Puniru Is a Cute Slime (Japanese: ぷにるはかわいいスライム, Hepburn: Puniru wa Kawaii Suraimu) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Maedakun. Preceded by a one-shot published in Shogakukan's children's manga magazine Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic in February 2019, the manga started its serialization in Weekly CoroCoro Comic online service in March 2022. Shogakukan has collected its chapters in eleven tankōbon volumes as of July 2026. The series focuses on the titular character Puniru, a slime girl created by a boy named Kotaro Kawaii during his childhood who wants him to notice her for her cuteness, despite him being in love with his junior high school senior.
An anime television series adaptation produced by Toho Animation Studio aired from October to December 2024, with a second season aired from July to September 2025.
The manga won the 70th Shogakukan Manga Award in 2025.
Contents
Plot
A young boy named Kotaro Kawaii made a slime as part of a science experiment which came to life. The slime named Puniru resembled a penguin, and her creator thought that was cute despite him not wanting to admit it. Seven years later, Kotaro is now in his second year of junior high and is having a hard time admitting his feelings for his senior, Mami Kirara. In that time, Puniru gained a new ability to morph herself into a human girl to have her creator notice her cuteness again.
Characters
Puniru (ぷにる)
Voiced by: Yū Sasahara
A slime girl created by Kotaro when he was in elementary school.
Kotaro Kawaii (河合井 コタロー, Kawaii Kotarō)
Voiced by: Shūichirō Umeda
An 8th-grade boy who is Puniru's creator.
Mami Kirara (雲母 麻美, Kirara Mami)
Voiced by: Risa Shimizu
A 9th-grade student who Kotaro has a crush on.
Yūsuke Nanpa (南波 遊助, Nanpa Yūsuke)
Voiced by: Junya Enoki
A classmate of Kotaro's who has a passion for kids' toys.
Alice Okanega (御金賀 アリス, Okanega Arisu)
Voiced by: Yumiri Hanamori
A girl in Kotaro's class who is also the creator of Runerune.
Hiroshi Mado (真戸 博士, Mado Hiroshi)
Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Maedakun, a first one-shot, titled "Cute Puniru Slime" (かわいいぷにるはスライム, Kawaī Puniru wa Suraimu), was published in Shogakukan's children's manga Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic on February 28, 2019. Puniru Is a Cute Slime started its serialization in Weekly CoroCoro Comic online service on March 15, 2022. Shogakukan has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on July 28, 2022. As of July 2026, eleven volumes have been released.
In October 2025, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they had licensed the series for English publication in a 2-in-1 omnibus release. The first omnibus volume is set to be released in August 2026.
Chapters 95-101
Extra Chapters 40-48
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced on December 13, 2023. It is produced by Toho Animation Studio and directed by Yūshi Ibe, with series composition by Michiko Yokote, Aya Tanaka providing the character designs and Izumi Mori composing the music. The series aired from October 6 to December 23, 2024, on TV Tokyo and its affiliates. The opening theme song is "Gyumu!" (ぎゅむ！), while the ending theme song is "Show" (唱, Shō; lit. "chant"), both performed by Yū Sasahara, with the latter being a cover of Ado's song of the same name.
Following the final episode of the series, a second season was announced, which premiered on July 6, 2025. Yū Sasahara performed the second season's opening and ending themes: "Brun-Brun" and "Ao To Natsu" (青と夏; "Summer and Blues"), the ending being a cover of Mrs. Green Apple's 2018 single of the same name.
Crunchyroll and Netflix both stream the series under the title Puniru is a Kawaii Slime. Medialink licensed the series in Asia-Pacific (except Australia and New Zealand) for streaming on Ani-One Asia's YouTube channel.
Reception
The manga placed fourth in Next Manga Awards's Web category in 2022. Along with Burning Kabaddi, Draw This, Then Die!, and Natsume Arata no Kekkon, Puniru Is a Cute Slime won the 70th Shogakukan Manga Award in 2024.
The manga was viewed more than 600,000 times on its online website by March 2022; it rose to more than 3.5 million views by May of that same year, and 7 million by July of that same year. The first tankōbon volume had a first-print run of 100,000 copies.