History Main / MostWritersAreAdults

** ''Manga/KocchiMuiteMikko'' This series has good chunk about romance and serious topic. Oh, and its features romance as well, Involving ''underage characters''.

** Watching a group of supposedly ''eight and nine year olds'' (Arthur and his group are stated to be in the third grade, with the occasional fourth-grader) biking around a city, holding jobs, and doing things that are generally more suited for early teens doesn't really make sense. Particularly all those scenes in the Sugar Bowl without a parent in sight...and not to mention the school. Lockers and many-page reports for third graders? Seems more like a junior high than an elementary school, really. Considering [[SternTeacher Ratburn,]] though, he just might assign rather difficult work for third graders. One throwaway line was something like, "For today's test, identify every country on this map of the world. And as always, spelling counts."

* "Assigned Male" is [in]famous for this. The protagonist, Stephie, is supposed to be eleven, yet all she seems to care about is how cisnormative gender roles buds patriarchal masculine fragility.

* Yulia in ''Literature/NightWatch'' is a bit of a zigzagged example. At thirteen, she acts like an adult and works as a Night Watch analyst. But she also sits in someone's lap to play computer games.

* As time went on, ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' slowly started to treat their main characters more like young adults than eleven-year-old kids, except for when they needed to either for plot reasons or to set up a gag. This is most obvious in the episode "Stranded", which uses every {{UST}} Trope in the book for Jimmy and Cindy.

* One ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' ContinuationFic, ''Fanfic/TheQueensAdmiral'', is narrated by a 12-year-old Prince who is more interested in history, war and politics than anything else a boy that age would more reasonably like. He is allowed to partake in council meetings, is mostly treated as a fellow representative of Arendelle by the other adult participants, and is generally considered a more mature and capable ruler than his mother, [[ManChild Anna]].

* In books by Creator/JohnGreen, the teenage characters know an awful lot about famous last words, poets, and philosophers, and it is clear that they did not learn about them in school. This is a common point of complaint by teens who read the books, as one user on Website/GoodReads said about ''Literature/LookingForAlaska'': " Pudge knows the last words of famous people— only he's so doggone quirky that he reads the biography but not the work of the famous person! And our precious Alaska? She keeps stacks and stacks of books in her room that she intends to read (when she's done selling cigarettes to high school kids, I guess), called her life library (or something), but has wrestled with life's Big Questions alongside some very Heavy Thinking Authors, and can recite poetry, of course. Everybody is way too philosophical and literary for their own good, but god forbid the reader is allowed to think." The same reviewer says that real high school kids don't talk or think like this.

* In books by Literature/JohnGreen, the teenage characters know an awful lot about famous last words, poets, and philosophers, and it is clear that they did not learn about them in school. This is a common point of complaint by teens who read the books, as one user on GoodReads said about ''Literature/LookingForAlaska'': " Pudge knows the last words of famous people— only he's so doggone quirky that he reads the biography but not the work of the famous person! And our precious Alaska? She keeps stacks and stacks of books in her room that she intends to read (when she's done selling cigarettes to high school kids, I guess), called her life library (or something), but has wrestled with life's Big Questions alongside some very Heavy Thinking Authors, and can recite poetry, of course. Everybody is way too philosophical and literary for their own good, but god forbid the reader is allowed to think." The same reviewer says that real high school kids don't talk or think like this.

* One ''{{Disney/Frozen}}'' ContinuationFic, ''Fanfic/TheQueensAdmiral'', is narrated by a 12-year-old Prince who is more interested in history, war and politics than anything else a boy that age would more reasonably like. He is allowed to partake in council meetings, is mostly treated as a fellow representative of Arendelle by the other adult participants, and is generally considered a more mature and capable ruler than his mother, [[ManChild Anna]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' is justified with the babies; [[AnthropicPrinciple if the babies actually acted like babies, there would be no show]]. So they act closer to 3-5 years old except they can't communicate with the adults. On the other hand, Angelica, who is supposed to be 3, is able to communicate with the adults, and is far more articulate than a 3 year old should be. Making her a straight example. This one was mocked in a ''WesternAnimation/FairlyOddParents'' movie, where Timmy Turner enters a show which looks the same, but with the children actually acting like the toddlers they are.

* As time went on, ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' slowly started to treat their main characters more like young adults than eleven year old kids, except for when they needed to either for plot reasons or to set up a gag. This is most obvious in the episode "Stranded", which uses every {{UST}} Trope in the book for Jimmy and Cindy.
* All over the place in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. With all the LoveTropes, DramaTropes, WarTropes, etc, it's not hard to forget that none of the main characters (bar the BigBad and a few mentors) are older than 16, and neither characters nor the plot are held back by their lack of age; the series mixes adult tropes and ComingOfAge tropes, and mixes them very well. Generally, though, it's still a series about two 12-year-olds, a 14-year-old, a 15-year-old, and a 16-year-old who act more like 16-year-olds and two 18-year-olds. Though it should be noted that the series is set during a Medieval-esque war, where people were just expected to grow up faster. Granted, Aang is chronologically 112, so...

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', where the characters are supposed to be in fourth grade, yet no one finds it odd that Arnold's coach asks him to be the best man at his wedding. Or that the main character takes it upon himself to personally fix the problems of every adult in the neighborhood, ranging from a coach's alienation with his AmbiguouslyGay son, to paranoia, to illiteracy, to obsessive compulsive disorder, to so many more. Also, the kids on the show were voiced by actual kids. Even though they were [[NotAllowedToGrowUp permanently nine years old]], their characterization seemed to mature along with their voices.

* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' kids have gotten more and more adult as time has gone by, for definitions of "adult" that fit within ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. Indeed, one could argue that the kids are the ''only'' ones who act like realistic adults. At times the show seems to be a {{deconstruction}} of this trope, as it shows how actually kind of unsettling it is when kids act and talk like that.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'', which had a bunch of 12-year-olds that acted like, and talked like 16-year olds.

** Watching a group of supposedly ''eight and nine year olds'' (Arthur and his group are stated to be in the third grade, with the occasional fourth-grader) biking around a city, holding jobs, and doing things that are generally more suited for early teens doesn't really make sense. Particularly all those scenes in the Sugar Bowl without a parent in sight... and not to mention the school. Lockers and many-page reports for third graders? Seems more like a junior high than an elementary school, really. Considering [[SternTeacher Ratburn]], though, he just might assign rather difficult work for third graders. One throwaway line was something like, "For today's test, identify every country on this map of the world. And as always, spelling counts."

* Subverted and played straight on ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb;'' the main characters clearly have a genius intelligence well beyond most adults, but use their abilities for childish antics like building a roller coaster in their backyard; while there ''are'' love interests, these are played more as kiddy crushes than epic romances. Nearly every episode lampshades this with some adult asking them, "Aren't you a little young to be ...". The typical response from Phineas is, "Yes. Yes I am."

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' often fell into this (especially with Numbuhs 1 and 5), which just got silly when you considered this meant they acted like the adults they hated. One of the ten-year-olds was even in a somewhat serious relationship. Though it's balanced out by having a few characters be [[KiddieKid kiddie kids]], and at times it seems to be parodying this trope. It also helps that many of the problems they treat like an important, epic issues are still kiddy worries like snow days, eating veggies or how evil teenagers are.

** Blossom, Buttercup, and Bubbles are ''supposed'' to be ''five years old'', yet they (especially Blossom and Buttercup) act like they're at ''least'' 12 years old or so, what with their understanding of certain sexual things like seduction, in a mild way at least; the first time they beat the Rowdyruff Boys by kissing them, they were tipped off to that weakness by Miss Bellum hinting at them by telling them to "act ''nice''" [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar and showing them her cleavage]] to solidify the fact. True, they aren't necessarily human so that ''may'' be a justification on their maturity, but the thing is, it's not just them- most of the other kids in the show are shown to be as equally mature as the Girls. Interestingly, this is also a rather strange case because they still occasionally struggle with problems a five year old might actually have, such as learning manners, getting over "cooties", sharing, and learning what's right from wrong; but, even then, they learn about those things in a more mature way than actual five year old girls would.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' plays with this trope all over the place. Dipper and Mabel, just shy of thirteen, are ridiculously capable (Dipper can do advanced mathematics and Mabel is an ActionGirl who can fire a mean grappling hook) and tend to slip into adultlike conversation (example: Mabel, trying to convince an elderly woman to date her great-uncle, explains that "[[BlackComedy women live longer than men so your dating pool is smaller and you should really lower your standards]]"), but the writing clearly treats them as children, with the naiveté you'd expect, and their goals and ambitions (crushes, etc.) tend to reflect those of actual twelve-year-olds. It's somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] with regard to Dipper in that he's considered "mature for his age," and his main character flaw is the need to be grown-up and to be seen as an adult. The show frequently highlights the fact that "[his] quest for maturity is in itself immature," as creator Alex Hirsch puts it; his PrecociousCrush on a 15-year-old friend, for instance, only serves to underscore the fact that he's not ready to be one of her peers yet. The fact that their arch-nemesis Gideon Gleeful is canonically ''[[AllThereInTheManual nine]]'' seems to be attributable to TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior with a dash of RuleOfFunny.

* Many ''Series/SesameStreet'' Muppets have canonical ages. For example, Zoe is five, Elmo is three, and Big Bird is six. They act like children, but they don't like anything like their actual ages. Their vocabulary is more advanced, they're more emotionally mature, and they're more developmentally advanced as well. There are, however, some moments when they act their age, such as Elmo being too young to fully grasp his uncle's death, but usually most Muppets act several year older than they are supposed to be.

* Some readers have suggested Tiffany Aching, the nine-year-old witch in ''Discworld/TheWeeFreeMen'' doesn't seem like a real nine-year-old (she seems to pretty much run the dairy herself, for a start). The Brownie troop that made Creator/TerryPratchett an honorary member disagreed, though...

* Most, if not all, of ''WebAnimation/ActuallyHappened'''s stories are either fake or embellished stories stolen from websites. The stories star teens but they don't always sound like they are. One major example is ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AsofoVl0GA How I Got Pregnant At 12]]''. The protagonist talks about how her boyfriend Carter looks like a man, Carter is implied to be experienced even before they have TheirFirstTime, and [[MinorLivingAlone is able to rent his own place]], but both are twelve. The art doesn't help as [[ArtisticAge they both look like adults]].

** ''Seies/TheOC''

* Pretty much ''all'' the protagonists in the various incarnations of Franchise/PowerRangers rarely act their or partake in realistic activities for their age.
** Even in the shows where the Rangers are adults, they seem far more along in their civilian careers than people in their early-mid twenties usually are.

* "Assigned Male" is [in]famous for this. The protagonist, Stephie, is supposed to be eleven........ yet all she seems to care about is how cisnormative gender roles buds patriarchal masculine fragility.

* ''WesternAnimation/PJMasks'': According to WordOfGod, the 3 heroes are ''six years old'', yet they are superhero's with their own headquarters, can pilot vehicles, and aside from the occasional time they do act childlike, are overall more mature than you'd expect children their age to be. The same also applies to their enemies, the nighttime villains, who are around the same age.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' ten is the age at which one can leave home to become a Trainer and fend for him- or herself. And while they are still called "boys" and "girls" instead of "kids", they still look, talk, and sound more like teenagers (notably, fans have remarked about Hau from ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' actually acts like a pre-teen compared to the others). And how do they make money to support themselves (and their Pokémon) if they're traveling all the time and can't hold a job in any fixed location? [[note]]It could be argued that the answer to that last question is that it's like in the games, where you earn money by winning battles... but that becomes FridgeLogic when you remember that you earn money by battling other trainers (who presumably earn their money the same way), thus making the entire economy basically a giant pyramid scheme. That said, in the anime we see Jessie and James occasionally performing odd jobs for money (the times when they're not trying to pay off a debt). So it can be assumed that the trainers may sometimes do the same. And, of course, parents. They probably give their kids some starting cash for their journey, since we see them having jobs of their own sometimes. Oh yeah, and one episode addressed how the rarely mentioned government hands out funds to gym leaders.[[/note]] At the same time, the fictional society of ''Pokemon'' has the titular creatures being so centered into society that perhaps it's just very difficult to imagine how their society would have ended up similar to the real world, yet also much more differently.

* Pretty much ''all'' the protagonists in the various incarnations of PowerRangers rarely act their or partake in realistic activities for their age.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' is justified with the babies; if the babies actually acted like babies, there would be no show. So they act closer to 3-5 years old except they can't communicate with the adults. On the other hand, Angelica, who is supposed to be 3, is able to communicate with the adults, and is far more articulate than a 3 year old should be. Making her a straight example. This one was mocked in a ''WesternAnimation/FairlyOddParents'' movie, where Timmy Turner enters a show which looks the same, but with the children actually acting like the toddlers they are.

* In ''Literature/ThePendragonAdventure'', the "books" [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis are Bobby Pendragon's memories of what just happened to him being recorded]]. He writes in very professional prose. During the course of the series, the timeline is different for him than for the characters who primarily stay on earth; he is probably older than expected (and he does write a lot).

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** The majority of the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' cast are under 20, while the main protagonist himself is 15. Tails is 8. Child Genius or not, he seems more mature/rational than the rest of the main cast. Also, since when is a 15 year-old and an 8 year-old allowed in a casino? There are almost no adults and [[InvisibleParents only one member of the cast has a parent]] (six year old Cream), meaning that everyone [[MinorLivingAlone lives by themselves]]. 12-year old Amy is shown owning more than one apartment/house for herself and doing her own groceries in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. Amy herself has always acted like a teenager when she's twelve (originally ''eight'').
** The series' usage of this trope has led to adaptations accidentally {{age lift}}ing the characters. For example, Amy's 12-year old design is 17 in ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', while she has a VagueAge in ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' but is always treated as a teenager.

** The series' usage of this trope has led to accidentally adaptations {{age lift}}ing the characters. For example, Amy's 12-year old design is 17 in ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', while she has a VagueAge in ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' but is always treated as a teenager.

* This appears to be the case in ''Manga/SilverSpoon''. The characters, who are all in their first year of high school, and thus no older than fifteen, seem to have decided their career paths already (they attend a vocational school, but it still provides quite a lot of mutually exclusive options) ''except'' for the FishOutOfWater protagonist, who is self-conscious about it. In RealLife, a ''lot'' of people are unsure of their ultimate careers until they're in college, if not later. But this pales in comparison to the fact that, despite the cast being made up of young teenagers, ItsAllAboutMe is conspicuous by its absence. Mikage has completely accepted that [[spoiler:she has to succeed the family business despite it conflicting with her own desires]], and doesn't complain about it even once, even though she is of the age where teenagers are more openly rebellious and self-centered than any other, to a much greater extent than can plausibly be explained by ValuesDissonance. Komaba is even more ridiculously mature for his age; when [[spoiler:his family's farm is foreclosed, and he is left no choice but to withdraw from school and get a job, he outright turns down a friend's offer to manage their own farm because [[HonorBeforeReason he doesn't deserve it]] and would rather be a SelfMadeMan]]. No adolescent narcissism here! At least there's a [[FreudianExcuse plausible reason]] for why Hachiken doesn't act his age.
** This point is actually noted and dismissed as a statistical anomaly in-show: the hero finds it strange and feels a little left-behind to be the only one with no concrete future plans, but his friend just notes that somehow that one class got filled with people set to inherit who like their family business, while most of the school has normal teens with far less in terms of plans for the future.

* ''Franchise/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles}}''.

* Even for a precocious CreepyChild, Pearl from ''Literature/TheScarletLetter'' is too mature for her age. Even as a toddler she sounds much older than intended.

writer.

* ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' is even worse about this than most other adaptations. The characters are preteens and teens in all-but name. 10 and 11 year olds run around and fight oftentimes brutal Pokémon battles with no adults in sight. X works with the police and White runs her own company despite neither being over 15.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** The majority of the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' cast are under 20, while the main protagonist himself is 15. Tails is 8. Child Genius or not, he seems more mature/rational than the rest of the main cast. Also, since when is a 15 year-old and an 8 year-old allowed in a casino? There are almost no adults and [[InvisibleParents only one member of the cast has a parent]] (six year old Cream), meaning that everyone [[MinorLivingAlone lives by themselves]]. 12-year old Amy is shown owning more than one apartment/house for herself and doing her own groceries in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. Amy herself has always acted like a teenager when she's twelve (originally ''eight'').