History Main / MostWritersAreAdults

* In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' ten is the age at which one can leave home to become a Trainer and fend for 'emself. And while they are still called "kids" and "children" instead of "young adults", 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 ''Pokémon'' 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.

->''"Because never in my entire childhood did I feel like a child. I felt like a person all along--the same person that I am today. ....The nasty side of myself wanted to answer that guidance counselor by saying, the only reason you don't think gifted children talk this way is because they know better than to talk this way in front of ''you''"''.

* Simultaneously justified and averted in ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'': the featured pre-teens are Jason and Marcus, whose adult speech and mannerisms are justified by them being a pair of [[TVGenius hyper-intelligent]] [[{{Nerd}} ultra-nerds]]. Averted in that the two also indulge in childish mannerisms, and their peers behave in age-appropriate manners.

* One point of criticism in the [[EightPointEight Anime News Network review]] of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' is the seemingly unrealistic maturity of the main character. The first time we see the nine-year-old heroine, she's pondering the direction and purpose of her life, which has been perfectly ordinary so far.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'':

* ''Film/SpyKids'', particularly the sequels and ''especially'' the third one.

** Somewhat justified in universe, since they shared facilities with the ComicBook/XMen, whose original team were teenagers and the that Kitty Pryde was on the adult team despite being the same age as the ComicBook/NewMutants. She'd joined the team and earned her place before the New Mutants were formed.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

** In Lauren’s epilogue, the emotionally immature Tamara has an insight that encourages the protagonist to [[spoiler:propose to his girlfriend]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' ten is the age at which one can leave home to become a Trainer and fend for 'emself. And while they are still called "kids" and "children" instead of "young adults", 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.
** ''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. Blake is a high-ranking member of the International Police and White runs her own company despite neither being over 15.

* Played with relentlessly in ''Manga/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' to the point of a study on the trope of the type "What measure is an adult?". Both Utena and Anthy are 14 but are described by a 10-year-old kid as "adults" which they ponder about adult things they have done, the same kid is called childish by a 11 year old girl for trying to act more mature, 13-year-old Kozue has an active sex life but is shown to not be due to mature reasons but childish pettiness, Juri (16) is the more composed of the student council and apparently the most mature but still doesn't understand how to identify the toxic relationship she's in, and all of them from Nanami (13) to Touga (17 or 18) are being manipulated by an actual malicious adult who in turn is very vapid about his maturity but since they all are just teens, they're unable to notice.

* Ayla in ''Literature/ClanOfTheCaveBear'' matures exeptionally fast both physically and emotionally. She is taught to become a medicine woman at the age of six, teaches herself to hunt at the age of nine (which was also when she has her first death curse, the neanderthal equivelent of incarceration), goes through sexual maturity at the age of ten and has her first child at the age of eleven (!!!). Then again, she is raised by neanderthals, who physically mature at a faster rate than the cromagnons and wonder why she did not physically mature EARLIER than she did.

** ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' and ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' have the same justification as ''Adventure'', with the caveat that Taiki is slightly more reasonably-aged than the ''Adventure'' protagonists. ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' is the most reasonable: the youngest of the protagonists is fourteen, and they're working for what amounts to a police force.

* The ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}},'' depending on the version, had characters considered legally adult at 14. The reboot had Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl getting married at [[ComicBookTime some vague age not too long after that]], which on top of that happened when ''another'' 14 year old almost got married.

Note that children acting in [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehaviour ways that they shouldn't be able to, i.e. like adults,]] is also a common [[CreepyChild go-to Horror Trope]], though [[RuleOfFunny comedic versions]] are not unheard of, either.

* This is a common criticism of ''Manga/ShugoChara'' where the 11-12 year old protagonists act like they're 15/16. Oddly enough. Utau, who is actually 15, still acts more mature (Although, some times, it [[BigEater only]] [[IWasJustPassingThrough is]] [[TheGlomp an act.]]), whereas Ikuto, who is two years older than her, is actually more of an [[TheTrickster impish]] figure, but still manages to be probably more mature than ''her'' when he isn't doing that. (Although whether it's for the best or not is [[PoorCommunicationKills variable.]]) Conversely, the protagonists can also act immature for their age as well. In the manga, Amu screams "this isn't in the health manual!" after seeing the guardian eggs for the first time and wonders why her fifth grade classmates are talking about bras [[RealityisUnrealistic even though most girls begin puberty at that age and have a vague idea about sex and reproduction.]] And there's Yaya, whose rationale for her immaturity is being unable to cope with her baby brother's birth... err, Peach-Pit? [[SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay Pre-teens do not work that way.]]

->''"Does anyone else our age even listen to [[[TheNineties 90's Music]]]? Or it is just [[SelfDeprecation mostly 30-year-olds who tend to write characters in our age group?]]"''
-->-- '''Lionel''', ''Series/DearWhitePeople''

->''"Because never in my entire childhood did I feel like a child. I felt like a person all along--the same person that I am today. ....The nasty side of myself wanted to answer that guidance counselor by saying, the only reason you don't think gifted children talk this way is because they know better than to talk this way in front of ''you''"''.
-->-- '''Creator/OrsonScottCard''', defending his use of this trope in the introduction to ''Literature/EndersGame''

->''"Does anyone else our age even listen to [[[TheNineties 90's Music]]]? Or it is just [[SelfDeprecation mostly 30-year-olds who tend to write characters in our age group?]]"''
-->-- '''Lionel''', ''Series/DearWhitePeople''

->''"Does anyone else our age even listen to [[[TheNineties 90's Music]]]? Or it is just mostly 30-year-olds who tend to write characters in our age group?"''

->''"Because never in my entire childhood did I feel like a child. I felt like a person all along--the same person that I am today. ....The nasty side of myself wanted to answer that guidance counselor by saying, the only reason you don't think gifted children talk this way is because they know better than to talk this way in front of ''you''"''.
-->-- '''Creator/OrsonScottCard''', defending his use of this trope in the introduction to ''Literature/EndersGame''

Of course, TropesAreNotBad, and RealityIsUnrealistic; plenty of children have interests in things outside of stereotypical children's activities, and sometimes a show where kids act exactly their age simply isn't the most interesting thing that could be happening.

* "Assigned Male" is [in]famous for this. The protagonist, Stephie, is supposed to be eleven, yet a lot of the time all she seems to care about is how cisnormative gender roles buds patriarchal masculine fragility. The child characters do sometimes act their ages, but the focus is often on having them discuss serious topics in a very mature way. Granted, being transgender can force people to learn more terminology and form hard opinions on things they wouldn't otherwise out of necessity, and everyone develops differently, but having children discuss such topics so eloquently and frequently is ''really'' pushing it.

** 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.

* This is a common criticism of ''Manga/ShugoChara'' where the 11-12 year old protagonists act like they're 15/16. Oddly enough. Utau, who is actually 15, still acts more mature (Although, some times, it [[BigEater only]] [[IWasJustPassingThrough is]] [[TheGlomp an act.]]), whereas Ikuto, who is two years older than her, is actually more of an [[TheTrickster impish]] figure, but still manages to be probably more mature than ''her'' when he isn't doing that. (Although whether it's for the best or not is [[PoorCommunicationKills variable.]]) Conversely, the protagonists can also act immature for their age as well. In the manga, Amu screams "this isn't in the health manual!" after seeing the guardian eggs for the first time and wonders why her fifth grade classmates are talking about bras [[RealityisUnrealistic even though most girls begin puberty at that age and have a vague idea about sex and reproduction.]] And there's Yaya, whose rationale for her immaturity is being unable to cope with her baby brother's birth... err, Peach Pit? [[SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay Pre-teens do not work that way.]]

* ''Manga/ShugoChara'': Amu and her classmates are barely pubescent, and yet they act like teenagers.

* ''Manga/KocchiMuiteMikko'' This series has good chunk about puberty and serious topics that rarely shown at Kids Manga series. Oh, and its features romance as well, Involving ''underage characters''.