Legal Jailbait: Difference between revisions

Girls (and occasionally boys) who ascribe to this trope are invariably [[Older Than They Look]] adults, or supernatural beings that are [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]. The narrative takes great pains to remind the audience that they are adults, thereby (poorly) attempting to justify the [[Fan Service|sexualization]] of their [[Squick|apparent innocence and youth]] because they are ''technically'' adults, and therefore that (supposedly) alleviates the reader of possible guilt. It mightcan also reduce the disgust of those that aren't into kids, and thus drive fewer people away.

Finally, this trope is also more often than not [[Not Growing Up Sucks|played for ''drama'' as well]]; the stigma of being a "forbidden object of lust" trapped in a "child's" body when one is an adult with sexual desires is a veritable ''goldmine'' of [[Angst]] driven drama and plot.

A combined trope of [[The Jailbait Wait]], [[Ms. Fanservice]]/[[Mr. Fanservice]], and [[Lolicon]]. Occasionally meets [[There Should Be a Law]]. A ''real life'' version of this can be the result of [[Dawson Casting]]. Compare [[Totally Eighteen]].

* 900-year-old ChibiUsa<ref>She's insistent that she's 90'''2''' years old, as of the manga story that was used as the basis for the ''Sailor Moon S'' movie.</ref> of the ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' manga is technically an example, but she's a lot more childlike a lot more often than she is mature and adult. However, Naoko does sometimes write her as acting more adult/mature than Usagi, so it varies. Not that being more mature than [[Idiot Hero|UsaUsagi]] [[Dumb Is Good|giof all folks]] takes very much; there are probably several ''genuine'' ten-year-olds who do it on a daily basis.

** Constantly lampshaded throughout the anime. Notable examples include: Asking her friends to pretend they're her sisters so she can get the children's discount, not having grown an inch (up or [[A-Cup Angst|out]]) on [[Measuring Day]], and wearing a [[School Swimsuit]] that was apparently issued to her in ''elementary school''.

* In a similar vein, Minnie May Hopkins of ''[[Gunsmith Cats]]'', who took anti-aging drugs so that the man she loved would recognize her the next time he saw her.

* Morino Ichigo of ''[[OnegaiPlease Teacher!]]'' and ''[[OnegaiPlease Twins!]]'', frozen in a 15-year-old body after being in a coma for six long years (which acted more like [[Suspended Animation]]), and is hence 21 years old.

* An in-universe example of ''[[A Certain Magical Index]]'': while the audience is never meant to find Komoe-sensei sexy, she is lusted after by several members of the detention- class she holds. Though the fact that her apartment is ''littered'' with beer cans and cigarette butts is evidence of her adulthood, she is still a warm, innocent and romantic child at her kind heart.

* The [[Yaoi]] manga ''[[Okane ga Nai]]'' barely avoids being labeledlabelled [[Shotacon]] by clearly stating that the child-like [[Uke|Ayase]] is nineteen years old. He still looks and behaves like a twelve-year-old. To put it in perspective: there is a flashback from the [[Forgotten First Meeting]] between Kanou and Ayase 4 years before the beginning of the story; Kanou ''does'' looks older than then, but Ayase looks exactly the same.

* Shizuku the Mizuchi of ''[[Omamori Himari]]''. Her exact age isn't specified, but she is at least 100 years old and looks about ten, gets just as many [[NSFW]] [[Fan Service]] shots as the more mature-looking girls, and has spent most of the series blatantly and obviously trying to get the teenage male lead into bed.

* [[Deliberately Cute Child|Amber]] of ''[[Darker than Black]]'' qualifies. Though she's likely at least in her twenties or early thirties, her [[Power At a Price|renumerationremuneration]] for using her time-manipulation power is [[Merlin Sickness|aging backwards]], so during the main course of the first season, she looks like a fifteen-year-old.

* Nagato Yuki from ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' is an interesting straight trope/inversion/aversion ... thing. We see her on the day she's created looking like a 15 year old girl. Kyon meets her [[Younger Than They Look|when she's 3 years old]] but then after the time loop of "Endless Eight" is[[Older nowThan They Look|is over 500 years old]]. She still appears 15. It can make the head hurt.

* This is zigzagged to hell and back in ''[[Excel Saga (anime)|Excel Saga]]''. [[Tyke Bomb|Cosette]] is, throughout the series, depicted as a normal nine -year -old girl (although a highly -skilled assassin). [[Covert Pervert|Dr. Shioji]], while never overtly doing anything inappropriate, is always shown surrounding himself with young girls, heavily implying that he's a pedophile. The final episode of the anime, which was [[Crosses the Line Twice|banned from the air]] has these two meet up and go into a [[Love Hotel]]. After getting out of the shower, Cosette reveals her [[Gag Boobs]] and declares herself to be "a fully consenting adult". Shioji storms out of the room.

* At the end of the ''[[Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)||Ghost in Thethe Shell]]'' film, Batou puts {{spoiler|The Major combined with program 2501}} into the body of a child. She asks if he goes for that sort of thing. He reminds her that the illegal body trade which he had to depend on for a quick body didn't allow him the luxury to choose.