Badass Adorable / Anime & Manga

Anime in general is a medium especially prone to this trope, what with its cutesy visual style, tendency to portray violence and/or peril, and in turn, tendency to combine them.

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• Niko from Accel World, an insanely cute little kid who loves videogames and making cookies, who turns out to be the Red King's successor, is really Hot-Blooded, sarcastic, manipulative, and border line psychotic, who has control over a giant battle fortress that she wears as armor, making her capable of taking out entire armies of burst linkers without moving a single inch. And God forbid if you mess with anyone in her legion...
• It's quite hard to remember that Akira from Ai Ore! Love Me! is a badass when he's so small and cute Even the Guys Want Him.
• Class 3-E in Assassination Classroom being composed of young teenagers, most of them are cute to varying degrees, and become powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with their Class A bullies and professional assassins alike. Standout examples include:
  • Nagisa Shiota, an adorable boy who, despite looking like a girl and having a very kind nature, hides an exceptional natural talent for assassination that friend and foe alike take note of.
  • Kaede Kayano; small, as adorable as her friend Nagisa, and just as capable, not to mention able to withstand and hide the grueling pain that unmanaged tentacles cause in human users for a full year, just to get a chance to kill Koro-sensei. Even without those, she remains very strong and very adorable.
  • Autonomous Intelligence Fixed Artillery, or Ritsu for short, is just as her name implies, a killing machine with lots of guns and an ability to adapt quickly to her enemies' behavior and patterns. She also has the mind, personality and face of an adorable teenage girl.
• Astro Boy: The titular Astro is an adorable Robot Kid who has a variety of weapons at his disposal and can kick serious ass.
• Most of the protagonists of Attack on Titan. It's a given, they're Child Soldiers after all. Krista and Sasha are stand-outs, and Armin is a male version.
• Yamamaya, the cute little iriomote cat from Azumanga Daioh. He reappears.
  • Sakaki! Some of the amazing stuff she pulls off would not be out of place in any action series.
• As a timid, doe-eyed All-Loving Hero, Baccano!'s Jacuzzi is about as Moe as you can possibly make a man without without turning him into Shotabait. He's also prone to crazy feats of badassery like taking out eighteen mafia-owned speakeasies in a single night or going one-on-one with a crazy, flamethrower-wielding cult leader.
• Mizuki Himeji from Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts. She is one of the cutest and most kindhearted characters of the main cast. However, she's also very intelligent despite being pigeonholed into Class F AND very competent. TO demostrate this, the first episode involves her regenerating her summoner avatar by taking a shitload of tests and then immediately rushing to save Yuuji Sakamoto when he got cornered by Class E and wiped the entire class E out.
• Sen Yarizui, aka the Ice Witch, from Ben-To is easily one of the best fighters in the series.
• Berserk:
  • The Child. It's largely speculated that the once misshapen fetus that was Guts and Casca's tainted child caused by Griffith's very heinous act during the Eclipse has been reborn into the very cute and silent little boy that Casca found on the beach. And if the implications are correct, the little boy is still doing what he was doing when he was not-so-cute: warding off evil spirits that try to harm Casca. But the true badass part comes when Guts is overpowered by the Beast, who constantly tries to goad him into killing Casca and all of his friends so he can get back to hunting Griffith. But whenever the Child is nearby, the Beast is always thwarted when the the boy manifests as a body of light within Guts' psyche and brings him back to the light by reminding him of his love for Casca.
  • Guts was pretty cute as a Child Soldier himself, and he could hold his own ground on the battlefield.
• Black Bullet has cursed children, who are Always Female and are born with Gastrea virus in their blood where they can manipulate the virus to grant themselves superhuman powers. Most of them are 10 years old at the oldest. Some of these cursed children serve as Initiators in Civil Securities and are capable of kicking ass and are extremely cute at the same time. Examples include Enju Aiahra, Tina Sprout, Kayo Senju, and even Kohina Hiruko.
• Black Butler:
  • Ciel. Like a regular chess master he uses this to his advantage. He could get away with murder with a face like that. And he does. Repeatedly.
  • Finny looks sweet and innocent, even when tearing trees up by their roots and hurling hunks of stone.
  • Also Mey-Rin. A Meganekko who can snipe you from miles away when her glasses come off
  • As of Chapter 57, it seems Elizabeth is one, too. She desperately wanted for her fiancé Ciel to not see her "uncute" side, so she deliberately hid her badass side. Right up until when Ciel despite his best efforts ends up injured and unable to save her in danger himself, then Elizabeth leaps into the air and takes down the zombies with swords in both hands while tearfully declaring that she'll protect him. She fights, still in her adorable dress with a cute but deadly expression across her face.
• Sweet lord, Kuro from Black God. Short, sweet, and adorable as hell, Kuro can tank more damage than most adults, which is especially notable given that she can tank and dole out more damage than many of the other characters in the series a significant portion of whom are superpowered beings unto themselves. Given her Dark and Troubled Past, you just wanna hug her that much more.
• Hansel and Gretel from Black Lagoon manage to fulfill the almost impossible task of mixing Badass Adorable with Creepy Twins and Ax-Crazy. They use their cuteness to throw people off guard before attacking.
• The casts of Black★Rock Shooter are so adorable in a way that Elegant Gothic Lolita are darkly adorable, but with added badassery. Especially the eponymous character, who has Stoic Woobie charm on her.
• Anti Anti Christ Rin from Blue Exorcist qualifies, if the Fangirls are to be believed. Just check a chat or image discussion on him. The word "cute" shows up 9 times out of 10 I swear.
  • Elaboration: Rin likes cooking, animals, his friends, is Book Dumb, kindhearted if rough and very cute due to his No Social Skills and Brutal Honesty. He's also the only person aside from Satan aka "dear old dad" possessed of the Blue Flames, has Super-Strength, an amazing Healing Factor and quite possibly could be the strongest being in the world once he gets enough experience and control. Beware the Nice Ones definitely applies to him. He also falls under The Woobie what with all his issues from his heritage and foster father's death.
  • Moriyama Shiemi also qualifies after she Took a Level in Badass, going from Shrinking Violet Damsel in Distress to Determinator Combat Medic. And she's as awkwardly adorable as Rin above, with some Cute Clumsy Girl thrown in for flavouring. And how Badass is she? Fully capable of giving you a Curb-Stomp Battle, that's how.
  • Kamiki Izumo also counts, for those who prefer Tsundere characters. She summons cute foxes to fight for her, who can summon smaller, even cuter fox kits who are also quite tough. Not to mention gets adorably flustered when people (especially Rin) are nice to her and secretly likes cute things. Her Dark and Troubled Past that has been revealed recently has sent her into The Woobie territory as well.
  • Miwa Konekomaru is another guy for Blue Exorcist. Short, nerdy, loves cats and is probably the smartest of the group, to the point he's shaping up to be The Strategist. Not to mention managed to give a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to everyone in his class, something they all seriously needed.
• Bleach:
  • Nel Tu in her adult form. She takes down an opponent stronger than Grimmjow, or at least had him one strike from death before her power gave out and she reverted to her child form.
  • Rukia. Short, flat-chested and skinny, with big eyes, loves bunnies, can't draw but insists on doing so anyway, has a Dark and Troubled Past, and kicks ass. Well, most of the time.
  • When Orihime's fighting the hollow that hurt Tatsuki, when she stops and injures Ginjou when he tries to attack Ichigo while he's being healed, and when she stands with Ichigo, Ishida and Sado to fight some hollows.
  • Ururu Tsumugiya, a cute young girl who assists Urahara. She appears meek, but can pack a super-power punch. Ururu is short, shy, clumsy at times, and sad-eyed... and can kick an Arrancar's ass with ease. And that's before she pulls out the rocket launcher.
  • Mashiro, a Genius Ditz who dresses up as a Kamen Rider fangirl and can kick just as much as the original does. She literally does kick ass, "RIDER KICK!"
  • Yachiru is small, cute, gives nicknames to everyone, and rides around on the shoulder of everyone's favourite badass, "Kenny." She's also the lieutenant of the combat based squad 11 for good reason, and the only reason she never gets to show off is because she likes letting Kenpachi enjoy his fights. In fact, it's been hinted that she's actually stronger than him. Also, she has pink hair.
  • Yuushirou deeply admires Yoruichi. He expressed great sadness when Yoruichi went ahead of him in his first appearance, and later expressed great joy when he reunited with her. He abandons the group of Soul Reapers he's with to rush to her side and is willing to fight the Sternritter just for insulting her.
• Amongst other examples in Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense., we have Mai and Yui, twin girls who wield giant hammers with profound efficiency, but the star of the show, Maple, winds up captivating the hearts of many with her innocent smile, even after it's shown that she can effectively dissolve every enemy player in a hundred-meter radius.
• Kyouka Izumi from Bungou Stray Dogs dresses like a Yamato Nadeshiko and looks like a cute teenage girl who wouldn't hurt a fly. Her Ability? A terrifying Guardian Entity called Demon Snow that dual-wields katanas. Her own skills with a tantou are also rather recommendable.
  • Atsushi himself can also be counted as an example of this. He's an orphan down to his luck who starts out just looking for food and a place to stay. Then he transforms into a tiger the size of a car.
• Two examples from Cardcaptor Sakura: Sakura Kinomoto, especially after she becomes master of the Clow Cards, effectively making her the most powerful being on the planet, while still remaining a blissfully naive Cheerful Child of the highest order and Meiling, for more human reasons and from a different angle. On the male side, we have Syaoran, whose attempts to come off as a stoic, no-nonsense swordsman and magical warrior are foiled by the fact he's an adorable little boy who's prone to going bright-red whenever given a compliment or affection.
• Packy & Botasky of Cat Shit One. These are bunnies... that are in the special forces, and they do kick ass and take names.
• Cells at Work!: The Platelets are adorable child-like cells who are still quite capable of amazing feats when doing their jobs of repairing damage to blood vessels and other bodily structures.
• Chrono Crusade:
  • Chrono appears to be a sweet, polite 12-year-old boy. He's actually a decades-old demon with enough power to level a city if he wants to.
  • Rosette too. A 16-year-old Hot-Blooded Plucky Girl who won't stop until she finds her brother. Despite what life she has yet.
• Saeba Ryo, the Lovable Sex Maniac Manchild hero of City Hunter. Akira Kamiya is sure good at playing sensitive and kind hearted badasses, isn't he?
• Riful from Claymore looks like a 13 year old girl. But in fact she is one of the most powerful Awakened Beings there is.
• Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! has the titular Defense Club themselves, a group of 5 cute (if snarky) high school-aged Pretty Boys who all have their endearing moments, but they are still competent Magical Boys who when the chips are down, they are capable of showing their true power and pack a punch. Special mention goes to Yumoto, The Baby of the Bunch who loves cuddling Wombat, but also can purify the Monster of the Week and can take them on alone without losing most of the time.
• Deadman Wonderland:
  • Shiro is all happy giggles and singing... Then something pisses her off and she dropkicks giant robots and blows up buildings. Worst of all, she'll eat all your snacks.
  • Ganta is a little fourteen year old boy with big grey eyes and is just really damn adorable◊ — and to top it off, he's a huge woobie, especially in the first episode. Now watch what happens when the Red Man is mentioned.
• From Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, there are Tama, Pochi and Arisa: Tama and Pochi are two cute 10-year-old demihumans (cat and dog, respectively) who love to play with their friends, have Big Brother Worship for Satou and can easily overpower grown men thanks to their training, while Arisa is an 11-year-old Fallen Princess who also has Psychic Powers and has no problem in using them to defend herself or her friends.
• Death Note:
  • L. He's a Badass Bookworm and the greatest detective in the Death Note world. He also has a large amount of fangirls who all agree that he's rather adorable, and he has bizarre child-like mannerisms.
  • Also, Near. More maternal members of the audience may want to hug him even as he manipulates everyone around him.
  • Light Yagami himself has his moments of badass adorable, especially when he's younger. In some of the artwork, he looks like a Disney character while contemplating murder. Special mention, however, goes to the time when he loses his memory and reverts to his original good personality; some of those scenes portray him as absolutely huggable.
  • Teru Mikami deserves mention, as a child. Going up against vicious bullies despite getting beaten up again and again, all in the defense of a fellow classmate? Badass.
• Delicious in Dungeon has Laios, a dorky, Ditzy Genius Magic Knight who is also one of the best and most skilled adventurers on the Island.
  • There's also his sister, Falin, who is just as endearing as Laios as well as being a hugely powerful cleric.
• Allen from D.Gray-Man: exceedingly adorable. But, since he's a Shōnen protagonist, he's also made of badass. Anyone who can shout the name of his Innocence (Crown Clown) without looking like a total idiot automatically qualifies.
• Mile from Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life? is a 12-year-old girl who looks less than ten, who can fight evenly with some Elder Dragons.
• By Gainax, there's Nono in DieBuster. Arguably, the cutest robot you'll ever meet, is in fact the seventh Buster Machine and a Person of Mass Destruction capable of controlling the Buster Corps, slicing one of Saturn's moons in half and kicking the shit out of an Eldritch Abomination the size of a planet. And all of this while being ditzy and having Nia's voice.
• Digimon Adventure has Gatomon, who is a little cat Mon... who happens to be able to take down six Champion/Adult Digimon without breaking a sweat. Technically, she was a Champion level too... but she still qualifies.
  • On the human side of things, Koshiro "Izzy" Izumi. What else could you call a cute, introverted nerd who hacks into the mainframe of an entire alternate world...three times?
  • Digimon Tamers: MarineAngemon. When its Tamer, Kenta, met it, he dismissed it because he thought it looked too small and cute to be a Mega-Level Digimon (which were usually fierce, powerful warriors brought in for the final arc of most Digimon series), but many episodes later, MarineAngemon's heart-based powers, which were only used a few times, could heal injuries, repel evil Digimon with the power of their inherent positivity, and form defensive barriers.
• Divine Bells has Ha-Hyeon by virtue of her childish appearance and potent powers.
• Arale from Doctor Slump looks like a cute little girl, but is virtually indestructible due to being an android.
• Dog Days has many examples: Cinque, Rebecca, Nanami, Millhiore... but the best one would probably be Leaf since he took on Leo in a one-on-one fight and nearly won (he was literally one hit away from winning).
• In The Doraemons Special series, all of the robot cats can count. Especially Wangdora and Dora-the-Kid.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Any of the kid characters, particularly Goku, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, and Pan. All of them are innocent and cute looking. They also all kick major butt and the latter four could blow up cities when they were in kindergarten.
  • Chi-Chi as a child is this entirely by accident: cute as a button, but once chopped off a dinosaur's head and then recoiled in horror so hard she blew the head up with a laser beam.
  • Videl qualifies as a teenager. She's a good-looking girl who fights crime by being capable of taking out normal humans with little effort, even being able to take down people bigger and more muscular than she is. She also surpasses her father Mr. Satan in strength. She would later become an Empowered Badass Normal thanks to Gohan give her Ki training that enables her to learn how to fly.
  • Majin Buu (aka Fat Buu aka Mr. Buu). He may look like a harmless, adult-sized child but he's incredibly strong, capable of blowing up entire planets and absorbing foes to take on their skills and strength.
  • Uub, an unassuming, sweet-looking kid who also happens to be reincarnation of the pure evil version of Buu (without the evil, that is).
  • Sure, Beerus of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods doesn't ''look'' cute, but God of Destruction aside, he's still a cat! Not only does he look like one (specifically a Cornish Rex),◊ but he's also fairly playful and dorky as well, though he is prone to violent mood-swings at the drop of a hat.
  • Grand Zen'o in Dragon Ball Super. He is the size of a child and looks and acts just as adorable. He also has the power to destroy entire universes if he feels the need to.
• Durarara!!:
  • Celty, a Sinister Scythe-wielding Headless Horseman of a Badass Biker... who wears adorable pink pajamas, likes to talk online, and is afraid of space aliens. Her helmet also has kitty-cat ears on it!
  • Also, Mikado, the shy, gentle Ordinary High-School Student who's new to the city. He also has managed to more or less weaponize Anonymous by being the leader of a massive organized gang called the Dollars that he directs via cellphone texts and chatrooms.
  • Anri is a competent sword wielder (of Saika, nonetheless) and has proven to hold her own in trouble.
• Eiyuu No Musume To Shite Umarekawatta Eiyuu Wa Futatabi Eiyuu O Mezasu^{Translated title}The Hero Who was Reborn as the Daughter of Heroes Aims to Become a Hero Again might as well be called “Badass Adorable: The Series”. Main character Nicole takes on a bunch of kobolds, almost completely unarmed, at age three, in an attempt to rescue some kids who went off into the woods. She completely fails and has to be rescued by her parents, but it’s the first indication that she still has the heroic potential from her past life. (Said past life having been killed while trying to save an orphanage from a rampaging demon.^note Ironically, everyone who knew him in his previous life viewed him as a Butt-Monkey at best.) By the time she’s five, she’s skilled with a sword, and has the ability to amplify the magical strength of others, and by the time she’s seven she’s able to kill wild boars armed with just a short sword, as well as incapacitate human traffickers with just her sword and a length of string. She can also shrug off her foes’ sword slashes despite her alleged weak constitution. Her best friend Michelle is even more this trope, despite lacking any Heroic Lineage or past life as a hero. Her power is Improbable Aiming Skills, as demonstrated as a 5-year-old when she hits a target (though not the bullseye) from 100 meters away her very first time using a bow. Then two years later, she utterly destroys an armored foe that had been stonewalling Nicole, albeit thanks to divine intervention. Keep in mind that Nicole has the knowledge and experience from her past life, while Michelle does not.
• Elfen Lied:
  • Mariko. She pulls off both terrifying and adorable.
  • And Lucy? Her Nyu persona is the epitome of cuteness but she can also be adorable herself, for a murderous Yandere.
• Fairy Tail:
  • Mavis, the first Guild Master of Fairy Tail, who manages to be kind, cute, mysterious and hilarious at the same time, and badass enough to master and cast one of the most powerful protection spells in the Fairy Tail universe, Fairy Sphere, from beyond the grave. On top of that she created and can probably cast Fairy Glitter and Fairy Law. Mavis only proves herself more of a Badass when she provides Team Fairy Tail with a strategy so she could lead them to victory, and she developed said strategy by memorizing and analyzing their opponents the entire Grand Magic Tournament. According to Makarov, her nickname was "Fairy Tactician Mavis" because she was able to compile many victories through strategizing. Damn.
  • There is also the young Sky Dragon Slayer, Wendy. In her introductory arc, she's nothing more than The Medic on an allied team of three other guilds' aces, but by the time the Grand Magic Games come around, she has grown into a certified Combat Medic capable of standing side by side with any of her nakama. She recently achieved Dragon Force while fighting one of the demons from the Book of Zeref by eating Anti-Magic particles surrounding a magical doomsday device.
  • Even Happy proves he can be just as badass as his stronger guildmates when pressed enough, as shown when he defiantly yells at Nichiya and Nadie during the Edolas arc.
    Happy: WE'RE FAIRY TAIL WIZARDS, WE DON'T WORK FOR YOOOOOOUUUUU!!!
• Tabitha from The Familiar of Zero. She is a powerful wind mage, can be adorably Moe, and is very much a Woobie.
• Saber in the Fate route of Fate/stay night after she falls in love with Shirou. For example, her formerly unabashed stance on him seeing her naked turns into her embarrassedly asking him not to look, as she feels ashamed by her overly developed muscles.
• Denzel from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Case in point — "Son of a bitch!!!"
• Moogle Kupo in Final Fantasy: Unlimited.
  • Poor cute Kumo may be adorable, but he kicks so much ass that he can break into the Comodeen's Elaborate Underground Base using only a twig he picked up from outside and his breath of Mist.
• Veronica from Franken Fran. Created by Professor Madaraki to serve as a bodyguard, she has heightened senses, has tons of weapons and battle knowledge, and is very strong and agile. She's also an adorable preteen-looking girl with a fear of ghosts and and endearing behavior.
• Fruits Basket:
  • Yuki Sohma. Incredibly Bishōnen, polite and a real sweetheart, turns into an adorable rat when hugged by the opposite sex, and he's also capable of beating the crap out of his cousin Kyou whenever they have one of their duels.
  • Kagura Sohma. She's adorable and is incredibly capable of beating the crap out of Kyou. Check it out here.
  • Kyou himself qualifies, especially early in the series before all the boys have a rather impressive growth spurt. Troubled, but Cute, turns into a cute cat when hugged by the opposite sex... and despite being the family punching bag, Kyou is a formidable martial artist in his own right, and has done enough damage to Shigure's house to prove it. His first entrance consists of smashing his way down through a roof to challenge Yuki to a fight.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • May Chang, complete with pink dress, adorable pet panda, and prodigy level alkahestry skills.
  • Alphonse is a Cheerful Child in a body made for a Knight in Shining Armor.
  • Major Alex Armstrong! The childish sincerity of this big teddy-bear really makes you wanna give him a big hug. Unless you're Ed, in which case you're getting glomped and begging him to "Stop rubbing your chest on me!"
• Full Metal Panic!:
  • Tessa. She's freaking made of moe, but she's managed to outwit and pwn GAURON, of all people!
  • Sousuke, in his Bonta-kun mecha; it combines Sousuke's natural badassery with a mascot's adorable, non-threatening appearance, making for a deceptively useful suit of Powered Armor. Even the suit itself, having been upgraded and mass-produced by Sousuke, is good enough on its own to turn wimpy street thugs into competent soldiers.
  • Kaname. Though it's mostly Played for Laughs, she often keeps Sousuke in line with hearty punches and paper fans. On the more serious side of things, she also happens to be a Whispered...
• Future Diary:
  • Yuno Gasai. Beautiful, adorably Moe, extremely in love with Yukiteru, is incredibly skilled in combat, knows her way around a knife, and is a terrifying psychopath.
  • Also, Yukiteru, who starts off as an Action Survivor and Cowardly Lion who prefers not to be in a Battle Royale deathmatch, but still managed to take out another owner before anyone else, putting him in the running for Deus's prime choice as a winner. He also kills 6th and 4th, and takes out 9th's eye with a dart. And that was before taking a level in badass.
  • Akise Aru. Much like Yukiteru he's very cute. He's also undeniably badass. There's no doubt about his badass status when in chapter 51 despite having just been stabbed by Yuno and sliced across the throat, Akise Aru gets back up out of sheer determination and texts an important message to Yukiteru even though Yuno ends up cutting off his head completely. Badass to the end.
• The Garden of Sinners:
  • Shiki Ryougi. Mixed with a healthy amount of Fanservice, as expected of Nasu, whenever she gets all dere-dere toward Mikiya, she's extremely huggable and borders on Moe. That's, of course, when she isn't slicing up ghosts, zombies, magicians and stuff.
  • Also in the same series, we have Azaka Kokuto, Mikiya's younger sister who can set things on fire and kick giant flower demon thing on the head, and finally overpower aforementioned Shiki. She does that while being extremely Moe.
• Sweet, bubbly Hajime Ichinose of Gatchaman Crowds has proven herself to be a competent heroine. Holding off Sugane, and convincing MESS to stop their attacks and free the humans was just the start.
• Ginji from Get Backers is extremely nice to everyone, and steadfastly believes in giving people second chances. Pretty much all the 'good' guys/girls in the series like him (or at least don't dislike him), and he has a huge number of devotees who think the world of him. But heaven help you if you manage to awaken the guy's Superpowered Evil Side...
  • Natsumi in the anime. Anyone who's been unfortunate enough to believe that they can beat her at ping-pong will surely agree.
• Tachikomas in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. It's pretty impressive to make a spider tank adorable.
• Kagura of Gintama. Her quirky, childish tendencies are all so endearing, but she can hold her own against an entire army if need be.
• Girls und Panzer
  • Most of the combatants qualify for the "adorable" part to one extent or another, and it could be said that simply participating in Tankery is indicative of some level of badassery. But if that's not enough...
  • RABBIT TEAM. A group of adorable first-years in a Tankery club otherwise populated by second-years and third-years. Their badassery is mitigated a bit near the beginning when they abandon their tank in the exhibition match against St. Gloriana's, but they take a level or two over the rest of the series.
• High Elf Archer from Goblin Slayer is not particularly impressive in close combat, but she is an excellent archer who has killed many goblins. You can't tell that she's such a good fighter because she looks like an inconspicuous girl, albeit like a particularly pretty elf.
• Asirpa of Golden Kamuy is a ten or eleven-ish girl who has taken on the man-eating bears of Hokkaido with only her bow and arrows. She's also an expert survivalist.
• Gon from the manga of same name, not the character already listed above.
• Gunslinger Girl. As noted In-Universe, the First Generation cyborg girls are of an age when kids are most adorable. Henrietta and Angelica in particular are subject to Cuteness Proximity. Of course that's the point, as they are black ops assassins who are meant to get their targets' guard down.
• Masamunya from◊The Gothic World of Nyanpire. While he's still a Samurai, it's hard to take him seriously when he looks so adorable! He also has a crush on Nyanpire, and even fantasizes about marrying him in one episode.
• Kanako of Happy Kanako’s Killer Life looks like a nice young woman, but she turns out to be a natural at assassinations, to the point where she unwittingly becomes a legend in the underworld.
• Haruka Nogizaka's Secret: Haruka Nogizaka rarely shows the badass part of the trope but the first time Ayase Yuto saw her doing it was enough to make him understand he must never make her angry. And that's because her anger was directed at a boy trying to take her from him.
  • Also "eighth-ranking maid" Alice Rein. Quiet, shy, looks looks a grade schooler — yet threaten Haruke (or Yuto) and out comes the spiked bat of great pain, Excalibolg.
• Seras Victoria from Hellsing. She's very much a Moe Woobie, but swings around a massive BFG, and after she drinks Bernadotte's blood she becomes the second strongest vampire. Her absolutely epic Curb Stomping of Zorin Blitz, shortly after Zorin Mind Raped and mutilated her, and killed Bernadotte deserves mention.
• Hungary from Hetalia: Axis Powers. Ex-Cute Bruiser Bokukko. Gentle meido and Parental Substitute to North Italy. Diehard Yaoi Fangirl. VERY capable and fearless Violently Protective Girlfriend.
  • Strips!Finland and Anime!China also count.
  • America had Super-Strength even when he was a kid, though he seems to use it more for throwing buffalo/dragging vehicles around/ripping windows off their sills than beating people up. Still badass and adorable.
  • The young Italy once took down Turkey. It was a onetime thing but it proved he can be badass when he wants to be.
  • Russia is pretty badass and scary and has tons of fangirls in Real Life that think he's the most adorable thing ever.
• From High School D×D, we have Koneko Toujou. She's cute as a kitten (makes sense, given that she's a nekoshou), considered Kuoh Academy's mascot — and can kick your ass without a sweat.
• Higurashi: When They Cry:
  • Rena◊. She's the Cute Mascot and can be either downright scary in more ways than one, or a very smart ally.
  • Shion also counts. She's adorable for a seventeen year old, and can be pretty awesome(and scary). Rika also counts when she becomes a Determinator.
  • The adorable Woobie-riffic Satoko. While she may not seem badass at first there's no denying the awesomeness in her finally calling her abusive uncle out and yelling at him to "GET OUT!" despite being beaten while doing so. And in Meakashi-hen, she absolutely refuses to cry as Shion tortures her to death, claiming that she's realized how much of a burden she was on Satoshi and not wanting to be The Load anymore.
  • Keiichi. He's a Hot Blooded Bishōnen who can be adorable and hilarious at times and at various points demonstrates epic displays of GAR-ness.
• Hunter × Hunter:
  • Gon is very much a Cheerful Child and a Friend to All Living Things. His first shown action is ripping a fish that's about five times his mass out of the water by main force and then carrying it back to town over his head. At a dead run. Some time later, he proceeds to break the arm of a superhuman assassin... by grabbing his wrist. With one hand. Why only one hand? It was courtesy of his other hand being inoperative because Gon got his arm broken the day before after an absolutely brutal Determinator sequence where it was shown why 12-year-old boys rarely win fights with top-flight adult ninja.
  • Killua, on the other hand... is a kid-Bishōnen. In his case, though, he knows it, and has more-or-less weaponized it... so that he can get closer to his targets, as he's been trained as one of the world's deadliest assassins pretty much since he could walk. And given that this is a world where Training from Hell and Charles Atlas Superpowers actually work... yeah.
• A male example can be seen in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?. Bell Cranel is a nice, polite, and even pure-hearted boy. But if someone poses a threat to his friends or a girl is in danger, he quickly gets to know Bell from his combative side.
• Jotaro temporarily in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3. Alessi de-aged him into a 7-year-old, but despite being a child facing an axe-wielding maniac, Jotaro still kicked his ass.
• K:
  • Anna Kushina, the Red Clan's Elegant Gothic Lolita Token Mini-Moe, proves to be this when she Awakens as the Red King in The Movie.
  • Misaki Yata also qualifies, though he would rather take the Badass part and leave the Adorable. But he looks like he's 13 even though he's 20, blushes quite a bit, and moves like a little puppy.
  • Yashiro Isana has immense power under all of that Moe, as a King, though he prefers to be The Smart Guy and non-action.
• Kaiji grows from a shrimp into a pretty competent fighter who acknowledges his weaknesses. Some will argue that the whole point of this series is to see Kaiji lose tremendously, get back up in an inspiring and heart-winning manner...then lose even more tremendously. In the end, you just want to give him a hug or buy him some drinks after all that's happened to him (losing scads of money, betrayal and bullying, maiming, losing his comrades, being forced into slave labor, being harassed by a girl he doesn't like...the list goes on). Many, fangirls and fanboys alike, will argue that Kaiji is indeed "moe", or moeGAR.
• Minoru of Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru is an adorable pretty boy who is a fast runner (from being on the gymnastics team) and becomes very skilled at karate.
• Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple:
  • Thanks to Nijima's persistent rumor-mongering, most of the school is thoroughly convinced that Kenichi's some sort of human vortex of destruction and badassery. While he can live up to quite a few of the claims (except for the one about him OHKO-ing a bear. The Godless Killing Machines are still very excellent at fucking his shit up), people that meet him are surprised to find that he's usually more like this.
  • Then there's Chikage Kushinada, age 10 and fully capable of standing alongside the teenage fighters. Her nature as a Creepy Child makes the occasional slips into "Child Mode" as her character develops all the cuter.
• Kino from Kino's Journey. Seriously, just look at that adorable face!◊ But if you endanger her life, she will shoot you through the head at point-blank range or drive a knife right through your heart...without any hesitation.
• Kirby:
  • Kirby is a pink ball of kindness and will swallow you whole and steal your powers.
  • Fumu, too. She's the cute little Cappy girl who cares for Kirby and usually tries to end conflicts without employing violence. But in the second Dedede Elementary School episode, she takes a level in badass and singlehandedly beats up large armed thugs without even touching them.
  • Knuckle Joe is an adorable Waddling Head not unlike Kirby, but he's called Knuckle Joe for a reason: he's a really skilled martial artist.
• Kyo Kara Maoh! has Shibuya Yuuri, who sometimes becomes a Person of Mass Destruction if his loved ones or country are threatened.
• Julian Mintz from Legend of the Galactic Heroes: starts the series as a little-boy Bishōnen, end it as a blond haired pretty boy. You would never suspect the things he can do with an axe, ESPECIALLY if you make him really angry (like by killing seven guys passing by in fourteen seconds, scary...)
• Five-year-old Ryouta Ninomiya, from Little House with an Orange Roof when he challenges a train otaku to a trivia contest to make him apologize to his step-sister. He actually wins the contest, and all the while you can't help but find his determined face adorable.
• Naoya from Lotte no Omocha. He's shown to be able to effortlessly throw Sigurd — a Warrior Prince with a lifetime of military training — aside using the momentum of his flying headbutt, implying skill in either Aikido or Judo. This is further justified by a photo of him that Lotte happened upon in his album, of him in a gi (Japanese Martial Arts Uniform) with a green belt, but four steps away from a black belt, as a child.
• While the "badass" part is something in the own heads, Rikka and Sanae from Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! could still count, as they both fit firmly into the "adorable" part.
• Clan Clang in Macross Frontier: Adorable when micronized, badass when macronized.
• Also, from the same people who brought you Kirika, we have the title character from Madlax who is just as adorable and huggable, with the sexiness turned up.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Nanoha makes friends by beating the tar out of them.
  • Vita is a small moe girl with a big bang power mallet.
  • Caro. She's very young and cute, although she doesn't seem all that impressive at first, being mostly limited to support spells, but then her home gets attacked, and holy shit, that little girl just summoned Godzilla!
  • Vivio. She was hit by five Starlight Breakers at the same time, but she was still able to stand up, proving that she's able to do that like her mother Nanoha had told her before. For comparison: Fate was rendered unconscious immediately after being hit by one, and The Book of Darkness' defense program was nearly vaporized when hit with a Combination Attack equal to about three. And that's without scaling for ten years of power increase and use of the Blaster System.
• The main cast of Magic Knight Rayearth are cute girls who are gutsy and powerful.
• Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic: Aladdin is a young child, but he's also a Magi, as well as a very powerful mage.
• Maken-ki!:
  • Celia is cute and bubbly, to the point of her dialog typically being accompanied by hearts. But, as Inaho and Gouken both learned the hard way, she isn't to be taken lightly. That's because of her Inversion ability on top of being a superstar pro wrestling champion.
  • To a lesser extent, Inaho is also stronger than she initially lets on, mostly because she serves as the series plucky comic relief character. Still, she'll readily fight for her friends and has pulled at least two last minute saves.
• Shiro Kabuto from Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger. He is the cute, 10-years-old Annoying Younger Sibling of the main character. And he is also pretty badass when he wants, beating bullies bigger than him or adult men, or even piloting the Hover Pilder (the flying device was necessary docking on the head of Mazinger-Z to start the Humongous Mecha).
  • Goro Makiba from UFO Robo Grendizer also counts like a cute child capable of awesome feats. At least his incarnation of the original manga. In one arc Barados kidnapped several hostages and hijacked Great Mazinger, and then tied his prisoners to the Humongous Mecha to prevent Duke from fighting. Goro managed to get rid from the ropes tying him and then released Kouji.
• Yuki Nagato, from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is The Stoic which makes her smiles extremely cute when they appear. She's also the Big Guy of The Team because she's a Reality Warper.
• Michiko & Hatchin: Hatchin is a pretty good example. While she can often be overshadowed by Michiko in terms of badassness, Hatchin is nothing to sneeze at.
• Several of the dragons in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid look rather cute in their human forms, which belies the fact that any one of them could lay waste to entire cities in the blink of an eye. Special mention goes to Kanna, who takes the form of an 8-year-old girl, and manages to be just as adorable in her dragon form.
• Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama from Mob Psycho 100 is quite possibly the world's strongest esper, capable of lifting city-worth of buildings with relatively little difficulty and no prior training (for reference, Teruki Hanazawa, another esper his age who is noted to constantly hone his skills and is quite powerful himself, has difficulty lifting several police cars at once) and has a repressed side that is far more powerful than him and is able to tear apart a city just by casually walking through it. But he doesn't really care about his powers and wants to be a normal person instead. He is also possibly one of the sweetest middle schoolers you could ever find. He is socially awkward, humble, and is so kind he felt guilty even for hurting a mad powerful psychic bound for world domination...and, and just look at him!
• Nina Liebert from Monster is a deconstruction. She's a beautiful and kind-hearted Woobie who undergoes a Break the Cutie process repeatedly and yet she goes from being an ever-so-wholesome law student to a worldly, hooker-impersonating, gangster-frightening gunslinger in about one volume, and mostly through her own efforts. However, despite having the skills and the adorable looks, we see that the poor woman has borne a MASSIVE Trauma Conga Line ever since she was a little girl, so her mental fortitude simply can't keep up and at some point she has to be talked out of committing suicide when she realizes how utterly horrible her life has truly been. Just being Badass And Adorable will NOT cut it.
• Seems to be one of the favorite tropes of My Hero Academia:
  • The main character Izuku Midoriya is a sweet, dorky and nerdy boy with super strength, and an unflinching heroic spirit. When he first met Ochaco, he turned beet red from the fact that he just had a conversation with a girl.
  • Ochaco Uraraka herself is Izuku's Genki Girl friend who controls gravity, and managed to even give Katsuki Bakugou a hard time during the U.A. Championship.
  • Tsuyu Asui herself is an adorable frog girl with great skills, quick thinking and Nerves of Steel.
  • Although they are the 3 most outstanding example, almost every character of the classroom has different level of adorableness and all are badasses.
  • Surprisingly, even All Might counts for the trope, albeit in personality rather than looks; he's tall and imposing, but he also happens to be a a dorky man with a heart as big as his muscles, and who has childish enthusiasm.
  • Nejire Hadou is a bubbly, energetic and Constantly Curious girl with adorable looks. She's also one of UA's Big Three, the best students in the school, and has a powerful Quirk that allows her to release her vitality as energy shockwaves.
  • Himiko Toga is a villainous example, being a cute, surprisingly cheerful and utterly unhinged and murderous teenage girl with an unhealthy fixation on blood and powerful enough to be a huge threat to Pro Heroes.
• Naruto:
  • Naruto himself counts as one, especially his kid self, where he is a huge prankster with a heart of gold. However don't mess with him, or else you will get a Rasengan to the face!
  • Most of the "childhood" versions of the characters count, especially Gaara, Sasuke, Itachi and Kakashi.
  • Hinata Hyuga. She is a kind-hearted girl with a huge crush on Naruto, however she is still able to fight rather well, especially during the Pain fight, where she almost sacrificed herself to protect Naruto.
  • Himawari Uzumaki from the sequel series Boruto. Heck, she even knocked out an adult Naruto.
  • Tobi/Obito is a villainous example, when he was first revealed, he was a mysterious guy, however he had a childish personality. After he told Naruto that Itachi died, he quickly changed personalities, and became less of one.
  • Another villaninous example, Konan, who was smart, stoic, calm, and level-headed much like her partner, Nagato. As a child, she was bright, compassionate, and relatively cheerful, in comparison to Yahiko's tough attitude and Nagato's sensitivity. However, the traumatic events since then have led her to become a very serious person.
    • The young versions of Nagato and Yahiko might also count as well.
  • Kushina Uzumaki, who is very level-headed and cheerful with a noticeable sassy side to her. Despite her calm and kind nature, she has a quick temper and she occasionally lashes out violently at others if they angered her
  • The Zetsu clone Guruguru was playful and enjoyed teasing Obito about things such as what he murmured in his sleep. He is also kind-hearted, as shown when he and White Zetsu decide to help Obito without Madara's permission. By the time of the Fourth Shinobi World War, he had become more serious,
  • Rin Nohara, who was a sweet and friendly girl who cared deeply for her comrades as well as her village.
• Miharu from Nabari no Ou. Shijima, at times, as well.
• Nearly everybody from the female cast of Nagasarete Airantou. Especially Machi.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
  • Negi Springfield is regularly fawned upon by his students for being a cutie on top of a bite sized gentleman. He's also a Magic Knight.
  • Kotaro Inugami is closer to 'endearing rascal' because of his boisterous behavior and dog ears. He's Negi's rival.
  • Also Chachamaru, and especially her artifact, a Kill Sat capable of taking out an Eldritch Abomination...and looks like this.
  • Nodoka Miyazaki. She interrupts a fight between Negi and the Big Bad just to gather intelligence and mind-reads and taunts the Greater-Scope Villain. Afterwards goes back to being her humble Moe self.
  • Though she would threaten to kill you for calling her this Evangeline could count as well, as she has the body of a ten year old and has fondness for Elegant Gothic Lolita but has the mind of a 700 year old vampire mage.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • Shinji is painfully shy, his self-esteem is screwed up but he still tries to be a Nice Guy. As for badass, anyone who says he doesn't qualify in the original series should one day just try holding red-hot pieces of metal for half a minute (never mind fighting someone in the process). Yes, his hands weren't damaged directly, but he felt all the damage to Eva-01 as if his own body was harmed. In Rebuild 2.0 — "GIVE REI BACK!" Commence reactivating 01 on willpower/rage alone, rocket punching Zeruel (or as close an Eva can get to one), saving Rei and almost ending the world. There just may be some Kabuto genes in him.
  • Most of the Children qualify, for having Moe traits of some sort and being highly sympathetic while being skilled enough to pilot giant Ambiguous Robots to fend off Eldritch Abominations. For the other two leads, Rei is a quiet Shy Blue-Haired Girl who was actually intended as a Take That! towards moe characters but ended up being accepted as one herself and is also one of the most capable heroes in the series, while Asuka is a stereotypically cute Fiery Redhead tsundere with Girlish Pigtails who's one of the most skilled EVA pilots upon her introduction.
• Nichijou:
  • Mio is the standout example. Not only is she decievingly strong despite looking about as threatening as a kitten, but she also knows some martial arts, wrestling moves and kendo. When she's pissed, bad things happen.
  • Misato counts as well, to a lesser extent. She's a Tsundere of the highest order, but in lieu of punching as do most tsunderes, she has tons of weapons to shoot at whoever flusters her; simple guns, small cannons, bazookas, you name it.
  • Nano is normally a very nice and adorable robot girl, but in chapter 178, she showed off some surprisingly awesome functions during her fight against a flying piggybank; rocket propulsion from her feet, a deployable shield from her palm, heightened hearing and vision, and a bean-shooting machine gun in her knee.
• Shion from No. 6, the Nice Guy Bishōnen with big eyes and a huge heart. However, get him pissed off enough, usually by messing with Nezumi, and take cover.
• Noir has Kirika-chan, who elevates the trope to badass Woobie. The fact that she is so cuddly and huggable really helps. There's also the flashback where she commits her first assassination around the age of five! Certain death has never been so cute.
• Most of the characters from Nyaruko: Crawling with Love! qualify...which should be obvious, since they're Moe Anthropomorphs of Malign Deities from the Cthulhu Mythos. Special mention goes to Nyarko (Nyarlathotep) herself, for being a beautiful teen girl with long silver hair, gleaming emerald eyes...and a Slasher Smile every time she rips dark abominations to shreds with her crowbar.
• One Piece:
  • Tony Tony Chopper is an adorable little reindeer kid, who nonetheless can turn into a muscular fighter and be quite badass when the situation requires it. That's not even going into his monstrous Deadly Upgrade. Though unfortunately for him, the Marines failed to notice the "Badass" part and assumed he was the crew's pet, thus giving him a ridiculously small bounty.
  • Luffy and Nami also qualify: they're usually cute, but God help you if you fuck with them, their crew, or their friends. Nami even sometimes lampshades the fact that she's not just a cute young navigator.
  • Tashigi is a very nice and eager young Marine soldier, as well as a Bespectacled Cutie and a Cute Clumsy Girl with an almost endearing fascination for swords. She's also very fast, and after taking a few levels in badass over the Time Skip, strong enough to deflect cannonballs with her swords and use Haki.
  • Vivi is the adorable, soft-spoken young princess of Alabasta, who packs razor-sharp whips that she can aim with perfect precision. While she is overshadowed in terms of power by the rest of the Straw Hats, she's nonetheless very powerful.
  • To a lesser extent cuteness-wise, Robin and Hancock qualify. The former can sprout limbs to subdue and attack enemies from anywhere, and the latter is a very powerful Kick Chick who can petrify her foes. Both are also beautiful young women with endearing and surprisingly cute traits.
  • While she hates fighting, Rebecca nonetheless qualifies. She's so fast and skilled with Observation Haki that she consistently defeats almost everyone she's pitted against in the Corrida Colosseum tournaments without ever attacking herself, to the point she earned the moniker of "Undefeated Woman". All while being a very cute and nice 16-year-old girl.
  • The Tontata tribe as well. They are small enough to be held on the palm of a human hand, with a big fluffy tail and round eyes. They are kind-hearted. They are extremely gullible. But they're also a tribe of Pint-Sized Powerhouse, possessing impressive strength and able to move so fast the average person can't see them.
  • Chapter 731 introduces (or rather, reintroduces) Koala. Last time we saw her, she was a little girl who Fisher Tiger had brought home after she was freed from slavery. Now, she is a young woman, a member of the Revolutionary army, and a substitute teacher of Fishman Karate, a fighting style previously thought to be exclusive to Fishmen. Not only that, but she was seen sitting on a few mooks she had just knocked out offscreen. And despite all that, she's every bit as cute as she was as a child.
  • Carrot is an adorable young Mink, full of energy and cheerfulness, and an affectionate little cuddle bug when you get to know her. She's also very fast and powerful, and like all Minks, can use and channel electricity.
  • In the initial moments of Jack's attack on Carrot's homeland of Zou, among the fighters resisting is a little boy canine mink. It is then explained that all Minks are natural born warriors, so even their children are badass.
  • Cat Viper, one of the leaders of the Mink tribe, is a very large, threatening, powerful and no-nonsense Mega Neko in combat. Outside of battle, he's as playful and jolly as you'd expect a cat to be.
• Hunny-sempai from Ouran High School Host Club: while adorable, small, blonde, and cake loving, Hunny-sempai is also an expert martial artist and was able to single handedly take out 7 professionally trained and armed men in 15 seconds flat without so much as breaking a sweat. To top it all off, he scolds the by wagging his finger at them and saying that "hurting my friends is a no-no".
  • He also beat the crap out of 2 platoons of green berets after one of them woke him up from a nap. Hunny-sempai is not a morning person...
  • Also, after beating the crap out of his dad (who was supposedly the strongest martial artist of their family), the Japanese Secretary of Defense, who was the referee, begged Hunny-sempai not to fight in public ever again, lest other countries think Japan was training a WMD...
• PandoraHearts:
  • Alice. She appears as an adorable hot-headed little girl. She is actually the infamous B-Rabbit (Bloodstained Black Rabbit), the strongest chain in the Abyss.
  • Oz is also this, when using Alice's power on his own, even when still under seal. Then, it turns out that HE is B-Rabbit in Jack's body and his powers bound to Alice's soul.
  • Lily is one of the Baskervilles. She looks right about ten.
  • Bookworm Leo becomes this when it turns out that he is Glen Baskerville, the leader of those Baskervilles, and is currently contracted to Jabberwock.
• The Anarchy and Demon sisters in Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, especially Stocking.
• Peacemaker Kurogane:
  • While he's pretty cute and tough to begin with, it's only through Character Development that Tetsunosuke becomes that much more badass.
  • Also, Okita Souji. He's constantly smiling, loves candy, plays with the neighborhood kids, has a cute little piglet as a pet that he fawns over, is pretty much a male House Wife to Hijikata, and is well-known for being the most terrifying swordsman in all of Japan.
  • Nagakura Shinpachi, especially with Art Evolution gradually making him look more and more like a kid-edition Bishōnen. Despite appearances, he is a very competent swordsman and commander, and still inspires the urge to cuddle him even while splattered with blood.
• Momo from Peach Girl. She's pretty and has huge eyes. Really, she's a really sweet girl so long as you don't rouse her temper. If you do happen to piss her off... you may very well get a foot to the face, a headbutt, or a knee to the groin for your trouble. Her moment came when she single-handedly beat up a huge guy who was trying to rape Sae. Other than that she's just a misunderstood girl trying to find true love.
• Momoka Oginome in Penguindrum. A young girl no older than 10 who is capable of rewriting reality via writing spells in her Destiny Diary at great risk to herself, and who had done a LOT to save two other children who badly needed her help.
• A lot of Pokemon owned by characters in the anime fall under this. Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Piplup, Teddiursa, Raichu, and Clefairy are just a handful of examples.
  • One of the most prime examples is the 1st gen Pokemon, Mew, which is ungodly adorable and is always shown to be very playful and childlike, not to mention is literally described as being the 'Psychic Kitten' Pokemon. One could hardly take it seriously until you realize that it's capable of using every single non-legendary specific move in the entire series.
    • In the first Pokemon movie it faces off against Mewtwo who was its genetically engineered clone and made to be the most powerful Pokemon in existence. They engaged in a dead even battle with neither winning and only stopped due to Ash's intervention.
  • In addition to actual Monsters, some of the human characters also qualify. Ash Ketchum has the appearance and mannerisms of a brash, classically adorable little boy. He's also one of few humans to physically put himself on the line for Pokémon in the series, jumps around like a Mankey to rescue said Pokémon, and is even capable of using Aura. And he risks or even knowingly sacrifices himself for Pokémon regularly. Maylene, Whitney, and Misty may also qualify; Maylene is basically described this way by other characters.
  • This holds true for the human protagonists of the Pokémon Adventures manga, as nearly everyone fights alongside their Pokémon. Special mention goes to Sapphire, who at the mere age of 10 is already capable of fighting Pokémon on her own, and is apparently strong enough to rip apart fountains and sprint while carrying a fully-grown man.
  • Hareta from Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure! is rather young but can go against Pokemon, can lift things far heavier than him (including a Rhyperior), and has a common battle strategy which can be summed up as "I fight alongside my Pokemon no matter how tough the opponent".
• Guchuko from Potemayo. Looks like a plushie, has the personality of a stray cat, carries a scythe, and can shoot laser beams at anyone who annoys her.
  • To be clear, the lasers are shot from what appear to be living hair ornaments.
• There's usually one in every incarnation of the Pretty Cure series: Hikari/Shiny Luminous, Mai/Cure Egret, Urara/Cure Lemonade, Inori/Cure Pine, Tsubomi/Cure Blossom, Ako/Cure Muse, Yayoi/Cure Peace, Alice/Cure Rosetta, Yuko/Cure Honey, Haruka/Cure Flora, Kotoha/Cure Felice, Himari/Cure Custard, Emiru/Cure Macherie, Lala/Cure Milky, Nodoka/Cure Grace, Sango/Cure Coral, Yui/Cure Precious, Mashiro/Cure Prism, and Komugi/Cure Wonderful. Special mention goes to Elle/Cure Majesty for being an active Cure at only one and a half years old.
  • Hell, every Pretty Cure counts as this! These girls hand out beatdowns (sometimes even literal Heart Beatdowns) like they're freaking candy and look insanely cute doing so.
• Amamiya from Psyren. She's the very definition of Action Girl, but anytime she's having a moment with Ageha or fangirling over Matsuri, her Moe side comes out.
  • Any of the Tenjuin kids during the present day are not only cute, adorable, and over the top, they are some highly accomplished and powerful Psionists. Special mention goes to Mari, who not only becomes one of the most gorgeous girls of the entire cast, but becomes even more powerful in the future.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica's girls are very much this. Homura had a dorky phase before taking several levels in badass during the course of her "Groundhog Day" Loop.
• Ranma ½:
  • Ranma's girl form is adorable, and he often uses it to score free eats. His male form is handsome, but not adorably cute. Regardless, mess with him and he will find a way to pound you into the ground — smaller female form notwithstanding.
  • Shampoo has the implied willingness to rip off somebody's head and spit down their neck if ticked off. She also very pretty and sweet-looking.
  • Ryoga Hibiki appears as a male example, given his readily pitiable nature, good looks, romantic notions, turning into a cute little piggy, and the fact he can break steel bars like dried spaghetti and take a sledgehammer to the head and not feel it.
• When not in self-doubt, Izumiko from RDG: Red Data Girl can be quite a badass while remaining cute (and not just when Himegami takes over).
• Yomiko Readman from Read or Die. She's a kind of spacey, hugely nerdy bibliomaniac who always uses extremely polite language, and treasures books above almost anything else in the world. She is also fully willing and capable of taking down armed, powerful men with sheets of paper.
• Reborn! (2004):
  • Yamamoto. He's an insanely Nice Guy that smiles a lot but put a sword in his hand and get him mad enough...
  • Tsuna is a meek, loving and small boy with big doe eyes... and a mafia boss.
  • Reborn himself is a baby, in charge of guiding the above mafia boss to his destiny. And he has some rad gunslinger skills.
• The titular Revolutionary Girl Utena and though she may not seem like it at first, Anthy.
• Rosario + Vampire:
  • Moka Akashiya (her friendly side) can count as this. Also Kurumu Kurono, Yukari Sendou, Mizore Shirayuki and Ruby Toujyou can count as well. They all are capable enough to kill humans, but they're also so damn cute.
  • And Inner Moka is quite badass and has her Moe moments.
  • Kokoa Shuzen can count too, but at a much lesser extent.
  • And then there's Akuha Shuzen, who is of the Psychopathic Manchild verity.
  • Not to mention Tsukune who is quite the sweet Nice Guy and a Bishōnen (Season 2 of the manga due to Art Evolution) and becomes incredibly badass.
• Re:Zero shows Emilia, a nice and pretty half-elf. Although she is not a real fighter, she is a capable magician. And anyone who thinks they are defenseless quickly realizes that good people don't have to be weaklings.
  • Her familiar puck looks like a cute little cat. But he has a monstrous, huge shape in which he can cause enormous destruction.
  • Ram and Rem look like two nondescript, not particularly tall girls in their early or middle teenage years. However, both are very strong and can effortlessly mow down opponents who look much stronger and also destroy weaker monsters with ease. Rem in particular shows it when someone threatens Subaru.
• Raphtalia from The Rising of the Shield Hero looks like an indiscible young woman. But in fact she is a skilled swordsman who can even defeat individual monsters with just one blow.
  • Fitoria qualifies more clearly for this trope. She looks like a girl from twelve to fourteen years old, but her real form is a large monster bird. In fact, she's the strongest physically in her party.
• The eponymous character of Rurouni Kenshin. It's the "oro?", the fact that he is the first genuinely sensitive, kind-hearted and nice anime bloke since Goku and Kenshiro, rather than just another emotionally repressed and cynical Jerkass '90s Anti-Hero. And then you have pretty much half the cast with Kaoru, Misao, Yahiko and Soujiro all invoking various flavors of this trope.
• The eponymous Sailor Moon. And Chibi-Usa. And Ami. And Chibi Chibi. In fact, most of the girls in the series count because most of them are sailor soldiers.
• The Mahjong anime Saki has three examples. Saki herself easily qualifies giving her shy and quiet personality. Koromo also definitely qualifies given her small and cute appearance. Nodoka could also qualify as well. All three of them are adorable and all three are plenty badass.
• When his young age and relative immaturity don't put him at a disadvantage, Jinpei "The Swallow" from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman can pack just as big a punch as his older teammates.
• Musubi from Sekirei is gorgeous, energenic, almost always smiling, hops in place with glee at the thought of meeting a strong opponent, and can punch through buildings like they're made of paper.
• Any of the Frogs on Sgt. Frog, but Tamama especially. He prides himself on appearing cute and innocent, when he's got the power to level buildings if he so wishes.
• The eponymous Shakugan no Shana is a short socially awkward girl who smiles beautifully when she has melon bread. She's also a flame haze.
  • Even more so in the omakes. Shana-tan, the heroine's chibified alter-ego, doesn't lose any of Shana's strength due to the reduction in size, and even uses her signature attack in this form.
• Aw, no mention of Shaman King? Its main character Yoh is a young, laid-back guy who can cheerfully stare at the scenery on hours end. He's also a shaman, and he's become capable of using spirit possession and Over Soul.
  • Just about any kid or teenage character can fit into this category, really. Manta in the first anime, for example, took several levels in badass when he had Mosuke become his guardian ghost.
  • Anna really takes the cake when it comes to cute girl shamans. She's an itako (a traditional Japanese shaman) who can summon spirits with her beads. She also tamed Hao's shikigamis and later gave Hao himself one hell of a painful slap once.
  • Speaking of Hao, he himself is just as adorable as his twin brother Yoh and he's a very powerful shaman whose guardian spirit happens to be the Spirit of Fire itself. He's also quite the Magnificent Bastard.
• Shibata Taketora of Shibatora is a 22-year-old police detective who's regularly mistaken for a middle schooler. His female coworkers tend to fawn over him (one of the men says that something about him seems to trigger maternal instincts,) and he's constantly refused service or even kicked out of venues under the presumption that he's a minor. He's also the current kendo champion of Japan, having become the youngest title holder while he was in police academy, and is more than capable of dispatching most foes with a handy Improvised Weapon.
• In the second season of Slayers, one of the main villains, Hellmaster Phibrizzo, is the most powerful member of the five Demon Lords. However, he chooses to manifest himself as a young boy, causing everyone who encounters him into thinking that he is nothing but an innocent child. Despite his appearance, he is incredibly powerful, having complete control over death. He is also sadistic, taking pleasure in manipulating others, and in the climax of the season, cruelly kills every single main character in order to force Lina Inverse to use a spell that could destroy the entire universe. In the end, the only character able to defeat him is a god-like being.
• Gerda, from the animated adaptation of The Snow Queen. She is a 11-years-old Danish Genki Girl that can take on boys much bigger than her (she apologizes, though), she is the one that persuades the others to go to a forest nobody went before and, when her best friend is taken by The Snow Queen, she goes in a journey to find him, alone, and the stunts she can pull in the journey, few people can.
• SoltyRei: Solty Revant. Cute, shy, plucky, considerate, compassionate... and a Robot Girl who will quickly make with the ass-handing to ANYONE who threatens her adoptive family.
• Soul Eater has Maka. She's a sweet, cute, and kind young girl... who also wields a badass scythe, can hold her own against powerful enemies, and saved the whole damn world from the main villain all by herself after every other character was defeated by him (in the anime).
• In Space☆Dandy, Adélie the Gentooan orphan looks like a sweet, young, harmless Humanoid Alien. The reality of it is that she's been alone and hunted by Alien Registers for quite some time, so she's very good at fighting them off. Her standard operating procedure is to immobilize them with her stingers, then trap their minds inside stuffed toys and leave them.
• Squid Girl:
  • The titular protagonist, also nicknamed Ika, is a cute, easily-excitable, naive young squid girl. Her tentacle hair can easily smash through concrete, go fast enough to break the sound barrier, and stretch to ridiculous extremes. The main reasons she hasn't made any progress on her goal of invading humanity are her silly antics, and Chizuru keeping her in check.
  • For that matter, Chizuru herself is nice and adorable, but if you make her angry, you better be ready to haul ass. Her Death Glare is terrifying, she can cut Ika's tentacles with her bare hands, she's insanely fast, and almost superhumanly strong.
  • Sanae is a downplayed example; she's very cute alright, but she doesn't have any combat abilities. Still, her Super-Reflexes are faster than any teenage girl's should be, enough to dodge Ika's tentacles; when she feels like it, at least.
• Yoshika Miyafuji in Strike Witches also qualify. She is the little sister of the team, but is also the most powerful one. Specially after she regains her magic in The Movie.
• Yui from Sword Art Online, who upon seeing Kirito and Asuna in danger, summons a BFS and One-Hit KO 's a supposible unkillable Eldritch Abomination.
  • Quite a few other female Characters count — such as Silica and Pina, Lisbeth, Asuna, Suguha, etc.
  • Kirito himself counts — the guy has saved the world twice, and after a year of being trapped in the online world, was one of the highest-leveled players in the game. And he looks... kinda girlish and is very sweet. GGO's arc notes the former and temporarily drops the "ish" part.
  • LLENN, the protagonist of Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, is the product of a tall and self-conscious player deliberately rolling avatars in multiple VRMMOs until she gets a cute, short avatar in GGO. She then proceeds to become one of the deadliest players in the Squad Jam community by virtue of running around with an SMG, a combat knife, and a ridiculous AGI stat. Her friend Fukaziroh get a similarly-proportioned avatar, buys a pair of Grenade Launchers after determining she can't hit something with a bullet to save her life, and quickly figures out how to turn them into artillery weapons.
• Symphogear: Anybody who is able to use a Symphogear definitely counts but special mention goes to Hibiki who will beat the shit out of you despite being well... and Miku after all, not everyone can run full steam from an Eldritch Abomination for an hour or Throw a Mook Maker a couple hundred meters in the air into another dimension.
• From Tenchi Muyo!, we have Sasami. Adorable, pre-teen princess, darn good cook, most down-to-earth member of the entire cast that wasn't born on said planet. Depending on the series: she has a hairband that turns into a staff for serious Waif-Fu action, can use Juraian magic on par with anyone else, can summon a mini-mecha battle suit, oh and she just happens to be the incarnation/host of one of the three 8th-dimensional goddesses that created the universe as we know it, as little more than a science experiment.
• Simon of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, who takes the level of cuteness possible for a Badass Adorable to rather impressive heights. He's basically an endearing and initially-timid cutie who also happens to be one of the strongest, if not the strongest, Spiral warrior in the cosmos (his Big Brother Mentor Kamina initially exceeded him merely due to his charisma and courage). Later in life, after progressing to Bishōnen he manages to summon a mecha the size of a galaxy and save the sentient races of the universe from extinction at the hands of a sociopathic despot. Even then, he still retains his optimistic and endearing personality. Manlymoe, literally, doesn't begin to cover it.
• Osamu Tezuka:
  • Sweet, innocent, adorable little Astro of Astro Boy fame is one of the cutest things on the planet — and equipped with mountain-levelling strength before you get into his absurd amount of onboard weaponry. Actually, Astro might be said to have created this trope.
    • In the 2009 film, he defeats a coliseum's worth of robots made to kill other robots and is merely out of breath; in the final showdown, he flips Peacekeeper over his head after it's absorbed the military and half of Metro City, and is then able to slow the city's fall after the generators blow out.
  • Kimba the White Lion: A Protagonist Title, is also a tough fighter complete with an army of beasts ready to defend his jungle.
  • Bokko from The Amazing 3 (Wonder 3/W3 in Japan) is an alien disguised as a rabbit. She's the leader of a trio of aliens accompanied by a duck, and horse. They befriend a human and go on various adventures on Earth and learns about humanity and life on the planet. Bokko (Captain Bunny) has the ability to use physic powers, able to predict some events, and very intelligent.
  • The titular character of Unico (including The Fantastic Adventures of Unico and Unico in the Island of Magic). Possibly the cutest baby unicorn you will ever see, killed a fifty-story demon lord by impaling him with his horn.
• That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime:
  • Rimuru can take the appearance of young teenage human or as a formless slime blob that are quite cute and unassuming, and is a very nice guy on top of all that. He's also virtually impossible to physically injure and can devour almost anything.
  • Millim Nava looks and acts like a pre-teen pink-haired girl who's easily impressed by new things and tends to come off as ditzy. She's also one of the oldest and strongest Demon Lords on the planet, a Blood Knight who's very good at what she does, the daughter of the multiverse's creator dragon deity, and probably one of the few who could legitimately defeat Rimuru in a one-on-one battle.
• Tokyo Mew Mew has the titular Mew Mews, who are a bunch of cute magical girls with the DNA of endangered animals and amazing powers gifted to them through their transformations and weapons. The most notable examples happen to be Ichigo, especially when she gets excited or freaks out often, and Bu-ling, the youngest of the group who also happens to be a Genki Girl.
• Trinity Blood gives us Seth. Looks to all the world like a cute teenage girl. If you somehow manage to hurt her big brother, kiss your ass goodbye.
• Undead Unluck protagonist Fuuko Izumo is a cute, slightly dorky girl with loads of kindness to spare, and although she starts off the series as easily scared and unable to do much on her own, she gradually becomes more confident and willing to put her life on the line to protect the world and her friends. By the time the Earth resets for the next loop, she's become a lot more powerful thanks to her Abnormal Ammo, UMA she tamed, and hand-to-hand combat training from Shen, whilst remaining as kind and adorable as ever.
• Unico, an adorable baby unicorn who has the power to bring happiness to whoever he befriends, but is also able to fight against enemies, and is capable of growing to a giant adult sized winged unicorn as necessary? Bonus points since, like Astro Boy and Kimba, he was created by Osamu Tezuka.
• Utawarerumono's Aruru takes out a small group of soldiers using a tiger! (Granted, the tiger isn't part of her physically, but it might as well be) Did I mention that she is cute enough ''that the Big Bad (at least, part of him) brings her back to life twice!
• Wolf's Rain, Toboe is the youngest and weakest member of the pack, but he finds the courage inside to take down a colossal walrus by biting it in the eye and refusing to let go until it kills itself thrashing. He also bites Darcia in the arm hard, but this doesn't turn out so well for him.
• In The World God Only Knows Haqua goes from a menacing badass to an apologetic, adorable girl in a single page. Her dere is showing.
• The three main protagonists from Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon, Moroha, Setsuna and Towa, look like inconspicuous teenage girls. Perhaps undermined by Setsuna, who wears the demon hunter's clothes. But they are powerful half-demons and can destroy stronger-looking youkai. That's especially true of Towa, who is likely both the kindest and strongest of the three.
  • Futa and Raita also qualify. They are not as powerful as the three Yashahimes, but whoever considers them defenseless because of their appearance will quickly be taught better.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Marufuji Shou. Short, cute, adorable beyond words. Juudai's the hero, but Shou is badass. And he does it all wearing glasses, too.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!: Yugi Mutou himself. Not only is he short and incredibly adorable, he's super special awesome enough at Duel Monsters to defeat his super sexy ancient Egyptian alter ego. To top it off, he's voiced by DAN GREEN in the dub.

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