Adorably Precocious Child: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

This kid is barely past puberty—if that old—but acts as if always preoccupied with responsibility. He (or she) works hard at whatever he does and treats things seriously, but every once in a while he does indeed act like a kid (and hates the subsequent teasing). Usually not taken too seriously by anyone and hates being treated like a kid by adults, even if they secretly like the attention.

Often his family situation is problematic, although he may have a [[Cool Big Sis|big sister]] or [[Big Brother Mentor|brother]] he respects and admires. Said sibling may not appear (letting the audience take that role) and the '''Adorably Precocious Child''' can attach to the closest adult who lets him—this is especially common if he's also a [[Mouthy Kid]]. Sometimes this works in reverse, and the adult character may have to defend himself against [[Shotacon|unwholesome]] [[Lolicon|comments]] by other characters by insisting they're [[Like Brother and Sister]], or, alternately, [[Older Than They Look]]. If they grow up, they're likely to become hot, especially if they had a [[Hot Dad]] or [[Hot Mom]], due to the [[Generation Xerox]] effect.

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Momiji Sohma in ''[[Fruits Basket]]'', who makes his other family members jealous because his cute appearance can manipulate girls. [[Older Than They Look|Older than he looks]].

** His cousin Hiro might also count, being an actual middle schooler (Momiji is a high-schooler who looks like a middle schooler) who is clearly much more responsible than his mother and gets extremely offended any time he thinks someone is treating him like a child.

* ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'': Yahiko. Turns into more of a [[Cute Bruiser]] by the end of the series, to the point that he gets his own sakabato and a lot more responsibility in the epilogue.

* Mamoru Shimesu in ''[[Phantom Quest Corp]]''. He actually runs the company, the contacts, the finances, etc. while his boss Ayaka spends their funds on booze. He has a very stressful job.

* Hitsugaya Toshirou of ''[[Bleach]]'' also seems to suffer from this, except that a lot of people in the story do treat him seriously, because he's in a position of authority. Although he's [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]], he still suffers from this because the rest of the characters he works with are even ''older''.

* Jim Hawkings in ''[[Outlaw Star]]'', who is clearly the more mature of the group between him and his "aniki" Gene.

* Rare Western literature example - Eoin Colfer's book ''The Supernaturalists'' involved a 'kid' called Ditto who was [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]] - okay, in his early twenties - but as he was a naturally-immature adult he occasionally cracked.

** Eoin Colfer also brings us [[Artemis Fowl]], who at the beginning of the series is a twelve-year-old evil genius who plans to rebuild the Fowl family fortune using fairy gold.

** Better yet, {{spoiler|Howl's child disguise}} in the new sequel, ''House of Many Ways'', fits this trope to a tee, as ''not only'' does he speak with an exaggerated lisp, but also is described to be [[Cheerful Child|ultimately cherubic with golden curls, adorable puppy-fat, and a lot of lace]]. It's even more ridiculous when {{spoiler|his reasoning for adopting a jailbait disguise is simply because he had a horrid childhood (or so he says, Sophie immediately denounces him as a liar) and he has every right to relive being six years old... only prettier.}} But {{spoiler|because it is only a ruse}}, he manages to surprise the main character, Charmain, into speechlessness when he drops all pretenses and acts very adult and down-to-business.

* Olver from ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' fits this trope in-universe despite being described as downright ugly in the books. It probably has to do with when he follows his [[Big Brother Mentor]] Mat around to watch his back and tries to mimic the Warders.

* Otto in ''[[Someone Else's War|Someone Elses War]]'' is this trope [[Up to Eleven]].

 

* Flynn Jones of ''[[Shake It Up]]''. He handwaves that he's "the only responsible person around here", and even got a model to like him, saying he's adorable.

* Doctor Sweets of ''[[Bones]]'' definitely qualifies. He's the youngest member of the team and cannot get himself taken seriously because of it, tends to lapse into [[Sophisticated As Hell]] mid psych-babble, looks up to the two main characters as [[Parental Substitute]]s, and is all around [[Adorkable]].

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Bugsy from [[Pokémon]], one of the youngest Gym Leaders in the series, but also one very dedicated researcher. And while he's always deep into his research (bug Pokemon in the game, ruins in the manga), he sometimes shows a very child-like enthusiasm about what he likes. It also adds to his charm that he's [[Viewer Gender Confusion|often confused for a girl]].

* Another adorable and confusing nerd is Rief from ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]''. While his age is ambiguous, his appearance, [[Voice Grunting|voice squeaks]], and behavior all suggest that he is on the young side of ''Golden Sun'''s traditional [[Kid Hero]]es.

** Thirty years prior to them in ''[[Golden Sun]]: The Lost Age'', Eoleo was a [[Adorkable|dorky-looking]] toddler too young to talk, but not too young to fake crying to throw off attention, experiment with his new Psynergy powers, ''break his father out of prison'', and reason that Felix can solve the traps in Treasure Island that had the pirates stumped. And when addressed telepathically through Mind Read, he had a perplexing case of [[Little Professor Dialogue]].

* Caillou from [[Recettear]] is a good example of this trope. He's a powerful mage, running a serious investigation, but inside he's still just a kid who can't resist candy.

[[Category:Youngsters]]

[[Category:Rule of Cute]]

[[Category:Older Than Television]]

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