: Perhaps the most celebrated "deep" story in this category, it follows two middle schoolers—Shuichi Nitori, a girl born biologically male, and Yoshino Takatsuki, a boy born biologically female. The story avoids typical anime tropes to focus on the realistic emotional weight of puberty , the fear of a changing body, and the courage it takes to live authentically in a rigid society.

: While an idol comedy on the surface, Lily’s story is profoundly poignant. She is a transgender girl who died of shock after noticing a facial hair during puberty. As a zombie, she finds liberation in her undead state because her body will never age into a "man," allowing her to remain the girl she always was in spirit.

Deep stories in this genre often focus on the friction between internal identity and external expectation, as seen in these highly regarded series: