History Main / OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent

* Saito Hiraga of ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'' was one of these until he was summoned by [[{{Tsundere}} Louise]] to [[FantasyCounterpartCulture her world]].

* Ayase Yuuto, the male protagonist of ''LightNovel/HarukaNogizakasSecret'', found out the [[{{Ojou}} female protagonist's]] [[ClosetOtaku secret]] and the two of them became friends because of this since he didn't look down on her for this. Her fans can't understand what she sees in him.

* Ayumu from ''LightNovel/IsThisAZombie'' is a student killed by a SerialKiller before the start of the series and revived as a zombie.

* Mahiro Yasaka from ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'' is one of these who just happens to be in a LoveDodecahedron, and lives with, a group of [[LovecraftLite literal]] [[EldritchAbomination Lovecraftian]] [[MoeAnthropomorphism horrors]], [[UnfazedEveryman without somehow going permanently insane]]. It's revealed early on that his mother is a part-time Evil God Slayer, and he inherited her skill with [[ForkFencing forks]]. [[spoiler:The novels take it a step further, revealing that Mahiro can perceive and resist distortions in space-time, an extremely rare ability.]]

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':

* Mikado, Masaomi, and Anri in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. [[spoiler: And yes, they're all hiding some pretty serious secrets or abilities—even from each other.]]

* Kaname Chidori in ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic''. And Sōsuke, being a militaristic nut. At least that's what she thought until it turned out that he's actually a mercenary working for an anti-terrorist organisation. [[HilarityEnsues His age made him a perfect candidate for being a bodyguard, even though he had no idea how an ordinary student behaves at all]].

* Shibuya Yuuri, in the manga ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'' is an average high schooler, while he's suddenly [[spoiler:summoned through a toilet seat to another world]] where he [[spoiler:is the ruler of the whole thing.]] Again, average.

** Negi thinks early on that he'll need to hide his being a [[WizardsAndWitches Magister Magi]] from his class of ordinary middle school students... who just so happen to include an AntiMagic-capable princess ([[spoiler:Asuna]]), two ''Magistra Magi'' (Evangeline, [[spoiler:Chao]]), a MagicKnight [[spoiler:[[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Bird Tribe]]]] (Setsuna), [[GiveHimANormalLife two children]] of ''Magi'' ([[spoiler:Konoka and Yuna]]), a ''Ministra Magi'' ([[spoiler:Misora]]), a [[ColdSniper mercenary]], former ''Ministra Magi'', [[spoiler:[[OurDemonsAreDifferent and half-demon]]]] (Mana), [[spoiler:[[OurDemonsAreDifferent a full demon]]]] (Zazie), a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] (Evangeline again), a [[TimeTravel time traveler]] ([[spoiler:Chao again]]), a ghost (Sayo), a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot magic puppet/robot]] (Chachamaru), and a {{Ninja}} (Kaede); meaning that roughly a third his 31 students are [[EverybodyKnewAlready already in on his secret or have one of their own]]. One can just imagine LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya kicking herself for not enrolling in Mahora Academy.

* ''LightNovel/ReZero'''s protagonist, Subaru, is an ordinary student TrappedInAnotherWorld. One of the main {{Deconstruction}}s of the series is actually to show how an ordinary person with no special abilities will struggle in a fantasy setting rather than thrive, and how they will cope with this realization.

* Sakai Yuuji of ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana''. All extraordinary traits he has he owe to an [[{{MacGuffin}} artifact]] he received out of luck. Unusually, we never learn how long he's had it. [[spoiler:Also unusually, he winds up fusing with the BigBad Snake of the Festival and becomes Shana’s opponent (and ''[[TheBadGuyWins wins]]'', but [[WellIntentionedExtremist it’s not that horrible]]).]]

* A few protagonists are this in the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series. Most notable is Touya Shun of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment'' who was an Ordinary High School student (who went to school with the protagonists of ''Anime/{{Mazinkaiser}}'' and ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'') until a HumongousMecha crashed into his school.

* Notable among these incarnations is Kazuki Yotsuga from ''Anime/DualParallelTroubleAdventure'', who is also the HumongousMecha Zinv.

* Tohno Shiki in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', whose attitude to [[SuperpowerLottery mystic eyes that let him kill anything]] is to politely thank the person who gives him a PowerNullifier for them so he can go back to his normal life - and, for several years, succeeding. [[GeniusDitz Arcueid]] [[Quotes/OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent even comments on it]] even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades it.]] The best thing about Arcueid: she's being completely earnest without a trace of irony.

* Soma Cruz from ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow]]''. The game specifically says he is a high school student on a foreign exchange trip to Japan. He turns out to be [[spoiler:the reincarnation of Dracula]].

* Tsutomu Senkawa is this until [[FairCop Birdy]] [[SpacePolice Cephon]] [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Altirra/Altera]] accidentally fatally injures him, [[GenderBender starting]] [[TwoBeingsOneBody off]] [[SharingABody the]] [[FusionDance premise]] [[TheyFightCrime of]] ''Manga/BirdyTheMighty''.

* Hitohito Tadano from ''Manga/KomiCantCommunicate'' is so average that in a school full of weirdos, his weirdness is being smack dab in the middle of the bell curve in basically everything, even matching the national average in every fitness exam category. He makes a point of wanting to be normal and not draw attention to himself due to shame over his {{Chuunibyo}} phase in middle school, and his name is even a pun on his averageness, translating roughly to "just an average guy". This goal is quickly torpedoed when he ends up sitting next to and later befriending Komi Shouko, the prettiest, most popular girl in school.

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* ''Fanfic/SuperwomenOfEvaLegaciesTrueBlue'': Well, junior high school student. Hikari is one of the few teenaged superwomen in the series to actually serve as an example of this trope, since most of the others were already mecha pilots, part Angel, child soldiers, child prodigies, or some combination thereof before ever getting super powers.

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* Natsuki in the manga ''Manga/HoukagoXPonytail'' seems pretty normal, but she's a hardcore {{Shoujo}}-manga {{otaku}}, and got black belt in both karate and taekwondo.

* Jaime Reyes, the current ComicBook/BlueBeetle in Franchise/TheDCU. One day he's just hanging out with his friends, the next he gets bonded to an alien symbiote, helps Franchise/{{Batman}} save infinite universes, and goes missing for a year, yet he ''still'' manages to come off as more of a normal kid than 90% of other teenage superheroes in comics.

* Akira from ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'' ''is'' a little out of the norm, being a prized underground fighter for the Yakuza on top of a high school student, but he considers himself and his life to be average and boring until he's marked by a supernatural spirit. On top of that, he discovers at the end of the game [[spoiler:that he's the son of the spiritualist that was keeping the BigBad at bay for years.]]

[[quoteright:300:[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/OrdinaryStudent_8672.jpg]]]]

* Kyon from ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' is ''certified'' as ordinary by Itsuki. If it weren't for Haruhi's liking him, he wouldn't be worth looking at twice. [[WildMassGuessing Some fans have different theories]], and there is some support for them in the novels.

** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': The Ultimate Luckster, [[Characters/DanganronpaMakotoNaegi Makoto Naegi]], considered himself one, since he was picked to go to elite academy Hope's Peak by winning a lottery. His only outstanding trait is that [[ThePollyanna he tends to be more optimistic than others]]. [[spoiler:Not so ordinary anymore when [[HopeBringer that same optimism]] helps defeat the BigBad [[IHaveManyNames Monokuma/the Mastermind/Junko Enoshima/the True Ultimate Despair]].]]
** ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'': Hajime Hinata and Nagito Komaeda, [[spoiler:at least initially. Despite Komaeda's title being the same as Naegi's and the fact that he got into Hope's Peak under the ''exact'' same circumstances (lottery), he's stated to have ''legitimate, extreme fluctuations between good luck and bad luck'' on top of being a rare [[BitchInSheepsClothing villainous]] example, having [[AxCrazy a personality]] [[KnightTemplar that is anything]] [[BlueAndOrangeMorality but ordinary]]. Hinata, however, is revealed to have ''no'' outstanding talent, and is ''actually'' an Ordinary High School Student from one of the reserve groups. At least, before his [[UltimateLifeForm transformation]] that he underwent out of hatred for being ordinary]].

Look for [[HollywoodDressCode the kid in the fully open button shirt over a T-shirt, jeans and Converse sneakers]]. If Japanese, an open blazer with slacks or a sailor fuku/gakuran will do.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':

* For a while [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake]] was this being just a regular, although brilliant, kid who through diligent detective work uncovered the secret identity of the first Robin and through him Batman and the second Robin. Even after taking up the mantle and becoming the third Robin he still fit the mold for a good portion of his career; his change didn't come until ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' led to his father's death.

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' attempted this during its DorkAge by shoving Sonic, Bunnie and Rotor into a high school. It didn't last at all.

* Pete, Linda and Bronson in ''Series/RoundTheTwist'' turn out to be {{Weirdness Magnet}}s--a lot of the supernatural shenanigans they attract happen at their local school.

* ''Film/WendyWuHomecomingWarrior''

* Kanzaki Kei from ''[[http://www.revenant-braves.schala.net Circumstances of the Revenant Braves]]'', more so than any other character.

* Uma from ''Webcomic/EverydayHeroes''. To everyone else, she's perfectly [[http://eheroes.smackjeeves.com/comics/1923195/for-a-given-value-of-normal/ normal]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': Both Marinette and Adrien were these until they were chosen to become Miraculous guardians Ladybug and Cat Noir.

* The basic premise of every Creator/DisneyChannel show ever made. "S/he's a just a normal high-schooler... except that s/he's really [[[Series/ThatsSoRaven a psychic]], [[Series/HannahMontana a teen pop star]], [[Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace a wizard]], an alien, [[Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody twins living in a hotel]], a man/woman, etc]!"
** ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'' is a notable aversion: The protagonist really is just a normal high-schooler (until she goes to college anyway).
** ''Film/WendyWuHomecomingWarrior''

* If you think about it, the eponymous ''Film/MysteryTeam'' isn't that much different from a group of outcasts with an unusual hobby at any high school.

%%* Terry [=McGinnis=] in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''.

** Like Touma, Kakeru Kamisato is an ordinary high school student [[spoiler: who possesses World Rejecter and an entire UnwantedHarem of girls. Despite this, Kamisato continues to ''insist'' he's the kind of normal high school boy that can be found anywhere, accrediting all his achievements to World Rejecter.]] [[spoiler: But in a subversion, prior to receiving World Rejecter, he really ''was'' just an [[{{Muggle}} ordinary student]].]]

* A good quarter of the cast in ''Anime/ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld'' (the ordinary Earthlings who develop extraordinary abilities). Well, Makoto Mizuhara and Nanami Jinnai were ordinary high school studnets, and Mr. Fujisawa an ordinary high school teahcer. Katsuhiko Jinnai, on the other hand, was hardly "normal" when he was a high school student, given his [[ObviouslyEvil tendency to start ranting upon any slight to him or breaking out into crazed, maniacal laughter.]]

** Ordinary or not, he has leashes on two of the most powerful beings in the area who can [[spoiler:destroy the universe at will, one with merely a subconscious whim]]--or, rather, [[spoiler:holds the keys to the molly guard over the nuke button, as it were]]. [[spoiler:And the third girl trusts him to keep her secret from herself]].
* Ayase Yuuto, the male protagonist of ''LightNovel/HarukaNogizakasSecret'', found out the [[TheOjou female protagonist's]] [[ClosetOtaku secret]] and the two of them became friends because of this since he didn't look down on her for this. Her fans can't understand what she sees in him.

* Kagome Higurashi in ''Manga/InuYasha''. In fact, this trend was specifically mentioned in the Anime. "It's been a while now since this ''every day average school girl'' has been crossing back and forth between the warring states era and modern times!" Unlike many anime where this is eventually eliminated, Kagome retains most of her School Girl-ness, to the point of always wearing her school fuku in the warring states period of Japan. Like ''Franchise/SailorMoon'''s Usagi, her gifts are related to a jewel or crystal, she's the reincanation of the powerful miko Kikyou, keeper of the Shikon Jewel, and her greatest strengths personality-wise are her kindness, love for others, and ability to make friends. This can bite her in the butt with such characters as Kouga the wolf prince who just doesn't take the hint, and Hojo, who like-wise can't take a hint.

* As with most MagicalGirl series, the main characters of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' fall into this category (mostly in the Ordinary Middle School Student variant) before gaining supernatural powers. The WeaselMascot, Kyubey, even mentions that it's strange [[spoiler:how much karmic potential the TitleCharacter seems to have, since girls who fall into this category really shouldn't be that significant]]. As with most typical genre tropes, [[spoiler:the show brutally [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructs]] this. It turns out that ordinary teenagers aren't the greatest fighters and actually tend to die horribly and/or [[BreakTheCutie be psychologically traumatized]] when forced to fight monsters- which is all part of [[BigBad Kyubey]]’s plan to harvest despair for energy. [[{{Reconstruction}} Then reconstructed]] when one particularly ordinary student, who constantly berates herself for being ordinary, [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence becomes a goddess]] and destroys Kyubey’s system, [[PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion followed by]] her friend/[[LesYay possible lover]] who destroys/enslaves Kyubey itself. Somewhat re-deconstructed when it’s shown that young girls may not be the best at running an entire universe..]].

* ''Franchise/SailorMoon''.:

** An anime episode brought the trope UpToEleven by adding ''[[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Kenshiro Kasumi]]'' to the class rooster!

** After being avoided in ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', this trope effectively returns in ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL'' and ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' as [[YoungerAndHipper Ordinary Middle School Students]]; though in the latter case, it applies to the protagonist's female ChildhoodFriend as well, and it dances into the territory of {{Deconstruction}} in a manner not unlike ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' listed above.

** Inverted in ''ComicBook/SpiderManLovesMaryJane'', however, in which Mary Jane--the protagonist--actually ''is'' an ordinary high-school student.

* Putri from an Indonesian comic ''Satu Atap'' is an ordinary human [[http://oase.kompas.com/read/2009/08/05/21125038/Satu.Atap.dengan.Setan.Penggoda..Elf..Peri.Hutan..dan.Putra.Duyung who lived with a demon, elf, forest fairy, a were-tiger, and a merman]].

* The ''Literature/{{Percy Jackson|AndTheOlympians}}'' series does this. Although, to be fair, he is an Ordinary Middle School Student for most of the books.
** In fact, almost all the demigods fit into this trope. Why? Because most of them don't survive longer than that. ''[[BlessedWithSuck Ouch]]''.

* The [=DHIs=] in ''Literature/KingdomKeepers''

* The opening narration of ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'' calls Sougo this trope verbatim until he graduates half way through the story. Ironically, school is usually out of picture, because most of Sougo's time is occupied by trying to prevent the future where he becomes an allpowerful, world wrecking tyrant.

* ''Series/{{Spellbinder}}'': the main character, Paul, gets trapped in a parallel world during a school field trip, and his arrival is a catalyst that causes political upheaval in the otherwordly society. His friends Alex and Katrina have to juggle school as they work to bring him back.

* [[StreetFighter Kasugano Sakura]] seems like a typical schoolgirl enamored with a rough famous fighter. Aside from the fact that instead of trying to date him, she prefers mirroring his moves as best she can. Including martial-arts fireballs. ''Everybody'' in ''VideoGame/RivalSchools''.

* Youko from ''LightNovel/TheTwelveKingdoms'' objects that she's just an ordinary high school student word-for-word during TheReveal.

** Touma's [[AntiMagic passive negation power]] certainly makes him look like an ordinary student compared to people like his lightning-wielding UnknownRival Mikoto under most circumstances. In their first onscreen confrontation, Touma protests to a sparking Mikoto that he's "just a Level 0" esper. Mikoto makes a compelling rebuttal in the form of a giant blast of (ineffectual) electricity. He's "Level 0" only because his power is impossible to quantify.

* Tsukune from ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' is a normal high school student, at a distinctly [[ExtranormalInstitute not normal]] high school, with [[CuteMonsterGirl not normal]] high school friends. He eventually becomes not normal himself.

** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': The Ultimate Luckster, Makoto Naegi, considered himself one, since he was picked to go to elite academy Hope's Peak by winning a lottery. His only outstanding trait is that [[ThePollyanna he tends to be more optimistic than others]]. [[spoiler:Not so ordinary anymore when [[HopeBringer that same optimism]] helps defeat the BigBad [[IHaveManyNames Monokuma/the Mastermind/Junko Enoshima/the True Ultimate Despair]].]]

*** ''VideoGame/Persona3'': A group of Ordinary High School Students (plus a dog and an android) investigate a mysterious tower crawling with monsters that appears from beneath their school every night at midnight.