What's the smartest thing you seen an anime character do?

serious answer this time
NOIR features the two main characters trapped in a bar
and the lights went out
all they have is a popcorn machine
so they lay out popcorn around the floor
every time an enemy steps on a popcorn it makes a sound
so the heroes know where they are and can kill them

That's genius. Does the rest of the anime uphold that standard of "real, practical solutions" and just general awesomeness? I might want to watch it...

the beginning episodes have the most interesting tactics
but i cant say much nor praise the later episodes for that style of tactics
it is still a badass show

edited 15th Aug '11 5:43:51 AM by CommanderObvious

Kishin.
First, instead of battling Shinigami shortly after being resurrected he just got away.
Second, in a second battle, again instead of fighting an uncertain battle, he forced Shinigami into Taking the Bullet.
And finally, instead of screaming This Cannot Be!, he analysed Maka's sudden weapon superpower, figured out how this can be and made it stop.

All despite being certifiably insane.

edited 15th Aug '11 7:23:12 AM by Adannor

Yes, you do.

x4 I forgot about that scene from Noir. That's one of my favourite scenes. I don't think that should really be spoilered though, considering it's only from episode 3 and doesn't spoil anything about the main plot.

Death Note was actually one of the primary examples I had in mind when I mentioned "smart" characters not actually behaving in intelligent ways. I gave up on it because I was being forced to buy too many invalid deductions which only work because the authors were effectively feeding the characters the right answers, and ridiculously impractical plans that only worked because of plot contrivance, as signs of intelligence. Plus it was frustrating that I kept thinking of clever ways to use the Death Note that the characters never even thought to test.

Isumi can understand Nagi's manga

@thenameless: i do it for the purpose of building suspense

@Desertopa: Fair enough. Actually, there are a lot of bad examples, but I feel there are also quite a few moments where those characters really do act very intelligently.

Hey we did too when she got it animated... Izumi's part was where it got into Mind Screw territory.

As mentioned, Naruto has done a few clever tricks.

Kouji Surrendering. Likewise Heiger pulls off an Engineered Public Confession that actually felt believable.

I always love smart Magnificent Bastard / Guile Hero anime characters, but one example that caught me by surprise was in Eden Of The East. Akira goes to talk with the Big Bad right after talking to his girlfriend, and after talking with her he LEAVES HIS PHONE ON so his girlfriend can hear the plans of the Big Bad too.

Oddly, the Big Bad is Affably Evil and lets Akira leave when he doesn't want in on his Evil Plan, so nothing ever comes of it. I thought it would have been awesome if he killed or imprisoned Akira and the girlfriend spoiled everything because she heard the whole plan.

April from Darker Than Black defeating the super-speed contractor by making it rain. That was brilliant.

Of course, it didn't last.

@Desertopa: Personally, I've always interpreted the remarkably good way Light's and L's plans work by believing they really are that damn good, in that they have covered various possible eventualities and sealed loopholes to direct things exactly the way they want it to go. Whenever the question is raised of "oh, but what if character X did this instead and spoiled the plan?" the answer should be "Light/L knows they won't do this, because they're that damn good; or they have a contingency for it". It's a truly insane, inhuman level of intelligence, but hey, it's awesome when interpreted that way. YMMV on whether you want to stick with realistic levels of intelligence though.

Only one person has named a Liar Game character thus far, which is a shame, because Akiyama's work in 17-card Poker aside I'm torn between his victory in the Smuggling Game when he abuses the 'if your card breaks we will give you a replacement' rule to produce a counterfeit card by breaking one of the LGC's loudspeakers and using the electromagnet inside to erase one of the other team's cards and keeping the one that works, and, in the Musical Chairs Game, bribing unallied players with tokens that they received from opposing teams (but are currently worth nothing), to simply stand in a circle around the intended victor to prevent him from moving on to the final chair.

Both of which are strategies involving the abuse of a combination of esoteric game rules that interact in complex ways, and simple real facts that most anyone who gets caught up in the game is likely to forget about.

edited 20th Aug '11 9:05:40 AM by Noaqiyeum

Ah, right. His 17-card poker thing wasn't that great in comparison, IMO. I think his third round plan was his true masterpiece. That was absolutely beautiful. For the last bit of the fourth round though, having them surround Yokoya wasn't really interesting, it was established since the preliminary round that you were allowed to obstruct other players. The true genius in that plan was the realization that if you force one of the opposing teams' "expendable" players to win, all their tokens which they were giving out as worthless suddenly become valuable.

edited 20th Aug '11 11:06:43 PM by ashnazg

Yes, I definitely agree. :D

Ed actually taking a page from Greed's book in FMA takes the cake for me.

edited 22nd Aug '11 11:11:50 PM by KSPAM