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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 Preteen Genius 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. In the case of ensemble casts, she might be included simply to round out the demographics of the show for younger viewers.
This means that a Token Loli can become a Cousin Oliver or The Scrappy without proper care. Note the trope term is unfortunately quite literal in certain series, where far from being a simple cute little kid, a character becomes actual Lolicon Fetish Fuel, her presence occasionally dividing the fandom for its Unfortunate Implications.
Examples
- 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?!"
- Possibly Rin from Inu Yasha, though she's not a regular cast member. Otherwise, Shippo might count as the very rare distaff counterpart, the Token Shouta.
- Divergence Eve has Kotoko-01, a support android that looks like a little girl for no appreciable reason.
- Ditto for the observational Realians and Kirschwassers in Xenosaga (with MOMO being the actual Token Loli since she's a regular castmember).
- 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.
- Sailor Moon had Chibiusa, and later, Hotaru. In one season, the Quirky Miniboss Squad was made up of lolis.
- Video game example: 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.
- 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.
- Final Fantasy IV even had three Token Lolis, the summoner Rydia and the mage twins Palom and Porom (one of them being a rare male example- Token Shota?). However, Rydia gets aged up by the plot and the twins have a Heroic Sacrifice... but they come back.
- Primula from SHUFFLE!
- 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.
- Michiru from AIR is a spirit, but still doesn't have her own route in the Visual Novel, probably for squick reasons.
- Bu-ling 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.
- 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.
- Sari in Transformers Animated, who hangs out with a group of giant robots and eventually had to move in with them.
- Mikan in Rental Magica
- Pia in Dragon Half.
- Yachiru and Ururu from Bleach.
- Molly in Runaways.
- Amy from Burst Angel.
- Carol in Wild Arms V.
-
Kaguya Anya Tianzi in Code Geass
- Sakura in Da Capo. She's really the same age as the main character, though.
- Ilya in Fate Stay Night. No, she doesn't get her own path, even though it is that kind of game, and she's revealed to be slightly older than Shiro. One Nonstandard Game Over has Ilya break the fourth wall and mention that HCGs of her were left on the cutting room floor, though it's unsure how true this is.
- 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
- Caro in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS. Kind of odd, as the rest of the series was 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.
- Sunny in Metal Gear Solid 4, who was rescued and taken in by the heroes after her mother died in the second game.
- Rimone in Simoun, who is also not exempt from performing the ritual to start the titular aircraft.
- Vandread's team nurse Paiway Underberg. Why an eleven-year-old works as a ship's nurse is completely ignored.
- Molly Walker in Heroes
- 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.
- 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.
- The Tales series seems to love these things a bit too much.
- Similarly, the Star Ocean games have one as well: Perisie in the first, Leon in the second, and Roger in the third.
- Kooh from Pangya. She's a ten-year-old captain of a pirate ship. No Really.
- May from GuiltyGear, also the (junior) captain of a pirate ship, with a crew comprised of almost all girls to boot.
- 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.
- Klan 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.
- 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.
- Gorillaz' Noodle. Oddly, she ages in real time, so she's currently 17. She just looks Loli.
- 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.
- 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.
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