History HypercompetentSidekick / AnimeAndManga

* In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', Cherrymon is this to Puppetmon. Unlike his highly incompetent superior, Cherrymon's manipulation tactics cause long-term damage to the heroes, with some of them even departing from the group until the final battle.

* Rishid/Odion in ''Manga/YuGiOh'' acts as TheDragon, but if one looks at his record, he seems to have a definite edge on his boss (and brother), [[BigBad Marik]]. Marik lost to Yugi multiple times through proxies during Battle City, despite regularly cheating or otherwise playing dirty (though granted, it ''is'' Yugi.) 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 beats Jounouchi around the block while playing completely fairly. However, Jounouchi realizes that Rishid was probably not Marik ''because'' he's playing fair, forcing Marik to have Rishid play a fake Winged Dragon of Ra to maintain their cover (since Marik was posing as a new friend to them). Unfortunately, the real Ra did not approve in the slighest and more-or-less struck the two duels ''with lightning'' with Jounouchi winning because he was the first to recover. (Conversely, [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Marik]] would have ''lost'' to Jounouchi if not for a technicality (namely, Jounouchi collapsing and thus, unable to duel, due to having endured an attack from Ra's Phoenix mode in the Game of Darkness (thus, feeling ''every bit of pain''). Also, all of Dark Marik's victories happened because of luck or his opponents doing stupid moves.)

* ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'' is a DoAnythingRobot cat from the future sent back in time to make sure his owner Nobita doesn't grow up a miserable failure. He's always having to bail Nobita out for abusing one of Doraemon's inventions from the future.

* 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).

* Washimi from ''Anime/AggressiveRetsuko'' is the secretary to the company's CEO, but she's clearly the one in charge. She puts him in his place for wasting company money on an ultimately useless model, and she stands up for Retsuko by tearing the CEO a new one for ignoring Ton's abuse of his underlings.

* Rishid in ''Manga/YuGiOh'' acts as TheDragon, but if one looks at his record, he seems to have a definite edge on his boss (and brother), [[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 beats Jounouchi around the block while playing completely fairly. However, Jounouchi realizes that Rishid was probably not Marik ''because'' he's playing fair, forcing Marik to have Rishid play a fake Winged Dragon of Ra to maintain their cover (since Marik was posing as a new friend to them). Unfortunately, Ra did not like that ''at all'' and unleashed its wrath, with Jounouchi winning because he was the first to recover. (Conversely, [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Marik]] would have ''lost'' to Jounouchi if not for a technicality (namely, Jounouchi collapsing due to having endured an attack from Ra's Phoenix mode in the Game of Darkness (thus, feeling ''every bit of pain''). Also, all of Dark Marik's victories happened because of luck or his opponents doing stupid moves.)

* Rishid in ''Manga/YuGiOh'' acts as TheDragon, but if one looks at his record, he seems to have a definite edge on his boss (and brother), [[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. However, Jounouchi realizes that Rishid was probably not Marik ''because'' he's playing fair, forcing Marik to have Rishid play a fake Winged Dragon of Ra to maintain their cover (since Marik was posing as a new friend to them). Unfortunately, Ra did not like that ''at all'' and unleashed its wrath, with Jounouchi winning because he was the first to recover. (Conversely, [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Marik]] would have ''lost'' to Jounouchi if not for a technicality (namely, Jounouchi collapsing due to having endured an attack from Ra's Phoenix mode in the Game of Darkness (thus, feeling ''every bit of pain''). Also, all of Dark Marik's victories happened because of luck or his opponents doing stupid moves.)

* Rishid in ''Manga/YuGiOh'' acts as TheDragon, but if one looks at his record, he seems to have a definite edge on his boss (and brother), [[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. However, Jounouchi realizes that Rishid was probably not Marik because of he's playing fair, forcing Marik to have Rishid play a fake Winged Dragon of Ra to maintain their cover (since Marik was posing as a new friend to them). Unfortunately, Ra did not like that ''at all'' and unleashed its wrath, with Jounouchi winning because he was the first to recover. (Conversely, [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Marik]] would have ''lost'' to Jounouchi if not for a technicality (namely, Jounouchi collapsing due to having endured an attack from Ra's Phoenix mode in the Shadow game (thus, feeling ''every bit of pain'').)

* Subverted in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes''. While Reinhard von Lohengramm is a genius in quite a lot of things, he recruits people who are better than him in certain areas (Kircheis, Reuenthal, and Mittermeyer in the military; Mariendorf and Oberstein in politics and governing) in order to be truly great.

* 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]].

%%* ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}''.

** [[QuirkyMinibossSquad The Shitennou]] in the first season of the anime adaptation were generally much more efficient than they were in the manga. Even the most inept of them, [[StarterVillain Jadeite]], still managed to come very close to destroying Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars in a final confrontation and even learned their identities in the process. The Dark Kingdom likely would have had much more of an advantage against the Sailor Senshi had Queen Beryl not insisted on being such a BadBoss to all of the Shitennou.

* Minako Aino/Sailor Venus to Manga/SailorMoon, with Minako being easily the most battle competent and experienced of the Inner Senshi-something all of the Sailor Sensi know well. In fact, some manga side stories imply the two sometimes go superheroing around Minato ward with the role of the sidekick taken by ''Sailor Moon''...

* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'':
** Yuuno being the teacher of Nanoha, he supported her in certain things she couldn't do. While Nanoha was capable of fighting by her own, she still needed his assistance.
** While Fate was already a competent fighter, she would be captured much earlier without Arf's help, who not only reminded her of her mission, but she also saved Fate a couple of times. In ''A's'', Fate almost defeated Vita with Arf's assistance, but she was interrupted by Signum and Zafira.
** With Hayate being UnskilledButStrong, she is unable to fight by her own without Reinforce Zwei. In fact, Reinforce Zwei, who is much weaker than her, is much more competent on the battlefield than Hayate in solo.
** Thoma is an unexperienced fighter and had still trouble to fight against other Eclipse Drivers even after training under Nanoha. His two sidekicks, his Reactor Plug Lily and his bodyguard Isis, on the other hand improved greatly after their training, and they handled the situation with the Grendel Family much better than Thoma did.
** Most Devices that aren't Storage Devices are intelligent enough to assist their wielders with a lot of efficiency, and if needed, they can even raise the moral of their wielders. A common characteristic of them is that they always want to improve themselves to not let their wielders down.

* ''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.]]

* 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.)

*** Zoro's foil Killer even more so: arranging all his captain Eustass Kid's black market deals and meetings and generally making sure his captain doesn't blow them due to his temper.

* 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 are clearly seen as hypercompetent.

** 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.]]

* [[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]].

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Kabuto is this to [[BigBad Orochimaru]]. Kabuto isn't as strong (or manipulative) as his boss, but he is much better at making plans, and his [[CombatMedic medical skills]] have greatly helped his master's unethical experiments. Orochimaru says he doesn't know what he would do without him.

* 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.

* [[{{Yandere}} Yuno]] from ''Manga/FutureDiary'' acts as a sort of sidekick to Yukiteru, and throughout the series, she does most of the killing and grunt work.

* 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.

* 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 ''she'' [[GenreSavvy is supposed to be the partner.]]

* [[{{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.