Pretty Freeloaders

"Now you don't need money when you look like that, do ya honey?"

—"Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet.

Pretty Freeloaders are a common Harem Genre archetype, and occasionally show up in other genres too: They are girls, who move in to the protagonist as Innocent Cohabitation, and just stay there, without actually doing anything, or paying for anything.

Related to Friends Rent Control, as the characters' ability to do this is frequently handwaved as one of the characters having a rich family, the main character won a giant house and commodities in a contest, etc., and the plot point is promptly forgotten for the rest of the series. If this behavior is tolerated or encouraged, it may be due to Favors for the Sexy.

Examples of Pretty Freeloaders include:

Anime and Manga

• Jun's living doll troupe in Rozen Maiden.
• Tenchi Muyo!'s treatment of the group as this versus a harem fluctuates depending on continuity. Ironically, Kiyone is the only character who is (consistently) embarrassed at being a literal Pretty Freeloader, as she's initially forced to mooch off the cast after being stranded on Earth with Mihoshi.
  • This was addressed a little in the Spin-Off manga. Mihoshi does give part of her paycheck to pay for rent and all the damage she causes. Of course, given that Mihoshi comes from one of the richest families in the known universe, she probably doesn't even notice her paycheck.
    • Note that a part of a GalPol officer paycheck is enough for Seina's family in GXP to afford a Big Fancy House. Even if Seina does the most extreme job in the Galaxy Police (as essentially glorified bait/bounty hunter combo and with his "luck", he has netted more pirates than anyone else), which translates in quite a large income, Yamadas move out before he starts doing this, and is still just a cadet.
  • In the OVA continuity, especially later on, when it moved from its original Rule of Funny-driven action comedy premise into more straightforward Space Opera setting, is was implied that all Earth!Masakis' financial problems, whether real or imaginary, are little more than Masquerade, as their family is actually much richer then Kuramitsu clan.
• The entire cast of Happy Lesson, who tend to annoy Chitose at the worst possible times, and were once kicked out of his house as a result. This makes the pseudo- Last-Minute Hookup plotline involving one of the teachers all the more unusual.
  • The freeloader part may be subverted, considering all the mothers are full-time teachers or a nurse. It's implied they pay the food bill, since they once ask how much Hazuki spends on eating.
• The various tenants of Narutakisou in Mahoraba, who interfere in the central romance incessantly.
• Anna from Shaman King, who takes advantage of her engagement to Yoh in order to do nothing that hasn't been paid for by someone else, usually Yoh or Manta. In the dubbed version of Trey (Horohoro)'s intro episode, she actually tells him "No freeloaders". In her defense, Anna seems to consider the Training from Hell menus she organizes for Yoh as well as making sure that he follows them as a good enough payment—and considering that Yoh does become stronger, she seems to be right.
• A sizable portion of the cast of Read or Die ends up living in Nenene's apartment by the end of the TV series. Any incidental earnings from their detective jobs is mostly squandered on their bibliophile habits.
• Makoto Sawatari in Kanon starts out as a Pretty Freeloader before becoming a Haremette. A little more justified in her case since she's a girl afflicted with Laser-Guided Amnesia and thatr's why Akiko took her in. Specially considering that she's not even human to begin with.
• In Elfen Lied, the two Diclonius girls are sort-of freeloading. However, their ability to rip humans apart like tissue paper when angry could make them a hell of an anti-burglar system. But more importantly, the guy in charge of the house has good reason to keep an eye on them.
  • A cynic could conjecture that there are precisely two reasons Kouta keeps his eyes on Nyu. Until... the 'unpleasantness'.
  • Nana is about 7 years old; hardly anybody can be termed a freeloader at that age. While she's bodily as mature as Mayu, the latter is also a school child.
• C.C. from Code Geass loves ordering pizza on Lelouch's dime so much, she's earned the Fan Nickname "Pizza Butt."
  • Not to mention she first actually met Lelouch due to the fact she walked into his house while he was gone, and decided to stay there, even going as far as to claim his bed as her own. OK, at least she helped taking care of a blind, handicapped girl.
  • To complicate this, Lelouch and Nunnally were in some sense freeloading off the Ashfords, who let them stay there. Surely Lelouch's gambling was not the only thing paying for all the food that he, Nunnally, and C.C. ate. (An audio drama suggests that Lord Ashford's motives for taking Lelouch and Nunnally in were not selfless.)
    • The Ashfords even hired a domestic to take care of Nunnally.
• Puni Puni Poemi has the titular character take this role after she "loses" her family.
• Aisha and Suzuka from Outlaw Star. Technically, they're not freeloading as Aisha takes menial jobs to pay her way and both usually end up working the same job as Gene (he's too afraid of Suzuka to actually charge her rent). They're more like unusual roomates.
  • And they do occupy useful positions in Grappler One/Outlaw Star's crew, so they definitely earn their keep.
• A Certain Magical Index: Index, and by the end of the first Story Arc Touma doesn't even remember why!
• Around halfway through the Noein anime Haruka takes advantage of her mom's Parental Obliviousness to let Karasu and the other Dragon Knights crash at her place. She tells her mom they are bird watchers.
• Tsuna from Katekyo Hitman Reborn has this problem. Reborn, Bianchi, I-Pin, and Lambo tended to be the more permanent moochers in his house (at least in the first half). However, Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Haru also fit this trope every now and then, at certain points in the story. (And even though Gokudera and Yamamoto are supposed to have the job of protecting Tsuna, Tsuna has shown numerous times that he doesn't actually need their protection all that much).
• The entire female cast of the Hentai manga Slut Girl.
  • On the other hand, Sayoko's scheme does pay off in the end, so it's not really fruitless mooching. And Satoru definitely gets his money worth in other departments.
• Not part of a harem, but Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop.
• In Dragon Ball Oolong kidnaps several young girls hoping they will take care of his house but they end up becoming this.
• In Seto no Hanayome, San, Maki, and Lunar all end up living in Nagasumi's house. In San's case it's justified, as she and Nagasumi are engaged, but Maki and Lunar just sort of moved in on their own.
• The eponymous Niea from NieA 7 is an alien girl who decides to live in Mayuko's closet, eating her food and generally being a nuisance with her boisterous attitude.
• In Bleach, any shinigami stationed for an extended period in the living world ends up freeloading off someone. The most notable is Rukia, who spends months at a time living in Ichigo's closet and later rooms temporarily with his sisters Yuzu and Karin. (Oddly, Renji is called a freeloader, even though he stays with Urahara, who makes him earn his keep with chores.) Meanwhile Rangiku and Hitsugaya stay with Orihime, and Ikkaku and Yumichika stay with Keigo. (Mostly because Keigo's sister Mizuho has a crush on Ikkaku. Or better said, she likes him because she has a thing for bald guys.)
• Nagasarete Airantou gender-inverts this, with The Hero Ikuto living under the same roof as the female lead Suzu. Neither of them, however, is willing to capitalize on the situation (even under the urging of Suzu's great-grandmother), seeing as Suzu is an Innocent Fanservice Girl that is very Oblivious to Love and Ikuto is a Celibate Hero.
• Austria does this to Germany in Axis Powers Hetalia, although it is justified seeing as Germany did force him to come under his rule.
  • Italy does this to Germany as well, during WWI
• Elsea from The World God Only Knows manages to move in with Keima and his mother... by telling the latter that she's the illegitimate daughter of her husband!
• Inverted in Air Gear, where the main character Itsuki/Ikki is the one freeloading from his childhood friends, the beautiful and quite badass Noyamano sisters. (With one of them being his Unlucky Childhood Friend Ringo though she may not be that unlucky now in the manga.) They make him "pay" via pretty much having him as their busboy.
• In another hentai manga called Maid Bride, the first chapters concern a girl who blackmails her next-door neighbor into letting her stay with him as a maid who does nothing by telling him she knows what he does at night alone.
• Inverted in Ranma ½, where the object of the Unwanted Harem's affections stays and eats at one of the girls' houses 24/7.
• Fruits Basket averts this: Tohru was offered to stay in exchange of doing all domestic chores. Maybe Shigure did it because he guessed Tohru wouldn't accept charity.
  • The other characters are often blamed for staying in the house without even helping for the chores, just because they are family members. So many will point that they ask too much from Tohru, even if chores are her rent.

Fan Works

• Gender Flipped in All You Need Is Love with Light, L, and Matsuda crashing at Naomi's place.

Live Action TV

• Al Bundy's entire family fits this role on Married... with Children. While the kids eventually get jobs when Al forces them to, they continue sponging off him by living at home well into their twenties. For her part, Peg lazes around the house, spending whatever money Al makes on useless junk while not lifting a finger to help out either by getting a job or cooking and cleaning.
  • A rare male example of the Pretty Freeloader is the neighbor Jefferson D'Arcy, Marcy's second husband, who also leeches off Marcy without getting a job, although he manages to earn his keep by serving as Marcy's trophy husband and de facto gigolo.
    • Of course, Jefferson's probably getting a nice fat pension from a former government job. That he absolutely did not have. Even when we saw him talking in code with a well-dressed, sunglasses-sporting friend. He's just not telling Marcy about it.

Music

• The Offspring's "Why Don't You Get a Job?" is either this or Unwanted Spouse.

Visual Novels

• Fate Stay Night. Although Taiga doesn't sleep at Shirou's house, she does spend a lot of time and take all her meals there, leading Shirou to think of her like this. Over the course of the three routes, the Emiya household sees a wide variety of temporary residents, a large amount of whom were never actually invited.
  • Even more so in Fate/Hollow Ataraxia.

Webcomics

• In the webcomic Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki, Norse gods Thor, Hermod, and Loki play this role (for certain values of "pretty," anyway) in Yuuki's home. Admittedly, Thor and Hermod are there to prepare Yuuki to be a valkyrie, but Loki hangs around just to spy on Yuuki and act like an all-around pervert. Later in the series, valkyries Otsana and Shebi force their way into a random Japanese guy's house while they search for Yuuki. They do this by alternately invoking Sacred Hospitality and sheer terror (which the gods also used). They make their freeloader status explicit here
• Ronin Galaxy: Taylor is taken onboard Cecil and Giancarlo’s ship, despite not having any discernable talents. Cecil also proclaims her “his maid” though she is never shown cleaning anything. Not to mention she almost got them both killed in the first chapter.
• Rumisiel and Vashiel are Misfile's male equivalents.
  • Vash, at least, is happy to do housework in thanks for room and board. Rumisiel...is not.
  • Vashiel also gets a job at Dr. Upton's clinic, handling appointment scheduling, since his tendency to get nosebleeds just from mentioning or hearing "breasts and vaginas and stuff" is a downright terminal condition. Seriously, the poor fellow would probably die if he accidentally walked into a Hooters.
• The squirrel girls from Sequential Art, who are useless at best and destructive at worst, having nearly got the main cast killed on two occasions.
• Dangerously Chloe starts with Teddy accidentally getting a contract for a succubus... luckily for him, Chloe is nice enough to let him live and try to use a loophole, but even then have to stick around and pretend she's going to seduce and kill him, so she gets to live in his house. At least, she can cook.
  • ...then Chloe's classmate on the run from angels and their school mistress joins the team, because she got nowhere else to stay in the Overworld. This one is a shameless mooch and loves pranks above all else, but at least is willing to help whenever there's a trouble, and is good at his "adventuring" thing - she had to hide from the angels after she infiltrated Heaven (just for fun)... repeatedly. And became a best friend of Teddy's little sister. No, wait, that's not a good thing.
  • Then his classmate Naomi ran into one of those angels (the ditziest one), mistook her for an "alien abductee" and voluntarily adopted as an "exchange student". Which generally improved the situation, because earlier her family got saddled with Gabrielle. If you have read Magick Chicks, you already know that Gabrielle is about as benign as a rabid scorpion (and only slightly more subtle about it), and if not, it's obvious from the second page with her - except for Naomi's parents, that is.

Real Life

• Miss Travel.