The series was adapted into an anime television series in 1996. As of November 2021, the manga had over 17.7 million copies in circulation.
Plot
Takuya Enoki loses his mother, Yukako, when she dies in a car accident. Takuya now lives with his father, Harumi, and his baby brother, Minoru. Takuya's baby brother is only two years old and requires much care. Although Takuya is only a fifth grader, he cooks, cleans, sews, scolds, and does everything that is normally a mother's job. Between his housework and looking after his baby brother, Takuya begins to feel a helpless gap between his friends who have fun every day after school. The Kimura family blame him for Minoru's constant crying. His stress gradually builds up and bursts at a point. Because of a mistake Minoru made, Takuya reacts violently. He cannot help feeling upset over Minoru, who is stressing him and taking up all his time.
One day, when Takuya picks Minoru up from preschool, he starts to walk faster imagining what it would be like to leave his little brother behind him. But soon, Takuya realizes what he has done and runs back. He finds Minoru with his eyes full of tears and a brutal dog is blocking Minoru's way. Takuya dashes in full speed and saves his little brother. After coming home and seeing Minoru sobbing, Takuya realizes that Minoru cries because he is just lonely and becomes ashamed of himself. From then on, Takuya learns to love his little brother as family and his long life story of being a mother and a brother at once begins.
The elder brother. 12 years old. Has taken up the burden of mothering his younger brother, Minoru. Due to his gentle, calm demeanor, good look and good grade, he is popular with the girls at school. Most likely to be mad when someone hurts or scares Minoru.
He is kind, caring, hard working, responsible and sensitive though oblivious of the girls' feelings towards him.
He is also good at short distance run. However, he's really bad at long running and handicraft.
In Valentine day, he receives 9 boxes of chocolate. In the long run, he comes up at 3rd place thanks to his extreme effort.
Baby of the family. Super cute. Loved and over protected by his older brother, Takuya. Loves to wear a bear hat. His favorite character is Zap, a superhero from a laundry detergent commercial. His hero in life is Takuya.
He is of the same class as Hiro. Both Hiro and Ichika loves him.
Classmate of Takuya's. Nicknamed Gon. Is the older brother in his family, with Hiroko (Hiro), his younger sister. Is the opposite of Takuya in many ways, especially his care towards Hiro and his look. Greedy and lazy. His family opens a grocery store, and he often works there. Though Gon's crush likes Takuya, he still likes Takuya as a friend.
Rich classmate of Takuya's. Stuck up because he is rich. Wears expensive designer clothes. He often ridicules Takuya and fights with Gon (whom he dislikes). His grandmother Hanae considers Gon's grandmother her love rival in the past (and vice versa).
Second-oldest daughter, third child in the Fujii family. 15 years old. Has a cold voice and personality. Her crush is Sakamaki, an introverted boy obsessing with audio visual.
Classmate of Takuya's. Is the fourth brother in his family of two older sisters, an older brother, a younger sister, and a younger brother. Competitive.
He is deemed "cool" in class, mostly because it is hard to know what he is thinking. Poor because he has to share everything with his other siblings. Often stuck taking care of his younger siblings.
He is good looking and intelligent. He is also good at sports and is popular at school.
In Valentine's Day, he receives 7 box of chocolate. He wins the 1st prize for the long run competition.
Younger sister of Akihiro's. Different class from Minoru. She has a crush on Minoru and often fights (verbal and physically) with love rival, Hiro. She is highly intelligent and sees Minoru as cute. Sharp tongued.
Youngest son, sixth child, and youngest child in the Fujii family. Though younger than Minoru, his vocabulary is better than Minoru's. Also very intelligent.
Because of his gentle personality, he is often controlled by Ichika.
Neighbors
The Kimuras
Lives across the street from the Enoki's. Though both are old, they are very spirited. Their son recently came home.
Seiichi Kimura : the only son. He had a bad reputation, so he ran away from home to another city, and when he came back it turned out that he had married and had a son.
A girl in Takuya's class. She has a quick temper. Her reputation as a liar makes it hard for her to have friends. She often speaks too honestly, and words come out of her mouth before she thinks it through, leading her to hurt other's feelings without meaning to.
Gon's crush. She is the class representative of Class 6-3. Takuya thinks she is weird. Gon probably likes her because she is pretty. She likes to dress very extravagantly (weird by Takuya's taste). On her date with Gon, she chose to go to the kiddie rides. She sexually harasses Takuya and Gon by patting their behinds. When Takuya asked her to go on a date with Gon (from Gon's orders) she told him that she liked someone else. After her date with Gon, she confesses to him that she liked Takuya. She commented to Takuya that she knew he would not tell Gon because he wants to protect his friends.
Transliteration: "Kotori no teburadesukī" (Japanese: 小鳥のテブラデスキー)
Masakatsu Ījima
Shigeru Yanagawa
Hidehito Ueda (as Baku Tsuzuri)
Yuri Chiaki
March 19, 1997 (1997-03-19)
35
Transliteration: "Hitori potchi no orusuban" (Japanese: 一人ぽっちのおるすばん)
Shin'ya Sadamitsu
Sukehiro Tomita
Jun Takada
Rie Nishino
March 26, 1997 (1997-03-26)
Reception
Baby & Me won the 40th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōjo category in 1995.[5] As of November 2021, the manga had over 17.7 million copies in circulation.[6]
