History OvershadowedByAwesome / AnimeAndManga

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'' does this to anyone not named [[TheHero Goku]], or anyone who's not a Saiyan:
** Even "normal" characters like Chi-Chi still have unusual origins and are ridiculously powerful, but anyone who isn't at least part Saiyan will eventually be exponentially outstripped and never able to catch up again, either because Goku is just ''that'' freakishly talented (as shown in the page image), or later because Saiyans are that good and devoted to fighting. To make a long story short, at a certain point everyone except Goku and Vegeta falls prey to this, because of all the Z Fighters they are the only ones who truly love fighting and will keep training not to fight some uber threat, but because they feel the need to push themselves past their ever increasing limits.

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':

** 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 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.

** 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.

** Even "normal" characters like [=ChiChi=] still have unusual origins and are ridiculously powerful, but anyone who isn't at least part Saiyan will eventually be exponentially outstripped and never able to catch up again, either because Goku is just ''that'' freakishly talented (as shown in the page image), or later because Saiyans are that good and devoted to fighting. To make a long story short, at a certain point everyone except Goku and Vegeta falls prey to this, because of all the Z Fighters they are the only ones who truly love fighting and will keep training not to fight some uber threat, but because they feel the need to push themselves past their ever increasing limits.

** 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.

** 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.
** 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 tomes.]]

** 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 some of the strongest in the setting. In the case of Blackbeard, the villain won but not easily and his fruit saved him multiple tomes.]]

* Largely averted in the 2001 series ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'', but still implied. Despite that the title character gets the most focus, pretty much ''all'' of the 00 cyborgs get their moment in the sun at some point. This is also a bit surprising considering that they name 009 as the most ''advanced'' cyborg of the bunch [[spoiler:except for 0010-13, who kicked the bucket]], doesn't ''always'' render the other cyborgs useless. 001, despite being a baby who is asleep 90% of the time, is arguably the most powerful Cyborg because of his near unlimited [[PsychicPowers capabilities]]. Even 002, who is explained as a much more simplistic model than 009 can still fly whereas 009 can't.
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'' does this a good deal, especially considering even "normal" characters like [=Chi-Chi=] still have unusual origins and are ridiculously powerful. Pretty much anyone who isn't at least part Saiyan will eventually be exponentially outstripped and never able to catch up again, either because Goku is just ''that'' freakishly talented (as shown in the page image), or later because Saiyans are that good and devoted to fighting. To make a long story short, at a certain point everyone except Goku and Vegeta falls prey to this, because of all the Z Fighters they are the only ones who truly love fighting and will keep training not to fight some uber threat, but because they feel the need to push themselves past their ever increasing limits.
** Krillin, the former {{Trope Namer|s}}, was once considered Goku's rival in the early parts of original ''Manga/DragonBall''[[note]]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[[/note]], 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 [[TheHero 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.
** [[ButtMonkey Yamcha]] is probably the one who suffers the most from this trope, despite being an experienced martial artist as evidenced by each one of the World Tournament in which he took part. No matter how much he does improve, 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.
** Tien Shinhan 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 Tien Shinhan 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, giving him one scene for him to prove of some use.
*** 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.

*** In terms of the World Tournament, nearly every single competitor who isn't a main character becomes this by the time the 23rd Tournament rolls around because they are ''that'' much more talented than ordinary folk. Even Cyborg Tao is hilariously overpowered by Tien Shinhan, who himself was suffering from this trope by the time they fought in the ring.

** Not to mention Goten and Trunks: while they're introduced as child prodigies early on, eventually they're overshadowed by their fathers and haven't been shown to have the potential they once had in the wake of their parent's accomplishments, even when fused into Gotenks. It doesn't help that, in the ending to the manga and the ''GT'' continuation, they have a much lower interest in fighting than before, just like what happened to Gohan.
*** Averted somewhat with Future Trunks, as his lifestyle and heritage actively encouraged him to take fighting as seriously as is forebears.
** ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' takes this concept UpToEleven. By the end of the Shadow Dragons Arc, Vegeta, Goku, Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta and Omega Shenron are THOUSANDS of times stronger than everyone else, with the sole exception of Super Android 17. ''GT'' was so unbalanced that no one but Goku mattered in the fights anymore (not helped by the fact that Vegeta was either not participating or [[AssimilationPlot taken over by the villain for the first half of the series]]).
** Pan in GT deserves a mention. She must be at least as strong as Dr. Gero as she defeats him easily, which means that her base form is more powerful than Goku and Trunks were when they defeated Frieza. And yet even before the Super Saiyan 4's rendered the whole cast obsolete she had been overshadowed by the entire front line team as for some reason she never achieves the standard Super Saiyan transformation, which as Goten and Trunks prove she is more than capable of doing at her age. As a result she is arguably irrelevant in battle as early as the Machine Planet. Theories abound as to why, from her motivation (she fights, but isn't a ''fighter''), to the amount of Saiyan blood in her (she's 1/4 Saiyan), to females not being able to (somewhat debunked by Caulifla and Kale in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''); but whatever the cause it means that the most powerful non-android female in the series was left on the sidelines very quickly indeed.
*** If ''Dragon Ball Super'' is anything to go by, there are strong signs that Pan actually has even more potential than her father Gohan, at least in that continuity. At age ONE, she was shown to be able to power-up her Ki, carry the entire Pilaf Gang and fly around. '''WITHOUT ANY POSSIBLE FORMAL TRAINING'''. Gohan, in comparison, took an entire year under Piccolo's TrainingFromHell to learn these abilities. Even worse; Gohan for once wants her to follow her grandfather's steps and become a fighter.
** [[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'''.
** The "overshadowed" part is really made clear during the "Resurrection F" movie in ''Super'', when Frieza returns to life (and Earth), far stronger and with a much larger army. With the exception of Frieza himself (who only Goku and Vegeta could fight due to Gohan neglecting his training for a time), the Z Fighters (not even all of them) crush every one of their enemies (who outnumber them more than 100 to 1) without any serious effort. Even the {{Elite Mook|s}} Sasami was only able to challenge Piccolo (who had been fighting before that), and Gohan crushed him after going Super Saiyan.
* The entire source of Unsui's [[TheWoobie woobieness]] in ''Anime/{{Eyeshield 21}}''. 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.

** 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 alternate future, is never given a real chance to distinguish herself as a fighter once she becomes a good guy. 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.

* 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]]. It's all played for drama.

** ...And then the trope goes back to full throttle and becomes even worse in ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' 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.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' has a huge number of badass people, but several (Rakan, Eva, [[strike:Alberio]] Ku:nel Sanders, Fate, and especially Nagi) outstrip the main characters by several orders of a magnitude, and numerous characters comment that they're of "an entirely different level" from everyone else. One of Negi's main goals it to be powerful enough to be counted among them. Given recent events, [[spoiler:he may very well have done so. Rakan has admitted that Negi is well on his way]].

** Usopp, a guy who started out average but whose ace sharpshooting skills and ability to trick and outwit his opponents (when he's not [[LovableCoward hiding behind something]]) makes him a definite 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. This issue probably arises when Nami, his only comrade in relative normalcy, gains a significant power-up in the form of a weapon that Usopp himself makes for her. Ouch. (He gets better after he [[spoiler:fights with Luffy, leaves the crew, and is finally convinced to come back because they really do need him because he's their {{True Companion|s}}. This also leads to his best awesome moment when he [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb6lUTY_H2g duels Luffy]]. He's been more confident since and actually participates in fights without using Zoro as a meat shield]].)
*** 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. They also never bother telling him (although Sanji does point out a moment when Usopp's unique skills are more useful than his own).

* Used a few times in ''VisualNovel/ShoujotachiWaKouyaOMezasu'':
** Yuuka watches another voice actress perform some lines, and feels inadequate as a result. She ends up flubbing a lot of her dialogue, and takes so much time on retakes that they run out of time at the recording studio. She suffers a HeroicBSOD after this, but fortunately Buntarou and Sayuki snap her out of this later on.
** Though they're getting mostly positive feedback on their demo game, the club tries out a demo from a game company who released a demo of their game on the same day. As each member plays it, they notice how much more professional their competitor's game is, and begin to doubt themselves. Sayuki then reassures them that both of the games are marketed towards different audiences, so shouldn't be compared side by side.

* The Uncrowned Kings in ''Manga/KurokoNoBasuke''. They are genius basket-ball players who were almost at the level of the [[TheAce Generation of Miracles]]. However, their individual skills were completely overshadowed by the team-play of Teiko.

** 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.]]

** [[JokeCharacter Mr. Satan/Hercule]] is a more direct use of the trope. While he is a showboating coward, he's still fairly good amongst non-superpowered opponents (at one point he effortlessly knocks out two armed men with a single kick) and he won his title of World Martial Arts Champion fair and square in a time period where all the main characters decided not to compete. When Goku and his allies started appearing in tournaments again, it caused a bit of concern to his reputation, but later on they agreed to [[{{Kayfabe}} allow Hercule/Mr. Satan to continue being the champion even as they enjoy themselves in their matches]]. Heck, Majin Buu (who happens to be Hercule/Mr. Satan's best friend) was doing just that for at least two tournaments before the Z Fighters started appearing again at the very end of the series. It should be noted that he has been acknowledged as the strongest normal human who can't use ki...he's pretty much peak human, near the level of Captain America. The only reason he looks weak is because he has the misfortune of existing in a universe with people powerful enough to blow up planets by sneezing.

** [[ButtMonkey Yamcha]] is probably the one who suffers the most from this trope, despite being an experienced martial artist as evidenced by each one of the Tenkaichi Budokai in which he took part. No matter how much he does improve, 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 Tenshinhan]] and [[GodJob Kami-sama]]). At least he is smart enough to {{know when|ToFoldEm}} to retire.
** 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 Tenshin proves no match against Nappa. By the time the Super Saiyan state is being used, the author almost completely forgot about him, giving him one scene for him to prove of some use.
*** He decided to stall for time and slow down Imperfect 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.
** Muten Roshi in his disguise of Jackie Chun [[LampshadeHanging put it into words]] during the 22nd Tenkaichi: Goku had [[CurbStompBattle casually defeated Panput with three elbow strikes]], resulting in him and Krillin calling him a weakling. But their master quickly pointed out that Panput was indeed an awesome fighter, as shown by the uninterrupted winning streak that gave him ''two'' world championships and him breaking down a wall with an elbow strike. In his words, "The reason why he seemed ordinary to you is because you are not", and unfortunately this applied to the rest of the competitors who all had ''unbelievable'' strength. This coming after Tenshinhan, before the fight, mocked Panput's two world championship titles as meaning nothing in the Tenkaichi, as the tournament itself is so above all other world martial arts tournaments that the tournaments themselves are overshadowed by a more awesome one.
*** In terms of the Tenkaichi Budokai, nearly every single competitor who isn't a main character becomes this by the time the 23rd Tournament rolls around because they are ''that'' much more talented than ordinary folk. Even Cyborg Tao is hilariously overpowered by Tenshinhan, who himself was suffering from this trope by the time they fought in the ring.

** [[JokeCharacter Mr. Satan/Hercule]] is a more direct use of the trope. While he is a showboating coward, he's still fairly good amongst non-superpowered opponents (at one point he effortlessly knocks out two armed men with a single kick) and he won his title of Martial Arts World Champion fair and square in a time period where all the main characters decided not to compete. When Goku and his allies started appearing in tournaments again, it caused a bit of concern to his reputation, but later on they agreed to [[{{Kayfabe}} allow Hercule/Mr. Satan to continue being the champion even as they enjoy themselves in their matches]]. Heck, Majin Buu (who happens to be Hercule/Mr. Satan's best friend) was doing just that for at least two tournaments before the Z-Fighters started appearing again at the very end of the series. It should be noted that he has been acknowledged as the strongest normal human who can't use ki...he's pretty much peak human, near the level of Captain America. The only reason he looks weak is because he has the misfortune of existing in a universe with people powerful enough to blow up planets by sneezing.

** 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 Elder 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 Budokai at the end of the series (and certainly have by the time of ''Anime/DragonBallGT'').

** Pan in GT deserves a mention. She must be at least as strong as Android 20 as she defeats him easily, which means that her base form is more powerful than Goku and Trunks were when they defeated Frieza. And yet even before the Super Saiyan 4's rendered the whole cast obsolete she had been overshadowed by the entire front line team as for some reason she never achieves the standard Super Saiyan transformation, which as Goten and Trunks prove she is more than capable of doing at her age. As a result she is arguably irrelevant in battle as early as the machine planet. Theories abound as to why, from her motivation (she fights, but isn't a ''fighter''), to the amount of Saiyan blood in her (she's 1/4 Saiyan), to females not being able to (somewhat debunked by Caulifla and Kale in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''); but whatever the cause it means that the most powerful non-android female in the series was left on the sidelines very quickly indeed.

** [[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 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. THREE.]]'''. 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.

** The "overshadowed" part is really made clear during the "Resurrection of F" movie in ''Super'', when Frieza returns to life (and Earth), far stronger and with a much larger army. With the exception of Frieza himself (who only Goku and Vegeta could fight due to Gohan neglecting his training for a time), the Z-Fighters (not even all of them) crush every one of their enemies (who outnumber them more than 100 to 1) without any serious effort. Even the {{Elite Mook|s}} Sasami was only able to challenge Piccolo (who had been fighting before that), and Gohan crushed him after going Super Saiyan.

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

** [[JokeCharacter Mr. Satan/Hercule]] is a more direct use of the trope. While he is a showboating coward, he's still fairly good amongst non-superpowered opponents (at one point he effortlessly knocks out two armed men with a single kick) and he won his title of Martial Arts World Champion fair and square in a time period where all the main characters decided not to compete. When Goku and his allies started appearing in tournaments again, it caused a bit of concern to his reputation, but later on they agreed to [[{{Kayfabe}} allow Hercule/Mr. Satan to continue being the champion even as they enjoy themselves in their matches]]. Heck, Majin Buu (who happens to be Hercule/Mr. Satan's best friend) was doing just that for at least two tournaments before the Z-Fighters started appearing again at the very end of the series.

** Rock Lee, though lacking the flashy powers, becomes strong through [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower sheer training and effort]], and is ''very'' super-humanly fast by real world standards, but he gets overshadowed due to TheWorfEffect. WordOfGod says he was created to show viewers that [[LyingCreator effort and hard work pay off]]. [[spoiler: Doesn't stop him from reaching the ''Sixth'' Gate though.]]

** During the later part of the same war, it happens in turn to each of the antagonists. Itachi and Sasuke do this to [[{{Necromancer}} Kabuto]], BigBad Tobi is insanely powerful and gave the Shinobi Alliance a hard time, only to be overshadowed by GreaterScopeVillain [[spoiler: the real Uchiha Madara]]. The GreaterScopeVillain in turn gets overshadowed by an even more insanely powerful [[spoiler: Kaguya Ootsutsuki]], which even makes Sasuke wonder if a person so powerful could even ''exist''.

*** 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. They also never bother telling him (although Sanji does point out a moment when Usopp's unique skills are more useful than his own.)

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', 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''.]]
** Kakashi still played an important role in the plot and in every battle his side was involved in due to his intelligence, experience and his Sharingan's unique ability. However, much later, during the Fourth Ninja World War, this too gets overshadowed when it is revealed that [[spoiler: Uchiha Obito, who gave Kakashi his Sharingan, was still alive and had become much more adept at using ''his'' Sharingan]].
** During the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, Choji and Neji defeat jonin-level Sound ninja in one-on-one battles, but post-timeskip they get overshadowed by Naruto, Sasuke, Akatsuki members and other antagonists.
** Post-timeskip, all characters except a handful of main characters and the antagonists [[OutOfFocus get little or no screen-time]] and hardly contribute anything significant to the plot. Shikamaru gets ADayInTheLimelight occasionally only to be instantly overshadowed by Sasuke or Naruto shortly afterwards.

** 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).]]

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has Usopp, a guy who started out average but whose ace sharpshooting skills and ability to trick and outwit his opponents (when he's not [[LovableCoward hiding behind something]]) makes him a definite 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. This issue probably arises when Nami, his only comrade in relative normalcy, gains a significant power-up in the form of a weapon that Usopp himself makes for her. Ouch. (He gets better after he [[spoiler:fights with Luffy, leaves the crew, and is finally convinced to come back because they really do need him because he's their {{True Companion|s}}. This also leads to his best awesome moment when he [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb6lUTY_H2g duels Luffy]]. He's been more confident since and actually participates in fights without using Zoro as a meat shield]].)
** Zorro 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. They also never bother telling him (although Sanji does point out a moment when Usopp's unique skills are more useful than his own.)
*** 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.

** 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/CharAznable, the series' most iconic badass.

* The titular protagonist of ''Manga/FoodWars'' has no less than three girls who have crushes on him. At one point, [[BettyAndVeronica two of them meet each other]] and while he realizes there's some tension between them, he doesn't get a clue it's because of ''him''.

* Marui Zenji from ''Manga/ShokugekiNoSoma''. He's intelligent, well read and highly skilled, but simply can't match his adversaries for talent or stamina. For example, his Fall Classic preliminary score of 86 would have been enough to see him through to the win almost any other year, but when stacked against people who are either supertasters (Akira Hayama, Erina Nakiri), have decades of kitchen experience (Ryou Kurokiba, Soma, the Aldini brothers), or both (Alice Nakiri) he just can't keep up.

** A meta-example is the author, for whom this is an InvertedTrope. The author has a twin brother, who is also [[Manga/SixSixSixSatan a mangaka]] himself.

* ''LightNovel/DestructionFlagOtome'':
** Prince Alan is very talented at pretty much everything, but since he compares himself to his superhuman twin brother he ended up with an inferiority complex. ''No one'' can compete with Gerald. At least, not at most things. When Katarina helps him realize that he's better at music and enjoys it more than academics and swordplay he gets over his complex and moves on.
** 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 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.