Movies and TV series about coming of age
The 60 best titles about coming of age, ranked by the iRank Score — our composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb. Every page includes cast, where to watch and similar recommendations.
The Lion King
1994 · Roger Allers
MovieAnimationDramaFamilyYoung lion prince Simba, eager to one day become king of the Pride Lands, grows up under the watchful eye of his father Mufasa; all the while his villainous uncle Scar conspires to take the throne for
Hunter x Hunter
2011
SeriesAction & AdventureAnimationSci-Fi & FantasyGon, a young boy who lives on Whale Island, dreams of becoming a Hunter like his father, who left when Gon was still young.
Anne with an E
2017 · Tina Grewal
SeriesDramaFamilyA coming-of-age story about an outsider who, against all odds and numerous challenges, fights for love and acceptance and for her place in the world. The series centers on a young orphaned girl in the
Kamisama Kiss
2012 · Sadakazu Kikuchi
SeriesAnimationComedySci-Fi & FantasyNanami was just a normal high school girl down on her luck until a stranger’s lips marked her as the new Land God and turned her world upside down. Now, she’s figuring out the duties of a deity with t
Call Me by Your Name
2017 · Luca Guadagnino
MovieDramaRomanceIn the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's father, a professor of Greco-Roman culture. Soon,
Gravity Falls
2012
SeriesAction & AdventureAnimationComedyTwin brother and sister Dipper and Mabel Pines are in for an unexpected adventure when they spend the summer helping their great uncle Stan run a tourist trap in the mysterious town of Gravity Falls,
Stranger Things
2016 · Curtis Gwinn
SeriesAction & AdventureMysterySci-Fi & FantasyWhen a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one strange little girl.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
2019
SeriesAction & AdventureAnimationSci-Fi & FantasyAfter a demon attack leaves his family slain and his sister cursed, Tanjiro embarks upon a perilous journey to find a cure and avenge those he's lost.
Cardcaptor Sakura
1998
SeriesAction & AdventureAnimationSci-Fi & FantasySakura Kinomoto, an elementary school student who discovers that she possesses magical powers after accidentally freeing a set of magical cards from the book they had been sealed in for years. She is
Love, Victor
2020 · Adam Fishbach
SeriesComedyDramaVictor is a new student at Creekwood High School on his own journey of self-discovery, facing challenges at home, adjusting to a new city, and struggling with his sexual orientation. When it all seems
City of God
2002 · Fernando Meirelles
MovieCrimeDramaIn the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighbo
Heartstopper
2022
SeriesDramaTeens Charlie and Nick discover their unlikely friendship might be something more as they navigate school and young love in this coming-of-age series.
Little Women
2019 · Greta Gerwig
MovieDramaRomanceFour sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Cinema Paradiso
1988 · Giuseppe Tornatore
MovieDramaRomanceA filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.
Young Royals
2021
SeriesDramaPrince Wilhelm adjusts to life at his prestigious new boarding school, Hillerska, but following his heart proves more challenging than anticipated.
DARLING in the FRANXX
2018
SeriesAnimationComedyDramaThe distant future: Humanity established the mobile fort city, Plantation, upon the ruined wasteland. Within the city were pilot quarters, Mistilteinn, otherwise known as the “Birdcage.” That is where
Golden Time
2013
SeriesAnimationDramaBanri Tada is a freshman at a Tokyo law school. After an accident, he suffers severe memory loss. Despite the incident, he befriends fellow freshman, Mitsuo Yanagisawa, which leads him to the beautifu
Mob Psycho 100
2016
SeriesAction & AdventureAnimationComedyShigeo Kageyama, a.k.a. "Mob," is a boy who has trouble expressing himself, but who happens to be a powerful esper. Mob is determined to live a normal life and keeps his ESP suppressed, but when his e
Maid Sama!
2010
SeriesAnimationComedyMisaki Ayuzawa is the first female student council president at a once all-boys school turned co-ed. She rules the school with strict discipline demeanor. But she has a secret, she works at a maid caf
My Dress-Up Darling
2022 · Hirotaka Kaneko
SeriesAnimationComedyDramaHigh schooler Wakana Gojo wants to become a kashirashi—a master craftsman who makes traditional Japanese Hina dolls. Though he's gung-ho about the craft, he knows nothing about the latest trends, and
The Queen's Gambit
2020 · Scott Frank
SeriesDramaIn a 1950s orphanage, a young girl reveals an astonishing talent for chess and begins an unlikely journey to stardom while grappling with addiction.
The Florida Project
2017 · Sean Baker
MovieDramaThe story of a precocious six year-old and her ragtag group of friends whose summer break is filled with childhood wonder, possibility and a sense of adventure while the adults around them struggle wi
Steven Universe
2013 · Brian A. Miller
SeriesAction & AdventureAnimationComedyA young boy takes his mother's place in a group of gemstone-based beings, and must learn to control his powers.
American Beauty
1999 · Sam Mendes
MovieDramaLester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Almost Famous
2000 · Cameron Crowe
MovieDramaMusicIn 1973, 15-year-old William Miller's unabashed love of music and aspiration to become a rock journalist lands him an assignment from Rolling Stone magazine to interview and tour with the up-and-comin
The Wonder Years
1988 · Carol Black
SeriesComedyDramaFamilyThe story of Kevin Arnold facing the trials and tribulations of youth while growing up during the 1960s and 70s. Told through narration from an adult Kevin, Kevin faces the difficulties of maintaining
Boogie Nights
1997 · Paul Thomas Anderson
MovieComedyDramaIn 1977, an idealistic porn producer and his promising protege try to catch up with the end of an era before their never-ending party collides with cold, hard reality.
The Promised Neverland
2019
SeriesAnimationDramaMysteryEmma, Norman and Ray are the brightest kids at the Grace Field House orphanage. And under the care of the woman they refer to as “Mom,” all the kids have enjoyed a comfortable life. Good food, clean c
Girl Meets World
2014 · Michael Jacobs
SeriesComedyFamilyThe adventures of relatable and adventurous Riley Matthews, the tween daughter of Cory and Topanga Matthews, and her bold best friend Maya as they traverse the twists and turns of teenage years at Man
The Boy and the Heron
2023 · Hayao Miyazaki
MovieAnimationDramaFantasyWhile the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking
All of Us Are Dead
2022
SeriesAction & AdventureDramaSci-Fi & FantasyA high school becomes ground zero for a zombie virus outbreak. Trapped students must fight their way out — or turn into one of the rabid infected.
Boy Meets World
1993 · David Kendall
SeriesComedyDramaFamilyThe coming of age events and everyday life-lessons of Cory Matthews, a Philadelphian who grows up from a young boy to a married man.
Moonrise Kingdom
2012 · Wes Anderson
MovieComedyDramaRomanceSet on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilde
Y Tu Mamá También
2001 · Alfonso Cuarón
MovieDramaRomanceIn Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.
The Little Mermaid
1989 · Ron Clements
MovieAnimationFamilyFantasyThis colorful adventure tells the story of an impetuous mermaid princess named Ariel who falls in love with the very human Prince Eric and puts everything on the line for the chance to be with him. Me
Boyz n the Hood
1991 · John Singleton
MovieCrimeDramaIn the middle of the Los Angeles ghetto, drugs, robberies and shootings dominate everyday life. During these times, Furious tries to raise his son Tre to be a decent person. Tre's friends, on the othe
Sex Education
2019 · Clare Couchman
SeriesComedyDramaInexperienced Otis channels his sex therapist mom when he teams up with rebellious Maeve to set up an underground sex therapy clinic at school.
The Legend of Korra
2012
SeriesAction & AdventureAnimationFamilyAvatar Korra, a headstrong, rebellious, feisty young woman who continually challenges and breaks with tradition, is on her quest to become a fully realized Avatar. In this story, the Avatar struggles
Gurren Lagann
2007
SeriesAction & AdventureAnimationSci-Fi & FantasyWhen a young laborer escapes to the world aboveground, he discovers a violent land in which humans battle robots controlled by a power-hungry noble.
Captain Tsubasa
2018
SeriesAnimationComedyDramaThe passionate story of an elementary school student whose thoughts and dreams revolve almost entirely around the love of soccer. 11-year-old Tsubasa Oozora started playing football at a very young ag
Dead Poets Society
1989 · Peter Weir
MovieDramaAt an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of
The Graduate
1967 · Mike Nichols
MovieComedyDramaRomanceA disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
Freaks and Geeks
1999 · Judd Apatow
SeriesComedyDramaHigh school mathlete Lindsay Weir rebels and begins hanging out with a crowd of burnouts (the "freaks"), while her brother Sam Weir navigates a different part of the social universe with his nerdy fri
The Fabelmans
2022 · Steven Spielberg
MovieDramaGrowing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of f
High School of the Dead
2010 · Hiroyuki Omori
SeriesAction & AdventureAnimationDramaA small group of students at Fujimi High are fighting for their lives after surviving a zombie outbreak. It is up to Takashi to unite the survivors and escape the horrors that surround them. In this n
Stand by Me
1986 · Rob Reiner
MovieCrimeDramaAfter learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four boys decide to go see the body. Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms
2018 · Mari Okada
MovieAnimationDramaFantasyFleeing the war, the immortal Machia, graced with eternal youth, finds a baby abandoned in the forest and decides to raise it as her own child, sparking a moving story between a mortal and a being who
Normal People
2020 · Anna Ferguson
SeriesDramaMarianne and Connell weave in and out of each other's lives in this exploration of sex, power and the desire to love and be loved.
A Silent Voice: The Movie
2016 · Naoko Yamada
MovieAnimationDramaRomanceShouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lack of compassion. Whe
Blue Is the Warmest Color
2013 · Abdellatif Kechiche
MovieDramaRomanceAdèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks h
Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026MethodologyData sources