The viral anime Chiikawa, labeled as “Digital Ibuprofen” by Mainland China social media, has taken over the Internet with its adorable characters and comforting plot line, raising spirits and giving comfort to youth all around the world.
Chiikawa was created by Nagano, first created in 2017 as a short web manga then later adapted into a micro anime in 2022 with episodes 1-2 minutes long. The main characters Chiikawa, Hachiware, and Usagi have stolen hearts all over the world with over 2.7 million manga copies sold. The series also won two awards in 2024 for the 53rd Japan Cartoonists Association Award and for the 48th Kodansha Manga Award. Upon releases of Chiikawa merch and popup stores, fans have queued for hours in line just to get merchandise of the adorable creature and their friends.
How are this little critter and its friends comforting?
The characters in Chiikawa face day-to-day struggles in the story and find solutions to them that many young people relate to and find comforting. Chiikawa, meaning “something small and cute” in Japanese, is a nonverbal species-less and genderless little critter. Chiikawa is joined by Hachiware, the cat who is dubbed as kindhearted and caring towards his friends, and Usagi, the rabbit who is free-spirited and loud. Most characters in Chiikawa have jobs to earn money demonstrating adult responsibilities.
What makes Chiikawa so relatable?
Japan has millions of cute mascots, such as Hello Kitty whose life is portrayed as perfect and as adorable as she already is; she does not have the impact that Chiikawa has on youth’s mental health. Psychologist Ken Fung did research on Chiikawa and the show’s impact on youth, and he says that watching Chiikawa can be seen as a mindful activity due to how the story teaches lessons. “The series also emphasizes friendship, teamwork, and mutual support without judgment. This resonates with youth who are seeking acceptance and belonging.”
“Whenever I find myself in a difficult situation I think to myself, what would Hachiware do in a situation like this?” – TikTok commenter
Chiikawa offers life lessons.
In one of the more recent Chiikawa episodes, Shisa, a hard-working and loyal lion-dog character, gets an illness from working too hard. Hachiware and Chiikawa are very concerned for Shisa and want to help their friend. Sickly Shisa tells them that they needs cooling sheets and Vicks VapoRub, Hachiware is a little confused on what Vicks is but Chiikawa seems very determined to help out Shisa as Chiikawa enthusiastically says “Vapo!” and puts on their little bag and heads out the door to the pharmacy to get what Shisa needs. Even though Chiikawa is a shy little thing, they were still determined to help out their dear friend. This resonates with youth and shows realistic situations like this happen in real life. It is very impactful how a nonverbal and timid creature can have so much impact on today’s struggling youth.
Recently, as of March 2025, a Chiikawa mobile game has been released named “Chiikawa Pocket”. Many fans boomed about how much they adore the game, ranking it #1 in the role-playing games category on app stores just shortly after its release. The game consists of Chiikawa and all the main characters fighting enemies and earning rewards and playing side mini-games like cooking for the Om Nom Fest.
Many fans show how passionate they are about Chiikawa posting reviews saying that the game is life-changing and saved them like this fan from Apple store rating and reviews for Chiikawa Pocket, “This game is truly a work of art. Game of the year, game of the decade, game of the century.”
With a blend of relatable themes, adorable characters, and accessible storytelling, Chiikawa has truly proved why it’s the “Digital Ibuprofen” of the Internet with today’s youth.
