Kawaikute Gomen

"Kawaikute Gomen" (可愛くてごめん) is a song by the Japanese musical group HoneyWorks. The song is part of the group's Kokuhaku Jikkō Iinkai: Ren'ai Series multimedia project and features the character Chizuru Nakamura or Chū-tan, voiced by Saori Hayami, from the 2022 anime series Heroines Run the Show. The first version featuring Capi debuted in August 2022, while the second featuring Hayami was released in November 2022.

Both versions of the song became a popular hit on TikTok in late 2022 to early 2023, spawning covers by various artists. It later ranked first on Billboard Japan's TikTok Songs Chart for 2023.

A manga adaptation of the song by Ruia Shimakage began serialization in Line Manga in March 2024.

Background and release
"Kawaikute Gomen" was used as a character song by Chizuru Nakamura (中村千鶴) or Chū-tan (ちゅーたん), voiced by Saori Hayami, from the 2022 anime series Heroines Run the Show as part of the Kokuhaku Jikkō Iinkai: Ren'ai Series multimedia project of HoneyWorks.

According to songwriter Shito, the song is about "valuing ourselves more" and "being straightforward about things we love."

The song was originally released on August 13, 2022, featuring Capi (かぴ) as the singer. It was included in HoneyWorks' doujin album Kokuhaku Jikkō Iinkai Flying Songs: Koishiteru, which was sold at Comiket. The song was later released for download and streaming on August 28. Hayami's version as her character debuted on November 21, 2022, and was included in HoneyWorks' sixth album Nee, Suki tte Itai yo: Kokuhaku Jikkō Iinkai Character Song Collection released on March 15, 2023.

Commercial performance
Both versions of "Kawaikute Gomen" quickly rose to popularity on TikTok and was used as the background music for makeup videos and videos using the "Manga AI" filter. It ranked first on Billboard Japans TikTok Weekly Top 20 chart for 8 consecutive weeks in early 2023, as of November 3, 2023, it charted 58 times and ranked first on Billboard Japans TikTok Songs Chart for 2023. The music video for Hayami's version ranked first on YouTube Japan's weekly chart 13 weeks after it was released. As of July 16, 2024, the music video for Hayami's version has 131 million views on YouTube.

The song was nominated for "Independent Artist Awards" by TuneCore Japan in the category of "Top UGC Music for 2022". The song won the Silver Award in the 2024 JASRAC Awards. The song ranked "high" in the music category of the 2023 Yahoo! Japan Search Awards.

Covers
"Kawaikute Gomen" was covered by various artists. One of the first is the idol group Takane no Nadeshiko who covered the song in 2022. The song was covered by Ado for her album Ado's Utattemita Album in 2023. The song was used as the second ending theme for the 2024 anime Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian covered by Sumire Uesaka.

Manga adaptation
A manga adaptation of the song by Ruia Shimakage began serialization in Line Manga on March 4, 2024. Futabasha published the first volume on May 16, 2024.