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Unfortunately for Subaru, this is only the beginning.


  • Kuro, Senyu's canine sidekick from Akame ga Kill! Sure, Kuro appears to be like any other cute puppy, but he can change from an adorable pooch to an carnivorous abomination at Senyu's behest.
  • Azumanga Daioh:
    • Kamineko, a.k.a. the Biting Cat, deserves mention. While he hasn't killed anyone, the façade of a cute, irresistible little gray kitty that poor Sakaki can't resist petting hides unearthly speed, a rotten attitude, and a set of teeth that resemble nothing so much as a bear trap. His life's mission seems to be to continually tease and beat up poor Sakaki. Most cats seem to attack her out of fright, but Kamineko tends to seek her out with malicious intent.
    • Maya could also be seen as an example. The cutest ever kitten to come out of a species of wildcat that can kill wild boars. Not only survives a trip from a western island to the mainland, but emits a big enough Battle Aura to scare off Kamineko AND HIS POSSE. Then he collapses.
  • Bakemonogatari has this in Black Hanekawa. Is she adorable? Yes. Did she hospitalize over a dozen people and paint a bridge with Koyomi's blood? That's a yes.
  • The Dark Magical Girl Rosine from Berserk appears as a cute little fairy with butterfly wings, antennae, a furry collar and a butterfly's proboscis on her forehead. But she's also an Apostle. Her proboscis is a Whip Sword, the dust of her wings is highly poisonous and if you really piss her off, she'll simply turn into a giant moth capable of supersonic speed, among other things...
  • Bleach:
    • Ururu, despite being extremely timid and withdrawn, possesses otherworldly strength that is revealed when she detects a threat. She goes into a sort of "berserker" mode, and will not stop until either her opponent drops dead or she is immobilized. A prime example of this is her ambush and beating of Ilfort Granz, who manages to wound her in his release form.
    • Yachiru might be one. While not yet shown in combat, she's a pink-haired allegedly six-year-old Cheerful Child who's the vice captain of a division of Blood Knights, was raised from a baby by the baddest Blood Knight of them all, and can scare grown men with her Battle Aura. Her subordinate, third seat Ikkaku Madarame, is stronger than the other vice captains and would probably be eligible for a captaincy if his true power was known to his superiors. There's almost nothing he fears...not even his insane captain. He is, however, terrified of Yachiru.
      • Actually, her power has been revealed. She has a "triple sword," which is to say whenever she swings her (appropriately sized, so very small) sword, two giant swords swing along with it. There's also evidently some kind of supernatural aspect to her blades, as she was able to hit an enemy hiding in a pocket dimension with at least one of those swords. And most terrifyingly of all, the two swords that strike with her aren't just floating. They're wielded by two twenty-foot tall monsters who perfectly mimic her movements.
    • Kon appears to be a useless, perverted stuffed teddy bear making it easy to forget that he was actually created to fight Hollows. His revealed powers include being capable of scaling skyscrapers and being able to jump incredible distances. He doesn't tire, and his kicks are powerful enough to crack open the skulls of Hollows, something only special magical powers and weapons are able to do.
    • Hitsugaya Toshiro is very young for Soul Society standards and has the appearance of a child, yet he has an extremely high intelligence, is a master swordsman, and his zanpakuto is a dragon and is the strongest ice-type zanpakuto in Seireitei. This on top of his immense reiatsu allows him to control every drop of water in the atmosphere as well as fuel incredibly strong ice-type attacks. He is also the youngest captain in Seireitei, which means that he is one of the highest authories of the Gotei 13 Shinigami and commands an entire division of soldiers.
  • Cat Shit One (known in the US as Apocalypse Meow) replaces people with animals depending on their nationality. The American soldiers are rabbits — because they're U.S.A. GIs. Animated Series Trailer here.
  • Claymore's Priscilla is a relative example. Her awakened form is obviously threatening, but in the size and shape of a large, thin humanoid, making her by far the smallest and most pleasant looking Awakened Being, to the point of keeping her baby face mostly intact. She's the most powerful and threatening, by an even bigger margin. Even moreso when she goes full human lookalike.
  • The Teez in D.Gray-Man are golems that look like pretty purple butterflies. And then they eat you. Or Tyki places them inside you so that you can act as a nursery for them to grow and breed in and THEN they eat you from the inside out.
  • In Delicious in Dungeon, "dungeon rabbits" are a legend among Dungeon Crawling parties, stemming from a story in which an entire party of seasoned adventurers was found decapitated in a dungeon they shouldn't have had trouble with. When they were revived, all they would say about what killed them was, "It was a rabbit." The story spooked Laios enough to buy armor specifically marketed as being immune to dungeon rabbit attacks (i.e. it has a high gorget). Naturally, his party discovers that dungeon rabbits are very real: they're identical to normal rabbits, including in speed and numbers, but they're also extremely aggressive, have blades on their hind legs, and attack by leaping at people and cutting their throats as they fly past.
  • Satchii from Den-noh Coil looks like a giant, squishy beanbag chair with a big smiley face that announces its own arrival with a bright, "Me Satchii!" every time. It also fires laser beams that kills kids' digital pets and breaks expensive cybernetic glasses.
  • Digimon:
    • For a literal example, in Digimon Tamers Terriermon transforms into a trigger-happy rabbit. Correction; he gets guns, he's already trigger-happy.
    • And of course, even earlier in Digimon Adventure, Patamon digivolve into... Angemon! Heck, forget the digivolving, his In-Training form Tokomon is the Digimon version of the trope namer. Just look at those teeth!
    • Guilmon is usually adorable and childish, but when in a fight he transforms into a feral beast.
  • Luki and Noki from Dogs: Bullets & Carnage. They're two adorable twin girls... but heaven help you if you agree to "play" with them....
  • Dragon Ball Z:
    • Gohan, who is normally a sweet little kid who enjoys school. But if you try to kill his loved ones, he will go crazy, transform into a Super Saiyan 2, and slaughter you. It will be quick, it will be painful, and it will be scary.
    • Gohan's father as a child also fell into this. Goku was a very cute and innocent kid, but turned into a terror when angry. Even scarier, Goku was far less merciful as a child, often killing his opponents even when they were retreating.
    • Chiaotzu, a character who looks like an oversized China-doll. He can stop your heart with his psychic powers.
    • Uub, a frail looking boy who is the reborn human incarnation of the pure evil version of Majin Buu. When properly enraged, he can hurt Goku.
    • Majin Buu himself, mostly in his Fat and Kid forms. He's an odd creature made of what looks like magic pink bubblegum, and has a massive sweet tooth and silly side unseen in prior villains. His first appearance as Fat/Innocent Buu confuses everyone who sees him, as they were expecting an Eldritch Abomination... which he is, soft pink appearance nonwithstanding. He is able to curbstomp Dabura (who's as strong as the previous arc's Big Bad) in seconds. Evil Buu and Super Buu look more visually intimidating, but Kid Buu (who is later reincarnated into the aforementioned Uub) looks like a child. He's also the most dangerous form of Buu, since he is pure destructive intent without any of the restraint the previous forms had.
    • Beerus is an Ugly Cute anthropomorphic cat (specifically being based on a Cornish Rex) who spends most of his time sleeping, scarfing down Earth food, and sassing everyone in range. He's also a Destroyer Deity and on a completely different level from everyone else in the universe; Goku's Super Saiyan God powerup was just enough to let him survive Beerus, and nowhere near enough to let him win (fortunately for everyone involved, Beerus found the fight and Earth cuisine too fun to give up and spared Goku and the planet). His twin brother Champa is the same.
      • Of the other Gods of Destruction, Iwan probably fits this best, being a short ball of fluff who just so happens to be the most competent God of Destruction in the multiverse.
    • The ultimate example of this in Dragon Ball is probably Zen'o, a small childlike alien who's quite cute and who terrifies anyone who knows about him (except Goku and the Grand Minister), because he has the power to effortlessly destroy anything up to and including the entire multiverse if pushed. Infinite Zamasu winds up at the wrong end of a first-hand demonstration after he corrupts the Future Trunks' timelines.
  • Mappy from Dragon Half. Looks like a cat-sized ball of mousy fluff, but can spontaneously transform into a huge, bear-like hulk.
  • The Puchuus in Excel♡Saga. They resemble adorable teddy bears, but plan to take over Earth by any means necessary, even if it means blowing up major population centers. They also have a piss-ugly Game Face when struck and/or in pain, which happen to look like Golgo 13's.
    "AUGGH, that hurt! You make-a me bleed!"
  • Fairy Tail:
    • The Dark Mage Zeref. He looks so young and is unbelievably adorable, especially when he cries, and despite not showing up until chapter 200, he's cried on screen more most of the main characters too. You can also die just by getting too close to him, and that's when he isn't trying to kill you.
    • Let's not forget Pantherlily. When not in his "cute" cat form, he transforms into a human-sized Panther with a Badass BFS
  • Fresh Pretty Cure! movie: Hidden underneath the massive armor of the Big Bad ToyMajin and the gathered repressed anger of abandoned toys is... a cute, stuffed teddy bear who just wants to be loved. Love makes sure he gets that wish in the end.
  • Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu has Bonta-Kun, an amusement park mascot costume which gets appropriated by Sōsuke Sagara in one episode. Later, we learn he's taken the costume and turned it into a full-fledged suit of Powered Armor, which gives it the appearance of a five-foot cartoon mouse in a tactical vest wielding a shotgun. And God help you if you ever have to face more than one... This is Bonta-Kun when he's pissed.
  • Galaxy Angel had a cute little pink hamster that was in fact a bioweapon that is capable of destroying worlds. It also had a penchant for exhibiting Glowing Eyes of Doom and blowing things up with energy blasts from its mouth.
  • Maetel from Galaxy Express 999. She's a beautiful and gentle woman, everyone who knows her says she's much nicer and more defenseless than her sister Emeraldas. She is also a crack shot, her handgun has enough firepower to take down a tank (it's supposedly one of Tochirou's legendary Hand Cannons, the same rare gun Captain Harlock and Queen Emeraldas carry), and has blown up at least one planet whose inhabitants had enraged her too much. Not to mention she gets awfully scary (as in enough to make a robot hesitate) when she turns serious. Turns out her harmlessness is relative to the most dangerous woman in space...
  • In Girls und Panzer the freshman girls in the M3 Lee are this both literally and figuratively. They are all very Moe and their tank is considered one of World War II's worst designs. By the end of the series they are taking on Late War tank destroyers with success, rescuing their compatriots with clever tactics, and generally being badass. Their team nickname is 'Rabbit' and their symbol is a pink bunny with a wicked smile Dual Wielding daggers.
  • Hayate the Combat Butler: Hayate buys Maria-san a cute little bunny plushy as a present. She then sees the bunny in its TV show, where it declares, "I am Muffy! An assassin from hell! OK! Today, we'll happily cause chaos!"
  • Hunter × Hunter:
  • Tama, the male main character in I'm a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl's Pet looks and acts like an ordinary house-cat most of the time, but in reality is a human knight reincarnated as an infant Behemoth, which are known as the most powerful and vicious monsters on the planet, when full-grown. Even as an infant Behemoth, he is very dangerous when provoked.
  • Kirara from Inuyasha is usually a small and cute kitty, but can transform into a giant, flying, saber-toothed, flaming version of itself at will.
  • Al-mi'raj, the rabbit-like creature dicussed in the Literature section in detail, appears as Random Encounter monsters in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?.
    • Props must also be given to Bell Cranell, especially as his Animal Motif is an albino rabbit.
  • Jojo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • Part 2: After becoming omnipotent thanks to the Red Stone Of Aja, Cars demonstrates his new powers by turning his hand into a fluffy squirrel... Which proceeds to brutally devour one of its own kin and several German soldiers.
    • Part 4: Stray Cat is a plant inhabited by the soul of a dead cat, and it has the power to create air bubbles. It sounds cute, right up until it manages to almost kill the arc's Big Bad.
    • Part 4 also has a sort of mixed example with the Stand-enhanced rats. They're not portrayed as cute at all, and seem to still be mostly operating on the same instincts as normal rats, just with some small enhancement. It just so happens their "small enhancement" allows them to start turning their prey into living piles of fleshy goo, and the second of the two manages to nearly kill both Jotaro and Josuke.
  • Nui Harime from Kill la Kill is a walking definition of cuteness as with her attitude.... who is a total death machine to Isshin Matoi, who she killed long time ago, Sanageyama Uzu, whom she defeated, and to Ryuko Matoi.
  • The title character in Kimba the White Lion fits this trope to a T. He may be a wide-eyed lion cub, but the fact that he takes on multiple foes several times his size at once, including a group of rhinos, would make you grateful that he's a Martial Pacifist.
  • Kirby Right Back at Ya! has a few.
    • The scarfies. At first, they merely appear to be Dedede's new harmless pet that eat a lot of food. The worst they do is steal food that doesn't belong to them. Then, he abandons them when they eat so much food they threaten to bankrupt him. Once unleashed, they kill and eat an entire flock of sheep, then try to do the same to Kirby and Rick. And then they eat monster chow, and become even worse.
    • Kirby isn't quite as much of a killer rabbit in the original. When he has no copy abilities, he tends to run away and get his butt kicked. However, the moment he gets a copy ability, the monster of the week is probably going to get chopped in half, roasted, blown to bits, or pounded into a pulp.
    • The Devil (or Demon) Frog. Not quite a killer, but instead a mind possessor who infects the victim, enhances its strength, and forces it to go on a rampage.note  An infected Kirby, due to his normal innocence, merely becomes a mean trickster bent on breaking everything and anything he sees. A (voluntarily) infected Dedede, on the other hand, becomes even more evil than normally, and comes dangerously close to killing Kirby.
  • Kyo Kara Maoh!'s tiny, yellow, and bred-by-humans Bearbees (which are actually mud with magic on it) will turn into fierce, dark colored beasts that try to kill you if you get them wet. If they're not wet, hey, they're freaking adorable and cuddly. (Those are magical counterfeit bearbees. Real bearbees are cute, huggable, completely non-dangerous, endangered, and their dung makes high-quality paint.)
  • Reinforce Zwei and Agito from Lyrical Nanoha. Their adorable, six-inch tall stature belies the fact that they were designed to be weapons and can encase you in ice or launch giant fireballs even without their masters.
    • There's also Fried, Caro's small and cute pet dragon, who can fire powerful fireballs. His small size is his sealed form and when unsealed, he's big enough to carry two people.
  • The whole premise of Mao-chan was that an alien race was trying to take over Japan, but were simply so adorably cute in physical appearance that no adult wanted to fight them. So the military heads had to employ their granddaughters (including the title character) as the front line in the war so they could fight cute with cute.
  • Mobile Suit Victory Gundam: Haros. Those adorable little balls couldn't possibly harm anyone, right? Well, unless you try to mess with Uso Evin. His haro will uppercut you, if you hadn't already frozen up due the machine gun noises it made. If that isn't enough it will use the Gundam, by itself, to destroy you.
  • 1945 wartime propaganda film Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors features an array of cute, cuddly animals like a bear cub, a monkey, and a puppy. They go through paratroop training and wind up invading and conquering a British-held island.
  • In Murder Princess, Ana and Yuni are two unbelievably cute little girls with wacky Anime Hair and sweet little giggles. They're also androids equipped from head to toe with a seemingly endless array of high-tech weaponry (while almost everyone else in the setting is wielding swords). And Ana is just plain bloodthirsty.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
  • One Piece:
    • Chopper's default form is adorable enough that the Marines mistake him for the Straw Hats' Team Pet and give him a pitiful bounty. He's not only a very knowledgeble doctor, but can hold his own quite well with his Swiss-Army Superpower.
    • The dwarves of the Tontatta Tribe are cute little fellows with fluffy tails who can fit in the palm of someone's hand. They're also immensely strong and fast, capable of stealing the clothes right off someone's body before tossing them around like a ragdoll. And those fluffy tails have bone in them, making them perfect for bludgeoning people.
    • Carrot the rabbit mink is as adorable as a rabbit can be, but touch her carrots and she'll prove her fighting lineage, going for the throat with her teeth just like the trope namer.
  • Honey from Ouran High School Host Club could be the epitome of this trope. He loves cute things, carries around a pink toy rabbit called "Cute Bunny" ("Usa-Chan") and is usually the sweetest kid around, but he's also a martial arts master. Do not make him angry!
  • The mad parade in Paprika, a collection of cartoon animals, inanimate objects, and cultural icons that looks incredibly silly and cute. It also happens to be a living Shared Dream born from the minds of a meglomaniac and the insane, and it has the power to drive people to cheerful madness almost instantly-adding them to it's march.
  • In Paranoia Agent, one should stay VERY wary of the cute, pink, cuddly little plushie Maromi, who is nothing short of a powerful Chess Master.
  • Japoro from Shamanic Princess, being a ferret-like creature who is also the Battle Butler to Tiara.
  • Pet Shop of Horrors features another literal example in its first episode "Daughter", which involves a rich couple that recently lost their daughter Alice paying a visit to Count D's eponymous shop. Count D sells them a very rare species of rabbit that looks just like Alice. Things go well for the couple until the mother concedes to the rabbit-Alice's request for sugar instead of the water and vegetables indicated in the rules of the contract. It goes very badly for the couple VERY quickly. It turns out that feeding sweets to this rabbit will cause it to "give birth" to (read: get eaten from within by) dozens of flesh-eating killer bunnies that go forth, kill, eat, and "give birth" to more killer bunnies until the town is overrun.
  • Pokémon: The Series. Most Pokémon that qualify as cute will qualify for this.
    • Arguably, none of them hold a candle to this little bundle of doom, though. Pikachu in-game isn't particularly powerful, relatively, despite its billing. But the one in the anime has become seriously powerful. Ash even warns people that his Pikachu is stronger than your average 'Chu. Don't be fooled by the colorful cheeks, the beady, curious eyes; the cheerful smile, the baby-like chubbiness, the way it scampers about on two/four legs, or the adorable way its ears wilt to the side when it's confused. This thing - one (1) of them - has demolished most countries' national defense budgets in buildings, delicate equipment, and Humongous Mechas, struck down two minor gods (one on live television), and regularly packs enough explosive force in a single attack (that by all physical constraints shouldn't even have explosive force) to level forests and send several human bodies flying through the air for miles. Notice that we didn't say "can" or "could". We said "has" and "did".
    • Chimchar. It looks like a cute, playful little fire-monkey at first, but when the heat of battle activates Blaze, RUN FOR COVER!!
    • Still worth mentioning is the Togepi from DP142, "Where No Togepi Has Gone Before." It's very, very mischievous and knows friggin' Flamethrower, Extrasensory, Attract, and Substitute.
    • Dawn's Buneary is a literal example. Granted, she's more of a lover than a fighter, but she can still kick some massive amounts of ass.
    • In Pokémon Adventures, the most badass Pokémon on Gold's team happens to be his Togepi, always doing something crazy whenever it fights. It actually took down two pseudo-legendaries!
      • Bianca's Oshawott gets thrashed by a particularly evil-looking Audino.
    • Another prime example is Mew. The adorable pink floating kitten that can pretty much learn 99% of ALL Pokémon moves ever created. Do NOT be fooled by the lovable appearance—it is extremely cunning as well as powerful. If you piss it off, it will thrash you. Hard. And then it will float away to go play on a windmill. Hilariously, Mew's voice gets surprisingly much deeper when it was focusing its power in the Lucario movie.
    • One that needs to be mentioned is Ash's Dracovish in Journeys. We saw him act in a very adorable way, like nibbing Ash's head or flailing his arms cutely. Even Iris found him very adorable. Episode 65 has his first official battle in the anime, where he easily defeats Iris's Dragonite.
  • Charlotte is by far the cutest thing in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which is saying something given the art style. She's also the most dangerous of the non-Walpurgisnacht Witches, as poor Mami found out. Kyubey also shows signs of this, though his true danger comes more from being fiendishly manipulative than physically deadly, as his contracts are the reason both Magical Girls and Witches exist.
  • See the ridiculously cute lion and kitty in this picture from Reborn! (2004)? Well, they sometimes turn into this and this.
  • Re:Zero's Subaru comes across a cute little unicorn-horned bunny called a Oousagi in a snowfield and tries to pet the thing. Big mistake. Not only does he get his hand and his foot bitten off, but he gets attacked by an entire swarm of the things and eaten alive in one of the most horrifying ways that he's died so far.
  • Sailor Moon:
    • A very early episode features adorable "chanela," rabbit-like long-haired creatures that are pastel-colored, smell wonderful, and are adorable as they come. Oh, and they're evil little monsters; THEY GOT FANGS!
    • There's also a couple killer cats. The first is Rhett Butler, a fat and lazy tomcat who also happens being the reincarnation of the STRONGEST YOUMA EVER (thankfully, he's not hostile). He managed to scare away a whole gang full of feral cats (including one with More Teeth than the Osmond Family). The second, more prominent one, is Artemis: while he's usually on the sidelines, on one occasion he had to fight a Monster of the Week that had just steamrolled Sailor Moon, and actually held his ground long enough for Sailor Moon return with a Mid-Season Upgrade.
  • Slayers:
    • The first episode of Slayers REVOLUTION introduced Pokota, a small creature entirely suitable as the possible Non-Human Sidekick... until he was upgraded (almost immediately) to The Rival status with the town-destroying Dragon Slave spell in its arsenal. It's later revealed that his true form is a cute prince of a lost kingdom.
    • And let's not forget that the first season gave us Tiiba, who just looked like a chicken but was, in reality, a massively powerful monster once he put on his mask.
  • Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online: LLENN joined Gun Gale Online for no reason than because her randomly generated avatar was small and cute. She immediately dyed all her equipment pink and decided to just have fun. Except her definition of "fun" ended up being "hang out in the desert and kill anyone who gets close." She soon becomes known as the Pink Devil, one of the most infamous player-killers on the server. Her small size, speed, and ruthless tactics win her the first Squad Jam, and in the second she ends up killing someone by biting their throat out. Her avatar even kind of looks like a rabbit.
  • Tenchi Muyo!:
    • Ryo-Ohki can transform from a cute little bunny-cat thing into a spaceship (or a mecha, depending on which permutation you're watching). A spaceship that can destroy entire planets.
      • Even in her cabbit form, she can bite through steel.
        Mihoshi: Please don't eat my gun! [faints]
    • The knife-shooting stuffed animals in Yuzuha's dimension from the second movie. Rather scary as well.
  • Hiyokokko from Tokimeki Memorial ~ Only Love definitely qualifies, though she doesn't actually kill anyone.
  • Eto from Tokyo Ghoul is a child-like Ghoul that skips around, wears a pink floral scarf, and generally just follows her far more intimidating companions around like a Tag Along Kid. She seems like the least dangerous member of Aogiri and doesn't garner much attention from the heroes, but she turns out to simply being biding her time. She's actually the One-Eyed Owl, the most deadly Ghoul on record and Aogiri's true leader.
  • Kirenenko, the former Russian mafia boss of Usavich, is a cute-looking pink rabbit who will seriously wreck your shit if you manage to upset him in the slightest way possible.
  • KuruKurus in World Conquest Zvezda Plot are a bit of a variation. Alone, they're harmless and cute. In large groups, they're... still harmless and cute, except they can, in some circumstances, merge together into a giant monster. "Killing" the monster transforms it back into a swarm of harmless blob critters.
  • Mugetsu from ×××HOLiC is an adorable tube fox who takes to Watanuki and can be seen glomping him, slithering through his clothing, or hanging around his neck — until Watanuki is in danger, at which point he transforms into a normal Kitsune who can detect evil spirits and produce fire.
  • The Moon Rabbits from Yaiba. In particular, Commander Mangetsu, Tsukikage and the Black Moon Rabbit Gekko.
  • Many of the Yo-kai in Yo-kai Watch can turn out to be this.


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