Getting transformed into a small child used to be more of a fanfiction trope than a thing you'd actually see in anime. These days, it's increasingly common to see a protagonist who is an adult trapped in the body of a child.
Sometimes, characters inhabit their own childhood selves, like when the main protagonist in Tokyo Revengers, Takemichi Hanagaki, travels backwards to his middle school self. At other times, they're reincarnated into an entirely different person, like when Dr. Goro Amemiya is reborn as the child of an idol, Ai Hoshino, in Oshi no Ko. Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok is about a powerful god who is turned into a little boy and sent to another world.
Which character changes in the most interesting way? Take a look at the series below and vote for the best series where the adult MC turns into a child.
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- Parallel World Pharmacy
- Diomedéa
Kanji Yakutani is a medical professional who has dedicated his life to researching the tumor that took his younger sister. But he ends up working himself into the grave. He's soon reincarnated as Falma de Médicis, the son of a prominent family of medical practitioners. He soon discovers that he possesses the deity's divine blessing - an ability that lets him create any substance as long as he understands its chemical properties.
He wants to combine his modern medical knowledge with his new power to bring real medical treatment to the masses. His age is one barrier, but it's not the only one. In this world, who gets which treatments is highly dependent on class. What's more, the population doesn't understand germ theory, or much about modern medicine at all. He truly has his work cut out for him.
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- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation
- Studio Bind
Mushoku Tensei follows a deeply depressed 34-year-old shut-in who passes away trying to do something heroic after being kicked out of his home. He's reincarnated into a magical world as a child named Rudeus Greyrat. As Rudeus, he retains all of his memories, depression, and anxiety, but through a series of positive experiences, he manages to build a good life for himself.
But with magic comes danger - he's going to have to overcome a series of unexpected challenges if he means to survive and protect the people he loves.
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- Erased
- A-1 Pictures
29-year-old manga artist Satoru Fujinuma has one special ability - the power to go backwards in time to prevent disaster when it's about to strike. One day, he's falsely accused of murder and then flung much further back all the way to his elementary school days.
He soon realizes that what happened in the present may be connected to the demise of his classmate, Kayo Hinazuki. He makes up his mind to find out just what happened so many years ago, so that he can not just protect Kayo, but protect the people he cares about in his adult life.
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- Oshi no Ko
- Doga Kobo
When 16-year-old idol Ai Hoshino comes into Dr. Goro Amemiya's medical practice so he can help her safely deliver her twins, he's pretty excited to see his favorite idol up close. But that excitement disappears when he's murdered by Ai's stalker. However, that's not the end - he's soon reborn as one of Ai's children! The other twin is also a reincarnation - of Dr. Goro's twelve-year-old patient who recently passed away from cancer.
Now named Aquamarine and Ruby, the two of them must figure out life as the children of an idol. It turns out that it's a lot more painful than it is exciting - and Aquamarine is going to find the person responsible for the harshest pain and make them pay.
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- Wise Man's Grandchild
- SILVER LINK.
In a past life, Shin Wolford was a regular Japanese salaryman. In his new life, he's the adopted grandchild of Merlin, a celebrated magician. Shin has an incredible aptitude for both magic and martial arts, but because he's been raised in semi-isolation, he's not particularly adept at socializing.
To deal with this problem, Merlin sends him to their kingdom's magic academy. But any hopes of leading an ordinary life are quickly dashed - as Merlin's grandson, he's an instant celebrity.
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- The Saga of Tanya the Evil
- NUT
A disgruntled salaryman gets into a debate with Being X, a godlike figure who the salaryman absolutely refuses to believe in. Being X decides to try and force this man to cry out for salvation by transporting him into a dangerous magical warzone. But he isn't transported in his own physical form - he's turned into a little girl named Tanya Degurechaff.
Luckily, Tanya is stronger than she looks. Despite her age, she quickly rises through the ranks of the military and becomes one of its most dangerous fighters - all in service of eventually scoring a safe and easy life.
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- Ascendance of a Bookworm
- Ajia-do
Urano Motosu is just about to achieve her dream of becoming a librarian when she loses her life in an accident. She's reincarnated into a medieval fantasy world as Myne, a sickly young peasant girl.
She tries to get a grip on her new surroundings by finding books to read, but she soon discovers that books are impossibly expensive and only available to the wealthy. She decides to dedicate herself to bringing books to her new world. But her age, lack of finances, and magical malady are all going to be seriously obstacles.
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- The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me?
- SynergySP, Shin-Ei Animation
At 25, Shingo Ichinomiya is living a stressful life as an employee at a firm. That life comes to an end when he's unexpectedly reincarnated into the body of six-year-old Wendelin Von Benno Baumeister, the eighth son of an impoverished noble family.
Using the knowledge he gained from his adult life and his new magical powers, he dedicates himself to trying to better his family's financial situation.
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By the Grace of the Gods
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- By the Grace of the Gods
- Maho Film
In his previous life, Ryoma Takebayashi was an exhausted, unhappy 39-year-old man whose life revolved around work and had little to no emotional fulfillment outside of escaping his unhappiness through gaming and anime. He passes away from a brain hemorrhage in his sleep, but is soon reincarnated into a child in a magical world.
There, he has a singular mission - have the fun and relaxing life that he never could before. At first, this involves living alone in the forest raising slimes, but his world soon begins to open up.
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- 10
Knight's & Magic
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- Knight's & Magic
- 8bit
Tsubasa Kurata's life as an adult otaku comes to an abrupt end after a car accident. Luckily for him, he's reincarnated into a medieval world called the Fremmevilla Kingdom as Ernesti Echevarria, the child of a noble family. Or maybe it's not so lucky, because this world is overrun by demonic beasts that can only be defeated by mechs called the Silhouette Knights.
Ernesti is a magical prodigy, so he enrolls in Royal Laihaila Academy, where he will not only learn how to pilot these mechs, but create his own.
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- ReLIFE
- TMS Entertainment
At 27, Arata Kaizaki is living an aimless, kind of depressing existence - especially after something really traumatic happens at his job. Things change when he gets an unusual offer - take a pill and take on the appearance of his high school self, and attend his final year of high school again to see if he can turn things around for himself.
At first, he thinks it's going to be easy - after all, he has lots of life experience that he didn't have the first time. But not only has he forgotten most of what he learned in high school, he's physically weaker and can't keep up with all of the changes that have happened since his youth. This whole reliving life thing will prove to be a serious challenge.
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- Case Closed
- TMS Entertainment
This one isn't exactly about an adult becoming a child - Shinichi Kudo is a high school student before he gets dosed with an experimental drug that transforms him into a seven-year-old. But even though he's never been an adult, he's still dealing with a massive shift in identity - one that seriously hampers his detective business.
Taking on the alias Conan Edogawa, he decides to start covertly solving another detective's cases while trying to find the people who turned him into a kid and try to restore his original body.
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- Tokyo Revengers
- LIDENFILMS
As an adult, Takemichi Hanagaki's life isn't really going anywhere. He works at a video store and doesn't have much of a social life. His life changes when he learns that his ex-girlfriend Hinata Tachibana was killed by the Tokyo Manji Gang - a gang he used to belong to in middle school.
At first, this is just sad news. But he soon realizes that he can transport himself twelve years into the past, and become his childhood self. With support from Hinata's police officer brother, Takemichi decides to climb to the top of the Tokyo Manji Gang in order to save Hina. As he develops friendships with the members of the gang, he finds that he wants to save a lot more than just Hina. But can he actually save anyone, or is this endeavor doomed to failure?
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- Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok
- Studio Deen
After Loki, the Norse god of mischief, is exiled to the human realm, he winds up in the body of a small child. Things seem hopeless, but he does have an opportunity to get back to the realm of the gods - collect the auras of evil that shroud human hearts.
In order to track down people with these auras, he starts a detective agency with the help of a mystery fanatic named Mayura. But there are other Norse gods who don't want Loki to return - in fact, they want to get rid of him altogether.
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- Dragon Ball GT
- Toei Animation
Dragon Ball GT is a non-canon Dragon Ball series that has its share of fans, but isn't exactly the most popular part of the franchise. One element that divides fans is the fact that instead of wishing on the Black Star Dragon Balls for world domination, Pilaf accidentally wishes that Goku will transform into a small child.
When the Black Star Dragon Balls scatter, Goku teams up with his young granddaughter Pan and the young adult Trunks to try and find them before someone with more nefarious intentions can do the same.
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