The best story writers are the best liars.

Coming of Age stories tend to be the most relatable, highly acclaimed series. Why is that?

Most phenomenal coming of age stories tends to do something very similar.

That's how well they lie to the audience, which is relatable.

How? :

Unreliable narrators, false premises, and setting up the audience with a white lie.

As we grow up, we tend to look for our own path. We don't know who we really are, similar to characters who set up a facade or a white lie of who they are.
As the story continues we start to see-

-their version of reality shatter, which if done right can enlighten us and give us insight to our own misconceptions about life.
The more subtle and hinted, the better the plot subversion/twist.

Most of my favorite games/series and the most highly acclaimed series do this.

Ex:

To keep it simple I'll use Monogatari, Toradora, Evangelion and Clannad:

1. Monogatari:
The story is told as Araragi is setup to be a savior by the other characters, but the truth as we learn, he hates himself and sees himself as someone who has ruined others' lives. As he lear-

-ns the truth about himself, he eventually comes to terms with himself and learns to love and accept himself.
2. Toradora:
Ryuji thinks he's in love with Minori, but in reality, we learn that he's only in love with the idea of her, not who she truly was. But as he accepts the id-

-ea of her, she falls in love with him. At the end, the one who he'd slowly developed love for was Taiga as he could accept her as she truly was as he learned to sort out his own emotions.
3. Evangelion:
Shinji's life on the surface looks happy at home with Misato almost like an-

-SoL with jokes and a happy premise. But beer bottles littered everywhere, small moments where his facade breaks, and we see what's really going on, we see that it's not that simple. He's depressed, even suicidal. The story comes to a Climax when he finally learns to understand -

-and accept himself even if nobody else really understands him the way he finally learned to understand himself.
4. Clannad:
Tomoya begins life depressed he hates society and everything that it's done to him. It's only later do we realize that this is a farce. Society is there to

support him as he learns to grow and love those around him, even finding his purpose in a world that he originally believed was meaningless.

All of these characters are people that misunderstand themselves, the other members of the cast, and society itself. As they grow as peop-

-le, they finally come to terms with themselves and the people around them. As people, we tend to relate to this type of growth and I honestly feel like I connect with series like this a lot more.
Even if the character is hyper-aware or just obvious, it doesn't matter because the

result is the same. It's the theme of acceptance of truth within a stream of lies that really tends to connect with people to characters, as we honestly have a hard time understanding ourselves and others in the same way.
I could honestly apply this to a number of other series, -

but I hardly find it necessary to name the endless list lol
The character doesn't have to be in the right. Their coming to age story could be a failure, but at the end of the day, whether it's a positive or a negative example, you still learn a lesson from it.