History Main / MatureWorkChildProtagonists

* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain''. Lain Iwakura is a girl in middle school who still wears teddy bear pajamas. During the course of the series, she visits a night club where a man on a mind accelerating cyber drug shoots someone else and then himself, inadvertently causes her older sister to suffer a brutal MindRape that leaves her a blank slate, sees a young man playing a VR game mistake a young girl for a monster in his game and shoot her, and has her become involved with a couple of MenInBlack who murder all the members of a rival faction. She catches a friend of hers engaging in ADateWithRosiePalms while fantasizing about a teacher, and then witnesses the same friend have a complete breakdown when they're confronted with a self-styled "God of the Wired".

** ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'' starts with teen Rhaenyra Targaryen (who's desired by her own uncle and brought to a brothel by him, no less) and Alicent Hightower. There's also one episode where the Targaryen children of the two forming sides of the Dance of the Dragons CivilWar are rather centerstage, most prominently Aemond, who successfully claims the gigantic dragon Vhagar.

* ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'': The titular Kino is a VagueAge, but still clearly young compared to the adult characters who appear in the series. In the course of her travels, she encounters a group of slave traders who, when snowed in, ate their [[ImAHumanitarian "goods"]], a country where a brutal form of democracy saw the losing end of a vote subjected to the death penalty, a nation where travelers were forced to compete in gladiatorial games to the death, and a land where warfare between two nations had been turned into a competition to see who could slaughter the most members of a nearby native tribe.

* ''LightNovel/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation'': A seinen series with an anime adaptation that depicts its protagonist as a reincarnated adult {{NEET}} who retains his adult memories from birth into early childhood where much of the story takes place. His companions throughout the story include other children his own age. The story frequently includes off-putting tropes due to the dichotomy such as DirtyKid, TheirFirstTime, TheJailBaitWait, OlderThanTheyLook, and WifeHusbandry.

** ''{{Literature/IT}}'': The first half follows the main characters at the age of twelve when they first battle the titular monster. The second half has them as adults returning to their hometown to do it all over again. As well as graphic violence and other nightmarish situations involving the monster, some of the non-supernatural content is just as disturbing, such a sociopathic gang of bullies who torture other kids and animals (one of them smothered his baby brother) and young Beverly's father having an extremely creepy obsession with her.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Velma}}'' is intended to be an adult-oriented take on ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo''. The main characters are high school students, around 15 or 16 years old, but due to its graphic violence, nudity, sexual content, drug references and crass humor, it's clear as to why it's rated TV-MA and it's ''definitely'' not appropriate for ''Scooby'''s usual demographic,.

* ''Anime/GhostStories'' is an unusual example. The series has ghost-hunting preteens and children as the main protagonists and the original Japanese dub is aimed at children, with no particularly inappropriate content for young audiences. The [[GagDub ADV English-language dub]], on the other hand, is clearly adult-oriented; it frequently references and satirizes early-to-mid-2000s pop culture and politics, and features ''a lot'' of crass and dark humor, which is either highly inappropriate for kids or would just go over their heads.

** The ''Literature/DollangangerSeries'' sees the two main protagonists, Chris and Cathy, engaging in BrothersisterIncest after being locked up in the attic by their mother, who physically and emotionally abuses them.

* ''Film/Thirteen2003'' revolves around 13-year-old Tracy, who comes from an extremely troubled home life as she befriends a popular girl around her age at school. The friend herself becomes a [[ToxicFriendInfluence negative influence]] on Tracy as she leads her down a dangerous path far from what one would considered typical teenage antics

* ''Film/Thirteen2003'' revolves around 13-year-old Tracy, who comes from an extremely troubled home life as she befriends a popular girl around her age at school. The friend herself becomes a negative influence on Tracy as she leads her down a path of teenage delinquency or outright criminal behavior.

* ''Film/Thirteen2003'' revolves around 13-year-old Tracy attempting (and succeeding) to become popular as she enters adolescence, only to find out that the cost to stay there results in her engaging into teenage delinquency.

* ''Film/TheGoodSon'' centers around 12-year-old Mark (Creator/ElijahWood ) visiting his cousin Henry (Creator/MacaulayCulkin) for the winter break. While at first seemingly nice and well-mannered, Henry soon reveals himself to be a [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior Troubling Unchildlike]] EnfanteTerrible who goes around murdering people just to get what he wants or [[ItAmusedMe for fun]], and sees absolutely no problem with doing them! Yikes.

* ''Film/TheGoodSon'' features a child protagonist (Creator/ElijahWood ) visiting his cousin (Creator/MaculayCulkin )...who happens to be a [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior Troubling Unchildlike]] EnfanteTerrible who goes around murdering people just to get what he wants or [[ItAmusedMe for fun]], and sees absolutely no problem with doing them! Yikes.

* ''Literature/AptPupil'': The title character is a teen boy who makes friends with his elderly neighbor. The man, a German national, turns out to have been a Nazi officer. They bond over torture methods.

* ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'' is an incredibly dark seinen manga starring 12-year-olds who are just starting middle school. To illustrate just how dark it is, one of the girls is ''[[TeenPregnancy pregnant]]'' in a subplot that had to be toned down for the anime.

* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'': While the protagonist is the middle-aged Joel, he's accompanied by the 14-year-old Ellie, who's just as important to the story as Joel is and is a constant presence past the prologue. [[spoiler:She's actually playable for one of the four main segments of the game, in which she has to face adult cannibals, zombies, and the cannibal leader who wants to keep her as his ''pet''.]]

* ''Manga/{{ERASED}}'' is a {{seinen}} psychological crime thriller in which the adult protagonist gets sent back in time to live as his child self again. As such, much of the story focuses on the elementary-school aged protagonist reliving a crucial part of his childhood trying to protect his classmates and hunt down a murderer.

* ''Manga/{{ERASED}}'' is a {{seinen}} psychological crime thriller in which the adult protagonist gets sent back in time to live as his child self again. As such, much of the story focuses on the elementary-school aged protagonist reliving a crucial part of his childhood trying to protect his classmates and hunt down a murderer.

* ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'''s Carl Grimes, and to some extent Sophia.

** ''Literature/TheCasteelSeries'' sees the heroine, Heaven, sold by her father to an abusive foster family whose father commit statutory rape on her.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' and its spin-offs have many.
** In the main series, there's Carl, Sophia, Lizzie, Mika, and later Henry.
** ''Series/FearTheWalkingDead'''s fourth season introduces Charlie, who is only 10-11 year old at that point.