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- Accel World: Haruyuki. Cute? Check. Clumsy? Check. A huge video game nerd with zero self esteem, yet has a rather sizable harem (most of whom are way older than him in many ways)? Double check.
- Ask Dr. Rin!: Tokiwa when he's not possessed is a very sweet, if a little doofy, Chick Magnet.
- This is the core of most of the Asteroid in Love's character designs—one part cuteness (in the moe sense), one part nerdy obsession. Astronomy for Mira, Ao and Mari, geology for Mikage and Chikage, cartography for Mai, and meteorology for Yuu.
- Azumanga Daioh:
- Osaka pretty much has her own cult following due to the trope. She's a spacey Cloudcuckoolander, who believes Chiyo's father is a weird orange cat thing and once thought Chiyo's pigtails were detachable, but that's part of what makes her so adorable.
- Sakaki seems like a cool and aloof girl at first glance, but she's really a kind, shy and introverted girl who adores cute things, like cats or Chiyo. She tends to quietly Squee at the sight of them, and like Osaka, tends to daydream and think Chiyo's dad is a cat.
- Chiyo herself, as despite being smart and Wise Beyond Her Years, she is still a little girl.
- Baccano!:
- Jacuzzi Splot, a sweet, lovable little crybaby with the most ridiculous name in the world. Hidden core of pure badass or not, he's very cute.
- Claire Stanfield when he is off the clock, particularly when he's around Chane Laforet.
- And Isaac and Miria.
- Legoshi from Beastars, a quiet, lanky wolf who's known for being overly polite and proper as a result of his sensitive nature and discomfort in his own skin. Despite being strong enough to maul most of his classmates, when challenged by smaller animals he stands around awkwardly trying to figure out how to convincingly throw the fight, and his tail often gives away his mood which embarrasses him.
- Big Windup!: Mihashi Ren, the protagonist, is chronically anxious and basically a nervous wreck, but he's also quirky and sort of weird, which makes him endearing.
- Birdy the Mighty: Tsutomu Senkawa from the 1996 OVA adaptation. The English dub makes him sound even more dorky.
- Black Butler:
- Mey-rin is one of the clumsiest characters in ever manga and anime; frequently tripping and knocking things over, and is one of the cutest things. She even wears adorable glasses to top it all off!
- Finnian (Finny) is just about the sweetest thing, has the hyperactiveness and enthusiasm of a child, and gets awkward around Angela.
- Snake is really not good with people, due to his early isolation and snake-like features. Also not sure how cake works.
- Arthur, the Moe Nice Guy, and Finnian, the hyper crybaby.
- Grell in butler attire may have epitomized Adorkable, had she not revealed her true nature after one chapter, appearing in butler form for only a few pages.
- Snake is described near-perfectly by this page. Shy? Check. Quirky? Check. Socially awkward? Check, check, check.
- Bleach:
- Rukia has had her moments: her love for cute things and bunnies-specifically chappy, not to mention her drawing skills (or lack there of), plus her "innocent (and dramatic) girly schoolgirl" act she puts on in front of Ichigo's family and classmates is too adorable.
- Surprisingly enough, her older brother Byakuya isn't immune. His obsession with the Seaweed Ambassador, his artwork, and his occasional attempts at telling jokes give him these moments every once in a while.
- Uryu Ishida. Top of his class and is very serious about most things, this includes his love in sewing, and outside of all of this he's kinda socially awkward.
- Hanataro. He's a good medic, but not exactly the epitome of toughness. This is especially evident in scenes with him and Ganju.
- Orihime, Bleach's resident Cloudcuckoolander, manages to be this from time to time.
- Kisuke Urahara, of all people, during the Turn Back the Pendulum arc.
- Blue Exorcist:
- Rin Okumura. He's Book Dumb, somewhat kluzy at times, goes all awkward when it comes to girls he likes, is very childish — especially with friends — and is an AMAZING cook. This
◊ popular image says it all. - Yukio Okumura. Generally the calm, collected guy... but put him in a social situation and he generally falls to pieces as his basic shy nature comes to the front. Multiply this if it involves Shiemi.
- Konekomaru is shy, short glasses-wearing smart guy who adores cats.
- Shiemi Moriyama is downright adorable, so darned sweet, as well as terribly awkward around people.
- Rin Okumura. He's Book Dumb, somewhat kluzy at times, goes all awkward when it comes to girls he likes, is very childish — especially with friends — and is an AMAZING cook. This
- Bokura no Kiseki: Gerald Frolio. He's an awkward and sort of nerdy priest, who clearly has something of a crush of his country's Princess Veronica. This applies to his reincarnation from the series' present timeline, Midou, to a certain extent as well.
- Bunny Drop: Pointed out when Daikichi notes how unfair it is that "Michan" (the dad of one of Rin's classmates) is also extremely clumsy. It was like he was scientifically designed to be as attractive as possible, and the clumsiness just makes him more adorable.
- Can't Defy the Lonely Girl: Ayaka gets easily flustered especially around Honda because of the requests that Honda has her do in return for coming to school. In addition to this, one of her weaknesses is cute animals.
- Cardcaptor Sakura:
- Syaoran, especially when he does his Luminescent Blush because he Cannot Spit It Out. Especially cute because he tries to be mature and serious all the time.
- Sakura. Cute as a button, sweet as pie, ditzy and klutzy... need we say more?
- Case Closed:
- Conan himself. In the beginning of the series the only clothes he's seen wearing are his miniature suit, complete with a bow tie. This combined with his cute ways of expressing his feelings and his Sherlock Holmes obsession create top quality Adorkable material. He can also be classified as an out-and-out mystery geek, not just a Holmes geek.
- Conan's dad, Yusaku Kudo. He's a mystery writer who gets a bit too excited about mysteries. Also, his glasses rock. And his wife/Conan's mom Yukiko mixes this with One of the Kids, Tsundere, and being really damn pretty.
- Conan's teacher Sumiko Kobayashi is not only really pretty, but a very sweet Nice Girl who often goes adorkable when she fangirls over her beloved mystery authors and the Japanese Police (she wanted to be a policewoman before choosing to become a teacher), or when she tries to become the Detective Kids's "manager". Appropriately, when she and Gentleman Inspector Shiratori get together, her adorkable levels start rubbing off on him.
- Cat Planet Cuties: Kio. Manami calls him an otaku but other girls point out to her it's a part of his charm.
- CLANNAD:
- Nagisa is timid, naive, childlike, and mildly eccentric, making her all the more cute and lovable.
- Kotomi is a socially awkward, eccentric Teen Genius who is also very sweet-hearted and generous.
- Fuko. The starfish hobby that she shares with her peers and her Intergenerational Friendship with little Ushio is quite endearing.
- Sanae's bumbling, childlike nature makes her absolutely adorable.
- Code Geass: Suzaku (especially when he's around cats), Lelouch (especially when he's around Shirley), Rolo (around his beloved brother Lelouch), and Shirley.
- Dawn of the Arcana: Caesar, whenever he thinks about Nakaba or tries to make her happy.
- D.Gray-Man:
- Johnny. He's incredibly clumsy and kind-hearted.
- Badass Bookworm Lavi
- Mad Scientist Komui
- Naïve Newcomer Krory
- The Klutz Miranda
- Allen, since his Moe Nice Guy traits have been known to reach dangerous levels.
- D.N.Angel:
- Kosuke, Daisuke's dad. He's very clumsy and kind-hearted.
- Towa-chan, especially when she's around Dark.
- Daily Lives of High School Boys: The Literature Girl. A Cute Clumsy Girl who tried to re-enact the novel she wrote and had a crush with they guy (Hidenori) who happened to sit on the Artificial Riverbank? Check.
- Darker than Black: This is about half the point of "Li Sheng Shun". He's so adorably inept, clumsy, kindhearted, and naive that you just want to hug him, and nobody would ever suspect he's secretly the Black Reaper, the most badass and stoic guy in a series full of emotionless killing machines.
- Death Note: Considering that most of the main characters are intelligent, awkward youngsters, this trope is inevitable.
- Light Yagami is this during the Yotsuba Arc.
- Matsuda. He's (somewhat) dumb, but also kind hearted and determined to try and prove himself useful.
- Despite L's obsession with justice and his gangly pale figure, he manages to do this by smiling. During the few times where he's not giving the Kira case his undivided attention, he's this.
- Near, particularly when his shyness and social ineptitude comes into play. The fact that he's older than he looks certainly helps.
- Minoru Tanaka as well. He shyly asks Ryuk some details about the past with a very sweet facial expression.
- Laios from Delicious in Dungeon is nothing less than a huge monster nerd. He just loves everything about them and his enthusiasm is both endearing and infectious.
- Descendants of Darkness: Tsuzuki, a happy-go-lucky, dorky shinigami with a sweet tooth.
- Mile from Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life? is an adorable preteen with absolutely zero common sense.
- Digimon Adventure:
- Izzy is a socially inept computer geek. Digimon Adventure tri. takes it further, especially whenever he's in the presence of Mimi.
- Joe Kido tries so hard to be the responsible Team Dad of the group, but is also a totally neurotic nerd. He starts to grow out of the neurotic nerd part of his personality later on, but no matter what his adorkableness remains.
- Digimon Adventure 02:
- Davis/Daisuke who is such a ditzy goofball and can be rather silly around his crush. One of the dorkiest things to behold, yet cute.
- Ken displays traits of this once he joins the team as a contrast to his former Kaiser persona; he's incredibly awkward and somewhat socially inept, but it only makes him come off as more of a nice guy.
- Wormmon's childlike behavior and voice make him incredibly cute and endearing.
- Digimon Tamers: Takato. The kid's just so earnest, it's hard for him to be anything but. It's really easy to see in his interactions with Ruki, who can go Tsun-Tsun when she realized he's added too-girly emoticons to the e-mail he wrote in her stead, and dere-dere when she pretends to be more annoyed then she is at his failed attempt to keep her surprise birthday party a surprise.
- Some Digimon themselves qualify for the trope as well, particularly Gomamon.
- Doctor Slump:
- Arale, a clumsy and curious Robot Girl who is clueless about how the world works. The small, cute-like appearance, huge glasses, along with her perpetually bubbly and innocent personality make her very endearing.
- Obotchaman, Arale's love interest (originally created to be her Evil Knockoff) also qualifies. Unlike Arale, he's extremely well-mannered and polite. He's also shy, romantic and so smitten with Arale that he gets adorably awkward when talking to or about her.
- Durarara!!:
- Mikado, who's even gained the fan nickname Moekado. Also Shinra, Kida, and Erika and Walker.
- When Vorona goes undercover as Shizuo's kohai to discover his weaknesses and eventually kill him, she discovers to her surprise that the God of Destruction in a Bartender Suit is actually a rather dorky Nice Guy when he's not under the influence of his violent Hair-Trigger Temper. Cue the defrosting.
- Celty every time she tries to do regular human things like cooking or playing video games or when she gets scared of aliens and cops.
F-M
- Free!: Rei is book smart and serious, but still does ridiculous things as if they were normal, like trying on silly patterned swimsuits with gusto, calling Rin "Rin-chan-san" note , and pretending to be a detective and making sound effects while spying on Rin.
- Freedom Project: Takeru and Bismarck. Their dorky teenage nervousness around girls, for many, will ring all too true.
- Takeru
- Bismarck
- Fruits Basket: Kyo Sohma tries to act all macho, but in reality he's really a lovable dork, especially around Tohru, his love interest. He's also the family punching bag.
- Fullmetal Alchemist:
- Many fans found the Wacky Marriage Proposal of Ed, and Winry's response to it, to be pure adorkable. Ed words his proposal in alchemical terms, while Winry words her reply in percentages. Link to view the scene. There's an even more awkwardly adorable proposal done as a fan request while Vic Mignogna & Caitlin Glass was at a 2008 MegaCon booth, leading to much laughter, many squeals, and quite some awws all around.
- Roy Mustang. He has a superlatively depressing past that he was intensely traumatized by, so he deliberately acts like a womanizing jerk as a part of his long-term plan to atone for his sins. In reality he's a complete softie and a loveable dork.
- Edward Elric , especially when dealing with anything related to Winry and romance and his adorable overreactions over his height and anger at being called "little" brother.
- Kain Furey, a small passive nerdy guy with slight Lovable Coward leanings. Later he takes a couple levels in badass, but he remains as adorable as ever.
- Sheska, the Cute Bookworm from Central Library.
- Al, the giant suit of armor who loves kittens.
- Many fans found the Wacky Marriage Proposal of Ed, and Winry's response to it, to be pure adorkable. Ed words his proposal in alchemical terms, while Winry words her reply in percentages. Link to view the scene
- Full Metal Panic!: The normally calm and Stoic Sousuke Sagara becomes a complete dork around women or when confronted with romance or anything sexual. Both Kaname and Tessa admit that one of the reasons they like him is that even the PTSD-riddled, terrifying military persona can't mask the fact that he's ultimately an earnest, socially awkward dork just trying his best to be helpful (even if he's terrible at it.)
- Future Diary: There's Yukiteru who is an Expy of Shinji.
- Galaxy Express 999: The Conductor has his moments, thanks to his joyful, kind and goofy personality.
- Genshiken: Madarame is a perfect example of this trope. He is a Hot-Blooded Otaku, but at the same time is a bit uncomfortable around acts of physical affection. His Spiritual Successor seems to have gotten better in Spotted Flower.
- John Brown of Ghost Hunt has his moments. Bring him up to any of his fans and the word 'cute' will come up, usually because of his charmingly naive personality and/or amusing facial expressions.
- Girls Bravo: Yukinari. Also, Koyomi.
- Haikyuu!!: Kageyama. He might be an amazing volleyball player, but is as socially awkward as it gets. His cluelessness in social situations along with his serious attitude about the most mundane and ridiculous things (such as buying milk or joghurt drinks at a vending machine) make him come off as endearing to fans.
- Happy Kanako’s Killer Life: The eponymous Kanako has many cute attributes such as reciting the names of different animals to set her mind at ease. Upon becoming an assassin, she is at first disturbed by her killings but gradually becomes a natural at it to the point she was happy to know that she had become a legend in the underground.
- Hellsing:
- Seras Victoria. She's rather clumsy, but she has a good heart and just plain cute, so who cares if she's a vampire?
- Same could be said of Schrodinger. The loss of his handbook leads to a rather cute moment.
- High School D×D: Many characters end up being this trope in one way or another. The most prominent examples are Issei, Rias, Asia & Gasper.
- High School Of The Dead: Kohta Hirano, a bullied otaku loser who proves himself more than useful in the zombie apocolypse.
- Higurashi: When They Cry:
- Rena is a bubbly girl who is obsessed with cute things and collects garbage so she could take it home with her.
- Keiichi, especially during the "punishment games".
- His and Her Circumstances: Yukino Miyazawa is a gifted high school student lauded by classmates and teachers. This apparent brilliance, however, is mainly used as a means to garner praise. At home, Yukino is very dorky.
- Hot Gimmick: beautiful, spineless, Shrinking Violet Hatsumi and Hatsumi's sweet and unassuming friend Subaru.
- How to Treat a Lady Knight Right:
- A large part of the manga's humor stems from Leo, a hardened badass knight, becoming flustred and awkward whenever confronted with Houli's feelings for her, or hers for him. She also gets very eager when shopping in a weapons shop, speaking of the deadly implements with such innocent joy that Houli has to Lampshade it.
- Helga takes this to extremes, as her complete lack of social skills and her desire to be friends with Leo make her come off as incredibly adorable, even with her Face of a Thug.
- I Think Our Son Is Gay: Hiroki is a young, easily excited and sweet boy that gets easily flustered and is very obviously in love with one of his classmates. It's shown that a number of people In-Universe think he is cute too, including his mom, his brother, his brother's friends, and even his crush.
- Infinite Stratos:
- Laura Bodewig, post-meltdown. Her lack of social skills make almost any social interaction awkwardly and hilariously cute.
- Houki Shinonono is dorkily attractive whenever she's flustered or happy.
- Jagaaaaaan: Once her feelings for Jagasaki become apparent, Bell begins sporting an almost permanent Luminescent Blush around him and she ends up being hilariously adorable whenever she confesses her feelings for him in her usual blunt ways.Bell: I want your genes.
- Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru: Minoru.
- Log Horizon: Akatsuki roleplays being a ninja constantly, has trouble conversing with other people, but is very earnest, so when she speaks, what comes out is sometimes very awkward.
- Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!: Rikka, As a result of her small and cuddly appearance awkwardly contrasting with her delusions of grandeur.
- Little Witch Academia:
- Atsuko "Akko" Kagari. Akko may not be the sharpest tool in the shed; but her never-ending optimism and believing heart makes her so cute; along her huge obsession with Shiny Chariot.
- Lotte Jansson. Lotte is an adorable and kind bookworm; being quiet and humble most of the time. And her love for Nightfall is precious.
- Love Hina: Keitaro. Sure he might be a huge Accidental Pervert, but his genuine desire to know the other tenants and his constant determination are endearing.
- Lucky Star: Tsukasa. She's prone to oversleeping, isn't very good at studying, and overall makes a lot of adorable mess-ups, looking just as adorable trying (unsuccessfully) to correct these faults.
- Despite being a powerful dragon equal to Tohru in strength, Elma from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is shown to be fairly innocent and naive at times, is easily flustered, gets very excited about sweets, and gets fired up over simple things while often failing to look threatening at all. She even amuses kids with "old man" humor. Before she manages to become a proper coder, she was pretty much the office mascot due to this.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn:
- Banagher Links — Banagher is a very sweet guy who loves geeking out about Haro and has a tendency to stare out into space, even while someone's talking to him.
- Audrey Burne — Audrey almost always tries to make herself seem mature and stoic, but good food, especially hotdogs, excitement from othersnote , and Banagher elicit very flustered and adorkable reactions from her. The novel version mentions that she hides under the bed like a little kid whenever she's scared.
- Monochrome Factor: Kengo has this in spades. Not only is he a sweet lovable idiot who bounces back nearly all the time even though he keeps getting treated as the punching bag of the group, he looks the cutest when he's crying or smiling (which is nearly all the time). too bad he gets killed off gruesomely. even worse, he went out with a smile, accepting his own death for the sake of his friends.
- Young Tenma from Monster, before his badass upgrade made him stop being a woobie doormat.note The gangly, badly-dressed Grimmer looks quite adorkable as well... at least when he's not Hulking out.
N-R
- Jean from Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, pictured above. Not only is he intelligent, he is also generous, sweet-natured, caring, friendly, loyal, naïve, and dedicated to what he likes. He's quite brave, as well. Of course he's naturally green when it comes to social graces around the opposite sex, but in a way it proves to be an asset. Nadia's English voice actress once said that she would date someone like him "in a heartbeat".
- Naruto:
- Naruto. When he's not in Determinator mode he's socially awkward, and early on, most of his boasts came off more as cute/laughable than intimidating. Not to mention Hinata Hyuga and Rock Lee.
- Naruto and Hinata get an extra dose of this in The Last: Naruto the Movie, especially in the second act of the movie, after he realizes he's in love with her and he starts being incredibly unsubtle with his feelings, whilst she is humorously, and ironically, oblivious to it all.
- No one could have predicted that Hashirama, the First Hokage, was this. He noticeably stands out against his brother, the Second Hokage who is very stoic while the former is goofy, friendly and just plain Keet, cheerfully admitting he spoiled his granddaughter rotten. One person even commented how it was hard to believe that such a cheerful, happy-go-lucky person used to be one of the strongest shinobi in the world. Proves to be a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass by intimidating his brother, Sasuke, Juugo, Suigetsu, and Orochimaru through sheer willpower without moving an inch.
- Naruto. When he's not in Determinator mode he's socially awkward, and early on, most of his boasts came off more as cute/laughable than intimidating. Not to mention Hinata Hyuga and Rock Lee.
- Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Aside from the title character, there's Nodoka, Chachamaru, and especially Setsuna, whose cool demeanor flies out the window in the presence of her Ojou-sama.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion:
- Mari Makinami from Rebuild of Evangelion can't see without her glasses and, outside of her EVA, is socially awkward to the point that Rei could fit in better than her.
- Shinji Ikari, who apologises a lot, plays the cello, is mostly polite to everyone, and is self-deprecating (but without the humourous irony). It's probably why he appears to have UST with many of the female characters in the cast.
- Outside of work, Misato is a lovable slob/Genki Girl who is Fun Personified and a Lethal Chef, which often makes her the Butt-Monkey target.
- Rei, who is shut off from practically everyone to the point of not knowing appropriate responses to others. For example, Shinji suggests that she should try smiling and Rei takes inspiration of how to smile with a memory of Gendo smiling at her.
- Asuka occasionally can be this, particularly when she's being very theatrical or showing off to strangers. When she's not coming off as an Alpha Bitch, it can be amusingly-endearing.
- No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!: Tomoko. One of the reasons /a/ just wanna hug her.
- Ojamajo Doremi:
- Doremi Harukaze. Very clumsy and self-proclaimed unluckiest girl in the world, but always willing to help someone in need.
- Hazuki Fujiwara. A very sweet girl who's also shy, sensitive and easily scared. And she wears Nerd Glasses.
- Momoko Asuka is a hyper, hammy, adorably ditzy Funny Foreigner. She can be blunt at times and a Cloudcuckoolander, but still a well-intentioned, caring Nice Girl.
- Ōkami-san: Ryōshi Morino. He even has a phobia of people looking at him.
- Onani Master Kurosawa: Intentionally the case with the excited-about-everything, anime-obsessed, Friend-To-All-Outcast-Nerds Nagaoka. His adorkability causes not one but two girls to fall in love with him—Magistel, who up until that point had been protagonist Kurosawa's Love Interest, and Kitahara, who is, unfortunately, not entirely sane.
- One Stormy Night: Mei the goat. He is a sweet little goat who's just so darn dorky and clumsy that he steals the spotlight from Gabu most of the time.
- Ouran High School Host Club: Tamaki. He has the handsome bishie looks and is very adept at flirting with girls he doesn't much know, but around friends (not to mention his actual love interest) he becomes a lot more of a lovable idiot.
- PandoraHearts:
- Gilbert. Psychologically, he's a wubbly mess and often behaves very childishly. The other characters (and the mangaka) enjoy picking on him mercilessly.
- Oz at times, and Leo as well at least before he takes off his glasses and gets a haircut.
- Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: Brief, the somewhat woobie-ish Butt-Monkey Kid Sidekick.
- The Pet Girl of Sakurasou: Mashiro can easily be summed up as an Idiot Savant. While sometimes her mannerisms would enrage her Cloudcuckoolander's Minder Sorata, the first OP, written in Sorata's voice, seems to put her straight into this trope:Maybe you're just innocent, unyieldingly innocent...
- Psycho-Pass: Akane has shades of dorky cuteness. Before her Break the Cutie Trauma Conga Line.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Madoka and Homura, before she took over 9000 levels in badass.
- Ranma ½: Ranma when he lets go of the jerk part of his Jerk with a Heart of Gold nature.
- Read or Die: Yomiko Readman. The quintessential bookworm. So nerdy. So cute. And so very, very scary.
- Reborn! (2004): Tsuna.
- Irie Shouichi. He's even got the glasses.
- Dino when his subordinates aren't around becomes really clumsy and dorky.
- Robotech: Max Sterling. Long hair, glasses, an always-friendly disposition, and his excellence with video games helping him also become The Ace fighter pilot (it's unclear whether being an Ace made him good at Veritech games or vice versa, however). That he's also voiced by master-Adorkable voice actor Cam Clarke helps. His original Super Dimension Fortress Macross counterpart Max Jenius has plenty of this too.
- Robotics;Notes:
- Genki Girl robot Otaku Akiho, Hikikomori Yaoi Fan Girl Frau who practically speaks in text talk, and Tsundere Subaru aka MISTER PLEIADES!
- Akiho's case seems to be genetic as her sister Misa had the same traits in the flashbacks before Makishima Kou began messing with her...
- Rurouni Kenshin: Sweet, kind and cuddly (most of the time) Himura Kenshin.
S-Z
- Saki:
- Saki Miyanaga, due to her shy nature, her love of books, and her vulnerability.
- Kaori Senoo from Tsuruga, a timid and socially awkward girl, who also doesn't know much about mahjong (for example, calling out riichi without getting the stick, and not realizing when she has a Yakuman hand). Her character selection screen in the PSP game lampshades this trope.
"Somehow the sight of this timid second-year student fidgeting away is just too captivating." - Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove it: Main characters Ayame Himuro and Shinya Yukimura are a pair of logical, serious-minded graduate students with absolutely zero romantic experience who set out to use the Scientific Method to answer What Is This Thing You Call "Love"? to determine if they are actually in love with one another. They perform experiments with tropes like the Wall Pin of Love and the Affectionate Gesture to the Head, performing them and measuring the effects they have on the two of them. As seriously as they take this study, they are woefully unprepared for when their experiments work and render them flustered and blushing. Himuro in particular has a ponytail that wiggles and bobbles while her face is blushing red.
- Seiyu's Life!: Futaba is a big ball of awkward moe, getting nervous at even the slightest hint of going outside her comfort zone or making a decision for herself. Ichigo also applies, with her persona of being a princess from the Strawberry Planet that she'll slip into without notice. Presumably, this is the reason why the studio director chose the two of them and Rin to be radio hosts.
- Sgt. Frog:
- Sergeant Keroro. In moments when he's genuinely excited about something, he expresses a child-like enthusiasm that is just too cute for words.
- Fuyuki. Total occult nerd, and a walking Geeky Turn-On. The guy gets a lot of female attention for being such a geek.
- Shaman King:
- Yoh Asakura, a ditzy, laid-back protagonist who is also adorable.
- Manta could probably surpass Yoh in this department, since he's a chibi Smart Guy. In fact, he's probably the anime character personification of the trope.
- Despite the Values Dissonance taking place, Chocolove could qualify. His persistence on making people laugh is awfully endearing, and in a way, he's sort of an Ugly Cute.
- A Silent Voice:
- Shouko is rather socially awkward and childlike, but that doesn't make her any less cute and lovable.
- Yuzuru is an eccentric photographer who is quite adorable, nonetheless.
- Nagatsuka is a mildly overemotional oddball who is very endearing as well, notably in his interactions with Shouya and Yuzuru.
- The title character from Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san. Aside from being earnest, knowledgeable, and hardworking, her interactions with customers are pure gold. Just look at her awkward reaction to the handsome old man. When she's approached by a group of girls asking about what she thinks the hottest BL is, her lower jaw falls off.
- Slayers: Gourry Gabriev is often viewed as adorkable by fangirls. He's a badass swordsman, but his terrible memory (at least in the anime) and tendency to be really sweet and a genuinely nice guy make him totally Adorkable. Less so in the original novels; Gourry's actually got a bit of a dry, snarky sense of humor and he's more observant than Lina gives him credit for. Gourry's anime portrayal seems to be a Flanderization of how Lina perceives him; viz. as nonmagical as it's possible to get and therefore a complete moron.
- Soul Eater: Crona, especially on hir first day as a student at Shibusen; constantly hiding behind Maka like a frightened five-year-old.
- Maka. She may be a total badass on the battlefield (even then, a Badass Adorable and Badass Bookworm), but she can definitely become this trope at times. Especially the basketball scene.
- Squid Girl:
- The titular protagonist is this so much. Being a literal Fish out of Water, she doesn't know a whole lot about the surface, and has a child-like naiveté and curiosity for a lot of mundane things of normal human life. Mix that with some genuine naiveté and some Genki Girl tendencies, and you get a very adorkable girl.
- Keiko Furukawa is a cute young policewoman, and always eager to help and protect whoever she can. Unfortunately for her, she's a Cute Clumsy Girl with No Sense of Direction, and tends to be forgetful and incompetent. Bless her heart though, she really tries to do a good job.
- Steel Angel Kurumi 2: Nako. She wears glasses, she's incredibly clumsy, and kind-hearted.
- Steins;Gate:
- Kurisu Makise — a tsundere Closet Otaku complete with Sugar-and-Ice Personality and plenty of adorkable moments in the series.
- Okabe, especially with his Large Ham moments — it's no wonder most of the female (and one temporarily gender bent guy) cast fell for him. He's a real Chick Magnet.
- Being a shut-in gamer for most of his life, Kirito is not very good with social interactions, especially when it comes to girls, having a tendency to trip over his own words so others gets the wrong idea.
- Super Sonico. Despite being a model, she's socially awkward and introverted. She's also an avid gamer, and one of the Soni Comi endings shows her playing a game while using various geeky game terms. In addition, SoniComi and her official videos on YouTube show that she greatly struggles with some physical exercises, even getting exhausted after doing six or less consecutive pushups.
- Talentless Nana:
- Kyouya. His love for retro games, slightly awkward grasp of social skills, and eager efforts towards making new friends greatly contrast with his unapproachable nature.
- Moe is a very excitable girl, despite being a trained assassin, who goes in headfirst rather than plan, and she is absolutely dedicated to her grandmother.
- When lives are not on the line, Nana can get very excited about figuring out the potential and limits of someone's Talent.
- Mametchi from Tamagotchi is a genius who's always geeking out over something scientific and a little awkward, and like every other Tamagotchi he's a Ridiculously Cute Critter.
- Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note: He may not be nerdy enough in his home country, but Kazuhiko Kozuka would be nerdy enough here—he's a science whiz with a side order of Encyclopaedic Knowledge (and thus occasionally plays Mr. Exposition). On the other hand, he plays the role of the sweet Boy Next Door, which stands out from a cast consisting of a Stock Shōnen Hero, The Social Expert, and Stoic Spectacles.
- Tiger & Bunny: Lampshaded — Agnes points out that Sky High's dorkiness is part of the reason he's so damn popular, with his silly catchphrase ("Thank you! And again, thank you!") among other things.
- Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head Kidou Kyuukyuu Keisatsu
- Taiga Yagura. Aside from his rather poor social skills and his love for bizarre-flavored ice creams, he's the kid who proudly declares that a blobby stick-figure he crafted out of wood is Backdraft.
- Sasagawa as well. She's a sweet, gushing robot fangirl. Normally she tries to stay professional, but occasionally will slip and start obsessing while on TV (her career being a news announcer).
- Somehow, even Karigari manages to have an Adorkable side. Normally an Insufferable Genius, who always loves an opportunity to boast about his knowledge on science, history or anything else, he's so awkward around his crush, Sasagawa, that he can barely speak with her.
- Even Kurumada, when he geeks out over his own machines and acts so overprotective of them.
- Trigun: Vash fits this quite well, easily falling into being a Badass Adorkable during times of comedic calamity that tend to follow him.
- Unicorn And The Lonesome Girl: This is part of Wakana's character flaw. She is a very shy and can get easily embarrassed. Things only get worse for her once she met the titular perverted unicorn.
- Waiting in the Summer: Kaito wears glasses, frequently dorks out with his old-fashioned camera, always nice but very awkward...we have a winner!
- The World God Only Knows:
- Yandere Kanojo: Wannabe-ace student Shiratori is considered adorkable in-universe. He thinks he's popular with girls because he's so cool. He's a Bishōnen who's great at athletics and academics, so he should be a natural Chick Magnet. In reality, it's because he gets really shy and flustered when girls flirt with him, which they find irresistible.
- Yo Kai Watch: Komasan is an adorable,shy, and sensitive Yo-Kai that travels and currently lives in a city with his little brother Komajiro. Throughout the anime, Komasan is hired for various stuff like a janitor and a detective. Then there is Komasan and Komajiro's human forms that are just as cute as their Yo-kai forms.
- ×××HOLiC: Watanuki, at least before Yuko's death. The way he expresses himself tend to be overly exaggerated as well as hilarious, making him even funnier as well as cute. The adorkableness adds even more with Todd Haberkorn playing him in the English dub.
- Shin-ah in Yona of the Dawn is not used to being around people due to his isolated childhood but earnestly tries his best for his friends who find him endearing, although sometimes confusing.
- Zombie Land Saga:
- There's no denying how effectively endearing Sakura is able to make herself. She is clumsy, constantly anxious, and a has a tendency to overexcite herself. But is also incredibly kind, passionate, and a loving and loyal teammate to the very end.
- Junko in-universe was revered as a pure and perfect idol who kept herself elusive to fans so that they could admire her from afar. Then you meet the real her: an intensely shy, demure girl who gets flustered about love, can't operate a computer to save someone's life, and is constantly being chased around like a cat by Tae. She also has a some very sweet interactions with those closest to her like Ai and Sakura, especially the former.
- Revenge introduces Maimai Yuzuriha, an incomparably upbeat, klutzy, and sweet girl with a massive admiration for Franchouchou. Even the reveal that her idols are zombies isn't enough to sway her sheer glee meeting them.
