History ObfuscatingStupidity / AnimeAndManga

* Ma Gangryong from ''Manhwa/{{Veritas}}'' spent his first few weeks at NinjaSchool mouthing off to people stronger than himself, and then getting beat up. He later reveals that he mouths off because it makes the highly refined fighters around him angry, and thus sloppy, which is his style. He also points out that after having lost so many fights, everyone thinks he's weak, and that they'll continue to think so long after he's surpassed them.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':

* 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 Obfuscating and how much was real.

** The man who taught Mustang some of his ObfuscatingStupidity, Lt. General Grummon. Hiding behind that chess loving, female officer harassing, general funny old man personality, is the mind of a cunning [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]].

** With Apachai, it isn't so much ObfuscatingStupidity as a ''huge'' case of CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass.

** Speaking of Water 7, its mayor, Iceberg, put on a good enough show of Obfuscating Stupidity 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.

* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': At first, the platoon believed Keroro was doing this. Turns out he's just stupid.

* 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 Obfuscating Stupidity. 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.

* Xerxes Break, in ''Manga/PandoraHearts'', may be an example of this. [[spoiler:All the crazy quirks are absent in the flashbacks, and seem to disappear when he gets serious.]]

* 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.

* ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'''s 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.
** 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.
--> '''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...\\

** 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.]]

* 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 from ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'' to you (as in the title character's ''dad'').

* Another shonen protagonist of this persuasion is Taikoubou of ''Manga/SoulHunter''. 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.

* 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 superpowered "Talented".]]

* 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 [[RatedMForManly "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]].

** 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 ''[[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish 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.

* Czeslaw Meyer from ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' does a bit of this, deliberately playing up an AdorablyPrecociousChild image, to mask or downplay the fact that he's at least [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld two hundred years old]] ("What? Did I just say something that wasn't very child-like? You must be thinking too much").
** Later novels suggest that maybe, just ''maybe'', [[spoiler:Isaac and Miria might be playing up their legendary stupidity]].

* A lot of characters in ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'' but the one guy who stands out of all people is [[spoiler:Ryugamine Mikado. He seems like your typical NaiveNewcomer, right up until he demonstrates that he's successfully ''weaponized Website/FourChan'']]. If even then, he still doesn't seem all that scary on a personal level, just wait until he starts [[spoiler:stabbing people with pens with a [[DissonantSerenity horrendous expression]] on his face.]]

* ''Literature/TheEminenceInShadow'': ZigZagged with Cid. He does hide his true nature as a skilled fighter but most of his actions that help further the Shadow Garden's goals is just pure luck on his part.

* ''Literature/FamiliaChronicleEpisodeLyu'': In her "Grand Casino" mission, Syr Flover acts like a naive wife and is able to play, basically bankrupt, and completely destroy the richest men at her poker table... and they were working together!

* 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.

* In ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'', Melissa Mao reflects back to her initial encounters with Sousuke and Kurz: she was sent to scout the training camp they were in for candidates to recruit to Mithril. Both Sousuke and Kurz, mistrustful of the mysterious organization sponsoring their training, deliberately underperformed: Sousuke was content to maintain a level of careful mediocrity, but [[LovableSexManiac Kurz]] went the extra mile and staged an attempted sexual assault on Mao to make ''sure'' she'd strike him from her list. When a mission came in and most of the other members were captured, however, both of them were obliged to demonstrate the full level of their considerable skills.
** Gauron is {{lampshaded}} to have the habit of doing this to fool his potential prey...at least temporarily, before his psychotic, AxCrazy tendencies take over. As Kalinin described him in ''Kyokuhoku Kara no Koe'', "When you were fooled by his seemingly languid appearance, he would suddenly display his determined and violent nature."

* ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'':
** Kyon. Much more obvious in the light novels, where he often appears as a BookDumb student no better than a janitor. Granted, he cannot comprehend Koizumi's theories ([[ViewersAreGeniuses can you?]]) or Yuki when she's deducing and solving math problems. He doesn't even want to listen. However, he usually knows ''exactly'' what's going on, especially if it comes to figuring out other characters' hidden motives and feelings. Being the UnreliableNarrator he is, he may even fool the reader. Also made more clear through LittleProfessorDialog; he drops a suspicious number of references to concepts he claims to know nothing about.
** To quote the man himself, when he alone solves the fake murder (in the novels):
--->'''Kyon:''' And I may not look like it, but I do pay attention to things that matter. [...] Don't underestimate me.
** It's strongly implied (throughout the anime, at least) that he's just too ''[[BrilliantButLazy lazy]]'' to act smart.
** The whole SOS Brigade sort of counts here. Kyon suspects Koizumi of doing this; Koizumi suspects Mikuru of doing this. And no-one outside the brigade pays much attention to Yuki, just sitting in a corner reading.


* In ''Literature/{{Haganai}}'', there's the main character, Kodaka Hasegawa: a subversion of the CluelessChickMagnet. He pretends to be oblivious mainly to avoid any type of [[UnwantedHarem romantic confrontations]] with any of the girls in the club.

* In the ''Literature/InfiniteStratos'' series, there is some implication that [[CluelessChickMagnet Ichika]] is not quite as dense as he seems regarding the affections of the girls in his harem. Given that they're all [[ClingyJealousGirl Clingy Jealous Girls]] with violent tendencies and access to {{Powered Armor}}s classified as weapons of mass destruction, he's probably safer not noticing their feelings than acknowledging them and making a choice.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Kampfer}}'', [[spoiler:Kaede]] has been shown constantly as the InnocentBystander that always gets into [[DistressedDamsel trouble]] and likes [[GenderBender female-Natsuru]], but [[spoiler:she is actually in league with the Moderators and has been [[TheChessMaster manipulating almost everyone into doing her bidding.]]]]
** [[spoiler:Seems more like it's a split personality style (the anime at least).]]

* 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 belong.

* The main character of ''LightNovel/TheLegendOfTheLegendaryHeroes'', Reiner Lute, is shown as a lazy, failing student in the Roland Magical Academy near the beginning of the anime. [[spoiler:This lazy facade is in fact, merely a method that allows him to hide that he is in fact, the single most skilled Magician in all of Roland and the fact that he possesses the [[MagicalEye Alpha Stigma]], a power that allows him to copy any magic that he sees, and that, when he is put under severe emotional strain, pushes him into a [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Superpowered evil state]] in which he is easily able to slaughter fifty enemy Magic knights without even breaking a sweat]].

* The title character in ''Literature/TheLegendOfSunKnight'' is terrible at swordplay. He spends most of his time getting stabbed, spouting inane platitudes about the God of Light, and keeping up with his beauty regimen. [[spoiler:Luckily for him, he's also a naturally talented mage, assassin, and necromancer, who shows signs of being a capable Chessmaster when he's backed into a corner. He was trained to play the part of the angelic ditz because it's good politics and PR]].

* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'':
** Xellos tends to give an impression of amusing if annoying harmlessness as long as his eyes remain closed, hiding his true, sinister nature.
** Gourry himself would be the textbook example, especially in the original novels, where he's a DeadpanSnarker who likes to pass as a [[DumbBlonde Dumb Blond]] for fun and profit. In the anime -- [[TheDitz not so much]]. Though he still [[DumbassHasAPoint get]] some good moments.
** The inspector in Slayers Revolution seems to be approaching TooDumbToLive territory in the beginning, until it is revealed that it is all just an act to capture his real target.
** Lina could arguably be this since her general status is twelve steps ahead of everyone or not. The "or not" usually happening because she doesn't actually care about the situation involved. However, it's hard to tell which is the case since her general behavior doesn't change at all between being in left field or out-chessing everyone else.

* Nineteen-year-old Emperor Shi Ryuuki in ''Literature/TheStoryOfSaiunkoku'' is initially called "stupid emperor" by members of his court disgusted by his complete lack of interest in ruling his empire, and his habit of spending his days hiding from court officials and spending his nights sleeping with other men. When properly motivated, however, Ryuuki reveals that he has a ''much'' defter hand for political intrigue than anyone suspected, and that there's a very good reason that he is the only one of six brothers to survive the imperial court long enough to take the throne; he cultivated the "stupid emperor" image as a survival mechanism, and refuses to rule in the hopes that his exiled older brother Prince Seien will return to take his place.
** After Shuurei convinces him to get serious about governing Saiunkoku, Ryuuki ''keeps'' playing the idiot so that she'll stick around for a while longer to tutor him. As you can imagine, Shuurei is ''furious'' when she finds out.

* ''[[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.]]

* ''LightNovel/FamiliaChronicleEpisodeLyu'': In her "Grand Casino" mission, Syr Flover acts like a naive wife and is able to play, basically bankrupt, and completely destroy the richest men at her poker table... and they were working together!

* In the ''LightNovel/InfiniteStratos'' series, there is some implication that [[CluelessChickMagnet Ichika]] is not quite as dense as he seems regarding the affections of the girls in his harem. Given that they're all [[ClingyJealousGirl Clingy Jealous Girls]] with violent tendencies and access to {{Powered Armor}}s classified as weapons of mass destruction, he's probably safer not noticing their feelings than acknowledging them and making a choice.

* Czeslaw Meyer from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' does a bit of this, deliberately playing up an AdorablyPrecociousChild image, to mask or downplay the fact that he's at least [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld two hundred years old]] ("What? Did I just say something that wasn't very child-like? You must be thinking too much").

* A lot of characters in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' but the one guy who stands out of all people is [[spoiler:Ryugamine Mikado. He seems like your typical NaiveNewcomer, right up until he demonstrates that he's successfully ''weaponized Website/FourChan'']]. If even then, he still doesn't seem all that scary on a personal level, just wait until he starts [[spoiler:stabbing people with pens with a [[DissonantSerenity horrendous expression]] on his face.]]

* In ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'', Melissa Mao reflects back to her initial encounters with Sousuke and Kurz: she was sent to scout the training camp they were in for candidates to recruit to Mithril. Both Sousuke and Kurz, mistrustful of the mysterious organization sponsoring their training, deliberately underperformed: Sousuke was content to maintain a level of careful mediocrity, but [[LovableSexManiac Kurz]] went the extra mile and staged an attempted sexual assault on Mao to make ''sure'' she'd strike him from her list. When a mission came in and most of the other members were captured, however, both of them were obliged to demonstrate the full level of their considerable skills.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'':

* In ''{{LightNovel/Haganai}}'', there's the main character, Kodaka Hasegawa: a subversion of the [[CluelessChickMagnet Clueless Chick Magnet]]. He pretends to be oblivious mainly to avoid any type of [[UnwantedHarem romantic confrontations]] with any of the girls in the club.

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'':

* Nineteen-year-old Emperor Shi Ryuuki in ''LightNovel/TheStoryOfSaiunkoku'' is initially called "stupid emperor" by members of his court disgusted by his complete lack of interest in ruling his empire, and his habit of spending his days hiding from court officials and spending his nights sleeping with other men. When properly motivated, however, Ryuuki reveals that he has a ''much'' defter hand for political intrigue than anyone suspected, and that there's a very good reason that he is the only one of six brothers to survive the imperial court long enough to take the throne; he cultivated the "stupid emperor" image as a survival mechanism, and refuses to rule in the hopes that his exiled older brother Prince Seien will return to take his place.

* The absurdly skilled leads (both {{Badass Longcoat}}s) in ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' and ''LightNovel/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.]]

* Roberta of ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' is definitely this. No one would expect the maid that just burned supper to be [[spoiler: an ex-FARC assassin]].

** 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]]."

* ''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.

* 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.]]

* A lot of characters in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' but the one guy who stands out of all people is [[spoiler: Ryugamine Mikado. He seems like your typical NaiveNewcomer, right up until he demonstrates that he's successfully ''weaponized Website/FourChan'']]. If even then, he still doesn't seem all that scary on a personal level, just wait until he starts [[spoiler:stabbing people with pens with a [[DissonantSerenity horrendous expression]] on his face.]]

** 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]].
** 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]].]]

** 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]]]].

* 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.]]

* [[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...]]

* 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.]]

* In ''LightNovel/{{Kampfer}}'', [[spoiler: Kaede]] has been shown constantly as the InnocentBystander that always gets into [[DistressedDamsel trouble]] and likes [[GenderBender female-Natsuru]], but [[spoiler:she is actually in league with the Moderators and has been [[TheChessMaster manipulating almost everyone into doing her bidding.]]]]
** [[spoiler: Seems more like it's a split personality style (the anime at least).]]

** 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]]

* The main character of ''LightNovel/TheLegendOfTheLegendaryHeroes'', Reiner Lute, is shown as a lazy, failing student in the Roland Magical Academy near the beginning of the anime. [[spoiler: This lazy facade is in fact, merely a method that allows him to hide that he is in fact, the single most skilled Magician in all of Roland and the fact that he possesses the [[MagicalEye Alpha Stigma]], a power that allows him to copy any magic that he sees, and that, when he is put under severe emotional strain, pushes him into a [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Superpowered evil state]] in which he is easily able to slaughter fifty enemy Magic knights without even breaking a sweat]].

* The title character in ''Literature/TheLegendOfSunKnight'' is terrible at swordplay. He spends most of his time getting stabbed, spouting inane platitudes about the God of Light, and keeping up with his beauty regimen. [[spoiler: Luckily for him, he's also a naturally talented mage, assassin, and necromancer, who shows signs of being a capable Chessmaster when he's backed into a corner. He was trained to play the part of the angelic ditz because it's good politics and PR]].

* 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]].
** 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.]]

** 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'.]]

* Xerxes Break, in ''Manga/PandoraHearts'', may be an example of this. [[spoiler: All the crazy quirks are absent in the flashbacks, and seem to disappear when he gets serious.]]

** 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.]]

* 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.

** 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.]]

* 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.]]

** 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.]]

* 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.]]

** 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]].
---> [[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!]]

* ''LightNovel/TheEminenceInShadow'': ZigZagged with Cid. He does hide his true nature as a skilled fighter but most of his actions that help further the Shadow Garden's goals is just pure luck on his part.

** Lt. Colonel Hughes hides [[KnifeNut 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.

* In ''Manga/{{Touch}}'', 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.

** To a lesser extent, Lee's teammate, Neji. Though an ArrogantKungFuGuy (to the point where he's practically the TropeNamer) in his early appearances he hid the fact that he had managed to master many of his clan's most advanced techniques and even improve on them, just on basic theory alone.

* In ''LightNovel/Haganai'', there's the main character, Kodaka Hasegawa: a subversion of the [[CluelessChickMagnet Clueless Chick Magnet]]. He pretends to be oblivious mainly to avoid any type of [[UnwantedHarem romantic confrontations]] with any of the girls in the club.

* In ''Manga/{{Working}}'', 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.

* Nineteen-year-old Emperor Shi Ryuuki in ''LightNovel/SaiunkokuMonogatari'' is initially called "stupid emperor" by members of his court disgusted by his complete lack of interest in ruling his empire, and his habit of spending his days hiding from court officials and spending his nights sleeping with other men. When properly motivated, however, Ryuuki reveals that he has a ''much'' defter hand for political intrigue than anyone suspected, and that there's a very good reason that he is the only one of six brothers to survive the imperial court long enough to take the throne; he cultivated the "stupid emperor" image as a survival mechanism, and refuses to rule in the hopes that his exiled older brother Prince Seien will return to take his place.
** After Shuurei convinces him to get serious about governing Saiunkoku, Ryuuki ''keeps'' playing the idiot so that she'll stick around for a while longer to tutor him. As you can imagine, Shuurei is ''furious'' when she finds out.

** Joseph Joestar regularly clowns around and acts like a fool in battle. He does this to make the opponent underestimate him, while also coming up with a plan to defeat them.

** In ''Manga/VentoAureo'' 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]].

* ''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.

* Conan of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' 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.
** 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.
** Eisuke Hondou, while [[CuteClumsyGirl genuinely clumsy]], has exploited this weakness to obfuscate some of his scooping behaviour.