Chosen Family

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You can't choose your family but you can choose your friends!

Chosen Family is the trope where characters who start out as strangers start their relationship as friends but then grow to the point that their bonds are like family. While these people may have their biological families, these friends can fulfill the role. In some cases, the characters might have something happen to their family, such as being separated or dying. In addition, there are some examples where a family would disown their members for whatever reason. These causes can leave an empty place in a character's life and may even traumatize them. However, they can develop not only a relationship but also as a person. This trope can happen due to many adventures, in the workplace, or just trying to save the world. While many circumstances can lead to this, the one thing for sure is that the bonds made from a Chosen Family cannot be easily broken.

See also Fire-Forged Friends and True Companions.

Examples of Chosen Family include:

Anime and Manga

• One Piece: As pictured above, the Straw Hats are a crew of pirates led by Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy refers to them as his nakama. Each of them had lost a family member early in life while also carrying a dream they wanted to accomplish. Yet, despite their diverse backgrounds, they come together in an intimate way that they can work as a team in many situations.
• Romantic Killer: It's revealed that Riri, rather than creating an Unwanted Harem for Anzu as was his directive, established this. Kazuki needed friends to help him recover from his trauma with a violent stalker named Yukasa, who went as far as to drug and dox him. While his father showed No Sympathy, his mother and sister decided to send him away for his safety, with Anissa regularly checking in on him. Anzu is the first girl that didn't trigger Kazuki's trauma, and he finds himself happy for the first time when living with her and Junta. Junta doesn't have any hangups, but he is insecure about how Anzu has never noticed his feelings for him since he used to be chubby "Tonta". While Hijiri doesn't come to live with them since he's wealthy, attending a normal school and working retail with Anzu tempers his narcissism, and he comes to respect how Anzu doesn't want his money or good looks. And Riri, for better or for worse, learns more about humans and breaks the rules to protect Anzu and Kazuki from Yukasa.
• Sailor Moon
  • Each season shows numerous times that the Inner Senshi, along with Mamoru and the cats, have become a true family. Mamoru and Makoto are orphans, Ami rarely sees her mother due to the latter being a busy doctor, Minako ran away from home in the manga to become a Senshi on realizing she had to fulfill her duties while in the anime they never show up, and Rei is estranged from her father and she keeps her grandfather at an arm's length in the manga due to her trauma while being overprotective of him in the anime. Usagi is the only one whose Good Parents are together and alive, but it's confirmed she needs her friends as her trauma accumulates over the seasons. Indeed, it's her friends nearly dying again that causes her to have her R upgrade, as it snaps her out of her Heroic BSOD about being forcibly reawakened.
  • The Outer Senshi also become this in the manga and the anime when they adopt Hotaru, who has reverted to baby form. Haruka and Michiru have taken over raising her, as it's unexplained in the anime what happened to Professor Tomoe who survived the events of the story and was confirmed to be brainwashed by the real Big Bads, Pharaoh 90 and Mistress Nine. What makes this an eventual tearjerker is that in Stars, Haruka and Michiru attempt to become Fake Defectors in an attempt to stop Galaxia, and "prove" their loyalty by killing Setsuna and Hotaru.

Comic Books

• Runaways have the titular group of teenagers realizing their parents are supervillains and running away to oppose their evil lifestyle. They all come together not only as a superhero group but also as a functioning family. Indeed, the first arc ends with Captain America finding the kids after they escaped their parents and sending them to foster care, but they all run away to reunite, realizing they Can't Stay Normal. The Rainbow Rowell arc goes as far as to have Molly suggest that Nico use magic to become the other kids' legal guardians rather than run away from foster care on a regular basis.

Fan Works

• By the end of the fourth chapter of the Sailor Moon fan fic Isekai by Moonlight, many of the Sailor Senshi considered themselves to be closer than siblings — to the point that the characters who had no living parents were either informally or officially adopted into Sailor Mercury's family.
• In the story Inter-Library Loan by Phouka -- part of a Mega Crossover series revolving around the Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters re-settling in Cleveland after the end of the series -- Xander explains to Winky the house elf how the Scoobies are all family who chose each other:

“But ...” and Winky's brow puckered. “Master Xander is not father. Neither is Master Giles or Master Jarod. Mistress Willow is not mother. Mistress Jenny is mother, but . . . not? Mistress Dawn and Mistress Buffy are sisters, but Master Xander and Mistress Willow are not. Winky is confused.” “Ah,” Xander said. “Okay, let me do a little explaining, Winky.” She gazed up at him in complete trust. “Some of us, like Dawn and Buffy, are lucky enough to be related by blood, and everybody calls that family. That kind of family, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Buffy and Dawn's family worked, but their mother died, and they were all alone. “Some of us, like me and Jenny, don't have anyone around who is related to us by blood. So we don't have any family that way. What we do have is some very good friends, friends like Master Giles and Mistress Poppins and Mistress Willow and Mistresses Buffy and Dawn. They are such good friends, and there is so much love, that I say they are my family. Master Giles should have been my father. Mistress Jenny is like my favorite aunt. Mistress Buffy is practically my sister. Does that make sense?” Winky was overwhelmed with thought for a long moment. “Master Xander, does anyone ever stop being family?” He took a deep breath. “Well, I won't say it's never happened, but they would have to try really, really, really hard. And we'd probably still say they were family.” “And Winky gets to be with Master Xander's family?” she asked. “Forever and a day.”

Film

• Over the Hedge has a group of different woodland animals that act like a family and even consist of two biological families that are a part of the group (the opossum and porcupine families).

Literature

• The regulars from the Callahan's Crosstime Saloon stories. Starting with Tom Hauptman, a preacher who lost his faith when his wife died who found a new family among the bar's regulars, most of the regulars are as close as family by the climatic story.

Live-Action TV

• The Kamen Rider Club are teenagers from different high school groups to help Gentaro Kisaragi, aka Kamen Rider Fourze, fight the Zodiarts. While each member had some conflict, they joined the group, overcame their hangups, and assisted the Kamen Rider's fight.
• Technically, the main characters in Angel run a business called Angel Investigations, which is Cordelia's idea so they can pay rent while she waits for her big acting break. Seasons one and two, however, make it very clear that Angel needs them to stay grounded and tethered to his humanity, no matter what Los Angeles as well as Wolfrem & Hart toss at him. Doyle, a former criminal and demon, used his last moments to save Angel and Cordelia while passing on his gifts to the latter. Wesley finds a new home after the Watchers fire him, and he goes off the deep end when his attempts to save Angel's son lead to Connor being kidnapped instead, and Angel tries murdering him in revenge. It's also because of Angel and Cordelia's machinations that they rescue Fred from another dimension, create an Alternate Timeline where Connor has none of the trauma that came from Holt kidnapping him as a baby. Cordelia finds her purpose, Lorne uses his musical skills for good, Gunn puts his monster hunting skills to use, and Fred regains her sanity.
• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Scoobies have become this, to the point where two of them become a Parental Substitute duo to Dawn, who is the only minor left in the group by season six. While Buffy started hanging with Willow and Xander after they learned about vampires and decided to do what they could to help, Cordelia joined the group under protest after supernatural forces killed one of her boyfriend and started targeting her on a regular basis.

Video Games

• The Phantom Thieves of Hearts from Persona 5 are a group that rebels against the adults who deceive, hypocrisies, and corrupt society by stealing their hearts. Each member consists of teens who have been wronged by adults throughout their life and awakened to Persona. Most of their peers see each of them as misfits, but they find solace with each other and become great friends.

Western Animation

• In DuckTales (2017), Clan McDuck consists of not only Scrooge McDuck and the Duck Family but also their friends who became a part of their group. Even though duck is in their name, some aren't ducks, such as supernatural creatures, scientists, aliens, robots, etc.
• Luz Noceda becomes part of The Owl House by apprenticing to Eda Clawthorne as witch and living with the little king of Demons, King. Thanks to Luz's influence, Eda and King soften to her and even gain a familial bond. Lilith, Eda's sister, even considers herself to be the aunt of their family. Even King is inspired to legally change his name to King Clawthorne.
  • Vee, a shapeshifting basilisk, took on Luz's identity when she came to the Boiling Isles and was adopted by Camilla Noceda after her identity was revealed. In the season 3 premiere, when Gus, Willow, Hunter, and Amity become stranded in the Human Realm, the witches and Grimwalker become a family over the months. It even made Hunter cry when Luz declared it to him.