History Main / SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining

* ''LightNovel/TheGreatestMagicMastersRetirementPlan'': Due to his talents in magic, Alus Reigin was recruited into the military at age six and spent most of his life in training and combat, but has no idea how to function as a civilian. When he sees a vending machine in the school cafeteria, he needs help from Tesfia and Alice to operate it.
* Medaka of ''Manga/MedakaBox'' can do ''everything'', literally ''everything''. She is a master of every single sport ever played, top of ''every'' class, could read entire libraries of books when she ''was three'', can rip entire buildings off their foundations with her bare hands, '''and''' she has a superpower that lets her copy and perfect any other superpowers she witnesses. Because of her near perfection though, her people skills are non-existent. She can barely understand how normal people work and generally causes trouble everywhere she goes. It has required the lifetime of effort and struggle of her childhood friend Zenkichi to just barely keep her in check.\\
To a lesser extent, it's shown that because of this flaw, the one thing Medaka is actually bad at is any form of artistic expression. In one chapter she plays the drums for the first time in her life; though her technique is described as godly, it utterly fails to inspire any kind of emotion in those who hear it. Zenkichi describes her performance as ''too'' perfect, remarking that because it lacks the human touch of little slip-ups or errors it doesn't "feel" right, and explicitly says that it's like the opposite of the UncannyValley effect.\\
Another flaw in this ability is she will learn things regardless of whether she intends to or not. For this reason, it is dangerous for her to face an opponent who's ability might actually be a problem such as Munakata's impulsive need to kill and understanding of how to kill others. Unlike Munakata, who is kind-hearted so he restrains his ability, Medaka doesn't understand right from wrong beyond their concepts so it's likely she'd have become a crazed killer.

* Sosuke Sagara from ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic''. Most of the time, he approaches everyday life as if he were in a combat environment. He has landmines buried on school grounds. He responded to a secret admirer leaving him a package by ''blowing it up'' from a safe distance as per EOD protocol. And when he was buying food from a popular vendor, Chidori advised him to be "aggressive"...as such, he fired a pistol into the air and made his order as if he were robbing a bank. The tradeoff is that he's an incredible soldier and pilot, especially considering he's a teenager.[[note]]16 at the start of the series, 18 at the end.[[/note]]
** There is a darker side to it: Sosuke is a {{Child Soldier|s}} who grew up in a thinly veiled {{Expy}} of Afghanistan, and has at age 16 already spent six years of his life on campaign. It is also heavily implied that he was sexually abused. That is the lens he views the world through. Sosuke was only chosen as Chidori's bodyguard because he was the only candidate with the necessary combat skills who could fit into a high-school environment (anyone else would be in their late twenties at least) and treats life as an ongoing combat situation because... well, that is what his entire life has been.
* Goku from ''Manga/DragonBall'', as his perpetual interest is in fighting. He lived his early childhood in the mountains with only his adoptive grandfather, a hermit martial artist who died early in Goku's childhood. Due to these conditions, Goku has no education, has NoSocialSkills, no concepts of things like money and gender, and as we find out later, no job skills either. He can survive very well off the land, and even provide for his family in ''Z'', but his wife isn't entirely happy with the situation.[[note]]Though, if the first episode of ''Z'' is to be believed, he could've made a living as a lumberjack working just a couple of months a year, or he could have kept entering (and winning) the World Martial Arts Tournaments for the huge prizes.[[/note]] As an adult, he still remains pretty BookDumb, yet he's actually quite capable at farming (it was part of his martial arts training with Master Roshi), though it still causes him problems in that he prefers to goof off with training and getting ready for the next fight. The offset of all this? Goku spends almost ''all'' of his time training and thinking about fighting, meaning he's exceptionally strong, talented in combat, and always ready to meet the next bad guy who might show up.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** Used well with characterization when Ash and Pikachu take on Lt. Surge and Raichu. After losing, Ash gets a Thunder Stone, allowing him to evolve Pikachu at any time with it, but Pikachu vehemently refuses to evolve to match Raichu. Turns out that in Lt. Surge's haste to evolve his Pikachu into a Raichu, it didn't learn basic attacks (especially ones involving speed). Bulbasaur and Squirtle also adopt this philosophy, but contrast Charizard who evolved as quickly as possible because of its low self-esteem. While Charizard goes into the Johto region as Ash's strongest Pokemon, he discovers a entire valley filled with Charizards much stronger than he is. This motivates Charizard and Ash to part ways so that Charizard can train there and realize its full potential.
** Though Charizard's a bit more complicated. While it did evolve early, it remains as Ash's most powerful Pokémon throughout just about the entire series. Its weakness compared to other Charizard is more attributed to the facts that A. It flat out refused to battle/train for most of its time with Ash, and B. The Charizard it's compared to spend ALL their time in brutal training with other Charizard. After Ash's Charizard spends some time training, it briefly comes back and ''beats a [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokémon]] in a one-on-one battle''.
** Meowth of Team Rocket almost never fights directly, and can't even use Pay Day. This is because, in his efforts to walk and talk like humans, he used up most of his skillset that normal Pokémon use for battle.
** In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', Sapphire has a bit of a problem with this due to living in the wild for most of her life. She's incredibly strong and agile, with a powerful sense of smell and quite a bit of nature survival knowledge... but she has some trouble with reading and writing. She's not completely illiterate (she maintained ''some'' contact with the civilized world), but can't read kanji (original Japanese) or big words (English translation). She is also unaware of ''what a Pokémon Center is'', although she's capable of treating her Pokémon's ailments herself.
* Ippo from ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo'' is the best infighter in Japan, and possibly even the world. However, he's accomplished this by all but ignoring the skills that would make him a well-rounded fighter, to focus his training only into increasing his devastating punching power and his inhuman endurance, and almost nothing else.
** Ippo and his coach had given effort to make Ippo into a well-rounded fighter, but had realized that such a choice would be less effective than just training him into the best pure infighter they could because: A) Ippo has a very small physique and very short reach, making him extremely effective in close range but the exact opposite otherwise. B) Ippo is a "top of the top" tier hard-puncher with "inhuman endurance," thus wild brawling, such as trading hits, will be extremely to his advantage C) Ippo just wasn't born to be an outfighter, unable to match the skills of other top-notch boxers in outfighting D) Ippo and his coach are the type of people who cry 'gutsu gutsu', often, almost to the degree of "Throw in the towel? Better to die!"
* The cast from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''. In particular, see Ranma, Ryouga, Mousse and Shampoo; by and large, they make up for their extensive martial abilities with their lack of social skill and modern knowledge: Ranma, because of his father's upbringing; Ryouga, because of his lack of upbringing; and Shampoo and Mousse, because they were raised in a warrior society.
** For a specific example, there is Ranma's training in the Cat Fu school of martial arts. On the one hand, he gained access to a powerful feral attack style that allows him to tear through almost anything as if it were excelsior paper. On the other hand, the training gave him a crippling fear of ''cats''.
* Shichika from ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'' spent his entire life training under his father to master Kyotoryuu on a deserted island. At the start of the series he has absolutely no knowledge of the outside world and can't even pick up the differences between other people. This seems to have been intentional on his father's part; a Kyotoryuu master is supposed to be a sword (not a swordsman) with no will of his own that someone else wields. Most of Shichika's CharacterDevelopment has him realizing that he is still a human and has a will of his own. Another side effect of Shichika's training is that he is completely unable to wield swords. This becomes an issue in episode 9 since the owner of that episode's Deviant blade is a kendo master who refuses to duel Shichika unless he is also armed and armored. At the last episodes, we discover that this trope is exaggerated: Shichika was the last product of an AncientConspiracy, the Kyotouryuu, the No Sword School, that wants to create the perfect swordsman (a man so powerful that he doesn’t need swords anymore), and he is the seventh generation of a school that had made the practicing of this martial art the principal motive of their lives. That means that Shichika is the last in line of five generations, each of them who were educated by a father who SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining, meaning each generation had more and more problems with [[NoSocialSkills social skills]].
* Guts from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', who [[RaisedByDudes grew up in a medieval mercenary camp]] and remained a mercenary until the Eclipse came down. Though he is intelligent in his own way, he knows little more than how to fight and survive.

* Barnaby from ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'' has been focused on becoming a superhero for four-fifths of his life, and as a result has developed a very odd personality; he knows exactly how to behave in public in order to inspire awe and boost popularity, but flounders ''badly'' when it comes to personal relationships. Throw in the "absolute trust or complete mistrust, nothing in-between" bit and you've got a guy with a very weird form of NoSocialSkills.
* Jin from ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'' fits this to a T. Trained from childhood in a high-level and super purist dojo, by age 20 he's a fearsome, near-unbeatable kenjutsu prodigy who can't cook, catch fish, hold a conversation (especially with women), or drink more than two shots of sake without falling asleep. He does get better once he has to.
* Poor, poor Extendeds from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny''. Especially Stella. One of the best Alliance pilots, but has a mind of an eight-year-old.
* The Claymores from ''Manga/{{Claymore}}''. Though not all of them may have been 100% willing, they sacrifice their recognition as humans to be monster hybrids for superhuman strength, speed, and other superpowers whilst being despised and feared by those they protect. They are also made to fight monsters until they are killed or become a monster themselves.
* Sai in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' can go toe-to-toe with S-Class criminals twice his age but needs a book that tells him how to act tactfully and politely. This is explained as part of his training in Root, which kills emotions and empathy, though none of the other Root members seen in the series so far are nearly as socially maladjusted as Sai.
* ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'': Subtly played by the Masters of the Ryouzanpaku: Six masters of their own martial arts, all of them (except the oldest) are {{Socially Awkward Hero}}es: Akisame Koetsuji is a BrokenAce, Shio Sakaki is a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, Apachai Hopachai is a ManChild, Shigure Kosaka has NoSocialSkills, Kensei Ma is a HenpeckedHusband who ran out on his family, all of them depend of Miu Furinji to run the dojo. All of them were reunited at the Dojo because they have nowhere else to go. Hayato Furinji claimed that Kenichi (TheHeart) united them in a true family.
* This trope fits Millia Falnya Jenius from ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' to a T. She is an ace pilot and proficient in close-combat as well, but as soon as she and Max are married, she nearly burns them out of Max's quarters by the simple act of making coffee. {{Justified}} due to her Zentraedi upbringing: cooking is not a necessary skill for a race of pure warriors.
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': Sanosuke doesn't really have many skills outside of fighting; his activities mainly included mooching off and being lazy. Even during fights he's often reckless and relies more on his inherent strength, but his inhuman endurance and power from street fighting make him a formidable opponent.
** Kenshin fits to a lesser extent; he's a nice guy with a fair bit of wisdom to offer. However, most of his life was devoted to learning swordsmanship. Coupled with his wanderer lifestyle, there's not much else he's good at.
** A sadder example exists with the Oniwabanshu. Other than Aoshi, none of his four remaining comrades had any skills that were applicable in a new era. This coupled with their grotesque appearances meant that fighting was the only thing they were really capable of.
* ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty'': The First-Generation Angeloids all get hit with this. Ikaros has strength & intelligence maxed out at the expense of her emotions, to the extent that she is incapable of ''voluntarily smiling''. Nymph has intelligence & emotions maxed at the expense of strength; her strongest attack doesn't even leave a scratch on most of her enemies. The Harpy twins appear to have gone the [[JackOfAllTrades jack-of-all]] route, but their High-Altitude wings are next to useless when they leave Synapse. Astraea has sacrificed intelligence for strength & emotions.
-->'''Ikaros''': You have three apples and four oranges. How many total pieces of-
-->'''Astraea''': I eat them all!
-->'''Ikaros''': Okay, let's try again. Seven bananas-
-->'''Astraea''': I EAT THEM ALL!
* In ''LightNovel/MushokuTensei'' disciples of the Sword God are usually illiterate. Ghyslaine admits that this, along with her inability to do basic arithmetic, made life as a solo adventurer hard because it was so easy for merchants to trick her.

* ''Anime/BloodPlus'' has the Schiff. As prototype {{Super Soldiers}}, they're deadly warriors, but due to their upbringing as living weapons, they have NoSocialSkills whatsoever; even something as simple as asking for help or something they need rather than taking it by force is an alien concept to them.

* The titular ''LightNovel/VioletEvergarden''. She is very adept with fighting, obeying orders and military duties but knows next to nothing about civilian life, emotions, and basic human cues. When Gilbert first meets her, Violet was practically feral. He had to teach her how to talk and how to see human contact as more than a threat.
* Yoruka in ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'' is a master assassin, capable of slaughtering small armies on her own. But due to a combination of this trope and being ostracised for her killing instincts, she can't function as anything other than an assassin who serves someone else. She doesn't even try to socialise with her classmates and instead spends her time trying to protect her master from (other) assassins. More comedically, she doesn't know how to do basic housework, trying to use her katana to cut grass for example.
* The titular ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'' spent years training under an abusive and somewhat psychotic Rhea Burglar to become a goblin killing machine. This combined with the harrowing experiences of being the SoleSurvivor of the goblin attack on his hometown (especially seeing his own sister being raped and killed by goblins while he was helpless to save her) has severely hampered his ability to interact normally with other people. A big part of his CharacterDevelopment throughout the series is him coming out of his shell with the help of a band of TrueCompanions he manages to gather in spite of himself. Another problem is that his training and specialization in goblin slaying tactics has given him a case of CripplingOverspecialization -- he tends to have a lot of trouble handling anything stronger than bog-standard goblins (including the strongest goblins such as Goblin Champions).

* In ''LightNovel/InfiniteDendrogram'', because Ray jumped straight into a High-Rank Job (Paladin) without going through a Low-Rank Job in the same skill tree, he doesn't learns basic skills initially learned through the Low-Rank Job (like Horse Riding). However, because he jumped into the High-Rank Job with such a low total level (the combined levels of all his known classes), he was able to learn a skill with a requirement made harder to earn at higher levels (Purifying Silverlight) and would require anyone else to reset every other job barring Paladin to 0 just to have a chance to learn it.
* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'':
** Since middle school, Matsuri has dedicated his time to becoming an exorcist ninja to protect Suzu. He's gained a lot of power with just three years of training, but at the expense of any kind of social life. [[FriendlessBackground He never made any other friends before high school]], and became distant from Suzu. When he joins Suzu's group to act as her bodyguard, Matsuri avoids actually talking to them when they were together, only getting to know them at Suzu's insistence.
** Soga is a similarly-dedicated exorcist ninja basically for its own sake, and so has even ''worse'' social skills than Matsuri. He can't help but terrify most people he runs into, is very terse in general, CannotTalkToWomen, and [[ParalyzingFearOfSexuality any hint of female sexuality]] [[DefeatByModesty can send him running with his tail between his legs]].
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Shoto Todoroki has won the SuperpowerLottery, being able to wield both [[AnIcePerson ice]] and [[PlayingWithFire fire]]. However, his father Endeavor has subjected him to intense TrainingFromHell ever since he got his Quirk for the sake of ensuring Shoto becomes the Number One Hero: this has left him with a serious case of DaddyIssues combined with NoSocialSkills.
* The protagonist of ''Manga/FlyMeToTheMoon'' Nasa Yuzaki, is so determined to overcome the stigma of his EmbarrassingFirstName that he devotes his youth to studying. As a result of this, his test scores are high enough that he has a good chance at getting into a prestigious high school (and probably would have if not for the accident), knows accounting well enough to save the Arisugawa bathhouse, and can even repair a display case that preserves a moon rock. Unfortunately, he lacks common sense, social skills and knowledge about romance.

* Julius Benedict (Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger) in the movie ''Film/{{Twins}}'' learned to speak 12 languages, and excelled in mathematics, history, science, and literature. Highly intelligent, but extremely naive about the real world which his more worldly brother inhabits.
* In ''Film/HotPursuit'', the degree to which Officer Cooper can be considered 'awesome' may be debated, but she possesses a virtually encyclopaedic knowledge of police procedural codes, while lacking various social skills such as an ignorance of the meaning of the term "I call shotgun", as well as coming across too strongly during dates.

* Kurt Russell's character in ''Film/{{Soldier}}'', along with everyone else in his unit, was taken by the military as an infant and raised to be little more than an obedient weapon. He has '''''no''''' social skills whatsoever, and barely speaks except when giving a one or two-word reply to someone else. He addresses everybody as "Sir" no matter who they are, because that's all he knows. While waiting for orders, his entire platoon sits bolt-upright on their beds in the barracks doing absolutely nothing. Flashbacks to their training days showed that any one of them that couldn't be turned into a human robot that did nothing but follow orders was summarily shot by an officer or beaten to death by his comrades.

* The first ''Film/{{Hitman}}'' movie shows 47 to be worldly enough to function on his own just fine, but he's asexual, almost robotic in terms of personality, and unable to relate to people in a benign context. It's consistent enough with his characterization in the source material, but the games don't really delve too deeply into his personal dealings off the job (and in all media, much to his benefit, people rarely seem to take special notice the silent, imposing bald chap with the nice duds and [[HighlyVisibleNinja visible barcode on back of his head]]).

* Vince of ''Literature/SuperPowereds'', thanks to his homeless childhood and strange upbringing. Survival skills? Good enough. Fighting? got that in spades. Social skills? [[NoSocialSkills minimal]]. operating basic appliances? Not a clue. There's also Chad, arguably the best fighter in the class, whose every thought is focused on training to be the very best he can be. Even his mother is concerned that he has no actual friends but a number of ''sparring partners''. He actually uses his "total control" power to prevent himself from sensing any emotions towards others until later, when he becomes curious. Vince's friends note that he and Chad are the same in the NoSocialSkills respect, as well as their general obtuseness to {{Double Entendre}}s (Chad tells Vince that a girl has invited him to a club only to avoid inviting someone who would grope her all night long, and both accept it at face value; the others wonder how it's possible to be this dense for not one but two people).
* In the first Literature/SherlockHolmes story, ''A Study in Scarlet'', it's said that Holmes has next to no practical knowledge that isn't related to detective work. He professes surprise when Watson tells him that Earth revolves around the sun (and states his intention to forget about it as best he can, so as not to fill up his mind with irrelevant information- comparing it to a 'brain attic', and information with furniture). This part of his character was quickly dropped by the author, as by ''A Scandal in Bohemia'', Sherlock has quite a great deal of political knowledge (in contradiction to Watson's claim in ''Scarlet'' that Holmes' has a "feeble" grasp of politics), Holmes often peppers his speech with literature references, and, in any case, Holmes' ultimate career as a bee-keeper would suggest he's picked up the practical gardening knowledge that Watson claims he lacks. Then again, it's possible that this is the result of offstage CharacterDevelopment.

* In ''Le Mort D'Arthur'', Lancelot says at one point that he's bad at climbing trees. ''Literature/TheOnceAndFutureKing'', a modern update, expands this to a general lack of all skills that children normally learn through play since he spent most of his childhood concentrating on his combat skills to the exclusion of all else.
* Kirth Gersen of ''Literature/TheDemonPrinces'' series, much like Sosuke Sagara, has been focused primarily on combat since childhood; his social skills aren't ''completely'' missing, but he's pretty inept.
** He had a different love-interest to one degree or another in each of the five books. Not exactly a shabby performance, plus he was aware of, and occasionally [[{{Wangst}} prone to undue introspection about]], the abnormal life he chose to lead.

* Literature/ArtemisFowl is the world's smartest human; he has several patents, designed an opera house, became a musical genius and expert in combat tactics, and wrote several medical books, all by the age of 13 or so. However, he cannot cook (he tries, and pretty much fails, to make a sandwich), is too physically weak to hold or shoot anything heavier than a fairy handgun, and even when [[GenreSavvy he has Butler start teaching him martial arts]], he has no skill with it. He can't even remember having climbed a ladder in his life.
** He also has extreme difficulty communicating with people without making them hate him, although that has less to do with this trope than [[InsufferableGenius his colossal arrogance and condescending attitude towards anyone he doesn't respect]], and the list of people he ''does'' respect can be counted on one hand. His only friend (Butler) is literally paid to be around him. And once puberty hit, he was quickly distracted by every girl he found pretty and struggled to keep his mind straight.
** On the other hand, [[spoiler:his split personality Orion is more skilled in these areas.]]
** Butler, on the other hand, ''can'' cook (to make sure no one poisons Artemis, presumably) and is ludicrously skilled in combat, but has very little ability to do anything creative, or things outside his training/orders. As a min-maxed pair, Butler and Artemis work pretty well; they only have problems when they get split up, so, naturally, they get separated pretty often.
** Foaly is in the same boat, although as a centaur, he ''is'' able to trample people...
*** ''Small'' people. Centaurs are on the same scale as the rest of the fairy folk, meaning Foaly probably equals ponyman.

* In Creator/AnneMason's YA novels about linguist Kira Warden, throughout Kira's childhood, her parents were constantly taking her on their missions to other planets. This helped make her an outstanding linguist and cultural interpreter but meant that she missed out on a lot of the general education that her agemates received.
* In Creator/JerameyKraatz's ''Literature/TheCloakSociety'', the Beta Team were allowed out of the underground base every week. this has left a number of gaps in their knowledge -- that stages have trap doors is one plot-relevant one.
* In the Literature/{{Boojumverse}} story "The Wreck of the ''Charles Dexter Ward''", when Cynthia becomes the doctor of the ''Jarmulowicz Astronomica'', she forms this opinion of her predecessor. The previous doctor was a genius in pioneering cutting-edge research, but not so good on the fundamentals; while pushing the boundaries of knowledge, she overlooked that most of the crew were suffering from basic malnutrition.
* Inverted in ''Literature/FateStrangeFake'' with Enkidu. In his original clay doll form, he was monstrously powerful (only fitting, considered he was a divine Noble Phantasm originally meant to curb-stomp [[WorldsStrongestMan Gilgamesh]]), but had no other skills otherwise. After spending some time with the divine harlot Shamhat, he assumed her form, losing most of his power but giving him the potential to become more than a weapon.

* Harry Dresden in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' occasionally faces enemies who have done this, and are ultimately undone when they lose access to their super cool abilities and have no fundamentals to fall back on.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the episode "Mute" we have a young girl, orphaned in a house fire, who apparently cannot speak a word. She turns out to be completely telepathic. Unfortunately, a strictly conformist teacher forces the girl to be BroughtDownToNormal by forcing the girl to speak (which causes her to lose her gift).
* Parker from ''Series/{{Leverage}}''. An incredibly talented thief who plans complicated robberies the same way normal people do crosswords, she nonetheless has serious problems interacting with people on an everyday basis. Because of an abusive childhood ''(during which she may or may not have blown up her foster parents)'' and later being raised/trained by a master thief, she comes across in non-heist situations as awkward, disturbing, or somewhere in between. WordOfGod says that she's high-functioning autistic.
* Barney Stinson from ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' is highly skilled at the performing arts, speaks multiple languages, is a master manipulator and seducer, can write loophole-proof documents that a trained lawyer cannot work around, and his home is full of complex gadgets which he apparently designed himself. However, he is also shown to lack basic high school level knowledge (he conflates Spain with Italy), simple life skills like driving and using tools, and, despite being very socially adept in other areas, is unable to navigate a genuine romantic relationship or a serious dispute with his best friend without help.

* The Swedish comedian group ''VaranTV'' made a sketch about a family who didn't let their son go to school because that would take time from their busy schedule of teaching him ninjutsu so he could participate in junior leagues of UFC. "Why learn math when there are so many other important things to know in life? Like how to escape when attacked by three people at the same time."
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' has a version of this with a one-off race of [[HumanAliens aliens]]. The "awesome training" is instant learning from nanobots, which are imprinted with the information by specially selected children who basically act as information harvesters. The children are filled with these nanobots, then tasked with learning everything there is to know about a specific topic. Once the child reaches a certain age, the nanobots are harvested and spread to every member of the society - leaving the child essentially mindless. Learning is painless and thorough, but because the kids their information comes from are treated as pure data-gathering units, they never learn things like play, with the result that no one else on the planet learns it either; the concept of drawing something that isn't an exact diagram is utterly foreign to them.
** Later upped by the Ancient Repository of Knowledge. It writes everything there is to know about the universe into one's brain... but the human brain is not meant to store that much information, gradually overwriting things and eventually killing the subject when it starts mucking up low-level things. O'Neill was the only one who actually used it on-screen; it gave him insane scientific prowess, to the point that he invented a revolutionary new method of distance calculations between Stargates using base 8 math, and tweaked the battery of a handheld energy weapon into a one-use energy source of astronomical power... at the expense of losing his ability to speak, read or even understand English. Later comments by the Asgard imply that very few humans could have survived even that. Most would've just burned out in minutes or seconds.
*** Another Repository was used by [[spoiler:Daniel Jackson, but according to all evidence this one had been specifically programmed to only give Daniel the knowledge of a specific Ancient, the man known to mythology as Merlin, and was also programmed to automatically depart Daniel after a certain amount of time]].
** Dr. [=McKay=] encounters another Ancient device in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', which enhances his brain activity in preparation for [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascension]]. However, as he starts developing advanced powers such as telepathy and telekinesis, his brain starts losing the ability to regulate the more basic functions needed to keep his body alive, until it becomes a choice of "ascend or die".
* Tom in ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'' is incredibly naive and socially awkward, due to having been raised in near-isolation from a young age by his adopted father. His lack of social graces are because all of his training was focused on managing his Lycanthropy and in hunting down and killing Vampires. Considering that Vampires have superior strength to humans, while Werewolves are regular individuals for most of the month, it's a testament to this training that Tom is able to go toe-to-toe with numerous Vampires and is said to have an incredible body count to his name.

* The title character in ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' is a polymath forensic genius who has honed his memory and reasoning skills into precision weapons and spends his spare time researching things like what harpoon wounds look like. His knowledge of human interaction is limited to criminology and he's absolutely hopeless at navigating social situations. His older brother Mycroft is even more brilliant and even worse at emotional reasoning. As distinct from Doyle's "attic" metaphor, Sherlock speaks of it in terms of deleting unnecessary items from his hard drive.
--> '''Sherlock Holmes:''' Look, it doesn't matter to me who's Prime Minister, or who's sleeping with whom--
--> '''John Watson:''' [somewhat bitterly] Or that the earth goes around the sun.
--> '''Sherlock Holmes:''' Oh God, that again?! It's not important!
--> '''John Watson:''' Not important? It's primary school stuff! How can you not know that?

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/MarriedWithChildren''. In one episode Al trains Kelly to learn a bunch of sports trivia for a quiz show, and during the TrainingMontage we see basic life skills (like "Dinner first, then sex") literally exiting her brain.
* When she showed up in Sunnydale, [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Kendra the Vampire Slayer]] demonstrated the primary weakness of the Watcher's Council usual treatment of potential slayers (that is, they trained them to be living weapons above and beyond all other things). Kendra might have been a kick-ass fighter, for sure, but when it came to anything other than just hitting things, she was naïve, nervous about interacting with boys, had no dress sense, hesitant, and when push came to shove easily beaten by an enemy that did anything other than stand there and offer her a straight fight.

* Characters in ''TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness'' systems, especially those that are built toward combat, can often end up in this category -- they still get raw attributes toward their rolls, but penalties can be insurmountable.
** In ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'', this is a frequent issue [[SerialKiller Slashers]] have; many focused so much on learning to kill and murder people they actually lost basic social skills, making them unable to empathize or interact with people in a peaceful way.
* Averted in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' and possibly others: the starting skill value of 0 just means no special training (eg. 0 in a knowledge skill represents what a high school student knows).
** The above-mentioned universal rule still looms, however. Players can take the "Incompetent" flaw, which means their character lacks even the common knowledge that might apply to the skill. Zero skill in driving means you can't be a stunt driver. Incompetent: Driving means you don't have a driver's license.
* Several archetypes from ''TabletopGame/FengShui'', such as the Killer, the Techie and the Sorcerer, have no Martial Arts skill, with their only combat skills being in guns or sorcery, and thus have to default to Reflexes in order to do things that do not involve guns or sorcery that isn't covered by their other major skills.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Clan]] [[DesignerBabies Trueborns]] are raised from birth to fight. Their training programs produce some of the best warriors, tacticians and (for the more prominent bloodlines) leaders around but other areas get neglected. Trueborns generally don't perform well in other fields if they don't have the civilian castes to back them up and this can often be a problem for anyone (that is, around 90%) who washes out of the warrior caste.
** The RPG system also enforces this for characters; everything is purchased with experience. A special forces operative isn't going to have room for negotiating prowess after he's spent his experience points on stealth, demolitions and marksmanship skills.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'', a setting that depends heavily on diversifying skills and gives even most combat-related careers some non-combat skills for roleplaying reasons (for instance, mercenaries tend to be decent at gambling and haggling), the Troll Slayer has only three skills, of which one is only useful in a fight (Dodge Blow) and the two others generally useful for starting one (Intimidate, Consume Alcohol). Justified because Slayers are disgraced {{Death Seeker}}s who have put their past lives behind them to fight and die against a worthy enemy; you ''cannot leave'' the Slayer career once you start, except in death.

* The rules for most TabletopGame/ProseDescriptiveQualities games are explicitly written to avert it - anything you don't have a better rank in, you have automatically at Average [+0], which is general competence that anyone has. You might not be a gourmet chef if you don't take a cooking Quality, but you can at least boil water or cook meat without burning it. Though you can still hyper-specialize to your detriment by overlapping your Qualities as much as possible. In ''Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies'', this may even be a good way to rack up [[ExperiencePoints Training Points]] quickly, by jumping in outside your area of expertise, because you only gain TP for failed rolls. Whether your party will appreciate it, on the other hand...
* Similarly largely averted in Fate-based games like ''TabletopGame/SpiritOfTheCentury'' or ''TabletopGame/TheDresdenFiles'', where a character who invests nothing in a skill generally still gets at least a Mediocre (+0) rank in it -- meaning they can still roll for it, the skill just doesn't add anything to the dice -- and it's not actually possible to lower this any further. In addition, because the skill system is pretty coarsely grained, most "regular" people will be only one or maybe two steps better than that in even their ''trained'' skills and likewise fall back to being Mediocre at everything else; {{player character}}s and major {{NPC}}s are ''already'' awesome just by virtue of being able to have more trained skills including some beyond that cap right from the word go.
* There's a peculiar physical-combat-based example of this trope in ''TabletopGame/AnimaBeyondFantasy'' involving ditching buying any Attack (and if taken to a more extreme level, any Block/Dodge either) at all and instead sticking the points in Martial Knowledge, Ki Pool, and Ki Accumulation. As all of the above stats draw from the same pool of points, some of them have to be sacrificed, as trying to do all of them at once often falls into MasterOfNone territory. This results in one of very few character builds that can use incredibly complex combinations of ki techniques -- some of which can turn a character into the most devastating practical artillery pieces in the setting, or dish out damage per round that far exceeds the health of anything in the game -- within a combat-practical time period, but without said techniques and the energy to power them, these characters are actually more prone to ineffective flailing than most ''civilians''.
** On a more general level, either hyper-focused secondary skill spreads (sacrificing any pretense of competence in basically anything else non-combat, or even anything combat-related if focused hard enough) that can quickly get up to physics-breaking levels in their one area of expertise at the cost of potentially fouling up ''routine'' checks outside that area (like taking stairs two or three at a time) on a fairly regular basis, or forgoing secondary skills entirely to spend the points on other things like extra maximum health or monster powers (which tend to be great for raw stats but not so much for life skills).
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' is a partial aversion, with "defaults" for skills; for example someone who has put all their points into combat or magic and none into the Housekeeping skill has a "default skill level" of IQ-4, and can probably prepare basic meals and keep their living space in decent condition, right up until they get a bad roll and Something Goes Wrong. ''Or'' they can take an Incompetence disadvantage and squeeze some extra points into those combat abilities.

* Starkiller from ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'' was raised his whole life by Darth Vader as his personal assassin, and as a result is unsure how to act around his lovely pilot, Juno Eclipse. It's also a miracle that he successfully impersonated a Jedi and rallied The Emperor's enemies into The Rebel Alliance.

* Similarly to Sangaril, Zevran from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' was raised as an assassin by the Antivan crows. He alludes to not having many skills apart from this. You can suggest (at a different point) that he would make a good prostitute, which makes him laugh.

* Leon Magnus from ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny'', raised with little contact with anyone who wasn't Hugo or Marian and trained to be a knight. He's come to believe the only people he can rely on are himself and Chaltier (his sword) and thus has a very hard time interacting with people without coming across as a major asshole. When [[spoiler: Marian]] is taken hostage and Chaltier tells him to go get help from his previous teammates, he refuses. [[spoiler: It gets him killed.]]
* Luke from ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' comes to mind. After being found with no memories, his parents refused to let him leave the manor. While he studied swordsmanship to pass the time, he was so ignorantly unaware of how the world outside worked that he bit into an apple without paying (an excuse for the tutorial on shopping) and was branded a thief for it. As well, despite his amazing ability to use the seventh fonon to create a hyperresonnance, he is also incapable of learning healing spells, which are the basic application of the seventh fonon.
* Ashtarte in ''[[VideoGame/TearsToTiara2 Tears to Tiara 2]]'' is a goddess who hasn't appeared on earth for a long time. She needs to be taught what ''hunger'' is and ''how to eat''.
* Similar to tabletop RPG s, one of the earlier ''VideoGame/SmackdownVsRaw'' games (back when it was still called Smackdown!) allowed your created characters to sacrifice attribute points for quirks that gave you a slight advantage in combat. On the other hand, you could also pick negative traits to give you additional attribute points. This allowed the wrestler to receive ungodly strength or endurance in exchange for being hampered by multiple ''crippled limbs''. Happily, elective quadriplegia had almost [[GameplayAndStorySegregation no effect whatsoever]], effectively granting you a massive power boost for free.
* Mitsuru in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' has spent her life learning how to fight shadows and take over the Kirijo group when the time comes. She is absolutely hopeless when it comes to day to day common activities such as normal friendships, dating, small things like fast food or considering her own goals for the future.
* Asura of ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'' is an outstanding fighter, but he doesn't know how to interact with people outside of punching. He still tries hard to be a good father and husband but is always very awkward about it.
-->'''Durga:''' [As Asura is scared by baby Mithra crying]. Even one of the Eight Guardian Generals is no match for his own daughter, is he?
-->'''Asura:''' She's... so small...
-->'''Durga:''' Do you know what I think? I believe that you wish only the best for our daughter...
* Most player characters of modern video games that are heavy on scripting, especially the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series. For example, Soap, from ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare''. Highly trained SAS operator. [[OneManArmy Can shred through dozens of baddies in a matter of minutes.]] [[InsurmountableWaistHighFence Cannot open a door.]]
* Bullet from ''Franchise/BlazBlue'' was born on a battlefield, raised by soldiers and has been working as a mercenary her whole life. As a result, she's a great combatant but she has no idea how to do anything outside fighting.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** Holding a Pokémon back from evolving leaves them with lower base stats (until they evolve, at least), but they learn many attacks sooner, or may even learn moves that their evolutions can't learn at all. This is most prominent for Pokémon which evolve with evolutionary stones; though there are exceptions, either the evolved Pokémon can't learn any more moves by level-up and must rely on TMs and Move Tutors (i.e. Raichu, Ninetales, Poliwrath), or their level-up learnsets are completely different from what the unevolved Pokémon can learn (i.e. Eevee's family).
** The title character of ''VideoGame/DetectivePikachu'', much like Team Rocket's Meowth in the anime (see above), spent most of his battle skills on being able to talk with humans, leaving his electric attacks rather weak.
* Invoked in ''VideoGame/NierAutomata''. Since your HUD is a DiegeticInterface and all your HUD elements are added by chips, you can sacrifice bits of your HUD to make more room for chips that give combat buffs.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has the [[OldMaster Greybeards]] of High Hrothgar, a monastery atop the Throat of the World, Tamriel's tallest mountain. The Greybeards are masters of the [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]], the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent draconic]] LanguageOfMagic. The Greybeards have trained their voices to such an incredible extent that even a ''misplaced whisper'' could kill a person, thus they have to live in seclusion and rarely speak (with Arngeir, their human leader, being an exception). They play a major part in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', where they summon the [[PlayerCharacter Dragonborn]] to High Hrothgar for training in the Thu'um. When they speak in full voice to summon the Dragonborn to High Hrothgar, ''all of Skyrim hears it''. Even when they greet the Dragonborn with a politely whispered "Dovahkiin", ''the whole mountain shakes'' from the force of it. It should be noted that this [[GamePlayAndStoryIntegration isn't just lore fluff]], the four Greybeards are some of the highest level-[=NPCs=] in the game, with Arngeir sitting pretty at level 150.
* This can be seen with min-maxed characters in many games, especially those games that receive new DLC or content patches: A character min-maxed for a specific build-type or playstyle can find itself completely out of its depth when new content comes about that changes the Meta or adds new mechanics, or patches exploits that once made specific builds unstoppable. Characters built around exploiting the current Meta end up completely out of their depth when the latest season begins, the latest DLC drops, or a patch comes in that completely changes the game, while characters built around overall versatility can typically do well (Clearing main game content, but suffering in the post-game content) no matter how much the Meta changes.
** A good example of this can be seen in VideoGame/DarkSouls3 when a fairly well-known patch came through and radically changed the Meta, removing many glitches and exploits that many players had been using to dominate player-versus-player combat. Characters built around using those glitches and exploits had to either respec or be completely abandoned. Additionally, characters built solely for PVP combat have a tendency to have difficulty clearing the game, while characters built around clearing the game tend to have issues with PVP combat.

* This is Pete's rationalization for his ludicrous MinMaxing of R2-D2 in ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids''. He lacks the ability to even speak to other characters (in-character anyway), but consequently his mechanical and hacking skills are through the roof. Bizarrely, this makes sense in-universe. Mech droids can't speak to humans specifically because they're over-optimized for their job of fixing things. Their "droidspeak" is much more efficient than human speech... for communicating with computers, so it's higher priority than being able to speak human languages.

* Sylvester, in ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', is this thanks to the Wyvern formula that's regularly injected into his brain, which increases neural plasticity to allow him to rapidly learn new skills to the point where he can become a knife-throwing expert after a few throws. However, the rapid memory degradation that comes with Wyvern means that he can only ''maintain'' these skills with constant practice at the cost of his other skills. He mainly focuses on social skills, since he can constantly practice them for his AwesomenessByAnalysis role, but of course this makes him less than useless in a fight.
* In ''Website/{{Clickhole}}''[='s=] quiz, ''Which One of the Kids Who I Sell Samurai Swords to Are You?'', there's [[OnlyKnownByHisNickname the Shadow]]. The author theorizes that the Shadow once had a sensei that taught him absolutely everything there was to know about swordsmanship, but forgot to explain anything else, resulting in a kid who has to ask strangers incredibly awkward questions about puberty at sword-point.

* The Daughters of Aku introduced in Season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' are a team of deadly assassins born and raised for the sole purpose of killing Jack. All of that training came at the expense of basically any knowledge of the outside world. They don't even know what a ''deer'' is and are completely baffled (and upset) by displays of affection. It gets all but one of them killed.
* Webby Vanderquack in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' was raised by an overprotective grandmother who is also a retired superspy. As a result, she has been trained in martial arts, stealth, and other skills that serve her well when she's on adventures with Scrooge [=McDuck=] and the triplets, but has been sheltered in [=McDuck=] Manor all her life so she's never had any exposure to anyone her own age or related activities. The second episode, "Daytrip of Doom!", has this on full display as Webby goes with Huey, Dewey, and Louie to the resident SuckECheeses and doesn't know what some of the attractions even ''are'', but later single-handedly captures Ma Beagle in the ball pit.
* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': Adora is a TykeBomb [[RaisedByOrcs raised from infancy to be a soldier of the Horde]], meaning she's a fantastic fighter and tactician. The tradeoff is that she has no understanding of things that aren't military, like horses, parties, [[PrefersRocksToPillows soft beds]], or the concept of aunts. When invited to a prom, she prepares like she's planning to invade a country. Notably, this is limited to Adora. The rest of the squad she grew up with are fully aware of these things, even if they never got to experience some of them; the aforementioned prom example has her EvilFormerFriend be aware that its simply a fancy social event without it having to be explained to her.

** Since middle school, Matsuri has dedicated his time to becoming an exorcist ninja to protect Suzu. He's gained a lot of power with just three years of training, but at the expense of any kind of social life. [[FriendlessBackground He never made any other friends before high school]], and became distant from Suzu. When he joins Suzu's group to act as her bodyguard, Matsuri avoiding actually talking to them when they were together, only getting to know them at Suzu's insistence.

* As a form of government, constitutional monarchy requires this of the monarch and their immediate heirs. A constitutional monarch must be educated from a young age about what is expected of them and what is permitted from them, since all it takes is a few seemingly small deviations and the monarchy could fall. (Just ask the Greek, Italian, and Portuguese royals.) This education frequently comes at the expense of a more "normal" one. However, if a constitutional monarchy is diligent about educating its dynasts, it can retain incredible staying power and even be useful to its country diplomatically.

** Used well with characterization when Ash and Pikachu take on Lt. Surge and Raichu. After losing, Ash gets a Thunder Stone, allowing him to evolve Pikachu at any time with it, but Pikachu vehemently refuses to evolve to match Raichu. Turns out that in Lt. Surge's haste to evolve his Pikachu into a Raichu, it didn't learn basic attacks (especially ones involving speed). Bulbasaur and Squirtle also adopt this philosophy, but contrast Charizard who evolved as quickly as possible because of its low self-esteem. It ends up leaving Ash to train because it is ''relatively weak'', while Bulbasaur and Squirtle lead Pokémon teams with more advanced Pokémon following ''them''.

** A good example of this can be seen in the DarkSouls franchise, most notably in 3 when a fairly well-known patch came through and radically changed the Meta, removing many glitches and exploits that many players had been using to dominate player-versus-player combat. Characters built around using those glitches and exploits had to either respec or be completely abandoned. Additionally, characters built solely for PVP combat have a tendency to have difficulty clearing the game, while characters built around clearing the game tend to have issues with PVP combat.

** A good example of this can be seen in DarkSouls3 when a fairly well-known patch came through and radically changed the Meta, removing many glitches and exploits that many players had been using to dominate player-versus-player combat. Characters built around using those glitches and exploits had to either respec or be completely abandoned. Additionally, characters built solely for PVP combat have a tendency to have difficulty clearing the game, while characters built around clearing the game tend to have issues with PVP combat.

** Soga is a similarly-dedicated exorcist ninja basically for its own sake, and so has even ''worse'' social skills than Matsuri. He can't help but terrify most people he runs into, is very terse in general, CannotTalkToWoman, and [[ParalyzingFearOfSexuality any hint of female sexuality]] [[DefeatByModesty can send him running with his tail between his legs]].

* Medaka of ''Manga/MedakaBox'' can do ''everything'', literally ''everything''. She is a master of every single sport ever played, top of ''every'' class, could read entire libraries of books when she ''was three'', can rip entire buildings off their foundations with her bare hands, '''and''' she has a superpower that lets her copy and perfect any other superpowers she witnesses. Because of her near perfection though, her people skills are non-existent. She can barely understand how normal people work and generally causes trouble everywhere she goes. It has required the lifetime of effort and struggle of her childhood friend Zenkichi to just barely keep her in check.
** To a lesser extent, it's shown that because of this flaw, the one thing Medaka is actually bad at is any form of artistic expression. In one chapter she plays the drums for the first time in her life; though her technique is described as godly, it utterly fails to inspire any kind of emotion in those who hear it. Zenkichi describes her performance as ''too'' perfect, remarking that because it lacks the human touch of little slip-ups or errors it doesn't "feel" right, and explicitly says that it's like the opposite of the UncannyValley effect.
** Another flaw in this ability is she will learn things regardless of whether she intends to or not. For this reason, it is dangerous for her to face an opponent who's ability might actually be a problem such as Munakata's impulsive need to kill and understanding of how to kill others. Unlike Munakata, who is kind-hearted so he restrains his ability, Medaka doesn't understand right from wrong beyond their concepts so it's likely she'd have become a crazed killer.

** Chiaotzu has incredible psychic powers, but has to count on his fingers to solve single-digit addition and subtraction problems, nor can he tell right from left. This is actually a subtle BrickJoke to Goku and Krillin's training with Master Roshi. Master Roshi actually made a point of taking time for things like basic schooling and proper rest during the year he was training them -- this is most likely the only schooling Goku ever got and is probably why Goku isn't actually illiterate or incapable of counting. Goku could have potentially sacrificed a ''lot more'' of his basic skills, if not for the fact that his early teacher (who also taught his grandfather) ensured that he wouldn't be a ''total'' musclehead.

* The cast from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''. In particular, see Ranma, Ryouga, Mousse and Shampoo; by and large, they make up for their extensive martial abilities with their lack of social skill and modern knowledge: Ranma, because of his father's upbringing; Ryouga, because of his lack of upbringing; and Shampoo and Mousse, because they were raised in a warrior society. It should be noted that the extensive fandom means that the exact balance between the characters (as well as the extent of their abilities or lack thereof, as the case may be) can be argued, ad infinitum ad nauseum.

* In ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'', more than one Valkyria (Selvaria from [[VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles VCI]] and Aliasse from [[VideoGame/ValkyriaChroniclesII VCII]]) knew no life besides being used in experiments, until chance encounters changed their lives (Selvaria's encounter with Maximilian, or Aliasse's friendship with Avan and Cosette) Aliasse in particular is still very young, and as such, is a powerful Valkyria but is also very naive and uneducated.

* Big business college athletics in the United States has been noted as suffering from this, especially with the presence of sports scholarships in some universities leading to cases of players able to get, essentially, [[ADegreeInUseless joke degrees that have no practical benefit to them]]. If players then manage to make it into professional ranks at some point when they're forced to retire many realize they have no useful skills outside of the sport. This is often acerbated by the effect of fame and fans so their ability to socialize like a normal person when they're no longer the center of attention can be hampered. Many professional leagues now offer, essentially, life-skills classes and support so ex-athletes can manage to survive off the field. There are also efforts to clamp down on the fake athletic degrees so the college athletes have at least some kind of a real education.

* The Daughters of Aku introduced in Season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' are a team of deadly assassins born and raised for the sole purpose of killing Jack. All of that training came at the expense of basically any knowledge of the outside world. They don't even know what a ''deer'' is and are completely baffled (and upset) by displays of affection.

This trope has two different setups. The more common one involves a character who spends their formative years in a convent, school or sequestered in a family home and trained in the "family ways". Usually, these involve warfare, magic, or assassination. Expect there to be TrainingFromHell and TheSpartanWay especially that is so [[CripplingOverspecialization highly specialized]] it leaves no room for anything else. So instead of Home Ec 101, they're getting Tundra Guerrilla Tactics 101. The children who "graduate" are usually {{Tyke Bomb}}s, in which case it was probably done purposely by their teacher. They might have considered it "unnecessary" or distracting, or useful to exclude both make their job easier and keep them tightly controlled. In the case of a school or the like, the students are likely so rigorously policed and kept apart that they don't interact enough to learn basic social skills.

* ''Manga/ShokugekiNoSoma'': Erina has a sense of taste best described as the "tongue of God". This, along with the training provided by her family, has made her a fix-star in the culinary world at age 16, already raking in millions in consulting fees. However, she needs assistance to perform basic tasks like buying her favorite manga and doing laundry, has never even heard of mass-produced snack foods and doesn't understand why people do things like visiting the beach and go on dates. [[spoiler:As it turns out, Erina's case is PlayedForDrama. She was made to give up her social skills on purpose by her abusive father in order to refine her culinary skills, the result making her a genius in cooking but utterly dense in everything else.]]

* Kurt Russell's character in ''Film/{{Soldier}}'', along with everyone else in his unit, was taken by the military as an infant and raised to be little more than an obedient weapon. He has '''''no''''' social skills whatsoever, and barely speaks excepts when giving a one or two-word reply to someone else. He addresses everybody he speaks to as "Sir", no matter who they are because that's all he knows. While waiting for orders, his entire platoon sits bolt-upright on their beds in the barracks doing absolutely nothing. Flashbacks to their training days showed that any one of them that couldn't be turned into a human robot that did nothing but follow orders was summarily shot by an officer or beaten to death by his comrades.

* In ''Webcomic/GodOfHighSchool'', Jin Mo-Ri is extraordinarily talented at martial arts to the point of [[PowerCopying copying most techniques with a single glance]] and gifted with ridiculous physical prowess. Unfortunately, a life spent secluded in the mountains with his grandpa whose motto is "Do what you want!" has left Mo-Ri a bit of a {{Manchild}} who lacks common sense and is innocently honest to a fault.

* Some argue that the Autistism Spectrum Disorder is just an exaggerated example of this, reasoning that the person sacrificed social skills for their "special interests". Some autistics would agree but put it another way: that socializing is simply the neurotypical "special interest", and that to autistics themselves, other children were/are simply not interesting.

*** This is not to say he's incapable of guile or deception; he just does it in his own way. In one scene in ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', he tells the head of the Fools' Guild that he has "special orders" he must follow if he is asked to leave (namely, that he must ''accept'' such a request), and insinuates that the consequences would be very bad for ''someone'' if he was forced to carry them out.

** ''Discworld/TheLastContinent'' hangs a lampshade on the fact that society itself has done this when Ponder Stibbons' internal monologue defines a savage as someone who only knows useless and backwards things like how to tell an edible mushroom from a poisonous one, instead of important, civilized things like the square root of 27 (five and a bit)... while he's stranded on a deserted island with the rest of the wizards, who are equally civilized.

* In Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' series, the entire Second Foundation did this; they didn't develop any new advances in technology or the physical sciences, or even preserve most of the existing ones, instead focusing exclusively on developing psychohistory. As a result, they can pretty much control people's minds and can predict the future with astonishing accuracy, but they can't defend themselves against physical attack--which is why they have to stay hidden. And which is why, every hundred years or so, they must scramble to mind-wipe yet another person who threatens to develop an [[NoSell anti-psychic field]], which, in-universe, is slightly less complicated that [[ScienceMarchesOn a button-and-a-dial remote control]].
* In Anne Mason's YA novels about linguist Kira Warden, throughout Kira's childhood, her parents were constantly taking her on their missions to other planets. This helped make her an outstanding linguist and cultural interpreter but meant that she missed out on a lot of the general education that her agemates received.
* In Jeramey Kraatz's ''Literature/TheCloakSociety'', the Beta Team were allowed out of the underground base every week. this has left a number of gaps in their knowledge -- that stages have trap doors is one plot-relevant one.