Early Teen Hero

"Ordinary Anne Boonchuy, 13, finds a music box that sends her to Amphibia, a world full of frogs, toads, and giant insects."

- Amphibia summary

The hero is the single character that people will relate to the most. They get the most screen time, they are the most developed character if they are the protagonist, and, unless you've got an Anti-Hero, they are the character the audience looks up to the most.

What if you want to appeal to children, or anyone who hasn't come of age? Enter the Middle-Aged Kiddo Hero, where the hero is a young teenager or about to become one. This is a subtrope of Kid Hero. The difference between the tropes is the age range. Whereas Kid Hero refers to any character who hasn't come of age, the difference here is that this trope only applies to twelve to fifteen year olds, with some loose extentions into eleven year olds. Fourteen appears to be a popular compromise.

This age range is specific, and immensely helps any storyteller. The character is young enough to be relatable to every child, but not so young that the writer cannot make the work serious. Having a child too young to be a hero can turn off older teens from viewing the work, but having a teen too old can turn off younger children from a work. Thus, this trope serves as a compromise between the two age ranges. The close age gap to children themselves means they can insert themselves into the character far easier than they can insert themselves into an adult, yet the serious tones which is often presented allows grown-ups to be invested in a work.

Because children prefer the bright and exaggerated scenes of animation over the dull reality presented in Live-Action TV, this is mostly an animation trope.

Note that sometimes the usage of this trope is only implied. If a character starts a Wizarding School or is a young high school student, it probably fits. If they are in primary school, or is about to graduate from said Wizarding School, it does not fit. A lot of times, the age of the hero is never explicitly stated. In that case, use common sense and ask yourself if the child is young enough to appeal to kids, yet old enough to appeal to adults. The things the hero does can also give a hint: no twelve year old will calculate interest on their car loan. Similarly, a seven year old probably won't go on a MacGuffin hunt.

If the trope is used, chances of Cerebus Syndrome are high. See also the parent trope Kid Hero.

Anime and Manga

 * Studio Ghibli productions:
 * The thirteen year old Kiki on her coming of age journey in Kiki's Delivery Service. Tombo also fits.
 * The thirteen year old Arrietty in The Borrower Arrietty, turning fourteen at the end of the film.
 * In When Marnie Was There, the twelve year old Anna is the hero.
 * Sheeta and Pazu from Laputa: Castle in the Sky are around this age range, although their ages are never explicitely stated.
 * Shizuku Tsukishima in Whisper of the Heart, attending junior high school. She is around the age of fourteen.
 * The Eva pilots in Neon Genesis Evangelion are all fourteen. Justified in that only children born after the Second Impact can pilot the Evangelions. Also Subverted in the sense that Neon Genesis Evangelion is by no means a kids' show nor does it try to appeal to young children.
 * In Violet Evergarden, Violet estimates that her age is around fourteen, although the series makes no effort to appeal to younger audiences. Violet's age allows the series to get dark quickly in episode nine.
 * In the Little Witch Academia franchise, Atsuko "Akko" Kagari's age is implied to be in this range as she starts Luna Nova.
 * Mary Smith in Mary and the Witch's Flower is around this age gap, mature enough to go on adventures in the nearby Wizarding School, but not mature enough to excel at it or fit in.
 * In Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, the titular Nadia is the standard fourteen years old. This age is crucial here, as the series gets dark real quickly.
 * In the Witch Hat Atelier manga, Coco, as well as the other girls at Qifrey's atelier (Tetia, Richeh, Agott) appear around this age. Their age is never explicitly stated, but their range can be inferred to be around this by their appearances, the fact that Qifrey calls them "girls", and by Coco's mum present in the first chapter.
 * Garrod Ran of After War Gundam X is 15, but looks pretty young for his age. Presumably apocalypse induced childhood malnutrition is at fault.

Film

 * Violet Parr from Pixar's The Incredibles is around this age.

Literature

 * In the Nevermoor series, Morrigan Crow initially starts out at eleven, however as the series progresses she ages into the trope's range.
 * In the Harry Potter series, Harry initially starts out in this range, but grows out of it as the books progress.
 * Sophie Foster in the Keeper of the Lost Cities franchise starts out being twelve, and remain in the range as the series progresses. Book number nine implies that she may have grown out of it, stating that she no longer keeps track of her age and that she may be sixteen.

Video Games

 * The thirteen year old Oliver fro Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.
 * Roughly half of the protagonists in the Atelier Series. Since the games typically take place over multiple years, nearly all of them enter late teens or even adulthood by the end of the game.

Western Animation

 * The fourteen year old Luz in The Owl House
 * Anne, Sasha, and Marcy are all stated to be thirteen years old in Amphibia (TV series).
 * In Gravity Falls, we have the twelve year old Dipper.