History HypercompetentSidekick / AnimeAndManga

* In ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'', one gets the impression that the Club wouldn't survive without Kyouya keeping an eye on Tamaki. He decided early on after they met that he would do everything in his vast intellect to make Tamaki seem as awesome as possible for Tamaki's sake, ''even at the cost of his own reputation.'' Every club member knows this and calls Kyouya the Shadow King. Tamaki even spends an entire event trying to get Kyouya to compete ''against'' him. This has a rather depressing explanation: As the youngest son, Kyouya is encouraged to do well but never deliberately outshine his siblings; being a HypercompetentSidekick was his only outlet. [[spoiler:Subverted in episode 26 of the Anime, when Kyoya's father claims it was all a BatmanGambit to get Kyouya to excel at something he cared about, though given the circumstances of his confession (Kyouya engineered a hostile takeover of his father's company ''just to prove he could'') he may just be trying to save face.]]

* Abelia to the mad King Hamdo in ''Anime/NowAndThenHereAndThere''.

* Rob Lucci from ''Manga/OnePiece''. Not only is he far, far, far (etc.) stronger than Spandam, but by being a GeneralFailure, Spandam shouldn't be a boss at all. It seems, that Lucci doesn't try to take over the leading chair only because unquestioning loyalty to his superiors was hammered into him from childhood.
** When people see Zoro's [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower absurd strength]], they often assume that he's this to the usually much less serious [[IdiotHero Luffy]]. Of course, once Luffy [[LetsGetDangerous shows what he can do]], that theory is quickly put to rest.
** Nami however defiantly fits this, often having to [[DopeSlap hit]] some sense into her captain.
** Killer. His captain, Kid, is so AxCrazy that Killer literally does everything, [[spoiler:including organizing black market visits and meeting between rival pirates for possible alliances, along with acting as mediator and preventing said pirates from pushing one of Kid's many, many berserk buttons.]]

* ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'':
** While Roy Mustang is obviously very competent in his own right, his general laziness when it comes to such things as paperwork causes them to fall to his incredibly efficient and loyal lieutenant, Riza Hawkeye. Roy's reputation for laziness might have even reached the level of MemeticMutation, as it is touched on comparatively infrequently, compared to some of the other {{Running Gag}}s in the series, such as Ed's shortness and Al's love for kitties.[[spoiler: Of course, this is just what Roy wants people to think to hide his real goals.]]
** Alphonse. Even though his brother doesn't treat him as a sidekick, he's seen this way by all the other characters. He has less credentials, of course, and needs a transmutation circle to perform alchemy (until his memories of his trip through the Gate of Truth are restored). But he is a very competent alchemist on his own and a greater fighter than his brother. He even TookALevelInBadass in Brotherhood and learned a foreign form of remote transmutation.
* This is effectively what ''Manga/GoldenBoy'''s Kintaro Oe does, although pinning him down exactly is a bit tricky.

* Saru of ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid'' becomes one of these when he starts working for Mikawa. Of course, he's still not exactly competent, but compared to Mikawa himself, Saru gets a lot done.
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Nanao Ise is stuck with the job of running the 8th Division. Her captain can run the division, but he loves to drink, sleep, and skirt-chase too much. Of course, Kyoraku isn't incompetent, just [[BrilliantButLazy lazy]]. We see how he is in battle. Subverted in the case of Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, who behave exactly like this, with Hitsugaya often winding up doing all the things Matsumoto should be doing - except it's ''Hitsugaya'' who's the boss, whilst Matsumoto's the lazy subordinate. [[spoiler: Played straight however between Hitsugaya and his former captain, Isshin Shiba.]]
* Kondou Isao is a figurehead of Shinsengumi in ''Manga/{{Gintama}}''. His number two, Hijikata, does all the managerial work and makes most decisions in the organization. Combat wise, his number three, Okita, has the highest on screen kill count than the rest of the organization combined. Understandably, enemies of Shinsengumi generally target Hijikata and or Okita for assassination, rather than Kondou.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny'''s [[ZenSurvivor Neo Roanoke]] is this to Blue Cosmos leader, [[DiabolicalMastermind Lord Djibril]]. While Djibril is a GeneralFailure (as well as the living embodiment of NukeEm, MoreDakka, and WeHaveReserves) Neo is a capable tactician who [[KnowWhenToFoldEm Knows When To Fold Em]]. Interestingly he's ''not'' a DragonInChief. Djibril may be StupidEvil, but he's also dangerously psychotic, and is definitely the greater of the two evils.
* In ''Manga/DailyLivesOfHighSchoolBoys'', Sanada North's StudentCouncilPresident is often plainly ignored in favour of his three council members. While not much is known about the President, the other three is clearly seen as hypercompetent.
* ''Manga/DeathNote'' has Ryuk. Given his motivations are to stir up some fun, and given who he gets to help him...
* ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}''.
* Following on from ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'', there's an entire subgenre of this in kiddy anime. More or less normal kid, paranormal sidekick/pet. ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' crosses this with {{Mon}}s by having Pikachu as Satoshi/Ash's fulltime companion.
* Canti from ''Anime/{{FLCL}}''. Everyone thinks that the kid who goes inside the robot is the hero, but the kid doesn't remember anything about what happened (even if he takes credit for it). The Robot also does chores and rescues girls.
* Sebastian, Ciel's butler in ''Manga/BlackButler'', does most of the dirty work for Ciel, and, as he puts it, "is one hell of a butler." Of course, he ''is'' a demon with awesome supernatural powers that serves Ciel because of a contract...
* Neuro from ''Manga/MajinTanteiNougamiNeuro'' decides to "work for" protagonist Yako in her detective agency (that he forced her to set up). At least on the outside. In actuality, he's the one solving all the mysteries and is actually a sadistic Daemon from another world.
* Reborn from ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' acts as a "tutor" and sidekick to Tsuna. In much of the beginning of the series, most of Tsuna's problems are solved by Reborn. In fact, two of Tsuna's guardians, Hibari and Mukuro, are much more capable than Tsuna (though of course, it's later suggested that he surpasses them in the future).
* [[{{Yandere}} Yuno]] from ''Manga/MiraiNikki'' acts as a sort of sidekick to Yukiteru, and throughout the series, she does most of the killing and grunt work.
* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', Yuki Nagato has almost [[PhysicalGod godlike powers]], but acts more or less as Kyon's sidekick. She solves most of the problems created by [[RealityWarper Haruhi]] and generally acts as the Brigades' personal DeusExMachina. The unofficial leader of the team claims to be the only one of them without any special powers (According to Itsuki, Kyon is completely normal, and his Agency have done extensive background checks that prove it), but there is something unusual about Kyon; at the least it's being "god's" favourite.
* Youzen from ''Manga/SoulHunter'' is, as almost everybody else, considerably stronger than the main character, Taikoubou. His PowerCopying makes him so versatile that he once dedicated a whole [[BadassBoast pre-asskicking speech]] to [[LampshadeHanging explain just how broken he was]]. However, he still plays [[TheLancer second banana]] to Taikoubou because the latter is just [[TheChessmaster so much smarter]].
* Subverted every which way in ''Manga/KamenNoMaidGuy''. Main character Naeka is as useless as the stereotype and her maid/bodyguard Kogarashi ''is'' powerful enough to solve any problem she might have, but the Maid Guy's bizarre methods have everyone else trying to stop him from actually ''doing'' anything.
* ''Manga/OmamoriHimari'' has Yuuto, an heir to an demon-slayer family who's not good for much of anything. Himari shows up to protect him until he learns what he's doing, but thirty chapters in so far it looks like his only talent is building demon harems.
* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' brings to the table Kamina, [[SupportingLeader the leader of the group]], to which the main character Simon is a sidekick. While Kamina is the more confident and charismatic of the two, Simon is the one who bails him out repeatedly, and definitely the more intelligent of the pair. Kamina is good enough to {{lampshade|Hanging}} this by refusing to take credit for Simon's victories and repeatedly telling him what great things he's destined for. [[spoiler:Since Simon becomes leader of Team Gurren after Kamina's death and saves first the planet, then the universe, Kamina was bang on the money.]]
* Garo in ''Manga/SkullMan''.
* In the anime ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', in the angel's fall arc, Touma, who usually has to solve everything because everyone around him is incompetent, is toyed with and ultimately forced to watch while his friend, Tsuchimikado, solves the problem.
* Sun has two in ''Literature/TheLegendOfSunKnight''. The first is Storm, who holds a similar rank, but must still take orders from Sun. Generally, work that Sun doesn't get done will be pushed off onto him, and as the one everyone goes to for gossip, Sun uses him to gather information. The other is Adair, one of the most loyal knights in Sun's squadron. He does roughly 3/5 of Sun's work on a regular basis and can actually ''interpret'' the intent behind Sun's praise laden speech (recognizing a lecture on how the God of Light is merciful to secretly be an order to put a bag over someone's head before beating them up.) One several occasions it's mentioned that the squadron under Sun can actually run just fine in his absence, since Adair handles so many of his duties anyway.

* [[spoiler: The Daikenja]] in ''LightNovel/KyouKaraMaou'' without whom [[spoiler: Shinou]] would have been defeated by the enemy he was fighting against. This is explicitly stated. While [[spoiler: Shinou]] is more powerful in terms of both magic and physical strength it was [[spoiler: Daikenja's]] strategies and nearly preternatural foresight that allowed their army to secure a win over [[spoiler: the Sovereign]].

* While ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'':

** Alphonse. Even though his brother doesn't treat him as a sidekick, he's seem this way by all the other characters. He has less credentials, of course, and need a transmutation circle to perform alchemy. But he is a very competent alchemist on his own and a greater fighter than his brother. He even TookALevelInBadass in Brotherhood and learned a foreign form of remote transmutation.

* Saru of ''Manga/SetoNoHanayome'' becomes one of these when he starts working for Mikawa. Of course, he's still not exactly competent, but compared to Mikawa himself, Saru gets a lot done.

** Alphonse. Even his brother doesn't treating him as a sidekick, he's seem this way by all the other characters. He has less credentials, of course, and need a transmutation circle to perform alchemy. But he is a very competent alchemist on his own and a greater fighter than his brother. In Brotherhood he even manage to TookALevelInBadass and learn a foreign form of remote transmutation.

* Youzen from ''Manga/HoushinEngi'' is, as almost everybody else, considerably stronger than the main character, Taikoubou. His PowerCopying makes him so versatile that he once dedicated a whole [[BadassBoast pre-asskicking speech]] to [[LampshadeHanging explain just how broken he was]]. However, he still plays [[TheLancer second banana]] to Taikoubou because the latter is just [[TheChessmaster so much smarter]].

* [[spoiler: The Daikenja]] in 'LightNovel/KyouKaraMaou' without whom [[spoiler: Shinou]] would have been defeated by the enemy he was fighting against. This is explicitly stated. While [[spoiler: Shinou]] is more powerful in terms of both magic and physical strength it was [[spoiler: Daikenja's]] strategies and nearly preternatural foresight that allowed their army to secure a win over [[spoiler: the Sovereign]].

* [[spoiler: The BadassBookworm Daikenja]] in "LightNovel/KyouKaraMaou" without whom [[spoiler: Shinou]] would have been defeated by [[spoiler: the Sovereign]]. This is explicitly stated. While [[spoiler: Shinou]] is more powerful in terms of both magic and physical strength it was [[spoiler: Daikenja's]] strategies and nearly preternatural foresight that allowed their army to secure a win over [[spoiler: the Sovereign]].

* While ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'''s Roy Mustang is obviously very competent in his own right, his general laziness when it comes to such things as paperwork causes them to fall to his incredibly efficient and loyal lieutenant, Riza Hawkeye. Roy's reputation for laziness might have even reached the level of MemeticMutation, as it is touched on comparatively infrequently, compared to some of the other {{Running Gag}}s in the series, such as Ed's shortness and Al's love for kitties.[[spoiler: Of course, this is just what Roy wants people to think to hide his real goals.]]
** This may be the case with Alphonse. Even his brother doesn't treating him as a sidekick, he's seem this way by all the other characters. He has less credentials, of course, and need a transmutation circle to perform alchemy. But he is a very competent alchemist on his own and a greater fighter than his brother. In Brotherhood he even manage to TookALevelInBadass and learn a foreign form of remote transmutation.

* In ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'', one gets the impression that the Club wouldn't survive without Kyouya keeping an eye on Tamaki. He decided early on after they met that he would do everything in his vast intellect to make Tamaki seem as awesome as possible for Tamaki's sake, ''even at the cost of his own reputation.'' Every club member knows this and calls Kyouya the Shadow King. Tamaki even spends an entire event trying to get Kyouya to compete ''against'' him.
** This has a rather depressing explanation. As the youngest son, Kyouya is encouraged to do well but never deliberately outshine his siblings; being a HypercompetentSidekick was his only outlet. [[spoiler:Subverted in episode 26 of the Anime, when Kyoya's father claims it was all a BatmanGambit to get Kyouya to excel at something he cared about, though given the circumstances of his confession (Kyouya engineered a hostile takeover of his father's company ''just to prove he could'') he may just be trying to save face.]]

** This has a rather depressing explanation. As the youngest son, Kyouya is encouraged to do well but never deliberately outshine his siblings; being a HypercompetentSidekick was his only outlet. [[spoiler:Subverted in episode 26 of the Anime, when Kyoya's father claims it was all a BatmanGambit to get Kyouya to excel at something he cared about, though given the circumstances of his confession (Kyouya engineered a hostile takeover of his father's company ''just to prove alhe could'') he may just be trying to save face.]]

* Rishid in ''Manga/YuGiOh'' acts as TheDragon, but if one looks at his record, he seems to have a definite edge on his boss, [[BigBad Marik]]. Marik lost to Yugi multiple times through proxies during Battle City, despite regularly cheating or otherwise playing dirty. Rishid, meanwhile, won ''twelve'' Locater Cards over the course of the tournament (enough for both his boss and himself to qualify), and the only time we see him Duel, he pretty much beats Jounouchi around the block while playing completely fairly. He would have won if Marik hadn't made him Summon Ra, which he couldn't handle. (Conversely, [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Marik would have ''lost'' to Jounouchi if not for a technicality.)

** [[GeniusBruiser Kakuzu]] is something of this to [[LeeroyJenkins Hidan]]. They're partners and thus of equal standing, but while Kakuzu is a calculating, forward-thinking, highly competent tactician who tries to accomplish goals in the most pragmatic way possible, Hidan is a psychopathic, blood-crazed moron who relies on his immortality to compensate for his complete disregard for caution and inability to even acknowledge his limits, but he's not invincible and thus very easy to incapacitate enough to take him out of the fight. Without Kakuzu there to think for him and rescuing him from his bad decisions, he would have been taken out a long, long time ago.

** This has a rather depressing explanation. As the youngest son, Kyouya is encouraged to do well but never deliberately outshine his siblings; being a HypercompetentSidekick was his only outlet. [[spoiler:Subverted in episode 26 of the Anime, when Kyoya's father claims it was all a BatmanGambit to get Kyouya to excel at something he cared about, though given the circumstances of his confession (Kyouya engineered a hostile takeover of his father's company ''just to prove he could'') he may just be trying to save face.]]

* Ja'far from ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'' is portrayed as this towards Sinbad. To be fair, Sinbad [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething actually]] [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass is]] [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority extremely]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity competent]], just that his antics could get a little... [[TheAlcoholic frustrating]].

* [[Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic Ja'far]] is portrayed as this towards Sinbad. To be fair, Sinbad [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething actually]] [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass is]] [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority extremely]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity competent]], just that his antics could get a little... [[TheAlcoholic frustrating]].

** This has a rather depressing explanation. As the youngest son, Kyouya is encouraged to do well but never deliberately outshine his siblings; being a HypercompetentSidekick was his only outlet.
*** [[spoiler:Subverted in episode 26 of the Anime, when Kyoya's father claims it was all a BatmanGambit to get Kyouya to excel at something he cared about, though given the circumstances of his confession (Kyouya engineered a hostile takeover of his father's company ''just to prove he could'') he may just be trying to save face.]]
**** Played straight in the manga, though.

*** When you get down to it, ''all'' of the Straw Hats are this to Luffy. Let's face it, if it's not eating meat/fighting/being a good friend, Luffy sucks at it.

** It's hard to imagine Tsunade surviving without Shizune.
*** Interestingly enough, Tsunade and Shizune is played with. Shizune does keep Tsunade on track with official hokage duties, but, Tsunade seems to be able to do this by herself, as seen when she sneaks off to study Rock Lee's case so she can improve the chances of the surgery being successful. However, Shizune isn't even close to competent in battle or politics as Tsunade is, who constantly makes the great choices because of her [[GenreSavvy undying faith in Naruto]]. In short, Shizune is usually competent with paperwork stuff and documents. This is something that [[BrilliantButLazy Tsunade]] is never on the ball with.

** Of course, when you can be defeated by a lightly drizzling ''rain'', it's not too hard to have a HypercompetentSidekick by comparison.
*** That was proven to be not-so-true during the fight with Lust.
* This trope ''Is'' ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' all by itself.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Nanao Ise is stuck with the job of running the 8th Division. Her captain can run the division, but he loves to drink, sleep, and skirt-chase too much. Of course, Kyoraku isn't incompetent, just [[BrilliantButLazy lazy]]. We see how he is in battle.
** Subverted in the case of Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, who behave exactly like this, with Hitsugaya often winding up doing all the things Matsumoto should be doing - except it's ''Hitsugaya'' who's the boss, whilst Matsumoto's the lazy subordinate. [[spoiler: Played straight however between Hitsugaya and his former captain, Isshin Shiba.]]

* Reborn from ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' acts as a "tutor" and sidekick to Tsuna. In much of the beginning of the series, most of Tsuna's problems are solved by Reborn (of course, most of the problems were ''started'' by Reborn in the first place, but anyways...). In fact, two of Tsuna's guardians, Hibari and Mukuro, are much more capable than Tsuna (though of course, it's later suggested that he surpasses them in the future).

* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', Yuki Nagato has almost [[PhysicalGod godlike powers]], but acts more or less as Kyon's sidekick. She solves most of the problems created by [[RealityWarper Haruhi]] and generally acts as the Brigades' personal DeusExMachina.
** The unofficial leader of the team claims to be the only one of them without any special powers (According to Itsuki, Kyon is completely normal, and his Agency have done extensive background checks that prove it), but there is something unusual about Kyon; at the least it's being "god's" favourite.

** He ''is'' able to "enchant" swords, knifes and even ordinary sticks to turn them into rather powerful magical weapons, so he's not entirely powerless. However, he seemingly needs mortal danger to do so, and several other characters keep him from fighting by killing everyone who might even try to hurt him.
* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' brings to the table Kamina, [[SupportingLeader the leader of the group]], to which the main character Simon is a sidekick. While Kamina is the more confident and charismatic of the two, Simon is the one who bails him out repeatedly, and definitely the more intelligent of the pair.
** Kamina is good enough to {{lampshade|Hanging}} this by refusing to take credit for Simon's victories and repeatedly telling him what great things he's destined for. [[spoiler:Since Simon becomes leader of Team Gurren after Kamina's death and saves first the planet, then the universe, Kamina was bang on the money.]]
* Arguably, Garo in ''Manga/SkullMan''.

* In ''Manga/TheWorldGodOnlyKnows'', [[GenreSavvy Keima]] is this to [[CuteMonsterGirl Elsie]]. He's so good at capturing runaway spirits that he actually managed to win an award for Elsie [[spoiler: which gets taken away because the higher-ups couldn't reconcile her outstanding record with the klutz and not-devil-like Elsie at all.]] This trope is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] during the Shiori arc, wherein he states that [[HypercompetentSidekick partners are nowadays supposed to be intelligent and competent,]] and Elsie remarks that Keima is the perfect partner by his own definition. He retorts by saying ''[[TheDitz she]]'' [[GenreSavvy is supposed to be the partner.]]

*** When you get down to it, ''all'' of the Straw Harts are this to Luffy. Let's face it, if it's not eating meat/fighting/being a good friend, Luffy sucks at it.

* [[Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic Ja'far]] is portrayed as this towards Sinbad. To be fair, Sinbad [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething actually]] [[CrouchingMorongHiddenBadass is]] [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority extremely]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity competent]], just that his antics could get a little... [[TheAlcoholic frustrating]].

*** When you get down to it, ''all'' of the Straw Harts are this to Luffy. Let's face it, if it's not eating meat/fighting/being a good friend, Luffy sucks at it.

** Subverted in the case of Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, who behave exactly like this, with Hitsugaya often winding up doing all the things Matsumoto should be doing - except it's ''Hitsugaya'' who's the boss, whilst Matsumoto's the lazy subordinate.

* While ''FullMetalAlchemist'''s Roy Mustang is obviously very competent in his own right, his general laziness when it comes to such things as paperwork causes them to fall to his incredibly efficient and loyal lieutenant, Riza Hawkeye. Roy's reputation for laziness might have even reached the level of MemeticMutation, as it is touched on comparatively infrequently, compared to some of the other {{Running Gag}}s in the series, such as Ed's shortness and Al's love for kitties.[[spoiler: Of course, this is just what Roy wants people to think to hide his real goals.]]

* [[{{Yandere}} Yuno]] from ''Manga/MiraiNikki'' acts as a sort of sidekick to Yukiteru, and so far in the series, she's been doing most of the killing and grunt work.

* In the anime ''LightNovel/ToAruMajutsuNoIndex'', in the angel's fall arc, Touma, who usually has to solve everything because everyone around him is incompetent, is toyed with and ultimately forced to watch while his friend, Tsuchimikado, solves the problem.