There’s just something special and really heart warming about an anime with a plucky country bumpkin main character that ventures forth from their humble country beginnings to make a new life in the big city. Maybe it’s their natural wholesomeness, maybe it’s their adorable naive-ness, maybe it’s just because they remind me of my own semi-rural childhood, but anime characters that move from the country to an urban landscape are some of my favorite! Whether they are leaving their rural lifestyle for only a Summer so they can get the magic user training they need to become a pro, or they are leaving their forested home forever to polish up their shamanic skills, whether they are transferring from their tiny village school to a huge academy to live with relatives, or running away from home to chase after someone else’s dream to become a star in the entertainment biz, there are so many reasons why these anime characters have left the slow life of the country side, and came to the hustle and bustle of a metropolis. So if an indomitable character from the farm fields makes you feel a little nostalgic too, you might want to check out these anime!

Some Day Dreamers

Someday Dreamers is a cute anime about a county girl that moves to the big city to complete her training as a mage. In this world, people can be born with magical powers, but the powers are highly regulated, so if you want to use your magical powers for your occupation you have to be trained and get a license first. And that’s exactly what Yume Kikuchi is planning to spend her Summer doing. Unfortunately for her, she’s the daughter of a very powerful mage and a bit of a country bumpkin, so she gets into quite a lot of trouble along the way. Like she has the power to make something from nothing. This is a skill that’s very rare, as in only Yume’s mother and Yume can do this. So when Yume tries to repay someone by making money appear, the money doesn’t come from a bank, it’s made from nothing! Needless to say, this made a lot of local officials rather hot under the collar when they found out about it. Well, at least her Summer internship won’t be boring!

Shaman King

Shaman King is about Yoh Asakura, a middle school aged shaman trainee that moves from the countryside to the big city to complete his training. Early in the series he meets Manta, a tiny but every energetic, big city middle school student that takes his studies very seriously. In fact, Manta takes everything seriously! He always follows the rules to the letter and he never does anything irrationally. Which is the exact opposite of Yoh’s laid back, slow living “Let’s all get along” point of view. One thing leads to the other, and the country bumpkin and the excitable city kid become friends. That’s when Manta finds out that the reason Yoh was training was because he wants to join a shaman battle royal competition to become the next Shaman King.

Angelic Layer

This anime is about a middle school girl (Misaki Suzuhara) who transfers schools from her small countryside village school to a big city academy to live with her aunt. The trip wasn’t exactly easy for this country bumpkin middle schooler, but with many detours she does manage to get to the right train station. And just moments after she stepped off the train she comes face to face with an epic battle between two robots. The battle was on a giant screen on a building across the street and the robots were actually toy sized. What she saw was Angelic Layer, a very popular toy that all the city kids are familiar with, that featured completely customizable little robots that you can control with your mind for tournament battles . Little did Misaki know, that this new city life wouldn’t just bring her closer to new technologies and friends, but even her estranged mother!

Skip Beat

In the anime Skip Beat Kyoko Mogami is head over heals for her childhood friend Shotaro. Shotaro’s parents expect him to become the respectable and hard working owner of their countryside traditional Japanese hotel, but the only thing Shotaro wants to do is run away to the big city and make it big as a rock star! So Shotaro convinces the hard working and honest Kyoko to come with him to the big city. Kyoko thinks that she’s running away from home with her true love. Her prince! And though she has to work three jobs to pay for Sho’s exclusive condo, all his expensive clothes, and food, and all his other bills, it’s totally worth it, because she’s living with her prince. She’s a indomitable country bumpkin that isn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty to grow the life she wants. Well, one thing leads to another and Kyoko eventually finds out that though she might see Sho as her prince charming, he see Kyoko as his maid! Kyoko might have been a doormat before, but she is not going to let Sho step all over her now that she knows what’s going on. So she vows to get revenge, and she will even beat him at his own game and get rid of her gullible country bumpkin personality to become an even bigger celebrity than he is!