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1Examples of ObfuscatingStupidity in anime and manga.
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3* Commander Pixis in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' plays dumb to keep the favors of the upper class. As he leaves an marquis' estate to lead the Battle of Trost, his assistant sharply reminds the nobleman that Pixis is a competent field commander who [[ILetYouWin ''doesn't'' need to throw chess games]] out in the field.
4* [[spoiler:Toru Nanamine]] in ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'' acts like an overly enthusiastic manga newbie and breaks the rules by submitting it online. He apologizes and deletes it, but it all furthers a multi-layered plan to draw attention to himself, enabling him to show his next piece to the editor in chief himself and get some people to give him feedback on his work as part of his plan to get serialized as quickly as possible.
5* In the Jack the Ripper arc of ''Manga/BlackButler'', Madame Red's clumsy butler Grell turns out to be a violent shinigami who faked being a clumsy human to hide the fact that she and Madame Red together were Jack the Ripper. She still remains TheDitz, but she is undeniably more dangerous in her real form, and has occasionally lost the ditzy side too.
6* Roberta of ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' is definitely this. No one would expect the maid that just burned supper to be [[spoiler:an ex-FARC assassin]].
7* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
8** Isshin started the story apparently completely oblivious to the fact that his son had become a Shinigami, regularly left his body under the possession of a spirit and had sentient toys in his room and a girl living in his wardrobe. Then it's revealed that Isshin is a captain-class Shinigami and has been aware of his son's activities all along.
9** Urahara plays the role of an eccentric shop owner to cover for his real self, a ridiculously skilled scientist and inventor, a former Shinigami Captain and an ex-warden of one of Soul Society's highest security prisons which required him to be able to subdue all prisoners with his bare hands alone. His idiot act seems to be habit now, as lampshaded by Renji who points out that no one's going to believe Urahara's claim that he doesn't have bankai when everyone knows he used to be a captain and invented a new method for obtaining bankai in a record-breaking three-days.
10** Squad two lieutenant Omaeda looks and acts like an UpperClassTwit until he fights one of Barrigan's [[EliteMook fracciones]]. During the fight, he manages to use his apparent stupidity to trick his opponent into using his resurrecçion, then demonstrating [[FlashStep exactly]] ''[[FlashStep why]]'' he's second in command of what basically amounts to the Soul Society special forces.
11** Pesche and Dondochakka's goofiness hides the fact they were once the fracciones and protectors of the former Espada, Neliel. Current Espada [[MadScientist Szayel]] even admits that their CombinationAttack would have killed him if he hadn't had a chance to analyze their powers beforehand.
12* In ''Manga/Brave10'', [[GuileHero Yukimura]] cultivates an image of a lazy bumbling lord very carefully, especially among his peers, to maintain PlausibleDeniability for some of his [[TheChessmaster riskier moves]].
13* ''Manga/CaseClosed'':
14** Conan repeatedly makes a very awkward use of this to disguise his investigations and artificial Creek Moments. In general, he gets away with it more because of him looking like a child than his questionable acting skills.
15** Also, Jodie (the undercover FBI agent pretending to be a teacher) pretends to be far less fluent in Japanese than she actually is; Heiji picks up on this and calls her out on it.
16** Eisuke Hondou, while [[CuteClumsyGirl genuinely clumsy]], has exploited this weakness to obfuscate some of his scooping behaviour.
17* ''Manga/CityHunter'' has pretty much everyone in the main cast but Umibozu (who is just too big and scary to put it on): they ''are'' quirky and all, but they play it up ([[http://www.mondojapan.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/City-Hunter04.jpg such as Ryo here]]) to be underestimated (and, at least in Ryo's case, [[StepfordSmiler to help deal with his chronic depression]]), but when the chips are down... Well, there's a good reason if any smart {{Yakuza}} boss prefers to ''beg'' when they realize they're dealing with City Hunter.
18* In ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', "Judy", the bimbo female co-host of the "[[ShowWithinAShow Big Shot]]" TV show, [[BigWHAT reveals]] in the finale (of both programs) that she's been an example of this all along, when she learns on-air that her show has been cancelled.
19* Someone watching ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' who doesn't know about the [[FirstEpisodeTwist second-episode plot revelation]] is likely to be thinking something like "What the...''Li'' is ''the Black Reaper?''" when it rolls around. The act also works on other characters, since nobody thinks to suspect the adorably clumsy and naïve NiceGuy of being a badass superpowered assassin.
20** It helps that, in the story, only a few people even know that said assassin even exists. That, and BK-201 rarely lets anyone get a good look at him when he is on the job.
21* While not as intelligent as [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] Light or GuileHero L, Misa Amane of ''Manga/DeathNote'' is smarter than your average blonde [[TheDitz ditz]]. Although her impulsiveness almost gives her away and irritates Light, she did take reasonable precautions in an attempt to not leave evidence and even arranges the meeting between her and Light right in front of L's nose. She even realizes that Light doesn't love her and that he is [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness using her and will possibly kill her]], ''[[PsychoSupporter she just doesn't care]]''; unlike the calm and collected Kiyomi Takada.
22** Matsuda is clearly more competent than he seems on the surface, especially during the Yotsuba investigation. Near the end of that arc, Higuchi even lampshades it: "This guy's acting like a complete idiot, but he was smart enough to [[spoiler:fake his death]]."
23* ''Manga/DGrayMan'' has the rather tragic example of [[spoiler:Lavi]]. Despite several hints, neither the viewers nor the other characters know that [[spoiler:he is actually a teen genius with eidetic memory until the Noah's ark arc. He acts as a happy go lucky teenager to easily befriend people during his mission as a bookman. Even though he started BecomingTheMask ]] what is particulary tragic is that his friends still don't know that and think of him as a nice fun but unintelligent friend.
24* Kami does this when he possesses a human in ''Manga/DragonBall''. He poses as an incredibly dumb and very lucky fighter during the third tournament storyline, but reveals his true colors while fighting Yamcha.
25* In ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', the evil dragon Naturon Shenron at first seems to be the most foolhardy of the the Seven Shadow Dragons, even seeming easy to defeat by tricking him into blasting himself. However, it turns out that it was just an act and that he's a lot more intelligent (and speaks a lot more sinister). He even pretended to be defeated as a means to trick the heroes so he could absorb one of them and become more powerful.
26* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', Zeno, the TopGod of the entire Dragon Ball multiverse, seems like just an ignorant little child who is easily impressed by almost everything he sees and whose childlike innocence makes him extremely dangerous to be around due to the potential of being erased from existence if he gets mad. However, despite all appearances and his joy in having fun and seeing what mortals can do, he is absolutely ''not'' stupid and understands the importance of his job. [[spoiler:It actually turns out that the [[TournamentArc Tournament of Power multiverse tournament]] he set up was a SecretTestOfCharacter to see if mortals were worth watching over. He figured the winner would be someone with a virtuous heart and would defy his wishes to have the losing universes erased and have them restored, and if not then he would simply erase '''everything'''. He is legitimately overjoyed when Android 17 wishes the erased universes back, proving that mortals have the potential to change and be selfless.]]
27* ''Eikou no Napoleon-Eroica'' we have the title character, UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte. His insignificant looks, initial poverty and inexperience with women and politics are genuine, but he uses them to appear much stupider and weaker than he is, only to suddenly show exactly ''why'' he was promoted from captain to ''brigadier general'' after his first real battle. The best example of this is at Austerlitz, where he plays the tzar Alexander I, the Holy Roman Emperor Franz II and all their generals like fiddles by feigning weakness (to be fair, [[IgnoredExpert Kutuzov]] not only saw through the act but actually expected him to pull something like this, but was ignored and overruled multiple times), only to suddenly turn the tables on them and [[CurbStompBattle utterly and completely defeat the Austro-Russian army]].
28* Raiha and Joker in ''Manga/FlameOfRecca''. Kurei even compared Raiha to a Japanese warrior who pretended to be an idiot, to make others underestimate him
29* Haruko Haruhara from ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' uses the [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} façade of a goofy policewoman from space]] so that no one questions deeply what she's doing here in the first place and what her goals are. In the last episode she finally reveals what she was planning, to absorb the powers of Atomsk, the Pirate King. [[spoiler:She almost succeeds, too, but Atomsk eventually escapes, so she leaves to pursue him again.]]
30* Most of the time, Shigure from ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' seems to just be a lazy, lecherous idiot of a novelist whose hobby is playing evil pranks on his poor editor in order to avoid his deadlines. As a matter of fact, it turns out he was actually a ManipulativeBastard all along. And possibly also a lazy, lecherous idiot. His acting is so convincing it's tough to say just how much of it was looking like a fool and how much was truly ''being'' a fool.
31* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
32** Lt. Colonel Hughes hides his deadly skill with knives and investigative intelligence behind a public persona of a ditz who's always shoving pictures of his daughter in front of anyone and everyone. Or maybe he just is a ditz who adores showing pictures of his daughter and is an awesome [[BunnyEarsLawyer investigator at the same time]]. In the Brotherhood OVA, he reveals that part of why he created this persona is because he doesn't want to burden his family with what happened in Ishval.
33** To an extent so is Major Armstrong, though he hides his intelligence and investigative skills behind a meat head persona rather than the classical ditz. His tendency to rip his shirt off at every opportunity to show off his physique [[BunnyEarsLawyer is just his normal personality]].
34** Fuhrer King Bradley beats them both, though. While those who served in the Ishval conflict know or at least have a hinted clue just how vicious he can be, he starts out being presented to the audience and the two protagonists as being a harmless kook who likes avoiding work and giving people melons as gifts, which makes the revelation of his true personality and the combat skills that go with it that much more terrifying. There's a very, ''very'' good reason why [[spoiler:his other name is Wrath]].
35** Roy Mustang. A good-looking soldier, who only cares for promotions [[spoiler:and has sworn to protect his comrades and underlings using his position and power]]. He dates several girls at the same time, [[spoiler:using this so that people wouldn't notice him too much]]. He constantly goes to a brothel/pub with a lot of girls, [[spoiler:to gain information from the girls. Also, the pub owner is his foster-mother]]. He uses military phones to call his girlfriends, [[spoiler:in order to direct the 'girlfriends' in coordinated attack]]. Finally, his assistant has to keep him in check, [[spoiler:read: stop him from going too far with/away from his idealism]]. Sounds like a [[JerkJock bastard]], doesn't he? [[spoiler:[[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Good thing he isn't]].]]
36** In truth all soldiers in Mustang's group except Hawkeye (who doesn't hide her smarts) are eligible, because every soldier in ''FMA'' has a mask.
37** Van Hohenheim. This trope and CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass pretty much embody all of his character before his [[spoiler:immortality is revealed and he pretty much turns into a BadassBookworm with a side order of [[BadassLongCoat awesome]]]].
38** Ling Yao is sort of like this, although his undignified goofiness does seem like a natural part of his personality that he just deploys strategically. He first appears as an obnoxious, greedy FunnyForeigner who tries to weasel his way out of paying for damage he himself caused ([[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments "So sori, I no undastand much language of zis countri, bye bye now!"]]), and then he pulls out his sword and ''hands people their asses''. He even manages to survive a fight with [[spoiler:Wrath]] ''while'' carrying an injured Lan Fan.
39** Edward Elric himself. He acts like a hot-headed moron, and is especially stupid at times, but then he figures out something that men ''twice'' his age couldn't do, passing the State Alchemy Exam at 12, which normally takes up till the age of 20, and learning how to do Human Transmutation.
40** The man who taught Mustang some of this skill, Lt. General Grummon. Hiding behind that chess loving, female officer harassing, general funny old man personality, is the mind of a cunning [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]].
41** This is also an alchemical tradition. To keep research secret, it's coded in various ways so that only the creator or a ''very'' patient person can figure out that it's not just what it looks like. Sometimes, this is done in a way that still seems smart, but in a different way: Ed's "travelogues", for example, or Marcoh's "culinary research". Others fall into this category: Roy Mustang, for example, writes up his research in the form of ''dating schedules''.
42* In ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', almost ''everyone'' does this from time to time, especially the main character, but special mention has to go to Sakamoto Tatsuma. He appears to be a [[TheFool fool]] almost every time he is on screen, but how can that be, when [[spoiler:he is one of the most successful businessman in the galaxy]]? Not to mention that a flashback shows him to be [[spoiler:a serious, intelligent former resistance fighter.]]
43* [[spoiler:Suzuko Tashirou]] aka Norie Otobe from ''Manga/GlassMask''. Who would think that the nerdy girl with glasses and a Kansai accent would [[spoiler:be such a cruel [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]], able to play a frighteningly good {{plan}} to have Maya Kitajima kicked out of the acting scene?]] Unfortunately for her, [[spoiler:Maya's rival Ayumi Himekawa was NOT amused when she found out...]]
44* Kumiko from ''Manga/{{Gokusen}}'' swings back and forth between TheDitz and the ActionGirl as a scene requires, even throwing in a little ClarkKenting to clue the viewer in as to which one she's trying to be.
45* ''Anime/{{Grenadier}}'' - Though Rushuna comes across as TheDitz most of the time, pay attention to her more vapid remarks, then note how they all lie completely at odds with the competency she shows in other respects. She knows mathematics, in a society where educating women seems to be a fairly low priority, especially in such abstract concepts. She has a solid understanding of various general models of guns. Her analytical abilities are nothing to scoff at. She goes from laughing to serious as immediately as the situation demands. From that, it's easy to see that she's only '''pretending''' to be a scatterbrained bimbo, and her ditzy comments suddenly take on a new, [[DeadpanSnarker very sarcastic meaning]].
46* In ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', during the WWI scene, Germany ''thinks'' that North Italy is trying to use this on him. He's wrong, because North Italy really is TheDitz.
47** True, Italy is TheDitz, but he's also ''hundreds of years old''. He actually did invoke this when he was a kid, pretending to fall for a rich man's bribe of candy but then denying him what he wanted anyway.
48** Actually, most of the Hetalia characters are probably this in some way. France acts llike a narcissic flamboyant pervert most of the time, but he's been shown to have HiddenDepths. America is obnoxious and 'can't read the atmosphere' of a situation, but he does so intentionally - he could if he ''wanted'' to. Spain is a clueless, tomato loving dork, but has a scary side to him. England is an cranky old Tsundere who still believes in ancient folklore about fairies, but he also founded the British Empire. Japan is a painfully polite, reserved country, who also disowned his adoptive older brother China and presumably did horrible things to him with a katana.
49* Another shonen protagonist of this persuasion is Taikobo of ''Manga/HoshinEngi''. In almost every situation he adopts a manner that is either agonizingly lazy or comically bizarre, but he is in truth an adept and cunning tactician.
50* In ''Manga/IdatenJump'' we're introduced to Arthur, a mild-mannered and geeky-looking painter with NerdGlasses who enters the MTB tournament and becomes a ButtMonkey among fellow competitors. It turns out that [[spoiler:Arthur is not only [[BeautifulAllAlong a very handsome blond]], he's an ''excellent'' biker and a good friend of the local WrenchWench Yuki, who pretended to be dumb to hide his identity as a member of the guerrilla against Gabu, the child dictator and leader of the Shark team.]]
51* The titular character of ''Anime/IrresponsibleCaptainTylor'', who constantly kept everyone (including the audience) wondering whether he was a tactical genius or just incredibly lucky.
52** There are strong reasons to think (and many fans do so, indeed) that he actually is an illuminated bodhisattva. If this interpretation is correct, the surreal opening animation [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation actually]] shows the moment of his Buddhist epiphany, and Tylor's real ultimate goal all along the series would be to bring enlightenment to his crew. (Especially to Yamamoto, an impressive success!)
53* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
54** Joseph Joestar regularly clowns around and acts like a fool in battle. [[ConfusionFu He does this to make the opponent underestimate him, while also coming up with a plan to defeat them]].
55** In ''Manga/GoldenWind'' after [[spoiler:Cioccolata]] is killed, [[spoiler:his HumanPet Secco is revealed to actually be relatively normal, only acting the way he did in order to leech off of Cioccolata]].
56** In ''Manga/SteelBallRun'', early minor villain Andre Boom Boom of the Boom Boom Family intentionally acts like a weirdo in order to trick Johnny and Gyro into activating his [[FightingSpirit Stand]] [[MagnetismManipulation ability]].
57** ''Manga/{{JoJolion}}'':
58*** Holy Joestar, despite her current condition, is heavily implied to know more about what's going on than most of the other characters in the Part.
59*** Tamaki Damo may look like any other [[{{Gonk}} overweight middle-aged man]], but he proves to be one of the most dangerous enemies in the Part, as can be seen when [[spoiler:he single handedly takes down nearly the ''entire [[BadassFamily Higashikata household]]'']].
60* DarkMagicalGirl {{Ninja}} (yes) Freesia Yagyuu of ''Anime/JubeiChan'' hams up her Half-Russian heritage with broken Japanese and a vapid demeanor. In reality, she speaks perfect Japanese, and is frighteningly intelligent.
61* ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'':
62** Kenichi of all people pulls this off in chapter 307. [[spoiler:He already figured out that Kushinada is a member of YOMI. He's trying to win her over without a fight because he WouldntHitAGirl.]]
63** Also, there's Apachai Hopachai, who despite his childish personality, can and HAS murdered dozens of people with his bare hands, being a master of Muay Thai. In fact, it has been explained that he completely lacks the ability to hold back, and striking with lethal force is reflex for him. He may act like a baby, but hope to God that you don't find his BerserkButton.
64** He's never ''actually'' killed anyone, though. Well, unless you count Kenichi (by accident).
65** With Apachai, it isn't so much that he only looks like a fool as a ''huge'' case of CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass.
66** While setting to rescue Miu, Kenichi and Sakaki meet John, an overweight mercenary who gives them aid until he reveals himself as [[spoiler:Furinji Saiga, who is also Miu's father and YAMI's leader]]
67* In ''Anime/{{Kiznaiver}}'', this is considered by Sonozaki to be Nico's "sin". She's smart, pretty, and comes from a rich family, so she fears that people will hate her for being "perfect" and intentionally plays up her CloudCuckooLander tendencies, making her seem like TheDitz instead. She's actually a GeniusDitz, and one of the smartest members of the main cast. For example, when the group are trying to track down the seventh Kiznaiver, who they know to be a member of the class, most of the characters run off to interrogate individual people. Nico simply stands at the back of the classroom, lightly punches Katsuhira in the back of the head (hard enough to activate the Kizna System but not hard enough to draw attention to herself), and waits to see who reacts.
68* In ''Manga/KotouraSan'', when Yuriko finally comes clean to Haruka about having used and manipulated her, Haruka tells her that she knew about it. She just went along because she was also getting something out of it, namely a place where she could belon
69* ''Anime/LupinIII'' uses this as his primary tactic, only getting serious if someone threatens one of his ''TrueCompanions'' (and yes that includes [[FriendlyEnemy Pops]]).
70* Isis of ''Manga/MagicalRecordLyricalNanohaForce'', who initially looked like an ordinary clothes merchant who naively decided to help Tohma and Lily on a whim without fully realizing the level of danger she's putting herself in. [[spoiler:Then we learn that it's just a facade she's using to hide her real identity from [[TheFederation the TSAB]]. While there have yet to be a full reveal on just what she really is, we do know that she is a very powerful and skilled individual, to the point that the Huckebein deemed her as the biggest threat in Tohma's entourage]].
71* Punie Tanaka of ''Anime/MagicalWitchPuniechan'' acts like a ditzy schoolgirl, until it's inconvenient. Then the smile goes, the high-pitched voice goes, and suddenly the ruthless queen-in-training emerges. This is the point when you should run away.
72* Commander Doolittle in ''Anime/MarsDaybreak'' comes across as being either extremely lazy, extremely incompetent, or both. However, he comes the closest to actually trapping the ''Ship of Aurora'', and didn't need an entire fleet to do it.
73* ''Manga/MedakaBox'': Medaka's older brother Maguro often acts like a perverted sicko who has a bit of an obsession with his sisters. But he's also incredibly intelligent, a master researcher, and well aware of the strengths of his allies.
74* Lacus Clyne from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'' comes off as an especially ditzy version of TheIngenue in her first appearance, and is so seemingly innocent and naive that's it's rather horrifying. In truth she's a GuileHeroine, {{Chessmaster}}, and political manipulator of the highest calibre, and is probably the smartest person in series barring only BigBad [[spoiler:Rau Le Creuset]].
75** This comes into full play in the sequel when she organizes her own third party superpower called the Terminal, have them create insanely powerful mobile suits that she gives to her friends, and then uses them to become the core fighting strength of the Three Ships Alliance. She goes on to face series BigBad [[spoiler:Durandal]] in XanatosSpeedChess for the rights to control mankind's future, [[spoiler:and once she wins, she becomes part of the ZAFT supreme council, possibly even the chairwoman, meaning that two twenty year old girls, her and [[LadyofWar Cagalli]] basically control the whole world and its colonies. And if you have any opinions about that, they could easily wipe you out by sending out those insanely powerful mobile suits piloted by their boyfriends[[note]]As a bonus, Kira is also Cagalli's twin brother and Athrun is Lacus's ex-fiance and childhood friend, reducing chances of them betraying the two girls to near zero.[[/note]]. Fortunately, they are the good guys.]]
76* In the series ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', we have Grimmer. Best shown right when first meeting the character, where he gives money to a swindler and, when someone tells him that, saying he never even noticed. Just a few scenes later, you'll find out he is much more well-informed than he appears to be.
77* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia''
78** All Might is a classic hammy type of superhero, but he doesn’t just rely on his powers as he also has a keen intellect and is a decent strategist.
79** Present Mic. Loud. Overly excited rocker looking guy with a few DumbassDJ tendencies. However, he’s rated at the top of the guidebook’s intelligence scale and is almost certainly smarter than he looks. He’s bilingual as the school English teacher and has good deductive skills as shown when he’s the first to feel there’s a traitor in Class 1-A
80* One early look at ''Anime/MyHime'''s Midori Sugiura would likely lead one to think: "[[CuteClumsyGirl Clumsy waitress]]...[[OneOfTheKids ditzy teacher]]...I could probably take her in a fight". However, once she [[JumpedAtTheCall gets into her Element]], she can (and will) kick ass with flair, occasionally exhibiting leadership qualities that would make Storm proud.
81* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
82** In his first appearance, Kakashi "falls" for Naruto's juvenile prank, making his charges think he's a moron. Of course, he proves them wrong later in the episode...
83** And while that put him out of the "stupid" category, Kakashi's next four opponents (counting Haku, who observed and tried to deconstruct his fighting style so that Zabuza could later kill him) all fatally underestimate him in three different ways, just to drive the point home that Kakashi has whole ''layers'' of this going just by force of habit. Given that Kakashi is fairly infamous among Konoha's enemies, the fact that he's ''still'' able to get enemies to underestimate him is rather impressive.
84** There's also Shikamaru, who's a borderline case. He really is smart, and when he wants to buckle down, [[BrilliantButLazy he's an unparalleled strategist, but he's extremely lazy.]] According to his sensei, Asuma, he felt that even moving his pencil in his class was too much trouble. When Asuma got Shikamaru to play a game that was actually a hidden IQ test, he discovered Shikamaru has an IQ of over 200 (for comparison, Albert Einstein had an IQ of 186, which made him smarter than 99.9999% of all humans). Still, a standard battle involving Shikamaru usually plays out like this: Shikamaru gets his ass handed to him for 95% of the battle, and just as the enemy is about to close in on him, he reveals that he's known their plan all along, and was just messing with them.
85** [[spoiler:Tobi, the Akatsuki's comic-relief member]], has been using this tactic since his first appearance. He's really [[spoiler:Obito Uchiha, the former teammate of Kakashi, and both TheManBehindTheMan and BigBad to boot]].
86** Rock Lee's debut featured him also pretending to be an inexpert rookie moron so Team Guy can go around before the Chuunin exams without standing out. But when a fight breaks in, Lee can't help himself and promptly stops the fisticuffs, leaving everyone surprised at how an apparent weakling was so skilled.
87** Jiraiya definitely displays this trope. At the start of battles, he acts like an idiot and makes great, unneeded moves, to throw off the enemy to underestimating him. When they attack...he attacks with utmost seriousness to put them down in the most efficient way possible. Outside of battle, it's hard to take him seriously due to his perverted actions and his tendency to hang out in the RedLightDistrict. As it turns out, a large number of contacts in his spy network can be found in said districts.
88* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'':
89** Konoka Konoe tends to play TheDitz, and while there's no denying that she's a bit flaky, she often seems to know a lot more than anyone gives her credit for. For example, when her [[ThePowerOfLove love for]] [[LesYay Setsuna]] causes her [[EleventhHourSuperpower ridiculously powerful]] [[HealingHands healing]] [[WhiteMagic magic]] [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass to suddenly manifest]] at the end of volume 5 of the manga, she acts as if she has no clue what just happened, even though we saw her summoning up magic for a spell (which she aborted) early in volume 4.
90** Jack Rakan. Sure, he's powerful, but he's just a [[BoisterousBruiser overly rambunctious]] [[DirtyOldMan skirt-chaser]] underneath all the muscle, right? [[spoiler:Wrong. So, so wrong. That happy-go-lucky attitude is born from the fact that he's been involved in brutal, life-or-death combat for over forty ''years'', so he can ''afford'' to act goofy because there is honestly nothing that poses a serious threat to him at this point. His actual intellect is shown off fully in the magical world tournament: after Negi develops a technique that literally let him ''turn into lightning'', increasing his speed to unbelievable levels...it takes Rakan exactly one observation of said move to analyze it, find all the flaws, and devise counter-techniques which allow him to effortlessly and utterly kick the crap out of 'invincible thunder god Negi'.]]
91* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
92** While Luffy and Zoro more have screwy personalities that make it seem impossible they actually possess any form of brain, Sanji perhaps is the only one who puts on the stupidity intentionally. The best strategical mind on the Straw Hats, he often looks just far enough ahead to pull a vital string that ends up saving the lot of them down the line. See in Water 7 when he realized Robin would be leaving via sea train and ran off early to stow away when everyone else was still messing around trying to figure out what to do. Ask him what he was doing beforehand? He has to go "see about a lady". Faced with the second best fighter in Croc's posse, and confronted as to whether or not he was the code-named orchestrator of the Straw Hats' escape? No, he's "just a simple sea cook." He stays out of sight, doesn't give his name, acts like an idiot (except in regards to his nature as a ChivalrousPervert; that part isn't an act) and generally ends up, as Zoro pointed out mockingly, in the convenient position of being a badass (Zoro left that part out) who everyone takes to be "pirate A" That does have the unfortunate side effect of his bounty poster though.
93*** One of the best examples is at the climax of the Enies Lobby fight, when Sanji disappears shortly before the start of a melee against captain and vice-admiral marines for several chapters. When he comes back (pulling off a BigDamnHeroes moment as he does so, saving their allies from the escape ship that the Marines just blew up) Zoro chews him out for ditching them in the middle of the fight. Shortly afterwards, when they get another method of escape but are surrounded by nine battleships, [[spoiler:it turns out Sanji sabotaged the Gates of Justice, making them close so that the whirlpools would be restored and the Marines would have to focus more on staying afloat than attacking them. Meanwhile, they and their much smaller ship can simply ride the whirlpools out and escape.]]
94** Speaking of Water 7, its mayor, Iceberg, put on a good enough show of this trope that the arc's villains, spies who had been stationed near him and included his secretary and two of his most trusted shipwrights, couldn't muster the confidence to make an overt move for five years, when their deadline forced them into action.
95** Earlier and minor example with Carue. Before it was revealed that Miss Wednesday, a.k.a. Vivi, was GoodAllAlong, Carue came across as a humorously incompetent sidekick to her. It was probably just to help Vivi to maintain her pacifistic ways while masquerading as a bounty hunter.
96* ''Manga/PandoraHearts'':
97** {{Implied}} with Xerxes Break. [[spoiler:All the crazy quirks are absent in the flashbacks, and seem to disappear when he gets serious.]]
98** [[spoiler:Oz Vessalius]] also counts. In the beginning of the manga, he acts like a StockShonenHero, complete with goofy grin, fun-loving, devil-may-care attitude, and constant (attempted) flirting. As the manga goes on, he becomes increasingly serious, and eventually it becomes clear that BeneathTheMask he's one of the most intelligent characters in the series.
99* ''Anime/PatlaborTheTVSeries'': Richard Wong/Mr. Utsumi, the cold and calculating agent of Schaft Enterprises, hides behind a happy-go-lucky facade. (Mind, he actually ''is'' that happy-go-lucky under most circumstances -- he just ''stays'' that way as he calmly orchestrates a calamity.)
100* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
101** Mrs. Ketchum (Ash's mom) in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' is another borderline case. She's been a single mom for as long as the anime has been on the air, but it's later revealed she was a student of Professor Oak's, and an exceptional one at that. Chances are she just comes off as uninformed since she had to put her studies and such behind once Ash was born.
102** ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'':
103*** Mr. Berlitz commissioned Ignor and Phool to watch over Platinum, who mistook Diamond and Pearl for her bodyguards (I&P were supposed to be the bodyguards in the first place). Given their antics in the time you see them, coupled with their names being variants of the word "idiot", you'd think Mr. Berlitz was an idiot himself for entrusting his daughter to these two. Per this trope, looks belie talent, and the two are very capable battlers with their Burmy and Buizel, as Saturn had the misfortune of discovering at the Lost Tower. They initially appear to have their asses handed to them by Saturn (who isn't even actually there, using a device to watch the scene and command his Pokemon) when Burmy gets its coat knocked off and Buizel appears to be abandoned, but it was all part of the plan as Buizel used its tail to create a whirlwind of Burmy's leaves to block Saturn's camera. Effectively blind, Saturn can no longer command his Pokemon which then get taken out in one hit.
104*** Ruby is a terrible battler. When people are watching. Sometimes Ruby's damage control isn't thorough enough. Mr. Briney fully assessed the damage done to a Corphish that boarded his ship after he recovered from a bout of unconsciousness, and came to judge Ruby as a seasoned battler...only to dismiss those claims when the poor boy heaved over the edge of his ship. Then again, he's the "don't ask, don't tell" kind of guy. Then there was Sapphire caught in a herd of frenzied Grumpig that Ruby and Nana (Mightyena) shut down swiftly and efficiently - unfortunately for him, there wasn't enough time for him to cover up the damage before she pieced it all together...and even if he could cover it up, there was no way he was going to fool Sapphire.
105----> '''Sapphire''': Any trainer would have sent his Pokemon leaping in, but no! Every attack hit those black pearls dead-on. That's not an attack by an ordinary trainer...\
106'''Ruby''': That's strange, Nana. What came over you?\
107'''Sapphire''': ''Cut the act!''
108*** Diamond does tend to do this; originally he appears to be an idiot who eats when its not appropriate but soon we discover he is certainly smarter than we first thought. He, like Platinum, uses his brain to fight; his earliest example of this is beating a bunch of Pokemon that are essentially beavers by feeding them a golden statue (MakesSenseInContext). Hell, he outwit Pearl by [[spoiler:knowing from the start Platinum was not a tour guide.]]
109* ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'': He's a lazy, tanned Buddhist monk in his late 30's with a stubble, whom his wife treats like a younger brother and his kids (both [[TroubledButCute 12-year-old son]] and [[CoolBigSis 19-year-old niece]]) treat with not too much respect, and who often [[LovableSexManiac ogles attractive girls]] much to others' embarrassment. But give him a racket and/or bring him to a tennis match...He'll either beat the crap out of you at the courts or give you the most acute comments about the current game. That's Nanjiroh "The Samurai" Echizen to you (as in the title character's ''dad'').
110* Despite their grades, the Nakano sisters in ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'' are not as stupid as male lead Fuutarou assumes at first, with their grades out to be more [[BrilliantButLazy actively lazy than actually dumb]]. The fourth one, Yotsuba, might be the one who takes the cake: coming across as a [[GenkiGirl cheery girl]] [[DumbJock who loves sports but has the worst grades among her sisters]], [[spoiler:turns out to have recognized Fuutarou from the beginning and actively tried to keep him from finding out that ''she'' was the girl he met and fell in love with five years ago]].
111* Genma Saotome from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''. He behaves like a lazy, thieving, sadistic, cowardly, gluttonous, etc. etc. and a total waste of space. And maybe he is. But the one time Ranma seemed about to outpace him, Genma asserted dominance over Ranma with psychological attacks (the "Hell's Cradle Technique"). Also, Genma managed to create two new martial arts forms from scratch that would be at home in the ''Manga/DragonBall'' stories, and once managed to prove himself the near-equal of his evil master Happosai by manifesting Godzilla-scale powers for a brief moment.
112* In ''Anime/ReadOrDie'' Yomiko aka Agent Paper acts very clumsy, carefree, and childlike even in the heat of battle, but when finishing off her opponents, she lets loose some glimpses of her badass side.
113* Dr. Shamal from ''Manga/Reborn2004'' comes off initially as being a rather ditzy, [[HandsomeLech womanizing lech]] that is completely incompetent. And then it's later revealed that he's strong enough to have managed to inject a virus into Hibari at the exact same moment Hibari hit him without Hibari even noticing.
114** Rokudo Mukuro also does this to some extent during his first meeting with Tsuna, pretending to be a helpless boy who was captured by...Rokudo Mukuro.
115** Tsuna's [[DisappearedDad father]] Iemitsu Sawada came across as a loving husband who spent all of his little time time home eating, drinking, and sleeping. [[spoiler:He's Vongola 9th's chief advisor and implied to be a powerful mafioso.]] Later in the Curse of the Rainbow Arc [[spoiler:he used Tsuna's perception of him as a ditz to throw Tsuna off balance and defeat him.]]
116* Though more of an ExtremeDoormat subversion, almost all of the characters in ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' believe that Anthy has absolutely no thoughts of her own. ''Right''... just like Akio's a [[ManipulativeBastard good guy]]...
117* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'':
118** Himura Kenshin tried to pass himself off this way in the first episode, but was eventually found out. He continues to act like an idiot whenever he's not fighting at least for the first half of the series. He usually manages to maintain the masquerade until someone familiar with his past [[TemptingFate tries to force him]] to [[LetsGetDangerous fight properly]], or when another sharp fighter notices Kenshin's skill beneath the fool mask. Such as when Sanosuke realized there was more to Kenshin when he noticed Kenshin saw a thrown bowl coming for the back of his head, and chose not to duck it because the next object in its flight path after Kenshin's head was Kaoru's face.
119** The puppet master Gein also plays to be really stupid as his alter ego Iwanbō.
120* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' has Minako, in both versions:
121** In the manga she is genuinely TheDitz, but exaggerates this big time to be underestimated (and for fun) and is by far the most battle competent of the Sailor Senshi. The only ones who actually know are Usagi (who just [[TooDumbToFool admires her too much to actually buy the act]]), Rei (figured it by the final arc, probably after wondering how the hell Minako was able to use her exact exorcism technique in the Exam Battle specials), the Three Lights (who actually call her out on this. Minako immediately dropped the act and threatened to kill them if they didn't drop theirs), and Artemis ([[HeterosexualLifePartners who lives with her]] and is too familiar with her personality to be fooled-and was there when she started putting on the act).
122** In the anime she acts even ditzier than in the manga... Then once in a while she reveals effective tactics and strategies, and the episode who had the necessity of speaking English well as a plot point had her as revealing a ''perfect fluency'' (the only one who spoke the language as well as her was ''[[TeenGenius Ami]]''). She only ever dropped her act ''once'' in the fifth series, when Yaten chastised her for trying out at an idol audition in place of doing her job and Minako quickly put her in her place.
123* Ukyo in ''Anime/SamuraiSeven'' seems an idle, childish, vain hedonist...and he is, [[spoiler:only he is also brilliant enough to successfully earn the right to be the Emperor's heir when all the Emperor's other clones had failed. Clever enough, ruthless enough, to assassinate and usurp the Emperor afterwards, and no one suspects him.]]
124* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': At first, the platoon believed Keroro was doing this. [[SubvertedTrope Turns out he's just stupid.]]
125* The Principal from ''Manga/SilverSpoon''. His small stature, cheerful curiosity and preference for Socratic teaching (constantly asking your student questions and getting them to learn by figuring out the answers) give him an air of [[TheFool amiable cluelessness]]. However, he shows time and again that he is an incredibly sharp operator who knows everything that goes on at his school, is a skilled educator who looks out for his students (often without them even noticing), and performs such varied tasks as substituting for the equestrian team's coach, birthing a calf and making soba noodles from scratch with effortless ease.
126* Dr. Stein from ''Manga/SoulEater'' plays this trope during his first appearance and meeting with the protagonists. The way he appeared didn't exactly impress them, rolling his chair backwards out the door and falling over. And then doing it again. Of course, he turns out to be a super badass with sadistic tendencies.
127** He plays with it throughout the series, really. Any time his glasses are perfectly opaque and round (not to be confused with [[ScaryShinyGlasses shiny]]) a la NerdGlasses, the next words out of his mouth are probably going to be interesting, if not downright dumb.
128** There's also [[GrimReaper Shinigami]]. At first, he seems like a fairly silly Dumbledore-esque teacher, which clashes with the fact that he's, you know, ''Death.'' And then you meet his Scythe, who is a womanizing twit who spends his time alternating between patronizing a whorehouse and crying over his estranged daughter, and it all seems to make sense. And then, several chapters later, once you've gotten acclimated to the idea that Shinigami is a silly old fool long past his prime, we realize that [[spoiler:he once imprisoned an insane subordinate/disciple by ''ripping off the guys skin, turning it into a bag, and imprisoning the guy's body in it,'' and is perfectly willing to do it ''again'' once said guy escapes. And if the latest chapters are any indication, he's a full-on Eldritch Abomination as well.]]
129*** It's stated that he puts on that facade so that he doesn't freak his students out
130* Rio in ''Manga/{{Spiral}}'' seems to be a ridiculously CuteClumsyGirl, but she's as good of a {{Chessmaster}} as all the other Blade Children, if not better. And has the same obsession with bombs.
131* ''[[Anime/SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss Orguss 02]]'': [[spoiler:Prince Parion of the kingdom of Rivilia feigns idiocy for the first few episodes of the OVA - until he orchestrates the murder of his half-brother and the EvilChancellor who killed his father, assuming the throne himself. He then goes on to attempt a global [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds omnicide]] using a HumongousMecha, because his isolation left him with a disregard for humanity.]] The {{narm}}y English dub sums it up with the [[MemeticMutation famous line]] "I have pretended to be mentally retarded for seven years."
132* In Episode 8 of ''Anime/SuperSonico'' we're introduced to Ena, Suzu's younger sister and a self-proclaimed genius detective. She shows up right after Sonico is found unconscious inside the apparently-locked waiting room of Suzu's workplace, where she and her band were due to practice that night, and proceeds to spend the entire episode making up ridiculous theories as to what happened and who the culprit is, until Sonico eventually comes to, everyone agrees it was just an accident, and the group have to head off home without practicing. However, in TheStinger Ena reveals that she'd known the truth from the very beginning ([[spoiler:Miina, having accidentally damaged the amplifier the band were due to use, knocked Sonico out so the damage wouldn't be discovered and she wouldn't get fired]]), and had been deliberately playing dumb in order to waste time until the group had to leave without practicing, thus hiding [[spoiler:Miina's]] crime (Ena's only interested in uncovering the truth, not arresting criminals).
133* In ''Manga/TalentlessNana'', Nana appears to be a cheerful, ditzy, friendly girl. [[spoiler:She's actually a vicious, cunning, and manipulative serial killer who feels nothing for her victims, the super-powered "Talented". After her HeelFaceTurn, much of this is still true, but she does loosen up a little, and her vicious, cunning mind then works to protect as many of the Talented as she can, as well as her own life, against the RenegadeSplinterFaction of the Government that brainwashed and gaslighted her against the Talented in the first place.]]
134* In a manner of speaking, ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann,'' the ''show itself,'' qualifies. It starts off with a bunch of almost roly-poly characters who look goofy and many of whose actions seem to be self-parody (remember Kamina calling himself "the ultimate in strength and masculinity"?). In fact, some people who only see the first couple of episodes actually complain about the show's [[IdiotHero supposedly]] [[TagalongKid stereo]][[MsFanservice typical]] [[StrawVulcan char]][[CampGay acters]] and FanService. Yet it's a very self-aware parody with some really profound ideas about evolution and humanity's place in the universe, and these become clearer and clearer the longer you watch, as CerebusSyndrome hits. Plus there's quite a few {{Genius Bonus}}es for those science geeks willing to tune in, such as the names of the [[FourIsDeath four Beastman generals]] and [[MeaningfulName Lordgenome himself]].
135* In ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'', there are hints that Kotetsu exaggerates his klutziness and incompetence as a way making it easier for people to disregard him (and thus keep them from getting too close to him and worrying about him). WordOfGod confirms this.
136* Hideyoshi "Hide" Nagachika from ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'' makes this into an art form. He tends to come across as an easily-distracted {{Keet}}, swept up into whatever current trends have caught his interest and flirting with pretty girls. In reality, he's a brilliant GuileHero armed with incredible intuition and a knack for subterfuge and misdirection. The ''really'' smart people in the series are justifiably wary of him, considering his dangerous due to his unusual skill-set and knowledge of Ghouls. He claims to enjoy spying on shady people as a hobby, and is able to deduce the actual power structure of the Ghouls in the 20th Ward........but immediately plays it off as crazy theories read in a known Crackpot's latest book.
137* In ''Manga/Touch1981'', Tatsuya Uesugi doesn't even want to bother ''trying'' to compete with his brother in any respect, so he hides his own considerable talents under a bushel and gives the impression that he has no ambition in life.
138* Hellbat in ''Anime/TransformersVictory'' acts like a devoted and none-too-bright servant, but is in reality is waiting for just the right moment to overthrow Leozack and Deathsaurus. Since Leozack also wants to overthrows Deathsaurus...
139* The absurdly skilled leads (both {{Badass Longcoat}}s) in ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' and ''Literature/TrinityBlood'' often deliberately give off an air of incompetence and cowardice...which only serves to make it even ''more'' awesome when they finally [[LetsGetDangerous cut loose at the height of their powers.]]
140* General Eita Touga of ''Manga/TwelveBeast'' feigns helplessness and prefers complete submission, if it means he doesn't need to fight--he'd rather not get violent, thanks. If it comes to a head, though, he ''will'' kick your ass.
141* Thorkell in ''Manga/VinlandSaga'' has such a goofy grin on his face most of the time you can easily forget he's a killing machine. That, and his good-natured ribbing of both friend and foe make him come off as downright harmless. Until he splits a man in two with a single blow, or crushes a guy's skull for speaking out of turn. Just look out if you make him really angry, 'cause he will [[MemeticMutation punch your horse to death]]. Yep, a bag of laughs that Thorkell.
142* In ''Manga/{{Wagnaria}}'', Aoi's behavior makes her seem to be very [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} "out there"]], but she appears to be very smart and focused when you least expect it--for instance when countering Souma's attempts at blackmail.
143* The anime version of ''Manga/WanderingSon'' implies this with Chizuru, while the same scene in the manga just shows she can be something besides an outlandish {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.
144%%* Hige from ''Anime/WolfsRain''.
145* The generally carefree Zeno from ''Manga/YonaOfTheDawn'' has a tendency to ask very pointed questions and make rather ominous, serious predictions... before laughing it off and asking when he can eat. [[spoiler:Part of this is to mask the fact that he's over two thousand years old and the original Yellow Dragon, a subject he seems rather unwilling to go into detail on. Also laughs off him scaring his enemies after being stabbed, disembered, beheaded and regenerating.]]
146** Soowon would count as well. Though known as a talented prince, he keeps an absentminded mask to manipulate his enemies into underestimating him. Him being genuinely kind helps. Of course, he knows when to get objective and get down to the dirty work in leading a country.
147* ''Anime/YuGiOh'':
148** Pegasus feigns intimidation and hopelessness when Kaiba duels him, and as a whole comes off as a real goof who has trouble taking ''anything'' seriously. The reason he acts this way is to keep his opponents off-guard when he reveals himself as a master duelist (he ''is'' the guy who made the game after all). It is also implied that Pegasus might act like this just because he knows it annoys people. Even if people don't buy the act, the annoying part works perfectly. His deck is the same way, consisting of comical over-the-top "Toon" monsters that chuckle and make faces while attacking - all while being PurposefullyOverpowered cards he created for his own personal use.
149** In her first appearance, [[BrattyHalfPint Rebecca]] used a DeliberatelyCuteChild variant, playing up her "innocent child" image and talking to her teddy bear to hide her [[TeenGenius true skills.]]
150** Mai also makes use of this trope. Pretending to be a BrainlessBeauty and FanGirl, she challenges Rex to a duel; if she wins, she gets his room. If he wins, he gets to spend the night with her. Severely underestimating her, he accepts her challenge. Some pages later, she kicks him out of his room.
151** Joey attempted to use this move on Yugi during their duel. The latter had the Dark Magician hidden in the Magical Hats, so the former summoned Garoozis in ATK mode, which would have brought him down to 50 LP had Yugi attacked, but Joey's Black Skull Dragon could have destroyed Dark Magician, costing Yugi the duel. Yugi called Joey's bluff.
152---> '''Joey:''' I guess you have no choice but to attack Garoozis! I'm almost giving you the game, but I got no one to blame but myself. So go ahead, Yug. Bring it on! Attack me with your Dark Magician! That's what I get for my bonehead move! ... What's the matter? Bring it on! I can't stop your attack!
153---> '''Yugi:''' ''(thinking)'' That bluff might have worked on somebody else, but not someone who's known him as long as I have! ''(speaking)'' Sorry Joey, but I'm not going to fall for that one!
154* ''Anime/YuGiOhZexal'':
155** Ray Shadows is the very embodiment of this trope. He starts off the series as a clumsy student who constantly slips up, both figuratively and literally, to the annoyance of even Yuma. He constantly tries to drag Yuma through shortcuts (known as "The Ray Way") that end up making them both later for class than they already would have been, and when he starts his duel with Girag, the first move he makes is summoning a monster in ATK mode with 0 ATK! Granted, the monster had an ability to damage Girag (which Girag was prepared for) upon destruction, but Ray had forgotten that it damaged himself and Yuma too. However, at the end of the aforementioned duel, Ray began to play seriously, making the move that would lead the two to victory and [[TheReveal revealed that he was only pretending to be stupid]] this entire time, and that he is an undercover member of the Barian Cosmic Crime Unit. Then came The ''Other'' Reveal [[spoiler:where we find out that he is actually Vector]].
156--->[[spoiler:'''Vector:''' It wasn't easy pretending to be an innocent little twerp, but being your friend and helping you duel was all part of the plan!]]
157* Bit Cloud of ''Anime/ZoidsNewCentury'' makes it hard to tell whether he's a BunnyEarsLawyer or CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass or even IdiotHero, but the most common diagnosis is this trope. Interestingly, his guise is to act as a GeniusDitz, with the incredible knowledge of Zoid parts and mechanics a scrap merchant should have but without the practical knowledge to survive a more difficult fight or even the complexities of living in the same building as the {{Tsundere}} GirlWithPsychoWeapon. Then he starts beating skilled opponents through complex strategies like wasting ammo on a cliff face to force a long-range-focused opponent into mêlée, and he starts looking practical in battles through [[TheFool luck]] or otherwise, even if he'll eventually find himself on the wrong end of a [[MacrossMissileMassacre Weasel Total Assault]]. Then the team's tactician realizes that said {{Tsundere}} only fights best when firing missiles at wherever Bit is standing.

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