Deliberately Cute Child: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* From ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'', {{spoiler|Rika Furude}} is universally adored by everyone in the town, especially her friends. However, {{spoiler|she's also fully aware of the town's [[Groundhog Day Loop]], and remembers all of her past lives, meaning she's arguably one of the [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|oldest]] and [[Wise Beyond Their Years|wisest]] people in Hinamizawa, despite being stuck in the body of a prepubescent girl.}} She is [[Creepy Child|extremely unsettling]] whenever she drops her cheerful and innocent facade, to the point that the sharp contrast can easily be misattributed to [[Demonic Possession]] in the early chapters. Her reason for adopting the [[Cheerful Child]] persona is less about manipulating people and more about not wanting to alarm anyone unless the situation is serious.

* In ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'', there was once a wild [[Everything Is Worse With Bears|Teddiursa]] that behaved like this to get food from trainers and tourists. He became a nuisance until he evolved into Ursaring, when he couldn't use his charms to get stuff anymore. Except from Team Rocket.

* Czes from ''[[Baccano!]]''. [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]. He does tend to drop the [[Adorably Precocious Child]] act pretty quickly, but keeps claiming that he's not used to being treated any other way.

* In ''[[Baccano!]]'''s successor series ''[[Durarara!!]]'', {{spoiler|Aoba}} is one. He's so good at pulling it off that he's managed to {{spoiler|frame his brother for many crimes as well as getting away with many of them.}} Add the fact that he's described with a baby face despite being a high school student. Of course, he lets it slip every now and then...[[Cute and Psycho|and when he does...]]

* Saki from ''[[Kanamemo]]''. While a [[Little Miss Snarker]] at work, she acts cute in public in order to sell newspaper subscriptions.

* {{spoiler|Pride}} of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' {{spoiler|aka Selim Bradley}} pretends to be a sweet and kind young boy. In reality, he is a cruel little monster who has a habit of eating his allies when they are no longer of use to him.

** A more innocent version of this trope is {{spoiler|Ciel's cousin/fiancee Lizzie}} who just wants to be a proper girly-girl, not a tough [[Hot Chick with a Sword|sword-fighting]] [[Little Miss Badass]].

 

* Molly Hayes from ''[[Runaways]]'' is a slightly older (eleven at the opening of the story) variation.

 

* Vivio in the ''[[Lyrical Nanoha]]'' [[Fan Web Comic]] by [https://web.archive.org/web/20131028142141/http://www.q-ice.com/ Q-Ice], does this mostly to annoy her [[Jerkass]] [[Kid From the Future|future mother]]. [http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/9450/nano106trxp8.jpg Karma's a bitch].

* In the first arc of ''[[Touhou Ibunshu]]'', Rumia combines this with a [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit]] to manipulate Remiu into removing [[Restraining Bolt|her ribbon]]. Later, Reimu falls for this ''again'' when {{spoiler|Remilia}} pretends to a scared child helping her escape, only to eventually turn on her.

 

* Veruca Salt in Tim Burton's ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]'' tries this out on Willy Wonka, but he's not fooled.

* ''[[Orphan]]'' has Esther Coleman, who can charm any adult she wants with her carefully calculated veneer of wistful cuteness. It's so deliberate she even wears her hair in curls and only dresses in old fashioned classic little girl clothing.

* In ''[[Kick-Ass]]'', Mindy pulls this trick on D'Amico's goons by showing up at his place in school uniform and pig-tails, claiming to have lost her mommy and daddy. It doesn't work out well for the goons.

 

{{quote|'''Twyla''': I'm afwaid of the monster in the cellar, Thusan. It's going to eat me up.

'''Susan''': What have I told you about trying to sound ingratiatingly cute, Twyla?"

* Willie Connolly in the J.R. Lowell novel ''[[Daughter Of Darkness]]'' carefully maintains a facade as a darling, adorable and very happy [[Child Prodigy]]. She really is twelve, but that's about it.

 

* One episode of ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' features an immortal with the body of a ten-year-old boy. He uses his seeming innocence to get close to other immortals, and then takes their heads when they aren't looking.

* Michelle Tanner on ''[[Full House]]'' fits this trope to a T during her toddler years—it's even [[Lampshaded]] by her uncles a few times. When she grows older the role gets filled by twins Nicky and Alex.

* In the ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Safe Haven", the UnSub is a thirteen-year-old who gets his victims to trust him by being cute and appearing vulnerable.

* In ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'', Malcolm and his brothers often accuse Dewey of being a Deliberately Cute Child.

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

* [http://www.dilbert.com/fast/1990-05-17/ This] ''[[Dilbert]]'' strip.

 

* Annie of ''[[Catena]]'' uses this (and a flail) to get into a D&D game.

* Though adult, Kalki from ''[[Drowtales]]'' really pushes the borders of cutesy behaviour. She's probably trying to avoid being associated with the mass slaughter she took part in some years back.

* ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'' got Tia - a demon kid who helped herself to portal (when Chloe got transferred to Hell and girls tried to summon her back) and then sort of stuck around. However, she got cute looks, but not much of an act, because she really ''is'' a brat. When she used magic to reduce Laura to child-like shape, Laura retaliated... by visiting nearby [[Elegant Gothic Lolita|"The Trendy Loli"]] shop to style herself over the top adorable and then acting accordingly, so that she could outcompete Tia in this niche.

 

 

* Tinny Tim from ''[[Futurama]]'' is programmed to act this way. In one episode, where he sells lemonade, he says he's even programmed to make cute little backwards letters on signs.

** Though not technically children Nibbler and the Catz from Those Darn Catz do this.

* Claire from ''[[Titan Maximum]]'' is a twenty-one year old, who looks eight, but she also talks and acts eight, complete with an obsession for cuteness, and using words such as "sowwy". She's also an expert assassin.

* Wilykat and Wilykit in ''[[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCats (2011)]]'' are [[Catfolk]] [[Cute Kitten|kittens]], depicted as a pair of [[Artful Dodger]]s who survived the slums of Thundera by playing up their cuteness when they weren't simply outsmarting and running circles around their targets. This is especially obvious when they first ask if they can tag along with Lion-O's group after Thundera is sacked, complete with [[Faux Paw]] and kittenish mewling.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Youngsters]]

[[Category:Rule of Cute]]

[[Category:Children's Show Tropes]]

[[Category:Subverted Innocence Tropes]]