Normal MC and overpowered enemies

[Eisdrache]

Hello there.

What I am looking for is:

Normal MC
stays 'normal' until the end without getting random power-ups
Isn't hidden OP, there should be improvement over the series
Has emotions (I can live without massive drama though)
Beats opponents in a way that actually makes sense and not because of 'oh my ability is apparently a direct counter to yours'
Has to work for victory
Uses brains to win
Doesn't have to win every fight

Enemies that are massively overpowered
They are smart too
They send in the strong guys from the beginning


I guess this is fairly specific, hopefully there is something out there! By the way here's MAL

[Haak]

I highly recommend watching HunterxHunter as I believe the MC satisfies most of your requirements. The MC himself is pretty much always the underdog and it's very satisfying to see him overcome his hurdles.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

If you don't mind naval battles, I thin Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ars Nova kinda fits your description. It's in your Plan-to-watch list.

[Ravagerblade]

I would have said A Certain Magical Index but.......... your 'Beats opponents in a way that actually makes sense and not because of 'oh my ability is apparently a direct counter to yours'' makes things difficult... but, No Matter because I'll shatter your Illusions!

[Eisdrache]

Originally Posted by Haak

I highly recommend watching HunterxHunter as I believe the MC satisfies most of your requirements. The MC himself is pretty much always the underdog and it's very satisfying to see him overcome his hurdles.

I read the manga (in the 1% that it's not on Hiatus ...) and I'd classify both Gon and Killua as prodigies.

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

If you don't mind naval battles, I thin Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ars Nova kinda fits your description. It's in your Plan-to-watch list.

I have been eyeing this show for a while. Guess it's time to try it.

[hyl]

lol, the only things that i have read that comes to close your descriptions are visual novels because you are too oddly specific for animes and mangas

[Triple_R]

To the OP - Was this request inspired by Aldnoah.Zero?

The Legend of the Galactic Heroes comes somewhat close to what you're looking for.

I 2nd Obelisk ze Tormentor's Arpeggio recommendation. That fits your requests rather well.

I honestly can't think of anything else off the top of my head. "Normal human who stays completely normal vs. Overpowered enemies" is honestly something that is rather rare in anime/manga, to the best of my knowledge. Few Batman-types in that regard, and what ones there are tend to have "powers" of some sort (such as fancy mechas).

[Iron Maw]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

To the OP - Was this request inspired by Aldnoah.Zero?

In my mind I was thinking, did he just get off finishing Mahouka?

Gonna third Arpeggio too, though I'm more of a manga reader comes to that series.

[erneiz_hyde]

You should definitely check out Arpeggio. And continuing from the Galactic Heroes recommendation, Tytania is a space-opera anime about the struggles of a man and his band of misfits (whom he reluctantly sticks around with) resisting the clutches of the Big Bad Empire with the titular name. The main character is actually a genius commander, but the sheer scale of the Empire (and actually competent, engaging villains) makes him the underdog.

And now things take a turn for absurd, bear with me. I'm gonna recommend Kyoukaisenjou no Horizon. The main characters' faction is the most oppressed, outmanned, and despite possessing several strong personnel, almost entirely outgunned by pretty much everyone else. Therefore, they have to rely heavily on intrigue and diplomacy and make the best of the little resources they have. The thing is, this show really is not for everyone because of the heavy fanservice and how absurd the internal logic of the show might seem at first glance. But when you get past those, this is really a good show.

[risingstar3110]

I don't know why you guys recommended Arpeggio through? I means I only read the manga, but isn't the show clearly a case of 'Oh my ability is apparently a direct counter to yours'?

Spoiler for Submarine vs battleships:

I means it's not the MC ability , but he ride on a submarine while all of his biggest boss has few means to hunt subs in the first place. And then if i remember correctly, halfway on they installed battleship guns onto his submarine, which is a freaking cheating move right from the start.

It's like allowing a thief with Bazzoka , so it's both hard to find/kill him while allow him dealing massive fire power in the same time. Oh that thief also can clone and make illusions of himself so he has sub-class as an illusionist also. A further case of additional power that will directly work against the big boss

[Arashi-kun]

Hajime no Ippo (Comedy, Drama, Shounen, Sports)

-no hidden power, there are improvements over the series
-Has emotions
-Beats opponents in a way that actually makes sense and not because of 'oh my ability is apparently a direct counter to yours
-works for victory
-Uses brains to win

[Eisdrache]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

To the OP - Was this request inspired by Aldnoah.Zero?

No, I specifically asked for an MC with emotion.

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

In my mind I was thinking, did he just get off finishing Mahouka?

Mahouka? That's the exact opposite of what I am looking for.

[risingstar3110]

How's about Kingdom?

Most of the strongest character is thrown in fairly early. The main character is stronger than your standard grunt. But the only reason he's still alive (more as "escape death"), was because those monster boss didn't think he's worthy to go for.

It's fairly unique when it come to power structure. As it's a case of a MC who can beat 20-50 guys and has a growing army himself. But they often have to face against an army in 10,000. So tactic and strategy was the reason why they did not end up being deadmeat during their quest. With occasionally dueling of course

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by risingstar3110

I don't know why you guys recommended Arpeggio through? I means I only read the manga, but isn't the show clearly a case of 'Oh my ability is apparently a direct counter to yours'?

Spoiler for Submarine vs battleships:

I means it's not the MC ability , but he ride on a submarine while all of his biggest boss has few means to hunt subs in the first place. And then if i remember correctly, halfway on they installed battleship guns onto his submarine, which is a freaking cheating move right from the start.

It's like allowing a thief with Bazzoka , so it's both hard to find/kill him while allow him dealing massive fire power in the same time. Oh that thief also can clone and make illusions of himself so he has sub-class as an illusionist also. A further case of additional power that will directly work against the big boss

The anime is different from the manga. Let's get that out of the way first.
And no, it's not necessarily 'Oh my ability is apparently a direct counter to yours'-kind of situation, especially for the Fog enemies with their Graviton cannons, Unlimited Missile+Torpedo Works, the ability to pull a "Moses", minisub-attachment, and other devices they can use to hunt down submarines that makes them very confident as hell before being defeated by our MC's crew. It's more about how you use your brain to come up with smart tactics to defeat uber-powerful opponents than simply being a 'natural enemy'. Without spoiling the story, you can see how the Fog Cruisers & Battleships totally not intimidated by our submarine protagonist in the slightest. In fact, it's our protagonist in the submarine that got so overwhelmed by the opponent's power that he need to be sneaky to win in the first place. All in all, I and most others in this thread recommended Arpeggio for a reason: because we think it fits most of Eisdrache's criteria. And tbh, it's more constructive to offer him more suggestions than shooting down one of (very) few suggestions we have for him. Whether or not he found it worthy afterwards, let's just leave it to him.

Originally Posted by Eisdrache

Mahouka? That's the exact opposite of what I am looking for.

I think that's the point of Iron Maw's post. He knows you've seen or heard about Mahouka, and now you're requesting something of the exact opposite for a change .

[Fellen]

I would recommend Heavy Object. An anime got announced recently so you'll have to wait a bit if you don't read manga or LNs. There's 5 translated chapters of the manga right now (which is basically what to expect form the series for the most part) and also the LNs (8 volumes (translated)) if you're interested.

[Idealist 99]

Originally Posted by Eisdrache

Hello there.

What I am looking for is:

Normal MC
stays 'normal' until the end without getting random power-ups
Isn't hidden OP, there should be improvement over the series
Has emotions (I can live without massive drama though)
Beats opponents in a way that actually makes sense and not because of 'oh my ability is apparently a direct counter to yours'
Has to work for victory
Uses brains to win

Enemies that are massively overpowered
They are smart too
They send in the strong guys from the beginning


I guess this is fairly specific, hopefully there is something out there! By the way here's MAL

''Toaru Majutsu No Index'' !!!

The story take place in a City called Academic City with majority of Population being Student and The City is known for Esper.
Esper are Psychic human each with there own Power .There are various level of Esper depending on Power . The Strongest are Level 5 while the weakest is Level 0 with no Superpower .
This Story is about a High school Student Touma. He a Level 0 with no Esper But his Right Hand has the Power to Negate Any Supernatural Power & Magic .
His Right hand is call Imagine Breaker.
Touma haven't got Any Power-up and he beat other Esper & Magician with tactic.
He's basically What you're looking for .

This are you looking for , Right !
And there is Batman !!!

[Akashin]

Originally Posted by risingstar3110

How's about Kingdom?

Most of the strongest character is thrown in fairly early. The main character is stronger than your standard grunt. But the only reason he's still alive (more as "escape death"), was because those monster boss didn't think he's worthy to go for.

It's fairly unique when it come to power structure. As it's a case of a MC who can beat 20-50 guys and has a growing army himself. But they often have to face against an army in 10,000. So tactic and strategy was the reason why they did not end up being deadmeat during their quest. With occasionally dueling of course

I was this close to suggesting Kingdom myself, but 'uses brains to win' is more or less the opposite of what Shin (though not the Hi Shin Unit as a whole) does.

[Eisdrache]

Originally Posted by Idealist 99

''Toaru Majutsu No Index'' !!!
This Story is about a High school Student Touma. He a Level 0 with no Esper But his Right Hand has the Power to Negate Any Supernatural Power & Magic .

Originally Posted by Eisdrache

Beats opponents in a way that actually makes sense and not because of 'oh my ability is apparently a direct counter to yours'

Originally Posted by Fellen

I would recommend Heavy Object. An anime got announced recently so you'll have to wait a bit if you don't read manga or LNs. There's 5 translated chapters of the manga right now (which is basically what to expect form the series for the most part) and also the LNs (8 volumes (translated)) if you're interested.

I read some of the manga chapters a while ago and liked what I saw.

[Kenju of the Right]

Originally Posted by Eisdrache

What they mean is, though he has the power to negate. Alot of the times his enemies find a way around that so he has to find another way to win by using his cleverness, MAN his way through by durability or he's in such a bad position he needs his allies to help
(same author as Heavy Object, the guy has a thing for weak underdogs)

[risingstar3110]

Originally Posted by Akashin

I was this close to suggesting Kingdom myself, but 'uses brains to win' is more or less the opposite of what Shin (though not the Hi Shin Unit as a whole) does.

Honestly i think Kingdom is still the only one that can fit the whole request.

I means, let be honest. Most of the powerful enemies, even if they are overpowered, would still be as dumb as brick. The plot often build the main character as the only hero who can save the world or is "special" comparing to others. But if a bad guy is both powerful, and smart. Then they would have eliminated the heroes way before he could become a match to his power.

The only reason which smart and powerful boss won't kill the heroes yet because:

• the main character has low threat to him at the start, but means the earlier enemies will be all weaklings , and the boss is not as smart as he couldn't identify the threat earlier on
• he has some uses for the hero: but it will fall into "hero has hidden super power"
• the hero has been dodge incoming attacks. But this means the enemies were not as smart as they are constantly outplayed by the heroes. Not to mention sneakily run away does not sit well in "shounen heroes" category

Which leaves the only viable option that meet the OP demand: the conflict is restricted by politic, or sporting/ tournament mode. And in this case it makes sense for the enemy to be super strong and super smart, but won't go out of his way to crush the main character as he's still occupied by other powerful character, or politics, or tournament rule, leaving time for the main character to grow and slowly dethrone everyone.

I think that's why Arashi proposed Hajime no Ippo. I think most of sporting/ martial arts manga/ anime will fit too. And that's why Kingdom worked. As war in Kingdom is restricted by both politic and to happen only in battlefield (so similar to tournament format), so big bad enemy will not have unlimited time to hunt and kill off Shin even when he was identified as main threat.