When it comes to kawaii — the Japanese word that can mean tiny, cute, and lovable — there are few animals that do it better than the sweet and humble rabbit. One of the most non-threatening animals in existence, it's also the most passive and is placed firmly at the bottom of the food chain in the real world.
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Anime rabbits, on the other hand, cover a wide range of characters, which includes the strong and villainous along with the weak and benevolent. Not all of them are about fuzzy messages of peace and love, however, because this is anime.
Updated November 20, 2024, by Kristy Ambrose: The Rabbit is one of the animals that appear in the Lunar Zodiac, and it had its last year in 2023 with the next turn coming in 2035. The years of the Rabbit are defined by hope and kindness, but characters in anime aren't confined to these expectations or virtues. Rabbits in anime can be villains and fierce warriors, even taking on roles of dangerous monsters or angry demons, and appear in every type, kind, and genre of anime.
9 Great Rabbit
Re: ZERO
- Studio: White Fox
- Episodes: 25
- Release Date: April 4, 2016
For those viewers out there who have seen Monty Python's The Search For The Holy Grail this could be seen as part of a joke about underestimating the power of the harmless little bunny. The Great Rabbit isn't just a single rabbit, but a whole army of bloodthirsty killers waiting to attack unsuspecting passers-by.
One of the most gruesome scenes in an already visceral fantasy-horror anime series features the character Sabaru, who sees an adorable little rabbit in a snowy field and approaches it out of curiosity. He loses a few fingers and a hand, and things go downhill from there.
8 Momiji Sohma
Fruits Basket
- Studio: Studio Deen
- Episodes: 26
- Release Date: July 5, 2001
Many of the rabbit characters in anime follow the mythology, and Fruits Basket is a show about the animals that appear in the 12-year rotation. Momiji is one of the anime characters that reflect the Rabbit as it appears in the Zodiac, and both his personality and appearance reflect the image of the friendly and harmless side of the rabbit.
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Another trait the rabbit has is silence, for the most part, and despite his mostly cheerful demeanor, he hides a deep, sad family secret. He was rejected by his mother shortly after he was born, which is also something that can happen with rabbits, and it's one of the reasons he seems partly trapped in a child-like visage and is often mistaken for someone much younger.
7 Rumi Usagiyama
My Hero Academia
- Studio: Bones
- Episodes: 13
- Release Date: Apr 3, 2016
She's also known as Rabbit Hero Mirko and other than some physical similarities, she doesn't have much in common with the symbolic image of the rabbit as a peaceful, introspective, or team player. Rumi prefers to work alone and has a strong, aggressive personality that defines her as a righteous warrior.
Rumi has above-average hearing abilities to track her enemies with minimal noise and is fast and anxious to rush into every fight. However, she looks for danger as opposed to avoiding it, which is very un-rabbit-like.
6 Usagi Tsukino
Sailor Moon
- Studio: Toei
- Episodes: 46
- Release Date: Mar 7, 1992
Also known as Neo-Queen Serenity or Sailor Moon depending on what version of the anime or manga, her name means "Rabbit" in Japanese, and is a reference to the image of the rabbit that appears on the moon. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice that almost everything Usagi owns, including clothing other than her school uniform, is always decorated with rabbits.
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Her hairstyle, where Mamoru gets his pet name for her, "Buns Head" looks suspiciously like floppy rabbit ears. As if that wasn't enough, she's named "Bunny" in the German localization of the show. Rolls all that into a furry ball and it's fair to say Usagi Tsukino is an honorary rabbit.
5 Frau
Peach Boy Riverside
- Studio: Asahi Production
- Episodes: 12
- Release Date: Jul 1, 2021
Frau isn't exactly an anthropomorphic rabbit. She's part human and part rabbit, has more speed and strength than a regular human, and loves carrots. She has a cheerful demeanor and is well-liked by the other characters but deals with bigotry from the general public of the Western Continent, who shun her because of her half-rabbit status.
Her past is a mystery, as is her weirdly obvious name which just means "woman" or "Mrs." In German. Sally finds her on the road and saves her from starvation by offering her a carrot, which brings Frau into the fold.
4 My Melo
Hello Kitty & Friends
- Studio: Grouper Production
- Episodes: 80
- Release Date: 1989
Melody was introduced to the anime world in 1976 and is Sanrio's first rabbit character. One of the earliest anime bunnies that audiences saw, the sweet little rabbit Melody is Kitty's best friend from that iconic franchise, Hello Kitty.
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She was born in the magical forest of Mariland and her design is based on Red Riding Hood, hence the adorable red hat. It doesn't get much more kawaii than this. Also known as Melo, she makes friends with all the woodland critters, because of course she does, and her best friend is an equally cute mouse named Flat.
3 Haru
Beastars
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- Studio: Orange
- Episodes: 24
- Release Date: October 10, 2019
Haru is also known as "Usagi-san" like another famous rabbit character on this list, but unlike Sailor Moon, Haru is actually a rabbit. To be specific, she's a cream-colored Edward rabbit, and like the other characters in Beastars, she has the body of a human being (with some rabbit-like traits) and the head of an animal.
Miss Rabbit, another one of her nicknames, is also a soft-spoken and gentle character who studies botany, which sounds like a dream career path for a rabbit. Most of the first season takes place in a school environment, but later seasons change the venue as the students graduate. The plot of the series revolves around the love triangle that develops between Haru, the red deer Louis that she loves, and the wolf Legoshi who also develops romantic feelings for her.
2 Barnaby Brooks Jr.
Tiger & Bunny
- Studio: Sunrise
- Episodes: 25
- Release Date: April 3, 2011
When you think about superheroes, you might not think of pink rabbits, but one of the most popular heroes in Tiger & Bunny uses the image to their advantage. Barnaby Brooks is the Bunny side of the team, and although he and his partner share the same NEXT power they use them in different ways.
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Both Tiger and Bunny have the power to increase their powers 100-fold, but the effect only lasts a short time and they can only use it once every 24 hours. Wild Tiger, as the name suggests, uses his powers for offense, which usually means destruction, while Bunny does what his animal symbol would and uses planning and strategy instead.
1 Carrot
One Piece
- Studio: Toei Animation
- Episodes: 1,122
- Release Date: October 20, 1999
A supporting character who appears in the Whole Cake Island Saga and Wano Country Arc portions of the story, Carrot is an ally of the protagonist Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates. This character isn't named after a rabbit or has rabbit traits, she's actually a rabbit and a member of the Mink Tribe, which is a whole group of animals with human features.
Carrot is famous in One Piece for her dramatic transformation scene in which she takes on her Sulong form, which is only possible during the full moon. She turns into a majestic, six-foot god-like angelic celestial rabbit with glowing red eyes, and it's equally creepy and impressive.
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