History Main / NeverGrewUp

* In a [[ShockingSwerve completely unexpected]] move, ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion 3.0'' has Shinji is woken up from stasis [[TimeSkip 14 years after the end of the previous film]] and confronted by a 28 year old Asuka who still looks very much like her 14 year old self plus an EyepatchOfPower. Asuka mentions that it happened because of the "Curse of Eva"; personality-wise, she's considerably less bratty and [[NotGrowingUpSucks quite bitter]]. Mari also appears to be affected but Rei isn't, considering that [[CloningBlues it's not the same one Shinji knew]].

* In a [[ShockingSwerve completely unexpected]] move, ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion 3.0'' has [[spoiler:Shinji is woken up from stasis [[TimeSkip 14 years after the end of the previous film]], being confronted by a 28 year old Asuka who still looks very much like her 14 year old self plus an EyepatchOfPower. Asuka mentions that it happened because of the "Curse of Eva"; personality-wise, she's considerably less bratty and [[NotGrowingUpSucks quite bitter]]. Mari also appears to be affected but Rei isn't, considering that [[CloningBlues it's not the same one Shinji knew]].

* In a [[DidNotSeeThatComing completely]] [[ShockingSwerve unexpected]] move, ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion Q'' pulled this trope off in an unexpected way: [[spoiler:Shinji is woken up from stasis [[TimeSkip 14 years after the end of the previous film]] and is confronted by a 28 year old Asuka who still looks very much like her 14 year old self plus an EyepatchOfPower. Asuka mentions that it happened because of the "Curse of Eva"; personality-wise, she's considerably less bratty and [[NotGrowingUpSucks quite bitter]]. Mari also appears to be affected but Rei isn't, considering that [[CloningBlues it's not the same one Shinji knew]].]]
** [[FridgeLogic Considering how heavily the Eva girls are]] [[MerchandiseDriven merchandised in figurines and posters]] targeted at otaku, several fans have accused the creators of this being an egregious case of NotAllowedToGrowUp due to PanderingToTheBase. Evidently, these fans would've liked to see [[spoiler:Asuka]] when ShesAllGrownUp.

* ''VideoGame/TouhouProject'' has an interesting case of this trope being fuelled by ImmortalImmaturity: according to WordOfGod, resident [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] sisters Remilia and Flandre Scarlet have forfeited their growth and maturity in exchange for eternal life. In other words, the sisters have the appearance and mentality of ten-year-old children because one of them is a RoyalBrat, and the other confined herself to their basement for 500 years, which stunted her mental and emotional growth.

Not to be confused with OneOfTheKids.

* In ''LightNovel/FateZero'', Kiritsugu's daughter is absolutely tiny despite being eight. She's actually growing more than most [[ArtificialHuman homunculi]] of her type do but he thinks there's a 90% chance she'll stop growing before hitting puberty. [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight In the next Grail War ten years later]] she's slightly older than Shirou yet is still the game's TokenMiniMoe.

* Some characters in ''WebComic/TowerOfGod'' play adult roles in spite of looking like children or teenagers. Anaak Jahad is an obvious example -- she's implied not to be half as young as she looks (which is something like barely in puberty), is one of the most powerful fighters among the Regulars, and doesn't much change in terms of looks during a TimeSkip of years. [[AllThereInTheManual It's revealed in the wiki]] that some people in the Tower just don't physically grow up. It's also said that they are considered as having childish personalities as well, though how true this is isn't clear. Anaak, for example, gives little clue: is she being a secretly damaged child or secretly damaged adult in acting emotionally cold and coldly violent? The wiki also reveals that a character with a permanently childish appearance (in this case, Eurasia Blossom) can be in a relationship and have a child with an adult-looking adult (Po Bidau Gustang).

* Some characters in ''WebComic/TowerOfGod'' play adult roles in spite of looking like children or teenagers. Anaak Jahad is an obvious example -- she's implied not to be half as young as she looks (which is something like barely in puberty), is one of the most powerful fighters among the Regulars, and doesn't much change in terms of looks durring a TimeSkip of years. [[AllThereInTheManual It's revealed in the wiki]] that some people in the Tower just don't physically grow up. It's also said that they are considered as having childish personalities as well, though how true this is isn't clear. Anaak, for example, gives little clue: is she being a secretly damaged child or secretly damaged adult in acting emotionally cold and coldly violent? The wiki also reveals that a character with a permanently childish appearance (in this case, Eurasia Blossom) can be in a relationship and have a child with an adult-looking adult (Po Bidau Gustang).

As you know, GrowingUpSucks. Some children, however, have found a way to halt their aging at childhood via AppliedPhlebotinum or some supernatural means. Most of the time they'll have the mind, emotional maturity, and/or sensibilities of a child as well as a prepubescent body; adults in children's bodies are more likely to find it inconvenient or downright [[NotGrowingUpSucks sucky]], although not always.

Compare NotAllowedToGrowUp, OlderThanTheyLook, and ReallySevenHundredYearsOld. Compare also with ImmortalityInducer, which tends to include "anti-aging" as part of the package. Contrast RapidAging.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Actress Mary Louise Dahl suffered from a disease that prevented her from physically aging past the age of about 6 or so. She was a sitcom star for a while playing a little girl named Baby Doll. Eventually, she quit and tried to become a serious actress with less than no success. After a series of failures she resorted to kidnapping her old castmates in an attempt to relive her glory years and drawing the attention of Batman.

* In universe in ''Literature/Mort'', where Ysabell has been kept at 16 years old for 35 years because of living in Death's domain as his adopted daughter, because of Death's mistaken belief that that would be the easiest option. She is allowed to age normally when she leaves with Mort back into the real world.

** The changelings' "evil" forms are interpreted as their juvenile form, and Chrysalis prevented them from reaching

* [[http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/6861274/forty-year-old-trapped-in-childs-body/ Nicky Freeman]] looks as if he's 10 years old. He was born in 1969, and is aging only at a quarter the normal speed.
* Maria Audete do Nascimento is a Brazilian woman in her 30s...[[http://oi57.tinypic.com/34ifzhl.jpg she looks like a toddler.]]

[[quoteright:274:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/never_grew_up.jpg]]

[[caption-width-right:274:Yes, Peter, people grow up outside of Neverland.[[labelnote:*]]Top: ''Disney/PeterPan'', Bottom: ''Disney/ReturnToNeverLand''[[/labelnote]]]]

* Just like in the [[Disney/PeterPan original Disney adaptation]], Peter Pan doesn't age in ''Franchise/DisneyFairies''. In the first book however, Mother Dove starts to slowly die and all the magical elements of Neverland begin dying with her. Peter begins growing and losing all his baby teeth. When Mother Dove is saved, Peter de-ages back to his original age.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': "Steven's Birthday" reveals that Steven seems to have stopped aging at 8 years old. However, there are hints that he '''is''' growing up. It's just that his body's maturity depends on his mental state.

Compare NotAllowedToGrowUp and ReallySevenHundredYearsOld. Not to be confused with OneOfTheKids. When the same effect causes hardship and angst for the eternal child, it's NotGrowingUpSucks.

* [[spoiler:Akio, Anthy, and possibly Mikaga]] from ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' all have some form of this, with the former two are implied to have been at Ohtori Academy for centuries. At the very end of the series [[spoiler:Anthy]] decides to leave by "graduating" as a metaphor for growing up.
* In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures''', despite the fact that it is well over three years old, X's baby Kangaskhan never grew nor left its mother's pouch, mirroring its trainer's {{Hikikomori}} lifestyle.

* In ''The Powerpuff Girls''' DarkFic ''Fanfic/TheUtoniumTrials'', the girls are permanently stuck looking five years old due to being {{Artificial Human}}s. They're nine years old (five chronologically) but still look five. Their young looks cause them to be [[KidsAreCruel bullied by their classmates]] and causes even worse problems once the government takes note of them.

* ''Blog/TinySapientUngulates''

[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
* A bit of a supernatural occurrence happens in ''Anime/SpiritedAway'', where it's implied that Yubaba's overly coddling of her son Boh made him stay physically and mentally a baby.

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
* The imaginary friends in ''Film/DropDeadFred'' don't grow up. It is implied that those who do not grow out of needing their imaginary friends are ultimately prescribed pills that hurt or kill the imaginary friends.
[[/folder]]

* Creator/HarlanEllison's short story "Jeffty is Five" is about a kid who is always five. Not only that, but he is also seemingly an unconscious RealityWarper; he continually gets to see new movies starring actors who've been dead for years, new episodes of radio shows that have been off the air for decades, and read new issues of comics that don't exist anymore. This leads the narrating character, who's highly nostalgic for the GoodOldDays, to spend a lot of time with him... until, as usually happens in an Ellison story, it all goes horribly awry.

* Claude from ''Literature/InterviewWithTheVampire'' was a 5yo girl who was bitten by Lestat to save her from the plague and being part of Lestat's "family". A literal case of a little girl who has ReallySevenHundredYearsOld.

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' there's a radio advertisement for the [[ShowWithinAShow fictional sitcom]] ''Just the Five Of Us'', in which one character is a 42-year-old investment banker with a rare disease that makes him look 10 years old.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries:'' Actress Mary Dahll suffered from a disease that prevented her from physically aging past the age of about 6 or so. She was a sitcom star for a while playing a little girl named Baby Doll. Eventually she quit and tried to become a serious actress with less than no success. After a series of failures she resorted to kidnapping her old castmates in an attempt to relive her glory years and drawing the attention of Batman.

* Book example no one's going to recognize: ''The Meq'' (by Steve Cash). Also a spectacular example of a non-ending.

-->''How their home was joyful with a son to call their own''
-->''But soon, they saw the years that passed would never make him grow''

* ''VideoGame/TouhouProject'' has an interesting case of this trope being fueled by ImmortalImmaturity: according to WordOfGod, resident [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] sisters Remilia and Flandre Scarlet have forfitted their growth and maturity in exchange for eternal life. In other words, the sisters have the appearance and mentality of ten-year-old children because one of them is a RoyalBrat, and the other confined herself to their basement for 500 years, which stunted her mental and emotional growth.

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' there's a radio advertisement for the fictional sitcom ''Just the Five Of Us'', in which one character is a 42-year-old investment banker with a rare disease that makes him look 10 years old.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries:'' Actress Mary Dahll suffered from a disease that prevented her from physically aging past the age of about 6 or so. She was a sit-com star for a while playing a little girl named Baby Doll. Eventually she quit and tried to become a serious actress with less than no success. After a series of failures she resorted to kidnapping her old castmates in an attempt to relive her glory years and drawing the attention of Batman.

* In ''Video/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' there's a radio advertisement for the fictional sitcom ''Just the Five Of Us'', in which one character is a 42-year-old investment banker with a rare disease that makes him look 10 years old.

* In ''WesternAnimation/The Powerpuff Girls''' DarkFic ''Fanfic/TheUtoniumTrials'', the girls are permanently stuck looking five years old due to being {{Artificial Human}}s. They're nine years old (five chronologically) but still look five. Their young looks cause them to be [[KidsAreCruel bullied by their classmates]] and causes even worse problems once the government takes note of them.