History Main / InnocentProdigy

* Alice from ''{{Manga/ARIA}}'', though her more childish moments are quite few and far between.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* ''{{Discworld}}'' has a ''rodent'' version. [[Discworld/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents Dangerous Beans]] is brilliant but by most of the other character's standards rather naive. However, the book clearly sympathizes with his [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism idealistic]] views.

* Jill Petterson in the ''{{Are You Afraid of the Dark}}'' episode "The Tale of the Final Wish" qualifies, with her superstitions and obsessions with fairy tales, as opposed to the other kids her age. Until [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor her wishes come true in a bad way]].

* The titular kid in ''SmartGuy'' was smart enough to be in high school as a nine-year-old, but can't sit through two minutes of sex-ed class without bursting out into uncontrollable laughter.

* Dexter of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' sometimes has elements of this. In one episode he sees a repair-man working on the house's electrical system, and after some failed attempts to find out what he's up to using technology, Dexter's Plan C turns out to be to run off to "mommy" and ask her who's the strange man messing around with the fuse box.

* [[ChildProdigy Ten-year-old high-schooler Chiyo]] from ''AzumangaDaioh'' always keeps acing test after test while failing miserably to understand mature stuff any teenage schoolgirl would already know by heart, down to understanding nothing of Nyamo's drunken sex-ed lesson.

* Froggo from ''{{Histeria}}'' spends time providing the occasional historic narration and poetry reading when he isn't busy having lunch, playing video games, or working on his inventions.

Compare CuteShotaroBoy. See also PingPongNaivete.

!!Examples:

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

* Tails of ''SonicTheHedgehog'' fame. Most depictions stick solely with one [[WiseBeyondTheirYears extreme]] or the [[BrattyHalfPint other]] for the most part (eg. ''AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' and ''Series/SonicTheHedgehog'' Tails are extremely childlike and not to bright while the games and ''SonicX'' counterparts is arguably the most sensible and soundly intelligent member of the team), though he is a rather valid example of this trope in ''SonicTheHedgehogTheMovie''.

* Alice from ''{{Manga/ARIA}}'' though her more childish moments are quite few and far between.

* Sister Maria from ''BokuWaTomodachiGaSukunai'' shot her way thru the education system and ended up as a high school teacher at 10 year old. Also, she ended up as an unsufferable, foul-mouthed BrattyHalfPint...until she met [[ToughLove Yozora]].

* Kit Cloudkicker of ''TaleSpin'' a lot of times shows immense knowledge of flying and sometimes displays a lot more common sense than adult peers such as Baloo. However, he often displays a rather bratty overconfidence, and will not accept that he is still too young to actually fly himself.

* Sister Maria from ''BokuWaTomodachiGaSukunai'' shot her way thru the education system and ended up as a high school teacher at 10 year old. Also, she ended up as an unsufferable, foul-mouthed BrattyHalfPint...until she met [[TheOnlyWayTheyWillLearn Yozora]].

* Sister Maria from ''BokuWaTomodachiGaSukunai'' shot her way thru the education system and ended up as a high school teacher at 10 year old. Also, she ended up as an unsufferable, foul-mouthed BrattyHalfPint...until she met [[The Only Way They Will Learn Yozora]].

* Sister Maria from ''BokuWaTomodachiGaSukunai'' shot her way thru the education system and ended up as a high school teacher at 10 year old. Also, she ended up as an unsufferable, foul-mouthed BrattyHalfPint...until she met Yozora.

* For that matter, [[MarkTwain Huckleberry Finn,]] making this OlderThanRadio.

[[quoteright:202:[[{{Peanuts}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/linus1.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:202:He skipped ahead, like, three grades, but he ''still'' sucks his thumb.]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* The Professor in ''{{Nichijou}}'' is a true mad scientist prodigy, able to create fully sapient robots and a scarf that can give animals speech. In ''every'' single other respect her personality is that of a typical eight year old.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* [[ChildProdigy ten-year-old high-schooler Chiyo]] from ''AzumangaDaioh'' always keeps acing test after test while failing miserably to understand mature stuff any teenage schoolgirl would already know by heart, down to understanding nothing of Nyamo's drunken sex-ed lesson.

-> ''"As I stand here tonight far from home, I am reminded of the words from [[TheBible Jeremiah]], 'Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for the future, says the Lord, and your children shall come back to their own country.' Incidentally, have any of you ever been told about '[[ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown The Great Pumpkin]]'?"''
->-- '''[[TropeNamer Linus Van Pelt]]''', ''{{Peanuts}}''

A young, but incredibly bright child whose high intellect comes with rather large doses of naivete. He seems incredibly deep at times, but he has moments where [[ChildrenAreInnocent his innocence reminds the audience (and the other characters) that he's still a child]].

Compare CuteShotaroBoy. See also PingPongNaivete. Not to be confused with [[{{Unix}} Linus Torvalds]]. Or ''especially'' not [[Series/{{Lost}} Ben Linus]].

!!Examples:

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* [[ChildProdigy 10-year-old high-schooler Chiyo]] from ''AzumangaDaioh'' always keeps acing test after test while failing miserably to understand mature stuff any teenage schoolgirl would already know by heart, down to understanding nothing of Nyamo's drunken sex-ed lesson.

* While whether [[ChildProdigy Hiroki Sawada]] of ''DetectiveConan: [[NonSerialMovie Phantom of Baker Street]]'' wanted to [[WellIntentionedExtremist reset Japan]] is debatable, the [[ImprobableAge 10-year-old MIT graduate]] does want to [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation play with the other kids]].
* Rebecca Miyamoto from ''PaniPoniDash!'' is an MIT graduate and a teacher [[ImprobableAge at age ten]]. Doesn't stop her from throwing tantrums or hiding behind things whenever she gets scared or upset.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* Daorn and Kaise have elements of this in {{Elantris}}. BrandonSanderson [[WordOfGod says]] this snuck in as a mild criticism of OrsonScottCard's depictions of hyperintelligent children in EndersGame.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* Micah Sanders from ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. The audience first sees him fixing his laptop as he tells his mom, "The memory board's bad," and he can talk to machines. Yet Micah reads comic books religiously and uses them as a guide, making him something of a miniature AscendedFanboy, and he idolizes his father.
* Shane at the start of ''{{Weeds}}'' shows aspects of this but has already lost a lot of innocence (part of the BackStory is that his 40-year-old father died of a heart attack right in front of him) and grows out of the last of it over the course of the first couple seasons.

* Another example whose name fits this trope like a T is the young [[spoiler:Benjamin Linus]] from ''{{Lost}}'' who was definitely extremely intelligent and introspective and possessed the prerequisite dash of naivete, but very quickly lost his innocence due to his [[spoiler:chronic abuse at the hands of his father]], which eventually culminated to his [[spoiler:seeking out the Others]] and [[spoiler:starting him down his path of [[AffablyEvil Affable Evilness]] and [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bastarddom]]]].

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]
* Linus Van Pelt, Charlie Brown's best friend in ''{{Peanuts}}'', is obviously the TropeNamer. He has great insight into some situations and a very high intellect such as being able to precisely quote ''any'' passage of Biblical scripture, but he also believed in [[ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown the Great Pumpkin]], which brought him ridicule despite his intelligence. And he hates to be separated from his [[SecurityBlanket beloved blue blanket]].
* Calvin of ''CalvinAndHobbes'' waxes philosophical about the nature of the universe...to his stuffed tiger. While pretending to be a space cadet. Or a superhero. Or a jungle explorer. Or a private eye. Or a dinosaur. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Calvin's mother in a punchline, "How can one kid be so smart and yet so dumb at the same time?"

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

* The titular OzyAndMillie.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Lisa Simpson, while [[WiseBeyondTheirYears Wise Beyond Her Years]] and one of the few Springfield citizens who isn't stupid, incompetent or just plain lazy, loves her Malibu Stacy doll more than anything else (except, perhaps, activism) and likes immature cartoons like "The Itchy and Scratchy Show." She also [[AllGirlsLikePonies wants a pony]].
** Of course, Itchy and Scratchy is portrayed as a favorite for the entire town....
*** And on some occasions she'll happily join Bart's destructive antics (indoors bike jousting? Sure!).
*** A good example was when she threw juice at Krusty the clown for wearing fur.
--> "Fur is murder! ... So when's the [[TheMovie Krusty Movie coming out?"]]

--> "Huh, this toy contains small parts. But why would they include small parts in a toy for someone my age...? Unless I'm supposed to EAT THEM! Of course, it all adds up!"

----

* Kit Cloudkicker of ''TaleSpin'' a lot of times shows immense knowledge of flying and sometimes displays a lot more common sense than adult peers such as Baloo. He often displays a rather bratty overconfidence however and will not accept he is still too young to actually fly himself.

* ''TheSimpsons'': Lisa Simpson, while [[WiseBeyondTheirYears Wise Beyond Her Years]] and one of the few Springfield citizens who isn't stupid, incompetent or just plain lazy, loves her Malibu Stacy doll more than anything else (except, perhaps, activism) and likes immature cartoons like "The Itchy and Scratchy Show." She also [[AllGirlsLikePonies wants a pony]].

* TimeSquad: Otto is has a fairly complete and detailed knowledge of all of history. And yet he still plays with crayons and coloring books.

* Stewie from ''FamilyGuy'' is the EvilCounterpart to this trope. He's a WickedCultured EvilGenius despite being barely a toddler and [[PingPongNaivete often almost as naive as you'd expect a child his age to be.]]

* Froggo from ''[[{{ptitle17u4r74z}} Histeria!]]'' spends time providing the occasional historic narration and poetry reading when he isn't busy having lunch, playing video games, or working on his inventions.

* Ike Brovlovsky from ''SouthPark'' has had a [[TeacherStudentRomance relationship with a teacher]] and was involved in a GovernmentConspiracy to elect BarackObama. And yet, he's still in kindergarden and confuses Milan for a [[{{Mulan}} Disney film.]]