Basic Trope: A Moe support character, usually a child, who is part of a mostly adult or teen cast.
- Straight:
- Alice is a 10 year-old girl who travels along with a band of heroes, all of whom are in their teens.
- Alice, a Cute Witch who's Really 700 Years Old but looks like a little girl.
- In a Slice of Life story, the main cast are mostly Ordinary High School Students, but The Hero also has a little sibling who often hangs out with them.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice is a 10 year-old Innocent Fan Service Girl.
- The kid is a 6 year-old in a cast of old people.
- Alice is great friends with the teenage cast despite still being in diapers.
- Downplayed: Alice is a 12 year old in a cast of 14-15 year olds.
- Justified:
- Alice is either wise beyond her years or a Little Miss Badass. So despite her young age, her presence contributes much to the team.
- Alice is the Living MacGuffin.
- The kid is an orphan who befriended the heroes; they decide to bring her along since they don't trust the orphanage.
- The kid is the natural-born child of the male and female lead, who are training her to take over their job of protecting the world when they become too old to do it themselves.
- Alice is the Morality Pet to one or more of the protagonists.
- Inverted: Token Adult
- Subverted:
- The scene where the heroes adopt young Alice's just a flashback, she's at least a teenager when the story starts.
- Although they take care of Alice for a story arc, the heroes leave her in care of her parents afterward.
- Alice is the main protagonist.
- Double Subverted:
- Turns out that she's a Shapeshifter, and prefers to take the form of a young child.
- But Alice's parents say they're going out of town for a while, and the heroes have to take her along.
- ...A deuteragonist, anyways.
- Parodied: While everyone else is an adult and drawn in a semi-realistic style, Alice, a 10 year old girl, is drawn in Puni Plush Super-Deformed style.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- The heroes are all children or pre-teens.
- A Tagalong Kid, without Moe quality.
- Enforced:
- The author wants to attract more of an older audience and make the tone Lighter and Softer at the same time.
- The author has at least one child in the recurring cast to allow the Anti-Hero and/or Anti-Villain some Pet the Dog moments.
- Lampshaded: "Why's there a kid in your group?"
- Invoked: The team picks up a little girl note and makes her part of their group when she helps them out.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: The hero or team are Child Haters, or simply being concerned for the child's safety in the possible dangers ahead. They will not be working with any children or accepting them as team members.
- Discussed:
- "So you guys really want to bring her along? Are any of you good with kids?" "But she's cute!"
- "We still have one slot available for the party, I guess we really have to bring this kid along."
- Conversed: "So the girl's really in the regular cast. I wonder how she will affect them?"
- Deconstructed:
- A child on the team could cause problems: Alice could be a whiny Spoiled Brat, or what if her parents don't approve of her being taken on an epic journey at such a young age? And what about school? Alice's future depends on it, after all...right?
- The teenage heroes have no idea how to deal with a kid. Things are much messier with Alice living with them.
- Her Innocent Fanservice Girl act is intentional. Being an orphan, Alice can only survive by using her charms.
- Reconstructed:
- Alice is very emotionally mature (or becomes more mature during the adventure), and the heroes see to it that she is well taken care of and educated.
- Now living with the heroes, Alice can drop the act...and it turns out that she's still really innocent.
- Played For Laughs:
- The male heroes often get mistaken as paedophiles for having Alice tag along.
- Alice is in a relationship with one of the heroes, either because he's a paedophile or knows that she is older than she looks, causing awkward reactions from other characters and possibly forcing him to explain himself repeatedly.
- Played For Drama:
- The journey isn't fun at all. Tragic incidents like watching her Big Brother Mentor slain in battle, or even an entire Break the Cutie story arc, can't be good for her. The Hero tries his best to keep her positive outlook or even her sanity when things go really bad.
- Despite her looks, Alice is actually an adult. She's upset that she gets treated like Just a Kid, and no one believes her when she tells them otherwise.
- One of the heroes actually has romantic feelings toward Alice. However, he can't express his feelings because Alice is just too young, or he doesn't want to be labeled as a paedophile.
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