In every anime, we had always been treated to a beautiful and dynamic, sometimes hilarious duo or partnership of characters – most often, they are best buddies, they are couples; and sometimes, they’re just a pair of adults and children in either familial bonds or an unlikely compromises due to certain circumstances.
Nonetheless, we often get some of the best and most heartfelt drama and learn so many life lessons from such a pair. Yes, I am talking about the last one, the pair of adult and child in anime usually delivers some of the most unexpected character development that captured the hearts of many viewers in one way or another.
In line with this, we have come up with a special list of recommendations for anime where the main characters are adult and child who shares their special bonds with us and teaches us life lessons from their experience and development. These are anime where the adult is taking care of a child, or they somehow stumbled upon each other and each of them influenced the life of the other both in big and small ways. At times, a cute and special friendship also buds between them, on which they find strength and inspiration in the presence of one another.
12 Anime with Adult and Child as MCs & Share Special Bonds
Barakamon
On top of my list of anime where the MC is an adult who shares a special bond with a child, Handa-kun from Barakamon is a reflection of a certain side of myself and that is why I am fascinated by this anime. Barakamon follows the story of Handa-kun who retreated to a remote island and was shocked by the laid-back and honest nature of the islanders. There, he meets a young child who he never expected will teach him plenty of life lessons throughout his time on the island. There, he had learn that it only takes the simple things in life to get happy as it shows you to value little things that we often disregard.
Related Post: Barakamon is Touching, Heartfelt, and Utterly Wonderful
Bunny Drop
An unusual family story, Bunny Drop is a story of journeying through fatherhood. The slice-of-life anime is a funny and heartfelt ride and teaches us a lot of life lessons as well as struggles that many people can relate to.
Poco’s Udon World
This anime goes beyond the usual familial bonds but also includes what we found outside of our own family. This is the story of two unlikely pairs, a web designer and a shape-shifting tanuki who grow fond of each other in both rural and urban settings. It thrives in its heartwarming story and a very generic yet strong message of familial love.
Sweetness and Lightning
One of the best anime that portrays a special bond between a father and his young daughter. Sweetness and Lightning features a lot of wholesome stuff, compelling enough to make every viewer fall in love with its antics.
Kakushigoto
Hilarious and heartwarming, this anime about a manga creator and his child is an amazing and adorable ride. It’s both cute and heartfelt, as we follow his daughter to uncover the secrets that he’s been trying to keep from her since she was a child. In the process, we get to learn how each of them became a pillar of existence in the other’s heart.
Golden Kamuy
So timely for the recently released Golden Kamuy Season 4 from the Fall 2022 anime lineup, this series means a whole lot to me, it’s one of my all-time favorites. It’s about a young girl from the Ainu tribe of Northern Japan and her encounter with a former soldier and a survivor of the Russian-Japanese War. For the sake of finding the lost gold of the Ainu tribe, they form an unlikely team-up, the former for the sake of finding the truth about his missing father and the latter to acquire the gold.
SPY X FAMILY
Here’s one of the most popular manga in recent years that had been adapted into an anime in 2022. It’s probably one of the most hilarious on this list as it follows the story of a spy, an assassin, and a psychic child in their game of house; and what turns out to be a fake family eventually ended up developing into a special home for each of one of them.
Croisee in a Foreign Labyrinth The Animation
Adapted from a manga, this slice-of-life anime is about a young girl from Japan who went to France to assist an old man in his shop, however, she ended up being taken care of by the shopkeeper’s son who was bewildered by her foreign customs.
Somali and the Forest Spirit
We have a golem and a human child in this fantasy-adventure anime. With humanity driven to near extinction and went into hiding, a lone human child was found by a golem, considered to be a guardian deity of the forest. As the golem’s lifespan reached near the end, he embarks on a journey to find a human settlement for the child, they develop a special bond as such of a father and a child.
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit
This fantasy and supernatural anime is an adventure about a young prince and his protector, a female warrior named Moribito, the titular character who takes an oath to protect the young prince from all threats even if the one that comes after him is his family, the royal family.
Alice & Zoroku
This anime is about a 75-year-old man and the young girl he managed to escape with from a lab that imprisoned and experimented on her. Little they did know, they will form a special bond later on that proves helpful in their development as a character and individuals.
Kurenai
This is an anime where the MC has to take care of a young girl as her protector. However, the story is more than what meets the eye as the MC also has to deal with the question of what is the biggest threat to the girl he has to protect.
