Every time I see Cyndaquil, it reminds me of Lucy, the Pike Queen's affection to Brock from the Battle Frontier arc. ^^
I would never think of that, but Johto really did have a cute bunch of starters. I do find Cyndaquil and Chikorita more cute than Totodile, but yeah no offense to Totodile fans either.
Unova, Sinnoh, Hoenn and Kalos had more cute ones on their own. Snivy and Treecko may be a bit on the smug side but they have their cute moments as well, but Kalos in particular all have equally cute starters. I used to find Froakie not as cute as Chespin or Fennekin but that grew on me fast when the XY anime started, with Ash's Froakie having its cute scenes, particularly when he blushed at Serena's Fennekin after using his Frubbles to clean her tail.
Dawn's Piplup pretty much captured the cuteness for Sinnoh, but in the anime and in a couple of artworks we have seen Turtwig and Chimchar looking just as adorable. I feel like most of the Water-type starters were really designed with an appealing audience in mind.