Despite all the experience that shonen anime protagonists have, they always seem to find themselves on the unintelligent side of things. It’s not that they’re totally dumb, but they lack certain social graces and educational foundations that most people grow up on or grow up on.
This can be attributed to a number of factors: parental absence, rustic upbringing, and whatnot. They’re all pretty lovable anyway, and can sometimes turn their lack of intelligence into a strength!
Note: The full article is only the author’s opinion and may contain spoilers from popular anime.
Ten Very Dense Shonen Anime Protagonists
1) Goku
goku from shonen anime Dragon Ball he has a lot of combat intelligence and is more than capable of handling deadly threats to existence. However, when it comes to regular human roles, he isn’t the brightest, and Goku is often seen as the prototype of an unintelligent shonen anime protagonist.
As Goku was raised in the countryside by his grandfather Gohan, he lacks many skills and social graces. He thought that Chi-Chi asking him to marry her meant food, he didn’t know what a girl was when he met Bulma, he didn’t know how to cook, he could barely manage a radish garden, among other basic skills that humans take for granted.
He is also tricked a lot when it comes to fighting particularly tricky villains. Goku even screwed up the driving test by turning it into a race! His obsession with training tends to override any sense he may have, like any shonen anime protagonist.
2) Yusuke Urameshi
Yusuke Urameshi and his rival Kazuma Kuwabara were tied for the position, but the former won. Yusuke is not book smart, like other heroes like Sailor Moon or Goku, but he is street smart.
He was more of a delinquent and troublemaker at the beginning of the shonen anime. Yuyu Hakusho, starting fights, skipping school, and even gambling and smoking in the manga.
His social graces were non-existent as he groped women and loudly insulted everyone. That her mother was an alcoholic didn’t help matters.
Despite all of this and his awful grades, Yusuke saved a boy’s life by throwing him out of the way of an oncoming truck. It was later revealed that he was completely unnecessary, but it did give him a chance to revive.
While he improves as a person and is also smarter, most of his early fights are where he either wins by luck or accidentally tricks opponents. For example, pushing a tree branch into Gouki’s mouth and firing a Spirit Gun to finally finish him off.
3) Naruto Uzumaki
The main protagonist of naruto, and a person who fits the shonen anime character archetype perfectly, Naruto Uzumaki wasn’t that bright at first. He flunked the Ninja Academy three times and couldn’t perform basic jutsu to begin with.
His fighting style could best be described as “running into the enemy while screaming” and never working together with his so-called teammates during the bell test. In the beginning, his best jutsu, before he mastered the justu shadow clone, was the sexy jutsu – transforming him into a sexy woman which usually distracted the male chasers to stop teasing him.
He also pursued Sakura despite being repeatedly reprimanded, and his rivalry with Sasuke threatened to override everything else.
All that said, it seemed to grow during Shippuden. While still engaging in some youthful pranks, he matured into combat and social graces. Although she still had some blind spots, like ignoring love at first, she is ahead of the curve.
4) Natsu Dragneel
the dragon slayer Fairy tale fits perfectly with the unintelligent protagonist of the shonen anime. According to the data book, his intelligence is placed at 2/5. He is very reckless, loud and prone to violence.
It’s like having Katsuki Bakugo as the lead. Admittedly, the same could be said for literally everyone on this list, but with Natsu, she became 11.
In that sense, it’s similar to DC’s Booster Gold in that they both take very direct approaches to situations. However, he has become more strategic as his fights go on, especially against S-Class mages, even if he loses.
Natsu also manages to stop holding grudges and shows a lot of compassion, and he’s not mean either.
5) Monkey D. Luffy
The would-be Pirate King was more obsessed with food than assembling a crew in early One piece. Friends, food, and adventure seem to be the only three things on Luffy’s mind when it comes to his adventures and his quest to become the Pirate King.
It starts with a dingy little, barely a sailboat, and not a shred of a clue as to how to get to the Grand Line.
There are numerous examples of Luffy’s lack of intelligence coming back to bite him. Luffy has done his fair share, from falling into a cheeky pirate hatch in the Alabasta arc (literally, a sign that says “VIP” one way and “Pirates” another) to punching the arrogant Heavenly Dragon Saint Charlos and yelling at him. Tell Usopp to go away. of funny and amazing silly things.
On the other hand, shonen anime protagonists are expected to be passionate and goofy, as our next example is no exception.
6) Black Star
black star of Soul Eater may very well be stronger than Hercule/Mr. Satan when it comes to ego. He is so arrogant at first that he thinks it’s a good idea to hand out autographs and start fights with allies.
Also, he had to go to remedial classes with his fellow demon-in-arms, Tsubaki. Black Star was only saved from failing thanks to her as well.
He slipped in the rain after not considering his super speed abilities to be ineffective in the downpour. Black Star also picked fights far more than she could chew, such as trying to fight “Sword God” Mifune, as they were seeking the soul of the witch Angela Leon.
Long story short, if it wasn’t for Tsubaki, Black Star would have died multiple times!
7) Saitama
Strike first and asking questions never seems to be Saitama’s specialty! Given the one punch man it’s its own parody of shonen anime, it’s predictable but fun nonetheless. Despite his incredible strength, he is incredibly oblivious to everything going on around him.
Indifferent is the first word that appears when talking about Saitama, as he never registered with the hero association. Then there is the failure to recognize specific threats as more important than sales.
When he gets serious, Saitama is at least able to handle threats, but the idea that someone so unaware could function is ridiculous. His ideal word count is 20 or less, as he has no patience for long explanations.
He can be very observant and tactical, but not so much in the intelligence department.
8) What
The next three will have readers wondering why shonen anime heroes are so unintelligent and how they work. Well Saitama has competition in Asta from the shonen anime. black clover.
Similar to Natsu and Yusuke, Asta built his noisy disposition to counter his bullying. The problem is that he never had any educational experience, which is typical of shonen anime protagonists.
His magical experience leaves a lot to be desired as he barely got off the ground the first time. He also doesn’t seem to know the word “shades” or “be quiet”, as he is loud to the detriment of others.
However, he does not hesitate to face any threat or anyone who puts his friends or teammates down. This often works in his favor, but it also makes him quite reckless as he attacks the invading villain Vetto multiple times to little effect. However, he allowed Noelle to hurt Vetto and opened him up for Asta to continue fighting.
9) Ash Ketchum
For someone claiming to want to be a Pokemon Master, fans would think Ash Ketchum would know better than to (say) attack his Pikachu on Brock’s Onix. Despite being a highly practiced trainer in long-running shonen anime. Pokemon series, he often has to step back and catch up on training essentials whenever he ventures into new places like Sinnoh or Kalos.
It’s true that a trainer should continually check their Pokedex, but not the Pokemon they’ve already caught multiple times. The fact that the Pokémon world is constantly evolving is another problem.
Credit where it’s due, though, as Ash doesn’t give up or give in to despair and learns from his defeats. Not only was he the runner-up in various leagues, but he eventually became the Pokémon champion in both the Orange League and the Manato Conference in the Galar (also known as Sun and Moon) region. It was a ceremonial moment in the history of shonen anime.
10) Gon Fresses
Gon Freecss begins shonen anime hunter x hunter like pretty gullible. However, that was to be expected, as he spent a lot of time in the woods when he was younger in a rural area and was homeschooled. Not being good at math is a worthy sacrifice to learn all the skills he learned!
Of course, this is a double-edged sword. When he has a cool head, Gon Freecss can get through a problem with creativity and ingenuity, like in the third stage of the Hunter exam, where he and his teammates went through the locked door and wall to the finish line.
He also didn’t judge Killua for his murderous past. However, Gon Freecss also thanked a serial killer for helping him get stronger and went overboard when he faced the Chimera Ants.