what do akito hayama from kodocha, shaoran from cardcaptor sakura, and fakir from princess tutu have in common?
a lot if you ask me!

all three are from shoujo series with a female lead, they all start off as rivals/enemies of said female lead, and undergo a sort of ""redemption arc""... but its less of a "go from being bad to being good" and more a "is humbled by the female main character, realizing she's in the right and he should team up with her" sort of situation.
the latter then makes way for the boy having a great admiration/respect for the girl for the rest of the series, and this often evolves into the two falling in love.

since i'm trying to speak to three characters at once, there's some wiggle room in the specifics. for example: akito goes through more of a "go from being bad to being good" redemption arc, and fakir has more of a left to interpretation romance than the other two, but you get the point! these characters feel like they were cut from the same conceptual cloth to me.

i like this kind of character a lot, and i wish there were a more specific trope name for it. i've spent some time looking for one, but it's just been terms like "[goes through a] redemption arc" or "enemies to lovers", and while applicable... those are very broad.