10 of the Cutest Anime Babies

Few, if any, can deny that baby creatures of most species are simply darling to look at. Babies in anime are no different! Whether they’re written to be like real-life babies or are an entirely different species that mimics human offspring, we simply can’t take our eyes off of them.

A few criteria before we begin: Although the term “baby” can refer to either a newborn or a child up to four years old, I will be excluding toddlers from this list for the sake of consistency. Also, for a character to qualify for this list, they must have made their first appearance as a baby, so baby Renge from Non Non Biyori won’t make an appearance here. Lastly, I will only be looking at human or humanoid babies, so no baby animals such as puppies or kittens, as those deserve their own list.

10. Azusa Ogino (Cuticle Detective Inaba)

Zexcs

Let’s kick things off with Azusa Ogino, who might look like your run-of-the-mill baby, but is actually a comically talented whiz kid. As the daughter of Inspector Kuniharu Ogino, Azusa has shocked our heroes with incredible feats of strength and daredevilry, such as building a log cabin entirely from the ground up and taming various wild animals. She may not have played a significant role in the show, but one thing is certain: It’s going to take more than a leash to tame this wild child.

9. Boh (Spirited Away)

Studio Ghibli

A germophobic baby? It’s more likely than you’d think!

All joking aside, Boh didn’t give a great first impression when he first appeared in Spirited Away; when our heroine, Chihiro, first meets him in his luxurious bedroom, he tries to force her to play with him by squeezing her arm. This first bit of bad blood is short-lived, though, as Boh develops a friendship with Chihiro and accompanies her on her journey after being transformed into a mouse. He even sticks up for her during her final confrontation with his mother Yubaba.

8. Hime Kondou (WWW.Working!!)

A-1 Pictures

Moving on to one of the babies who inspired this list! Daughter to the no-nonsense waitress Kisaki Kondou, Hime is brought to the restaurant every day so that her mom can keep tabs on her. She’s also spoiled rotten at home by her grandmother, but how can you blame her? Who wouldn’t want to pamper a doe-eyed darling in a pink onesie and curly pigtails? There’s not much else to say about Hime, other than that I hope she doesn’t take after her mother too much …

7. Ivan Whisky (Cyborg 009)

Toei Company/Nippon Sunrise

Alright, now we’re getting into the super-babies!

Ivan Whisky has perhaps the most eyebrow-raising backstory of any character on this list. After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, Ivan’s father began a long and dreadful process of experimenting on the infant against his mother’s wishes. This lead to young Ivan developing a laundry list of psychic abilities, not least of which include telekinesis, levitation, and force field projection.

Whether babysitting Ivan Whisky would be a nightmare or a breeze with all of his ESP abilities is up to speculation, but one thing is for certain: he’s so cute, we’d step up to the plate either way!

6. Pepe (Shugo Chara!)

Satelight

When one thinks of babies in anime, Pepe from Shugo Chara! might not be the first character one thinks of, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t amazingly darling in her own way! A Guardian Spirit birthed by Yaya Yuiki’s deep desire to become a baby again, Pepe is always a delight to watch on screen. She always ends her sentences with “-dechu,” and is even capable of making a snarky comment once in a while. Overall, Yaya had best show Pepe how much she means to her, because she’s one of the best Guardian Spirits in the show!

5. Ruu (Daa! Daa! Daa!)

J.C.Staff

Who knew that extraterrestrials needed diaper changes too?

After he crash-landed on Earth after leaving the planet Otto, Ruu was taken in by Miyu Kozuki and Kanata Saionji, a pair of teenagers with no parental supervision of their own. Like Ivan Whisky, Ruu possesses some remarkable telekinetic abilities, which often get his caregivers into trouble. Despite this, Ruu loves Miyu and Kanata dearly, referring to them as “mama” and “papa” frequently.

4. Hugtan (HUG! Pretty Cure)

Toei Animation

Hugtan—the mascot of the HUG! Pretty Cure series—is aptly named, because the first thing you want to do when you lay eyes on this cutie-patootie is give her a big old hug~! I mean, who doesn’t just fall in love with those short, blonde curls, those huge pink eyes, and those chubby cheeks? She may not be the most powerful entity in the series, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have her uses; her sensitivity to the Tomorrow Power has saved her friends on more than one occasion.

3. Beelzebub IV (Beelzebub)

Pierrot Plus

Those who aren’t crazy about babies in real life may liken them to hellspawn, but in this case, that description couldn’t be any closer to the truth!

As one might expect, Beelzebub IV (or simply Beel, for short) is the son of a high-ranking demon lord who was sent to Earth with the goal of destroying humanity. Fortunately for us, the highly impressionable Baby Beel instead chose to become the adoptive son of local delinquent Tatsumi Oga. Like a couple of the babies before him on this list, Beel’s hellish powers often lead to shenanigans for Tatsumi and his cohorts, but at the end of the day, the two of them are as thick as thieves.

Now if only Tatsumi can put some clothes on this child …

2. Midori Sawatari (School Babysitters)

Brain’s Base

Let’s be honest with ourselves—virtually any of the little ones from School Babysitters could have made it onto this list. But of course, Midori was the only logical choice since she is, by and large, a literal baby. Midori is the daughter of an archeologist and the school’s secretary, so she is in the care of the Babysitting Club a lot. Although she doesn’t have much of a personality (yet), Midori is still as cute as all the other toddlers in the play room.

1. Mao (Chibi Devi!)

SynergySP

At last, we arrive at the baby who was truly the inspiration for this whole list!

Like Beelzebub IV, Mao-chan is a devil baby who was taken into the care of 14-year-old Honoka Sawada. But, unlike Baby Beel, Mao has no interest in wiping out all of humanity, laying waste to the cities of man, or taking over the world. All he really wants is to live out his days on Earth, eating all the pancakes he wants with his dearest Mama at his side. Mao is a friendly little tyke who cares deeply for his friends, but his love for Honoka, even during his very first appearance, is enough to melt even the stoniest of hearts. If you ever get the chance to watch Chibi Devi! in its entirety, you really ought to.