreatment from her father's would-be wife and her two children, the Waverlys. However, Lynn's spirit isn't broken, and she promises to her mother that she will be a courageous, kind and beautiful Proper Lady. One by one, this Plucky Girl rises through each adversary to find happiness no matter what.
- La Seine No Hoshi: Simone was just an ordinary fifteen year old girl until her parents were murdered. Being adopted by the wealthy noble Duke de Forges, Simone discovers that the France she's known all her life isn't as glamorous as it seems, and run by the corrupt nobles. Swearing to oppose them, she becomes the caped superhero La Seine No Hoshi and joins La Résistance against them.
- Lucy-May of the Southern Rainbow is An Immigrant's Tale about a seven-year-old girl coming to terms with a new life in a new country while struggling with poverty, and what her family does to keep itself together during this time. It ends four and a half years later, when she's eleven, having become Wealthy Ever After thanks to a domino effect started by Lucy's humility.
- The Macross TV shows (Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Macross 7, Macross Frontier, and Macross Delta) all feature this, with Hikaru Ichijo of SDF being the first in the franchise to fit this trope. He starts off not wanting anything to do with the military, but the death of Roy Fokker forces him to mature and become a great pilot.
- March Comes in Like a Lion is essentially one for the protagonist Rei Kiriyama, as many of the story arcs build upon his Character Development with the events that transpire in both the world of shogi and his home life, as well as with the life lessons he learns from them.
- Megazone 23, at least the first part. It contains elements of most of the examples from the top of this page and ends on a decidely negative note.
- In Mob Psycho 100, the final arc of the series and the ending comes full circle in settling the entire story was truly this. Every person Mob meets, every new friend he makes, every battle he wins, all served to make Mob slowly but surely learn new things to break through his repressed emotions; the series' climax appears to be Mob having one final challenge: confess his feelings to Tsubomi in hopes he becomes her boyfriend, however, the true climax was Mob having to finally face ???, the part of him Mob has denied for so long, it is through accepting ??? wholeheartedly as himself all along, not some secret failsafe personality only to be used to win battles and then tuck it away. It is telling that Mob being rejected by Tsubomi is just another hurdle to make Mob look beyond just wishing for a girlfriend, his true reward at the end is becoming a person completely free of all the previous emotion suppression, Mob has made many friends along the way, he lives a happy life, he is open to all possibilities because Mob now believes in himself, including remaining friends with Tsubomi; the finale being a simple shot of Mob's only honest laugh in the entire series is the perfect portrayal of that.
- Amuro Ray of Mobile Suit Gundam was probably the best of the earliest examples in mecha anime. Amuro got slapped very often by Bright Noa and this helped shape him into a man. Even Bright explicitly tells him that a good smacking would force him to become one.
- Kamille Bidan in the sequel Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is forced to mature to an even greater extent, as he faces the harsh circumstances of warfare, starts having a romantic relationship, and loses many of his loved ones.
- Mobile Suit Gundam AGE features this in the first two generations with their protagonists, Flit and Asemu Asuno, respectively, though their development differs wildly (Flit develops from a Messianic Archetype into a Dark Messiah, whereas Asemu develops from a "Well Done, Son" Guy into his own person).
- Mokke, where ghosts are being used to illustrate lessons about life.
- This is the main plot for My Daddy Long Legs, which chronicles Judy's development from a young teenager to an adult.
- Naruto Shippuden shows the title character's growth from the least talented and least loved ninja in his village to a fully recognized prodigy who has saved thousands of people and faced down some of the worst criminals the world has to offer. Also (to an extent) Sasuke, who has matured from being the Rival to being homicidally crazy.
- If you boil all the Unwanted Harem bits and leave only the core of the plot, you can see that Negima! Magister Negi Magi is basically a story of Negi growing from good-natured and smart but somewhat clumsy and socially awkward kid into a great hero, a true successor to his legendary father. Only with magic and kung-fu. It's also a literal coming of age story, as his constant use of Evangeline's Year Inside, Hour Outside resort has presumably aged him up by at least a year.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: Zig-Zagged. For a while it seems like the characters are failing to come of age and are suffering for it, but most of them play it straight in the end. Shinji overcomes his self-hatred and resolves to continue living in order find happiness — rejecting Instrumentality in the process. Misato accepts her love for Kaji and fulfills her role as Shinji's guardian, saving his life at the cost of her own and motivating him to continue living. Rei affirms her individuality by abandoning Gendo and subsequently becomes a god-like entity and Spirit Advisor to Shinji. Even Asuka is hinted to have changed for the better when she gives Shinji the equivalent of a Cooldown Hug as he strangles her at the end of The Movie — the first genuinely nice thing she's done for him.
- Okko's Inn is about Okko learning to come to terms with loss, and also to be more self-sufficient and helping others.
- Onani Master Kurosawa started out as a parody of Death Note with fapping. However, it gradually turns into a coming-of-age story once the titular character realizes the consequences of his dispensing of "justice" (i.e. masturbating on the clothes of female students who bully one particular girl who caught him fapping in the first place). "Coming"-of-age never sounded so dirty.
- One Piece is described by Oda as a coming of age story. Namely, what it is to become a man.
- Real heartbreakingly deals with teenagers forced to grow up because of the disabilities that they've suddenly had to accept in order to deal with the world around them.
- Reborn! (2004), when it boils down to it. It's really mostly about Tsuna being shaped and trained by Reborn into becoming a real man fit for being the 10th Generation Vongola boss.
- Ring ni Kakero doubles as this and as a sports manga. Ryuuji and Kiku, the main characters, escape as children from an abusive household and decide to fulfill their shared dream to have Ryuuji become the best boxer in the world. In their way they grow not just as a boxer and his trainer, but as persons as well.
- Rosario + Vampire is this for Tsukune, once you take out the Unwanted Harem elements. He starts of as a directionless Ordinary High-School Student, but gradually becomes a more mature and confident individual, and dedicates himself to promoting peaceful relations between humans and monsters.
- Sakende Yaruze! is basically a Coming Of Age Story for Nakaya that runs parallel to a Children Raise You story for his father Shino.
- Seishun Kouryakuhon revolves around this, being a Slice of Life manga focusing on the four main characters' journey to high school graduation.
- Shadow Star. Shiina copes with loss and tragedy and learns a great deal about friendship, love, and the complexities of people and the world. Then she and her partner/Shadow Archetype, Mamiko, wipe out all of mankind together.
- Shuukan Shounen Hachi is about teenagers entering a special school to be become pro manga artists, but according to the author himself the story is less about manga than about Hachi's growth as a person. It applies not just to Hachi but also the people he interacts with like Handa and Inohara, as the characters learn from each other, acknowledging and facing their own flaws. The theme was already very prominent in one of Masuda Eiji's previous works Sakura Discord.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, also made by Studio Gainax, plays this straight with its main character, Simon. Specially the first arc, where it's pretty much the whole point of the story.
- Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is about a bratty thirteen year old girl named Mirai who, along with her Cheerful Child brother Yuuki, get stuck while visiting a museum due to earthquakes. Mirai's Character Development has her maturing out of her aggressive and cynical personality.
- Voltes V explores Kenichi, Daijiro and Hiyoshi's Parental Abandonment after their father mysteriously disappears, as they uncover aspects of his Dark and Troubled Past. In a rare flipped example of this trope, we also see the perspective of their father as he desperately wants to see his kids again, but can't.
- Wandering Son has this, but the anime and manga portray it in a different way. The anime seems to be more so about kids learning to be comfortable with their bodies and growing up, apparently changing the protagonists from Transgender to Wholesome Crossdressers. The manga isn't nearly as obvious as the anime, but it's still apparent. The manga began in late elementary, and follows the protagonists as they graduate high school. They develop as they grow up. For example, Nitori starts as a sensitive child prone to Tender Tears but matures over the course of the series and becomes more confident in herself.
- Welcome Back, Alice: Depicts high school students struggling mightily to navigate adolescence, and they end up hurting each other in their attempts to get a handle on how they feel about gender and sexuality.
- Wolf Children follows the first decade or so of the two title characters' lives, as they grow up with only their mother and each other, and struggle to straddle the two worlds they were born into: that of humans and that of wolves. Yuki goes from a Plucky Girl to a more humble and mature person, while Ame matures from a Shrinking Violet into The Stoic. At the end, the siblings go their separate ways, with Yuki choosing her human nature while Ame lives out his life as a wolf.
- Wonder Egg Priority is about a group of teen girls who hunt monsters representing suicidal thoughts, representing their own personal growth and the development of more nuanced, supportive relationships.
- Almost all of the World Masterpiece Theater series are Coming of Age-stories, but it's played the straightest in Anne of Green Gables, where Anne visually gets older as the story progresses.
