Cool Big Sis - Television Tropes & Idioms

If your show is aimed at a younger audience, this young woman (usually in her mid to late teens, sometimes in her early 20's) will be older than the Shorttank and be the girl everyone thinks is hot (if they're nice) or a slut (if they're not). The Shorttank girls often admire them, even when they playfully flirt with the much younger male lead and steal everyone's attention. Also, the Yamato Nadeshiko or Shrinking Violet girls will admire and at the same time envy how more open their Big Sister figure is with her thoughts and feelings (and legs).

This young lady may or may not catch a shonen series lead's eye; if he hasn't entered puberty yet, she's more likely to be paired up with either The Big Guy, the Team Dad or the Big Brother Mentor. Or maybe, if she's persistent enough, she'll end up in an Odd Couple with an Aloof Big Brother or a single Hot Shoujo Dad. She may also evolve into a Team Mom thanks to Character Development.

Expect a somewhat jaded, cynical character who prefers to work the system in their favor rather than admit to others she's become cynical. If old enough to drink, she may also be a Bottle Fairy, or even The Ladette; if not, she'll often be a Lethal Chef and/or Big Eater. If older than the standard, she might be a Christmas Cake as well.

Compare Onee Sama, also a sister figure but usually more ladylike, quiet and graceful.

Examples

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Anime & Manga

In One Piece, Nami and Robin tend to alternate between this and the Team Mom trope. Nami is definately the Cool Big Sis type to both Vivi and Chopper, while to the rest of the crew, she is definately the Team Mom. Robin is the Cool Big Sis to Nami, and is often refered to as "oneesama" by Nami.
In Ranma One Half, though she ends up playing the Yamato Nadeshiko so straight she becomes a parody of it, Kasumi Tendo is a gentle, kindhearted woman who holds the Tendo household together, always tries to comfort her family, thinks the best of others and displays a subtle comic wit, often trying to pull off a one-woman Boke And Tsukkomi Routine. Akane Tendo, her Tsundere little sister, adores her, and desperately wants to be like her, but without giving up her martial arts abilities.
Pictured above: Milly Ashford, the Student Council President from Code Geass, is actually referred to on the show's official website as a "reliable older sister" to her friends (when she isn't tormenting them with her playful antics and "magic spells"). She's one of the more popular side characters due to this, as well as her... um... huge tracts of land and eagerness to grope the female Student Council members.
Misato Katsuragi in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Or at least, she attempts to be one.
Mai Kujaku/Valentine in Yu-Gi-Oh.
Urd of Ah My Goddess, to both younger sister Skuld and Keiichi on occasion, though with mixed success.
Nice Holystone and eventually Ennis from Baccano.
Shigure Asa of Shuffle, who is also a Genki Girl Bokukko to boot. And she's the one who gets the guy.
Seiji's big sister Rin in Midori No Hibi is a mild exaggeration and subversion. Seiji's already pretty damned cool himself, but his sister is over the top — although she dresses like an Office Lady, she leads a biker gang, and generally takes all the usual Cool Big Sis behaviors to an obnoxious extreme. The only human being — he describes her as a demon — he fears. She does, however, sincerely care for her little brother and wants him to be happy. Which explains why she put him through Training From Hell as a child. Of course, she did seem to enjoy it...
Haruka Urashima in Love Hina probably counts.
Haruka Minami from Minami-ke definitely does.
Override in Transformers Cybertron fits the type even if she is a Giant Robot. She even refers to one of the humans as "little sis".
Nobue in Ichigo Mashimaro.
Kasumi (Misty) in Pokémon has not one, not two, but three Cool Big Sisters, actual sisters at that. She doesn't exactly idolize them, though, getting along only with the eldest of the trio.
- A more straight example is Lady Of War Soledad (Saori) from Advanced Generation, who acts like a cool big sis to May and Drew.
Nikora in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch.
Kaya, more specifically, her alter ego Nagato-sensei, in Mugen Densetsu Takamagahara: Dream Saga.
Gascogne fills the role in Vandread.
Raquel Casull in Scrapped Princess.
Michelle Cheung, the eldest of the three Paper Sisters from Read or Dream/R.O.D The TV.
Hevn in Get Backers.
Kuwabara Shizuru in Yu Yu Hakusho, actually Kuwabara Kazuma's older sister, who seems to consider it her job to keep the younger (acting?) girls safe and upbeat. Urameshi Atsuko kinda shifts between this and Hot Shounen Mom in the manga... she had Yuusuke when she was about fourteen (Yuusuke's same age), after all.
Satella from Chrono Crusade could possibly fit this trope, except that nobody seems to look up to her at all (and Rosette, in fact, is rather put off by her in general, especially when she flirts with Chrono).
- Azmaria, maybe? In the anime, at least. There's a lovely scene where Satella combs her hair, right before everything goes straight to hell.
Azusa Miura from The Idolm@ster.
Triela fills this role in Gunslinger Girl, despite not being related to any of the other protagonists.
Technically she's the cousin of Ryoma Echizen, but otherwise Nanako Meino fits the trope to a T in The Prince Of Tennis. And there's also Fuji's EXTREMELY hot sister Yumiko.
Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh is pretty much this, being quite protective of Chiyo -chan and earning Chiyo's admiration in return. And then there's all her in-show fangirls.
Yoko Littner from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann becomes this after outgrowing her Tsundere stage early in the show, although she had hints of it from the beginning.
Bitter Virgin has Izumi Suwa, elder sister of Daisuke, who is considered a Cool Big Sis by Daisuke's childhood friend Yuzu Yamamoto. She also becomes such to female lead Hinako when she encourages her to fight for Daisuke's affections and becomes the only person who Hinako has knowingly divulged her secrets to. She also earns some points for casually dismissing the flak she catches for returning to her conservative home town very pregnant with no father in sight.
Mai Tokiha from Mai-HiME who, atypically for this trope, is a shonen series lead. She jokes about Shiho's Big Brother Complex toward Yuuichi when they all first meet, stating that she (Mai, not Shiho) and Takumi are blood-related.
Yuki in Hourou Musuko is a Cool Big Sis, with a slightly modified definition of "Sis".
Ginga Nakajima, Subaru's older sister in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Nanoha often seems to fill the role as well to the Forwards.
Christina Sierra from Gundam 00 isn't the sister of either Feldt or the Gundam pilots, but treats them as if they were her siblings.
- She possibly caught that from Catherine "Cathy" Bloom, the cool big sister from Gundam Wing. Who may nor may not be the long lost sister of the Gundam Heavyarms's pilot, Trowa Barton.
- And let's not forget Toniya, the Dark Skinned Blond from After War Gundam X, who plays this role towards Tiffa and Garrod (and even ships them together).
Claudia LaSalle (or Claudia Grant, if we go by Robotech names) from Macross
Rangiku Matsumoto from Bleach. She really takes on the Cool Big Sis role when she lives with Orihime.
- And to a lesser extent, Yoruichi Shihoin. Teases the hell out of Ichigo, after abandoning cat form and appearing nude in front of him, revealing his prudishness. Also was the mentor and idol of a teenage Soifon, who ended up developing quite the Bodyguard Crush on her.
Tsubaki Doumyouji and Shizuka Todou from Hana Yori Dango.
Yukari from Kimagure Orange Road. Madoka also was the Cool Big Sis for Yuusaku, Hikaru and the Kasuga twins.
Sylvie "Songbird" Arte is this to the lead girl from Ashita No Nadja.
- Also, Julietta. When Nadja is caught in a Love Triangle with the twins Keith and Francis, Julietta tells her "Choose the guy you truly want!". It works, and Nadja picks Francis.
- Curiously, Nadja herself used to be the Cool Big Sis of her Orphanage Of Love.
Katie Taylor and Pamela (also a Hot Shounen Mom) from Kaleido Star. Sarah Dupont is both this and the local Team Mom.
Natsumi Hayama from Kodomo No Omocha, after her Character Development.
In Overman King Gainer after she switches sides, Adette eventually becomes this role, well after she stops sleeping. The Siberian Railroad even still calls her Big Sis while she's attacking them.
Tamaki Kousaka from To Heart 2 is the Cool Big Sis to Takaaki.
Played for laughs with Li Syaoran's four older sisters in the first Card Captor Sakura movie. They were all very sweet and well-intentioned ... and complete Kawaiikos.
Both Dr. Yamaguchi and Mari Iizuka from Hajime No Ippo.
Hungary from Axis Powers Hetalia, before she "graduates" into Team Mom and marries Austria.
- In Finland's notes, Belgium is hinted to be a Cool Big Sis too, but she has only had cameos so far.
Melissa Mao from Full Metal Panic. She mentions the trope almost by name in The Second Raid when she confronts Sousuke about spacing out in the middle of a mission. Not to mention that Kurz calls her "Sis."
Rin Ataka from Gasaraki is arguably one of these too, she even goes so far as to sneak off of a military base despite being detained in order to check if Yushiro is ok.
Fasalina in Gun X Sword is amongst the antagonist's group, however she seems fond of newcomer Michael and if he's not being guided by The Claw, he goes to her and she teaches him. It doesn't excuse her position as a villain though, making her a rare villainous Cool Big Sis.
Mahou Sensei Negima has Negi's cousin Nekane filling this role whenever she's around. Kaede, Konoka, Akira, and Chizuru all fit the bill as well.
Asagi in Yotsuba&!.
Tae Sekihara in Rurouni Kenshin, who counsels her friend Kaoru and takes Tsubame under her wing.
Kirino Chiba, Bamboo Blade's Kendo Team Captain, is more ditzy than flirty, but is clearly remarked to be the Cool Big Sis for the kendo team, which helps to keep them united. This may also make her something of a Team Mom.
Anehara Misa in Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou.
So far, Eva from Karneval is one to some extent, being reliable during a crisis, especially when Tsukumo-chan is concerned, although the guys are pretty scared of her.
Chikaru of Strawberry Panic.
In Pokemon Special, Blue probably sees herself as Silver's older sister-type figure (though shippers say that Silver feels something a little bit more for her). She also occasionally looks out for Yellow.

Films — Animation

Films — Live Action

Video Games

A Female Revan can be this to Mission Vao in Knights Of The Old Republic.
A particularly odd example of this trope can be found in the game Persona 2: Innocent Sin, released only in Japan. It's odd because the four younger kids she played with locked her in a shrine so she wouldn't have to move away. Of course, the shrine catches on fire and they think they've killed her. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Jennifer, sidekick of Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!, in Disgaea.
Excellen Browning of Super Robot Wars is perpetually cheerful, friends with everybody (especially Lamia Loveless and Einst Alfimi) and an unabashed Ms Fanservice. In fact, Excellen plays on this trope by having Lamia address her as "Ex-oneesama" when they first meet.
- Likewise, the Tall Dark And Bishoujo Ouka Nagisa of The School Children is the eldest and addressed by Arado Balanga, Seolla Schweizer and Latooni Subota as their "sister".
Nanami from Suikoden II.
Bleu/Deis from the Breath of Fire series is somewhat of a Cool Big Sis to the party - most notably in 3 and 4. She guides and gives hints to Ryu and his party, and is definitely the most... erm... endowed woman in the party. Interestingly enough, Ryu does express romantic interest in her (pretty much the most you'll ever see him express towards anyone, considering he's a Silent Protagonist) in 3, sort of culminating in a little kiddy crush. Probably has to do with how he saw her full front, completely naked and up close.
Teased with Grandia III. Everything you've seen indicates Miranda is a Cool Big Sis, until it's revealed she's a Hot Shounen Mom instead. Her personality, however, fits this trope.
Letty Whiterock of Perfect Cherry Blossom is one of these for the ditzy ice fairy Cirno.
- And after the latest game, fanworks seem to also make out Byakuren Hijiri to be half this trope and half The Messiah in equal helpings - with the sis-dom particularly pointed towards Shou Toramaru and Nue Houjuu
Tamara from Custom Robo Arena.
Ellone from Final Fantasy VIII served this purpose for the rest of the orphans in the backstory.
Inferno from Sanitarium.
Raine Sage from Tales Of Symphonia.