List of coming-of-age stories

Coming-of-age stories focus on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, although "coming of age" is a genre for a variety of media, including literature, theatre, film, television and video games.

In literature

In theatre

• West Side Story (1957–present)
• Oliver! (1960–present)
• Miss Saigon (1989–present)
• Once on This Island (1990–present)
• Billy Elliot the Musical (2005–2016)
• Spring Awakening (2006–2015)
• Hadestown (2006–present)
• 4000 Miles (2011–2013, 2022)
• Choir Boy (2012–2019)
• Dear Evan Hansen (2015–present)
• Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2017–present)
• Mean Girls (2017–present)
• The Prom (2017–present)
• & Juliet (2019–present)
• Almost Famous (2019–present)
• The Outsiders (2022–present)
• How to Dance in Ohio (2022–2024)

In Manga and Anime

A large portion of the manga industry is dedicated to teenagers, such as Weekly Shōnen Jump and Weekly Shōnen Magazine and, therefore, a majority of said manga contains some aspects of the protagonist's growth. Coming-of-age stories are called Shujinkō-Seichōkei (主人公成長系), meaning "protagonist's growth type".

Manga

• Ao Haru Ride (2011–2015)
• Love Me, Love Me Not (2015–2019)
• Naruto (1990 -2014)
• My Hero Academia (2014–present)
• Strobe Edge (2007–2010)

Anime

• Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)
• The End of Evangelion (1997)
• Kiki's Delivery Service (1998)
• Eureka Seven (2005)

In film

In film, coming-of-age is a genre of teen films. Films in this subgenre include:

Films featuring protagonists in particular age groups, such as pre-teens, are:

• Melody (1971)
• Pretty Baby (1978)
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
• My Girl (1991)
• The Sandlot (1993)
• Léon: The Professional (1994)
• Crooklyn (1994)
• Now and Then (1995)
• The White Balloon (1995)
• Matilda (1996)
• Ponette (1996)
• Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
• Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
• The Florida Project (2017)
• Jojo Rabbit (2019)
• C'mon C'mon (2021)
• The Fabelmans (2022)

or post-high school and college students, in films such as:

• Love Story (1970)
• Young People (1972)
• Carrie (1976)
• Animal House (1978)
• Porky's (1981)
• With Honors (1994)
• Kicking and Screaming (1995)
• Good Will Hunting (1997)
• Can't Hardly Wait (1998)
• American Pie (1999)
• Ghost World (2001)
• the Spider-Man film franchise (2002–present)
• An Education (2009)
• 3 Idiots (2009)
• Whiplash (2014)
• Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)
• Aanandam (2016)
• Meesaya Murukku (2017)
• Chhichhore (2018)
• The Souvenir (2019)
• Pink Skies Ahead (2020)
• The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)
• Don (2022)

or people aged around 20 years old who do not go to college, such as:

• Brooklyn (2015)
• Sweet 20 (2017)

or in the case of unique coming-of-age stories centered on post-college aged individuals, such as:

• All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
• The Seven Year Itch (1955)
• The Graduate (1967)
• Charly (1968)
• Taxi Driver (1976)
• An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
• St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
• What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
• Never Been Kissed (1999)
• Old School (2003)
• The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
• Frances Ha (2012)
• The Worst Person in the World (2021)
• All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

In television

Coming-of-age television series include:

In video games

• Life Is Strange (2015)

References