History OvershadowedByAwesome / AnimeAndManga

* In ''Manga/YuGiOh'', there’s Mai Kujau. She's a very good duelist and strategist, but has the misfortune to be on the same team as Yugi and Kaiba (who have connections to the nameless pharaoh and some of the most powerful cards around) and ends up going up against Dark Marik in the Battle City semifinals.

** A-class demons are even stronger than Toguro, but for an Mid S-class demon, they are just Mooks.

* Played with in ''Manga/MedakaBox''. Zenkichi [[spoiler: barring his parasite eyes]] is the only "normal" one out of all the main characters. Despite this, he manages to get most of the fights and somehow keeps up with all the super powered people in this series. Maguro even calls him "normal cool" claiming that he is unique because he is normal. [[spoiler: However, in the Student Council Successors arc, Najimi sends 5 normal girls to compete in Medaka's treasure hunt where they not only do better than Zenkichi (who came in dead last being unable to solve the first clue), they actually manage to make it to the final round and briefly manage match Medaka. After noticing Zenkichi placing in dead last in the treasure hunt in comparison to the other normal people, Medaka throws him aside placing him directly under this trope in her eyes.]]

** Hatake Kakashi was originally made up to be one of the most elite ninjas of Konoha, in part due to his Sharingan's ability to copy any technique, earning him the nickname "Copy Ninja Kakashi". That was until other Uchihas turned up with ''two'' Sharingans, with much more advanced abilities. Then someone came out with lots of Sharingans, while others combined the Sharingan's powers with other powers, and still others started using ''disposable'' Sharingans. [[spoiler:Then Obito gives both his Sharingans to Kakashi after death...and he can ''awaken Perfect Susano'o''.]]

** Perhaps the greatest example of all is Saitama's apprentice, Genos. He's sn intelligent, cool-looking and extremely strong Anime/NeoHumanCasshern {{Expy}} who would be an awesome protagonist in any other anime, plus he was an S-class hero right off the bat. Except, he's actually more a FailureHero because very often he [[CurbStompBattle gets turned into a modern art project]] by his opponents and it is up to Saitama to come save the day.

* Deconstructed rather heavily in ''Literature/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'', where multiple characters feel like [[HardWorkHardlyWorks their hard work is meaningless]] in light of the super-talented Mashiro and Misaki. Particularly,[[spoiler:Rita quite heavily resented Mashiro for her overwhelming talent, despite being a competent artist herself, not helped by her ''own grandfather'' telling her that she will never get anywhere close to Mashiro's level even though she works hard. Similarly, Sorata's game concept is overshadowed by the artwork Mashiro did to support it, as in, he fails to pitch it to the game developer, but the same developer immediately sends Mashiro ''a job offer'']]. It's all PlayedForDrama.

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', Miki Sayaka suffers from a crippling case of this. Despite getting right back up after an attack Kyouko predicted would floor her for months and obliterating H.N. Elly in one hit, the fandom still dismisses her as a "weak magical girl". Unfortunately for Sayaka, her fellow main characters are a veteran who has been fighting Witches for years, a Grief Seed hoarder who constantly replenishes her magical power, a [[spoiler:[[TimeStandsStill time]] [[TimeTravel mage]],]] and [[spoiler:[[MessianicArchetype Jesus]]]]. By the time of TheMovie, [[TookALevelInBadass this is no longer the case]], with Sayaka having developed [[SummonMagic powers]] of her own.

* ''Manga/MusukoGaKawaikuteShikataganaiMazokuNoHahaoya'': Lorem is a demon famous for her incredible power. Her very ''breath'' can be made hot enough to cause another demon's life to flash before her eye. Lorem's sister Merii, ont he other hand, usually prefers not to fight and has even marketed her HealingHands into a fortune she uses to support her sister and nephew. However, this should not be taken to mean Merii is ''weak'' by any measure. It's explained to Chiharu that both Lorem ''and'' Merii are monstrous in their power, but Lorem tends to be the one who grabs everyone's attention. This is demonstrated when the mission into the Self-Administrated Zone turns into a fight. Merii strikes back for an attacker only for one of her allies to use his FlashStep to knock the ''attacker'' away before the blow hits. Once things calm down, that attacker remarks that Lorem and Merii make a terrifying duo.

** Gohan initially starts out stronger than both Goku and Vegeta and at the end of the series is even poised to supplant both of them (Goku was dead and actively raised Gohan to take his place, and Vegeta outright retires from fighting). His latent potential to be stronger than anybody is brought up numerous times, and on two separate occasions he's stronger than the two of them, either as a Super Saiyan 2 at the end of the Cell Arc, or after having his power upgraded by Old Kai for the fight against Buu. But when there are no threats to the world, he stops training and goes back to focus on his studies as he doesn't share the same outright passion for fighting, so even disregarding ''GT'', Goku and Vegeta must have surpassed him by the Tournament at the end of the series (and certainly have by the time of ''Anime/DragonBallGT''). In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', Gohan, having grown lax is overshadowed by the now godly Goku and Vegeta and has to train to get back to where he was at the end of the Buu Saga but still falls behind his father, Vegeta and arguably Frieza. Averted in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero',' wherein Gohan reafirms the fact his botomless potential can bring him back to Goku and Vegeta's level at any time (unlike them usually without the need for training), as seen with his new "Gohan Beast" [[NextTierPowerUp transformation]], which is comparable to Goku's Ultra Instinct and Vegeta's Ultra Ego in power.

* ''Anime/LupinIII'': Zenigata at first glance seems like a BumblingDetective for his constant failure to ever bring in Lupin. But take a close look and you'll see that this is only the case because he's going after [[TheAce Lupin]]. The man has put away countless other criminals without fail, often in the wake of his pursuit of the thief, and it's been shown that Zenigata is just about the only person who stands the slightest chance of bringing Lupin in for good. Any other cop would be lucky to get within three miles of Lupin when their on the case. Zenigata has managed to corner him time and again and frequently manages to be a SpannerInTheWorks to the otherwise tidy and concise plans the thief comes up with.

** Inverted in the epilogue in regard of InUniverse fame, as he became International level boxer.
** For ''Bleach'', in Soul Society aka for Soul Reapers, anyone with ranks below top five seats aren't worth mentioning (except Hanataro, because gets RankUp many times and his mastery in healing technique), with the divisions' captains dwarfing their lieutenants. In Hueco Mundo, any individual dwarves people below him/her (in evolution level, Arrancar (Espada and Former Espada) -- Arrancar (Fraccione) -- Vasto Lorde -- Adjuchas -- Menos Grande -- Menos -- Demi Hollow.) [[spoiler: For Quinces, anyone who has symbol are the only import.]]

** No matter how much Yamcha does improve, in the World Martial Arts Tournaments he always gets to be one of the eight finalists and loses in the first round due to being put against a much more powerful opponent ([[OldMaster Master Roshi]], [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Tien Shinhan]] and [[GodJob Kami]]). At least he is smart enough to {{know when|ToFoldEm}} to retire. Averted in the Galactic Patrol arc where Yamcha has a rare SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome curb stomping three prisoners whom ArcVillain Moro had powered up with Goku and Vegeta’s Ki, showing while might Yamcha falter compared to the Saiyans he’s still one of the strongest beings in the universe and a PhysicalGod in his own right.
** Tenshinhan was once on par with Goku, only to be completely outshined in a matter of days when the next ArcVillain showed up and Goku worked to defeat him. And then again at the next tournament Goku defeated Tenshinhan without breathing hard or even using a Kamehameha, and Tien proves no match against Nappa. By the time the Super Saiyan state is being used, the author almost completely forgot about him, Tenshinhan was nearly useless, although he was given two scenes to prove his worth: He decided to stall for time and slow down Semi-Perfect Cell with the improved version of his Tri-Beam (or ''Kikoho'' [Spirit Cannon]) technique, but this was more a play for time and didn't actually damage Cell at all. He would also provide a bit of a distraction later on during the Super Buu arc, but to not as great an effect.

** Android 18, who along with her brother was strong enough to kill Super Saiyan Gohan and bring about an apocalypse across THE ENTIRE WORLD in an [[BadFuture alternate future]], was never given a real chance to distinguish herself as a fighter once she became a good guy until the Tournament of Power in ''Super''. Despite the fact that her alternate future version is stated to be ''weaker'' than her present self. She's still as strong as ever, it's just that once again the Saiyan characters got even more powerful.

** Gohan initially starts out stronger than both Goku and Vegeta and at the end of the series is even poised to supplant both of them (Goku was dead and actively raised Gohan to take his place, and Vegeta outright retires from fighting). His latent potential to be stronger than anybody is brought up numerous times, and on two separate occasions he's stronger than the two of them, either as a Super Saiyan 2 at the end of the Cell Arc, or after having his power upgraded by Old Kai for the fight against Buu. But when there are no threats to the world, he stops training and goes back to focus on his studies as he doesn't share the same outright passion for fighting, so even disregarding ''GT'', Goku and Vegeta must have surpassed him by the Tournament at the end of the series (and certainly have by the time of ''Anime/DragonBallGT''). In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' Gohan havign grown lax is overshadowed by the now godly Goku and Vegeta and has to train to get back to where he was at the end of the Buu Saga but still falls behind his father, Vegeta and arguably Frieza. Averted in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero'' wherein Gohan reafirms the fact his botomless potential can bring him back to Goku and Vegeta's level at any time (unlike them usually without the need for training) as seen with his new "Gohan Beast" [[NextTierPowerUp transformation]] which is comparable to Goku's Ultra Instinct and Vegeta's Ultra Ego in power.

** Katarina herself is said to be pretty in the novels and shown to be quite cute in the illustrations, but her friends Mary, Sophia and Maria are all said to completely blow her out of the water, [[GenericCuteness though you can't tell by looking at them]]. Katarina herself doesn't get down about it though except that she firmly believes she has a villainous face. Which actually led to her developing a very pretty smile because she wanted to focus on not intimidating people.

** Sasuke himself is hit hard by this. [[spoiler:Despite being one of the stronger Ninja in the first half of Part II, he quickly, and we mean ''quickly'' begins being overshadowed by Naruto once Naruto masters [[SuperMode Sage Mode]]. Its only made worse within the War when Sasuke is comparing his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan self to Naruto's Kurama Chakra Mode, not even knowing of Bijuu Mode. When Naruto brings out Bijuu Mode, powers up ''the entire army again'' and saves the entire Alliance...Sasuke shows jealously at how strong Naruto is. And even after getting powers from the Rikudo Sennin (Sasuke even gets the Rinnegan)...Naruto got more of a lion's share again and Sasuke has to designate himself as ''decoy'' against Kaguya since he is unable to even injure her (though to be fair even Naruto was having difficulties with giving her injuries and his powers were better suited for fighting some like Kaguya, it probably doesn't help that Naruto was already used to most of his powers and had guidance from 9 tailed beasts).]]
** Tsunade manages to get hit with this despite being the freaking Hokage and the strongest woman in the world, since her teammates are Jiraiya and Orochimaru.

** The Byakugan users also fell into this, for a time. Initially it was well matched with Sharingan: the former had X-ray, telescopic and chakra pathway analysis, and the latter could follow your movements, copy jutsu and hypnotise. As time went on, not only did the regular Sharingan gain several new potentially game-breaking abilities, but it also gained the ability to evolve into the Mangekyo Sharingan, and then on to the Rinnegan, which are two of the most powerful abilities in the series. [[DownplayedTrope It is still incredibly useful, especially when paired with the Gentle Fist style, but it fell behind in variety of abilities.]] However, in ''Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie'', the Byakugan is capable of becoming the Tenseigan when merged with Hamura Otsusuki's chakra (similar to the Sharigan->Rinnegan example), gaining a Tenseigan Chakra Mode - which in short combines characteristics of the Six Paths Sage Mode and the Rinnegan (i.e., enhanced physical abilities, all nature transformations, and powerful new abilities like the Truth-Seeking Balls). It's a major ThrowTheDogABone aspect, and its only weakness is the time it takes the Tenseigan to mature (compounded with semi-common painful pulses in the eyes), and if the user is weakened enough in battle, it fades entirely and must be re-made overtime.

** Usopp's ace sharpshooting skills and the ability to trick and outwit his opponents (when he's not [[LovableCoward hiding behind something]]) makes him a BadassNormal. The problem is that everyone else on the crew is ''insanely powerful'', so much so that Usopp harbors a massive inferiority complex and frets constantly that he'll be [[CantCatchUp left behind]] and that his crew doesn't really need or want him. Zoro and Sanji even have a conversation pointing out how strong Usopp has gotten, and that he could defeat virtually any normal opponent. Unfortunately, they're with Luffy so the enemies are anything but normal.
** Luffy himself suffered from this in his childhood. Due to his rough training, he's still able to keep up with his older brothers, but often got captured or easily subdued, forcing his brothers to save him. Later in Marineford Luffy gets severely overshadowed by the Whitebeard Pirates who have save his butt from the Marines multiple times alongside Boa Hancock and Jimbei. Luffy of course [[TookALevelInBadass more than makes up for it later]] though.
** Ace also qualifies. [[spoiler:His record has some very bad losses, against Blackbeard, Akainu and Whitebeard.]] It's not because Ace is weak, in fact he was very powerful, but [[spoiler:those enemies were just that strong. In the case of Blackbeard, the villain won but not easily and his fruit saved him multiple times.]]
** One of the bad guys suffers from the same issue as Ace, and it's Jack the Drought. His losing record is quite big and includes [[spoiler:Zunesha, Dogstorm as Sulong and Doflamingo's escort, which had Fujitora, Tsuru and Sengoku.]] Jack isn't weak, even Kaido makes it clear, he just faces way too mighty foes.
** Logia Devil Fruit users (with the obvious exceptions of Akainu, Aolkiji and Kizaru) get extremely overshadowed by Paramecia and Zoan Devil Fruit users in the TimeSkip. Pre-timeskip, Logia users were nigh-unbeatable and displayed power (especially Enel) that were frankly god-like in scope, Crocodile requiring a weakness to water to be heavily exploited in order to be defeated and Enel having the misfortune of Luffy’s RubberMan Devil Fruit being a natural counter to his own ShockAndAwe Devil Fruit. Come the time skip while Paramecia and Zoan Devil Fruits [[TookALevelInBadass only get more bizarre and powerful]] with ComboPlatterPowers, Logia types in comparison are far more easily dealt with thanks to pretty much everybody and their mom knowing [[KiManipulation Haki]] which can bypass the Logia’s {{Intangibility}} defence. The three new Logia type antagonists Caribou, Caesar and Monet are fairly easily defeated while the Paramecia and Zoan type villains are immensely more tougher. Double subverted with [[spoiler:Aramaki, who, as an Admiral, is very relevant even post-Wano... however, he is overshadowed by the legendary Shanks.]]
** The Kid Pirates InUniverse feel overshadowed by the Straw Hat Pirates, having had [[TheWorfEffect a far rougher time]] in the New World compared to them. Kid himself expresses jealousy and bitterness in Wano at seeing the Straw Hats kick ass and tells his crew upon raiding [[SupervillainLair Onigashima]] not to let the Straw Hats show them up. [[spoiler: Even after aiding in Kaido and Big Mom’s defeat, Kidd and co’s luck doesn’t improve as Kidd challenges Shanks [[SuicidalOverconfidence once again]]... [[CurbStompBattle and is utterly annihilated]].]]
* ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'': Taken to the [[ExaggeratedTrope absolute extreme]] with the main character Saitama, as literally ''the entire cast are overshadowed by him''. As the title of the series suggests, his entire MO is a OneHitKO punch. He is so far above everyone that he's actually had an existential crisis at the fact that nothing is a challenge for him anymore. Even when there was one character who could survive one his blows, all he had to do was put forth ''some'' effort to finish the job. It gets [[DeconstructedTrope turned on its head]] later on when it's revealed that because of Saitama making the rest of the heroes look pathetic by comparison, the public start losing faith in them. After all, if somebody as plain looking as Saitama can just come in and effortlessly destroy these supposedly powerful monsters, how does that make the rest of the powerful heroes look to the public eye?
** Perhaps the greatest example of all is Saitama's apprentice, Genos. An intelligent, cool-looking and extremely strong Anime/NeoHumanCasshern {{Expy}} who would be an awesome protagonist in any other anime, plus he was an S class hero right off the bat. Except he's actually more a FailureHero because very often he [[CurbStompBattle gets turned into a modern art project]] by his opponents and it is up to Saitama to come save the day.
** "[[SuperSpeed Speed-O'-Sound]]" [[HighlyVisibleNinja Sonic]] is a {{Bishonen}} ninja and assassin repeatedly shown to be one of the most dangerous fighters in the series, taking on monsters that defeated S-Class Heroes and S-Class Heroes like Genos and emerging victorious. It's been noted that if he wanted to he could easily rank amongst S-Class in the Hero Association. He's also the guy who decided to declare ''Saitama'' as his WorthyOpponent and rival who he intends to surpass. [[ButtMonkey Put simply, it never works out for him]].

** Kaoru is stated to be as strong as a national level kendo champ but she only really gets to show this off once in the manga against [[CreepyCrossdresser "designated female"]] Kamatari of the Ten Swords. To her credit she manages to beat him with a ''broken'' bokken. She gets better treatment in the anime, where she's treated more as an equal member of the Kenshin Gumi and is given more to do. For example, in the anime version of the Megumi arc, she participates in the rescue mission at Kanryu's mansion along with the others, and gets to plow through waves of mooks. In the manga, she stays home for no apparent reason because Sanosuke tells her to [[StayInTheKitchen have breakfast and a hot bath ready for when they get back]].
** Ironically, Kenshin's fighting partner Sanosuke is given the reverse treatment in the anime. In the manga he's an expert in hand-to-hand combat and wins more than his fair share of fights against strong opponents (often whilst heavily wounded). In the anime? He's mainly used to [[TheWorfEffect show how strong the villain of the week is]] before Kenshin saves the day.

* The entire source of Unsui's [[TheWoobie woobieness]] in ''Anime/Eyeshield21''. An extremely hard working person who's described as being "only a good player" and "the best of the average" who doesn't even come close to his brother's level as a football player or even stand out compared to the quirkier characters. Made all the sadder by the fact that he's smart enough to know his skills only make his brother look even more talented by comparison.

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'':

** Katarina herself is said to be pretty in the novels and shown to be quite cute in the illustrations, but her friends Mary, Sophia and Maria are all said to completely blow her out of the water, [[GenericCuteness though you can't tell by looking at them.]] Katarina herself doesn't get down about it though except that she firmly believes she has a villainous face. Which actually led to her developing a very pretty smile because she wanted to focus on not intimidating people.

* Deconstructed rather heavily in ''LightNovel/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'', where multiple characters feel like [[HardWorkHardlyWorks their hard work is meaningless]] in light of the super-talented Mashiro and Misaki. Particularly,[[spoiler:Rita quite heavily resented Mashiro for her overwhelming talent, despite being a competent artist herself, not helped by her ''own grandfather'' telling her that she will never get anywhere close to Mashiro's level even though she works hard. Similarly, Sorata's game concept is overshadowed by the artwork Mashiro did to support it, as in, he fails to pitch it to the game developer, but the same developer immediately sends Mashiro ''a job offer'']]. It's all PlayedForDrama.

** The Kid Pirates InUniverse feel overshadowed by the Straw Hat Pirates, having had [[TheWorfEffect a far rougher time]] in the New World compared to them. Kid himself expresses jealousy and bitterness in Wano at seeing the Straw Hats kick ass and tells his crew upon raiding [[SupervillainLair Onigashima]] not to let the Straw Hats show them up.

* Mai Kujaku in ''Manga/YuGiOh''. Even if she's often a victim of TheWorfEffect, she's still a champion duelist. Unfortunately, the three leads have insane powers or cards and are the top duelists in the world. Also applies to Yugi, who spends a good deal of the series overshadowed by his friends and his other self, and to Joey, who is overshadowed by his best friend and Kaiba, and due to his never having outright won a tournament, is overlooked and generally made fun of in filler arcs.
** An example in the background with Mokuba Kaiba. In everything they do, Seto is the one who gets focus on, from perspective parents at their orphanage, to Gozabura Kaiba's "training," to dueling, which tends to leave Mokuba looking like a second-rater. The thing is, while he might not be the genius his brother is, Mokuba has been seen running plenty of Kaiba Corp.'s advanced equipment quite easily. He may not be the genius Seto is, but Mokuba is a far cry from dumb.
* In ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', all the Signers beyond Yusei and Jack. Lua and Luka are decent duelists, but too young to ride D-Wheels. Aki and Crow are also skilled duelists, but didn't get Accel Synchro or Double Tuning to evolve their monsters like Yusei or Jack, respectively.
* The Standard Dimension as whole in ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'', while they have all the extra deck summoning methods compared to the single one the other three have, on average the average Standard duelist can't compare to an average Fusion, Synchro or Xyz duelist. There are exceptions of course with Reiji being a master of all summoning methods, [[spoiler:Yusho able to toy with [[TheDreaded YURI]] of all people and later Yuya becoming the best duelist in the show]].
* In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', Shou, Asuka, Misawa and Kenzan are all good duelists in their own right, but after the first season very rarely do any of them get to duel, with [[TheHero Judai]] getting much more time to shine. The only non-Judai main character that gets to duel on a regular basis is [[TheRival Manjoume]], and only because he's subject to TheWorfEffect. This concept actually becomes central to Misawa's character -- despite being built up in the first season as a dueling prodigy with genius-level intellect and the best duelist in Ra Yellow, he gets overlooked by the BigBad as a potential minion because he's not good enough to be in Obelisk Blue where the top students get to go.
** The reason for him not being targeted has nothing to do with Misawa not being good enough to get into Blue, because he *is* good enough. He was offered a promotion back in season one, he just chose not to take it then. Misawa has an ego and it wasn't being fed enough, that's why events fell out as they did. He was asking Kenzan, Shou, and Judai if they wanted to join the SOL because it was where all the cool people hung out. They weren't interested and he couldn't fathom why, because he valued status more than friendship at the time.

** ...And then the trope goes back to full throttle and becomes even worse in ''Anime/DigimonFusion'' since ''the beginning''. Only the goggles-wearer of three friends is the one ''trying'' to take action in every important fight. His other friends are just ComicRelief material in a team already filled with the element in multiple people. The others who get to order Digimon, sadly, happen to be aligned with bad guys.

* In ''Manga/ArataTheLegend'', Kotoha ends up like this. Her main purpose is to use her ability as a member of the Uneme family to [[TheMedic heal other people's injuries]] and to be TheChick of the group, but even that became superfluous when [[{{Bifauxnen}} Mikusa]] and [[GenkiGirl Rami]] joined. And then she ended up overshadowed by them because Mikusa was an ActionGirl and ready to hold her own, while Rami -- being an Uneme member herself -- was the second medic added to the group. But later chapters prove her to serve as TheHeart of the team, since she's the only one that can really calm Arata down when his emotions run rampant and his anger could lead to his sword Tsukuyo turning into a demon, and the HeroicSacrifice of another Uneme member leads to Kotoha's healing abilities to being strengthened.

** Gohan initially starts out stronger than both Goku and Vegeta and at the end of the series is even poised to supplant both of them (Goku was dead and actively raised Gohan to take his place, and Vegeta outright retires from fighting). His latent potential to be stronger than anybody is brought up numerous times, and on two separate occasions he's stronger than the two of them, either as a Super Saiyan 2 at the end of the Cell Arc, or after having his power upgraded by Old Kai for the fight against Buu. But when there are no threats to the world, he stops training and goes back to focus on his studies as he doesn't share the same outright passion for fighting, so even disregarding ''GT'', Goku and Vegeta must have surpassed him by the Tournament at the end of the series (and certainly have by the time of ''Anime/DragonBallGT''). In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' Gohan havign grown lax is overshadowed by the now godly Goku and Vegeta and has to train to get back to where he was at the end of the Buu Saga but still falls behind his father, Vegeta and arguably Frieza. Averted in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero'' wherein Gohan reafirms the fact his botomless potential can bring him back to Goku and Vegeta's level at any time (unlike them usually without the need for training) as seen with his new "Final Gohan" [[NextTierPowerUp transformation]] which is comparable to Goku's Ultra Instinict and Vegeta's Ultra Ego in power.

** Logia Devil Fruit users (with the obvious exceptions of Akainu, Aolkiji and Kizaru) get extremely overshadowed by Paramecia and Zoan Devil Fruit users in the TimeSkip. Pre-timeskip, Logia users were nigh-unbeatable and displayed power (especially Enel) that were frankly god-like in scope, Crocodile requiring a weakness to water to be heavily exploited in order to be defeated and Enel having the misfortune of Luffy’s RubberMan Devil Fruit being a natural counter to his own ShockAndAwe Devil Fruit. Come the time skip while Paramecia and Zoan Devil Fruits [[TookALevelInBadass only get more bizarre and powerful]] with ComboPlatterPowers, Logia types in comparison are far more easily dealt with thanks to pretty much everybody and their mom knowing [[KiManipulation Haki]] which can bypass the Logia’s {{Intangibility}} defence. The three new Logia type antagonists Caribou, Caesar and Monet are fairly easily defeated while the Paramecia and Zoan type villains are immensely more tougher.

* Klein in ''Manga/SwordArtOnline'' went from being a clueless noob to leader of one of the top guilds in Aincrad, leading a 7-man BadassCrew with no casualties; not even the strongest guild can boast that. Unfortunately, Klein is friends with Asuna the Flash and the Black Swordsman Kirito.

** [[UpToEleven Taken to absurd levels]] in the 2013 movie, ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'', where ''Goku'' falls victim to the trope. Even after becoming a [[EleventhHourSuperpower Super Saiyan God]] and achieving the strongest canon transformation at that point in the history of the series, he's ''still'' no match against [[PhysicalGod Beerus]] and this was ''after'' Goku got [[CurbStompBattle absolutely owned]] when he first took on Beerus... '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis AS. A. SUPER. SAIYAN. 3.]]'''. This is then further compounded when it is revealed Beerus was only using '''70%''' of his full power and Whis, his attendant, is even '''stronger than he is'''. It seems that the point of these two is to apply this trope on the pair who have been invoking it upon everybody else, although how long this will last is anyody's guess. In an interview, Toriyama explained this in a plainer fashion. By having Beerus as a ten-out-of-ten benchmark, a fully powered-up Goku in ''Battle Of Gods'' only manages to get to around seven, while Whis - were he to even try - weighs in at '''fifteen'''.

* {{Discussed|Trope}} by the narrator in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' with regards to Oskar von Reuenthal — he would have been a brilliant ruler of his own right if not for the fact that he was born in the same era as Reinhard von Lohengramm.

** And of course, Piccolo too, who had previously started out as a two-time ArcVillain, despite initially showing about as much potential for growth as his Saiyan comrades, and began ''Z'' as the second strongest being on Earth. He was quickly overshadowed by the Saiyans and despite taking a level in badass during the Cell Saga, his ultimate power-up (merging with Kami) wasn't even sufficient to defeat Cell in his first form. By the very end of the manga, he had given up any intention of attempting to fight Goku or Vegeta in the ring.
** Gohan initially starts out stronger than both Goku and Vegeta and at the end of the series is even poised to supplant both of them (Goku was dead and actively raised Gohan to take his place, and Vegeta outright retires from fighting). His latent potential to be stronger than anybody is brought up numerous times, and on two separate occasions he's stronger than the two of them, either as a Super Saiyan 2 at the end of the Cell Arc, or after having his power upgraded by Old Kai for the fight against Buu. But when there are no threats to the world, he stops training and goes back to focus on his studies as he doesn't share the same outright passion for fighting, so even disregarding ''GT'', Goku and Vegeta must have surpassed him by the Tournament at the end of the series (and certainly have by the time of ''Anime/DragonBallGT'').

** In the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', Sayla Mass and Kai Shiden are both very competent pilots and aces several times over. However, they have the misfortune to serve alongside Amuro "OneManArmy-personified" Ray, who upstages them at every turn and pilots against Characters/GundamCharAznable, the series' most iconic badass.

** Krillin, the former {{Trope Namer|s}}, was once considered Goku's rival in the early parts of original ''Manga/DragonBall'' (Krillin has only got the better of Goku once, and that was by tricking him. And including ''Dragon Ball GT'', had only outright beat Goku in a sparring match once in the series' end), and very much acting as the underdog fighter in many of the battles he took part in. This was overshadowed by the gradual introduction of demons, monsters and aliens in the series that Goku fought to much better success, and the introduction of the Saiyans once Goku was revealed to be member of them. The adult Krillin is (by WordOfGod) still one of the most powerful full-blooded humans in the series. Yamcha, during the Buu Saga, admits that Krillin is probably the most powerful human alive. It's just that compared to godly powerhouses like [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Trunks, Goten, and Android 18]], [[CantCatchUp no human can compare]]. He occasionally lampshades this, bringing up the nature of characters introduced when the series began.

* ''Anime/InazumaEleven'''s semi-CompilationMovie has The Orge, a mysterious soccer team from the future that beats up a main series's BigBad [[AGodAmI god wannabe]] Zeus Academy badly. The rest of the movie progresses to ignore the Zeus completely.
* In ''Manga/InuYasha'', Kagome, Shippo, Sango, Miroku, and Kirara all routinely fall victim to this trope whenever they go into battle teamed up with Inuyasha. Despite the fact that all of them have at least a few skills that could contribute to victory, Inuyasha usually does almost all or all of the heavy lifting in combat, and he virtually always is the one to deliver the final killing blow. Sometimes Inuyasha's companions will just stand in the background and make commentary about the fight, even though they have no valid reason not to participate.