History ACupAngst / Literature

** The Doctor's companion (later ex-companion and AdventurerArchaeologist) [[Franchise/BerniceSummerfield Bernice "Benny" Summerfield]]. One could probably draw [[AuthorAppeal quite a few conclusions]] about certain novel writers by counting up the number of times ''per book'' some of them have felt the need to mention her legendarily petite rack. Benny's creator, Paul Cornell, had a character describe her (in dialogue) as having "no tits".

* Beth in ''The Fabulous Five'' series develops this after losing the role of Glinda in the school play to her rival Laura [=McCall=], who is buxom.

* Averted in Michael Slade's ''Ghoul'', in which Rika Hyde's flat chest doesn't stop her from playing up her onstage sexuality as a head-banging rock performer. Her lack of cleavage becomes plot-relevant when [[spoiler: it gives away that a more buxom woman had impersonated her]].

* In Stephen Manes' ''The Obnoxious Jerks'' George makes a crack about Leslie's IQ being bigger than her bra size before riding off.

* Mary in ''Literature/TheScream''.

* ''Literature/{{Middlesex}}'': One of the concerns Calliope has while growing up is being totally flat-chested. At least until [[WrongGeneticSex the truth]] about her intersex body is discovered.
* Lisbeth Salander in the first book in Stieg Larsson's ''[[Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy Millennium]]'' series. Because of her flat chest and the fact that she's short and skinny, she is often mistaken for a 14-year-old. Her legal guardian even uses this fact to his advantage when he [[spoiler:drugs and rapes her. He claims no one will believe he raped her since her small cup-size [[TooDumbToLive means she's not a turn-on]] (yeah, he's a jerk)]]. In the second book though Lisbeth has gotten breast implants.

* ''Literature/ChivalryOfAFailedKnight'' has a relative example. In the light novels, Stella (who [[BoobsOfSteel is the type who would normally inspire this kind of angst in others]]) gets depressed when she lends her clothes to the even more well-endowed Sara (who finds them too tight in the chest).

* The "Extra Edition" OVA of ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'' shows [[TokenMiniMoe Silica]] feeling somewhat down about the fact that her other female friends (particularly [[BoobsOfSteel Suguha]] and Lizbeth) have more generous busts than herself.

* ''Literature/{{Overlord|2012}}'' has Shalltear Bloodfallen, who to complete her ElegantGothicLolita look, pads out the chest of her dress. After being [[NakedOnRevival resurrected]], she was immensely distressed that her real size was on display.

* In ''LightNovel/GoodLuckNinomiyaKun'' Houjou Reika has small breasts and that gets particularly highlighted by Tsukimura Mayu's huge boobs. At one point, while wondering what's wrong with hers, Reika finds a solution worthy of a true [[{{Ojou}} ojou-sama]]: to make small breasts fashionable. The next episode's opening omake shows that through application of [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney her huge wealth]] she has succeeded in making small breasts most desirable and big breasts a cause for humiliation; to the point that Mayu gets chased out of town for her breasts.

* ''LightNovel/InAnotherWorldWithMySmartphone'': Elze Silhoueska is rather self-conscious about her appearance, especially since her (younger) twin sister Linze is notably bustier than she is. Princess Yumina as well; when some slimes that like to attach to small breasts immediately target her, she blows them away with her wind magic, and starts muttering "I'm still growing".

* In ''LightNovel/ISavedTooManyGirlsAndCausedTheApocalypse'', Satsuki gets defensive when Iris mocks her chest size, claiming that she's average sized (and she does appear to be decently endowed, judging by her appearance in a swimsuit).

* In ''LightNovel/MomoKyunSword'', Karin and Toutetsu are both flat. Maron is not small, but in the BeachEpisode, she compares herself unfavorably to the others.

* In ''Literature/BakaAndTestSummonTheBeasts'', this is the main cause of romantic friction (and a major hindrance to their RelationshipUpgrade) between Akihisa and Minami, as it never fails to instantly triggers her rather violent {{Tsundere}} nature. It doesn’t help that her main romantic competitor is the well-endowed Mizuki.
-->'''Mizuki:''' [[DCupDistress It really isn;t as great as you think]]. You get these backaches and jogging's a total pain.\\

-->'''Mizuki:''' [[DCupDistress It really isn’t as great as you think.]] You get these backaches and jogging’s a total pain.\\
'''Minami:''' That’s what all you huge-boobers tell us!
* ''LightNovel/BeingAbleToEditSkillsInAnotherWorldIGainedOpWaifus'': When the party meets Rita, Cecil feels self-conscious regarding their respective chest sizes. Unbeknownst to her, Nagi likes her flat chest the most out of all the harem.

* Aika Tsube/Tail Blue from ''LightNovel/GonnaBeTheTwinTail'' has a BerserkButton in the form of her chest size. When an enemy mistakes her for a [[WholesomeCrossdresser boy in drag]], she flies to into an UnstoppableRage and defeats him without even using any of her special attacks.

* Yuko, Sorata's younger sister in ''LightNovel/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'', goes through this while [[SkinshipGrope groping]] Mashiro and Nanami's breasts in episode 7. Jin tries to cheer her up by yelling that she'll get bigger in high school.

* In ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesFor300YearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'', about the only gripe Azusa has with her reincarnation as an immortal witch is her small chest.

* In episode 12 of ''LightNovel/HarukaNogizakasSecret Purezza'', Alice-chan had a moment of this. A ping-pong ball had got caught in Haruka's cleavage. When it was finally out, Alice picked up the ball and dropped it onto what would be ''her'' cleavage if she weren't a grade-schooler (or at least having the body of one). Her sigh and expression of disappointment when the ball just fell to the floor...

* ''LightNovel/InAnotherWorldWithMySmartphone'': Elze Silhoueska is rather self-conscious about her appearance, especially since her (younger) twin sister Linze is notably bustier than she is.

* ''Literature/KonoSuba'': Megumin, probably owing to her lack of nourishment due to growing up poor. Doesn't help that Yunyun and Arue outgrowing her despite her the same age.

* Louise from ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero''. Saito has said there was "nothing" there, and considering almost every other female (''especially'' Tiffania) in the show is extremely busty, Louise really gets aggravated over this. [[{{Tsundere}} Violently aggravated]]. In episode 2 of the third series, Louise goes into an over-the-top extended rant denouncing large breasts. Except that immediately after coercing Saito, her LoveInterest, into declaring his preference for small breasts over large ones, he is caught in a compromising position with Tabitha, who is even flatter than Louise. Resulting in a new insecurity for Louise, and of course more pain for Saito. It is later revealed that pure-blooded elves are naturally flat-chested. Luctiana gets slightly jealous of Tiffania for inheriting enormous boobs from her human father's side of the family.

* In ''Literature/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'', Emi Yusa is flat-chested and gets jealous of Chiho for having GagBoobs despite being younger than her. At times, Emi tries to claim that she's proud of her flat chest because it provides better mobility on the battlefield and because it means her armor is cheaper, but she is not fooling anybody.

* Louise from ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero''. Saito has said there was "nothing" there, and considering almost every other female (''especially'' Tiffania) in the show is extremely busty, Louise really gets aggravated over this. [[{{Tsundere}} Violently aggravated]]. In episode 2 of the third series, Louise goes into an over-the-top extended rant denouncing large breasts. Except that immediately after coercing Saito, her LoveInterest, into declaring his preference for small breasts over large ones, he is caught in a compromising position with Tabitha, who is even flatter than Louise. Resulting in a new insecurity for Louise, and of course more pain for Saito. It is later revealed that pure-blooded elves are naturally flat-chested. Luctiana gets slightly jealous of Tiffania for inheriting GagBoobs from her human father's side of the family.

* BasedOnATrueStory, Catalina, the teenaged protagonist of the Colombian novel later [[MultiNationalShows international franchise]] ''Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso''[[note]]''Without..."tatas"...there is no Paradise''[[/note]], is a dark play on this trope. Catalina's real reason for wanting a bigger chest is to catch a rich boyfriend who'll buy her luxuries and get her out of her poor neighborhood, like the ones her bustier friends have. The catch is that those "rich boyfriends" are drug dealers and traffickers. She tries to approach that "rich world" by becoming a prostitute, but her beginnings are harder because most of her potential clients prefer chicks with "[[GagBoobs more meat]]". She eventually gets a bust augmentation from a BackAlleyDoctor and marries a minor boss of a Cartel, but she's still under her pettanko complex, [[spoiler:by that point she has lost her True Love and any chance of escape, and eventually the brutal reality of the shady world she has gotten into hits her ''hard''. When she is forced to reverse her boob job in a LifeOrLimbDecision, it's become the last straw for her, so she arranges a [[SuicideByCop Suicide by Hitman]] to end her suffering.]]

* Lina Inverse of ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'', a very dangerous BlackMagicianGirl, also has a huge inferiority complex about her chest size. She's been known to [[SphereOfDestruction Dragon Slave]] people who [[BerserkButton comment on it]], despite the fact that her bust is small only compared to some other anime females. Although it's [[TheArtifact not really evident later]], this was magnified in her first series traveling with an annoying [[GagBoobs overly busty]] sidekick (who [[{{Stripperific}} showed it off to boot]]). While she's probably better endowed than almost everyone else on this page (a far more accurate description of her would not be to say that she's flat, but that her figure is unremarkable for her height, which is rather short--only 5'1"), Lina has had the bad luck of accumulating lots of overly busty female allies. Plus the youngest of the group, Amelia, already outmeasures her and is still filling out. So she thinks she's flatter than she actually is and if you tease her about it, she's liable to blow up your entire village with you as Ground Zero. In at least a few of the earlier OVA's she's drawn very flat, but does grow with the series to having at least some sort of chest. The artists seem to note that Lina really didn't have much to complain about in earlier season and decided to draw her flatter later, giving off the impression that her breasts SHRUNK as she got older.

* ''LightNovel/MyMentalChoicesAre'': Furano, who is rather flat-chested, constantly wonders if her LoveInterest Kanade likes large-breasted women.

* Mile and Reina from ''LightNovel/DidntISayToMakeMyAbilitiesAverageInTheNextLife'' both have this in spades. Reina keeps Mile nearby as much as possible in part because she makes her look bigger on several fronts. Both are crushed to find out a ten-year-old girl is bigger than both of them combined.

* ''LightNovel/AndYouThoughtThereIsNeverAGirlOnline'': This is a major sore point for Akane Segawa, aka Schwein, since she's the only girl in the group without impressive boobs. Ako and Kyou tease it's because Akane never followed proper nutrition and sleeping habits while growing up, but Akane retorts it didn't matter because she lacked the (genetic) material to craft the items they have.

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'': Given Issei's [[BuxomBeautyStandard preference for big-breasted girls]], Asia and Koneko tend to have huge complexes about being on the smaller size compared to Rias, Akeno, and the other members of the harem.

* Hestia from ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'' may be the youngest-looking and weakest of all goddesses but she is incredibly well-endowed, allowing her to invoke this trope and utterly embarrass her stronger and more confident peers like Freya or Loki (Who is a female in this universe but her chest is in no way indicative of that).

* ''LightNovel/{{Maoyu}}'': The Lady Knight gets pissed when someone mocks her small chest, and she can't help but feel that she doesn't... stack up to the Demon Queen.

* ''LightNovel/OkamiSan'' gives us both the title Ryōko Ōkami as well as her best friend, Ringo Akai. Of course, they probably wouldn't be too concerned about it, if a certain LemonyNarrator didn't call frequent attention to the fact.
* ''LightNovel/{{Overlord|2012}}'' has Shalltear Bloodfallen, who to complete her ElegantGothicLolita look, pads out the chest of her dress. After being [[NakedOnRevival resurrected]], she was immensely distressed that her real size was on display.

* In S.L. Viehl's ''[[Literature/{{Stardoc}} Blade Dancer]]'', Jory isn't sure why people are staring at her tits when she takes her shirt off to treat an injury, and [[BuxomIsBetter compares herself unfavorably]] to [[HalfHumanHybrid full-blooded Jorenian women]] in that regard.

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'': Given Issei's [[BuxomIsBetter preference for big-breasted girls]], Asia and Koneko tend to have huge complexes about being on the smaller size compared to Rias, Akeno, and the other members of the harem.