[[{{Kanokon}} http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Midonin_Kanokon_=_Shotacon.jpg]]

Fetish regarding young boys. Originally popularized in [[BoysLove BL]] fandom as the [[{{Bishonen}} bishonen]] aesthetic taken to its natural extreme, but more generally refers to an attraction to a male character around 13 years old or less. Comes in heterosex and same-sex flavors, and is found in both female-oriented (especially {{Yaoi}}) and male-oriented works.

Shotacon tends to be less [[DismissedGender controversial]] than {{Lolicon}} because it's typically played for humor (and because [[DoubleStandard boys are stereotypically]] [[AllMenArePerverts more obsessed with sex]]). Also, some boys find the idea of physical encounters with older women enticing while others like the aggressive female characters usually involved. So, ironically, it pops up in {{shonen}} a lot, even if those boys are on the technical borderline.

If a show has an aggressive, sex-hungry [[TheOjou Ojou]] with an [[NoblewomansLaugh annoying laugh]], she's the most likely candidate, although that usually happens if the only potential male targets are very limited.

As you could imagine, most shotacon written by women follows in the footsteps of BL tropes. Sexually explicit shotacon for men tends to overlap heavily with [[{{Hermaphrodite}} Futanari]] and {{Lolicon}}, and typically features lots of [[{{Attractive Bent Gender}} crossdressing]].

The name is a portmanteau for ''Shotaro complex'', referring to Shotaro Haneda, the main character of ''[[{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28]]'', who embodies ([[TropeNamer and names]]) the CuteShotaroBoy trope, which many people found appealing.

Compare {{Lolicon}}. See also CuteShotaroBoy and HotForStudent.

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* Hisoka from ''HunterXHunter'' spends most of his time hitting on the main male characters, including the twelve year olds, Killua and Gon. He even stares at their butts in one scene with a rather ''pleasurable'' expression on his face.
*SayonaraZetsubouSensei uses this for laughs, like every other trope, with [[{{Hikikomori}} Kiri Komori]] harboring a shotacon attraction for Nozomu's nephew Majiru (they both live in Nozomu's house for [[RuleOfFunny some reason]]).
* It's extremely debatable in fanon whether Lord "[[GrandTheftMe I want your body]], Sasuke-kun" Orochimaru from ''{{Naruto}}'' is a pedophile.
** How bout Anko in Part I where she throws a kunai at Naruto, teleports behind him as his cheek bleeds, holds him close, and asks him while stroking his face, "You tough enough to handle this? You're not afraid are you? Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this forest." She then licks the blood from his face. "Spilling that delicious blood that I like so much..." Remember that Anko was 20 years old and Naruto was 12 years old then. Not to mention Anko's penchant for wearing no bra, some chainmail (that looks like fishnets) and a skirt under a BadassLongcoat.
* The [[ChristmasCake nearly thirty-year-old]] Shikijo-sensei in ''{{Mahoromatic}}'' is obsessed with catching the attention of high schoolers, and prone to perverted fantasies about the lead male. In the manga it's elementary students.
* The relationship between [[HalfHumanHybrid Clare]] and [[MoralityPet Raki]] in {{Claymore}} is... less than parental.
* Ayaka's affectionate fawning over the ten-year-old Negi in ''MahouSenseiNegima''. She claims it's just [[BigBrotherComplex being a maternal figure to him]], but no one buys it.
** Come to think of it, almost the entire class is far more affectionate with Negi than they would be with a boy their own age, often all at once, if not outright in love. Then again, Negi seems to be [[ChickMagnet shotacon-inducing whether he likes it or not]]. Misa makes one of the few non-squicky rationalizations, explaining that [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Negima_v14_c120_11-12.png in a few years the age difference won't be as noticeable]].
*** The creepiest example is one of the most innocuous at first glance. Evangeline looks and physically ''is'' Negi's age... because she [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld stopped ageing five centuries ago]]. Not to mention the crush she had on his '''father'''.
**** Of course, this also means that ''anyone'' that Evangeline pursues is pretty much guaranteed to be multiple centuries younger than her. The difference between a ten-year-old and a twenty-year-old wouldn't seem like very much to her.
*** There are a couple of exceptions that ''still'' manage to fall under this trope. Natsumi seems to be falling for Kotaro instead of Negi, but the latter two are the same age. Meanwhile, Ako is crushing on Negi's "older cousin Nagi", who is actually Negi in disguise (so she's still crushing on a ten-year old, but doesn't realize it). [[spoiler:And now she knows the truth, and is already beginning to fall for Negi because of it]].
** [[http://www.onemanga.com/Mahou_Sensei_Negima!/239/18/ Further proof]] of Negi's shotacon-inducing tendencies. Heck, even a robot falls in love with him.
** [[MemeticSexGod Everyone is Shota for Negi]].
* ''HauntedJunction'''s resident {{Tsundere}} and miko (shrine maiden) being a shotacon is a running gag in the series. In fact, she obtains a magical medal from a {{Casanova}}-like male ghost because he looks like a {{Bishonen}} in his 20 and she only likes younger boys (and later ''does'' get a CuteShotaroBoy ghost as her busboy).
* [[ButtMonkey Haré's]] substitute teacher from ''[[JungleWaItsumoHaleNochiGuu Haré+Guu]]'' gets this for him after he tries to cheer her up from a failed relationship. Causing her to say "age makes no difference in love". Haré is not pleased.
* The obsession one of the (adult) female spies has for (prepubescent) Nakahito in ''SteelAngelKurumi'', to the point that she writes love poems and makes a borderline-pornographic ''doujinshi'' (fan comic book) about him. She also competes for the opportunity to kiss him in ''Encore''.
** Oh, and not to mention the lead love interest.
* Arguably the Kanami family in ''OnegaiTeacher''. This is somewhat obscured by the audience of the show, as Mizuho [[DismissedGender is a blatant teenage boy fantasy]]. Nonetheless, Hatsuho's affection for a son-in-law younger than her daughter and implication their family seems to go for younger men is a little suspicious. This is mostly averted in the show, where it's only their teacher/student relationship that's seen as potentially scandalous, and the rationalization of Kei being [[OlderThanTheyLook technically]] 18 years old is to handwave why he could be married to her in the first place.
* Honey from ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' offers {{shotacon}} {{fanservice}} to his regular customers. Ironically, [[OlderThanTheyLook he is actually one of the oldest members]].
* Taro Hanaukyo, the lead from ''{{Hanaukyo Maid Tai}}'', inherits a staff of hundreds of beautiful maids, zealously interested in ensuring his needs are met. ''Every'' need. Too bad he's not even out of short pants, and a little put off by female attention � in the first series, literally allergic to it.
* ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}'': Two of the Seven Star Assassins, a vampiress and an Amazon, had crushes on high school students Kaiser and Misawa. Nothing new about that, but what many fans found surprising was how little these were altered in the dub.
* One of the strangest examples comes from ''{{Loveless}}'', where the (male) university student, Soubi, aggressively pursues the sixth-grade Ritsuka. What makes it creepy is the fact that this is because, put perhaps too simply, when Ritsuka's older brother died, he "inherited" his older brother's boyfriend/battle partner.
** To his credit, Soubi states in the first volume of the manga and anime that he "can't get excited over a child", implying that he intends to wait until Ritsuka's old enough. Though that doesn't stop him from being very physically and verbally affectionate towards him.
** Don't forget that [[spoiler: Seimei, still alive, loves his brother Ritsuka. [[BrotherSisterIncest No, not as an older brother should]]...]]
* ''{{FLCL}}'': Haruko (19) and Mamimi (17) are both after the protagonist Naota, who is 12.
** Subverted. First by having Mamimi get over him as a sign of maturity, and Haruko leaving him behind after telling him he's still only a kid in the last episode (She was really after something else.). Also, this is a [[{{Gag Series}} certain kind of series]], after all, so nothing really comes across as fanservice (Nouta isn't exactly a {{Cute Shotaro Boy}}.).
* Taken to a slightly disturbing extreme in ''PapaToKissInTheDark'': Mira, the main character, is a 15 year old boy engaged in a full fledged sexual relationship with a 29 year old man... who happens to be ''his father''. It turns out that [[spoiler:his papa is actually... his uncle.]] which decreases the level of creepiness even if only slightly.
* {{Boku no Pico}} (''My Pico'') is a hardcore Shotacon series targeted to men; the title character appears to be somewhere between eight and twelve years of age and his lover is an only slightly older adolescent boy.
* Diva's obsession with [[spoiler:and rape of]] Riku in ''{{Blood Plus}}''.
* Miyu in ''TheyAreMyNobleMasters'' has a thing for young boys, to the point that she reads magazines devoted to them everywhere and urges her butler (and curiously also her sister) to wear shorts. At one point she gets a preteen [[BoyBand boy band]] as a present, much to her delight. Of course, she can be easily seen as a {{shotacon}} OtakuSurrogate.
* ''{{Kanokon}}''. Chizuru is pretty much the poster girl of Shotacon, with her repeated attempts to sex up the series' [[CuteShotaroBoy small, timid]] male lead.
* In the manga version of ''ChronoCrusade'', Satella starts being flirtatious with Chrono the moment she sees him. This isn't ''too'' odd, considering he's ReallySevenHundredYearsOld and moments later she sees him in his true, bishounen demonic form...but when she later gets drunk and pulls him into a hug that ends up with his face [[MarshmallowHell in her breasts]] while he's back in his childlike form, her butler confirms Chrono's greatest fear: "Miss Satella likes younger boys."
* Ginrei and Daisaku's relationship in ''GiantRobo'' is a little, uhm, suspect, at times.
* Almost everything renowned {{Hentai}} author Juan Gotoh has ever done falls into this category (even his inexplicable foray into ''[[{{Gorn}} guro]]''). His most notable work is ''BoysEmpire'', a nine-issue series centering around a twelve-year-old named Makoto who ends up (for reasons even he can't work out) sleeping with all but two of the female characters in the series... including his [[CoolBigSis sister]] and [[HotShounenMom mother]]. It's actually very sweet by {{Hentai}} standards.
** This is also the preferred genre for Yamamoto Yoshifumi and Rio Yanagawa (who [[AuthorAppeal are women themselves]]).
** Saigado, meanwhile, is... interesting. He mostly does ''TheKingOfFighters'' hentai... but his favorite characters appear to be Sie Kensou (seventeen years old), Chris (fourteen years old), and Bao (can't be older than twelve).
*** Let's not forget his fondness for [[DroppedABridgetOnHim Bridget]], who may not actually be young enough for shota but is generally drawn that way by fans. Or "Shota-Nize", Saigado's Rule36 pinup doujin featuring Mai, Blue Mary, Vanessa and other ''KoF'' females as ambiguously young boys. The title makes his intent pretty clear.
* In an episode of ''ShinChan'' where first grader Shin and his college student babysitter Nanako were both attending high school... Let's just say Nanako gets lines like "Get used to me being on top, Shin." and "[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar I'm getting so wet just standing here looking at him]]. [[InnocentInnuendo I should probably go inside where it's not raining.]]"
* An example occurs in Colleen Doran's comic series ''ADistantSoil''. The [[FemmeFatale extremely twisted and very dangerous Lady Sere]] has a habit of finding beautiful young boys, taking them to her bedroom, then discarding them once they get "too old."
* The ''HayateTheCombatButler'' manga has this in the form of ChurchMilitant Sonia Shaflnarz, who has an inordinate amount of interest toward 13-year-old [[CuteShotaroBoy Wataru]]. Her [[http://www.onemanga.com/Hayate_the_Combat_Butler/107/19/ manga profile]] even outright states that she likes "cute little boys."
** Wataru is also treated the same as the female characters in the various Beach and Hot Springs episodes.
* In ''Dragon Drive'', Maiko interprets Ms. L's interest in Reiji this way.
* This is the subject of a surprising number of shoujo manga, including ''Dear Mine'' and ''The Devil Within''. Being that these are written by women themselves, you have to wonder...
** Of course, shotacon is a ''much'' more common theme in {{Yaoi}}... and there it's ''also'' almost universally written by women... Hm...
*** [[{{You Fail Logic Forever}} Why is this being treated like some sort of big revelation?]]
*** [[FridgeBrilliance Because not all of our readers are necessarily well-versed in the perversions of some female authors]].
** On the other hand, shotacon for men is more or less by definition a porn genre, so it is much less likely to show up in general-audience material. [[{{Or So I Heard}} From what I hear]], shota stories are pretty common in men's ero-manga anthologies...
* Gauron from ''FullMetalPanic'' has been a creepy StalkerWithACrush towards Sousuke ever since Sousuke was ''twelve'' (even shown reminiscing about when he [[LoveAtFirstSight first saw him]], with Sousuke shown in a GaussianGirl manner). As soon as he saw Sousuke, he actually did a double take, pulled over and parked his jeep, and tried to [[HikaruGenjiPlan pick Sousuke up and get the boy to come with him]]. It's pretty safe to say that his intentions were ''not'' pure. Not to mention how, at the time, he looked to be at ''least'' forty. It's even revealed later in the novels to be canon that he wanted to rape the kid. Then again, even currently in the series, Sousuke is not exactly of legal age for Gauron to [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean do the stuff he wants to do]] to the boy...
* One of the major subplots in ''{{Saikano}}'' revolves around Shuji having sex with Fuyumi when he was 13 and she was 16, and how their mutual conflicting emotions affect them after they find each other in the present day. This is also played for laughs, as Shuji's friends are all jealous of him to some degree for not being a virgin.
* ''{{Kuroshitsuji}}'': Mercilessly baited with constant shameless HoYay around Ciel, who is apparently only twelve (and has been living with his butler Sebastian since he was ten).
** Baron Kelvin is revealed to have fallen in love and become a StalkerWithACrush towards Ciel when Ciel was seven. Not to mention how he kidnapped all those children for his amusement.
** Ciel's personal french tailor, Nina Hopkins. She is the on behind the designs and clothes Ciel always wears and has said that she only has interest in girls and boys under fifteen. Why she's interested in Meirinas well, however, is not known.
* [[LadyOfWar Haman Karn]] spends most of ''DoubleZetaGundam'' lusting after highschool-age ChildSoldier Judau Ashta. The funny thing is that her last known romance was with Char Aznable, who is often accused of {{lolicon}} tendencies, and was fairly older than her at he time.
* Shotacon manga written by Sakura Ashika (the (female) creator of {{Sekirei}}):
** ''Himitsu no Kemono tachi''
** ''Tenshi no Heart Rhythm''
* Shotacon manga written by Minami Haruka:
** ''Koibito Shigan''
** ''Kohitsuji Hokaku Keikaku''
** ''Child Epicurean''
->[[{{Minami-ke}} Haruka-neesama would never write such things!]]
* Shotacon manga written by CJ Michaelski:
** ''Dona Dona''
** ''Private Lesson''
** ''Oiji-sama no Kiss''
** ''Tanutan''
* Almost all of Yamato Nase's Yaoi manga looks like shotacon:
** ''Pretty Scoop''
** ''Magical Travel Boy''
** ''Dear Gentle Papa''
** ''Skip Kiss''
* In ''AxisPowersHetalia'', France and Spain, when you see them with rather randy expressions around young Italy. Fandom also has a tendency to make England attracted to young America and Hong Kong.
**France, and later Spain, have also leered at little Romano as well as his younger brother.
**Hungary is also known for these tendencies around chibitalia, especially the ship where they share a bath and [[MarshmallowHell she hugs "her" up to her breasts]].
* ''Let's Rape Little Boys''. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* ''GlassFleet'' has Ralph, an adorable little boy definetely no older than 12 (fans speculate around 7 or 8) who is very strongly insinuated to be in a relationship with the 21-year-old emperor, Vetti Sforza.
** Also, Vetti himself was in a relationship [[spoiler:with his foster father]] as a child.
* [[TropeOverdosed As in everything]], ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' has an example with Misato (29) and Shinji (14), whose behaviour towards each other alternates between familial and sexual at the drop of the metaphorical hat. Then ''End of Evangelion'' decides subtlety is for other people and has Misato spend a good amount of time sucking Shinji's face.
* ''Shinobu Kokoro'' By Matsumoto Temari (The artist for ''{{Kyou Kara Maou}}''.). This manga can be summarized as [[{{Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot}} ''Ninjas and Shotacon'']].
* Otoyomegatari due to taking place in Turkey during the early 1800's no one blinks an eye wend a 14 year old boy marries a 20 year old woman.
* ''Oh! My Maid'' by Itsuki Kaname. This would be a [[{{Dropped A Bridget On Him}} male maid]], by the way.
* ''Jack in the Box'' by Higashizato Kirico.
* [[spoiler: Touga and his father]] in ''[[{{Revolutionary Girl Utena}} Adolescence Apocalypse: The Utena Movie]]''.
* ''[=~D.Gray-Man~=]'' has recently revealed that [[spoiler: Road Kamelot, the psycopathic loli with a rather creepy affection for fifteen-year-old Allen Walker, has in fact looked twelve for the past ''thirty-five years'', making it even creepier]].
* In the ''PeacemakerKurogane'' manga, the old merchant Yamatoya [[HikaruGenjiPlan picked up]] Suzu after Suzu's master was killed and he was left all alone starving in the streets. Although he's old enough to easily be his grandfather, he apparently picked up Suzu entirely for the purpose of raping him and making him his "pet". Suzu wasn't the only one, however — two twin kitty boys were also picked up by him for this purpose.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* The various incarnations of Barry Blair's ''Elflord''. Several of his male characters, including the sidhe Windblade, look underage, although their exact ages are never stated. Tight pantyhose and even full nudity occur with monotonous regularity, and sexual relationships between boys and other boys or men are frequently implied.
* In ''{{Comicbook/X-Men}},'' the X-Babies have all the powers and attributes of the originals. In the case of the X-baby version of Longshot, this includes his {{Chick Magnet}}ism. Adult women can be seen drooling over this six-year-old version the same way they do the real Longshot (in fact, more so, since it's for comedic purposes.)
* By the time he died at age 14, Zeitgeist, then-leader of the ''X-Force'' in MarvelComics, regularly had sex with a pair of supermodels, in an arrangement implied to have been going on for years.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In ''TheLegendOfZelda: Ocarina of Time,'' when Link is a child, the (adult) character Nabooru says that if you help her, she'll do "something great" for you. ''That'' part is actually perfectly innocent: "something good" or "something nice" ''always'' means an item, so if you've played this far, even if you've never played a Zelda game before, you're not thinking "[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean yeah, I'll bet]]." However, [[spoiler:Nabooru gets kidnapped]] and you wind up using the item you retrieved for her, which, as dialogue makes clear, isn't what she planned on giving you. When you see her again as adult Link, she says that if she knew you'd grow up to be so handsome, she'd have kept her promise. So, since it's definitely not the item, just what ''was'' she planning on doing for a ten-year-old that she wishes she could do for him now that he's an attractive adult?
** Crazy Tracy in ''Link's Awakening'' calls Link "big guy" and offers to rub her "[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean little secret]]" on him...
* Jennifer's, er... ''interesting'' first encounter with Laharl in ''{{Disgaea}}'' might cause some weird looks. A lot of weird looks. Maybe some [[FetishFuel fantasies]], too. Highlights include attempted MarshmallowHell, unprovoked sex-ed lessons, and asking him if he's been anally penetrated by tentacle monsters. Yeah, [[WidgetSeries it's one of those games]].
* ''Samurai Warriors''' [[http://www.koeiwarriors.co.uk/artworks/sw2/24.jpg Mori Ranmaru]]. Enough said; in the original game he even has plenty of HoYay with Akechi Mitsuhide.
** No. Ranmaru is 19 years old in the first game, "adult" even by stuffy American standards.
** Okay, as a reference for anyone who actually thinks Mori Ranmaru looks like a shota, [[http://www.yaoi.ca/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1786 here's a proper example]].
*** More like looks like a ''loli''...
* One of the female shopkeepers in Rebena Te Ra in ''FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles: Ring of Fate'' has a pronounced attraction towards preteen boy Yuri. At first, it seems like she just thinks he's cute, but it soon becomes evident that she's got it ''bad'' for him. Another NPC expresses serious concern that she's going to do something rash to get him.
** When she meets him again a few years later, she's still fawning over him (and has been thinking about him the entire time, too).
* The Yaoi game ''Silver Chaos'' has a shota option in the form of a little boy with kemonomimi named Pam.
* ''Shounentachi no Byoutou'' is a shota game that features the art of Sakura Ashika.
* ''Kannagi no Tori'' is a shota game that features the art of Yuzuki Ichi.
* Shota games made by Langmaor:
** ''Laughter Land''.
** {{Enzai}}.
** ''Zettai Fukuju Meirei'' has a shota option.
* ''Lasting Snow''
* ''Tayutau Toki''
* ''Shura no Fude''
* ''Souten no Tobira''
* ''Saimin no Kanade''
* ''Wings Innocent''
* ''{{Sukisho}}'' is a famous Yaoi {{Dating Sim}} with [[{{Light Novel}} light novel]], {{OVA}}, anime, and manga spin offs. However, from what I could tell by looking at reviews, [[http://www.arigatomina.com/downloads/djs/sukisho/artbook4/041.JPG the]] [[http://www.arigatomina.com/downloads/djs/sukisho/artbook4/040b.JPG shotacon]] [[{{Bleached Underpants}} isn't in the anime]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In one episode of ''FairlyOddParents'', 10-year-old Timmy is implied to have had a whirlwind relationship with a woman named Carly, and had her name tattooed on his arm (and vice-versa). He can't seem to remember it at all, though.
* The ''SouthPark'' episode "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy]]".
* In an episode of ''TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'' a lady asks Flapjack out after being rejected by K'nuckles.
** That's probably more of an example of DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything or Rule Thirty Six, since the joke would be that the woman was not serious about asking Flapjack out. Another interesting ''Flapjack'' related example is that since the creator favorites all fanart on his Deviant Art account, thanks to the PeripheryDemographic, Shotacon pairings crop up all the time in there (Generally with both characters in the pairing drawn with CuteShotaroBoy character designs.).
* Wanna hear [[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Kevin Conroy himself]] act out all of the Batman pedophilia jokes you've heard? Watch ''TheVentureBrothers'' episode with [[ActorAllusion Captain Sunshine]].
** There is a disturbing amount of pedophilia in ''TheVentureBrothers''. Let's not forget Sergeant Hatred and Colonel Gentleman, to name a few. Wait... [[UnfortunateImplications why do they all have military ranks]]?

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* Inverted by the (very obviously unreciprocated) crush an eight-year-old boy has on Cameron in ''{{House}}'' [[spoiler:due to an overload of testosterone from his father's medicine]]. He grabs her ass, and bites Chase on the arm when he sees him flirting with Cameron.
* Another inversion is from [[TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody The Suite Life On Deck]] when Maddie visits the SS Tipton at the same time a prince is as well. She sets herself up on a date with the prince, thinking he'll be rich and handsome...but he turns out to be an ''eight year old boy.'' What follows is so humiliating for Maddie that [[AsianAirhead London]] nearly kills herself laughing from witnessing it. After this, Maddie wants nothing to do with the young prince, but he's [[HotForStudent fallen in love with her]] to the point of [[ArrangedMarriage asking for her hand in marriage!]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* Disney's ''Blank Check'' seems to play the platonic version of this trope where the main character (who is ten-ish) has a crush on the much older FBI Agent Shay Stanley. [[spoiler:Then she kisses him in the end of the movie. On the mouth. It was weird]].

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