March has always felt like a threshold month to me. Not quite the beginning of the year anymore, not fully settled either. The urgency of January softens, the fog of February lifts, and suddenly you’re standing in clearer light—aware of what’s working, what isn’t, and who you might be becoming…
…March feels like a coming-of-age.
Coming-of-age stories are rarely about grand victories.
They’re about smaller shifts—
the moment you realize your parents are flawed,
the first time love makes you braver (or crueler),
the quiet recognition that the world is bigger than your bedroom walls.
But coming of age isn’t limited to adolescence. It’s not just first crushes and school corridors and the awkward poetry of being seventeen. It’s any moment when illusion falls away, and something steadier takes its place. It’s choosing responsibility over impulse. It’s understanding your parents differently. It’s realizing your dreams will require effort—or letting go of the ones that won’t survive reality. Sometimes it’s quiet. Sometimes it’s devastating. Often, it’s both.
This month’s theme gathers adaptations that capture those turning points—stories where characters step into a new version of themselves, always changed. Some are youthful. Some arrive much later in life. All of them understand that growing up is less about age and more about awareness.
Let’s begin.
(the titles are listed alphabetically)
(if you missed the first half of Coming-of-Age Adaptations, you can read Part One here)
Coming-of-Age Adaptations
the adaptation archive · 1 Mar
And now, the second half of Coming-of-Age Adaptations.
- March Comes in Like a Lion | 2016 | 45 eps
Directed by: Kenjirô Okada
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Animation, Drama
March Comes in Like a Lion, adapted from Chica Umino’s manga, follows a young professional shogi player living alone in Tokyo while carrying grief, isolation, and the pressure of expectation. Structured around seasons, matches, and small domestic rituals, the series treats coming-of-age as gradual healing rather than sudden transformation.
- Mysterious Skin | 2004 | 105 min
Directed by: Gregg Araki
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Drama
Mysterious Skin, adapted from Scott Heim’s novel, follows two boys whose childhood sexual abuse shapes their adolescent identities in starkly different ways—one retreating into alien-abduction fantasies, the other into reckless detachment. Harrowing and intimate, Mysterious Skin treats coming-of-age not as awakening, but as the painful process of confronting what was never allowed to be named.
- My Brilliant Friend | 2018 | 34 eps
Creator: Saverio Costanzo
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Drama
My Brilliant Friend, adapted from Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, follows two girls growing up in post-war Naples, their friendship unfolding across decades of rivalry, devotion, and divergence. Intimate and unsparing, the series treats coming-of-age not as a solitary journey, but as something shaped in relation to another—mirrored, challenged, and sometimes eclipsed.
- My Life As a Dog | 1985 | 102 min
Directed by: Lasse Hallström
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Period Drama
My Life as a Dog, adapted from Reidar Jönsson’s novel, follows a young boy sent to live in the countryside while his mother battles illness. Filtering hardship through humor and imagination, the film treats coming-of-age as a negotiation with grief—where resilience grows in unexpected places.
- Open Seas | 2018 | 102 min
Directed by: Michiel van Erp
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Drama
Niemand in de Stad (Open Seas), adapted from Philip Huff’s novel, follows two university freshmen drawn into the rituals and hierarchies of an elite Amsterdam student fraternity. Observational and emotionally restrained, the film treats coming-of-age as complicity: the slow realization that the desire to fit in can cost more than solitude ever did.
- Out of My Mind | 2024 | 107 min
Directed by: Amber Sealey
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Drama
Out of My Mind, adapted from Sharon M. Draper’s novel, follows a brilliant young girl with cerebral palsy who cannot speak but refuses to be underestimated. As she gains access to a communication device, the film reframes coming-of-age as recognition of intellect, agency, and the right to be heard.
- Persepolis | 2007 | 95 min
Directed by: Vincent Paronnaud
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Adult Animation
Persepolis, adapted from Marjane Satrapi’s graphic memoir, traces a young girl’s coming-of-age amid the Iranian Revolution and its aftermath. Rendered in stark black-and-white animation, the film balances political upheaval with personal rebellion, treating adolescence as both intimate and historical.
- Soulmate | 2023 | 124 min
Directed by: Min Yong-keun
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Drama, Romance
Soulmate, directed by Min Yong-keun, follows two girls whose intense childhood friendship deepens, fractures, and reshapes across years of longing, distance, and romantic entanglement. Adapted from the Chinese film Soul Mate (itself inspired by Anni Baobei’s novel), the story treats coming-of-age as something shared—formed in comparison, rivalry, and devotion.
- Submarine | 2010 | 98 min
Directed by: Richard Ayoade
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Drama, Romance
Submarine, adapted from Joe Dunthorne’s novel, follows a self-conscious Welsh teenager determined to lose his virginity and save his parents’ marriage—preferably in that order. Deadpan and self-aware, the film treats adolescence as performance, where irony masks insecurity and love is rehearsed before it’s felt. Offbeat yet sincere, Submarine frames coming-of-age as the slow dismantling of the version of yourself you’ve carefully narrated.
- The Mighty | 1998 | 100 min
Directed by: Peter Chelsom
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Comedy, Drama
The Mighty, adapted from Rodman Philbrick’s novel Freak the Mighty, follows an unlikely friendship between a physically small, intellectually brilliant boy and a larger, learning-disabled classmate. Tender and earnest, the film treats coming-of-age as companionship—where courage is learned not alone, but through the faith someone else places in you.
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie | 1969 | 116 min
Directed by: Ronald Neame
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Drama
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, adapted from Muriel Spark’s novel, follows an unorthodox schoolteacher who exerts a powerful, often troubling influence over a select group of students in 1930s Edinburgh. Elegant and quietly unsettling, the film treats coming-of-age as discernment: the moment when admiration gives way to independent thought.
- The Queen’s Gambit | 2020 | 07 eps
Directed by: Scott Frank
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Drama
The Queen’s Gambit, adapted from Walter Tevis’s novel, follows an orphaned chess prodigy whose ascent through competitive ranks is shadowed by addiction, loneliness, and the cost of brilliance. Set against mid-century America, the series treats coming-of-age as mastery of the board, of the self, and of the narratives imposed on gifted women.
- The Quiet Girl | 2022 | 94 min
Directed by: Colm Bairéad
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Drama
The Quiet Girl, adapted from Claire Keegan’s novella Foster, follows a withdrawn young girl sent to live with distant relatives for the summer. In the stillness of rural Ireland, she encounters a gentler kind of care—one that allows her to be seen without scrutiny. Spare and deeply tender, the film treats coming-of-age as recognition: the quiet shift that happens when love is offered without demand.
- The Southern Chronicles | 2024 | 120 min
Directed by: Ignas Miškinis
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Comedy
Southern Chronicles, adapted from Rimantas Kmita’s Pietinia Kronikas, follows a restless teenager in a small Lithuanian town navigating friendship, first love, and the awkward performance of masculinity. Light on plot but rich in atmosphere, The Southern Chronicles frames coming-of-age as the slow shedding of borrowed identities.
- Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl | 1989 | 38 eps
Directed by: Hiroko Tokita
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Comedy, Animation
Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl, adapted from Naoki Urasawa’s manga, follows a gifted teenage judoka who dreams of ordinary school life and romance rather than international medals. Torn between expectation and personal desire, the series balances sports ambition with comedic self-awareness.
- You Are the Apple of My Eye | 2011 | 109 min
Directed by: Giddens Ko
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Romcom, Drama
You Are the Apple of My Eye, adapted from Giddens Ko’s semi-autobiographical novel, follows a mischievous high school boy hopelessly drawn to the disciplined class topper he can never quite impress. Nostalgic without cynicism, You Are the Apple of My Eye frames adolescence as the period when affection feels absolute, even if it doesn’t last.
And that’s it.
Thanks for making it to the end.
Whether you watch one, a handful, or all thirty-one—
I hope something here makes you glad you found this newsletter.
— Piggy x
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