History OlderThanTheyLook / AnimeAndManga

* Downplayed in ''Literature/SoundEuphonium''. Yuuko is very girly and looks as if she were younger because of her hair ribbon and the way she conducts herself; thing is, she is actually of average height, but she hangs out with [[SenpaiKohai Kaori]], who is almost a head taller than her.

** A03 Sōya Kazama is one of the few active agents who are older than 20, but is usually mistaken as as a middle schooler due to his petite stature. The author implies that you can tell who knows his age by whoever refers to him as either ''-[[SenpaiKohai senpai]]'' (you're older than me), or ''-san'' (you're the same age frame as me).

* In ''The Face Burglar'' by Creator/JunjiIto, Kamei is a shapeshifting schoolgirl who involuntarily takes the appearance of anyone she spends time around. It is stated at the end of the story that she is not really a student and has been attending the school without permission, but no one knows how to get rid of her. They believe she is far older than she really appears.

* ''Manga/InuYasha'': this is common for {{youkai}} characters due to their supernatural heritage.

** There's also Poor Tom, a minor antagonist from ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion Jojolion.]]'' He has the appearance of a toddler, but he's actually ''57.''

--> '''Lutecia''': Even though we've got one shrimp, the three of us are of the same age.\\

* Faye Valentine from ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' is much older than she appears, [[spoiler:having been cryogenically frozen for 54 years while recovering from injuries she sustained on a space shuttle accident (possibly one of the first public space shuttles).]]

* Dragons in ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'' are all {{Time Abyss}}es, but the only indications Ilulu is any older than [[TokenMiniMoe Kanna]] are her GagBoobs. This is due to Ilulu having poorer shapeshifting abilities than the other dragons, resulting in her unbalanced appearance. She's actually around the same age as Tohru.

* White from ''Anime/{{Tekkonkinkreet}}''; by the way he looks and acts you'd think he's a 5-year-old, but he's 11.

* [[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...

** Goten and Trunks have fallen into this in ''Super''. Despite the show taking place over the course of several years, neither of them have aged a day since the Buu saga, and arguably look even younger. As of ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'', they're supposed to be 13 and 14 respectively, yet they still show no signs of the six years worth of growth they should have had. Trunks' case is particularly jarring, as he's the same age as his future counterpart was in ''Anime/DragonBallZTheHistoryOfTrunks''. Averted in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero'' where Trunks and Goten finally look their age.

* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'':

** Jotaro Kujo should be over 40 by the time the ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'' arc (whose 19-year-old protagonist also happens to be his daughter) rolls around -- but he barely looks like he's aged a day since his teen years [[YoungerThanTheyLook (though he looked like a guy in his twenties back then)]]. In fact, some say he actually looks ''younger'' in the later arcs. Compare his appearance at [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EDQSbDFW4AADpVy.jpg age 17]] to his appearance [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080110031932/jjba/images/2/29/Jotaro_Kujo_Part_VI.jpg in his 40s]].

*** ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' would end up [[JustifiedTrope justifying]] this when Bulma searches for the Dragon Balls with the intention of [[FountainofYouth wishing to be five years younger]], with the implication that she's done this before.

* 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.

*** 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.

* The main character Hinata Shouyou in ''Manga/{{Haikyuu}}'' is barely 5'4 and is always around tall volleyball players which makes him look even shorter in comparison. Due to his height and his rather immature behavior, he's mistaken for a middle- and sometimes grade-schooler on more than one occasion. Ironically, Hinata is actually the oldest first year on the Karasuno volleyball team, half a year older than the tall and intimidating Kageyama.
** His second-year teammate Nishinoya, who's a year older and even shorter than Hinata, has the same problem.

** 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.
*** Though with that said fans have noted Jiraiya doesn’t [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dd/d6/35/ddd6355cf08b5c340ca5750414a23d2c.jpg look that much different when he’s in his 50s compared to when he was in his 20s]]. In fact it’s only when he uses [[SuperMode Sage Mode]] that Jiraiya grows a beard and gets wrinkles, and he actually avoids using Sage Mode so chicks won’t be grossed out. Ironically this means unlike the other Sannin Jiraiya kept his youthfulness without artificial means.

* There's a rather odd version of this in ''Manga/PsychicSquad'' where the EvilMentor who looks like a middle school student is really in his 80s. This changes his stated intent to "groom" the titular 10-year-olds from weird to squicky.
** Let's not forget also the said evil mentor's childhood friend and GoodCounterpart, ''three years older'' Fujiko, who looks and behaves like a horny teenage {{Kawaiiko}}, but notwithstanding her looks the titular "children" characters often call her "granny".

* 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.

* Simon of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann''. He's actually 14, but his [[OneHeadTaller stature]] and [[ShrinkingViolet attitude]] makes him look at most 12.
** Then there's Viral who [[spoiler:will become this because of his immortality.]]

* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'': Syaoran is subjectively around 21 when the series begins ([[spoiler:TimeTravel is involved]]). He looks like a young teenager. [[spoiler:The clones don't look any older than he is at the end, but both of them are in their early-to-mid 30's... yes, the clones are older than their originals. [[TimeyWimeyBall It's complicated.]]]]

* Despite looking like a man in his late twenties, Byakuei of ''Manga/YuunaAndTheHauntedHotSprings'' has been around for over 120 years. He kept himself from aging by using the techniques he developed in his search for immortality.

* Legal Loli of ''Manga/YuushaGojoKumiaiKouryuugataKeijiban'' looks like a preteen. Her real age isn't given, but she's implied to be ''very'' advanced in years.

* ''LightNovel/ArifuretaFromCommonplaceToWorldsStrongest'': Yue, Tio, and Aiko resemble young children. They're actually 300, 500, and 25 years old, respectively.
* Maine in ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'' starts out at age five but only looks three. Her physique is small and weak due to her poor health, which always leaves her looking younger than she actually is.
* In the manga ''Ashidaka-The Iron Hero'' (Tekkai no Senshi), it is hinted that Captain Honchi is older than he looks, since the author mentions that the protagonist [Ashidaka] is not able to smoke cigarettes because "he is a minor" (comparing to his original draft). Meanwhile, Honchi is shown smoking cigars on various occassions.

* Firo from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' is, [[AllThereInTheManual according to the novels]], regularly assumed to be about three or four years younger than he actually is (eighteen and a half). Of course, now that he's taken the [[ImmortalityInducer Elixir of Life]], that disparity [[Really700YearsOld is only going to get bigger over time]].

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

* ''LightNovel/BludgeoningAngelDokuroChan'' primarily parodies the trope. Dokuro-chan was sent by God to kill Sakura (or make his [[FateWorseThanDeath life worse than Hell itself]]) for the crime of giving humanity immortality. Why? The catch is that all women stop aging at 12, making it a pedophile paradise.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':
** Komoe-sensei looks very young (no older than ten) and wears bunny pajamas to bed. Yet she is an adult, and her apartment is littered with beer cans and cigarettes. Quite a contrast there. For the longest time, there was no explanation for this, but in later volumes rumors eventually surface that she was the subject of some kind of age-regression experiment (though whenever anyone mentions this in front of her, she denies it).
** 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.

* ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'': Saito Hiraga looks no more than 13, but is in fact a 17-year-old. Even worse is his {{Tsundere}} mistress, Louise, who only looks ten at the most and is the same age as Saito.

* Done in ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' with Mikuru Asahina, who is described in the series as "Lolita-looking". She's seventeen, while the rest of the cast is sixteen. She also happens to be MsFanservice and have GagBoobs, yet ''still'' manages this title. Then there's the whole [[spoiler:TimeTravel thing]] (and her playful refusal to answer any of Kyon's inquiries about the matter), which makes her real age pretty much impossible to determine. Given the possibilities of future medicine, she could be in her thirties for all we know.

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'':
** Koneko is fifteen and looks like, at most, twelve. [[spoiler:This is due to an imbalance in her powers and her rejection of her voluptuous older sister.]]
** Venelana Gremory, Rias's mother, appears to be the same age as her daughter, and younger than her son Sirzechs. Sirzechs fought and established himself in the Three Powers war, which went into a cease-fire in the early 1600s.

* Aur, the VillainProtagonist of ''LightNovel/HowToBuildADungeonBookOfTheDemonKing'', was an old man at the end of his lifespan by the time he finished his mana potion -- rejuvenating himself was the first thing Aur did with his new immense power. There’s also the many demons and other races seen in the series.

* ''LightNovel/IfHerFlagBreaks'': School elder Tsumugi Ryuukishibara looks like a young child, complete with bonnet; in truth, she was once a fully-grown woman, but shrank to her current height as she got older. No-one knows how, and Tsumugi herself seems to think it's perfectly natural. Rumor has it she's been around since the school's founding.

* The Demons in ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'' age at a slower rate than humans, and live longer as well making them this. A good example is the main hero's accidental fiance Wolfrem, who is physically a 16-year-old, but is chronologically 82.

* Akatsuki of ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'' looks like a middle schooler but is actually in college.

* Utage of ''LightNovel/MyMentalChoicesAre'' looks like a little girl. She's 29.

* ''LightNovel/AnObservationLogOfMyFianceeWhoCallsHerselfAVillainess'':
** 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.

* Aletta from ''LightNovel/RestaurantToAnotherWorld'' looks around 18 but is actually 50, that seems to be normal among demons. Elves and half-elves are between this and Really700YearsOld depending on their age.
* Hinata Hakamada from ''Ro-Kyu-Bu!'' is a sixth-grader but looks and acts like she's around seven. Subverted as she does have noticeable breasts. Humorously enough, her "little" sister Kagetsu is YoungerThanTheyLook.

* All 12 of Abe no Seimei's Shikigami in ''LightNovel/ShonenOnmyouji'' are very easily hundreds, maybe even thousands of years old, but most of them appear to be in their mid-twenties or early thirties. The exceptions being Taiien and Genbu, who both look like children.

* The AffablyEvil priest Rezo from ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' is the [[Really700YearsOld century-old]] great-grandfather of one of the protagonists, Zelgadis; aside from the two barely-noticable boney lines under his eyes, he looks to be more in his late forties or early fifties. Lina lampshades this when he appears in the first LightNovel, describing him as looking "both young and old at the same time."
** A non-human example would be Hellmaster Fibrizo, who is both the oldest and strongest of the world's five Demonic Lords. He disguises himself in the form of an [[ViewerGenderConfusion androgynous]] young boy in order to decieve people.
** And from the fourth and fifth seasons of the anime, [[BrattyHalfPint Pokota]] the prince has the voice and the demeanor of a 10-year-old. In reality, when his kingdom was struck by a plague about a decade before the series proper, his then 10-year-old body was sealed away (along with the rest of the country's citizens), and his soul was [[SoulJar placed in a stuffed animal]]. Realistically, he should be a bit older than Lina.

* Maria claims to be an adult in ''LightNovel/TheTestamentOfSisterNewDevil'', and produces a [[MinorWithFakeID fake ID]] to show to cops in case she gets stopped on the street during school hours. However, Basara wonders how effective it'll be as she looks younger than him.
* ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'':
** Rigurd was old enough to be a frail, old man, but after being named by Rimuru becomes a huge mass of muscle who looks to be in his 30s.
** Shizu is in her 70s based on her having been a child during World War II, but she looks 17. [[spoiler:When she dies, her hair whitens and her skin wrinkles to reflect her true age.]]
** 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 or early 30s but have [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld lived over a hundred years]].
* Miyu from ''VisualNovel/TheyAreMyNobleMasters'' looks extremely young for someone in her early twenties -- which actually [[BrotherSisterIncest causes her sister Shinra to be attracted to her]].

* ''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}'': Taiga Aisaka, aka [[InSeriesNickname the Palmtop Tiger]], is 17, but is [[TheNapoleon very short]] and [[ACupAngst flat-chested]], which makes her look younger than she really is. [[BerserkButton Point either one out at your own peril]].

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': Yumeria looks like a young girl. She's actually old enough to be a mother. JustifiedTrope - Yumeria is an elf, and all elves look younger than they actually are.

* Charlotte B. Lord, the school principal of Midgar in ''LightNovel/UnlimitedFafnir'', looks like a 10-year-old girl. Yuu, at sixteen, is much taller than she is as well.

** The extreme cases fell on Konata, Kanata, and Yutaka -- their heights are 1.42 m, 1.43 m, and 1.38 m respectively[[note]] For those of you less familiar with metric, that's 4'8", 4'8¼", and 4'6" respectively[[/note]]. The relation between this trope and ComedicLolicon has been thoroughly explored: Kanata is the (deceased) wife of Soujiro, and Konata wore SchoolSwimsuit to attract "people with special interests" in the BeachEpisode, and when Yutaka lamented her lack of boyfriend due to being an {{ill|Girl}} [[OlderThanTheyLook fauxli]], Konata told her that a lot of people are looking for her, ''should she not choose''... Yutaka's [[CheerfulChild demeanor]], and the fact that she and [[MoeCouplet her interactions]] with [[HugeSchoolgirl Minami]] seem ''[[ShoutOut very]]'' {{s|houtOut}}imilar to [[Manga/AzumangaDaioh another yonkoma-based anime with an]] ''[[Manga/AzumangaDaioh actual]]'' [[Manga/AzumangaDaioh child]] don't help her case -- even the mangaka shouted that out when Yutaka introduced herself in front of the class, and gave her [[GirlishPigtails pigtails]].

* The main character Hinata Shouyou in ''Manga/{{Haikyuu}}'' is barely 5'4 and is always around tall volleyball players which makes him look even shorter in comparison. Because of his height and his rather immature behavior, he's confused for a middle- and sometimes grade-schooler on more than one occasion. Ironically, Hinata is actually the oldest first year on the Karasuno volleyball team, half a year older than the tall and intimidating Kageyama

* The main character Hinata Shouyou in ''Manga/{{Haikyuu}}'' is barely 5'4 and is always around tall volleyball players which makes him look even shorter in comparison. Because of his height and his rather immature behavior, he's confused for a middle- and sometimes grade-schooler on more than one occasion. Ironically, Hinata is actually the oldest first year on Karasuno high school team, half a year older than tall and intimidating Kageyama

* Main character Hinata Shouyou in ''Manga/{{Haikyuu}}'' is barely 5'4 and is always around tall volleyball players. He is called a middle schooler on more than one occasion.
** He is called a grade-schooler in first episode when he is around 14 years old.
** Hinata is actually the oldest first year on Karasuno high school team, half a year older than tall and intimidating Kageyama.
** The team's libero Nishinoya is a year older and even shorter than Hinata. He is often mistaken as a middle schooler too.

* 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.

* Chilchuck from ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'' may look like a MouthyKid, but he's actually a 28-year-old adult [[spoiler: with a wife and ''three'' daughters]]. It's implied as well that for a halfling, 28 is roughly "middle-aged;" at one point [[spoiler:Chilchuck is transformed into a human, and ends up looking much older than any of the other adventurers in the party]]. Being child-sized and youthful-looking is the norm for [[{{Hobbits}} halflings]], and their actual ages can be hard for other races to discern. Even after he tells them outright how old he is, Marcille and Senshi still seem to think he's very young because their races (an elf and dwarf respectively) are LongLived and mature much more slowly (Marcille is boggled when she finds out that [[spoiler: not only is Chilchuck married with children, all his children are independent adults]]). This trope is {{Deconstructed}} a little with halflings in general: because they're small and cute, other races tend to treat them as children regardless of their chronological age, and it contributes to the general [[FantasticRacism condescending, disrespectful attitude]] that halflings have to live with.

** 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 they're 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.

** Goten and Trunks have fallen into this in ''Super''. Despite the show taking place over the course of several years, neither of them have aged a day since the Buu saga, and arguably look even younger. As of ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'', they're supposed to be 13 and 14 respectively, yet they still show no signs of the six years worth of growth they should have had. Trunks' case is particularly jarring, as he's the same age as his future counterpart was in ''Anime/DragonBallZTheHistoryOfTrunks''.

** 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.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** 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.
** Hollows don't age at all. As a result, there is no way to guess how old they might be. Lilinette lampshades this when Ukitake refuses to fight her on the grounds that he cannot -- will not -- fight children. He knows her chronological age has nothing to do with her biological appearance, but he will not change his stance.
** 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.
** In Shinji's first appearance, he manages to convincingly pass himself off as a high school student. It's later revealed that not only is he a Soul Reaper, but he's much older than Rukia, having been a Captain a century before the start of the story.

** With Rei and Kaworu actually being [[spoiler:the souls of Lilith and Adam, transplated into clone bodies that has been subjected to some degree of artifically accelatered aging]], they actually have a really strange case [[spoiler:of both being YoungerThanTheyLook]], at same time as they are also ''[[TimeAbyss Much]]'' Older Than They Look.