If you can call most of the supposedly cute things in anime genuinely cute, then it's fair to say Momiji isn't in this category. But she does fall smack into (heck, she almost defines) the dojikko / clumsy girl category, one of the earliest brands of moe. And I had the feeling the subject wasn't about truly cute things, but rather things which are "cute" - i.e. allegedly cute but can get on your nerves if overdone. (If you want to smash it with a mallet, it's not really all that cute.)
Wrt the panchira... maybe you're right. I think I just chose to mentally redefine it as "cute" because thinking about Momiji as an adult in that fashion rather than a child makes me a little bit ill. (Seriously, I tried watching Blue Seed Beyond and was cringing by the time she decided [SPOILER] she wanted Kusanagi to make her a woman. For the protection of my sanity, I had to turn it off before anything happened.)