In the real world, child rearing is not for the faint of heart. It takes overwhelming amounts of patience, adaptability, and a bit of humor. In anime, viewers get to watch the struggles that parents, siblings, guardians, and teachers endure while raising children, as well as the adorably hilarious moments that come with them. 

In “Sweetness and Lightning,” young Tsumugi lost her mother in a sudden accident leaving her to live alone with her father. Kohei, Tsumugi’s father, now must come to terms with raising his only child without a mother, his main struggle: he cannot cook. As a high school teacher, he is able to receive many resources alone, one of them in the form of his student whose parent runs a restaurant. Thus, alongside his student, Kohei and Tsumugi learn cooking as well as how to cope with the death of a loved one. 

Similar titles that deal with single males taking care of a child are, “Poco’s Udon World,” a 30-year-old web designer adopts a magical creature known as a tanuki, disguised in the form of a human child. “Kakushigoto,” an artist who draws somewhat risqué manga, lives to hide this from his daughter. “Barakamon,” calligrapher goes up to the country, where he finds a little girl, thus he spends his days learning about himself, the villagers, and the girl.

An extremely popular show from the summer season includes, “Spy X Family,” this cute story demonstrates a spy in Berlin. Agent Twilight, a genius spy, master of disguise, and one always works alone, must face his most difficult mission yet, finding a family. He must somehow find a wife and child to enroll into a school in order to save the world. While on his search, he picks up Anya and Yor, they then begin living together as the Forger family. Unbeknownst to Twilight, who dawns the name Loid, his new wife, Yor, is an assassin and his new daughter, Anya, is a mind reader who knows their secret identities while she continues to conceal her own. 

Within the story of “Kotaro Lives Alone,” we see the daily struggle that comes with a traumatized child. Kotaro, a four-year-old boy, moves into an apartment complex, the catch is, he has no parents. The other tenants, with each of their own problems, come together and help Kotaro whenever he needs it. The most involved, a manga artist, Shin Karino. 

To imagine a high school boy raising a child would not be the most impossible thought, to imagine a delinquent high school boy raising the child of the devil might be. In “Beelzebub,” Oga Tatsumi, a freshman, finds a baby in the river and the child attaches itself to him. Sensing Oga is similar to his father, the demon king, he looks at him as his caretaker. Oga wants nothing to do with the baby. The show revolves around their daily life as a magical baby, a delinquent high schooler, and his friends attempting to raise the child. 

Finally, when an unexpected plane accident leaves the Kashima children parentless and Morinomiya Youko childless, their entire world shifts. Morinomiya, a chairwoman at the elite Morinomiya Academy, takes in the Kashima children with the condition that the eldest, Ryuuichi, forms a babysitters club at the school. In “Gakuen Babysitters,” Ryuuichi watches over his toddler brother alongside the children of the teachers at school. These children learn the meaning of kindness, losing a loved one, and life in one big adorable journey. 

Additional titles include, “Usagi (Bunny) Drop,” “The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting,” “Somali and The Forest Spirit,” “Hanamaru Kindergarten,” and “Gugure! Kokkuri-san.”

These titles showcase all that comes with raising a child, the hardship, the sacrifices, as well as the unbelievable reward. Many of them showcase a male or father figure attempting to pick up the pieces left from a family they no longer have. Overall, these adorable shows are a must watch for learning responsibility and experiencing the laughter of a cute child.