History OlderThanTheyLook / AnimeAndManga

* A very minor age-difference with Koruri from ''Manga/SevenSeeds''. She's one of the shorter characters, [[UsefulNotes/{{Pettanko}} without much development]] and her curly hair makes her seem even more youthful. She is 17-years-old, but looks about 13-years-old. The other teams are surprised to learn that she's the same age as the other members of her team, especially her boyfriend, who is a year younger than she.
* In ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'', Kusuri is 18-years-old, but due to a failed immortality drug she took, she looks like a young child unless she takes an antidote.

* The title character of ''Manga/{{Acony}}'' has the body of a 12- or 13-year-old girl, but claims to be 23. Her high school aged neighbor laughs at this, saying that if she's going to lie she should go all out and say she's ReallySevenHundredYearsOld, but it's true; she was involved in a [[spoiler:superhero origin-esque botched scientific experiment]] that slowed her aging to a crawl. She'll look 23 by the time she's 80, but she'll die around then because her lifespan is still that of a normal human.

* In Inoue Kazurou's (of ''Manga/MidoriDays'' and ''Manga/AiKora'' fame) short story ''Aoi Destruction'', the titular father of the main character is 38-years-old, yet looks like a little girl. His late wife, in contrast, was apparently quite masculine in appearance. [[PaedoHunt The problem with that should be obvious.]]

** Alicia is 19-years-old and pretty much looks that way, which doesn't quite match her supposed long experience as an undine. She lives on Mars though, where the years last almost twice as long as Earth's. Do the math.

* ''LightNovel/ArifuretaFromCommonplaceToWorldsStrongest'': Yue, Tio, and Aiko resemble young children. They're actually 300-, 500-, and 25-years-old, respectively.

* [[spoiler:Speck]] from the ''Most Evil Death Row Convicts'' saga of ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'' looks to be a freakishly tall and muscular middle-aged man, but he's actually 97-years-old. It's implied the only thing driving his body forward is his {{determinat|or}}ion [[DeathSeeker to know defeat]], hence his apparent [[TheAgeless immunity to aging]] as well as his ability to [[TheNeedless go a long time without breathing]] and to [[ImplacableMan shrug off any injury]]. [[spoiler:Once he gets his wish, he [[RapidAging rapidly deteriorates into a malnourished old man]] while under hospital care and [[GoOutWithASmile goes out with a smile]]]].

* In ''Manga/BlackCat'', because of being shot with a nanomachine Lucifer bullet, Train transformed into a kid (that looks around seven to 8-years-old), even though he's actually 23.

** Soul Reapers have vastly expanded lifespans and therefore their chronological ages do not match their biological ages. For example, Yamamoto looks like an elderly grandfather but has been around for over 2,000 years whereas Hitsugaya looks like he's around 13-years-old but has been around for at least 40 years. While Rukia looks like she's in the same age-group as Ichigo, she once told his 15-year-old self that she had lived ten times his lifespan. There doesn't seem to be any direct correlation between the Soul Reapers' aging process and the human one; while all Soul Reapers age much slower than humans, some age even slower than the rest and have longer lifespans.

** The age of a Quincy cannot be judged by their appearance. Although they are regarded as humans and are born in the World of the Living, their souls are classified as being different to human souls, and several Quincies are confirmed to be around a 1000-years-old. Most of the Quincies left the World of the Living to hide in the Soul Society, so it's ambiguous as to whether they're now living humans with unnatural lifespans, or have become more akin to the Soul Reapers and Hollows (spirits with unnatural lifespans). [[TheEmperor Yhwach]] himself was at least 200-years-old before he first travelled to the Soul Society despite looking like he was only in his thirties.
** In the filler Bount arc, Ran'Tao looks like she's around 30-years-old but is very old even by Soul Reaper standards. Through [[ProfessorGuineaPig self-experimentation]], she greatly slowed her aging at the price of greatly reduced stamina and a need to sleep roughly 2/3 of each day.

* Leonardo Watch from ''Anime/BloodBlockadeBattlefront'' is old enough to drink, but looks and sounds like he's around 15-years-old.

** In the Natural Selector Arc, there's Oumi Shuri, a Kouga Kunochi who is over 30-years-old, but at some time in her life, came upon a disease, probably the Clostridium botulinum bacteria, that stopped her from growing, and maintained her skin and preserved her childish face, and then she had her body modified to the point that she looks around 10-years-old.

* In the original ''Anime/CuteyHoney'', the shape-shifting android Honey was [[YoungerThanTheyLook Younger Than She Looked]] (supposedly 16 but was probably built more recently than that). By the time ''New Anime/CuteyHoney'' came around, she looked a little older (early- to mid-twenties, probably voluntary aging from her powers), but being over a 100-years-old, she had moved to the opposite trope.

** The same thing happened with [[Creator/FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids]]' dub of ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'', presumably for similar reasons; an especially jarring example is [[TokenMiniMoe Bu-Ling]], who begins the series at 8-years-old, yet the dubbed version managed to make her ''fourteen''. Oddly, Creator/TokyoPop's manga translation moved the characters ''down'' a year to appeal more to a young audience.
* In the 8th ''Anime/DirtyPair'' OVA we have Tia, who was locked in a capsule by her father to save her from the guerilla invaders who massacre him and the other passengers of the ship, twenty years pass and Kei and Yuri find her capsule and she hasn't aged at all, despite being in her mid twenties and technically older than them, she still looks like a little girl about 5- or 6-years-old.
* Mika-sensei in ''Manga/DokiDokiSchoolHours'' is a 27-year-old woman, though she appears to be 10-years-old. This doesn't prevent one of her students, Kitagawa, from being attracted to her. In fact, it encourages it.

*** Vegeta's brother Tarble is probably the best example of this as far as Saiyans go -- he looks like he could be in his teens despite being older than Goku, who was around 40-years-old when they met.
** For ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' [[WordOfGod Toriyama confirmed]] that Goku, Vegeta, and Broly are 43-years-old by the time the movie takes place, of course none of said Saiyans look remotely close to that age looking more like 20-something-year-old hunks.

** And then there's Chiaotzu, who looks like a 10-year-old child through his entire life. By his last appearance in ''Z'', he's 46-years-old, three years older than Goku, and he still looks like a little kid. This is kind of explained in that his original design was based on a traditional Chinese ghost.

* In ''Manga/FinalFantasyLostStranger'', Shogo is 26-years-old, but has a young-looking face that makes it easy to think he's a teenager. The rest of his party is shocked when they learn of this, figuring he was the same age as Sharuru when he's actually the second-oldest after Duston. He's also quite annoyed when he's referred to as "kiddo", complaining that Japanese people tend to look younger longer but this treatment is just too much.

* Chiharu the fox demon from ''Anime/FuuunIshinDaiShogun'' she looks like a 13- or 14-year-old girl but she's 250-years-old.

* [[ShrinkingViolet Meiko Rokudou]] from ''Anime/GhostSweeperMikami'' comes to mind. For most of the manga's run, her insecurity, cutesy look, and the nature of her [[HoYay crush on Mikami]] could easily make a reader think that she's anywhere from 17- to 19-years-old (Mikami's 20-21). Then, in one of the last story arcs, we are shown Meiko's mother while she's pregnant with her. The thing is that this is the beginning of the story arc describing how Mikami's parents ''met''. So Meiko's probably 22-24...

** He is called a grade-schooler in first episode when he is around 14-years-old.

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] and [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in the first episode of the {{ecchi}} sex comedy ''Manga/InterspeciesReviewers''. One of main character Stunk's favourite prostitutes is a beautiful elf maiden more than 500-years-old. His companion Zel, a comparatively younger (a bit over 200-years-old) elf who looks like a young boy himself, thinks Stunk is gross for sleeping with what he considers a hag older than his mother, while his own preferred girl is a 50-year-old [[{{Gonk}} chubby and homely]] human woman, who he nevertheless considers incredibly attractive just because she's so much younger than him (he has a thing for humans because they're always younger than 100, making him a sort of parody of ComedicLolicon). Zel justifies his opinion by saying that the elf prostitute's mana is rotten while his human girl's life force is very rich (something Stunk can't judge), so he's clearly not judging on appearance (he's also been visiting her for thirty years since she was still [[IWasQuiteALooker young and hot]]). The two seek second opinions from a pair of other adventurers to settle their argument. The beastman complains that the elf girl [[TheNoseKnows smells old and stale]], while he likes the human for her plumpness. The halfling just judges them entirely on their age, irrespective of their appearance, and isn't into either of them, although he gives the human the edge for being comparatively not as old. Conventionally speaking, the elf is obviously far more attractive, but within the series Stunk is the only one to think so.

** Inuyasha is set up to appear, and behave, as though he's the same age as the 15-year-old Kagome. However, he is half-{{youkai}} and his appearance has not changed in 50 years. Flashbacks of his mother show her dressed in Heian-era aristocratic clothing, which would imply that Inuyasha could be as much as 500-years-old. The third anime film declares that he is 200-years-old, although there's no age given in canon.
** Creator/RumikoTakahashi has stated that Sesshoumaru is the {{youkai}} equivalent of a 19-year-old (although the anime ages him up to look like he's in his twenties). He is Inuyasha's older brother, so he's definitely more than 50-years-old. Given that the third anime film makes Inuyasha 200-years-old, the anime team regards Sesshoumaru as being even older than that.

** Shishinki is an old enemy of Inuyasha's {{youkai}} father, but looks barely older than Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha's father died when Inuyasha was a young child (Inuyasha tells Sesshoumaru he doesn't have many memories of their father as a result), and Inuyasha is over 50-years-old. When Jaken hears that Shinshinki was the father's enemy, he's shocked by how youthful appears to be.
** In the sequel ''Anime/YashahimePrincessHalfDemon'' there are also a lot of youkai, which are much older than they look. Only the hanyou Shiori is still in a human lifespan. Because of her demonic heritage, she looks like she is 20-years-old or less. But in fact she is almost 30-years-old.

** In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'', Joseph's brain nearly breaks trying to comprehend how [[spoiler:Lisa Lisa]] could be 50-years-old. The answer, incidentally, is the Ripple. Supernatural powers in this series slow aging.
** In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'', Koichi Hirose starts out at 16-years-old, but [[TinySchoolboy one could easily mistake him for an elementary schooler due to his short height]] and his [[CrossDressingVoices Cross-Dressing Voice]]. It gets even more ridiculous in ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'' when he is 18, but he is barely half the height of Giorno Giovanna, who is ''15-years-old''.

** Interestingly enough, Creator/HirohikoAraki himself is [[MemeticMutation jokingly known]] for the fact that he never seems to age, allowing him to still look like he's in his 30's, despite being 60-years-old. In a way, it seems almost inevitable that his characters would carry on this trend.

** And in a less extreme example (also from the first two seasons), Chrono Harlaown looks to be roughly nine or 10-years-old, just like Nanoha, Yuuno, Fate, etc. In reality, he's fourteen.

* ''Manga/MagicalPokemonJourney'' has Ginger, who introduces herself as Coconut's sister. She appears to be around 16, which makes her overtones with Grandpa really really creepy...until [[spoiler:Coconut reveals that Ginger is her GRANDMOTHER, and Grandpa's wife. Apparently she'd discovered a youth formula]].

** After Hikaru stated that she was 14-years-old, Umi and Fuu were shocked (Hikaru is significantly shorter), and one of them said that she thought Hikaru was still in elementary school.

* Loco from ''Manga/{{MAR}}'' is 32-years-old, despite looking like she's somewhere around ten. This is because the Darkness Arms she specializes in de-age her every time she uses them. At one point she ends up de-aging herself into infancy.

** Two of the Sannin have this; Tsunade uses a transformation jutsu to keep herself looking like she's in her late twenties or early thirties (however, the use of her ''[[HealingFactor other]]'' jutsu makes her appearance without it appear ''even older'' than she really is). Orochimaru's [[GrandTheftMe body-switching jutsu]] causes him too look like he's still in his early-to-mid-thirties. Both are between 50- and 53-years-old. Jiraiya presumably doesn't use any jutsu to keep himself looking young, as he is the only one who looks his age.

** Sasori is 35-years-old. But because he modified his body to become an unaging puppet, his physical appearance is that of a 15-year-old.

* In ''Manga/{{Needless}}'', Disc is [[spoiler:a half-cyborg from the time before the big war. This makes her over 100-years-old, despite her appearance as the TokenMiniMoe]]. When this is pointed out in Episode 7, Adam is less than pleased.

*** Asuna Kagurazaka, who looks and is assumed by the people around her to be 14. It isn't clear just ''how'' old she is, but flashback chapters later in the manga have confirmed her to have traveled as a little girl with Nagi's company -- twenty years ago [[spoiler:(it turns out she's over 100-years-old)]]. It should be noted that Takamichi, Asuna's adult teacher who also traveled with Nagi, was ''also'' a little kid at the same time.

*** Then we've got the normal (we think) girls like the Narutaki twins, who look 10-years-old despite being around fifteen like the rest of the class. They're actually the ''oldest'', other than [[Really700YearsOld the vampire]] and ghost. Likewise, the oldest-looking girl (Chizuru) is [[YoungerThanTheyLook actually the youngest]]. The epilogue chapter and cover shows the twins looking the age they actually are.

** His [[SexyMentor guardian]] Misato is stated as being 29-years-old, but she could pass for an in-universe 18-year-old (or even younger, if not for her height and figure).

* Aoba and Nene of ''Manga/NewGame'', both 18 or 19-years-old, have been mistaken as middle schoolers in-universe.

** Nico Robin looks as young and beautiful as the then 18-year-old Nami so some viewers assumed she was the same age and got a shock to learn she’s actually 28- and 30-years-old post TimeSkip. It’s even revealed Robin was a little girl around the time Gold D. Roger was still alive and most of the crew hadn’t even been born yet. This also justifies why Robin is so good at being TeamMom.
** Similarly in a SBS questions, a fan did some maths, and was amazed to discover Franky was 34. Heck with that, in Franky's flashback (eight years before Water 7), he was 26-years-old! While looking just like a slight grown up from his childhood!

** Sugar, an agent from Donquixote Pirates, is an interesting example. While she has the body and looks of a 10 to 12-year-old girl, she is actually 22-years-old. This is due to [[CreepyChild her eating Hobby Hobby Fruit]] which makes her stick at the age at which she ate the fruit, [[LittleMissBadass but still no less a fighter]]. Trebol and Lao G lampshade this.
** A minor case for Miss Goldenweek, who appears to be around the same age as the aforementioned Sugar but was actually 16-years-old. (18 post time-skip.)

* Mitsukuni "Honey" Haninozuka from ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' looks and acts like a 10-year-old to appeal to the [[LoliconAndShotacon Shotacon]] crowd, but is really 17/18-years-old, and therefore, the oldest member of the club. At one point he infiltrates the elementary school section of Ouran just by wearing his old uniform. Part of the joke surrounding this is that Honey's birthday is on February 29th (so he technically only has a birthday once every four years on a Leap Year), thus he looks only 1/4th his actual age.
* Break and Sharon from ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' don't age and are at least ten years older than they appear. [[spoiler:Break is around 12-years-old, though he looks like he's in his twenties. Sharon looks 13, but is really 23]]. There's also Zwei. Another example is Rufus Barma, who appears to be in his twenties or thirties despite actually being over 70-years-old.

* The main girls in ''Anime/PetitePrincessYucie'' are all 17-years-old but appear no older than ten thanks to a spell cast when they were babies.

* In ''Anime/PleaseTeacher'', Kei is an 18-year-old male lead who is functionally 15-years-old due to a coma that resembled suspended animation. Among other things, this also served as LampshadeHanging to explain the contrivance of him and Mizuho shacking up together, since eighteen is minimum age to marry... [[spoiler:And in a plot twist late in the story, he finds out that the LittleMissSnarker in his circle of friends has the exact same condition, and is actually in her ''twenties''.]]

* In ''Anime/PrincessPrincipal'', 20-year-old Dorothy is sent to infiltrate a high school alongside actual 15-years-old Ange. Chise and Beatrice are also 15 but look around 13.

* Being [[spoiler: a time traveler stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop]], Homura of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' has an uncertain age. Most fan estimates, based on WordOfGod [[spoiler: (around one hundred loops of forty-five days)]] suggest her to be around 26-years-old, next to her middle-school peers. However, she looks the same age as the rest of the cast -- in fact, she's actually a UsefulNotes/{{Pettanko}} and the second shortest girl. Explanations, from side-effects of her powers to actual immortality, abound in the fanbase.

** Kaoru refuses to believe that the youthful-looking Kenshin is a whopping 28-years-old (which is ''quite'' old for a {{shonen}} manga protagonist), although that doesn't stop them from getting together in the end -- even though Kaoru is only 17 when they first meet. Likewise, when Yahiko and Misao discover that Kenshin's master Hiko Seijuurou is a remarkably well-preserved 43, they wonder if it's a side-effect of the Hiten Mitsurugi style.

* Libra Dhoko from ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' fills both this and the YoungerThanTheyLook trope (oddly enough). He's over 200-years-old, with the body of a 21-year-old (after shedding his old skin) OR a 21-year-old in a very old body.

* Reiji Miyabi (aka Head) from ''Anime/StarDriver'' appears to be about 15- to 17-years-old. Flashbacks to the time when he [[spoiler:fathered his now 15-year-old son, Takuto Tsunashi,]] suggest he's at least twice that age, if not much older.

* In ''VisualNovel/SteinsGateZero'', poor Maho Hiyajo keeps getting treated upon first impression as a little underage kid when she is in fact 21-years-old. Daru came up with the infamous meme phrase "Legal Loli FTW" for her.

** Rimuru is both this and YoungerThanTheyLook: in his human form, he looks about 16/17 at the very oldest, but his mental age is around 40, having died as a human at 37 at the start of the series, and being reincarnated with all of his memories. His physical body is only about 3-years-old at the end of the series.
** Most demons look like they're in their 20s-early 30s but have [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld lived over a hundred years]].

** The biggest offender of this trope is [[spoiler: Roma Hoito, the FakeCutie ex-waitress of Anteiku who was treated as a little sister by the staff, and what we presumed to be an childish and idiotic member of [[MonsterClown Pierrot]] is in fact the founder of the organization, [[KingIncognito only pretending to play dumb is because it is part of the game]] [[BreadAndCircuses she's playing to avoid boredom]]. And she's over ''50-years-old'' and takes many names and aliases, one of them being SSS-rate Dodgy Mother.]]
* ''Manga/ToLoveRu'': Yami is 24-years-old. She looks like a 15-year-old.

* When he's introduced in Chapter 13 of ''Manga/TorakoAnmariKowashichaDameDaYo'', Torako's older brother, Mashiro, is initially taken as a lost little boy by the Pet Raising Club. The only thing that shocks the girls more than hearing Torako call him "Big Bro" and said big bro throwing the insanely strong Torako around like a ragdoll is the revelation that he's almost 35-years-old.

* The Ryoto family from ''Wild Life'' turns this UpToEleven. Tsukasa Ryoto is probably in his mid-40s, but still look like a 20-year-old. His ''father'' and ''grandmother'' looks the same age, even though the latter is 100-years-old.

* ''Manga/XxxHolic'': [[spoiler:Watanuki takes over Yuuko's shop after her death, he goes into a similar un-aging and anomaly-to-the-universe state. By the end of the series he's over 100-years-old but physically looks barely older than the teenager he was when the series started.]]

* Yugi's childlike appearance is a source of comic relief in both the ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga and the [[Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries first series]]. He's supposed to be 16-years-old. He looks about ten. It's played with even more when you consider his child-like innocence (to an extent at least, he trades pixilated porno tapes with Jonouchi), and how physically vulnerable he is compared to everyone else in the cast. It also bugs him a lot when people mistake him for a grade-schooler. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'', where he says that he looks like he's 10 and that [[YoungerThanTheyLook Serenity, who is about 12- to 14-years-old, looks like she's 16]].

** [[WorldsStrongestMan Levi]] from is this according to ShrugOfGod. His exact age is unknown, other than being this trope almost word for word.[[spoiler:WordOfGod is that he's over 30.]]

* Ryouhei Sumi from ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula'' looked like he's a little kid, but he is in fact 15 (at the beginning of the series) making him a year older than Hayato, the main character.

* Mika-sensei in ''Manga/DokiDokiSchoolHours'' is a 27-year-old woman, though she appears to be 10-years-old. This doesn't prevent one of her students, [[SchoolgirlLesbians Kitagawa]], from being attracted to her. In fact, it encourages it.

** In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'', Koichi Hirose starts out at 16-years-old, but [[TinySchoolboy one could easily mistake him for an elementary schooler due to his short height]] and his [[CrossDressingVoices Cross-Dressing Voice]]. It gets even more ridiculous in ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo]]'' when he is 18, but he is barely half the height of Giorno Giovanna, who is ''15-years-old''.

* ''LightNovel/JishouAkuyakuReijouNaKonyakushaNoKansatsuKiroku'':
** Shaun is a secondary student, but his petite body makes him appear younger than he actually is.
** In human form, [[spoiler: Pi resembles a small child]], although Cecil notes [[spoiler: it's]] likely far older than him.

* A very minor age-difference with Koruri from ''Manga/SevenSeeds''. She's one of the shorter characters, [[UsefulNotes/{{Pettanko}} without much development]] and her curly hair makes her seem even more youthful. She is 17 years old, but looks about 13 years old. The other teams are surprised to learn that she's the same age as the other members of her team, especially her boyfriend, who is a year younger than she.
* In ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'', Kusuri is 18 years old, but due to a failed immortality drug she took, she looks like a young child unless she takes an antidote.
** Chapter 74 introduces Kusuri's parents, who took the same drug. Her mother is 55, while her father's age is unmentioned, but both resemble 8 year olds. Chapter 75 introduces her 89 year old grandmother Yaku, who took an enhanced version of the drug and thus permanently looks like a child.

* In Inoue Kazurou's (of ''Manga/MidoriDays'' and ''Manga/AiKora'' fame) short story ''Aoi Destruction'', the titular father of the main character is 38 years old, yet looks like a little girl. His late wife, in contrast, was apparently quite masculine in appearance. [[PaedoHunt The problem with that should be obvious.]]
* In ''Manga/ArataTheLegend'', Princess Kikuri looks surprisingly youthful for a 60+ year-old woman. Justified, as her powers suppress the form of her true age.

** Alicia is 19 years old and pretty much looks that way, which doesn't quite match her supposed long experience as an undine. She lives on Mars though, where the years last almost twice as long as Earth's. Do the math.

* ''LightNovel/ArifuretaFromCommonplaceToWorldsStrongest'': Yue, Tio and Aiko resemble young children. They're actually 300, 500, and 25 years old, respectively.

* In ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'', Tomo Takino mentions that she frequently gets mistaken for a middle school student despite being in high school, expressing jealousy at Yomi for being hit with [[YoungerThanTheyLook the opposite trope]]. Similarly, Chiyo Mihama is unusually small for a 10-13-year-old, to the point where author Creator/KiyohikoAzuma used a modified version for the ''five''-year-old title character of ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}''.

* [[spoiler:Speck]] from the ''Most Evil Death Row Convicts'' saga of ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'' looks to be a freakishly tall and muscular middle-aged man, but he's actually 97 years old. It's implied the only thing driving his body forward is his {{determinat|or}}ion [[DeathSeeker to know defeat]], hence his apparent [[TheAgeless immunity to aging]] as well as his ability to [[TheNeedless go a long time without breathing]] and to [[ImplacableMan shrug off any injury]]. [[spoiler:Once he gets his wish, he [[RapidAging rapidly deteriorates into a malnourished old man]] while under hospital care and [[GoOutWithASmile goes out with a smile]]]].

* In ''Manga/BlackCat'', because of being shot with a nanomachine Lucifer bullet, Train transformed into a kid (that looks around seven to eight years old), even though he's actually 23.

** Soul Reapers have vastly expanded lifespans and therefore their chronological ages do not match their biological ages. For example, Yamamoto looks like an elderly grandfather but has been around for over 2,000 years whereas Hitsugaya looks like he's around 13 years old but has been around for at least 40 years. While Rukia looks like she's in the same age-group as Ichigo, she once told his 15-year-old self that she had lived ten times his lifespan. There doesn't seem to be any direct correlation between the Soul Reapers' aging process and the human one; while all Soul Reapers age much slower than humans, some age even slower than the rest and have longer lifespans.

** The age of a Quincy cannot be judged by their appearance. Although they are regarded as humans and are born in the World of the Living, their souls are classified as being different to human souls, and several Quincies are confirmed to be around a 1000 years old. Most of the Quincies left the World of the Living to hide in the Soul Society, so it's ambiguous as to whether they're now living humans with unnatural lifespans, or have become more akin to the Soul Reapers and Hollows (spirits with unnatural lifespans). [[TheEmperor Yhwach]] himself was at least 200 years old before he first travelled to the Soul Society despite looking like he was only in his thirties.
** In the filler Bount arc, Ran'Tao looks like she's around 30 years old but is very old even by Soul Reaper standards. Through [[ProfessorGuineaPig self-experimentation]], she greatly slowed her aging at the price of greatly reduced stamina and a need to sleep roughly 2/3 of each day.

* Leonardo Watch from ''Anime/BloodBlockadeBattlefront'' is old enough to drink, but looks and sounds like he's around 15 years old.

** In the Natural Selector Arc, there's Oumi Shuri, a Kouga Kunochi who is over 30 years old, but at some time in her life, came upon a disease, probably the Clostridium botulinum bacteria, that stopped her from growing, and maintained her skin and preserved her childish face, and then she had her body modified to the point that she looks around 10 years old.

* In the original ''Anime/CuteyHoney'', the shape-shifting android Honey was [[YoungerThanTheyLook Younger Than She Looked]] (supposedly 16 but was probably built more recently than that). By the time ''New Anime/CuteyHoney'' came around, she looked a little older (early- to mid-twenties, probably voluntary aging from her powers), but being over a 100 years old, she had moved to the opposite trope.

** The same thing happened with [[Creator/FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids]]' dub of ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'', presumably for similar reasons; an especially jarring example is [[TokenMiniMoe Bu-Ling]], who begins the series at eight years old, yet the dubbed version managed to make her ''fourteen''. Oddly, Creator/TokyoPop's manga translation moved the characters ''down'' a year to appeal more to a young audience.
* In the 8th ''Anime/DirtyPair'' OVA we have Tia, who was locked in a capsule by her father to save her from the guerilla invaders who massacre him and the other passengers of the ship, twenty years pass and Kei and Yuri find her capsule and she hasn't aged at all, despite being in her mid twenties and technically older than them, she still looks like a little girl about five or six years old.
* Mika-sensei in ''Manga/DokiDokiSchoolHours'' is a 27-year-old woman, though she appears to be 10 years old. This doesn't prevent one of her students, [[SchoolgirlLesbians Kitagawa]], from being attracted to her. In fact, it encourages it.

*** Vegeta's brother Tarble is probably the best example of this as far as Saiyans go -- he looks like he could be in his teens despite being older than Goku, who was around 40 years old when they met.
** For ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' [[WordOfGod Toriyama confirmed]] that Goku, Vegeta, and Broly are 43 years old by the time the movie takes place, of course none of said Saiyans look remotely close to that age looking more like 20-something-year-old hunks.

** And then there's Chiaotzu, who looks like a 10-year-old child through his entire life. By his last appearance in ''Z'', he's 46 years old, three years older than Goku, and he still looks like a little kid. This is kind of explained in that his original design was based on a traditional Chinese ghost.

* Akira Toriyama has stated in one interview that Arale the android from ''Manga/DrSlump'' is meant to be 13; however she looks and acts like a seven or eight-year-old.

* The main characters in ''Anime/FairyMusketeers'' look more like seven or eight-year-olds than 14-year-olds. "''Juushi''" could be a pun. In the title, it means "musketeer", but ''juushi'' -- using different kanji -- means "fourteen".

* In ''Manga/FinalFantasyLostStranger'', Shogo is 26 years old, but has a young-looking face that makes it easy to think he's a teenager. The rest of his party is shocked when they learn of this, figuring he was the same age as Sharuru when he's actually the second-oldest after Duston. He's also quite annoyed when he's referred to as "kiddo", complaining that Japanese people tend to look younger longer but this treatment is just too much.

* Chiharu the fox demon from ''Anime/FuuunIshinDaiShogun'' she looks like a 13 or 14-year-old girl but she's 250 years old.

* [[ShrinkingViolet Meiko Rokudou]] from ''Anime/GhostSweeperMikami'' comes to mind. For most of the manga's run, her insecurity, cutesy look, and the nature of her [[HoYay crush on Mikami]] could easily make a reader think that she's anywhere from 17 to 19 years old (Mikami's 20-21). Then, in one of the last story arcs, we are shown Meiko's mother while she's pregnant with her. The thing is that this is the beginning of the story arc describing how Mikami's parents ''met''. So Meiko's probably 22-24...

** He is called a grade-schooler in first episode when he is around 14 years old.

* We aren't privy to her real age, but Athena of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'' appears to be the same age as the main character, but the time where she's been staying for the years before her appearance has a different standard of time. When she shows up in the current time, she looks to have aged appropriately since she's been locked out of the castle. She also acted rather like an adult back when she was supposed to be six. And her mindset is from even further back. The mindset she instilled in Hayate. And now she's back at her six-year-old appearance, while even only given the years we've seen she's at least 16.

* Hagu from ''Manga/HoneyAndClover'' is apparently 18 at the beginning of the series, despite looking ''and acting'' like an eight-year-old -- which doesn't keep some guys from falling in love with her. Which is made worse by the fact that it is openly stated she stopped growing at six and she barely changes by the time she's twenty.

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] and [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in the first episode of the {{ecchi}} sex comedy ''Manga/InterspeciesReviewers''. One of main character Stunk's favourite prostitutes is a beautiful elf maiden more than 500 years old. His companion Zel, a comparatively younger (a bit over 200 years old) elf who looks like a young boy himself, thinks Stunk is gross for sleeping with what he considers a hag older than his mother, while his own preferred girl is a 50-year-old [[{{Gonk}} chubby and homely]] human woman, who he nevertheless considers incredibly attractive just because she's so much younger than him (he has a thing for humans because they're always younger than 100, making him a sort of parody of ComedicLolicon). Zel justifies his opinion by saying that the elf prostitute's mana is rotten while his human girl's life force is very rich (something Stunk can't judge), so he's clearly not judging on appearance (he's also been visiting her for thirty years since she was still [[IWasQuiteALooker young and hot]]). The two seek second opinions from a pair of other adventurers to settle their argument. The beastman complains that the elf girl [[TheNoseKnows smells old and stale]], while he likes the human for her plumpness. The halfling just judges them entirely on their age, irrespective of their appearance, and isn't into either of them, although he gives the human the edge for being comparatively not as old. Conventionally speaking, the elf is obviously far more attractive, but within the series Stunk is the only one to think so.

** Inuyasha is set up to appear, and behave, as though he's the same age as the 15-year-old Kagome. However, he is half-{{youkai}} and his appearance has not changed in 50 years. Flashbacks of his mother show her dressed in Heian-era aristocratic clothing, which would imply that Inuyasha could be as much as 500 years old. The third anime film declares that he is 200 years old, although there's no age given in canon.
** Creator/RumikoTakahashi has stated that Sesshoumaru is the {{youkai}} equivalent of a 19-year-old (although the anime ages him up to look like he's in his twenties). He is Inuyasha's older brother, so he's definitely more than 50 years old. Given that the third anime film makes Inuyasha 200 years old, the anime team regards Sesshoumaru as being even older than that.

** Shishinki is an old enemy of Inuyasha's {{youkai}} father, but looks barely older than Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha's father died when Inuyasha was a young child (Inuyasha tells Sesshoumaru he doesn't have many memories of their father as a result), and Inuyasha is over 50 years old. When Jaken hears that Shinshinki was the father's enemy, he's shocked by how youthful appears to be.
** In the sequel ''Anime/YashahimePrincessHalfDemon'' there are also a lot of youkai, which are much older than they look. Only the hanyou Shiori is still in a human lifespan. Because of her demonic heritage, she looks like she is twenty years old or less. But in fact she is almost thirty years old.

** In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'', Joseph's brain nearly breaks trying to comprehend how [[spoiler:Lisa Lisa]] could be 50 years old. The answer, incidentally, is the Ripple. Supernatural powers in this series slow aging.
** In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'', Koichi Hirose starts out at 16 years old, but [[TinySchoolboy one could easily mistake him for an elementary schooler due to his short height]] and his [[CrossDressingVoices Cross-Dressing Voice]]. It gets even more ridiculous in ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo]]'' when he is 18, but he is barely half the height of Giorno Giovanna, who is ''15 years old''.

** Interestingly enough, Creator/HirohikoAraki himself is [[MemeticMutation jokingly known]] for the fact that he never seems to age, allowing him to still look like he's in his 30's, despite being 60 years old. In a way, it seems almost inevitable that his characters would carry on this trend.

** And in a less extreme example (also from the first two seasons), Chrono Harlaown looks to be roughly nine or 10 years old, just like Nanoha, Yuuno, Fate, etc. In reality, he's fourteen.

** In the alternate continuity of ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaINNOCENT'', Alicia Testarossa is several years older than her 10-year-old sister Fate, yet she still looks like the same five-year-old she was in the main series.

** After Hikaru stated that she was 14 years old, Umi and Fuu were shocked (Hikaru is significantly shorter), and one of them said that she thought Hikaru was still in elementary school.

* Loco from ''Manga/{{MAR}}'' is 32 years old, despite looking like she's somewhere around ten. This is because the Darkness Arms she specializes in de-age her every time she uses them. At one point she ends up de-aging herself into infancy.

** Two of the Sannin have this; Tsunade uses a transformation jutsu to keep herself looking like she's in her late twenties or early thirties (however, the use of her ''[[HealingFactor other]]'' jutsu makes her appearance without it appear ''even older'' than she really is). Orochimaru's [[GrandTheftMe body-switching jutsu]] causes him too look like he's still in his early-to-mid-thirties. Both are between 50 and 53 years old. Jiraiya presumably doesn't use any jutsu to keep himself looking young, as he is the only one who looks his age.

** Sasori is 35 years old. But because he modified his body to become an unaging puppet, his physical appearance is that of a 15-year-old.

* In ''Manga/{{Needless}}'', Disc is [[spoiler:a half-cyborg from the time before the big war. This makes her over 100 years old, despite her appearance as the TokenMiniMoe]]. When this is pointed out in Episode 7, Adam is less than pleased.

*** Asuna Kagurazaka, who looks and is assumed by the people around her to be 14. It isn't clear just ''how'' old she is, but flashback chapters later in the manga have confirmed her to have traveled as a little girl with Nagi's company -- twenty years ago [[spoiler:(it turns out she's over 100 years old)]]. It should be noted that Takamichi, Asuna's adult teacher who also traveled with Nagi, was ''also'' a little kid at the same time.

*** Then we've got the normal (we think) girls like the Narutaki twins, who look ten years old despite being around fifteen like the rest of the class. They're actually the ''oldest'', other than [[Really700YearsOld the vampire]] and ghost. Likewise, the oldest-looking girl (Chizuru) is [[YoungerThanTheyLook actually the youngest]]. The epilogue chapter and cover shows the twins looking the age they actually are.

** His [[SexyMentor guardian]] Misato is stated as being 29 years old, but she could pass for an in-universe 18-year-old (or even younger, if not for her height and figure).

* Aoba and Nene of ''Manga/NewGame'', both 18 or 19 years old, have been mistaken as middle schoolers in-universe.

** Nico Robin looks as young and beautiful as the then 18-year old Nami so some viewers assumed she was the same age and got a shock to learn she’s actually 28 and 30 years old post TimeSkip. It’s even revealed Robin was a little girl around the time Gold D. Roger was still alive and most of the crew hadn’t even been born yet. This also justifies why Robin is so good at being TeamMom.
** Similarly in a SBS questions, a fan did some maths, and was amazed to discover Franky was 34. Heck with that, in Franky's flashback (eight years before Water 7), he was 26 years old! While looking just like a slight grown up from his childhood!

** Sugar, an agent from Donquixote Pirates, is an interesting example. While she has the body and looks of a 10 to 12-year-old girl, she is actually 22 years old. This is due to [[CreepyChild her eating Hobby Hobby Fruit]] which makes her stick at the age at which she ate the fruit, [[LittleMissBadass but still no less a fighter]]. Trebol and Lao G lampshade this.
** A minor case for Miss Goldenweek, who appears to be around the same age as the aforementioned Sugar but was actually 16 years old. (18 post time-skip.)

* Mitsukuni "Honey" Haninozuka from ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' looks and acts like a 10-year-old to appeal to the [[LoliconAndShotacon Shotacon]] crowd, but is really 17/18 years old, and therefore, the oldest member of the club. At one point he infiltrates the elementary school section of Ouran just by wearing his old uniform. Part of the joke surrounding this is that Honey's birthday is on February 29th (so he technically only has a birthday once every four years on a Leap Year), thus he looks only 1/4th his actual age.
* Break and Sharon from ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' don't age and are at least ten years older than they appear. [[spoiler:Break is around 120 years old, though he looks like he's in his twenties. Sharon looks 13, but is really 23]]. There's also Zwei. Another example is Rufus Barma, who appears to be in his twenties or thirties despite actually being over 70 years old.

* The main girls in ''Anime/PetitePrincessYucie'' are all 17 years old but appear no older than ten thanks to a spell cast when they were babies.

* In ''Anime/PleaseTeacher'', Kei is an 18-year-old male lead who is functionally 15 years old due to a coma that resembled suspended animation. Among other things, this also served as LampshadeHanging to explain the contrivance of him and Mizuho shacking up together, since eighteen is minimum age to marry... [[spoiler:And in a plot twist late in the story, he finds out that the LittleMissSnarker in his circle of friends has the exact same condition, and is actually in her ''twenties''.]]

* In ''Anime/PrincessPrincipal'', 20-year-old Dorothy is sent to infiltrate a high school alongside actual 15 years old Ange. Chise and Beatrice are also 15 but look around 13.

* Being [[spoiler: a time traveler stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop]], Homura of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' has an uncertain age. Most fan estimates, based on WordOfGod [[spoiler: (around one hundred loops of forty-five days)]] suggest her to be around 26 years old, next to her middle-school peers. However, she looks the same age as the rest of the cast -- in fact, she's actually a UsefulNotes/{{Pettanko}} and the second shortest girl. Explanations, from side-effects of her powers to actual immortality, abound in the fanbase.

** Kaoru refuses to believe that the youthful-looking Kenshin is a whopping 28 years old (which is ''quite'' old for a {{shonen}} manga protagonist), although that doesn't stop them from getting together in the end -- even though Kaoru is only 17 when they first meet. Likewise, when Yahiko and Misao discover that Kenshin's master Hiko Seijuurou is a remarkably well-preserved 43, they wonder if it's a side-effect of the Hiten Mitsurugi style.

* Libra Dhoko from ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' fills both this and the YoungerThanTheyLook trope (oddly enough). He's over 200 years old, with the body of a 21-year-old (after shedding his old skin) OR a 21-year-old in a very old body.

* Reiji Miyabi (aka Head) from ''Anime/StarDriver'' appears to be about 15 to 17 years old. Flashbacks to the time when he [[spoiler:fathered his now 15-year-old son, Takuto Tsunashi,]] suggest he's at least twice that age, if not much older.

* In ''VisualNovel/SteinsGateZero'', poor Maho Hiyajo keeps getting treated upon first impression as a little underage kid when she is in fact 21 years old. Daru came up with the infamous meme phrase "Legal Loli FTW" for her.

** Princess Nephrites is fifty-four, but resembles an eighteen-year-old due to being an elf (elves age slower than humans, and don't age once they reach adulthood).

* White from ''Anime/{{Tekkonkinkreet}}''; by the way he looks and acts you'd think he's a five-year-old, but he's 11.

** Rimuru is both this and YoungerThanTheyLook: in his human form, he looks about 16/17 at the very oldest, but his mental age is around 40, having died as a human at 37 at the start of the series, and being reincarnated with all of his memories. His physical body is only about three years old at the end of the series.

** The biggest offender of this trope is [[spoiler: Roma Hoito, the FakeCutie ex-waitress of Anteiku who was treated as a little sister by the staff, and what we presumed to be an childish and idiotic member of [[MonsterClown Pierrot]] is in fact the founder of the organization, [[KingIncognito only pretending to play dumb is because it is part of the game]] [[BreadAndCircuses she's playing to avoid boredom]]. And she's over ''50 years old'' and takes many names and aliases, one of them being SSS-rate Dodgy Mother.]]
* ''Manga/ToLoveRu'': Yami is 24 years old. She looks like a 15-year-old.

* When he's introduced in Chapter 13 of ''Manga/TorakoAnmariKowashichaDameDaYo'', Torako's older brother, Mashiro, is initially taken as a lost little boy by the Pet Raising Club. The only thing that shocks the girls more than hearing Torako call him "Big Bro" and said big bro throwing the insanely strong Torako around like a ragdoll is the revelation that he's almost 35 years old.

* The Ryoto family from ''Wild Life'' turns this UpToEleven. Tsukasa Ryoto is probably in his mid-40s, but still look like a 20-year-old. His ''father'' and ''grandmother'' looks the same age, even though the latter is 100 years old.

* ''Manga/XxxHolic'': [[spoiler:Watanuki takes over Yuuko's shop after her death, he goes into a similar un-aging and anomaly-to-the-universe state. By the end of the series he's over 100 years old but physically looks barely older than the teenager he was when the series started.]]

* Yugi's childlike appearance is a source of comic relief in both the ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga and the [[Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries first series]]. He's supposed to be 16 years old. He looks about ten. It's played with even more when you consider his child-like innocence (to an extent at least, he trades pixilated porno tapes with Jonouchi), and how physically vulnerable he is compared to everyone else in the cast. It also bugs him a lot when people mistake him for a grade-schooler. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'', where he says that he looks like he's 10 and that [[YoungerThanTheyLook Serenity, who is about 12 to 14 years old, looks like she's 16]].

** Chitose looks like a thirteen-year-old girl. She's actually a ZashikiWarashi, and thus thousands of years old.

* ''LightNovel/JishouAkuyakuReijouNaKonyakushaNoKansatsuKiroku'': Shaun is a secondary student, but his petite body makes him appear younger than he actually is.

** Kaoru refuses to believe that the youthful-looking Kenshin is a whopping 28 years old, although that doesn't stop them from getting together in the end -- even though Kaoru is only 17. Likewise, when Yahiko and Misao discover that Hiko is a remarkably well-preserved 43, they wonder if it's a side-effect of the Hiten Mitsurugi style.

* ''Manga/MyMonsterSecret'': Downplayed with Shimada. He's actually one year older than the rest, having doubled a class, but he's about as tall as Mikan.

* ''Manga/MissionYozakuraFamily'': Despite being half Mutsumi's size and dressed in gothic lolita clothing, Futaba is Mutsumi's older sister.

** Chapter 74 introduces Kusuri's parents, who took the same drug. Her mother is 55, while her father's age is unmentioned, but both resemble 8 year olds. Chapter 75 introduces her 89 year old grandmother Yaku, who took a prototype of the drug and thus permanently looks like a child.

** Chapter 74 introduces Kusuri's parents, who took the same drug. Her mother is 55, while her father's age is unmentioned, but both resemble 8 year olds.

* The main premise of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': a MillionToOneChance FountainOfYouth turning {{Teen Genius}}es into Preteen Geniuses.
** Vermouth looks like she's in her twenties, but [[spoiler:is suspected to be Sharon Vineyard, the mother of her supposed public identity]].

* In ''Anime/PrincessPrincipal'' 20-year-old Dorothy is sent to infiltrate a high school alongside actual 15 years old Ange. Chise and Beatrice are also 15 but look around 13.

* ''Lightnovel/BeingAbleToEditSkillsInAnotherWorldIGainedOpWaifus'': Cecil looks like a child. She's actually around 14-15, which makes her an adult in the series setting.