Line #70 Main/Kawaiiko


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5	[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/RanmaOneHalf https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/latest_740.png]]]]
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7
8	->'''Apollo:''' Isn't she a little old for cute? \
9	'''Trucy:''' Apollo! Shame on you! Cute is eternal! Cute is timeless!
10	-->-- ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' [[note]]"She" is [[TookALevelInJerkass anything but kawaiiko]][[/note]]
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13
14	In Japanese, ''kawaii'' means "cute", but [[UsefulNotes/{{Kawaisa}} the concept has far more overtones than it does in English]] -- and far more power. For many Japanese schoolgirls (and some women), being ''kawaii'' is kind of like being sexy for Western women: it means that they are desirable, attractive and wanted. It becomes a primary goal in their social lives, and success, as measured in the reactions of their peers, [[MenActWomenAre is practically an affirmation of their worth as a woman]].
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16	As always, whenever there is a goal like this, there is always someone who overdoes it. The ''kawaiiko'' (literally "cute child"), or ''burikko'' ("fake child" or "pretend(ing) child"), is the case in point. She takes being ''kawaii'' to an almost unhealthy extreme by making it the sole focus of her life. In clothing and fashion, this manifests in frilly, flouncy outfits, often with ribbons and lace. In behavior it appears as a tendency to act childishly "young", particularly in speech -- she may speak entirely in baby talk, giggle mindlessly, habitually [[ThirdPersonPerson refer to herself in the third person]], and/or use nicknames as well as the ''-chan'' [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics honorific]] for virtually everyone she encounters. In short, the difference between ''kawaii'' and ''kawaiiko'' is the difference between "cute" and "cutesy". (The difference between ''kawaiiko'' and ''burikko'', however, is the difference between "cutesy" and "obnoxious".)
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18	In some cases, the decision to go ''kawaiiko'' is not a desperate plea for social acceptance but a calculated step intended to further a career goal as an IdolSinger -- for which [[NotAllowedToGrowUp lacy, frilly cutesiness appears to be required]] by the Japanese music industry.
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20	Compare {{Animesque}}, DeliberatelyCuteChild, ManChild (similar trope for men that could also apply to the worst of these cases), TheFakeCutie, and {{Moe}}. Contrast RatedMForManly and TestosteronePoisoning.
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22	----
23	!!Work Subpages
24	[[index]]
25	* ''Kawaiiko/MangaSoprano''
26	[[/index]]
27
28	!!Examples
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32	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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36	[[foldercontrol]]
37
38	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
39	* Azusa Shiratori from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' is a living showcase of how ''kawaiiko'' can turn into ''burikko''. She's a teenage girl who speaks like she's barely old enough for grade-school, constantly referring to herself in third-person and applying the "chan" honorific like it's going out of style. When she's focused on the cute, it's so saccharine it hurts, but it's won her an enormous fan-base combined with her good looks and snappy dressing. Her most obnoxious trait is stealing various random objects, giving them a "cutesy" name and claiming them as her own -- and being quite willing to beat up anyone who tries to stop her. Her second-most obnoxious trait is that she throws tantrums like a little girl when she doesn't get her way. Weirdly, at times she shows a much more mature and conniving personality, which is how she's become a skilled fighter in [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Martial Arts Figure Skating]], but she also snaps from "serious" to "cute ditz" even when it's to her own disadvantage, so it's clear that her antics are not (entirely) ObfuscatingStupidity.
40	** Female Ranma sometimes [[WigDressAccent acts like this]] deliberately when [[PaperThinDisguise in disguise]], to heighten the impression of being female and thusly improve the disguise. She tends to play it down, though, usually favoring cutesy expressions and nice clothing.
41	** Tsubasa ''tries'' for this, with long girly hair, elegant dresses and a deliberately cute way of speaking and acting, but tends to evoke a reaction that's more towards YouWereTryingTooHard. But, of course [[spoiler:he's a he]] and has slightly warped ideas of what's cute.
42	* Tamama from ''Manga/SgtFrog'' is the youngest and therefore cutest member of the platoon... just don't get him mad.
43	%% * Hikaru "Rabi~en~Rose" Usada from ''Anime/DiGiCharat'' is a subversion -- like other ''Anime/DiGiCharat'' characters, she's [[{{Yandere}} sweet on the outside, but petty and overbearing on the inside]] (not to discount her moments of genuine niceness; those happen too).
44	* Ran from ''Anime/UruseiYatsura'' is a {{Yandere}} who acts like a Kawaiiko -- speaking in third person and using the most cutesy, innocent expressions and terms possible -- when she's trying to look good. It's actually a borderline split personality for her; she put on the act of the sweet and innocent girl to try and escape the wrathful attentions of her [[AbusiveParents abusive mother]], and although her real personality is much more sarcastic, jaded, bitter and spiteful, she tends to switch into "cutesy mode" even when she's trying to be serious.
45	* Mimete of the Witches 5 arc in ''Manga/SailorMoon'' has Kawaiiko traits. She has aspirations of being an IdolSinger, often wears flouncy dresses when outside the lab (even when trying to fight the Senshi), mostly targets famous and attractive men for stealing heart crystals (and in at least one instance bakes a cake for one of them) and almost always talks with a BabyTalk tone of voice.
46	* An overbearing agent attempts to force tough-girl thrash rocker Priss Asagiri into going ''kawaiiko'' in an attempt to sell her as an idol singer in ''[[Anime/BubblegumCrisis Bubblegum Crash]]''. It doesn't work.
47	%% * Lillith from ''VisualNovel/YamiToBoushiToHonNoTabibito''.
48	* Ropponmatsu II (the {{Catgirl}} robot, not the adult robot) in ''Manga/ExcelSaga''.
49	%% * ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'': Anything ''kawaii'' turns out to be life-threatening, and anything that is merely sweet turns out to be merely dangerous.
50	%% * Amane Misa from ''Manga/DeathNote'', who is also [[{{Yandere}} a psychotic killer]]. Who kills [[MadLove for love]]. Although, being an idol and all, she has an excuse.
51	%% * ''Anime/MyHime'': Munakata Shiho is very cute and cheery, but [[ClingyJealousGirl when she gets angry]], she gets ''angry''.
52	* Invoked with Akira Kogami in ''Manga/LuckyStar'''s [[ShowWithinAShow Lucky Channel]] being a cutesy, sugary GenkiGirl to the public. When she gets tired of it, she reverts back to her true personality of [[HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight a jaded, bitter entertainment industry veteran]].
53	* A challenge for fans of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'': Find one of Sakura's Tomoyo-designed costumes, even one, that doesn't push the Kawaiiko content to {{Glurge}}-worthy proportions. To be fair, though, Sakura doesn't seem any happier about wearing them.
54	%% * Similar to Nermal, Chi from ''Manga/ChisSweetHome''. She's more of a kawaiiko, though, because she's naive about it.
55	%% * Both Suzu Sakuma and Miki Koishikawa in ''Manga/MarmaladeBoy''.
56	%% * Quattro of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'', a {{Meganekko}} who looks all cutesy, speaks all cutesy, and acts all cutesy. Naturally, she's turns out to be [[SmugSnake the evil]], [[{{Sadist}} nasty]] [[TheSociopath one]] of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Numbers]].
57	* C-ko Kotobuki from ''Anime/ProjectAKo'' is widely regarded as cute, but also displays the maturity and intelligence of a grade school girl despite being in high school.
58	%% * [[Manga/ChocottoSister Choco]] is downright adorable.
59	* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl'': [[OneShotCharacter Marilyn]] fits the trope to a tee, except that she's more obsessed with cute Pokémon. She even has a very strict criteria what she considers to be cute: 1) Height is not more than 2 feet, 2) hasn't evolved, and 3) looks "absolutely lovely." The last rule is so subjective that even a cute Pokémon like Piplup or Mime Jr. could be rejected by her. Ironically, she developed this obsessive kawaii attitude because she was bullied by her friends for believing that [[UglyCute Shellder is the cutest Pokémon of them all]].
60	%%* Para-Para from ''Franchise/SailorMoon''.
61	%% * Natsuru Senou from ''Literature/{{Kampfer}}'', when in female form.
62	%% * Eco from ''Manga/PlusSi'' is a [[GenderInvertedTrope male example]].
63	%% * LLENN from ''Literature/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'', who started playing GGO specifically because she was given a short and cute avatar. She then goes out of her way to act cute in-game, customizing [[PinkMeansFeminine all of her clothes to that of pink]].
64	* ''Anime/SaberMarionetteJ'': Luchs acts the ''burikko'' kind while in the beauty contest for Otaru's affections; Tiger told her to be cute and childish to appeal better to Otaru but as she doesn't know how, she overracted. [[spoiler:She later adopts this persona when she becomes a news reporter at the end of ''J to X'']].
65	[[/folder]]
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67	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
68	* Lampshaded in ''Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger'', with a character called ''Bukkorin''. She may walk around in a fluffy dress and act all cutesy, but [[spoiler:she's the daughter of an alien mob boss, and tough enough to catch a blade with her bare hands]].
69	%% * Wakana Sonozaki from ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' in her DJ job.
70	%% ** Himeka from the Nightmare Dopant arc.
71	%% * The dubbing of ''Series/IronChef'' had a lot of the young actresses on the tasting panel sound like this.
72	* Nayoung of ''Series/KimsConvenience'', who's 18 in her debut appearance, thrives on cute trends that are popular in her home Korea (which also appear to be influenced by Japanese kawaiiko culture). She dresses very cutely and gaudy, even wearing cat ears as casual wear in one appearance (her Korean-Canadian cousin Janet asks if she's cosplaying, and Nayoung thinks she's joking). She has the tendency to insert cute emojis when texting and has an obsession with hand/arm hearts and selfies, often making other people in the photo do it too. She also acts and talks very sweetly, has a fondness for calling Janet ''eonni'' (an affectionate term for one's older sister or older sister figure), and is GenkiGirl and fragile girl by nature. Janet finds her Kawaiiko ways SickeninglySweet at first, but she eventually gets used to it.
73	[[/folder]]
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75	[[folder:Video Games]]
76	%% * Lina, the yellow archer from ''VideoGame/RivieraThePromisedLand'', is concentrated {{Kawaiiko}}.
77	%% * Alice from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'', who is also a sadist and even has an overly cutesy looking ''riding crop''.
78	%% * ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'' has, in the third case "Turnabout Big Top" a 16 year old girl with big eyes and blonde hair.. Who is so cute she's gotten several marriage proposals (one by a '''36''' year old!), and has the titular Phoenix Wright and his plucky sidekick ''powerless'' to decline a request of finding her outfit (as shown in the ButThouMust page). ... Err, her other outfit.
79	%% * Nao in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''. She even asks you to call her Nao-Nao. ''For short''.
80	%% * Momo from VideoGame/RivalSchools. To the point of intentional parody.
81	* Desco from ''VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten''. She always refers to herself in the third person, refers to another character exclusively as "Big Sis", and is such an {{adorable\|Abomination}} [[FinalBoss ultimate killing machine]] you can't help but love her.
82	* Klara from the (Sword-exclusive) Isle of Armor DLC for ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield''. She has fluffy pink hair and a [[SignatureHeadgear giant hair bow]], consistently giggles and cutely sways during battle (and when she Dynamaxes her Pokemon, she playfully wags her finger and ''winks''), and occasionally uses outdated expressions like "What a drag!" Seemingly subverted in that she's a [[PoisonIsEvil Poison-]]type trainer, but even then she says that the player's Pokemon would look [[UglyCute "sooooo much cuter with a nice coat of venom!"]]
83	* Megumi has elements of this for her [[CharacterisationClickMoment newly-established personality]] in ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacingNitroFueled''; in contrast to her Nitro Squad teammates being [[AllLovingHero amorous]], [[FemmeFatale alluring]] or [[TheLadette rugged]] (in Ami's case), she's a sweet, cheerful, cutesy GenkiGirl who races for fun and behaves more like a teenager such as Coco or Yaya.
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86	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
87	* In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', [[AntiHero Kokichi Oma]] appears [[OlderThanTheyLook younger than he really is]], and uses his looks to his advantage. He plays up his appearance by speaking in a cutesy manner, calling everyone "-chan", and going out of his way to act like a kid. He often displays a child-like excitement over things like the Exisals and the morphing Trial Grounds. While he openly insults and mocks others, especially Miu, he will immediately switch to acting like a threatened child if somebody else insults him. He cries CrocodileTears and melodramatically accuses others of being bullies, only to return to normal moments later. Depending on the situation, Kokichi seems to do this out of habit, to manipulate others, or to annoy people.
88	* ''VisualNovel/TheFruitOfGrisaia'': Makina not only [[OlderThanSheLooks looks a lot younger]] than she is, but she also has a very cutesy way of speaking. Yuuji suspects she deliberately plays up the moe part of her personality.
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91	[[folder:Web Animation]]
92	* ''WebAnimation/MangaWaido'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYz_Em3pbec Mari]] kept making mistakes at her hotel job and fakes a ditzy personality as a cover. The staff are powerless to get rid of her because her uncle, a politician is a regular customer. When the CEO of the hotel failed to get a room due to Mari messing up, he decided to fire her.
93	* ''WebAnimation/MoniRobo'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHVcGS1jzjI Ayane Azato]] acts cutesy around her boss and manipulates her male coworkers, but is actually a tyrannical bully when their boss or said men aren't around.
94	* ''WebAnimation/RefreshingStories'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7gAaEu5o-M Hitomi]] pulls a ''burikko'' act on Hiroshi to make him give her money.
95	[[/folder]]
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97	%%[[folder:Webcomics]]
98	%% * Candi Shugari in ''Webcomic/AngelMoxie'', pictured above.
99	%% * Joan in ''Webcomic/NamirDeiter''.
100	%% * Duchess Lettie in ''Webcomic/AMagicalRoommate''. The fans honestly can't decide whether she's kawaiiko or burikko. All we know is that she thinks she's living HappilyEverAfter, despite having a daughter [[RebelliousPrincess who hates her]] and another [[SpoiledBrat everybody hates.]]
101	%% * Take a [[http://www.errantstory.com/2006-02-20/477 look]] at the character "Kawaii" in ''Webcomic/ErrantStory'', then decide for yourself whether she's [[PlayingWithATrope a deconstruction, subversion, inversion, perversion, or simply so weird that you can't describe her]]. Yeah, that last one fits.
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104	[[folder:Web Original]]
105	* In the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', Jade Sinclair (Generator) makes a point of being distressingly cute and straddling the line between kawaiiko and burikko, in part because she's stuck at the apparent age of 12. This has led to a lot of UncannyValley moments, especially as even if she's fundamentally good at heart, she's also CuteAndPsycho with a body count greater than many supervillains.
106	[[/folder]]
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108	[[folder:Western Animation]]
109	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' has [[Characters/SouthParkKennyMcCormick Kenny McCormick]], already in endearingly poor princess drag, turn into an obnoxiously cute {{Animesque}} Japanese princess whose cuteness is his/her ''superpower''.
110	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' had the AlphaBitch Paulina declaring she wants to be as cute as the Kawaiiko ''[[Franchise/HelloKitty Sayonara Pussycat]]''. She gets her wish... and is dolled up in the cutest, [[SuperDeformed chibiest]] look ''ever'' when Desiree grants her wish in the episode "What You Want". The ghost possessing Paulina also makes her bigger and stronger the more people that pay attention to her as well as hypnotizing people to force them to love her (though it doesn't go very far).
111	-->Paulina (under Desiree's spell): Hi, I'm Paulina! I'm adorable and swell and full of big-headed anime goodness!
112	%% * Deedee from ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory''.
113	%% * Cadpig from ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatiansTheSeries''.
114	%% * The [[TheDitz ditzy]], [[GenkiGirl genki]], and constantly [[{{Squee}} squeeing]] Katie and Sadie from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama''.
115	%% * ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': The title character is obsessed with cuteness and puts a lot of emphasis on being "cute", and being seen as such.
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Real Life]]
119	* Spoofed by Japanese porn star Kikouden Misa, who frequently appears on TV as a Kawaiiko parody -- a [[TheDitz ditzy]], cosplay-loving, squeaky-voiced GenkiGirl ''burikko'' called Hakyuun, whose speech is absolutely full of {{Verbal Tic}}s.
120	* IdolSinger [[Music/HelloProject Matsuura Aya]] used to affect a ''kawaiiko'' stage persona called "Ayaya" (which made her convincing portrayal of surly and violent near-delinquent Saki in the 2006 ''Manga/SukebanDeka'' film a major surprise for her fans). In the last couple of years, however, she seems to have gone from Ayaya to just Aya, releasing more mature songs and acting less cute.
121	%% * This trope appears in Taiwan as well as Japan.
122	%% ** This is the primary schtick of Taiwan's Regine Lee, host of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGwhtUiWaVU Diamond Club]], despite the fact that her voice is very far from squeaky.
123	%% ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8UpfOe8s3A Guo Shuyao aka YaoYao,]] is closer to the intended age. Maybe too close.
124	%% ** The soft-spoken and equally leggy model Lin Chiling (of ''Film/RedCliff'' fame) was often accused of this, but actually fits [[YamatoNadeshiko a completely different Japanese demographic.]]
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Context Main / Kawaiiko