Big Little Brother / Anime & Manga

• Megu in Asteroid in Love is already taller than her older sister Moe when the former is still in middle school.
• Astro Boy has Jetto/Cobalt from the manga and original anime series. Created to replace Astro Boy when he went missing, the two adopted each other as "brothers" when they eventually met. They look similar, but Jetto/Cobalt is taller and has longer hair spikes.
• Adon from Berserk isn't small by any means, but he's still dwarfed by his younger brother Samson.
• Dukuro's little sister Zakuro from Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan is 9-years-old but she is much taller and older looking than her, appearing to be in her mid twenties.
• D-Frag!: Roka's little sister Tsutsuji towers over her, despite being only a year younger. She is, however, far more immature than you'd expect of someone her age.
• Dad, the Beard Gorilla and I: The titular "Beard Gorilla" is the titular Dad's younger brother but is taller and way more muscular. When Michiru's teachers first met him, they were surprised to learn that he's the younger brother. A flashback reveals that he was already taller than his elder brother even as children and used to defend him from bullies.
• In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Genya Shinazugawa (16-years-old) is 180cm, only one centimeter taller than his older brother Sanemi Shinazugawa (21-years-old). Notably, the former was much shorter prior to the year and a half Time Skip earlier on in the story. Even Tanjiro was surprised on how much taller Genya grew in such a short time.
• Digimon: The siblings Kinkakumon and her younger brother Ginkakumon. Kinkakumon is a humanoid oni while Ginkakumon is a Humongous Mecha with a cockpit in his torso specifically designed for carrying her around. Lorewise Ginkakumon typically act as Knight Templar Big Brothers to their siblings, however the pair that appear in Digimon Ghost Game has Kinkakumon acting as the mature guardian of the two despite being dwarfed in size.
• In Fairy Tail, Elfman Strauss towers over his older sister Mirajane, especially after a 3-month training period where he became extremely muscular. Of course, the guild knows that despite her cheerful expression, Mira is the definite stronger of the two.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Alphonse Elric is a year younger than Edward Elric, but because his soul has been attached to a suit of armor, he is the taller and the stronger of the two brothers. A running gag throughout the manga and the two anime adaptations is that Alphonse gets mistaken by others for Edward's "elder brother" or even "father". It is shown a few times that even in his natural body, Alphonse was taller than Edward.
    Elysia Hughes: [points at Al] Big brother... [points at Edward] Little brother.
    Edward: [Fuming] Nice to meet you. My name is Edward Elric, and this is my younger brother Alphonse Elric... Get it? Youn-ger brot-her.
    Elysia: But younger means little. You're little.
    Edward: YOU'RE LITTLE! WHERE DO YOU GET OFF...!
  • While he is her younger brother, Major Alex Armstrong is still a good head taller than General Olivier, though that doesn't make her any less intimidating. The same can be said with two of her younger sisters Amue and Strongine, both of whom tower over her and Alex. The youngest sibling, Catherine, is the smallest.
  • Scar is shown in flashbacks about his Warrior Monk past to have already been bigger and stronger than his more scholarly older brother.
  • This trope is so prevalent in Fullmetal Alchemist that it eventually turns out to apply even for the homunculi! The eldest of Father's children is Pride and the youngest is Wrath, who is the only homunculus under a hundred years old. Pride (or at least his "container") has the appearance of a little boy and looks far younger than all his younger siblings, while Wrath is the only homunculus who ages like a human and by the time the plot starts is a middle-aged man who looks older than any of his immortal older siblings. The two pose as father-and-son in human society, but in private Pride acts like a villainous example of Big Brother Mentor to Wrath.
• In GJ-bu, Mao is less concerned about being smaller than Megumi (a year younger), but the fact that her even younger sister Seira (4-5 years younger) is just 1mm shorter than her annoys her to no end.
• Good Night World: The size difference between Asuma and his older brother Taichiro is such that it's easy to make incorrect assumptions about their relative ages in both the real world and the virtual one. Taichiro also has much smoother features than Asuma, resulting him always looking baby-faced by comparison. Maturity-wise, the mere fact that Asuma is both still attending school and taking it seriously, while Taichiro has been a Hikikomori for six years, gives him the upper hand.
• Haikyuu!!: Tsukishima Kei, Tanaka Ryūnosuke, and Kageyama Tobio are all taller than their respective older siblings.
• Handsome Girl and Crossdressing Boy: Downplayed. Sayuri, who's 3 years younger than Iori, has a few centimeters on him.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers
  • England comes back from a long absence, and is disturbed to find his adopted younger brother America has suddenly grown taller than him.
  • Prussia's younger brother Germany is taller than him too. Some character notes say that Prussia is both shorter and less muscular due to malnutrition, although he doesn't seem to mind much.
  • Out of China's (presumably adopted) younger siblings, Thailand, South Korea and Macau are taller than he is. He doesn't seem to say anything about it either, though.
  • Seborga is the youngest of the Italies and the tallest. Romano is the oldest, but shortest.
• Hungry Heart: Wild Striker: The Kanou brothers are a notable example. Protagonist Kyosuke, who is 16 at the start of the series already has a few inches over his older brother Seisuke, who is in his early twenties. Somewhat justified once it's revealed that Kyosuke is adopted.
• Yuki Aiba of Infinite Ryvius. Even though his older brother Kouji is the protagonist of the series, Yuki is a bona-fide Ace, while Kouji barely squeaks into Dogged Nice Guy territory. Yuki is taller, stronger, bolder, is better looking, is a better fighter, a better pilot, a better tactician, and has a more active love life than his older brother. Kouji's only saving graces are that he's more responsible and better organized than Yuki.
• Kiss×sis: Despite looking about five years younger then their step-brother, Ako and Riko are actually older then Keita by one year.
• While Risa from Lovely★Complex is already pretty tall, her middle school aged younger brother is even taller than her.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha INNOCENT, as Fate is taller and more mature than her Genki Girl sister Alicia, most people assume that Fate's the older one, a fact that upsets Alicia since she's the older one by two years.
  • The main series has Cinque, who is the fourth oldest of the twelve Numbers (and later on, second oldest of the six Nakajima sisters), but is the shortest of the bunch by far due to having been designed for infiltration. She instantly bonds with Alicia when the meet in INNOCENTS over this fact.
  • This is rather prevalent among the Numbers even beyond Cinque's lack of height, since most of them are not biologically related they were all artificially aged to different points depending on what their specialties were. For example, Sette (the youngest) is actually the second tallest of the twelve, right behind Tre (the third oldest).
  • Nanoha herself grows up to be taller than her older sister Miyuki, though this can only be seen by comparing their heights relative to Amy in the artwork for the first StrikerS Sound Stage. Whether or not she's taller than their eldest brother Kyouya is unknown, since he never shows up post-A's.
  • Among Fate's three adoptive children, Caro (the middle child) is the shortest of the three as Erio gets taller with every Time Skip and Vivio has access to an Older Alter Ego while she is the same height at sixteen that she was at ten. And she's chronologically the oldest of the three as both Erio and Vivio are clones.
• Mahou Shoujo No Kareinaru Yosei: Retired magical girls in this series become The Ageless. It is for this reason that Lilas Ouka is physically about ten years old despite her having been alive much longer. Lilas is also a Hikkikomori who would happily spend all her time indoors playing video games and needs someone, usually Shijima, to hold her hand to be able to handle being outdoors. These two reasons combine such that Shijima is shocked to discover that Lilas is the elder sister between herself and her sister Noix, who is One Head Taller, the principal of the magical girl school Shijima attends, and, siscon tendencies aside, noticeably more responsible than Lilas.
• Exaggerated in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury: Protagonist Suletta Mercury considers the Gundam Aerial, an 18-meter tall mobile suit, her younger sister. And she's half-right: it's her older sister.
• MX0: Kokuha's Berserk Button is being mistaken for being younger than Taiga because of her shorter stature. This is a dangerous mistake to make since she is a champion martial artist and very much a Cute Bruiser.
• My Dress-Up Darling: The Inui sisters. Sajuna is a second-year high schooler, yet is very short and has a petite body type that makes her look almost like an elementary school student. Her younger sister Shinju, on the other hand, is still a middle-schooler, yet she's much taller and more physically developed, to the point she's taller the already taller-than-average high schooler Marin and could feasibly pass off as Sajuna's Absurdly Youthful Mother were it not for her clothing choice.
• My Roommate is a Cat: Local pet store clerk Nana Okami is of average height for a young woman in her twenties, and whilst it's not unusual for younger brothers to be taller than their older sisters, her younger brother Yugo is taller than most men her age despite still being a high schooler being about half a head taller than the protagonist - her potential love interest Subaru.
• Naisho No Otome Revolver: The main protagonist is constantly bullied for looking like a girl. The bullies like forcing him to dress like a girl and he can't fight back. His little sister, on the other hand, can keep the bullies away from him.
• Naruto:
  • A possibility would be Kinkaku◊ of the Gold and Silver Brothers. Kinkaku's birthday is March 7. He's 44-years-old, standing 6'0. Ginkaku's birthday is April 9. he's 44-years-old, standing 5'8. If the two brothers are not half siblings, or fraternal twins — with Kinkaku being 1 month older, then Ginkaku is the older one, despite being smaller and weaker than his brother.
  • Hanabi Hyuga is five years younger than her sister Hinata. As adults in the Boruto anime, Hanabi is 170 cm (5'7) while Hinata is 163 cm (5'4).
• Non Non Biyori: Komari is the older sister of the Koshigaya family, but slightly shorter than her sister Natsumi and rather pure and innocent.
• Okko's Inn features a Cute Ghost Girl named Miyo, who died when she was seven. Afterwards, her parents had a second daughter, Matsuki, who has since surpassed Miyo in age. That doesn't stop Miyo from being very protective of her.
• The titular characters of Onee-sama and the Giant are Hinako, a fairly normal high-schooler, and Alice, a forty-foot-tall giantess, with the former being referred to as the "elder sister" of the two. Since they're not actually blood relatives, it's not unlikely that Alice is the older one. Hinako is only considered the older sister because she's more mature and trained in etiquette, making her the Onee-sama by default.
• One Piece:
  • Boa Sandersonia and Boa Marigold are both taller than their eldest sister, Boa Hancock. And this is considering that Hancock herself is already more than 6 feet tall.
  • Mermaid Princess Shirahoshi even as a baby was much bigger than her brothers.
  • Franky is much taller and broader than his older (adoptive) brother, Iceburg, especially after the Time Skip and further enhancements to his already very large body.
  • Yonji is notably taller than all of his brothers, being about 6'4 and-a-half while his Ichiji and Niji are 6'1 and Sanji is only 5'11. He's also far more muscular, being noticeably buff while his brothers are all thin. Downplayed though because they're fraternal quadruplets, meaning he's physically not actually younger than they are.
  • Justified during the Wano arc with Momonosuke and his little sister Hiyori. Due to their mother having sent him forward in time twenty years with her Devil Fruit powers, she's in her mid-twenties while he's still eight. This changes after Momonosuke ages up physically by 20 years.
• Fubuki/Blizzard from One-Punch Man is much taller and looks older than her elder sister Tatsumaki/Tornado who despite being 28 looks to be about 15 at the oldest (and behaves like she's 10).
• Mitsukuni Haninozuka from Ouran High School Host Club is much shorter than his younger brother, Yasuchika. Mitsukuni is the stronger one anyway.
• Puella Magi Tart Magica: Lapin is the smallest but oldest of three sisters who fight for the English.
• Exaggerated in Recorder and Randsell: Atsushi Miyagawa is a fifth grader who looks 17. On top of this, his older sister is in high school and looks his age.
• Kichikujima: Kaoru as a teenager/young adult is taller than his older sister Mari. In the past as children Kaoru was smaller than Mari but as they got older Kaoru outgrew his sister by a longshot. In part 2 of Kichikujima set five years after part 1 Satoru who was a child is now a teenager taller than his older twin sisters Anna and Kanna who have also grown.
• Ranking of Kings: Boji's growth has been stunted to the point that he still looks (and acts) like a small child as a teenager. He also has a younger half-brother who has grown normally, resulting is the latter being extremely easy to mistake for the oldest of the two brothers.
• Rurouni Kenshin: Hiruma Gohei is much taller than his elder brother Hiruma Kihei.
• Shingo Tsukino in Sailor Moon isn't taller than his sister Usagi, but he is smarter, stronger, and often regarded as more mature than her. Then in the second season he starts catching up to her in the height department, and by the fourth season the kid's almost taller than she is.
• Yakumo is taller than her older sister Tenma in School Rumble.
• Seven Heavenly Virtues: Metatron calls Sandalphon her big sister, but Metatron is taller and bustier than the childlike Sandalphon.
• Michio Kawata from Slam Dunk is way taller than his older brother Masashi (who's no shorty himself at 190 cm/6'3"). Also Sibling Yin-Yang: Michio is a Gentle Giant while Masashi is Hot-Blooded.
• In Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, Souichi at twenty-two is much tinier than his 12-year-old brother Souji, due to a case of Rapid Aging on Souji's part and a case of de-aging on Souichi's part.
• Kotone Kashiwagi from Tonari no Kashiwagi-san looks like a normal 17-year-old. Her older sister Kotori is 32 and looks like she belongs in elementary school.
• In Vagabond, Denshichiro is the younger brother of Yoshioka Seijuro, a tiny, pretty boy/playboy samurai who is Heir to the Dojo. Naturally Denshichiro is huge, and a stern, intimidating hulk of a man.
• The Toguro brothers in YuYu Hakusho. Elder Toguro was a short, lanky, immortal trickster. Younger Toguro was a Blood Knight who lived for fighting and, as such, has honed his already tall and muscular figure to buff up when using his full strength. He was also the stronger of the two by a wide margin.
• Played With in Yohane the Parhelion -SUNSHINE in the MIRROR- with the titular character and her family's pet wolf Lailaps. Yohane sees Lailaps as the younger of the two of them despite Lailaps being much larger than her. Lailaps, however, sees herself as the big sister as she's more level-headed and mature out of the two of them.

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