Kawaii is anime's cutest side: from the hamster-sized sweat droplets when someone is stressed, to the iridescent blushing when someone is embarrassed. Its ultimate embodiment is the chibi, a style that took what was already an adorable art form, shrank it to its most diminutive and gave it glistening saucer eyes for good measure.
Cute moments and chibi characters can appear in any series, but their natural home is kawaii anime, where the dominant adjectives are "soft" and "huggable" and the most common expression is "awww!" These stories are like hot cocoa on a winter's day, the perfect pick-me-up to put a warm feeling in someone's belly and a smile on their face. For anime fans looking for an easy, heartwarming watch, these shows are the way to go.
Updated May 1, 2022 by Patrick Armstrong:When someone is exhausted after a long or difficult day, kawaii anime can be just the pick-me-up they need: a genre that's cute, welcoming, and doesn't demand too much of its audience.
These shows want you comfortable, after all. While many of them are perfect for kids, adults can find just as much to enjoy in them, from the heartwarming stories to the silly hijinks to the characters that make viewers smile just by looking at them. Thankfully, the anime industry is more than ready to meet the demand for these cutesy, feel-good shows, with more and more of them arriving every here.
14 Anohana
When someone thinks of kawaii anime, death and ghosts are usually what come to mind. Anohana is about a group of friends trying to cope with the loss of their friend Menma, only for Menma to come back as a spirit that only one of them can see. Nothing about the formula sounds like it should work, but it does spectacularly.
Anohana invites the audience in at any level, never letting the potentially dark subject overwhelm the show's good vibes. It's a show of big feelings and liable to make many viewers cry, but Anohana is still one of the cutest and most engaging anime out there, from its excellent character designs and animation to its storytelling, even if its characters don't always make the best decisions.
13 The Helpful Fox Senko-san
800-year-old celestial fox messenger Senko-san meets exhausted, exploited salaryman Nakano. Cooking, cleaning, napping, snacking, and friendship ensues. Some kawaii anime only include a few truly cutesy elements, but The Helpful Fox Senko-san seems bent on having all of them.
The music, story, secondary characters, and plot all deserve credit for creating a truly kawaii environment, but the overwhelming winner of the "Cutest Thing In This Show" Award is Senko-san herself. This little fox girl is engineered to be the most wholesome, soothing, wonderful presence imaginable. Indeed, the entire premise of the show is that having a friendship with a magical creature like that would make life better, and it does, even for viewers.
12 Teasing Master Takagi-san
Teasing Master Takagi-san (aka Skill Teaser Takagi-san) is about Nishikata, a middle-schooler who keeps getting teased by his classmate Takagi-san. Nishikata makes it his mission to successfully tease Takagi-san, which thankfully instead of becoming a show about bullying becomes a show about awkward, adolescent love and friendship.
There are many bad anime with great characters, but these excellent characters have the good fortune to be in a show which is itself excellent. Teasing Master Takagi-san is well-balanced with good comedy and characters who are cute without needing over-the-top hairstyles or glistening eyes the size of planets to be charming.
11 Daily Lives Of High School Boys
Daily Lives of High School Boys is a slice-of-life situation comedy about exactly what its title says. The characters are all fun, but it's the direction, editing, music, and art direction that really elevate the series above others. The series is well-conceived and well-executed from top to bottom.
Tadakuni, Hidenori, and Yoshitake are a great cast. Their adventures are the down-to-earth variety, but that plays to the show's strengths. Daily Lives of High School Boys is best when it is capitalizing on some small quirk of its protagonists, throwing a mundane challenge like a stolen wallet or bad outfit at them and seeing how they respond. This series is a different kind of kawaii, but no less cute because of that.
10 New Game
New Game is about game development, at least on the surface. However, viewers expecting an in-depth analysis of 3D character modeling or level design won't find it here, because New Game is focused on other things. At heart, it's a slice-of-life anime in which the growth of and relationships between its characters will always take precedence above the actual game they're developing together.
This show shoots a machinegun volley of adorable situations and funny jokes at the viewer, and most of them hit the bullseye. For those interested in something that is video game-related but doesn't bog down its premise with minutia, New Game is perfect.
9 Tsurezure Children
What's more kawaii than awkward teens? Awkward teens in love. Tsurezure Children is an omnibus series about fledgling relationships in high school. Its characters don't fully understand their feelings and can't express them well, but are nonetheless determined to try. The biggest threat to these characters is their feelings, not weird villains like the ones seen in JoJo.
Between the omnibus format and short scenes, the series could easily have failed to cohere, but Tsurezure Children benefits from sound writing. For those that want romance and want it cute, this series doesn't disappoint. While its art style may not be unique, Tsurezure Children succeeds in capturing the stomachful of butterflies that is young, somewhat panicky, love.
8 K-On!
K-On! holds a special place in the hearts of many music anime fans. Of the many anime about a group of girls trying to make it in music, K-On! is one of the most famous. While it may not have the serious depth of others, it is without question one of the cutest and most fun.
Every member of the band has a distinct, fun personality that makes getting to know them feel like making friends. The polar opposite of a horror anime, it's light, it's funny, and returning episode after episode to see what's happening with the girls' music club doesn't often disappoint. K-On! isn't trying to revolutionize the genre, and it doesn't need to. It has all the charm of a teddy bear in a bowtie, and that's enough kawaii for anyone.
7 Hanamaru Kindergarten
If it isn't silly to make serious arguments about which show has the cutest characters, then there is a serious argument to be made for Hanamaru Kindergarten. Words like "adorable" and "endearing" simply fail to capture just how kawaii these characters are.
This cute show and its ridiculous premise double down on kawaii at every conceivable opportunity. Children trying to get their teacher to like them? Cute. One teacher trying to win the affections of another? Cute. Watching Anzu, Koume, and Hiiragi trot around in kawaii costumes while saying kawaii things may be enough to make some viewers give up the word "kawaii" altogether.
6 Himouto! Umaru-chan
High schooler Umaru Doma lives with her older brother Taihei, though perhaps instead of "lives with" one should say "inflicts herself upon." Umaru makes everything difficult for Taihei. To the outside world, Umaru appears proper and put together, but at home with Taihei, her true self emerges: a chibi nightmare interested only in lazing about and playing video games.
Himouto! Umaru-chan is guilty of recycling jokes, but for many viewers, the kawaii retains its sheen. Chibi Umaru appears engineered in a lab with the singular purpose of being kawaii, and kawaii she is. Whether her antics wear thin as the series progresses is a matter of personal taste but in Himouto! Umaru-chan the kawaii is nothing but relentless.
5 Cardcaptor Sakura
Magical girls cover quite the spectrum, from the wholesome superhero antics of Sailor Moon to the gutting emotional turmoil of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Cardcaptor Sakura occupies a crucial space on the magical girl spectrum, being the perfect entry point for those new to the genre, particularly children.
Sakura is responsible for unleashing the Clow Cards on the world, and now she must use her magical powers to get them back safely. Cardcaptor Sakura features all the frilly dresses and adorable mascots that a magical girl fan could ask for, but it ratchets up the kawaii to an unprecedented degree. It is a light-hearted, magical romp that shouldn't be missed.
4 Non Non Biyori
A slice-of-life kawaii anime focused on the lives of girls in a country town, Non Non Biyori is the antidote to a hard day. Too much homework? Non Non Biyori. Watched too much Attack on Titan and need an emotional pick-me-up? Non Non Biyori.
The series is one of the comfiest anime in existence, great for kids, and the heavy doses of kawaii are a huge reason. It relaxes viewers in ways they perhaps didn't even know they needed to be relaxed, and even its intro is fantastically charming. For those that want nothing less than an espresso shot of happy, Non Non Biyori is the drink of choice.
3 Pokemon
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Pikachu. That one name is the beginning, middle, and resounding conclusion to the argument for the international phenomenon Pokemon being amongst the best kawaii anime. Whether prancing through the grass, shivering in the cold, or smacking other Pokemon with thunderbolts, Pikachu is a relentless kawaii train.
If Pikachu is not enough, there are hundreds of other adorable Pokemon whose appearances, voices, and mannerisms are just as charming. If not even that is enough, there is the undeniable sweetest of the relationship between trainers and Pokemon, as Ash and others learn to live with and cherish their quirky companions.
2 Hanayamata
Cute Girls Doing Cute Things is a concept sometimes attacked in anime as being a superficial waste of time, but as Hanayamata demonstrates, the warm feelings that kawaii evoke are valuable in themselves. 14-year-old Naru Sekiya is only interested in fairytales until she meets transfer student Hana, and gains an appreciation for Yosakoi dancing. It doesn't have the strongest protagonist, but it has one of the most likable.
Unlike many kawaii anime, Hanayamata manages to tackle serious subjects without tanking, because it understands that a balance between the kawaii and the real can be struck through careful writing. Whereas many kawaii anime lose their charm when they steer into more difficult subject matter, Hanayamata only grows more engaging.
1 Nichijou - My Ordinary Life
What sugar is to cake, kawaii is to Nichijou - My Ordinary Life: an all but indispensable ingredient. Some call the series a slice-of-life, but it's really a slice-of-exaggeration. Smiles and shocked expressions have never been so wide. Shouts have never been so loud. Jump rope and arm wrestling have never been so entertaining.
A series of comedy sketches, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life fuses the hilarious and the kawaii into unforgettable moments, and the show's main flaw is that there isn't more of it. The word "masterpiece" is used too liberally with too little justification, but in the context of kawaii anime, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life is a masterpiece.