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Basic Trope: A character is especially gorgeous when they smile.

  • Straight: Sakura doesn't smile much, but when she does it's amazingly cute.
  • Exaggerated: Sakura is very plain and never smiles, ever, except once, when she is the prettiest person in the cast.
  • Downplayed: Sakura is fairly busy with work she always considers important. When she's not busy, she tends to smile, and looks about on par with the rest of the more Fanservice type women in the work.
  • Justified:
    • Sakura is a Stoic who doesn't emote often, so when something profound happens such that even she can't help but smile, it feels all the more special to the viewers.
    • It's a Crapsack World where nobody smiles, least of all her.
    • The Fisher King trope applies, her smile literally makes the sun come out.
  • Inverted:
  • Subverted: Everyone spends an episode trying to get Sakura to smile, but when she does, it makes her look right out of the Uncanny Valley.
  • Double Subverted: ...But that was a fake smile because she was feeling incredibly self-conscious — when one of her friends tells her she shouldn't feel the need to change who she is to please other people because she's lovely just as she is, she breaks out in a genuine smile, and it's mind-blowingly sweet.
  • Parodied: Sakura is a Gonk and, when she smiles, metamorphoses into Ms. Fanservice.
  • Zig Zagged: As Sakura's smile grows, it goes from cute to creepy as hell...and then adjusts into perfection.
  • Averted: Nobody is especially more attractive when they smile.
  • Enforced: "We need a reason the Love Interest is attracted to her. How about a really cute smile?"
  • Lampshaded: "You really need to smile more."
  • Invoked: Sakura is pure evil, but knows that if she spends hours in front of a mirror teaching herself to smile in a way that looks heartfelt and genuine, men will scramble over each other to do her bidding.
  • Exploited: ???
  • Defied: "I'm not smiling." "But—" "No."
  • Discussed: "You know, I've never seen Sakura smile. Do you think she'd be cute when she did?"
  • Conversed: "Well sure, anyone could have a cute smile if the lighting changed, the world went into slow-mo and an uplifting ballad started playing out of nowhere..."
  • Deconstructed:
    • Sakura's Love Interest notices her smile and becomes smitten, eventually turning into a Love Martyr as he tries to make her smile again and gets dragged into her depression.
    • Sakura feels her smile is the only good thing about her, and transforms into a Stepford Smiler.
  • Reconstructed:
    • ...Sakura is touched / endeared by her lover's constant attempts to make her laugh and gives him a sincere smile. They learn to lighten up and not be addicted to smiles respectively, having a healthy and long loving life.
    • ...But then someone gets through that and sees her real smile, which is far better.
  • Played For Laughs: Sakura's smile leads to suitors popping up whenever she unleashes it, even if she's entirely alone. They leave when she stops and never come back.
  • Played For Drama: Sakura is a Broken Defrosting Ice Queen who tries to appear distant, gloomy and unattractive so people don't try and get close to her. When she smiles, it's a sign that she's letting that go of that and warming up to her Love Interest...

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