History Main / NotAllowedToGrowUp

!!Examples:

* While ''Manga/DragonBall'' is notably renowned for averting this trope (and pioneering its aversion in other series), it comes into play in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' with the various kid characters. According to the timeline placement, Goten and Trunks should be in their mid-teens but still look and act as they did in the Buu Saga of ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Krillin's daughter Marron, while a more minor character is an even more egregious example, still looking and acting like a toddler despite being around ten years old at this point. She also is fully human, whereas Goten and Trunks at least have the excuse of being half-Saiyan. It was established long ago via Goku's childhood that Saiyans stay child-like into their early teens and then have a ''massive'' growth spurt to adulthood. However, this explanation is not widely accepted since Gohan did not have this issue and grew normally throughout the series. Then again, Gohan is the only half saiyan to be born with a tail, which, according to WordOfGod, is a recessive trait, so he ''is'' slightly different, so it makes sense.

** ComicBook/KittyPryde was introduced as a thirteen-year-old and very slowly aged to "almost fifteen" even though many more years passed in the pages of ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' (shown by the passing of seasons). She eventually escaped this fate in the spin-off series ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'', mostly because Creator/WarrenEllis wrote her into a romance with the much older Pete Wisdom. How it has become an injoke with her deliberatly calling herslef Kate in an attempt to stop being seen as the X-men's KidSister.
** Comicbook/JubileeMarvelComics, has the dubious honor of reaching adulthood three times. When introduced she was fifteen-year-old in 1989, but aged down to ''thirteen'' when she was added to the cast of the ''Comicbook/GenerationX'' title. When Generation X ended she reached adulthood, the first time, and moved out to Los Angeles to start a film carrer. She later joined X-Corps and The X-Men along with her former teamate, and best friend, Husk. Husk at the time was in a relationship with Angel with was a souce of Squick for readers. Marvel tried to placate fans by stating that Husk was 18. However, as Husk was cannonically two years older than Jubes, this knocked her down to sixteen. This was confirmed in her short-lived self-titled series in 2004. After M-Day she became an adult again as well as a political activist [[note]] This wasn't outright stated, but heavily implied as minors can't rent an apartment, obtain a business licence or operate a halfway house without being emancipated or parental consent. Part of the reason why she goes to live with her "aunt" in the 2004 series is she can't legally live on her own. [[/note]] However, this turn was widely hated and ignored by later writers. However, everything was ignored and in her 2011 miniseries was said to be seventeen. Making her a minor again...Sharp-eyed readers have observed that this means that, due to other screwing around with the continuity of the X-Men comics, Jubilee is now younger than ''Pixie'', who was the youngest of the New X-Men when introduced in ''2004''. Furthermore, the subject of the 2011 miniseries was Jubilee having come to terms with her new vampirism and thus never aging again, even though under Marvel's officially-stated time system says she should have been 22.[[note]]Marvel officially says that 3 years real time is 1 year in the Marvel Universe. In practice, this example is more of a rule than an exception.[[/note]] Despite her vampirism, the character did turn 18, but due to said vampirism, she continued to functionally still be a minor. However, her vampirism was eventually cured and she was allowed to age again, mostly so she could legally adopt Shogo. [[note]] minors can't legally adopt in the United States. [[/note]] That said VagueAge is enforced as she should be in her mid-twenties, but as a result of being a vampire for a decade looks 18-19.
** The main characters of ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' were aged 13 (Rahne) to 19 (Xi'an) years old when first seen in 1982, and their ages were frozen in place even as the comic acknowledged that years had passed. Notably, a recurring motif in the miniseries ''Fallen Angels'' is ComicBook/{{Sunspot}} narrating "I am fourteen years old" when he ought to have been at least sixteen by then. The team were then quickly aged up to young adulthood by the end of the series in 1991 as many of them became main characters in ''ComicBook/XForce'' as members of ComicBook/{{Cable}}'s paramilitary strike force. Humerously this actually led to some of them aging faster than they would have in real life. However, their ages froze after the inital bump. For example in the revamped New Mutants from the early 2000's Moonstar is explicitly stated to be 21. This means she aged between 15 and 19-20 between 1984 and 1993, and 19-20 to 21 between 1993 and 2003. Amusingly, Moonstar actually aged more years than both Kitty Pryde and Jubilee in this time.

* Justified with [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] as Billy doesn't age when he in his Captain Marvel form, and he is in this form ALOT. The end result is he looks like he's just approching 13 despite being a hero since the 1940's. This has actually had the effect of making him younger than his younger sister Mary. In fact, in 2003 when Mary joined the Super Buddies, she was sixteen a full three-four years older than her older brother. Mary got another bump into adulthood in 2008, although this was to deal with the UnfortunateImplications of her newfound MsFanservice status. Billy however remained a child which began to stretch believeability. Eventually, DC settled the issue when it rebooted it's universe in 2011 with Mary was retconed into being Billy's unrelated older foster sibling. As well as already being an adult when she gained her powers.

* In the ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'', Reed and Sue's son Franklin was born in 1968. Aside from an incident of using his powers to temporarily age himself to adulthood, and the usual range of alternate reality versions, he has remained a child for more than four decades of real-world time. The fact that he was injudiciously given a StoryBreakerPower contributes heavily to the problem of ever letting him grow up. It is very glaring though because characters that were born long after him are now either teenagers or actual adults.

** ComicBook/KittyPryde was introduced as a thirteen-year-old and very slowly aged to "almost fifteen" even though many more years passed in the pages of ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' (shown by the passing of seasons). She eventually escaped this fate in the spin-off series ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'', mostly because Creator/WarrenEllis wrote her into a romance with the much older Pete Wisdom.
** Comicbook/JubileeMarvelComics, however, was introduced as a fifteen-year-old in 1989, aged down to ''thirteen'' when she was added to the cast of the ''Comicbook/GenerationX'' title, established as sixteen in her short-lived self-titled series in 2004, and as of a 2011 miniseries was said to be seventeen. Sharp-eyed readers have observed that this means that, due to other screwing around with the continuity of the X-Men comics, Jubilee is now younger than ''Pixie'', who was the youngest of the New X-Men when introduced in ''2004''. Given that the subject of the 2011 miniseries was [[spoiler:Jubilee having come to terms with her new vampirism]], there's no reason to assume that she's going to be aging up much anytime soon, even though Marvel's officially-stated time system says she should be 22 by now.[[note]]Marvel officially says that 3 years real time is 1 year in the Marvel Universe. In practice, this example is more of a rule than an exception.[[/note]] She did turn 18 eventually, but there's been no indication if she's aged since then [[spoiler:(and even then, she'll always look 17, being a vampire and all that)]].
** The main characters of ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' were aged 13 (Rahne) to 19 (Xi'an) years old when first seen in 1982, and their ages were frozen in place even as the comic acknowledged that years had passed. Notably, a recurring motif in the miniseries ''Fallen Angels'' is ComicBook/{{Sunspot}} narrating "I am fourteen years old" when he ought to have been at least sixteen by then. The team were then quickly aged up to young adulthood by the end of the series in 1991 as many of them became main characters in ''ComicBook/XForce'' as members of ComicBook/{{Cable}}'s paramilitary strike force.

* While ''Manga/DragonBall'' is notably renowned for averting this trope (and pioneering its aversion in other series), it comes into play in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' with the various kid characters. According to the timeline placement, Goten and Trunks should be in their mid-teens but still look and act as they did in the Buu Saga of ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Krillin's daughter Marron, while a more minor character is an even more egregious example, still looking and acting like a toddler despite being around ten years old at this point. She also is fully human, whereas Goten and Trunks at least have the excuse of being half-Saiyan. It was established long ago via Goku's childhood that Saiyans stay child-like into their early teens and then have a ''massive'' growth spurt to adulthood. However, this explanation is not widely accepted since Gohan did not have this issue and grew normally throughout the series.

* In the third season premiere from ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', when Gumball and Darwin's voices are getting deeper (as were their voice actors'), it is mentioned they are part of the 1% of people who never grow up. After that, their voice actors were replaced with younger ones (which were replaced again after they hit puberty, with Darwin's being replaced a third time). Despite this, none of the other characters appear to age either, [[AgelessBirthdayEpisode though they do commemorate birthdays]]. The series' timeline spans at least 7 years (2010 to 2017), with the show actually airing from 2011 to 2019, but Gumball, Darwin, and Anais are still 12, 10 and 4, respectively. As of 2020, if they aged, Gumball would be 22, Darwin would be 20, and Anais would be 14.

* Horrifically deconstructed with the character of Super Sally Sonic in Creator/GrantMorrison's ''[[Comicbook/SevenSoldiers Seven Soldiers of Victory]]''. As a little girl, she was offered a magical artifact which made her nearly immortal. Because she never aged out of her teens, when her parents died she was declared to be underage, lost her house, and eventually ended up on the streets.

* ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'': Arle actually ''does'' age in-between parent series ''Madou Monogatari'' and ''Puyo Puyo''. With that said, the ''Puyo'' series has gone on for almost three decades and yet none of its characters show signs of aging (though we at least get some of their adult appearances in ''Puyo Puyo 7'' by way of their Mega transformations). Some of the mages in the series use "anti-aging magic" to retain their youthfulness, so Sega could use that as an explanation should they feel the need.

** However, the timeframe of its spin-off series ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes'' is less clear. The Season 1 ''Casagrandes'' episode "Cursed" and at least two episodes of Season 2 of ''The Casagrandes'' ("A Very Casagrandes Christmas" and "Tee'd Off") clearly take place during Season 5 of ''The Loud House'', with references to Lori being in Fairway University, and there are two episode set on separate Halloweens ("New Haunts" and "Curse of the Candy Goblin"), but if all of Season 2 was meant to take place in the same timeframe as Season 5 of ''The Loud House'', then Bobby ought to be in business school, Carlota ought to be in fashion designer school, and Carlitos ought to be potty-trained.

** However, the timeframe of its spin-off series ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes'' is less clear. At least two episodes of Season 2 of ''The Casagrandes'' ("A Very Casagrandes Christmas" and "Tee'd Off") clearly take place during Season 5 of ''The Loud House'', with references to Lori being in Fairway University, but if all of Season 2 was meant to take place in the same timeframe, then Bobby ought to be in business school, Carlota ought to be in fashion designer school, and Carlitos ought to be potty-trained.

* Similarly, the protagonists of ''Literature/TheSaddleClub'' go through multiple Christmases and summer breaks but never advance beyond their original ages (12 for Carole and Stevie, 13 for Lisa), despite the fact that the events of earlier books are actively acknowledged in later ones (for example, one Christmas book indicates that the events of an earlier Christmas book took place the previous Christmas, despite the girls being the same age for both stories -- and there would be at least two more Christmases before the end of the series). It makes the whole thing rather hard to parse out. Sidestepped in the much shorter ''Pine Hollow'' spinoff series, which actually takes place entirely within a single year (and even then, Carole has a birthday in Book 10).

* While ''Manga/DragonBall'' is notably renowned for averting this trope (and pioneering its aversion in other series), it comes into play in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' with the various kid characters. According to the timeline placement, Goten and Trunks should be in their mid-teens but still look and act as they did in the Buu Saga of ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Krillin's daughter Marron, while a more minor character is an even more egregious example, still looking and acting like a toddler despite being around ten years old at this point. She also is fully human, whereas Goten and Trunks at least have the excuse of being half-Saiyan. It was established long ago via Goku's childhood that Saiyans stay child-like into their early teens and then have a ''massive'' growth spurt to adulthood. However, this explanation doesn't sit well with everyone since Gohan did not have this issue and grew normally throughout the series.

* While ''Manga/DragonBall'' is notably renowned for averting this trope (and pioneering its aversion in other series), it comes into play in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' with the various kid characters. According to the timeline placement, Goten and Trunks should be in their mid-teens but still look and act as they did in the Buu Saga of ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Krillin's daughter Marron, while a more minor character is an even more egregious example, still looking and acting like a toddler despite being around ten years old at this point. She also is fully human, whereas Goten and Trunks at least have the excuse of being half-Saiyan. It was established long ago via Goku's childhood that Saiyans stay child-like into their early teens and then have a ''massive'' growth spurt to adulthood.

* A plot necessity in ''Manga/DetectiveConan''. Being a teenager trapped in an elementary school body, if time progressed linearly, he would have regained his age the long way over the 20+ years the series has run.

* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': Greg Heffley and his generation have stayed in middle school for more than two summers; WordOfGod says that's where he will stay. Rowley is a slight aversion, as he has been going through gradual character development from a naive little kid, to a more mature kid who has a girlfriend and learned to stop letting Greg boss him around.

* Many plots of the later seasons of ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' had the title character getting involved in similar troublesome situations as the ones he got caught in as an eight-year-old, causing the character's {{Flanderization}} into almost an idiot. Case in point: "Beaver The Bunny". Would have been better in second or third season instead of fifth.

* While most of the kids on ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' were allowed to age with their actors, the character of Cindy was forced to continue to wear her hair in pigtails far beyond what is normal for her age. Possibly this was done so as not to change the theme song, although technically her hair was braided, not curled in later seasons. Cindy's actress, Susan Olsen, went on record of saying this greatly annoyed her. Cast members have said that by the time Cindy hit her teen years, all of the interesting "teenage girl" stories and tropes had already been run through by either Marcia and/or Jan. There was literally nothing else for Cindy to be except "the youngest one in curls." Not only did she have to keep her hair in pigtails, but Cindy was also forced to still be the wide-eyed, naive little girl she started the series as.

** This trope applies to many Pokémon and their evolution. Certain Pokémon simply don't evolve, some for specific reasons, like Pikachu doesn't want to become different or Meowth, who is clearly either in adolescence or adulthood, hates his evolved form. Other Pokémon who fulfill mascot roles like Dawn's Piplup, Iris's Axew, and Ash's Rowlet don't evolve to keep them cute forever -- Piplup even holds an Everstone for that purpose, Axew simply shows no sign of evolving despite ''wishing'' to reach his final stage, and Ash's Rowlet casually ''ate'' an Everstone whilst looking for pebbles to practice Bullet Seed. Surprisingly, Misty's Togepi ''does'' evolve...[[PutOnABus and leaves her]].

* ''Franchise/PrettyCure'' initially averted this -- the [[Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure first season]] ended with several recurring characters graduating from middle school, and the second shows Nagisa and Honoka dealing with the new stresses from becoming upperclassmen. Then the series entered ComicBookTime, and when Nagisa and Honoka returned for the CrisisCrossover after being offscreen for three years, they were still the same age.

* Historically averted in ''ComicStrip/GasolineAlley'', which was the first comic strip to allow its characters to age in RealTime. Skeezix was a foundling infant in 1921 and a man in his nineties in 2014. Several characters quietly died of old age at various times, although improbably ripe old ages are somewhat common among the mains, such as Skeezix's adoptive mother and father dying at 105 and [[AgeWithoutYouth still living at 120]], respectively.

* The Spanish UrExample is actress/singer Marisol (real name Josefa Flores), poster child of the heavily censored, [[TastesLikeDiabetes family-oriented]] cinema of the Francoist years. Discovered at 11, in 1959, she also had her breasts bound and was forced to act younger than she was when she hit puberty, although by the end of her decade-long career she'd been allowed to play [[TheIngenue a teenage ingenue]]. Then Franco died in TheSeventies and the tight censorship laws were repealed, allowing the publication of adult magazines - one of which had a whole front page nude by Flores. Much polemic was had, despite the fact that Flores was already ''28''. It was later said that this nude was the moment when both Marisol and the whole country finally grew up.

** Comicbook/{{Jubilee}}, however, was introduced as a fifteen-year-old in 1989, aged down to ''thirteen'' when she was added to the cast of the ''Comicbook/GenerationX'' title, established as sixteen in her short-lived self-titled series in 2004, and as of a 2011 miniseries was said to be seventeen. Sharp-eyed readers have observed that this means that, due to other screwing around with the continuity of the X-Men comics, Jubilee is now younger than ''Pixie'', who was the youngest of the New X-Men when introduced in ''2004''. Given that the subject of the 2011 miniseries was [[spoiler:Jubilee having come to terms with her new vampirism]], there's no reason to assume that she's going to be aging up much anytime soon, even though Marvel's officially-stated time system says she should be 22 by now.[[note]]Marvel officially says that 3 years real time is 1 year in the Marvel Universe. In practice, this example is more of a rule than an exception.[[/note]] She did turn 18 eventually, but there's been no indication if she's aged since then [[spoiler:(and even then, she'll always look 17, being a vampire and all that)]].

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* Same thing with ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder''.