Two-foot geezers aside, body proportion in fiction can venture to the realm of the odd. One situation where this is obvious is with any post-pubescent person who is unusually short. For example, a dwarf has different proportions to people of average height but will still be identifiable as being a certain age.
However, perhaps due to the nature of cute designs, most artists will simply draw the character physically as a child. This also allows for any humor related to that, rather than specifically related to height.
See also Really 700 Years Old and Older Than They Look. Can often be Truth in Television.
Not related to literal dwarves. Well... not necessarily.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime and Manga
- Komoe-sensei, Touma's homeroom teacher in A Certain Magical Index. Characters have expressed curiosity about her diminutive stature but no answer has been forthcoming.
- Despite being 18 years old, Hagu in Honey and Clover is inexplicably drawn as if she was a little kid for reasons never explained or brought up by the characters.
- Alice in Kiniro Mosaic is probably not particularly short among the large amount of short girls in yonkoma, but she's a pure English. In one strip Shinobu played this trope for laughs by comparing Alice to a doll. Alice was suitably freaked out.
- Yutaka of Lucky Star was assumed by some of her classmates to be this, for being a 1.38m tall nice sweet girl. She however doesn't appear to like this kind of view as she knows Not Growing Up Sucks.
- The wizard Clef in Magic Knight Rayearth. But point that out at your peril.
- Likely the cause of Honey-senpai's shota appeal in Ouran High School Host Club. It is revealed in an extra one-shot that Kyouya had been giving him vitamins in order to stunt his growth, as they already had a "Dumb blond character" (Tamaki) and didn't need another one. Once he stopped getting the vitamins he grew 32 centimeters in two months. It's a dream Haruhi had, but still.
- Ymir from Queen's Blade is a literal dwarf who appears as a little girl.
- Washuu in Tenchi Muyo! is sometimes confused for a child, although certain features of her body stay adult-sized. (Then again, she's chosen that body shape, and can assume a normal adult-sized form at will.)
- Yugi Mutou of Yu-Gi-Oh! is sixteen years old and five feet tall. In the manga he's mistaken for a grade-schooler at least once, and teased by an actual grade-schooler for not looking his age.
Comic Books
- One issue of The Muppet Show Comic Book features what appears to be a baby abandoned on the doorstep of Muppet Theater, who spends the issue performing highly un-baby-like stunts. He turns out to be "Babyface Magee: Midget Acrobat", the act that supposedly failed to show. His refusal to speak up until the reveal was because he'd been clobbered earlier and hadn't got all his marbles sorted out.
Fan Works
- In The Night Unfurls, halflings like Luu-Luu are depicted as "adorable, tiny petting zoo people" who are strong enough to wield weapons larger or longer than their sizes would suggest.
Literature
- In the Myth Adventures novels, mature members of the race of Cupys resemble adorable little human toddlers. In Little Myth Marker, Markie (aka "the Ax") regularly uses this resemblance in a Batman Gambit to infiltrate the social circles of her targets for character assassination.
Video Games
- Female Dwarves in Dragon Age tend to be adorable, such as fan favorites Dagna and Scout Harding.
- In Fallout 2, Stuart Little, the boss of New Reno's boxing ring, wears children's clothes and is described by the in-game narration as looking cute, "like a smelly, red-haired teddy bear."
- In the MMORPG Lineage 2, the female dwarf models tend to look like short, cute 12-year-old girls, as opposed to males sporting the typical grizzled, bearded short and stout look.
- The historical druid Asphodel in Rift (who actually was a dwarf) was mistaken for a little girl at least once. Which can probably be attributed partly to her being a Genki Girl, partly to the fact that Rift dwarf chicks are compact, big-eyed, and ridiculously adorable.
Webcomics
- The eponymous character of Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name is 5'3", looks 14, and is 24. (See here.)
He occasionally is drawn to look like a short, skinny adult, which is what he is, and Eating the Eye Candy in the comments section ensues. He does have sideburns and broad shoulders, but he also has big, round eyes, as seen panel 2 here, often looks far too adorable to be an adult, and often wears clothing too large for him.
- Slick from Sinfest. Nobody actually knows how old he is, but one thing is for certain: He's really, really short.
