The youngest shonen heroes in anime are also among the most common type of hero seen in these series. All the Ash Ketchums, Gon Freecs, and Kid Gokus are made to appeal to the shonen, or "young boy" demographic. Still, even taking the pandering to a certain demographic into consideration, some protagonists are absurdly young, to the point of stretching plausibility. Fortunately, most of these anime require a pretty hefty amount of suspension of disbelief as it is.

In some cases, these characters are so young because effectively all the characters are that young, while in other cases, there are plenty of adults around who ought to be able to handle the situation. This trope of extraordinarily young heroes can also be seen in both action and comedy series, despite how little sense it may make. From naive middle-schoolers to literal babies, these characters are great examples of the pros (and cons) of having a young protagonist.

11 Nobita, Doraemon – 10 Years Old

Nobita is one of the earliest shonen comedy protagonists, and so shares a lot of relatable qualities with kids. They may be a bit selfish at times, wanting shortcuts on everything, and complaining about adults. However, they do care about their friends and loved ones deep down. Despite having a robot cat with a pocket dimension in its belly, Nobita's youthfulness is actually quite grounded. The show often dealt with heavy topics such as alcoholism, loss of loved ones, and fear of adulthood. Doraemon uses the character’s innocence to portray these feelings in a way kids will understand.

10 Suika, Dr. Stone – 9 Years Old

Suika is among the youngest members of Ishigami village that Senku and his friends discover. She is an energetic child with horrible eyesight. Still, she does her best to help out in the village, the same as anybody. Soon enough, Senku makes glasses for her helmet to make her even more effective. Her role early on is more of a side character, but as the series progresses, Suika becomes one of Dr. Stone's more important protagonists. She’s incredibly nimble, and her sneakiness has turned the tables on unwinnable battles more than once.

9 Dororo, Dororo – 9 Years Old

Dororo is a young child who acts as Hyakkimaru’s eyes and ears. Since blindness and deafness make socializing a bit of an issue during the Muromachi period, Dororo also acts as Hyakkimaru’s caretaker. It shakes up the usual "escort mission" dynamic these stories tend to have, as instead of a one-sided protector relationship, Dororo and Hyakkimaru need each other. Dororo, being a child, has no way of protecting themselves from the brutal samurai and bandits that roam the land. Hyakkimaru’s only real ability is purging evil, as the only thing he sees is peoples’ souls. However, he needs help with everything else, which Dororo happily provides.

8 Professor Shinonome, Nichijou – 8 Years Old

Professor Shinonome is the spectacularly smart yet surprisingly naive child scientist of Nichijou. She’s brilliant enough to have made a ribbon that allows cats to talk, and even her own robot caretaker. Despite her obvious scientific brilliance, she’s still a normal kid with a fondness for sharks. Much of the dynamic is Nano, her "teen" robot, being the responsible one in the house, doing all the chores and keeping the Professor fed. This is made even funnier by the fact that Nano is, in actuality, only a year old. Their dynamic makes Nichijou one of KyoAni's best comedy anime.

7 Happy, Fairy Tail – 6 Years Old

Happy is a young member of the Exceed, a race of cat people from a parallel world. As an egg, Happy was separated from his parents along with 99 other Exceeds. He acts as a very important source of support for the group, despite having no real combat experience. Still, he and Nasu overcame the odds with their determination and unique combination of skills. Although Happy’s wings don’t provide any direct combat applications like others, the mobility it gives is more than enough to even the odds against powerful foes.

6 Conan Edogawa, Detective Conan – 6 years old

Although he was once a 17-year-old teenager, a mysterious process performed on Shinichi Kudo changed his life forever. After an unknown organization reverts the young detective into a prepubescent boy, he changes his name to Conan Edogawa. He gets adopted by his love interest Ran and her father, Kogoro. Unbeknownst to both of them, the child they adopted is a person they already knew. Conan continues his detective work through the brilliant "Sleeping Detective" gimmick. Although Conan retains a highly intelligent mind, he does gain some childish qualities too.

5 Gohan, Dragon Ball Z – 5 Years Old

Gohan is one of Dragon Ball Z's best characters and youngest shonen protagonists. He debuts in the series at a much younger age than his father, at a mere 5 years old. Unlike his father, Gohan is far more meek and academic, but his naive exterior belies incredible power. Many times in early DBZ, Gohan’s rage would explode, often playing a part in turning the tide of battle. His potential was built up early in the series, as he was fully intended to take Goku’s place as the new hero of the franchise. While that never quite ended up happening, as focus remained with Goku, it still left Gohan as a conspicuously young member of the team.

4 Anya Forger, Spy x Family – 4 to 5 Years Old

Anya Forger is a seemingly normal orphan girl at first glance. What she hides from the world, however, is that she’s a telepath. The ability is both a blessing and a curse for her, but she uses it in surprisingly clever ways for a child. What makes Anya compelling are the two sides to her powers. On the one hand, it’s a wonderful source of comedy, as she tries to use telepathy to take shortcuts or accidentally hear something odd from her adoptive parents. On the other, it has proven essential in keeping the country’s peace, and all without the greatest spy in the world even knowing.

3 Reborn, Hitman Reborn – 2 Years Old

A bit of an unorthodox example, Reborn is no normal toddler. Despite being a cute baby wearing an adorable outfit, Reborn is actually the world’s strongest hitman under the Vongola Famiglia. His specialty is his flawless headshots from his trusty gun. Yes, it’s a baby. With a gun. The secret of Reborn, however, is that much like Detective Conan, he wasn’t always a child. He is actually an adult who was cursed into being a baby, along with six other hitmen. As far as curses go, however, Reborn eventually got over it, as he retains most of his deadly talents.

2 Baby Beel, Beelzebub – 2 Years Old

Baby Beel may look like your everyday green-haired baby, but he’s actually one of the most powerful beings in the entire world. Beel’s real name is Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub IV, AKA, the son of the Great Demon Lord. To hone his powers, he is assigned to a human, Oga, a delinquent with absurd strength even without Beel’s help. Funnily enough, most people just assume Beel is Oga’s biological child, despite Oga’s apparent disinterest in romance. There are also small reminders of Beel’s demon heritage outside of the powers, such as a fascination with the grotesque and terrifying. Still, Beel remains a rather cute baby through it all–minor fatal injuries on Oga aside.

1 Platelets, Cells at Work – 7 to 10 Days Old

Cells at Work prides itself on scientific accuracy while teaching children about the different functions within the human body. It does that through the "moefication" of the cells and functions inside the body, such as the courier Red Blood Cells, brutal White Blood Cells, and of course, the adorable Platelets. One small fact that the anime (wisely) passes over is that Platelets, in reality, have a lifespan of mere days. They exist to perform a function, and once that function is done, they disappear. Still, the cells may perceive time differently than humans do, so it could be full lives from their point of view. A morbid fun fact for a kid's show, perhaps, but it’s scientifically sound.

There are a variety of reasons why a shonen series might choose young protagonists. Perhaps it's part of the series' gimmick, or maybe being a child is very convenient (or inconvenient) for the character. In every case, though, it's to help endear the show and its characters to the audience, who are expected to be of similar age. In that sense, shonen anime is much like every other work of fiction–the characters it chooses to focus on reflect the desired audience. These, the youngest shonen heroes, are just some of the more extreme examples out there, but they represent a trend in anime that's worth acknowledging.