The Cutie

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Jayne: Captain, can you stop her from bein' cheerful, please? Mal: I don't believe there is a power in the 'verse that can stop Kaylee from being cheerful. Sometimes you just wanna duct tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month. Kaylee: I love my captain. —Firefly

The Cutie is a character who is known for being sweet and lovable, more comic relief than anything, who likes nothing more than to pet little puppies. They make you adore them, root for them and love them.

They are known for being very idealistic, cute and innocent. Some of them even may act in a childlike manner to emphasize their innocence with an upbeat and positive attitude. They also tend to be genuinely nice, loving, caring, and kind to whoever is with them. They tend to take the most peaceful solution to a conflict and hardly ever (if ever) harm others in any way. They're most often female, though younger boys can also be this.

Their innocence and purity draws the sympathy of the audience for them. For this reason they tend to become The Woobie when something bad happens to them.

Related to Break the Cutie, Kill the Cutie, The Fake Cutie, Corrupt the Cutie, Moe, and The Messiah.

Examples of The Cutie include:

Anime and Manga

• From Code Geass, Nunnally Lamperouge, Shirley Fennette and Princess Euphemia. They all suffered Break the Cutie, but the latter two had it MUCH worse.
• Azumanga Daioh's Chiyo Mihama is this in spades. So much so, that she seems to exist for the sole purpose of having everyone fawn over her. Not that we can blame them, since calling Chiyo "cute" amounts to calling the ocean big.
  • Speaking of Kiyohiko Azuma, his manga after Azumanga Daioh has Chiyo's green-haired, 4 pony-tailed expy, Yotsuba.
• Momo Hinamori from Bleach, sweet, innocent, trusting (to a fault). You can't help but feel for her when things go horribly wrong for her; particularly when she was betrayed by Aizen, who tried to kill her and later, during the FKT arc, he adds insult to injury by duping Hitsugaya into doing it for him.
• Hina Ichigo from Rozen Maiden.
• Nia from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
• Madoka Kaname from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. And you better believe she gets put through the wringer, though her altruism is what ultimately allows her to break the system that turns magical girls into witches. Also, Homura was originally an Adorkable version of this, but after going through several timelines worth of Break the Cutie, she takes several levels in badass in her bid to protect Madoka.
• Ran from Strawberry Shake Sweet.
• Chi from Chobits is arguably the cutest animé character ever made. Not only is she absolutely gorgeous, she is unbelievably innocent and sweet. Add the fact that she has the mind of an innocent baby (she's a persocom whose memories were erased and so she has to relearn everything), and her saying "Chi?" at least eight times per episode and you have a serious overdose of cuteness in one lovable character.
• Tomoyo of Cardcaptor Sakura, despite her rather *ahem* notable fondness for Sakura, is near infallibly charming and innocent. Sakura herself leans more and more into this as the series goes on (especially if Syaoran is involved).

Literature

• Michael manages to be this in the Knight and Rogue Series while also being the muscle, because his personality consists of such high levels of naivete and he's so chivalrous and innocent that he can't even tell a white lie. It helps that the other main character is a snarky con man.

Film

• Pollyanna is all but the Trope Namer of this. She lives in a town of bitter and angry people and slowly makes them cheery. Too bad about the ending where she falls, is paralyzed and starts to become bitter herself.

Live Action TV

• Kaylee from Firefly is by far the most cheerful and idealistic character on Serenity's crew. River was also this before her Break the Cutie ordeal, and had the show continued and not been Screwed by the Network, it's practically a given that Joss Whedon would have given Kaylee the works.
• While we're talking Joss works, Willow Rosenberg was all over this trope.
• Annie Edison from Community.

Video Games

• Nanako from Persona 4. Admit it—you want a little sister just like her!
• BioWare tends to include one of these as a love interest—Tali in Mass Effect, Leliana in Dragon Age, Merrill in Dragon Age 2
• Flonne from Disgaea is so sweet and wholeheartedly lovable that she is a Wide-Eyed Idealist Love Freak.

Web Original

• Ringo represent the more cheerful, optimistic side of Luke in Film Conscience.

Western Animation

• Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic. A Shrinking Violet known for her kindness and a Genki Girl known for being very cheerful and positive, respectively.
  • Both also end up being broken at some point, as well. They get better.
  • Apple Bloom's recent stint in a bunny suit puts her here.
• Beast Boy from Teen Titans is an (unconventional) Cutie, but decides to grow up in the fifth season.
• Harvey from Sabrina the Animated Series is a rare male example.
• Dee Dee from Dexter's Laboratory.
• Kuki Sanban/Numbuh Three from Codename: Kids Next Door.
• Bubbles from Powerpuff Girls.
• Ty Lee from Avatar: The Last Airbender—though as an agent of the Fire Nation, she's also a Perky Female Minion.
• Cornchip Girl and Miss Grotke from Recess
• Animaniacs Dot Warner likes to think of herself as this and takes her cuteness very seriously, but she's hardly innocent.