Fanime 2013 hosted a panel called Loli vs Lolita. It was mostly an informational session that described the key characteristics of lolis and lolitas, the histories behind them, and a listing of their subgenres.
Although the panel was scheduled to be an hour long, the presenter went through her slides in about a quarter of that time. I was surprised to find out that the attendees were able to sustain a Q/A session for the remainder of the session. To be fair, a majority of the questions and discussion revolved around the perceived social stigma associated with lolicons, which was admittedly a hot topic.
I went into the panel with a different set of expectations. In my mind, I was hoping that the panelist would describe in detail how a hypothetical battle between lolis and lolitas would unfold. I mean, that sounds way more amazing than an informational overview. Violence is awesome, right? Right.
Let's set some things straight: lolis are little girls and lolitas1 are girls that are wearing fancy dresses. The things the former have going for them are youth and mobility: they can run around all day without breaking a sweat. However, they're pretty weak, and I'm sure nearly all lolitas can beat them down in a fist fight.
On the other hand, lolitas can theoretically outrun lolis, but they are restricted by their clothing. I mean, it might be possible to run quickly in a fancy dress, but I'm imagining that they'd want to look good beating their opponents. In style. Oh, and they might have umbrellas, which are potentially useful weapons.
Given equal numbers of lolis and lolitas and a completely flat terrain, it's difficult to see who would win. On one hand, I can see the lolis dividing and conquering, systematically swarming one lolita at a time. On the other hand, the lolitas would surely group up to avoid that situation. In that case, the fight could turn into a game of tag where the lolis would eventually exhaust themselves and get beaten soundly by lolitas. Maybe, it's still hard to say.
Now if the terrain were not flat, as in nearly any outdoor location, I suspect the lolis would have the upper hand. They can make a better use of the environment: they can run away, climb to higher locations, throw rocks, and so on. As for the lolitas, a more varied terrain would screw up what little mobility they have. After all, lolita shoes don't exactly provide an advantage in this scenario.
However, things would be different if the girls were given weapons. With those, the battle now depends on how good they are with what they're given, and the outcome could vary wildly.
But if they were given magic, then all bets are off. With suspension of disbelief in play, anything can happen.
1. Yes, it's possible to have a loli lolita, but to be unambiguous I'm going to exclude them from this thought experiment.
