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During the development phase, it was said that "Caster turns into a loli with hyper power", but we only need one loli!
The Token Loli is an aged-twelve-and-under ( at least in appearance) female character in an anime cast that is otherwise made up of adults, or at least teenagers. Her presence is often hand-waved in some manner to explain why someone that looks twelve is hanging out with a group of people old enough to be her parents: a younger sibling, Phlebotinum genetics , inherited a Plot Coupon like everybody else, a Child Prodigy who got her position early on the basis thereof, etc. Maybe she just has lots of free time. Again, note that the Token Loli doesn't have to actually be underage. She may be Really Seven Hundred Years Old, or a Robot Girl, or some other variant of the Magical Girlfriend, as long as she's still loli in appearance.
The Token Loli shows up in darn near every series, to the point that if she's not there at the start, it's more a matter of waiting until she does show up than a matter of if. Her purpose is to appeal to one of two warring fandoms. Those with a Big Brother Complex find the Token Loli endearing and feel an emotional response of wanting to protect her from the evil Lolicons. Lolicons... well, yeah.
This might be highlighted by having a Dirty Old Man or Covert Pervert around to lampshade the Token Loli. Or maybe the token loli is sexually precocious and curious (usually an innocent curiosity) about This And That. Perhaps she's only interested in kissing, or doesn't really understand what love and marriage are about. More often it's done more subtly. For example in a harem show have the little girl of the group be jealous of all the attention the older girls are getting and insist on getting her own date. Of course most people see this as cute innocence, but it can appeal to a Periphery Demographic.
This means that a Token Loli can become a Cousin Oliver or The Scrappy without proper care. Little girls who aren't treated in this Fanservice style should be put in Tag Along Kid. See also Cute Shotaro Boy. Sometimes mixed with Little Miss Snarker, although those little girls are intellectually precocious.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Maburaho almost made it to the end of the show without a token loli (there's one in the manga), but she shows up in the last half-minute of the last episode.
- Sasami, from Tenchi Muyo.
- In Magical Project S, the villain team (known variously as the Lovely Madams, Team Sexy Mrs, or Hitozuma-tai [Married Woman Squad]) has one member, Chisato or Mrs. Roku (literally "Mrs. Sixth", as the sixth member recruited), who is somewhere between kindergarten and junior high - in any case, definitely in Loli territory. She is the only unmarried member of the villain team, although she has an arranged marriage. One of the soldiers confronting the villains was heard to exclaim "She's supposed to be a wife?!"
- Divergence Eve has Kotoko-01, a support android that looks like a little girl for no appreciable reason.
- Martian Successor Nadesico has one of anime's most beloved Deadpan Snarker characters as its Token Loli, Ruri Hoshino.
- Onegai Teacher has Ichigo Morino, although the fact she actually looks like one and is probably a draw to someone is only pointed out in the second season.
- Love Hina had two: Shinobu and Kaolla. Interestingly, Sara is usually not considered one because of her personality, despite being younger than both.
- Similarly expanded, like much was, in one of the creator's next series, Mahou Sensei Negima, where there were at least five (one of whom doubles as the Old Master just for giggles).
- To further abuse this, the Age Changing Pills used to let Negi and Kotaro become 15 year old hunks for the girls to properly drool over (as opposed to) also is used to do the reverse to the schoolgirls. Chisame (Chiu) seems to perfer the cute 10 year old form to being herself.
- And it's not limited to the heroes: A group of bounty hunters have a Token Loli of their own, but she's quite difficult to spot if you don't know what to look for.
- Oddly enough, while there are about half a dozen loli-like characters in the series, only Anya is young enough to actually be a loli, and she's not properly introduced until about 170 chapters in. All the others are Older Than They Look.
- Sailor Moon had Chibiusa, and, to a lesser extent, Hotaru. In one season, the Quirky Miniboss Squad was made up of lolis.
- Merrill in Rune Soldier Louie is not actually appreciably younger than the other females in the cast. But she is shorter, less developed, and acts younger, making her the Token Loli. She also qualifies as a Shorttank.
- Seira from Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch takes this to its logical extreme: the second arc is dedicated to helping her be born. Even though this means she should be a baby at the end of the series, she looks and acts like a kid both as a Spirit Advisor and when she is finally born.
- Pudding from Tokyo Mew Mew, beginning the series at eight, is the only elementary school student in a team of twelve-to-fifteen-year-old girls. The PlayStation game added Ringo, of about the same age.
- Mikan in Rental Magica
- Pia in Dragon Half.
- Yachiru and Ururu from Bleach.
- Also Nel. At least initially...
- Nanao Ise used to be the Token Loli of the 8th Squad, having been there since she was a child.
- Amongst the Zanpakutou Spirits in the recent filler arc: Momo Hinamori's Zanpakutou Tobiume is the only loli amongst the spirits.
- Someone hasn't seen Suzumebachi yet, have they?
- Amy from Burst Angel.
- Tianzi in Code Geass
- Caro in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS. Kind of odd, as the first two seasons were full of lolis.
- Anita in Read or Dream and R.O.D the TV.
- Sendou Yukari in Rosario To Vampire, of the kid genius type.
- Rimone in Simoun, who is also not exempt from performing the kissing ritual to start the titular aircraft.
- Although she does it in a subdued way that fits her age.
- Vandread's team nurse Paiway Underberg. Why an eleven-year-old works as a ship's nurse is completely ignored.
- Chika from Digimon Savers
- Chika from Ai Yori Aoshi. She's had more exposure (If You Know What I Mean) to the male lead than any other character, who is thankfully disinterested and thus is played for comedy. She's still nonetheless very popular despite having the fewest appearances...
- Kusano from Sekirei
- Tiki from Geneshaft
- Hani from Ouran High School Host Club is a male example. He is actually senior to most of the club, including his tall, silent friend Mori. Loves cakes and cute things, kicks some serious ass if provoked; dives fully into this persona in order to attract the (apparently) innocent affections of schoolgirls.
- It seems like the mangaka of Chrono Crusade was trying to appeal to pretty much any demographic he could, so of course the show has a Token Loli in Azmaria. A joke in one of the Omakes actually shows what Chrono would have been like if he'd been one of these, as well.
- Athena from Cosplay Complex, who seems to function mostly as a device to let lolicon Jenny have massive nosebleeds over her.
- Sora from Doujin Work.
- Chiyo-chan from Azumanga Daioh is a Preteen Genius who starts 10th grade at 10 years old while all her classmates are 15 or 16.
- Really more of a parodic deconstruction — the series is all too quick to point out the problems with such a small girl in a much older group, and then plays it up for laughs.
- Klan Klein from Macross Frontier. Actually she's a Metrandi, so in her normal form is anything but little — But a quirk in her miclonization process means when she shrinks down to human size, she looks like a little girl.
- Hinako Ninomiya from Ranma 1/2 should be in her twenties at least, but a severe illness when she was four (and an unorthodox "treatment" from Happosai) has slowed her aging to the point where she has the body of a ten year-old girl. She can only regain her (extremely buxom) adult form by absorbing the Battle Aura of people and animals, but it goes away after a while.
- Liechtenstein from Axis Powers Hetalia.
- Kyon's Sister in Haruhi Suzumiya.
- Murasaki in Kure-nai is a seven year old girl who is being body-guarded by the title character.
- Tsugumi in the first season of Jigoku Shoujo, and Kikuri thereafter. Enma Ai is bigger than loli, but not by much.
- Minawa in Mahoromatic is borderline.
- Asami in Mezzo DSA. Being specialists in danger, the DSA don't actually encourage her to hang around, but they can't shake her.
- Becky from Pani Poni Dash is both the show's main character and Token Loli.
- Yutaka in Lucky Star. She's 15, but her extreme case of Older Than They Look and her Cheerful Child demeanor would cause views to accept she's more or less like a loli.
- Ar from Iono The Fanatics, who also happens to be one of Iono's bodyguards.
- Grenadier has Mikan.
- Gundam ZZ had Elpeo Puru, whose name was even a play on words based on the Lolicon magazine Lemon People.
- Lola and Laila from Venus Versus Virus.
- Ai from ARIA, who very typically was introduced in the anime before the manga.
- Yuki from Saki, despite being the same age as the main characters, around 15 or 16.
- Not to be outdone, Koromo is a year older than Yuki and out-lollis her.
- Kokoro from School Days is Katsura Kotonoha's younger sister that hangs out with Kotonoha and Makoto, and is the only person in the show under a certain age.
- Misaki from Welcome to the NHK, despite being around high school age, is much younger than the other characters in the show, who are all in their early/mid twenties.
- Despite the ill suited nickname, there are only two, three later on, lolis in Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni. Rika, and Satoko, both who are approximately nine, while everyone else is fifteen and up.
- Asuna is the token loli of Ala Rubra as seen in the numerous flashbacks in Mahou Sensei Negima.
- Shizuku from Omamori Himari-the only Loli in the Unwanted Harem. There are two others, but neither is actually a major character as of yet.
- To Love Ru has Rito's little sister Mikan. Disturbingly enough, she is used for Fan Service as much as any of the other girls, and seems to subsist on nothing but popsicles.
- Then Lala's younger twin sisters, Nana and Momo, appeared. One's a Tsundere and the other is a tease who constantly gets close to Rito and sneaks into his bed at night.
- Somedays Dreamers has Runa, who for some unexplained reason like to hang out in the salsa club owned by Yume's magic instructor.
- Lirio from El Cazador De La Bruja, who is also a cute mute.
- Tomoka in Girls Bravo.
- Mei Sunohara in Clannad, who is actually Genre Savvy enough to use this to her advantage.
- Yukari and Kokoa in Rosario To Vampire.
- Asami-chan from Mahoraba.
- Lampshaded endlessly in Seitokai No Ichizon with Kurimu.
- Kamen No Maid Guy has Liz.
Video Games
- The observational Realians and Kirschwassers in Xenosaga, which like Divergence Eve, are androids that look like little girls (with MOMO being the actual Token Loli since she's a regular castmember).
- Eiko from Final Fantasy IX. Even younger than the usual Token Loli age, but maybe that's to make up for the chibi style making everyone look like they're kids.
- Iris from Sakura Taisen.
- Not to mention Coquelicot in the third and fourth games and Rikaritta in the fifth.
- Primula from SHUFFLE!
- Michiru from AIR is a spirit, but still doesn't have her own route in the Visual Novel, probably for squick reasons.
- Pearl Fey in the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney saga.
- Of course, there's Mint from Galaxy Angel, who is supposed to be a teen but looks younger than ten. She does have her own route in the game, but it's not that kind of game.
- Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro Na, with a route for the Really Seven Hundred Years Old alien Wreathlit and the "she's fourteen, and not your blood sister, honest!" Mai, is that kind of game.
- Carol in Wild ARMs 5.
- Sakura in Da Capo. She's really the same age as the main character, though.
- Ilya in Fate Stay Night. She doesn't get her own path even though it is that kind of game, (it was cut out before the game was released, though some of its backstory was eventually adapted into Fate Zero) and she's revealed to be slightly older than Shiro. One Tiger Dojo has Ilya mention that (horrible bad end HCGs where she rapes Shiro were also left on the cutting room floor.
- Len, from "Tsukihime." Unlike Ilya though, Len does get her own HCGs. If Shiki and Akiha is considered incest than Shiro and Ilya would be incest AND lolicon; maybe that's why she doesn't get her own path. (Before anyone ask Ilya is the biological daughter of Shiro's foster father
- Sunny in Metal Gear Solid 4, who was rescued and taken in by the heroes after her mother died in the second game.
- Momo from Project Justice. She's well aware of her size and uses it to get under the skin of her Huge Schoolgirl classmate Natsu for the affections of Shoma.
- Mei from CLANNAD. She's even Genre Savvy enough to mercilessly play with her role.
- The Tales series seems to love these things a bit too much. It seems like whenever there isn't one of these, it's a Cute Shotaro Boy instead.
- Similarly, the Star Ocean games (except the second, which substitutes a Cute Shotaro Boy) have one as well: Perisie in the first, and Peppita in the third.
- Kooh from Pangya. She's a ten-year-old captain of a pirate ship.
- May from GuiltyGear, also the (junior) captain of a pirate ship, with a crew comprised of almost all girls to boot.
- Chrono Cross is most blatant about Marcy, but one can safely include Mel and Leah. And if you include non-humans, Pip, Neo Fio, Draggy, and Starky.
- Maria in the Castlevania series. For some reason, her chibi version has appeared far more often than the grown-up incarnation in Symphony of the Night.
- Carrie from the N64 Castlevania/Legacy of Darkness games.
- Mii in Popotan.
- Relm in Final Fantasy VI.
- In Luminous Arc (for DS), we've got Mel, the precocious little Witch girl (she's a Water-elemental character). NPC versions are Alice and Therese... I think.
- In Luminous Arc 2 (also for DS), there's Pop (full name: Potpourri), who fills in for Mel. She's a bratty Nature-elemental Witch, who has a love of crab. Her twin brother, Pip (a.k.a. Phillip) joins the party earlier, as the Token Shota (with an unexplained, totally out of place British accent). Remember Alice and Therese from the first game? They join your party in this one, and they make adorable comments (such as "You're gonna be a pie!" or "You're going to be toast with butter!").
- Tiny Kong in her Donkey Kong 64 appearance (She Is All Grown Up in later games, rendering her name somewhat meaningless).
- This despite the fact that her older sister, Dixie Kong, remains the same size.
- Nana the Ice Climber in the Super Smash Bros series, who teams up with an identical Cute Shotaro Boy.
- Suzushiro in the Ero-game Princess Waltz is the same age as the main character, but her height and build let her fill out this position, so to speak.
- Misha in Ar Tonelico. At least at first. Cocona fills this role in the second game.
- Saki from The Oneechanbara series. She's the little sister implicit in the title (it roughly translates to "The Big Sister Swordsman"). She's 16, but — like some real-life Asian teens — has a more childlike appearance. She's also the first of the series' Big Bads, before pulling a Heel Face Turn.
- Maiko is the Token Loli Social Link in Persona 3. Ken is the Token Shota party member. Persona 4 has Nanako Dojima.
- The Witch mercenary in Atlantica Online.
- Luste Teuber and Schwer-Muta Casasola Merkle in Rosenkreuzstilette. The entire game has a not very subtle Moe undercurrent to it anyway, but these two are the most obvious loli characters. Luste wears very little and worries about even less. Schwer-Muta wears a full-body catsuit and does double duty as the resident Creepy Child.
- Various Original Generation characters from the Super Robot Wars series. Classic timeline has Presia Zenosakis and Mio Sasuga. Alpha timeline has Irui Guneden. While Compact 2 is lacking of loli, the Impact add Einst Alfimi. Original Generation timeline has Princess Shine Hausen, Latooni Subota and Shoko Azuma; its spin-off Endless Frontier also has Kyon Feulion. A stand-alone titles W has Mihiro Ardygun and R has Tiz and Despinis (no Laria is not). Most of them can be consider as Little Miss Badass, for they're pilots of Humongous Mecha.
- 12-year-old shocktrooper Aisha in Valkyria Chronicles. Her profile implies that she's the youngest person ever to enlist, although she did so voluntarily.
- Sailor outfit-sporting Sherry Birkin in, of all things, Resident Evil.
- Carlie in Seiken Densetsu 3, though she's Older Than She Looks due to being a Half Human Hybrid.
- Mercedes from Odin Sphere.
- Aruruw in Utawarerumono. One of only three girls not to be sexualized in the game, and also one of only two who doesn't love the lead. Romantically, anyway. Yeah.
- Dear lord, Ernula from Wartech: Senko Ronde. She acts in an exaggerated, hyper-moe "childish" manner, her mecha actually has bunnies painted on it, and her costumes are split between Moe appeal and full-out Lolicon Fetish Fuel.
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