It's a sad and awful story and the shorter folks won't care, I'm a man who's simply way too big to love. Picture her a tiny thing with tiny ribbons in her hair, Picture me a monster towering above.
Some writers like pairing up characters of opposite sex and opposite ends of the size spectrum. The height difference goes well beyond One Head Taller, and the tall one is often several times wider to boot.
Averted more often than not in film and Live-Action TV, where props and camera angles are employed to equalize the heights of the leading man and lady, to make filming easier (otherwise, getting them in the same shot would be a pain in the arse). Even when the actors themselves represent this trope, if it appears on screen you can be sure there was an intentional choice to invoke it.
Usually, it's the man who's bigger. This is an exaggeration with some basis in truth: the median height for males is slightly higher than that for females, and many men and women choose opposite-sex mates with the "traditional" comparative height. Physical attraction aside, the idea of a big hulking giant showing his soft side for his little lady is popular with many female viewers.
This isn't always sexual though; often the girl is a Morality Pet who hangs out with the guy to show he isn't just a brute. Or it could just be an Intergenerational Friendship. Also, frequently the Huge Guy is the Tiny Girl's relative, usually her father or brother (which provides an interesting dynamic when she's the older one).
Note well: In an action series, the guy may look big enough to break his girl like a toothpick, but she's likely to be just as deadly as her man.
Before adding examples, remember that both the man must be above average height and the woman must be below it. If it's only one or the other (usually a very short woman paired with an average-sized man), that would be One Head Taller. May overlap with Beast and Beauty or Ugly Guy, Hot Wife. See also Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action, nudge nudge wink wink. Can edge into squick territory in some of the more extreme examples. Compare Big Guy, Little Guy.
The inversion of this, which is rather more common in fiction than in real life, is Tiny Guy, Huge Girl.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
Narumi and Shirogane of Karakuri Circus; while Shirogane is pretty average, Narumi is an enormous kempoist.
Van and Wendy in Gun X Sword. Van and Priscilla also count.
Isaku and Doa in Blade of the Immortal. Also, to a less extreme degree, Manji and Rin.
Blame!: Cibo and Killy, after Cibo's body is destroyed and she ends up occupying a new, much smaller one.
Yaoi example: Kanou and Ayase from Okane Ga Nai. Played with here
In Eat Man, protagonists Bolt's average Girl of the Week's head hovers somewhere around his chest, and only has a third of his shoulder width. With his Badass Longcoat on, you'd probably never notice most of them if they standing behind him.
Izumi Curtis and her husband Sieg in Fullmetal Alchemist. Izumi is a normal-sized woman. Sieg is easily in the running for "largest person in the show".
Interestingly enough, while Sieg Curtis is as strong as an ox, his comparatively small wife is considerablymoredangerous.
Of the more shippy variant is Al and Mei, due to Al's current bound-to-a-frickin-huge-suit-of-armor form. And — before the inevitable comments — Al is only 14 and not that much older than Mei, and he's also never technically been through puberty since he spent his teenhood so far outside of his physical body and in a suit of armor.
Non-romantic (And perhaps all-too literal) example: Zest and Agito in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Zest and Lutecia, as well, but they don't hang out together as much. This may be a Shout Out to Zanger Zonvolt and Irui from Super Robot Wars, as there are quite a few other references in the Nanoha series.
Alice in Pumpkin Scissors isn't exactly tiny, but she looks it compared to Randal, who's estimated at seven feet tall.
Mikuru and Itsuki might be taken as this in the SOS film made by Haruhi Suzumiya.
YuYu Hakusho: Toguro and Genkai, before they became enemies.
Ichigo (174 cm 5'8.5") and Rukia (144 cm 4'8 3/4") in Bleach — whether this is supposed to be romantic or not is a Shipping argument. Especially noticeable here.
This trope would've been taken to an extreme had certain elements of the original pilot chapter been kept—such as Rukia's loss of power making her small enough to fit in Ichigo's pocket and bathe in a teacup.
The same could be said for the interaction with Renji (188 cm 6'2") and Rukia — though like above, whether it's romantic or not is an issue of Shipping.
One more popular ship: Kisuke (183 cm 6') and his friend Yoruichi (156 cm 5'1").
The size difference is also frequently exaggerated for dramatic (or humorous) effect.
There's much more where that came from. Division 2 has Soi Fon (150 cm 4'11") and Omaeda Marechiyo (210 cm 6'11"), the "little girl" being infinitely more dangerous; and Squad 5's Aizen Sousuke (186 cm 6'1") and Hinamori Momo (151 cm 4'11"), also big difference and this is one is Shipping.
Kensei and Mashiro also could qualify- Kensei is (179 cm 5'10.5") and Mashiro is only (153 cm 5'0") Doesn't stop either of them from kicking serious ass, though.
And if we go by the filler arc, this played straight with the Zanpakutou spirits of Hitsugaya and Hinamori: Tobiume is the Token Mini Moe, while Hyourinmaru towers her and is quite muscular.
Also, Ichigo and Nel Tu, at least when Nel is in her child form. Like Yachiru with Kenpachi, she tends to ride on Ichigo's shoulder.
Shiryuu Kusanagi and Yuzuriha Nekoi in X1999. Non-romantic example: Fuuma Monou and his Ill Girl of a younger sister, Kotori.
In Berserk, naturally badass Guts towers high over his lover Casca. Yet, she is not afraid to scold him or even slap him hard across the face when needed, at least before the Eclipse.
Kazuya Kujo (174 cm 5'8.5) and Victorique de Blois (152.4 cm 5'0) from Gosick
Their voice actors/actresses make an even better example. Takuya Eguchi (188cm 6' 2) and Aoi Yuuki (145cm 4' 9)
Riful and Dauf in Claymore, he being a large, mostly unintelligent brute and she being a tiny girl, most noticeable when he's in his Awakened form and she's perched in human form on his shoulder. They also have a pastime of torturing people to make them Awaken.
This is inverted when Riful bothers to take her Awakened Form.
Raki and Priscilla.
In Hiyokoi, the main character, Nishiyama Hiyori is only 140 centimeters (4'7 ft.), while her love interest, Hirose Yuushin, is 190 centimeters (6'2 ft.)
Magic Knight Rayearth: Hikaru only comes up to Lantis's waist, but then CLAMP has always been a bit silly about proportions.
There's also Lafarga and his girlfriend Caldina(though in the anime this got downgraded to One Head Taller). And Zagato and Princess Emeraude...
Absurdly tall and thickly built (yet still Bishonen?) male characters seem to be fairly common in works by CLAMP overall. You could probably fill a quarter of this page with examples.
An anime-specific way to invoke this trope is to put the guy inside a Humongous Mecha and let the girl just... follow it around. Bonus points if she is armed with a gun twice her size.
Emperor Dornkirk invokes an image of Van's Escaflowne being guided by Hitomi's prophetic abilities to take over the world in one of his visions. This doesn't happen so explicitly but that's what happens throughout the series.
And for a straight up example instead of the Giant Robot variant, we have Hitomi (160 cm, or approximately 5'3") and Allen (185 cm, or about 6'1")
Similarly, Hayase and Hikaru get to pull this off near the end of Super Dimension Fortress Macross, which Hikaru piloting (obviously).
Various Gundam entries did this a lot more than once. I.e: Kamille, his Gundam and Kamille's partner Fa in Zeta Gundam.
Full Metal Panic has one instance when Sousuke was piloting the Arbalest while carrying Kaname in one hand and Kurz in the other. She was rather enjoying herself until he suddenly threw her into the air to free up one arm for attacking then catch her on the way down. Needless to say, she didn't appreciate it.
While Deunan in Appleseed is actually rather tall compared to most women and quite strong, Briareos can only be described as huge. Next to him Deunan does look rather tiny. They also venture into the Beast and Beauty territory thanks to Briareos being a full-body cyborg.
In the second movie, this seems to be less overt and seems a little closer to the One Head Taller region. He's still significantly buffer than Deunan, so it probably still counts.
Marcus and Mission Control Anya are implied to have this festering. Though like in the Resident Evil example, it has more to do with bulk than height.
Old Boy: At least in the manga version, protagonist Shinichi Goto and his girlfriend Eri. He's significantly taller and more heavily built. Her habit of hanging onto his side emphasizes the size difference.
Non-romantic: Chichi and her father, the aptly named "Ox King", from Dragon Ball. To a lesser extent, her son and his wife: Videl just barely reaches Gohan's chest.
Most likely the Ox King and his wife as well since there's no way someone like Chichi could had been conceived if her mother wasn't her size.
In Trigun, Vash is almost a foot taller than Meryl and has to really bow down when he wants to hug her, especially in the manga.
Non-romantic (?) example: Beyond the Grave and Mika, from Gungrave.
Grave:This girl... to protect this girl... That is what Millenion means to me. It is my way of life.
Michel Blanc and Kuran Kuran (often a full-sized Zentraedi) from Macross Frontier. That is, if Kuran isn't Micloned. If she does, the trope is played straight instead, as she looks muchsmaller and younger than her real age.
An example with two males: Jin Akutsu and Taichi Dan from The Prince of Tennis. There's also Miyuki Chitose and either her older brother Senri or "thief-bro" Tezuka, as well as Munehiro Kabaji and his (unnamed) older sister...
Chrono Crusade: Rosette and Chrono don't look like this at first, and might even look like an inversion, but the cute little boy thing is just his Sleep Mode Size — In his real form, Chrono completely towers over the girl.
After the 18" (46cm) tall Cologne and the ten-year-old Hinako, girl Ranma from Ranma ½ is the smallest female in the cast, and "she" is often pursued by Tatewaki Kunō, the tallest male (tall even by Western standards).
InuYasha's older half-brother Sesshomaru sort of acquired (or adopted) Rin, an eight-year-old girl. Sesshomaru's humanoid form looks nineteen. (His true form is... much larger.)
Inu-Yasha's mother and father. He visits his father's grave and enters his father's remains and has room in his chest to both move around and fight his brother. We see his mother in a flashback and she was a normal-sized human lady.
In Ikki Tousen we have Gentle Giant Kanshou and Cute Bruiser Chouhi (which can go either platonic or romantic). Also, The Vamp Kaku and her Genius Bruiser lover Kakuka (he seems to be the only one of Kaku's boyfriends whom she cared for, as seen in his death scene in Dragon Destiny). In a purely platonic sense, the otherGentle Giant Gakushuu and either Idiot Heroine Hakufu or Tsundere Ryoumou.
Sweden and Finland are both men, with Sweden being much taller (at least by 4.7" (12 cm), according to Finland in one strip).
Germany and North Italy, with the latter having difficulty even hugging the former.
The most blatant example is England and America. Both fanon dōjinshi and canon (in the strips) greatly exaggerate their already existing height difference; technically, America is just .75" (2 cm) taller, but England is drawn much shorter than he truly is (he and France are around the same height, according to the charts, but France is drawn taller). This is sort of justified when one thinks about just how much bigger the US is than the UK...
The fanart for America and England is absurd. America looks about eight inches taller than England. To think England is the 'big brother'.
South Korea, as the tallest of the Asians (apparently tall enough to stand eye-to-eye with America), has these dynamics with almost everyone in the group. China◊ is the◊ biggest◊ example◊ but there's also Taiwan◊ and Hong Kong◊ (sometimes).
There's also Monaco, who is shorter than one of the younger characters, Liechtenstein. In strips with France or Serborga, she barely comes up to their chests, despite the fact that they're both of rather average height.
Ryuuji, the hero of Toradora, is about average-sized; it's the heroine Taiga that's short. Played up for laughs in the first chapters of the manga, but eventually moves on to the One Head Taller range. She also puts the Tsun in Tsundere — the school is terrified of her, and calls her "The Palmtop Tiger".
Koushi Inuzuka of Sumomomo Momomo is normal sized, but Momoko herself is tiny enough to compensate.
Haruhi and everyone in the Host Club in Ouran High School Host Club. Haruhi is short, but not obscenely so...but the boys around her are obscenely tall, save for Honey-sempai, so they tend to dwarf her a lot.
Actually, the male Hosts are only a little above the average male height in Japan, which is 170 cm (~5'7"). Haruhi herself is 155cm (~5'1"), which is a pretty normal height for a girl. Hikaru and Kaoru are 178cm (~5'10"), Kyouya is 181cm (~5'11"), and Tamaki is 183cm (~6') — he is on the taller end of the scale, but he's also half-French which may have something to do with it. Mori, being the Gentle Giant stands at 192cm (~6'4"), which is certainly tall, but not horribly uncommon. Little Honey is a mere 148cm (~4'10") which is odd for an 18-year-old male... but hey it's a manga/anime. Maybe he'll hit a growth spurt in college.
If one reads the manga version of Star Ocean The Second Story, they might get this impression of Ashton and Precis, as in some pages, Ashton appears to be twice Precis's height. In actuality, it's not QUITE a huge difference. According to official records, Ashton is 5'10" (180 cm), while Precis is about 5'1" (155 cm), meaning there's only a 16% difference in height (that still makes Precis fit the tiny girl part of the equation, so they might still be considered as qualified for this trope).
Precis looks SO young that Ashton was earlier accused of being a Lolicon when he expressed an interest in her. She later states that she's 16 (Ashton is 20), so depending on your stance on the legal age limit, he might actually be one.
Fushigi Yuugi also has an example. Yui Hongou and her chief Seiryuu Seishi-slash-confidante, Nakago, are at least ten inches apart.
So are Miaka and Tamahome, but it's not as obvious.
In a non-romantic subversion (not that the first example was romantic anyway), Miaka is only three or four inches taller than Chiriko, but he's only shown to be up to her waist.
Sakura's parents in Code Breaker. Dad is a normal/tallish katana-wielding retired badass ill guy, mom is a tiny Moe Blob who loves costumes. Oh, and Sakura's adopted, so who knows if they're actually married.
Code Geass: Li Xingke (24) and Empress Tianzi (13). This was a romantic relationship, at least for Tianzi. She was even about to be married to Prince Odysseus who looks to at least be in his thirties until Zero stopped the marriage ceremony.
How about Kaguya (14) who engaged herself to Lelouch (17)?
Koganei Hana, a girl who looks no older than five, and Edile the Glutton, a Karakuri Douji the size of a building, in Ultimo.
Jet and his (former) love interest Alisa, in Cowboy Bebop.
Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase has a few examples: Balgus (Vargus) and Arte are one. The little twins Hikaru and Kouru are engaged to Kouhei and Seiji.
When Ooshima is shown standing face to face (or... stomach to face...) with his girlfriend Misaki in the Emerging manga, it is clear to the reader that he is almost exactly twice her height.
Basquash! has Sela and Navi. While Sela is normal sized, Navi is a literal Giant who's as big as the Bigfoot mecha.
Non-Romantic example: Hellsing's Alucard is far taller than Seras Victoria.
Romantic example with Pip and Seras at least in the OAV, where he (and the other wild Geese mercs) is drawn significantly taller than Seras.
Another non-romantic example in GaoGaiGar: Mamoru is a short 9-year-old who barely comes up to Gai's waist (and that's because of his hair). See also Volfogg, a Transforming Mecha who protects Mamoru as one of his primary duties, and Mike Sounders the 13th, who is probably the closest to Mamoru after Gai.
From the picture of them that we see, Joey Jones' parents in Heroman, it's kinda like looking at Heroman and Joey side-by-side. And if you think it applies, this also goes for Heroman and Joey.
Dance in the Vampire Bund presents Akira Kaburagi, a taller-than-average 17 year old high school senior, and Mina Tepes, who looks like she belongs in the sixth grade (at best) and is about chest high to him.
S.S. Astro has a platonic example where a small girl and a rather large colleague are participating in a three-legged race at the sports festival. It's not really a fair race when the guy can simply pick up the girl and run off with her.
Izumi: Umm... do you think we should switch them with someone else? It looks like he's kidnapping her...
Yuko: Personally, I love the combination.
Another non-romantic example can be found in Solty Rei. Roy is 197 cm (about 6'7") and muscular, while Solty is 153 cm (about 5'1") and slender.
Naomi Armitage and Ross Syllabus in the Armitage Movies.
Zaitsu Misao and Arihara Ayumi of Hatsukoi Limited. Ironically, though he's three times larger than her, Ayumi can still knock Misao out with just one high kick.
Yamato from Karakuridouji Ultimo absolutely towers over his love interest Sayama, despite her still being a fairly average height. Then again, there's really only Akitsu, that Yamato doesn't tower over, so he would be an example of this no matter who it was, or what kind of relationship he had.
Brigadoon: Marin and Melan gives us Melan Blue, a robot a little taller than (most) human beings, and Marin, a young teenager who seems to be short for her age.
In One Piece the late Mermaid Queen was a human-sized mermaid who was incredibly fragile. Her husband King Neptune is a giant merman. Their daughter the Mermaid Princess takes after her mother in looks but takes after her father in size. The fact that the Mermaid Queen was able to survive giving birth to a giant isn't the weirdest thing in One Piece says all that needs to be said about the series. Mainly that it is awesome.
As a mermaid, it's possible she might lay eggs. It's never specified.
Eas/Setsuna and Westar/Hayato of Fresh Pretty Cure!. The exact nature of their relationship is up for debate, but they do have a strong connection to one another either way.
Like many other tropes taken to ridiculous extremes in Sacred Seven with Alma (195cm) and Ruri (144cm).
Slam Dunk: Any important male character (except Miyagi) when paired with any of the few female characters in the show. It's completely justified though since they're all basketball players, so most of them are 6ft or over.
In the original Astro Boy manga's World's Greatest Robot story arc, the developing relationship between Astro Boy's younger sister Uran and the giant robot Pluto. Uran helped turn Pluto from a proudBlood Knight into someone genuinely trying to find something in life more than just fighting. Too bad it was a Kill 'em All story.
The anime canon of Persona 4: The Animation has Kanji and his interest in Naoto. Yosuke and Narukami are roughly the same height, and the same can be said of Chie, Rise and Yukiko (who are about a head shorter than the first two). Meanwhile Kanji tends to be drawn roughly one to one and a half heads taller than Narukami and Yosuke, Naoto is about a head to a head and a half shorter than the rest of the female cast... while wearing platformed boots.
Seen between Gajeel and Levy of Fairy Tail. Gajeel stands several feet than taller than Levy and, at one point, single-handedly lifts her off the ground. Levy meanwhile is possibly the shortest member of the guild. (Not counting the Exceed Squad)
Lisa's parents Daniel and Helen Vayu, though Helen isn't exactly tiny, standing about Lisa's height. Given Daniel's imposing height however, this is the impression one gets of the couple.
Another straight example is Indra's incarnation Amano and her avatar Kai, with Amano barely reaching Kai's chest.
Inverted in the case of Lisa and Kurando, where the former stands over the latter by at least half a head.
The Joker and Harley Quinn - although Joker is sometimes described as only 6' tall he's more often 6'3" or 6'4" and drawn in a particularly lanky fashion, while Harley (a former gymnast) barely comes up to his shoulders.
Well before these Johnny-come-latelies, the original dimorphic superhero couple: Giant-Man and the Wasp, which got taken over to non-combat situations for awhile when Giant-Man got stuck at around twelve feet tall, and Wasp was still her usual 5'4".
The Thing and Alicia Masters; it doesn't help that Alicia is also blind. This was even joked about in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer when Johnny asks how Ben and Alicia manage a sex life. He then explains that he's only asking out of concern that Alicia might one day be killed in a "rock slide" and runs as Ben comes after him.
Considering he weighs over 500 lbs, here's hoping he doesn't roll in his sleep.
It's hinted, several times, that the Thing has no... ehm... external organs, because the rock skin is actually an exoskeleton of some sort. Obviously different authors said differently, but the Thing never got a "giant penis" joke, while other "big guys" (like the Hulk), had.
Ironically, this was a serious plot device for the Thing in some early issues. He actually tried to resist his desire to become human again, fearing that Alicia would not love him if he was "plain old Ben" (seeing as she had not met him before he became the Thing).
The Incredible Hulk. Oh, the Hulk, even his Amazonian Beauty cousin She-Hulk is only chest height to him. Some artist's renditions of the Hulk are capable, and actually have held love interests clasped between his hands.
Part of the problem with the Hulk is that his size is incredibly inconsistent, to the point where it'll vary between panels on the same page. His third wife, Caiera, was a hot amazon with similar proportions to his cousin. Some panels had them standing next to each other with only a few inches difference in height, while others have him absolutely dwarfing her. The Hulk's official height is (I believe) less than eight feet tall, however some panels will have him pushing fifteen feet for dramatic effect.
This is not so much artist variation as an effect of his powers, part of his ability to get stronger as he gets madder is an increase in size, up to a maximum of twelve feet.
The size changing thing is a handwave that may or may not be used Depending on the Writer. Most writers have his size remain consistent, though the artwork usually won't reflect this for dramatic purposes. This is why the Hulk won't always just get bigger as he gets angrier, he'll vary in either direction from one panel to another(even if they show the same moment in time or are separated by a matter of seconds).
Originally, Bruce Banner became the Hulk by saving an irresponsible teenager from being caught in an atomic bomb blast and that said teenager became hulk's companion, which would make it another trope altogether.
The Italian underground comic book Ranxerox is an example: the titular Ranx is a huge robot (one can describe him as a punk Frankenstein's monster) that, because of a malfunction of his electronic brain, loves and follows little Lubna, who is a young, petite, and very nasty Little Miss Badass.
The Maxx has the semi-platonic versions, with the Maxx and Julie, the Maxx and Sarah, Sarah and her Maxx.
Gene and Leezee Sower in Kingdom are a bodyguard-and-protectorate example.
Dwight and Miho from Sin City is a platonic example. Dwight clears six feet while Miho is often described as being barely five feet tall. As the series progressed, Frank Miller decided to exaggerate the differences to the point where Dwight looks as if he could swallow Miho.
Another platonic example (and a very unusual one) is Tiatkin and the war droid Giza from the Star Wars oneshot comic Lando's Commandos: On Eagle's Wings. Giza was at least three times his Twi'lek partner's size and also had rather a lot of affection for her. Cue Roaring Rampage of Revenge when she was gunned down during a mission.
Les Innomables, a French comic by Yann and Conrad, has Mac Buttle, a rather rotund adventurer deserted from the US military, and Alix, whose mother was executed by the Communists. Mac isn't that much taller than Alix, but he's at least four times as wide.
Fan Works
Does the squick-rich D&DFan FicLidda and the Ogre get a place here?
Though not canon in any sense, BIONICLE fans tend to pair up Toa Hewkii and Macku. Macku is a three foot tall fisherwoman, Hewkii is a seven foot tall super hero with stone and gravity powers.
A more canon example would be Mata Nui and Kiina. Sure, at seven feet tall, Kiina is hardly "tiny" by most people's standards, but when you consider that Mata Nui's original form is forty million feet tall, it becomes a highly exaggerated version of this trope.
Toy Hammer: Michael and Zara. 6' something to 2" (yep, inches).
Like the BIONICLE example above, this is not canon, but a lot of 9 fic-writers like pairing the enormous8 with 4, who is one of the smallest characters. (Most writers like to think of 4 as a female, thus making it an example of this trope and not Big Guy, Little Guy.)
In the Firefly fandom, the "Jaylee" pairing, considering that Jewel Staite, Kaylee's actress, stands at just 5'5½" compared to the towering 6'4" Adam Baldwin, who plays Jayne. Those who ship Jayne and River also like to play up the dynamic in their fic, despite Summer Glau being an average-sized 5'8".
In the Happy Tree Friends fandom, one particular Fan Preferred Couple is Flippy (a bear) and Flaky (a porcupine). While the two (like most of the characters) are the same size on the show, some fans like to de-anthropomorphize the characters. D'aww ensues.
There are thousand of pictures with them in human, anime forms, in which Flippy is drawn at least One Head Taller than Flaky. Someexamplesarehere.
Enemy Of My Enemy has Sarah Jennings - a young, human girl - form a strong bond of friendship with two Seperatist Hunters whom she dubs 'Jib' and 'Jubb'.
Hit And Miss, a NSFW Balthier/Ashe fanfic, brings up the difference in the two characters' heights frequently. When it's mentioned in Chapter 20, Balthier sleeps with someone else and can't stop himself from thinking that, compared to Ashe, she's too tall.
The Servants Of Ungoliant features The 25-year-old Jhebdryk, who is the tallest and most muscular of the main Darklanders and The 18-year-old Rhejya, who is one of the youngest of the main Darklanders. Also doubled with One Head Taller.
How has PudgyPudge's work Master of the Zanbatous not made it into this list? By the time the story ends, Sakura is able to ride atop Naruto's shoulders in a fashion reminiscent of Kenpachi and Yachiru It IS stated that in order to wield the blades effectively, he had to undergo a MASSIVE growth spurt, but 4'6" to 6'11" seems a tiny bit excessive.
Any fanfic shipping Supernatural's Sam Winchester (6'4" and muscular) and Gabriel (5'8" and compact). (Since Gabriel's an angel, though, it's actually inverted once they're out of their meatsuits—Sam's soul can fit in a briefcase, while a younger and less powerful angel than Gabriel is the size of the Chrysler building, so Gabriel's probably even larger.)
Wheatley's human body in the Portal2 fanfic Blue Sky is based on actor Stephen Merchant, who is 6'7". Chell is described as being "not particularly tall".
The Incredibles. Bob (a.k.a. Mr. Incredible) and Helen Parr (a.k.a. Elastigirl). This led to an interesting problem for the animators; when Bob and Helen get into a shouting match in the first half of the film, it looked in the storyboards like an abusive giant berating a tiny woman rather than a loud disagreement between overall equals. Their solution was to have Helen use her stretching powers to loom over Bob at the climax of the scene.
Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Even after the transformation there's still a quite a size difference. Also Jerk Ass Gaston was quite bigger than Belle was. In the musical Belle is usually cast as short as possible to play up this aspect.
In Mulan II, Chien-Po, the guy big enough to pick up four people and a horse, ends up with the tiniest of the princesses.
In Monsters Inc: Sulley (a furry monster with the build of a lineman) grows attached to a two-year-old girl which he names "Boo."
Also, it's worth noting that his assistant (and all the assistants of the 'scarers' at their workplace) are dwarfed by their counterparts, with Mike being about the size of Sulley's head.
Kerchack and Kala from Disney's Tarzan. This one's justified, since male gorillas really are much bigger than the females.
Francoeur of A Monster In Paris is a seven-foot, anthropomorphic flea, so he's taller than most people, but his dance partner/sister figure Lucille is pretty small compared to the more normal-sized cast members.
Jaws and his girlfriend, Dolly, in Moonraker. There was some concern about audiences accepting the height difference until Richard Kiel pointed out his Real Life wife is the same height.
Blade II. Lighthammer and his lover Verlaine, two vampire members of the Bloodpack.
In The Wanderers, the leader of the The Fordham Baldies, Terror, is played by the 6'6 and well over 300 lbs Erland van Lindh, while his girl Peewee is played by the 4'10 Linda Manz.
The guy who built the building in Being John Malkovich was allegedly a sea captain married to a dwarf woman and built the 7 1/2 floor for her and her "accursed kind" (Katherine Keneer's character doesn't believe it).
In Black Cat, White Cat, six-foot plus Grga Veliki and midget Afrodita end up together, after Grga finds her in a stump. It Makes Sense in Context.
King Kong. Played with, in fact, by Merian C. Cooper. According to Fay Wray, when she was given the part of Ann Darrow, Cooper told her that she'd be working with "the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood."
Taken to an extreme in Big Top Pee-Wee, with circus owner Kris Kristofferson and his wife, who is small enough to live in his shirt pocket.
The film version of Thor has the waifish Natalie Portman paired with the towering and chiseled Chris Hemsworth.
Quigley Down Under has 6'4 Tom Selleck and maybe 5'0 Lauren San Giacomo.
In Mirrormask, Valentine isn't "huge", but he is far enough on the tall side to contrast with petite Helena.
Literature
In Black House, the biker named Mouse tells of his late girlfriend, Little Nancy. Jack asks how big Little Nancy was, since Mouse is 6'2'' and 290 pounds. Mouse remarks that he could have lifted her one-handed.
Susan and the unnamed protagonist of Neil Gaiman's short story "Goliath".
In The Sharing Knife series: Fawn "I'm not a child, I'm just short" Bluefield and Dag Redwing, who's so tall and lanky that Fawn can't reach up to touch his face unless he stoops.
Another non-romantic example from the same series: Kincaid and the Archive, who have an implied 'father'/super-intelligent daughter relationship.
Possible example, Thomas and Justine. Thomas has been mentioned as tall (though not nearly as tall as Harry), and Justine has been described as tiny, frail, and waif-ish.
Moiraine and Lan from The Wheel of Time (and later Nynaeve and Lan).
Also Rand and Min, Perrin and Faile, Mat and Tuon. In Rand and Lan's case this would likely always be true, as they are both around 6'6; Perrin is also fairly gigantic, 6'2" and 240 pounds of solid muscle. On the other hand, Moiraine and Tuon are both legitimately fairly small women.
Captain Carrot and Angua von Uberwald of Discworld. Angua has never been described as particularly small, granted, but it probably wouldn't matter, seeing as Carrot is 6'5" (196cm) and nearly as broad across the shoulder.
David Eddings' Belgariad and Malloreon series: Garion is at least six and a half feet (about 2 m) tall, possibly seven feet (about 2.1 m). His wife Ce'Nedra, being part-Dryad, is 5' (152 cm) at most — and repeatedly described as tiny.
The titular character's father is 192 cm (6'3" and a half), and her mother is third-grader size at "barely over" 125 cm (4'1" and a half).
Benjamin Mayhew's wife is also quite short at about 140 cm (4'7").
Kevin Usher is described as being rather large, quite unlike his rather petite wife Virginia.
Abigail Hearns, while tall for a Grayson, is still average height at most. Her armsman, San Martin-born Mateo Gutierrez, is two meters tall and weighs 200 kilograms.
Egyptologists and detectives Amelia Peabody and Radcliffe Emerson. Amelia frequently describes her husband as "Herculean".
In Shades Children by Garth Nix, Ella isn't described as being particularly small, but she certainly would seem so next to her teammate Drum, who was dosed with steroids as a child. One scene implied that her armpits were about level with his waist. Interestingly, Ella is almost certainly the elder.
F'lar and Lessa in Dragonriders of Pern — Lessa has been referred to as "diminutive", "child-sized", etc. And she is a force of nature, personality-wise.
Not a romance, but the partnership of Tuskanini and Super Gnat in the Phule's Company novels. He's the biggest member of the Omega Mob, she's the smallest, and they are a solid team, to the point that very pacifistic Tusk slugs a sergeant for picking on his partner.
Twilight: Alice and Jasper. Jasper is super tall, lanky, but WAY above average, and Alice is repeatedly described as tiny and pixie-like. Discarded in the film series, where Ashley Greene and Jackson Rathbone are only 2-3 inches apart in height.
Jean, who is larger than average, and Ezri, who is petite (but the tallest of all her sisters) in Red Seas Under Red Skies.
Skua September and Isili Hasboga from The End of the Matter. Skua is described by many characters as the biggest man they've ever seen, while his employer Isili's description pegs her as half a head shorter than teenage Flinx (who'd not yet grown tall).
Waldo "Saucerhead" Tharpe, from the Garrett, P.I. novels, is a humungous bodyguard/bruiser with a long track-record of dating women who can barely reach his elbows.
Garrett himself is no shrimp, yet is usually paired with Tinnie Tate, whose whole family is short.
Non-romantic example: Sapphira (a fairly smallish woman) and Yereq (a giant, some nine-plus feet tall), from Oracles of Fire.
In A Song of Ice and Fire, Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo have an arranged marriage. He's a hardened tribal leader who towers over most men, while she's thirteen years old and slight even for her age.
Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series features Buri and Raoul. When introduced in the first book series Buri is described as being reasonably short. Raoul is well over six foot, and apparently a massively built warrior, whereas Buri is a waif like rider. It gets pointed out directly once, when the two stand next to each other Buri doesn't even reach Raoul's shoulder.
There's also Daine and Numair; in Wolf Speaker, it said that Daine was 5 feet 5 inches (at the age of fourteen) and Numair is 6'5"
Red and Sorcha from Juliet Marillier's Daughter Of The Forest Sorcha is very petite and compared to Red who's a pretty big guy, she's like a small child.
A "Post-Modern Fairy Tale" book features a very butch princess (she likes wrestling and fixing helicopters) whose parents force her to preside over an engagement gauntlet of princes who must be taller, stronger, and maybe even smarter then her in order to marry her. They are especially intersted in the only guy who's taller then the princess; unfortunately he's also a Noodle Person who has to wrestle her (she lets him win to avoid injuring him). Meanwhile, she falls for the same prince's pilot/chauffer, who's much shorter and chubbier but very much her equal. Naturally, he's the real prince and the tall guy is his pilot/chauffer. They switched because the prince knew his height would've instantly eliminated him, and he thought the whole thing was silly anyway.
Brother/Sister version in The Millennium Trilogy books, with the Zalachenko half-siblings. Super-hacker Lisbeth is frequently described as looking like a skinny teenager, and then we're introduced to her well-nigh invulnerable, over 6-feet-tall dimwitted hulk of a brother...
And in Grunts! we have the pairing of Ashnak (six feet of muscular orc) and Magda Brandiman, a halfling (probably around 3' to 4' at the most).
Derek and Chloe from the Darkest Powers series. Derek is built like a linebacker, with shoulders nearly as broad as the average doorway, and stands at around 6'3" or so. He also weighs about 220lbs. Chloe is five-foot-nothing and probably weighs 100lbs soaking wet.
In the Spellsinger universe, native residents of the fantasy world are significantly shorter than those in the nonmagical twenty-first century world. Talea is in fact quite tall by her native world's standards, but she's much shorter than her love interest, the six-foot Fish out of Water Jon-Tom.
Ken Follet's " The Pillars of the Earth" Tom Builder is described to be unusually tall and muscular and His second wife Ellen is described to be leaner and smaller
In any P. G. Wodehouse story where Stinker Pinker and Stiffy Bing make an appearance, Bertie will introduce them in the narration by remarking how they embody this trope.
Played for Body Horror rather than humor in Ramsey Campbell's Cthulhu Mythos story "The Faces At Pine Dunes", in which Michael's tall father has grown enormously fat and his mother is petite.
In John C. Wright's War of the Dreaming, half-titan Raven is married to the very, very petite Wendy. She's not kidding when she says he can pick her up with one hand.
Brandon Vanderkool (6'8") and Madeline Rousseau (5' ish) in Border Songs.
In Death: This trope is played straight a few times, and Mavis and Leonardo happen to be the recurring couple to fit this trope.
To some extent, George and Jessie Challenger from Conan Doyle's The Lost World. Notably, Challenger is short (well, at least when compared to Edward Malone), but only because he has short, stocky legs. His chest, arms and head are huge, and his wife is a tiny, thin woman whom he is able to lift absolutely without any effort. To Malone, they together resemble a gorilla and a gazelle.
Possibly Nessa and Tulkas in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion—she's described as petite and graceful, like a deer, and he's massive and muscular.
In Dorothy Dunnett's King Hereafter, 6'6 (and massively ugly) Thorfinn, aka Macbeth, is married to Gruoch, who is small and short enough for him to pick up and carry. This is based on a historical account of Thorfinn carrying her to safety when their home was attacked by enemies.
Early in The Stand, Nick meets the sheriff, a huge man, and later his wife, a slight little thing, leading Nick to ponder the trope and its implications.
In Lorna Doone, John Ridd is described as being able to carry away the doorframe of Sir Ensor Doone's house. For reference the doorway is 6 feet and one inch high and nearly two feet across. Lorna on the other hand is slim, such that half of John's arm can go around her.
In Pride & Prejudice, Darcy is described several times as tall and once as a "great, tall fellow" by Bingley, while Elizabeth is supposedly lithe from her walking and 15 year old Lydia and Georgianna are both taller than her.
Kyle and Jodi/Sunny from The Host. This also is the fate of Ian and Wanda in Pet's body.
Matt and Daphne on Heroes seem to have a bit of this.
Sylar and Elle have a major height difference, as does Claire and any guy she's paired with, ever.
(Most of the couples on the show have this going. Both Claire and Elle are about 5' 1'' and the only short guy in the whole show is Hiro).
Part of the reason the Cliff/Olivia comedy dynamic worked so well on The Cosby Show was that she was tiny, making the slightly-taller-than-average height Cliff look huge.
All in the Family had 6'2" Mike and 5'1" Gloria. Gloria often wore platform shoes to help with the size difference.
Pushing Daisies had most of its relationships qualify—its four leads were a pair of tall guys (actors Lee Pace and Chi McBride are 6'3" and 6'4", respectively) and a pair of petite women (actors Kristin Chenoweth and Anna Friel are 4'11" and 5'2", respectively). As it made for some great sight gags, the writers loved to play with this trope.
To a lesser extent, Buffy and Angel and Buffy and Riley; Sarah Michelle Gellar is 5'3" and skinny, and David Boreanaz is VERY tall (6'1" according to IMDB) and muscular, as is Marc Blucas.
About a decade ago, when Divatox going into a marriage of convenience with Maligore in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie. Maligore can even grow bigger.
On Charmed, often the men are much larger and brawnier than the women, which can be seen particularly with Phoebe, while she was dating Cole, and in the 8th season, when she was with Coop. Milano, who played Phoebe, is 5'2. Both the actors were 6'3.
Dwight Schrute and Angela Martin from The Office. Another one of the reasons the pairing is cute despite its obvious weirdness.
Darryl and Kelly, too. Also somewhat difficult to avoid with an actor as tall as John Krasinski (6'3").
Glee has Finn (6'3 Cory Montieth) and Rachel (5'2 Lea Michele) along with Ken and Emma to a lesser extent.
A subversion occurs with Kurt and Blaine on-screen: Chris Colfer (Kurt) is somewhat taller than Darren Criss (Blaine). However, Colfer is the more feminine looking (and sounding) of the two, which creates a general expectation that if anything, Blaine should be taller than Kurt. The fact that Kurt is the taller one, if only by so much, makes the size difference between them seem bigger to the viewer than it actually is.
There's 6'2" Ray Romano with 5'2" Patricia Heaton,
6'8" Brad Garrett with 5'6" Monica Horan. In fact, you could bring up any romantic interest Brad Garrett had throughout the course of the show... it's Brad Garrett, after all.
Though it is not a romantic relationship, whenever "Robert" (6'8") stands next to "Debra" (5'2"), the 18 inch height difference is, obviously, really noticeable.
Frank Barrone (Peter Boyle; 6'2") was 13" taller than Marie (Doris Roberts; 5'1").
In Chuck Zachary Levi (Chuck) who is 6'4" is at some point paired with Rachel Bilson (Lou, a Romantic False Lead) who is 5'2", a full foot and two inches shorter! She even mentions that she is "intrigued by their height difference".
On Seinfeld, the petite Elaine and her barrel-chested recurring love interest David Puddy. Additionally, Patrick Warburton is 6'3", while Julia Louis-Dreyfus is 5'2", making him more than a foot taller.
And then there's Ted Buckland and his girlfriend, 'The Gooch'.
In the "The Final Four" episode of Neil Flynn's show The Middle, the trope is lampshaded when his character meets his wife's Boss for the first time and the Boss remarks about how short women always go for tall men.
Lily and Marshall from How I Met Your Mother. Hilariously played with during an early Halloween episode when they dressed up as Sonny and Cher—with Lily as Sonny and Marshall as Cher.
Lily once had a nightmare about Marshall leaving her for a woman who was, in Nightmare Marshall's words, "more height appropriate."
Also her terror at the Marshall household for Thanksgiving when she suspected she was pregnant and Marshall's mother told her that Marshall was born about the size of the turkey they were having.
Almost every pairing on Night Court, given that the entire male cast was freakishly tall, at one point even holding the world record for the tallest male cast.
Roger And Val Have Just Got In - While Dawn French is somewhat of a larger lady but she is short statured, especially compared to Alfred Molina.
Another platonic example on NCIS: LA - Boss Hetty (played by 4'9" Linda Hunt) is frequently in scenes opposite team psychologist Nate (played by 6'4" Peter Cambor), as they are two of the 'left behind' characters when the team go on missions. This is often played for laughs, with Nate forced to stoop over Hetty's Hetty-sized desk.
Also Eric and Nell.
Homicide: Life on the Street had Emma Zoole. played by 5'1" Lauren Tom, briefly dating Tim Bayliss, played by 6'5" Kyle Secor. Before that, she flirted with the 6'2" Lewis.
From Merlin, Arthur and Guinevere. At one point they had a gag that involved Gwen hiding from sight behind Arthur. She was completely obscured until he stood aside, telling Morgana: "There's someone here to see you..." In one promotional picture that involves the two of them kissing, Angel Coulby is quite clearly standing on her toes.
On True Blood, 6'5" Hoyt briefly dates 5'0" Summer.
House and Cuddy were together in season seven of House. Hugh Laurie is 6'2.5", while Lisa Edelstein is 5'4", putting them 10.5 inches apart.
On 30 Rock, 5"4" Liz once had a offscreen fling with 7" Grizz
Rene Artois in 'Allo 'Allo! has this going on with two of his mistresses, Maria and Mimi (especially Mimi, since her actress is over a foot shorter than Gordon Kaye who plays Rene), to the point they have to stand on a stool to kiss him and neither can hug him and put their arms more than halfway around.
In Game of Thrones Daenerys is fairly short and slight, while her husband Khal Drogo is frankly massive, with her barely coming up to his chest, and he is a reallllllly beefy dude as well.
Actor Jason Momoa would fit this trope with any average-sized woman, but his real-life spouse is the 5'2 Lisa Bonet.
In Watching, Malcolm is very tall and lanky. Brenda is...not.
On Supernatural, Sam Winchester and Ruby in season four. Sam is 6'5" and Ruby is a whole foot shorter at 5'4". Never mind just Ruby, every single female character whom Sam has been romantically involved with he towers over, with the exception of Jessica. Sam even seems to tower over other male characters and makes them look much shorter and smaller than they are, including his own brother Dean (who is 6 feet).
On The X-Files, David Duchovny (6'.5") was ten and a half inches taller than Gillian Anderson (5'2"). Hence the "Scully Box".
This trope is used for a sight gag on Boy Meets World: Frankie, who is quite tall and large, and his dad, played by professional wrestler Vader, are at a meeting in Mr. Feeny's office and them stepping out of the room reveals a short, waif woman who's revealed to be Frankie's mom was standing behind them the whole time.
The episode "Voyage of the Damned" on Doctor Who had this with the Doctor, played by the 6'1" David Tennant, and Astrid Peth, played by Kylie Minogue, who is only five feet tall. This is fully played up in one scene when Astrid literally pulls up a box and stands on it to give the Doctor a goodbye kiss.
In The City Hunter, actor Lee Min Ho is only comparatively tall at 6'1, but he's huge compared to the diminutive actresses he's paired with. Lampshaded by one of them:
"He's so tall that giving him a once-over hurts my neck..."
Live With Kelly And Michael (formerly known as Live With Regis and Kathy Lee/Kelly) hosts Kelly Ripa (tiny soap opera star, 5'3") and Michael Strahan (tall ex-American Football player, 6'5"). Also doubles as Salt and Pepper.
Played with in Monty Python's Flying Circus' "Scott of the Antarctic" sketch, where initially the actor playing Scott is walking around with boxes under his shoes, while Miss Evans is standing in a trench. Pythonesque absurdity ensues.
Fawlty Towers. Basil towers over his extremely petite wife, Sybil. Meanwhile, John Cleese towers over his extremely petite (then-)wife, Connie Booth.
When Juliette introduces her fiancee Sean to the musicians in Nashville, he is way taller than she is.
On Community Jeff - portrayed by 6'4 Joel McHale - when paired with either Britta or Annie - respctively the 5'4 Gillian Jacobs and the 5'3 Alison Brie.
Music
Eek-A-Mouse's song Rude Boy is about people having a problem with him being so much taller than his girlfriend. With the lyrics Whole heap a people jus' a start to laugh She too short an' a me too tall She too short an' a me too tall, ey (its in Jamaican Patois)
The video for Aerosmith's "Love in an Elevator" has, among 2 mannequins coming to life and various couples, as Steven Tyler puts it in the song, "shagging in the elevator", there is one couple consisting of a huge man and a female midget.
Fleetwood Mac gives us 5'1" Stevie Nicks and 6'5" Mick Fleetwood. Never officially a couple, but they did have an affair.
The music video for "Paparazzi" had the 5'1" Lady Ga Ga dating 6'4" Alexander Skarsgard
Märchen von Friedhof and Elise from the Rock Opera, Märchen. Märchen himself isn't exceptionally tall, but he doesn't need to be when Elise is the size of a porcelain doll.
Gorillaz gives us a platonic example with Russel and Noodle, particularly in Phase Three◊, though the Gorillabitez short "Game Of Death" shows that she was able to flip him at age ten. To a lesser extent, Noodle is also a Morality Pet for Murdoc, who is fairly tall (though not huge) at 5"10 and 2D who is 6"3 was shown carrying her on his back in the video for "Rock It".
The Jonathan Coulton song "Just As Long As Me" is about a guy who is sick of this trope and is trying to find a love interest of comparable height.
Pro Wrestling
Particularly in WWE, where they appreciate the big man (perhaps too much), there can be a lot of Huge Guy, Tiny Girl relationships. Particularly notable was the hinted at relationship of 7' (2.1m), then-(approximately) 485 lb. (220kg) Big Show and, though she was not very slender herself, 5'3" (160cm) Joy Giovanni.
The Wild Party Eddie and Mae, tiny dancer and hulking boxer. As their song, "Two of a Kind" puts it, "She's two feet below me. And we're two of a kind".
In the Les Misérables 25th Anniversary concert: tiny Lea Salonga as Fantine and the guy who's taller then the rest of the cast who played the Foreman.
Video Games
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West gives us Monkey and Trip. Monkey is a HUGE, muscular wild man who can pretty easily rip war robots into pieces. Trip is a light, young teenager who relies on her brains to get things done. He carries her around on his back and throws her onto ledges and across gaps like it's nothing. She's only nineteen, and we aren't really given an age for Monkey, but it's safe to assume that he's a few years older than her.
In the Super Mario Bros. series, Bowser is explicitly stated to have a crush on Peach; while Peach is probably average to tall for a human woman, Bowser is almost always at least double her size.
Also, Peach is about a head taller than Mario.
Yeto and Yeta from The Legend Of Zelda Twilight Princess. They're yetis, so perhaps it's justified as being an aspect of their species - but then again, Yeto is over twice the size of Yeta...
Also Link and Midna...sort of. Link is generally on the small side (with even the waifish Princess Zelda being taller than him), but Midna's gotta be about 2' (61cm) or so, making this Tiny Guy, Even Tinier Girl.
Ganondorf is about 7'6", so any pairing involving him counts.
Also, in The Sacred Stones, Gilliam/Syrene, Ross and Amelia, and the mentoring/father-daughter bond between Amelia and Duessel. L'Arachel and Dozla is a non-romantic example as well.
Ex-marine Billy Coen is nearly as burly as Chris, and Resident Evil 0 sets him as partner to tiny eighteen-year-old rookie S.T.A.R.S. Medic Rebecca Chambers.
Sanger Zonvolt and Irui Ganedan from the Super Robot Wars Alpha games. May or may not be romantic. Notable in that while Irui shares a similar relationship with the other main characters in their stories, it's Sanger/Irui that gets all the fanart.
Judging from the ending of Original Generation Gaiden (and the sequel to Endless Frontier), it looks like Axel Almer and Alfimi is going on this way as well.
Also, Kazuma Ardygun and his little sister/copilot Mihiro in W.
And then Super Robot Wars Z gives us the pair Rand Travis and Mel Peter, which plays this trope straight.
Tasuku and Leona from Original Generations — Tasuku's Giganscudo is positively gargantuan in comparison to Leona's signature Seiguarlion.
A mild case in Metal Gear Solid 3, where it's, uh, Huge Guy, Tiny Bishounen. Although Raikov is supposed to be the same height and shape as Naked Snake (hence why his uniform had to be used), Volgin is enormous.
Astro Boy's younger sister Uran seems to have this kind of relationship with the giant robot Pluto in at least one of the alternate timelines in Astro Boy: Omega Factor.
It's even more noticeable with the Qiao sisters and their respective husbands.
Rufus and his girlfriend in Street Fighter IV. What makes it funnier is that Candy is actually pretty tall compared to some of the other characters, but Rufus practically dwarfs her.
Before that, Hugo and Poison, at least that's what the artwork is trying to tell you not specifically mentioning that Poison is a trap!
The more dimorphic races in World of Warcraft, especially draenei and trolls. However, both of these are slightly unusual cases: With draenei, both sexes are approximately the same height◊, and it's almost entirely a matter of the fellas being several times wider. With trolls, both sexes are long and lean... but not only are females leaner, but males would be more than One Head Taller if they didn't slouch.
Halo gives us Master Chief and Cortana. One is a 7' (2.1m) tall supersoldier, and the other is a holographic display usually a mere 6" (15cm) or so, when she's not a two-inch (5cm) chip inserted into his helmet.
Commander Keyes and the other female UNSC Marines also apply.
Bornstellar's unnamed parents definitely qualify. His father is four meters tall; his mother is only two. The Didact and the Librarian might possibly qualify.
Not as extreme an example as some, but Garrus and Tali in Mass Effect 3. One is noticeably taller and bulkier than a human, the other is about the height of a human when standing on the balls of her feet, and quite thin everywhere except the hips.
In the second game, you have the option of repairing the relationship between a krogan and an asari.
Neverwinter Nights 2 has a do-it-yourself example. Neither Casavir nor Gannanyev discriminate by race, and are perfectly willing to romance a female Halfling PC.
Happens easily in City of Heroes where your typical female PC is under 5'10" (178cm) (often under 5' (152cm) even) in height while many male PCs are past the 6'6" (2m) mark and top out at 8'2" (2.5m). Males also have exclusive access to the huge muscular models while females are kept on the slender side.
Happens with NPCs as well. The Carnival of Shadows is the most extreme example, where the Strongmen are 3-4 times the size of the women who order them around.
There's also Ghost Widow and the Wretch. It's hard to tell if it's romantic, seeing as she's a literal ghost, and he's a horribly mutated brute with so little brain power it hurts his head to talk. Still, they definitely care a lot about each other, and it's possible there was something there before they both lost their humanity to the same accident.
In Saints Row 2, Brotherhood leader Maero towers over everyone he meets, including his girlfriend Jessica.
In Punch-Out on Wii, Super Macho Man's opening montage shows him with a series of girlfriends, each one about half his size.
In Final Fantasy X, the villain who's interested in Yuna and does end up marrying her freaking towers over her. Official heights don't make sense and seem to vary between FMV-models and gameplay-models, but general fannish consensus is that Yuna hovers around 5'3", while Seymour is something like 6'4" with a fondness for hairstyles and clothing that makes him look larger than he already is.
Final Fantasy XI Elvaan and Galka males typically dwarf the females of all the other races. Though Fanon seems to have particular appeal for Mithra/Male Elvaan parings, often exaggerating this element to extreme degrees. Most likely because the Mithra are cute little Cat Girl, and the Elvaan are towering Elf Bishōnen.
Final Fantasy XIII: Serah, who is around Vanille's height of 5'4" and just as slim, is engaged to Snow, who is 6'5 (or 6'7, depending on the source) and has a strong muscular build.
Final Fantasy VII (mainly Dirge of Cerberus), Vincent Valentine and Yuffie Kisaragi (especially for those who are huge fans of Yuffentine).
Eddie and Ophelia in Brütal Legend, to the point where their double-team involves him lifting her with one arm (whereupon she perches comfortably on his biceps) and their combo attack is him throwing her at the enemy, dual blades spinning. In fact, a point could be made that all (reasonably humanoid) males in the game are either tall or possess a Heroic Build of ridiculous proportions; whereas all the (human) girls are lithe killing machines with slender bodies to murder for. Nope, no Wish Fulfillment in this game.
In Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2, Roxas and Xion are around the same height, but their friend and mentor Axel borders on the height of the two stacked on top of each other. This may or may not be romantic depending on how you ship (all shipping combinations of the three have been seen).
And in an example that both inverts this AND plays it straight, the Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep trio has a huge guy (Terra), a medium girl (Aqua), and a really tiny guy (Ven).
In Kingdom Hearts II, Kairi and Riku in Xehanort's Heartless form, because she's tiny when she's standing next to him.
Chain of Memories gives us a non-romantic (or romantic, if you ship that way) example with Lexaeus and Zexion. Lexaeus is easily the largest humanoid character in the series, while Zexion is only slightly taller than the teenaged characters.
Monster Hunter has an inhuman example. The Ludroth are alligator creatures roughly 50% longer than your hunter is tall. All of these are female. The boys - the Royal Ludroth - are four to five times the size of your hunter character. This would be seen as Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action if they weren't the same species.
Billie Church and Frank Delgado, two members of the Jericho Team in Clive Barkers Jericho.
Rift: Female bahmi are rather imposing, solidly-built ladies...but the trope is still played straight, on account of their kinsmen being both significantly taller and built like bank vaults.
In Dragon Age: Origins, a female dwarf Warden can pull this off with anyone, naturally (well, except another Dwarf). Female elves are quite small, too, but the human men are at most One Head Taller than them (though due to the Heroic Build favored by every guy in the game, they're also still quite a bit wider).
Popping up in the Fanon and many ...genres of fanfic since The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim came out. Pairings of huge guys and tiny girls (sometimes tiny men, too) are extremely popular. Usually the tiny girl/uke is a breton (magical half-elves) or wood elf (the latter particularly if male), these being the two smallest races, while the huge guy is either a nord (fantasy Viking) if the burly look is favored, or a high elf (the tallest characters in the game, barring the non-playable dremora) if a more Bishōnen aesthetic is desired.
Also, a non-romantic example is Phoenix Wright and his assistant Maya. It's hard to tell because they're very rarely in the same frame, but in courtroom scenes Phoenix is pretty tall and broad even when leaning or slouching, and when he looks down the bench at Maya she seems much shorter in comparison. An image suitable for comparison can be seen further down on this page.
Non-romantic example: From Fate/stay night, Ilyasviel "Ilya" von Einzbern and her enormous Servant, Berserker. Also, according to time-skip epilogues and using Archer as obvious evidence, at his adult height, Shirou will tower over the main heroines, especially Saber (who's the shortest Servant by a full head at least).
Archer and Rin works with this as well, for he's about a foot (30cm) taller than she is and 68 lb. (31 kg) heavier.
Bypassing gender, we've also got Fate Zero's Odd CoupleAlexander the Great and Waver Velvet◊ stretching this about as far as adult human proportions can go, with Alex having about two feet (55 cm, to be exact) and 80 kg (176 lbs.) on Waver.
Wapsi Square's Monica, the 5'-tall (152cm) main character, suffers from this with every guy in her life — except Tepoztecal.
Majorly in the Insecticomics. Lasorbeak, Kickback, and Thrust have all dated/slept with Tidal Wave, who is the size of a battleship. Probably best not to think about how this works.
Also Energon Megatron and Starscream, who got married right before Megatron abdicated his position as leader and took Starscream to parts unknown. Starscream was small enough to fit on his shoulder.
Half-averted in The Order of the Stick: Celia should be small according to the monster manual, but she isn't drawn that way.
Viktor Vasko and Ivy Pepper in Lackadaisy Cats. Viktor is over six feet tall, hulking, middle aged, and a former rum runner-turned-bartender. Ivy is a young, flirty college student and flapper- and one of the few characters in the comic that doesn't seem intimidated by Viktor. When asked if they could ever be romantically involved, Ivy denies the possibility.
Appears in flashback in Girl Genius: Klaus is considerably bigger than Lucrezia. But then he is (possibly) a construct made of three people.
Carli, a chinchilla, and her wolf husband in Sabrina Online.
Also, Thomas' parents.
The Girl and The Fed in A Girl and Her Fed. The tall, bulky Fed is initially afraid he might hurt the diminutive girl in a fit of anger...but she can actually beat him up.
While Reinhold in Dominic Deegan isn't exactly huge for a human knight, Kiya is probably one of the lightest orcs ever seen.
Both the Kings and Queens of Homestuck gain power and change shape as players join their game. But while the Queens retain their more or less human height, the Kings grow with each change until they're mountain-crushing colossi.
Murray and Camille, the Official Couple of Bloody Urban. Murray is the tallest character in the series. Camille barely reaches his chest.
Annie Chang and Thomas Kensington in Pulse. Superhero School student, Powered Armor wearing Annie is 5' 3"- her non-super-powered love interest, metalworker Thomas is 6'.
In Survival of the Fittest, while this is not normally looked at in a romantic way, Bayview (V4's school) has an abnormally tall population. The current average height of a female student is a relatively normal 5'5"...the male population on the other hand has the average height of 6'2.
While not a couple, this is the The Nostalgia Critic and The Nostalgia Chick: Doug is 6'0, Lindsay is 5'2. Especially noticeable in the Ferngully review where they're fighting; while the Chick moves around a lot, the Critic never gets up from his chair.
In Suburban Knights, when everyone is revealed in their costumes, Lindsay is dwarfed by everyone.
Lucy (5'7") and Michael (8'0") of Vampire Quest, Peri (4'7") and Leto (5'9" and growing) of Necromancy Quest both Viridian Dreams Quests.
From Disney's Gargoyles, Goliath and Demona, before Demona turned evil and stuff. Later, Goliath and Eliza Maza, a human, which is more Beast and Beauty, but the brief moments in the episode "Mirror, Mirror, when both had been the same species (both ways, even) showed the trope prove true. And then Broadway with Angela.
The size difference between Oberon and Titania is less extreme, but noticeable enough to count as well.
Common in the DCAU partially due to the art style which tends towards slim women and heavily-built men
The Amazing World Of Gumball has Gumball's parents; Richard (a big, fat pink rabbit) and Nicole (a significantly smaller blue cat). Nicole isn't particularly short, but next to her husband (who's bigger than the whole rest of the family put together), she definitely looks it.
Sari and Bumblebee are a platonic example due to the mental ages involved. Lugnut and Strika are an aversion (although their relationship is only mentioned in secondary material) as they're both massive.
Rita and Runt from Animaniacs are a non-romantic example.
Beth and Brady. She also had a crush on Harold, who's about twice her height.
In the not-quite-romantic vein, there's Action Man with Alex Mann and Fidget Wilson. Fidget's canonical height was 4'11", all the better for Alex Mann to pick up and carry around.
Also from Transformers Prime, we have Optimus Prime and Arcee. Arcee, while still large compared to humans, barely makes it up to Optimus's hips.
The bulky (actually a robot) Octus/Newton and his girlfriend Kimmy in Sym-Bionic Titan.
In one episode of Recess, Mikey and Spinelli become a platonic example when they're paired up for a dance recital.
Real Life
The males of most mammal species average larger than females, but some species have a particularly large size differential.
Fossils of Australopithecus afarensis reveal this trope to be Older than Dirt, as the males were nearly 50% taller than their female counterparts, such as "Lucy."
Hayden Panettiere and Wladimir Klitschko; she's roughly 5'1" (if that - she's somewhere between 5'2" and 5' ¼", depending on what source you believe) and he's 6'6", which makes for a height difference of about 17 inches... though really, with her height this trope could apply to all her boyfriends (exes Stephen Coletti, Milo Ventimiglia and Scotty McKnight all tower over her at 6', 5' 10" and 5' 11" respectively).
She actually sort of quoted this trope when on Live With Regis And Kelly - she told Mr. Philbin and Miss Ripa that when they met their initial conversation went thusly:
Practically mandatory in pairs figure skating, due to all the acrobatic lifts and throws required. The greatest disparity on record was a Russian pair where the man was over a foot taller and the girl hadn't yet reached puberty (when she did, the partnership ended).
Amy Poehler (5'2") and husband Will Arnett (6'2").
Former basketball player Shaq and his girlfriend Nicole.
Queen Victoria (4'11") and Prince Albert (about 6'0"), and which one of the two was the ruler of the largest empire on Earth and the other was a minor aristocrat who married up?
Older one: Betty White and Allen Ludden-probably mostly because although he was sort of tall, White looks to be only a couple of inches over 5 feet when she isn't wearing heels.
