Unlucky Busty Girl

In a series where the main character has several girls he could end up with, he often chooses the one that does not follow Buxom Is Better, for whatever reason. It may be that the author is trying to send a message about beauty being worth more than looks, or maybe the author simply prefers smaller breasts. Whatever the cause, a possible Love Interest with a big bust is very likely to be left in the dust by a more flat-chested love rival.

In most cases, the bustier girl is just as interesting and developed as any of the other characters, but still loses out. In other cases, this is a World of Buxom and all the girls have nice chests; it's just that the chosen one is not the most developed up top. She might become a bit of a Woobie in the eyes of fandom, especially if the story gives her a sympathetic role and the Pettanko doubles as a Tsundere

Related, of course, to Unlucky Childhood Friend. Contrast Buxom Is Better. May carry Slut Shaming-like Unfortunate Implications of the "a love interest must be wholesome and chaste, and if she does not, she doesn't deserve the lead male" kind.

Examples of Unlucky Busty Girl include:

Anime and Manga

• Most of Rie Kugimiya's pettanko tsunderes tend to prevail over their bustier rivals due to First Girl Wins:
  • Toradora!: main character Ryuji ends up with Taiga, who is notably flatchested and very self-conscious about it. Ami, on the other hand, isn't quite so fortunate. Minori is somewhere in the middle.
  • Zero no Tsukaima: though still largely in the throes of Will They or Won't They?, Saito has expressed primary romantic interest in Louise over the more buxom Siesta, Tiffania, Henrietta, and Kirche, just to name the more pronounced ones. OTOH, Tabitha is flatchested and she also loses out.
  • Shakugan no Shana: Yuji chooses Shana over Yoshida.
  • Hayate the Combat Butler: Nagi completes the "Four Tsundere Wonders", but initially does not seem to have a busty rival: Maria is her surrogate Cool Big Sis so she doesn't count, and Ayumu (aka "Hamster Girl") has very average sized breasts and is most likely the Unlucky Childhood Friend.
    • Athena is Nagi's rival, since Nagi and Athena were originally the same character. It's also been said a few times in a non-romantic setting. Athena's combination of childhood friend and busty girl makes her a very likely candidate for this trope.
    • And then there's Hinagiku, who's flat-chestedness is made fun of more than Nagi's (partially due to being a couple years older). Hinagiku knows about Athena and Hayate's past relationship and feelings for one another and how Athena is quite busty. Only time will tell if Rie Kugimiya's streak will hold up with a non-Lolicon flat-chested girl and another busty rival. And it does - Hayate ends up choosing Nagi over the busty Athena and the small-chested Hinagiku.
  • Hidan no Aria: Aria's the main girl, while Shirayuki takes this trope, and actually combines it with the Unlucky Childhood Friend trope.
  • Averted in Fruits Basket: Kagura has a mid-sized chest, but Kyo is hilariously terrified of her and seems to prefer the modestly-endowed Tohru. She ends up as the Unlucky Childhood Friend.
• In Devil Hunter Yohko, protagonist Yohko Mano notes that despite being more buxom than most of the other characters, she has terrible luck with her love life — a fact that has ironically allowed her to be The Chosen One, since her superpowers are a Virgin Power.
  • After she gets her powers, the terrible luck with her love life stems from all the time she has to spend hunting devils instead of hooking up with guys. And the guys often get killed off anyway.
• In Midori no Hibi, Seiji ends up going out with Midori, who is much less endowed than Ayase or Lucy.
• Similarly, in Ai Kora (from the same author), Maeda goes with Sakurako rather than big-breasted Yukari (who's in love with him from the beginning even). What makes this trope apply even more is that he only paid attention to her in the first place was because of her boobs. She is more or less the poster child of this trope, the poor thing.
• Tina and Taeko in Ai Yori Aoshi lose to Aoi, who is by no means Pettanko, but simply a bit less busty than them.
• Depending on your point of view, Kallen Kozuki and Milly Ashford have shades of this towards Lelouch and Shirley Fenette (who also has a decent rack, just... not AS huge as either of them). Milly seems to realize it long before the end of the series, actively encouraging Shirley to pursue Lelouch. Kallen seems to come to terms with her feelings after she figures out Lelouch's plans. To say nothing of Shirley, at least the other two don't die.
  • In an Alternate Universe movie, Lelouch is revived... and gets together with C.C, who has large breasts and a massive ass
• Clannad (at least the anime version) has Nagisa triumph over Tomoya's other potential love interests: Kyou, Ryou, Tomoyo, and Kotomi, who are all "larger" than her. Doubled worse for Kotomi, because not only does the anime subvert Buxom Is Better for her but also First Girl Wins as well.
• Gantz has Reika, an extremely popular model, who falls for main character Kei Kurono too late; when she actually meets him, he's already going out with Tae, who is small by most standards.
• Toshiue no Hito: Morino is doubly unlucky. She'd always hated the attention her boobs garnered until she used them to catch a truly Nice Guy. They had already broken up (mostly due to his impotence at the er, critical moment), when along came the board-flat lolita-like Ageha; now Tsutomu has no trouble getting it up. Way to aggravate the body issues.
• Although it's not romantic, Soul rejects the busty Blair's offer to be her weapon and stays with Maka, whom he mocks for her lack of breasts.

Soul: It's not the size or the shape that matters.

• In Love Hina, Keitaro ends up with Naru, instead of the more endowed Mutsumi. Although Naru isn't precisely a Pettanko- she just isn't AS huge as Mutsumi is.
• Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai has Anaru, who pines away over Jintan, while the latter is obsessed with their Pettanko childhood friend, Menma. Of course, Jintan ends up confessing to Menma, even after Anaru confesses her own feelings to him. It ends up subverted in the end though, with Menma going to heaven, and things looking brighter for Anaru.
• Ranma ½: Shampoo and Kodachi both have significant breasts, but Ranma ultimately prefers Akane.
• It's pretty obvious Tsukune Aono of Rosario+Vampire is going to end up with Moka rather than Kurumu. Though again, Moka isn't flat-chested either.
• In Hekikai no AiON, Tatsuya preferred Seine over his more busty Unlucky Childhood Friend and the very developed mermaid.
• In Bleach, the two girls closest to Ichigo outside his family are the busty Orihime and the petite Rukia. In the end... the trope is smashed to bits: Orihime and Ichigo are Happily Married whereas Rukia has her own love interest, Renji. Then again, Ichigo and Rukia always loved one another *without* being in romantic love.
• Likewise, in Naruto the two girls who have a chance to get Naruto's affections are Hinata (a big-boobed Yamato Nadeshiko) and Sakura (a Hot-Blooded Pettanko). Naruto also averts this trope by realizing that Sakura only loves Sasuke and calling her out when she tries to give him a Love Confession to release him from his promise to bring Sasuke back. He later officially chooses Hinata in The Last movie, with Sakura's eager approval.
• Nanatsu no Taizai averts this: both Diane and Elizabeth like Meliodas, and BOTH are very busty. Meliodas and Elizabeth get together and overcome their Star-Crossed Lovers state, whereas Diane falls in love with King (all over again).
• Kimagure Orange Road has Kyousuke avert the trope with a vengeance since he loves the big-breasted Madoka over the still growing Hikaru.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba plays with it, as Tanjiro's eventual girlfriend Kanao seemed to be petite, but later in the story she's shown to be better stacked than believed.
• Chocolate and Tira Misu from Sorcerer Hunters are both busty, but Chocolate is just slightly bigger, landing her squarely in this trope in the manga version where Carrot chooses Tira. Averted in the TV anime, where no one hooks up and it's implied the sisters are okay sharing Carrot.
• The busty Makoto Kino never had a chance with Motoki in the first Sailor Moon anime, as he'd already given his heart to the not-small-but-not-huge-either Reika. She does get him in the live-action TV series, but is notably not as busty due to being portrayed by a flesh and blood actress rather than animated.

Fan Fiction

• In My Immortal, Ebony thinks she's this, but it's really Angst Dissonance. Although she flips between this and being jealous of her friend for having bigger "bobs" than her.
• Bleach fandom wanted Orihime to be this so badly, and their fan works were and still are not shy about saying so.

Film

• In the Adam Sandler comedy Big Daddy, there are three main young female characters. The two more tomboyish ones end up happily married to successful white-collar husbands, while the busty one gets stuck in a dead-end job alongside her blue-collar (and laughably elderly) boyfriend at a Hooter's restaurant.
• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby has the protagonist married to a stereotypical blonde, busty Southern bimbo named Carly. Later in the film Carly leaves Ricky for his former friend Cal, so Ricky begins a new relationship with his Pettanko (and Meganekko) assistant. The trope is subverted, however, when at the end of the movie the assistant undoes her blouse in Carly's presence — and Carly grudgingly admits: "You got game."

Video Games, Visual Novels

• Most BioWare games avert this, simply by using the same base torso model for all female characters, resulting in all possible Love Interests having equivalently-sized breasts.
• Not so in Dragon Age II, in which Isabela is intentionally the bustiest female model. She will bow out gracefully if the player romances her close friend Merrill, whose character model is the same as most of the thin, lithe elves.
• In Mass Effect 2, you can opt for Tali or Jack, two female love interests a little more under the bell curve in breast size, instead of the buxom Miranda.
• Many games that allow you to choose your lover, like H-games and Dating Sims, can have this option.
• Disturbingly done in some of the Bad Ends of School Days where Makoto ends up with Sekai instead of Kotonoha. Murder/suicide ensues.
  • Not really. Sekai isn't as massively stacked as Kotonoha, but she is quite big-chested. Now, if we're talking about Setsuna...
• While the game itself gives you a choice, in other official works Lloyd of Tales of Symphonia ends up with his childhood friend Colette rather than the busty ninja Sheena.
• Subverted in Final Fantasy VII: the first disc seemingly sets up Cloud with Aerith (though it's somewhat dependent on the player's actions), but then she dies, and Cloud ends up with Tifa.
• Fire Emblem games zigzag the trope around, as the male lord's love interests can either be medium-sized or busty depending on the game:
  • Chrom from Awakening has six playable brides: Maribelle seems to be average, Sully uses a Breast Plate so one doesn't know exactly how well-endowed she is or not, Sumia also uses a breast plate but an official artwork piece shows her without it and she has a medium-to-large rack, Olivia is quite big-breasted and awkward about it, and the Female Avatar's bust size depends on the character model that the player chooses through customization (one is flat, the other two have Boobs of Steel). The odd duck is the Unrequited Tragic Maiden, Cordelia, who's a Pettanko and VERY insecure about it.
  • Averted in Geneaology, where Lewyn can be paired with the modest-sized Erinys or the very busty Silvia depending on the player's choice. The Oosawa manga plays it straight, though, as Lewyn and Eriyns are the Official Couple and Silvia's feelings for Lewyn are played for drama.
  • Also averted in Gaiden/Echoes, where Faye is Alm's Unlucky Childhood Friend to Celica's victorious, but both girls are about average sized.
  • Notably, most of the games give the player multiple choices of varying bust sizes:
    • In Blazing Blade, the modest-to-small Ninian seems to be the Implied Love Interest for Eliwood, but he can marry the buxom Lyn with no consequences to the story. Hector can also marry Lyn or the average-sized, breastplate-wearing Florina or Farina.
    • In The Sacred Stones, Gerik's two possible lovers Tethys and Marisa are both quite gifted on the front, averting the trope no matter who he ends up with.
    • The Male Avatar from Awakening can marry almost all the women in the playable cast and can choose from large-breasted women (like Tharja, Noire, Panne, etc.) to flat-chested ones (like Nowi, Severa or Cordelia).
    • In Fates, the Male Corrin can marry any female character (plus one male), and all the ladies have an equal chance from the Pettankos like Hinoka and Nyx to the busty beauties like Camilla, Peri and Orochi. A Female Corrin averts it because she can marry one girl, Rhajat... who's a very large-breasted Reluctant Fanservice Girl.
    • A Male Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses has several female options as well, from modestly-chested girls (Lysithea, Annette, Sothis, Bernadetta, etc) to buxom beauties (Hilda, Marianne, Mercedes, Shamir, etc.). To a smaller degree, same goes to the male Lords Dimitri and Claude plus other guys in the cast.
    • As for a Female Byleth (who has quite the Boobs of Steel), she has some more female options than Female Corrin but they tend to be on the medium-to-large chest size spectrum.
    • Since both Alears from Fire Emblem: Engage can marry almost everyone in the playable cast, they can play this completely straight or avert it depending on the player's desires.