Manga / Gakuen Babysitters

The Morinomiya Daycare

After their parents died in a plane crash, fifteen-year-old Ryūichi Kashima and his preschooler brother Kotarō are taken in by Yōko Morinomiya, the stern chairwoman of Morinomiya Secondary School, who also happened to have lost her son and daughter-in-law in the same accident. However, she also believes in a give-and-take relationship, and thus in exchange for her legal guardianship, she also assigns Ryūichi with investing much of his extracurricular time working at the school's daycare center.

Initially established to look after the little children of the school's faculty while they are away with their day jobs, the daycare is struggling due to lack of coverage from the school's budget, and efforts to establish a babysitting club among the students fell flat, leaving all the work to Yoshihito Usaida, an easygoing faculty member and alumnus of the school. With Ryūichi's arrival, the club has been restarted with him as its first member. Besides Kotarō, he will also be looking after five other little kids: bratty Taka Kamitani, refined Kirin Kumatsuka, the polar-opposite Mamizuka twins Takuma and Kazuma, and sweet baby Midori Sawatari. Fortunately he has help in the form of Taka's older brother Hayato, the star player of the school's baseball team, as well as ace student Maria Inomata.

With their new life in place, the Kashima brothers slowly learn to grow and thrive in a world where they are now largely on their own.

Gakuen Babysitters (学園ベビーシッターズ, "School Babysitters") is a Slice of Life shoujo manga written and illustrated by Hari Tokeino (of Me & My Brothers fame). It began serialization in Hakushensa's LaLa magazine in 2009, and is still ongoing. It also received an animated adaptation directed by Shūsei Morishita for Brains Base in winter 2018, simulcasted by Crunchyroll.

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This series provides examples of:

• Age-Appropriate Angst:
  • Ryuuichi and Kotarou cope differently to their parents' deaths. While both are saddened, Ryuuichi misses their parents more as he is a teenager with more fond memories of his parents while Kotarou is still a young toddler. He also has the additional pressures of caring for Kotarou since he is the only living relative Kotarou has left.
  • Kamitani has issues against his distant father, compared to Taka, when their father left shortly after Taka was born. While Taka quickly gets over the fact he doesn't know his father and doesn't need one, Kamitani has to constantly see his father at school and even gets berated by his father for calling him "Dad" during work hours.
• Always Identical Twins: Two sets of twins, Kazuma/Takuma and Kichi/Suekichi, are identical. Both can be told apart by their temperaments — Kazuma and Kichi are usually teary while Suekichi and Takuma are energetic.
• Ambiguous Situation: It isn't clear whether Midori saying "Udda!" was just her typical baby gibberish or an attempt to say Usaida's name. Either way, Midori's mother Yukari is a little upset that her daughter's (supposed) first word wasn't "Mama" or "Papa".
• And You Were There: In one chapter, Kotarou has a dream where he's taken in by the princess of the cat people. Aside from the princess, everyone in the fantasy world are versions of people he already knows with animal ears and tails.
• Angry Cheek Puff:
  • In episode 10, Midori gets mad when Satoru mistakes her for a boy and puffs her cheeks in anger at him.
  • In one episode, Midori, feeling frustrated, puffs out her cheeks as she tugs on Usaida's pant leg, where she shouts out his name as her first word. The next day, her mother Yukari does the exact same thing when she's cross with Usaida because she wanted Midori's first word to be "Papa" or "Mama".
• Animal Theme Naming: Many of the characters have names that are written with kanji that relates to animals, which is often lampshaded directly in the dialogue or alluded to through images and in the anime's opening. In Ryuuichi and the kids' case, both their given names and family names relate to animals.
  • The Kashima family name is based on the deer. Ryuuichi's is based on the dragon, while Kotarou's is based on the tiger.
  • The Kamitani family name is based on the wolf. Taka's name literally means hawk, while Hayato is an alternate reading for falcon.
  • Inomata's family name is based on the boar.
  • Usaida's family name is based on the rabbit.
  • Kirin's family name is based on the bear, and her given name sounds the same as the Japanese word for "giraffe".
  • The chairwoman's given name, Youko, is based on the sheep.
  • Combined with Theme Twin Naming, both Kazuma and Takuma's names are based on the horse. Their family name is based on the tanuki.
  • Midori's family name is based on the monkey, and her given name is based on the bird.
• Animation Anatomy Aging: The series provides a typical example by making the toddlers chibi, huge-eyed, chubby-cheeked, and about an eighth of the size of the rest of the cast.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Not all sunshines and rainbow with siblings in the series; Taka usually bugs Kamitani enough to get smacked, and Inui finds Mika's obsession with love (especially when Kamitani is involved) annoying. Even Kotarou isn't immune to this, as Ryuuichi once relates a story about how Kotarou took his phone and dropped it in the toilet.
• Ascended Extra: Several characters who initially play little in the story start to appear more often. For example, Ushimaru becomes more than just the one girl with a crush on Kashima when she befriends both the toddlers and Inomata, and Chuukichi appears more often when the story introduces his family.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: The babysitters are forced to cross-dress by Kumatsuka Yayoi so her husband will be easier to handle — he unfortunately sees right through Usaida's disguise, but somehow manages to be fooled by the other two (even when Kamitani spoke up in his usual deep voice). A dressed-up Ryuuichi also actually manages to attract Inui who, not knowing "her" true identity, tried to confess to "her". Due to unforeseen circumstances, Ryuuichi never manages to reveal the truth to Inui until Chapter 43.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: The Kamitani siblings constantly call each other "idiots" — Hayato always hits his younger brother if the latter starts being unreasonable, while Taka responds by calling his brother names. But, as shown in chapter 6, Taka loves his older brother, while Hayato admits that he doesn't hate Taka.
• Baby's First Words: At the end of Usaida's Sick Episode, the infant Midori — who so far could only incoherently babble — pulls on his pants and exclaims "Udda!" twice; the shocked Ryuuichi wonders whether or not that was her attempting to say Usaida's name. Midori's mother's reaction after being informed that her daughter spoke the name of her babysitter instead of, say, either "Mama" or "Papa" is to pout in frustration while grudgingly telling Usaida that it's probably unfair to blame him for this coincidence.
• Baby Talk: All the children have varying degrees of competency in conversational speech, though Kirin's is the most prominent with the mispronunciation of many of her words. In an attempt at Woolseyism, all the translators so far have translated this into the Elmuh Fudd Syndwome.
• Barbershop Episode: Chapter 69 where Umi gives Takuma and Kazuma Gag Haircuts when Kazuma's too afraid of the barber.
• Beach Episode: Chapter 12 has the babysitters, the children of the daycare, and their mothers go to the beach. Aside from one small scene with Inomata and her new swimsuit (with Ryuuichi and Kamitani reacting pretty much how you'd expect them to), this isn't done for fan service. Rather, they take the opportunity to explore Ryuuichi's insecurities about the trust and care between him and his brother by using his current and past visits to the beach along with Kotarou as a devices.
• Big Brother Instinct: The older brothers in the series are protective of their siblings with varying degrees. Ryuuichi dotes on his younger brother very much and worries whenever he has to leave him with someone else; Kamitani isn't all that affectionate but doesn't like the idea of Taka being around his father, and is genuinely helpful in conquering his fear of going to the toilet; Inui would rather stomach his sister's bad cooking instead of throwing it out; and Chuukichi helps out his younger siblings whenever he can.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Kamitani does this twice. Once when he stops a cat from eating the chicks the kids were taking care of; and another time in Kotarou's dream, where he's a dog spirit who saves Kotarou from being turned into a cat spirit.
  • Inui saves Kotarou from falling down the staircase and also rescues him from being hit by a soccer ball.
• Big Fancy House: Ryuuichi and Kotarou's new home with Chairwoman Morinomiya is a mansion, a given since she is well off.
• Bishie Sparkle: Even Kirin eventually calls Yagi the "sparkly onii-chan". Sparkles are also observed with other attractive guys like Kousuke Mamizuka.
• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: The toddlers' fathers tend to react unnecessarily in regards to their young daughters. Kirin's dad Satoru thinks all men (and toddler-aged boys) are beasts after his daughter and Midori's dad Yutaka sounds rather threatening when he sees Satoru holding on to Midori longer than he'd like him to.
• Boyfriend Bluff: Played for Laughs when Inui wants to meet "Inomata" (actually a crossdressing Ryuuichi), in order to deter him, Yayoi comes up with a situation where Kamitani pretends to be "Inomata"'s boyfriend. Despite the stiff acting, the plan is temporarily successful.
• Bratty Half-Pint: All of the kids are annoying to varying degrees, mainly because they're not old enough to learn what's appropriate behaviour with most people. Examples include when Kirin hands Ushimaru a handful of bugs, Takuma and Kazuma play tug-of-war on multiple occasions with Kotarou between them, everyone locking various people outside for fun, and how Taka is loud, obnoxious, disrespectful, and inconsiderate of other peoples' feelings in favor of himself.
• Brick Joke:
  • After mistakenly believing Kotarou has experienced his first love and needlessly preparing red beans and rice (see The Other Wiki on sekihan), Saikawa promises Ryuuichi that he would prepare sekihan as well for when Ryuuichi actually does experience his first love. A few chapters later, he does prepare the dish when Ryuuichi receives a love letter in his locker.
  • There's a chapter where Nezu's little brothers are stuck in the bushes with their heads sticking out for almost the entirety of the chapter. The chapter ends with Saikawa saying that there were two butts in the bushes that day.
• Calling the Old Man Out: The climax of chapter 25 has Ryuuichi handing in his reflection to Hebihara on Kamitani and Taka's relationship as he does not like how Hebihara treats his sons.
• Camping Episode: Chapter 66 where Ryuuichi, Kamitani, their brothers, the Mamizuka males, Yagi, Chuukichi, his younger twin brother, and Asahi go to a campsite for a picnic and end up locked out of their car and fish for lunch.
• Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Because the daycare kids are just toddlers, they often can't differentiate what they see in books or on television from reality. Taka believes superheroes are real since he once met the actors from a Sentai show he watches while they were in costume, and Kirin spends a whole chapter trying to fly on a broom so she can become a witch. Kazuma is shown to be scared of his father Kousuke at first since he saw a movie where Kousuke played a kidnapper, and later on the kids all become convinced that Kousuke is now a villain after they see him playing a Hero Killer on a Tokusatsu show they all watch. After Asahi intervenes, they're slowly starting to learn that actors are different from the characters they play.
• Casting Gag: Saikawa's not the first time Daisuke Ono has played one hell of a butler.
• Catch Your Death of Cold: Whenever a character gets a cold, it's attributed to cold temperatures instead of to a virus.
• Cats Are Mean: The school has a cat with a scar on one eye hanging around its grounds that pops up from time to time to cause trouble, doing things like stealing Kazuma's doll, ruining the pool the kids are playing in, and attempting to attack a chick that they're playing with.
• Central Theme:
  • You Are Not Alone; there's always someone for you to look after and to look after you.
  • Children are a blessing, even if they are brats sometimes.
• Child Care and Babysitting Stories: The plot of the work belongs to this genre. With Ryuuichi and Kotarou's parents meeting their end in a plane crash and with nowhere to live, the Morinomiya Academy offers them a place to stay on the condition that Ryuuichi helps out with the school's "babysitter's club." Ryuuichi then becomes responsible for both his little brother and a bunch of toddlers with amusing personalities.
• Children Are Innocent: Most of the time when the kids misbehave, it's because they're trying to make someone happy and don't quite understand yet that sometimes what they do is wrong, such as Kirin trying to cheer up Ushimaru by giving her a handful of bugs. Played with hilariously in one particular chapter where Kotarou's reaction to hearing a story about a murderous ghost in the school bathroom is to look for said ghost whenever he goes potty in order to play with her.
• Class Trip: In one chapter, Morinomiya goes on a school trip to the mountains. Usaida and the rest of the daycare come along as well.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: Both Ryuuichi and Kamitani are the two most fawned over boys within their class, and neither have picked up on it, even when a girl attempts to confess by giving Kamitani some valentine chocolates (he rejects the chocolate simply because he dislikes sweets). Though they hold no real negative feelings toward either, the rest of the boys in the class are none too pleased with the excess attention they receive.
• Comically Missing the Point: In the Beach Episode, Kamitani's mum attempts to get the boys to compliment Inomata when she returns in her new swimsuit, implying that they should say something to her. Kamitani responds with his usual bluntness ("Oh, it's a swimsuit."). While Ryuuichi initially appears to avert this by saying that the swimsuit is cute, it becomes apparent that he's literally complimenting the swimsuit, rather than her, when he makes an addendum commenting on the matching pattern with Kirin's floatie.
• Cool Big Bro: Ryuuichi is pretty much the ideal big brother, and Nezu is also well respected by his younger siblings.
• Couch Gag: The picture near the end of the anime's ending theme changes each episode to reflect the characters who were focused on.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: Being excitable babies, the kids are usually talking (or shrieking) in their high-pitched childish voices. They're absolutely adorable, but when they're excited or start to cry, you're reminded they're babies.
• A Day in the Limelight: All the characters other than the siblings — ranging from the toddlers/their families to Kashima's adoptive family — get their own stories once a while.
• Death Is a Sad Thing: The last part of the first chapter revolves around Ryuuichi finally allowing the reality of his parents' deaths to sink in, with the realization that he and Kotarou may now only have each other. As he sits in the pediatric hospital crying, Chairwoman Morinomiya arrives to comfort him, revealing that her initial interest in him started at the funeral for the plane crash victims, when she noticed that like her, they were the only ones not crying, out of subconscious denial of what had happened. She then tells him that even though their loved ones are gone, they do not have to cope with their deaths alone.
• Defrosting Ice Queen:
  • Inomata slowly opens up with others as she interacts with Ryuuichi and the children of the daycare.
  • Saikawa, who's initially portrayed as a completely robotic and unemotional assistant, begins showing his softer side through his interactions with Kotarou and Ryuichi, and is seen smiling a lot more.
• Delayed Reaction: When Kazuma has to stay home with the flu one day, Takuma seems alright at first, until he wakes up from his nap and it finally sinks in to him that Kazuma isn't there too.
• The Diaper Change: Midori is the one baby in the daycare, so she occasionally acts as a source for diaper-related jokes. Chapter 31 even implies that Midori is completely aware that invoking this gets her attention since they have to change her.
• Elevator School: Morinomiya is a downplayed example, since it's only shown having a middle school section and a high school section. The series sees Ryuuichi and his cohorts transition from their last year of middle school to their first year of high school.
• Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: The toddlers naturally speak with a lot of slurred pronunciation.
• Everyone Can See It: Everyone is able to tell that Ushimaru and Inomata have feelings for Ryuuichi.
• Eye Take: In Episode 3, Takuma and Kirin give one to Kazuma when he panics and cries upon seeing his father (it's because watching him as an antagonist in a movie shown by their mother caused him to see him as a scary stranger).
• Face of a Thug: The kids hairdresser who cuts the Mamizuka twins' hair is a super nice guy, but he also dresses like a punk (including a mohawk) which terrifies Kazuma and has him refuse to go back to him in one chapter. He remains friendly and in high spirits when the twins return to him to get their Gag Haircut (thanks to their mother) fixed, reassuring Kazuma to not be scared of him and to think of his mohawk as a "horse's mane", since Kazuma likes horses.
• Facial Dialogue: Saikawa, after taking care of Kotarou for an extended period of time, actually manages to understand his gestures and utterances!
• Fake Mystery: Played for Laughs inn chapter 102, where one of Kirin's dolls goes missing. Saikawa immediately declares this an abduction case and enlists the daycare kids to investigate and find the doll. Later, one of Ryu's schoolmates mentions that the doll is a collector's item and could sell for a good price, making Ryu and Kamitani beileve that someone really did steal the doll (Kamitani suspects Usaida). It is later revealed that Midori broke the doll while the other kids were playing outside, and Saikawa made them play detective to distract them while Usaida tried to fix the doll.
• Festival Episode: Taka and Kamitani invite Ryuuichi and Kotarou to a summer festival, in a chapter focusing Taka's lost possession and how Kamitani chooses to deal with the situation as his brother.
• Flying Broomstick: Kirin tries to invoke this since she believes that she can become a witch and fly on a broom if she tries hard enough, but she learns the hard way that this trope isn't possible in a more realistic setting when she jumps off a high ledge and has to be rescued by Ryuuichi.
• Friend to All Children: Ryuuichi can handle children very well, and they all love him as a result. Yagi tries to be one but his creepy tendencies ruin his efforts.
• Generation Xerox: The toddlers share many personality traits and interests with their parents. Kazuma is shy and gloomy like his father while Takuma is bright and upbeat like his mother; Taka physically looks similar to his father but is loud like his mother; Kirin has her father's eyes, and it's implied will grow up to do drama activities like her mother.
• Homoerotic Subtext: The author has said Ushimaru and Inomata are "just normal friends" but compares their outings to romantic situations. The two are best friends (despite also being love rivals) and call each other on a First-Name Basis. In chapter 34, an excited Ushimaru says that she "likes Maria-chan the best" while hugging Inomata. When the two have their first "outing" together, the chapter cover teases readers by Bait and Switching Inomata being on her first date when she's actually just going on her first outing with a friend — not that it stops her from behaving in a nervous excitement as though she is on a date.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Usokawa's entire personality seems to be "sexually frustrated" and "lusting after Ushimaru".
• Hot Springs Episode: In Chapter 42, the chairwoman's acquaintance invites her and the daycare cohort (kids, babysitters, mothers, and students who are friends with them) to her hotspring. Turns out to be a ploy to get rid of the monkey that's been hanging around.
• Humanizing Tears: In her introductory chapter, Ice Queen Inomata from has a moment of this kind when she realizes and admits in an emotional state that she's studied so much in her school life that she knows little else in terms of socializing. This is what allows the daycare children to be able to sympathize with her after she's been (as they perceive it) mean to them.
• I Have Your Wife: When Ryuuichi's classmate wishes to make a video segment for a contest featuring the kids, he proceeds to "kidnap" Ryuuichi and Kamitani so he could film the kids trying to "save" them. In order to rescue their babysitters, the children would have to do certain tasks - namely, having them conquer their fears or things they were bad at.
• Inelegant Blubbering: In the case of the toddlers, this series wastes no time in showing the reader that children crying is loud, none too pretty, and an annoyance to everyone nearby. Special mention goes to Taka when his older brother begins to completely ignore him, who not only lets out the waterworks in the most undignified matter, but also has his speech impaired while he talks.
• Infant Sibling Jealousy: While not a new sibling, the situation still happens when Kamitani has to watch his cousin Tsugumi. Taka gets jealous when the whole daycare room starts doting on the baby because he won't stop crying, sulking and trying to demand his brother's attention. Kamitani comparing him to a big brother for Tsugumi does excite Taka, but while attempting to be friendly, Tsugumi breaks his precious toy sword.
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • When Ryuuichi's preparing himself to be Santa Claus for Kotarou, one of his classmates remarks that it should be the father's job. The rest of the classmates are quick to call him out, since Ryuuichi's lost his parents just recently.
  • The children often don't understand the concept of tact, which is justified since they're just toddlers. One such example is when they innocently call attention to how large Ushimaru's chest is.
• Insane Troll Logic: Taka has a rather comedic thought process in Chapter 6 when his older brother announces his feelings (or lack thereof, supposedly) for him.
  Kamitani: It's not really like or hate when it comes to you.
  Not like or hate—>not like—>hate
  Taka: I HATE YOU TOO!
• I "Uh" You, Too: Taka, who's asleep, mumbles a "I love you, aniki," while Kamitani is carrying him back from the zoo in Chapter 6. The latter begrudgingly mumbles a "I don't really hate you, either" in response.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Several characters are cranky and seem rude but really do care for their families and friends.
  • Chairwoman Morinomiya, despite coming off as a cold old woman, she has shown many instances to be very kind and caring toward her adoptive wards. Even during times where she would vent about her busy schedule, she's willing to reschedule her business matters after receiving an invite from Kotarou for a play.
  • Kamitani, especially in regards to his baby brother. He's harsh, violent and impatient. However, he will show a more kind and brotherly side of him ... once in a while.
• Light Feminine Dark Feminine: Ushimaru and Inomata, who both have a crush on Ryuuichi and are best friends with each other. Ushimaru, who is a meek and shy Dude Magnet, is the light feminine, while Inomata, a Tsundere Ice Queen, is the dark one.
• Love Triangle:
  • Both Ushimaru and Inomata develop crushes on Ryuuichi, who is yet to show any romantic interest at all let alone towards any of them.
  • Played for Laughs when Takuma begins to idolize Kamitani and ignore Kazauma, Usaida compares it to a soap opera.
  • The girls at the school half-jokingly say that any girl who sought a relationship with Ryuuichi would be in a love triangle with Kotarou, because Ryuuichi is such a responsible elder brother.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: The Nezu siblings amount to six, and they all look extremely similar.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: In-Universe. After Kirin gets upset when she begins to realize that witches aren't real, the chairwoman implies that she is one (or can be one when she's older) in order to cheer her up.
• My God, What Have I Done?: The Chairwoman looks hilariously horrified when she realizes that she unknowingly uprooted the strawberry plants Ryuuichi and Kotarou had grown together.
• NEET: Discussed and joked about during one early chapter. While playing house with Kirin, Usaida plays the role of Ryuuichi and Kirin's eldest son, an unrepentant NEET who shows no shame in begging his father for money and asking when his mother will finish with dinner. As Ryuuichi states, the role suits Usaida a little ''too'' perfectly.
• No Full Name Given: Some characters only have their first name revealed long after their debut.
• Nosebleed: Yagi gets nosebleeds whenever he's around a toddler, apparently because he loves their chubby little cheeks. It's still creepy, though, with other characters calling him a pervert and sometimes threatening to kick him out or call the police.
• Not So Stoic: Many stoic characters will show more expression (whether a lot more or very subtle) once a while, like Kotarou and Kamitani.
• Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Yukari and Ryuuichi follow Usaida in one chapter, thinking he's going on a date. Only for him to accompany a woman who says her husband will be coming home late so they should "take it slow". When the husband comes home early, they begin fearing the worst. They later find out the woman and her husband are Usaida's neighbors, Usaida had been tutoring her husband and they had invited Usaida over for dinner in gratitude.
• Parental Abandonment: Both parents of the Kashima siblings are dead before the story begins due to a plane crash, and Hebihara leaves his family before Taka is born and avoids his sons unless he has to act like a teacher to Kamitani.
• Parental Favoritism: Inverted, as it's the kids who prefer one parent or the other. Kirin prefers her mother because her father is often away on business (she calls him "Papa-san", which she doesn't do with her mother), Kazuma and Takuma prefer their mother because their father often plays scary roles on TV and they're unable to separate fiction from reality at the time, and Taka exclusively interacts with his mother since Hebihara-sensei left before he was born and he doesn't know him at all.
• Parents as People: The parents are very loving and caring to their children but are often away from them due to work. Yayoi doesn't like leaving Kirin for her drama club commitments and likewise, Kousuke is frustrated that his acting schedule forces him to spend long periods of time away from his family.
• Pint-Sized Kid: The kids at the daycare are tiny in comparison to the older characters, looking more like Super-Deformed characters than actual children.
• Pixellation: The lunch that Mika Inui makes for Kamitani in Chapter 59 is so bad, the sight of it is actually blurred!
• Platonic Kissing: After watching their father's commercial where he promotes the gum slogan of "kissing the ones you love", Takuma and Kazuma take it to heart and go around kissing their friends and babysitters.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Usaida is very close with Midori's mother whom he refers to as Yukari-chan, and had supported her throughout her pregnancy period because her husband was away.
• Practically Different Generations: Ryuichi and Hayato are both much older than their younger brothers, being teenagers while their brothers are preschoolers. This results in Ryuichi being a parental figure to Kotaro as well as his brother, especially since their parents have passed away.
• Reflective Eyes: In Chapter 20, Takuma and Kazuma's eyes reflect each other when they are reunited.
• Running Gag: Kotarou frequently refers to Chairwoman Morinomiya as "Shaggy" due to her sheeplike hair, as well as associating anything with a fluffy appearance or texture to her.
• Sailor Fuku: Morinomiya Academy has sailor fuku for female students in the middle school division, but they wear blazer uniforms in the high school division.
• School Festival: Even though the Babysitting Club is not exactly a "club" in a traditional sense, the kids beg Ryuuichi to allow them to participate in the festivities, too, culminating in a vegetable-themed cafe.
• School Play: While Kirin's mother is working on the school play and leaves Kirin in Ryuuichi's extended care, Ryuuichi and Kirin decide on doing their own play with the rest of the daycare for their parents.
• School Swimsuit: Inomata initially wears her school swimsuit during the Beach Episode, before the mothers convince and help her pick out a new swimsuit.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Ryuuichi and Kamitani, respectively. Ryuuichi, a Nice Guy who is somewhat of a pushover and a Friend to All Children, is the sensitive guy. By contrasts, Kamitani is a stoic Jerk with a Heart of Gold who, outside his babysitting duties, is the star of the baseball team and is considered "manly" by his fans.
• Shout-Out:
  • Kirin is inspired to become a witch by a picture book called The Witch's Delivery Service.
  • In Chapter 11, Taka leads the kids in an attack on Inui, yelling out as he waves his toy sword, "It appeared!"
  • Episode 8 has an eyecatch where the kids are all dressed up as various Sanrio characters (Midori as Kuromi, Kirin as My Melody, Kotarou as Cinnamoroll, Takuma as Keroppi, Kazuma as Tuxedo Sam, and Taka as Pompompurin).
• Shrinking Violet: Despite being a famous actor, the twins' father is very timid and gets easily embarrassed by the roles he is forced to play. Kazuma takes after him, being a passive crybaby compared to his more cheerful twin.
• Sick Episode:
  • Ryuuichi falls ill during summer vacation in Chapter 7, leaving him in the care of Chairwoman Morinomiya and Kotarou.
  • Kazuma gets sick in the onset of Chapter 20, and the rest of the chapter explores how both of the twins react when they are separated.
  • When Usaida takes a sick day, Saikawa fills in for him.
  • When trying to get together for cherry-blossom viewing, a majority of the main cast gets colds beforehand and Ryuuichi and Kotarou deliver flowers. The two are the ones to get sick afterward.
  • Chapter 72 has Saikawa get sick with a cold, and Ryuuichi and Kotarou try to tend to him. The chairwoman ends up sick at the end of the chapter.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: The girls at this school are shown to be interested in boys who are kind.
  • Ryuuichi is popular because he is so considerate and warm-hearted. They refer to him as "the fuzzy type", comfortable and comforting. Few of the girls act on this interest because they don't want to compete for his attention with his toddler brother, which, incidentally, is another thing they like about him.
  • One girl who prefers Kamitani states that, even though he is stoic and abrasive, the fact that he joined the babysitting club means that he's kind underneath it all.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: If there's going to be a quarrel amongst the children, it will most likely be between Taka and Kirin.
• Sneeze Cut:
  • Usaida sees Ryuuichi and Kotarou making an invitation for the chairwoman, and thinks "You better come, you cheapskate old hag" — cue the chairwoman sneezing so hard, she blows off someone else's wig.
  • When Usaida is sick and Ryuuichi, who is about to attend classes, asks the kids if they will be fine with just Saikawa, they easily state that they'll be totally fine even without Usaida. A bedridden Usaida sneezes in his futon in the next frame.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Saikawa and Kirin's mum Yayoi are very good at suddenly appearing out of nowhere, often surprising Ryuuichi.
• The Stoic:
  • Kotarou is the most quiet and reserved of all of the toddlers.
  • Kamitani's facial expression rarely deviates from his default irritated look.
    Ryuuichi: You look calm, Kamitani. Aren't you cold?
    Kamitani: I am cold. I'm freezing to death.
    Classmate: Then show it!
• Strong Family Resemblance:
  • Kamitani looks so much like his mother, Shizuka, to the point where one might say he's like a male version of her. This is lampshaded by both Ryuuichi and Usaida when Shizuka muses over who Kamitani takes after in personality. When Kamitani has to cross dress along with the rest of the bay sitting club, Taka apparently mistakes him for his mother and calls him mama.
  • Tsugumi, Kamitani's baby cousin, is noted to look exactly like a baby version of Kamitani, complete with the Death Glare.
  • All six of the Nezu siblings look like giant or miniature-sized versions of each other, which is lampshaded when Kamitani, in a rare moment of snark, refers to them as clones. Even the lone girl amongst the six simply looks like pigtails were attached.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Hebihara is very stern, cold and demanding towards his students and his estranged family. But even though he often act harsh/uncaring, he secretly dotes on his sons (especially Taka), and never fails to send them (anonymous) gifts.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • The kids are all pretty adorable in their own ways, but sometimes it's shown that dealing with toddlers and babies can be, well... gross. There are quite a few jokes involving snot and changing Midori's diapers, and Ryuuchi admits to Ushimaru that as much as he loves all the kids, he still doesn't like having to deal with things like snot and urine.
  • Chapter 15/Episode 5 focuses on Kirin trying to become a witch and fly on a broomstick, to the point that she attempts to leap off from a small ledge and has to be saved by Ryūichi. By the end of it, he wonders if she is crying because she fell off a great height and got scared, realized that humans can't fly by themselves normally, or both, as well as whether he should have talked to her about witches sooner, as Kamitani suggested. Fortunately, The Chairwoman comes to the rescue and helps to rekindle Kirin’s love for witches while also helping to ensure that she doesn’t try any other dangerous attempts to become one.
  • Kazuma and Takuma are introduced as being distant from their father Kōsuke. While Kōsuke believes that it's because of his crazy work schedule, it's actually because Umi showed them a thriller movie in which he played a kidnapper. Because toddlers can't differentiate television from reality, they get scared of their father. Similarly, they genuinely think their father's been brainwashed when they first watch him as the bad guy on the Justiknight show, not realizing he's just acting; however, thanks to Asahi's intervention, they start to understand that actors are different from their characters.
• Take a Third Option: Chapter 63 features a G-rated, non-romantic example. Ryuuichi have to go on a class field trip, while the Chairwoman and Saikawa both have business elsewhere, leaving Kotarou alone. His friends (Kirin, Taka, the twins and even Midori) all invite him to stay in their houses. Kotarou chooses none of them and goes with Usaida instead.
• Tears of Fear: Kazuma often displays comedic tears out of fear as a default expression.
• Theme Naming: Aside from the Animal Theme Naming for the main characters, the Nezu siblings are based on various magnitudes of luck.
• Those Two Guys: Usokawa and Ketsukuma, who are the two male classmates of Ryuuichi and Kamitani that are seen the most and basically serve as as commentary for the other, more mundane aspects of the two boys lives respectively.
• Transfer Student Uniforms: This is subverted when Ryuuichi begins to attend Morinomiya as a third-year middle school student and is presented with his new uniform. He initially attempts to be practical by opting to continue to wear his old uniform since he'll only remain in the middle school section for less than a year. However, Chairwoman Morinomiya counters with the fact that he's now part of her school in possible defiance of the trope, since it's vaguely implied she's aware of the kind of impression another school's uniform would give off to everyone in the student body.
• Twin Telepathy: The twins have a Played for Laughs moment of being able to read each other's minds in Kazuma's Sick Episode in Chapter 20, where Takuma (at the daycare) claims to be fine which immediately makes Kazuma (at home) upset.
• Unnamed Parent: Kashima's parents.
• What If?: One chapter explores an age switch between the babies and all the main teenagers, all through a dream of Usaida's. Given that Usaida recognizes it's a dream later, he also lets Kotarou and Ryuuichi have their parents again, simply letting them be on a trip for a while.
• You Are Not Alone: The Aesop of the first chapter is that even with their families gone, the Kashima siblings and the chairwoman can move on together.

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