History Main / TeenGenius

** A subtler example is Yuri Sakazaki. She only started training when she was 16-17, and yet she mastered the basics and low techniques of the Kyokugenryu Karate ''within a year''. She didn't stop there, but started imitating other people's techniques as seen above - and developed her own. (Like the infamous [[ArmorPiercingSlap Hyakuretsu Binta]] and her own Super Special, the ''Hien Hou-oh Kyaku''.)

* Irina Woods from ''Anime/MyOtome''. In addition to her normal Otome duties, she also studies engineering and computers, and is very good friends with [[HotScientist Professor Youko]].

* Ciel of ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' created [[spoiler:Copy-X]], a near-perfect duplicate of [[TechnoWizard Thomas Light's]] greatest work, when she was ''six years old'' and devised a completely new energy source before she'd finished her teenage years. ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZX ZX's]]'' backstory indicates she also created the biometals sometime after the Zero series, and on top of everything else she's a HotScientist to boot. [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist Girl gets around, doesn't she?]]

* In the UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}}, there are high schools specifically designed for geniuses in science and technology, such as the Philippine Science High School, which has campuses in several parts of the country and is funded by the country's science and technology department rather than education. Up until the K-12 system was impemented nationwide in 2016, every high school graduate entered college at 16.

** This is made even more evident in the movie ''Franchise/{{Superman}} / Franchise/{{Batman}}: Public Enemies.''

%%* ''Literature/ImARoyalTutorInMySistersDress'': Glinda Doyle.

%%* Huey Laforet of ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' was a Teen Genius in ''1705''.
%%* ''Manga/ImARoyalTutorInMySistersDress'': Glinda Doyle.

* Homura Akemi, from ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' initially appears as this trope, being able to complete all sorts of difficult classwork despite just transferring [[IllGirl from the hospital]]. [[spoiler: This is later revealed to be a result of her GroundhogDayLoop, since she has done all the work in previous timelines.]]

* ComicBook/KittyPryde of the ''Comicbook/XMen'' was introduced as this. So was her friend Doug Ramsey of the ComicBook/NewMutants -- [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway his powers had to do with languages]] and he was unfortunately [[BlessedWithSuck incapable of contributing anything else to the team]].

** [[TheHero Roy]] of [[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals]] is possibly one of the best examples of a GuileHero lord in the series, having a knowledge of politics and how to manipulate them, as well as being able to lead a 50-or-so strong army, despite being one of the youngest ones ever at the ripe old age of 15.

* Rita from VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia, occasionally to a ludicrous extent. Despite her age she's probably the most intelligent person in the world by a fair margin; her response to a request for a device that would break most known natural laws is essentially, "It'll take until breakfast at least."
* Sachi, one of the heroines of VisualNovel/SharinNoKuni, is explicitly said to have an IQ of 140, is a prodigy-level painter, and something of a math wiz. She pales in comparison to the protagonist, Kenichi, who's in the final stages of what amounts to government sponsored {{ubermensch}} training, which means he has a college level education already, as well as having a resume of accomplishments that'd be impressive for a person of any age. He can expound on complicated concepts at the drop of a hat and has to consciously tone himself down so as not to be an InsufferableGenius.

* In ''WebComic/CommanderKitty'', while it's a little hard to tell just [[VagueAge how old he is]], Fortiscue is young enough to be both shorter than the main cast and often referred to as a [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2009/06/12/the-tagged/ "kid"]]. Yet he's singlehandedly created a RidiculouslyHumanRobot, [[CloningBlues cloning technology]], {{nanomachines}}, and [[MilelongShip a giant space lab]].

** Maria is 17 at the time of the series, so she also falls here, though during her time at the school she was a Child Prodigy, [[UpToEleven having graduated at the age of 13, setting a school-wide record that has yet to be broken]].

** Kiyoshiro Higashimitarai in ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'' is 14 years old and has a Master's degree from a university in America. He chose to still attend middle school in Japan because he's also a massive {{otaku}} who wanted the "authentic Japanese school experience" like in his manga. He's shown to be a talented computer engineer, to the point that he was put in charge of an entire power plant he helped develop.

** Kiyoshiro Higashimitarai in ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'' is 14 years old and has a graduate degree from a university in America. He chose to still attend middle school in Japan because he's also a massive {{otaku}} who wanted the "authentic Japanese school experience" like in his manga.

A Teen Genius may sometimes also be BookDumb, despite the apparent contradiction. A female Teen Genius may be a DitzyGenius or GeniusDitz. A younger version is the ChildProdigy.

** Hiruma Youichi, who first learned poker from American soldiers stationed in Japan. After losing the first hand, he figured out the rules without anyone telling him and proceeded to gamble his way to taking all of the soliders' money. By high school, he can count cards in blackjack and earn a ridiculous profit. Has managed to figure out a way to get blackmail material on nearly everyone in the country, and many outside the country.

* Senku of ''Manga/DrStone'' is a former ChildProdigy, building functional miniature rockets and other gadgets as a kid, and only grew brainier the older he got. He is only 15 when the entirety of humanity turns to stone and remains so physically and mentally when he revives, even though by now he is technically [[Really700YearsOld over 3700 years old]]). He is able to use his [[OneManIndustrialRevolution encyclopedic knowledge of chemistry and physics]] to bring back LostTechnology like metalworking, glassblowing, gunpowder, and eventually even ''wireless phones'', [[BambooTechnology all in a world that has regressed to the stone age]].

** Kiyoshiro Higashimitarai in ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'' is 14 years old and has a graduate degree from a university in America. Somehow, he's still attending middle school in Japan, which is called out in his character profile.
* Senku of ''Manga/DrStone'' is a former ChildProdigy, building functional miniature rockets and other gadgets as a kid, and only grew brainier the older he got. He is only 15 when the entirety of humanity turns to stone and remains so physically and mentally when he revives, even though by now he is technically [[Really700YearsOld over 3700 years old]]). He is able to use his encyclopedic knowledge of chemistry and physics to bring back LostTechnology like metalworking, glassblowing, gunpowder, and eventually even ''wireless phones'', all in a world that has regressed to the stone age.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'', the titular character, Jane Lane and Thomas "Tom" Sloane. Jodie Landon as well, who was once selected along side Daria as possible candidates for a school for gifted intelligence.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': Maxine "Max" Gibson, who acts as Terry's SecretKeeper, tutor, and Alfred. She is also a strategist and thoroughly understands tech. There's also that highest-scoring student in the school thing.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', Sari became one of these in Season Three thanks to upgrading herself into a {{Technopath}}.
* [[EnsembleDarkhorse Noah]] from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama''.
* Cyborg from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', most of his angst derived from his [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman cybernetic limbs]].
** Actually, all of the Teen Titans are teen geniuses in some way, but Robin, who angsts over everything, is a pretty straightforward example.

* Velma from ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo''.
* Cody and Starlee from ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward]]''.
** Donatello himself. TEENAGE Mutant Ninja Turtles, remember?

* Alan and Tom Chan in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingChanAndTheChanClan''; Alan of the mechanical sort, Tom of the intellectual sort.
* Heloise from ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', who works for a MegaCorp at [[VagueAge 14-ish]].

* Valerie from ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussycats'' comes with some intellectual chops.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'s'' Cubert Farnsworth, given he is a teenage clone of Professor Hubert Farnsworth. Possibly Dwight Conrad (Hermes' son) also, as he and Cubert were smart enough to run their fathers out of business.
* ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'' is focused on Tony Stark's teenage life. In this incarnation, he's already developed Iron Man armors.
* Dotty from Hanna-Barbera's ''WesternAnimation/ClueClub.'' A forensics expert at age 13.
* [[TheDragon Princess Azula]] from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. At the age of 14, she is arguably the greatest strategic mind in the series, at one point juggling about four different complications into a single grand plan. It ends with her brother switching back to her side, TheHero (temporarily) dead, and Ba Sing Se, a city that had withheld 100 years of siege, conquered, all starting with just her and two BadassNormal friends.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' has Max Kanté, resident nerd of the heroes' class, who managed to build himself a sapient RobotBuddy at roughly 14 years old.
* Various flavors of this show up in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'':
** Willow and Gus are prodigies at their chosen schools of magic. Willow was able to turn a single seed into a vast network of vines that covered the whole school without any formal training; meanwhile Gus is a natural illusionist who skipped two grades in school, and considers becoming a MasterOfIllusion so easy that it's the bare minimum he wants for his future.
** Amity is the star pupil of the Abomination track, was chosen to be Grom Queen (i.e. having the responsibility to fight for the fate of the entire Boiling Isles single-handedly) and has been marked out as a potential future Head Witch or member of the Emperor's Coven. This is due to a combination of natural talent and working incredibly hard.
** Luz has no inherent magic, but has studied all schools of magic, and essentially invented[=/=]discovered glyph magic by herself.
** ZigZagged by the Golden Guard[=/=][[spoiler:Hunter]]. Regime propaganda depicts him as a teen prodigy and master of all forms of magic [[spoiler:although he's actually powerless]]. However [[spoiler:he's a self-taught expert in the theory of magic and has even studied WildMagic against the orders of Emperor Belos]].
** A flashback shows that Eda, Lilith and Raine were all this. Eda was the BrilliantButLazy variant while Lilith had less natural talent but was much more hard working and studious. Raine was also incredibly gifted and kind of struck a balance between the Clawthorne sisters, they didn't goof off all the time like Eda but didn't work themself to death like Lilith either.

** First and foremost, [[ChessMaster Lelouch]] [[DarkMessiah Lamperouge]], who planned on toppling a continent-spanning empire even before he gained HypnoticEyes. [[TheScrappy Much maligned]] [[ShrinkingViolet Nina]] [[MeaningfulName Einstein]] also qualifies for inventing and [[spoiler: (almost) building the first nuclear bomb from the contents of a school lab. She later succeeds when provided with some funding.]] Lelouch is also a subversion in that at the the start of the series, he is bored to death and extremely pessimistic.

* [[AcePilot Trowa]] [[ColdSniper "No Name"]] [[GadgeteerGenius Barton]] of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]''. The other guerrilla Gundam pilots also probably qualify, but he's the only one who [[spoiler: manages to infiltrate Oz]], probably because unlike the other four boys he doesn't have a massive case of ChronicHeroSyndrome to screw things up for him.

* Actually, the Franchise/{{Gundam}} metaseries has several of these. [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Amuro Ray]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Kamille Vidan]] were gifted {{Gadgeteer Genius}}es at age 15 and 17, with Kamille even being well-known as an amateur engineer [[spoiler: which is vital when he actually ''designs the Zeta Gundam itself''.]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Judau Ashta]] piloted his mecha at age 14 (a little younger than the Wing boys), and [[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Usso Ebin]] straddles the line between this and Child Prodigy got his's at age 13 (JustifiedTrope: he was trained by his parents beforehand).

* Homura Akemi, from ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' initially appears as this trope, being able to complete all sorts of difficult classwork despite [[NewTransferStudent just transferring]] [[IllGirl from the hospital]]. [[spoiler: This is later revealed to be a result of her GroundhogDayLoop, since she has done all the work in previous timelines.]]

* All members of Spartoi in ''Manga/SoulEater'' (not just Maka's group, but Ox's) most of which are in their mid-teens. Both random Shibusen members and senior staff acknowledge them as 'elite', though this status is certainly helped by the [[SuperpowerLottery number]] [[PhysicalGod of]] [[MorphWeapon unusual]] powers they possess.

* Luke Smith from ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' appears to be this, subverted in that he was [[ArtificialHuman created with a body]] [[YoungerThanTheyLook on the onset of puberty]].

* Ciel of ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' created [[spoiler:Copy-X]], a near-perfect duplicate of [[TechnoWizard Thomas]] [[BigGood Light's]] greatest work, when she was ''six years old'' and devised a completely new energy source before she'd finished her teenage years. ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZX ZX's]]'' backstory indicates she also created the biometals sometime after the Zero series, and on top of everything else she's a HotScientist to boot. [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist Girl gets around, doesn't she?]]

** It's possible for [[PlayerCharacter The Avatar]][[TheStrategist /Robin]] in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' to be this with either the default or the [[MoeMoe younger]] builds; while it's unknown how old he/she is, they don't look any older than in their late teens.

* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'' has Varian, the 14-year-old alchemist and engineer. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype. Varian is truly a genius the likes of which Corona hasn't known for ages, but he doesn't have the wisdom or emotional maturity to match his brains. He frequently doesn't plan things out, and often overlooks safety. Both of these lead to many of his inventions dangerously failing, and him [[TakenForGranite accidentally encasing his dad in amber]]. [[NeverMyFault He isn't willing to accept his part in the latter]] [[MoralMyopia and can't see the moral issue with holding Rapunzel and Corona responsible.]] Ultimately his intelligence and the state of his emotional maturity are what cause him to pull a FaceHeelTurn, because he can't realize that he isn't as logical as he thinks he is.]]

*** Haman Kahn is all but stated to have been one, too. At age 16 she was put in hcarge of the Axis Zeon leadership and became the caretaker of little Mineva Lao Zabi. At age 20, she has become TheChessMaster and a foe to fear.
** The most recent examples are from ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE Gundam AGE]]'': first-generation!Flit Asuno and his grandson Kio from the third generation. Flit was 14 when he built his Gundam from the blueprints left by his dead mother, Kio began piloting when he was 13 (though in a subversion, his grandpa had been sort-of training him via the videogames that he brought for the kid.)

* In the UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}}, there are high schools specifically designed for geniuses in science and technology. In Metro Manila, there's one in almost every city, but there's also the Philippine Science High School, which spans nationwide. And every high school graduate in the countrys enter college at 16, at least until the K-12 program is implemented nationwide.

On a show with an ensemble cast, the teen genius is usually included as a (generally misguided) attempt to appeal to a teen audience. On a show with a teenaged CompetenceZone, this is about the only way for the FiveManBand to include the requisite SmartGuy.

* Cyborg from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', most of his angst derived from his [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman cybernetic limbs]].
** Actually all of the WesternAnimation/TeenTitans are teen geniuses in some way, but Robin, who angsts over everything, is a pretty straightforward example.