Awesomeness By Analysis / Anime & Manga

Awesomeness by Analysis in Anime and Manga.

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• Seems to be a characteristic of Fukumoto Nobuyuki main characters. Akagi defeats seasoned professional mah jongg players just by watching them play, and ultimately wins by making a play that most would consider suicide. Kaiji is able to grasp the nature of the one-sided gambles he finds himself in and creates plans to help get him out of tough situations.
• This trope is why Inaho is literally the only member of the cast in Aldnoah.Zero who is able to defeat the Martians and their mecha that seem to ignore the laws of physics. His analytical mind is capable of always finding out the Logical Weakness that they have and coming up with ways to exploit it.
• Misaki of Angelic Layer, whose specialty is Power Copying, closely observes her enemies' attacks before she starts using them herself.
• Certain players in Ao Ashi, such as main lead Ashito Aoi and rival Ren Kitano, possess a trait known as "Eagle Eye", which allows them to have effective observation of the whole pitch whereas regular players simply have awareness within their line of view, allowing them to coordinate their teams effectively as playmakers.
• Assassination Classroom: On his first day of learning karate, Principal Asano was beaten so badly that he vomited on the floor. The next day, he simply sat and watched the instructor's moves. After just one day of observing, he was able to copy his instructor's moves and create a strategy that allowed him to defeat his black-belt instructor without getting hit once.
• Attack on Titan: Eren Yeager learned one of Annie's fighting techniques after seeing it only twice. Granted, one of those times was during a training session in boot camp. He probably saw it a lot more than twice, but seeing him get ass kicked for hours and hours by the same technique would get boring, right?
• Baby Steps:
  • Eiichirou's primary method of learning tennis is through careful analysis. When the natural talent Natsu looks at his notebook for the first time, she is amazed to see that he has taken careful notes of everything she's told him and every move he's made, complete with drawn diagrams, angles, and trajectories.
  • Later, he meets Nabae Yuu, another player who makes even more detailed notes on his laptop and has the advantage of having played for much longer than Maruo has, making him better at using Awesomeness by Analysis. Predictably, Maruo loses to him in their first match.
• From Black Cat, we get Eve, who admits after her battle with Leon that he is stronger than her, yet still manages to beat him up simply by knowing how he will react.
• Bleach:
  • Urahara Kisuke became immune to Bala attacks from Espada #10 Yammy, solely by analyzing those attacks, including the way he moved his arms.
  • Szayelaporro Granz could easily deal with Abarai Renji from observing "video" of his earlier fights, and negated Quincy power simply by collected information on Uryuu's reiatsu from previous battles. He even tells Pesche and Dondochakka that their Combination Attack failed simply because they didn't use it sooner.
  • Uryuu is known in-universe for doing this, most notably in his fight with Cirucci Thunderwitch. During the Lost Agent Arc, Ichigo delays fighting the Arc Villain because he's waiting for Uryuu to analyze the enemy and come up with a plan... until he gets bored, that is.
  • If he can, Mayuri analyses everything and everyone before he'll get involved. Secretly infecting Uryuu with spy-bacteria allowed him to analyze the fight between Szayelaporro, Renji and Uryuu. He didn't enter the fight until he'd replaced his bodily organs and tendons, making him immune to most of Szayel's powers. If he can't prepare in advance of a fight, he'll make sure he has someone around he can sacrifice to obtain information on the enemy. He sacrificed Nemu to obtain information on Uryuu when they first fought and he later sacrifices Kenpachi to obtain information about the mysterious Pernida.
  • Prior to turning into an Eldritch Abomination and deciding using his brain to win battles was irrelevant now that he was so much more powerful than anyone else, one of Aizen's main and most impressive skills was analyzing people around him and using their emotions and ideals to his benefit.
  • Coyote Starrk was able to work out Ukitake's shikai after seeing it only three times. He was able to predict Kyouraku was a two-sword fighter because Kyouraku's ability to switch a single sword from hand to hand revealed that he usually fights with both hands. When Kyouraku starts using his shikai powers against him, Starrk figures out the color rules almost instantly.
  • Hachi is able to work out how to defeat Barragan simply by listening to Barragan's Badass Boasts. He realizes that if Barragan's power genuinely was absolute aging, then he had to be protected from being destroyed by his own power. It allowed him to conclude that using Functional Magic to expose Barragan to his own power would defeat him. He was right.
  • NaNaNa's Quincy power gives him the ability to analyze the patterns in a person's reiatsu and then directly attack weak points in it to paralyze his foes. He's able to do this just by observing his targets for long enough, and it's strong enough to incapacitate Aizen.
  • Yhwach, the King of the Quincies. He's not only awesome by application of this trope, but his powers can do all the work for him. As long as he can see a power, he knows and understands it like the back of his hand. This is achieved with his all-seeing eyes. This manifests as three eyes on each eyeball, and as soon as he understands a power, he cannot be harmed by it. However, he usually fights with his eyes "closed", so it's possible that he doesn't want to feel like he's cheating until he is actually in mortal danger. Not surprising at all, since it's already established at that point that he's really, really badass, and probably has some sort of rigged, personalized Superpower Lottery.^{Lengthy info here} He can loan parts of himself to others, so they get a power or two themselves — for a price, of course. When they die, Yhwach absorbs their souls, hence why he's so powerful. Rinse and repeat.
• Bungou Stray Dogs:
  • Rampo Edogawa (not the real guy but a Named After Somebody Famous version), despite being in a world where superpowers are the norm, keeps up by using his deductive skills. (He actually believes those skills are his power, though.)
  • Alcott's ability allows her to foresee and plan for any possible event. Actually, her ability is to slow down time. She comes up with all those plans herself.
• This trope is portrayed as a superpower in Castle Town Dandelion. Haruka has this as his Royalty Superpower; Lots of Next allows him to calculate the probability of things succeeding or failing instantly and with absolute accuracy.
• Case Closed: Shinichi/Conan does this with every crime scene, finding minor inconsistencies that shows foul play. And it's not just him — there's his best friend/rival Heiji Hattori, FBI agent Shuichi Akai, New Transfer Student Masumi Sera, and other competent detectives.
• A Certain Magical Index:
  • Index herself. Within a space of roughly three seconds, she correctly identifies the history, style, and everything else about a giant rock monster that had just appeared. The awesome part comes when she takes partial control of it by apparently reciting letters at it and causing it to miss/punch itself (technically she messed with its control magic: she recognized the spells being used and hijacked them, like hacking into a remote-control machine). She later composes and sings a magical "song" that has the effect of deprogramming a living person's mind and breaking the mental conditioning they're under, after talking a bit with Misaka about the theory of subconscious learning through synesthesia (a confirmed scientific phenomenon in the Raildex verse). She does have 103,000 magical books stored in her head that she can draw on for data, but she still needs to be able to sort through all that information, analyze it, and determine how to use that knowledge.
  • Espers, no matter their powers, have to calculate and know what they're going to do, before they do it. Both Kuroko and Awaki need to calculate what they're going to teleport and where using eleventh dimension mathematics, not three-dimensional (length, width, height) mathematics. Accelerator, for all he won the Superpower Lottery, still needs to know exactly how to apply his powers in order to get what he wants, eg, if he wants to stomp his foot and create a giant shockwave of doom, he can't just stomp and expect it to work, he has to know how to actually magnify, direct, and otherwise manipulate the force of his foot stomping the ground. If he can't work out the math behind an application of his powers, he can't use it.
  • In short, the Raildex universe is an entire world of this: usually what determines the outcome of a fight is not the strength of a person's powers, but how well the opponents can discern what exactly the enemy's power is and the weaknesses in it, and then how creatively they can apply their own abilities to exploit those weaknesses.
  • During the Railgun School Festival arc, one of the villains manages to lead a team with few and generally weak Espers with the strongest being a single Level 3 to victory over Tokiwadai, where the only Esper below Level 3 was a Level 2 with extensive combat experience by exploiting the limitations of their powers and personal phobias. He later gets into a real fight with several Tokiwadai students and attempts the same technique, but they anticipate this and fool him into underestimating them.
• In Chihayafuru, Taichi's greatest strength in karuta is his incredible memory and his ability to swiftly calculate when he can move for cards based on what has already been read. So if there are three cards that start with the same three syllables, he'll be running it through his head to work out when it might still be okay to take one on the first syllable (such as if, e.g., two are both on his side of the field and can be grabbed in one strike and the other has already been read out). This ability allows him to succeed without a single mistake even when he and Chihaya play blind karuta with all the cards turned over - he even deliberately throws off Chihaya (whose incredible reflexes and hearing make up for a bad memory) by swapping a few cards around and can still remember them perfectly, albeit with intense concentration.
• Chivalry of a Failed Knight's protagonist, Ikki, has a knack for creating counters by watching and understanding his enemies' tactics in seconds. He states that since nobody would ever actually teach him growing up, he had to learn by watching.
• Choujin Sensen: Sasamura correctly deduces that Kaminashi will become solid at the moment of attack, so he counters Kaminashi by tripping his feet.
• Kotomi attempts to pull this off during a baseball game in the first episode of CLANNAD After Story. Results are mixed. Subverted in the Visual Novel when Kotomi attempts this with a claw machine.
• In Code Geass, this is how Lelouch, The Strategist, is able to be one of the most effective characters in a series full of Humongous Mecha fights despite not being a particularly skilled pilot himself:
  • In the second season, his signature mech is so complex to handle, that people with normal intellect (like his "brother" Rolo) can barely utilize a third of its full combat potential. Overall it's not the strongest mech out there, but it does let Lelouch, despite being a Non-Action Guy, hold his own against those more deadly mechs, allowing him to act as a Frontline General relatively safely.
  • He also pulls this in the first season when a detailed study of the "White Armor"'s fighting style allows for prediction and preemptive countermeasures which almost result in the Lancelot's destruction—"almost" because a missed strike at the cockpit reveals its pilot to be his childhood friend Suzaku, inducing a brief Heroic BSoD in Lelouch.
  • He does it again late in R2 when he rapidly calculates (partly in his head, partly using his Frame's computer) several dozens of environment parameters under extreme time pressure to neutralize a FLEIJA warhead. Even the inventor of FLEIJA, Nina Einstein, admits she wouldn't be able to do it fast enough.
  • He also records a video that gives the appearance of talking to Schneizel (already a Magnificent Bastard in his own right) in real-time, purely by calculating all his responses beforehand — including exactly how long he would laugh for.
  • In the second season, Lelouch shows up to just in time to command his forces who are outnumbered and outgunned. In under a minute and with two orders, he wipes out an entire fleet due to having taken the time to learn the topography of the location on the way over.
  • In Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection, Lelouch pulls this on an even bigger scale to determine the Geass power of his new enemy, Shamna. After C.C. snaps him back to his senses, he has her take over the strategizing, devising a latge number of attack plans and allowing her to choose them. As C.C. is unaffected by Geass, she's able to cross off which plans and fail and any irregularities in the battle from before. Going through strategy after strategy, Lelouch eventually deduces Shamna's power (which turns out to be Mental Time Travel) and creates a trap specifically designed to counter her powers.
• Damn near the entire main cast of Death Note pull this sort of thing off on a regular basis. The least intelligent of the main cast are members of an elite task force of detectives, while Light, L, Near and Mello are able to pull off incredible feats of deduction. L narrows Kira's location down from literally anywhere in the world to a single district in Japan with one TV broadcast, within days of starting to look for him.
• Both Laios and Senshi of Delicious in Dungeon have a lot of intel about monsters, down to their anatomy, behavior and varieties, which proves to be a very valuable asset on several occasions as their party is battling them. In Laios's case, it's because he's a lifelong Nightmare Fetishist; in Senshi's, it's because he’s been hunting monsters for food for most of a decade.
• In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, due being born with the Demon Slayer Mark, and all abilities that one can awaken after it, Yoriichi saw the world through a different lens than everyone else around him from birth; when he was 7 years old, he could fine tune his X-Ray Vision, the Transparent World, to first perceive his mother was secretly sickly before the rest of his family could know, and could accurately pin-point the perfect places to strike with a wooden sword despite never being formally trained before, only witnessing Michikatsu's training on occasion. In his prime as a Demon Slayer, Yoriichi used his acute vision to perceive all of Muzan's weak points to easily defeat him.
• Digimon:
  • Yagami Taichi of Digimon V-Tamer 01 is very perceptive, especially when it comes to the flaws of any particular strategy or structure. He also takes on his findings, which he gets by taking notes and experimenting.
  • In Digimon Tamers, one of the D-Reaper's agents was able to replicate the Digimon's attacks after seeing them only once.
• Dragon Ball:
  • This is how Goku first learns to do his trademark Kamehameha. He also learns the After Image Technique after seeing it only once and manages to improve upon it after seeing it used a second time with a double. He also learns the Solar Flare after seeing it used only twice and uses it successfully against Tien, its creator, at the next tournament. In the 22nd tournament, he copies King Chapa's Hasshu-ken (Eight-Arm Fist) in his fight against Tien. Somewhere along the way, he also learns Krillin's Destructo Disc. Goku's copying ability is derived from Sun Wukong's (the character Goku's based on) own ability to immediately figure out a technique by just watching it. Even the techniques Goku doesn't use himself, he knows how to counter after seeing them use once or twice.
  • Tien is able to copy the Kamehameha after seeing Yamcha perform it. He also copies the After Image after Goku uses it against him.
  • Not to be left behind, both Yamcha and Krillin learn the Kamehameha from observation since Master Roshi never taught them. It takes them three years to do it and isn't instant like Goku and Tien. Krillin also learns how to use Tien's Solar Flare.
  • In Dragon Ball Z, Chiaotzu is able to successfully copy the Saibaman's self-destruction technique after one of them uses it to kill Yamcha.
  • Vegeta himself is an excellent example of this trope when he learns how to sense ki by having witnessed the Z fighters do so. This is a particularly odd case, given that sensing ki is, obviously, something you cannot watch somebody do — thus, Vegeta learned to do it simply by being informed that it could be done. He also learned to used Krillin's Destructo Disc just by seeing it once.
  • Android 16 seems to have a knack for analyzing the power and abilities of others, immediately sensing Piccolo's fusion. In a show where everyone is constantly underestimating their opponent, this sticks out.
  • Mouri manages to cripple Freeza's forces by quickly determining that they require their scouters to sense energy and thus blew up all the remaining scouters they had, rendering them unable to find the remaining Dragon Balls until the Ginyu Force arrived with more scouters.
  • Majin Buu is able to learn any technique instantly just by watching someone else use it. He learns the Kamehameha, Instant Movement, and Vegeta's self-destruct move and rapid fire ki attack just by observing them. That's not even counting the techniques he learned by absorbing people, including the gods.
  • In Dragon Ball Super, Frost shows elements of this when he encounters Master Roshi attempting to use the Mafuuba against him. It's a very exotic technique way outside normal ki attacks for the series, but once Frost gets hit with it once, he's able to come up with an effective counter within just a few minutes.
• Happens a few times in Dr. STONE. While in a tense situation, time will freeze while Senku does several mathematical calculations to determine exactly how much is needed to do things such as igniting someone's fur coat using glasses or filling a pit with water so he can swim out of it.
• Eyeshield 21:
  • Hiruma can and will find the weakness of any team or person just by observing them and analyzing tons of data.
  • Manabu Yukimitsu is not the most athletic guy, but his ability to analyze the moves of his teammates and opponents alike makes him a skilled receiver. He even manages to score the Devil Bats' first touchdown against the supposedly impenetrable defense of the Shinryuji Nagas.
  • Takami, quarterback for the Ojou White Knights also runs on this trope.
  • Akaba Hayato, tight end and captain of the Bando Spiders has technique called Spider Poison that is all this. He analyzes the movement of every player he is to face to perfectly attack at the moment their center of gravity shifts, allowing him to topple any player no matter the size.
  • Parodied by Sasuke Kanagushi of the Dokubari Scorpions, who learned to pay attention to the little gestures and tells in the opposing players' position to accurately predict their moves. However, this tactic is completely useless against experienced players who learned to hide their tells. How does Hiruma take advantage of that? Using blush and lipstick.
• Fairy Tail:
  • Erza Scarlet was able to figure out the weaknesses of Midnight's powers after three exchanges.
  • Natsu Dragneel is good at figuring out his opponent's fighting style and figuring out solutions to his more tricky opponents.
  • Gray is highly intelligent when it comes analysing and understanding his opponent's magic techniques. Then working out plans to take advantage of their weaknesses.

• In Final Fantasy: Lost Stranger, Shogo's primary talent is his ability to quickly observe situations and draw up an Indy Ploy to make the most of them. Despite lacking in strength and experience, his keen memory and ability to use Libra allow him to make note of things others can't, like how a ravine has grown wider than it looks on the map, indicating that the terrain has been falling apart for some time and is unstable. He then collapses the cliff with a well-placed arrow to open a path across it.
• Fist of the North Star:
  • Kenshiro can copy any technique just by seeing it once.
  • An even more appropriate example is the villain Amiba (or Ameeba, or Amoeba, or whatever), who is able to get a grasp of any martial art by observing its practitioners. He uses it to impersonate Toki and manages to pull off the sham for a while until he gets outed by Rei. However, his versions of whatever martial arts he copies aren't quite as pure as the original, and Kenshiro is able to fight out of his techniques, while saying that if the real Toki had hit the same pressure points, Kenshiro would never, ever have been able to get out.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • The homunculus Wrath has a superpower called "the Ultimate Eye". It means that he is able to analyse all possible factors in his vision and calculate the perfect battle strategy to any situation. He is defeated by one of the heroes stabbing him through the body of a terminally wounded ally, which left a large blind spot in his field of vision.
  • All alchemists are this in general since they often have to understand and utilize the material in their surroundings to use their ability. Special mention, however, goes to Ed, as he manages to defeat "The Ultimate Shield" of Greed by realizing his armor is composed of carbon, and realigns that carbon from a diamond-esque stratum to one of graphite — i.e., pencil lead. In the manga, he also manages to recreate Greed's trick using his automail and figures out how to use his own soul as a Philosopher's Stone by using the energy from Envy's to escape Gluttony's stomach earlier on.
  • It isn't just main characters. Scar has killed plenty of state alchemists and chimeras. However, Jerso and Zampano render his tactics totally useless because they've studied his commonly used moves and prevent him from doing them
• The Gamer: Han has a unique ability that turns his life into an RPG Mechanics 'Verse, and he even gains the ability to observe people and see unique things about his stats. He can also learn powerful techniques from books describing them à la Skyrim.
• Girls und Panzer:
  • Alisa might not be the best tank commander around and clearly needs a remedial course on good sportsmanship, but episode 5 of the series shows why she is Saunders' strategist: She accurately guesses Ōarai's positions at the time of the radio transmission (time-distance calculation + terrain analysis), translates the very vague "leftwards direction" into a specific set of coordinates (more terrain analysis) and accurately estimates how fast Rabbit Team would get there (time-distance calculation, and it wouldn't have worked unless she got the first two approximately right). She then coordinates the movements of two platoons so the platoon moving in the open comes into view shortly before the flanking platoon moves in through the forest and counters Ōarai's reinforcing element by moving in Naomi's platoon (latter is not quite as impressive because her team has visual contact now, but still requires time-distance calculations). She also figured out the feasibility of withdrawing two tanks back out of commitment and into envelopment ahead of Ōarai's tanks (same). Keep in mind that all this was accomplished using only a radio and a map, without even seeing the battle unfold.
  • In Girls und Panzer der Film, Yukari puts her knowledge on armored fighting vehicles to use on figuring out what is dropping high-explosive bombs from the sky. She considers the Brummbär, but thinks the explosion size is too big for that vehicle's armament. She then recalls there was no rocket sounds as the shells drop so it couldn't be a Sturmtiger. Then considering the shell payload would mean that the shell's weight would be about a ton. She then narrows down the options to the Morser-Karl.
• Golgo 13: As the Cracked quote on the main page notes, this sort of skill is invaluable to a sniper — and is part of why Golgo is so good at it. In the chapter "The Eye of God", he works out, from the two locations he's told to go to, the exact orbit of a spy satellite with such accuracy that he can look straight at it as it passes and photographs him.
• Headhunted to Another World: Protagonist Uchimura's best skill is figuring out people's aims and desires by keen attention to detail. In the first chapter he quickly concludes a treaty with the minotaurs when he figures out that the word "Peniser!" that their ambassador Tarius kept repeating was a flawed result of their Translator Microbes: the minotaur was trying to say that he thought the bed they gave him to sleep in was too flimsy.
• Henkyou no Roukishi Bard Loen: An offhand comment by an assassin that he has something else to do after killing Bard Loen clues him in that Coendera Family is searching for something and think he may have it (unbeknownst to either of them, he does actually have the MacGuffin with him). He figures out what that is specifically later, along with the Kaldus Coendera's entire plan, and ruins it in a single move.
• Chapter 168 of Holyland explains that the ability to "read" an enemy is the real source of Masaki's ability, more than any of his physical prowess.
• In Hunter × Hunter, many characters fall in this trope.
  • Kurapika, after seeing Uvogin fighting only once, is able to make up a plan to engage him in an 1v1 fight, knowing that he will not request backup from his fellows and will defy him alone.
  • In his fight against Hisoka, Chrollo is able to outsmart even him, a Manipulative Bastard in his own right, taking into account the exact reactions of Hisoka to his plays, and ultimately kills him without even being hurt at all.
• Inazuma Eleven:
  • Kidou Yuuto is able to figure out the opponents' strategies and techniques by analysing them carefully. In the second season, he's also the first one to figure out the reasons behind Coach Hitomiko's decisions.
  • In Galaxy, Manabe Jinichirou successfully steals the ball from the opponents by making calculations once he (and the rest of the newcomers) get better at soccer.
• Ryosuke Takahashi of Initial D, one of the hero's main rivals, is said to be the only racing driver who trains on the computer — not through simulations, but apparently by mathematical analysis of the performance of different cars. To further prove his awesomeness, in 4th stage, he once asks Takumi to wait for his opponent for a few seconds, lowering his speed in the first part of the race, having understood just by watching him that the opponent is awesome by analysis himself. The opponent is in fact so good that in the little time he studies Takumi's car by following him he realizes Takumi's weak point. Ryosuke does that on purpose so that their opponent can prepare a strategy in the following race, to teach Takumi to understand his weak points and improve his ability. This means he is so smart that he actually uses another awesome by analysis character as a pawn, predicting all of his further reasoning and reaction. He's three steps ahead of a common Awesome by Analysis character.
• Toru of Iris Zero. In a world where people suddenly began developing special powers called "irises",^{Lengthy info here} When someone with an iris sees someone or something, they see something else along with it that goes along with the power. One girl sees a devil's tail on anyone who is lying, another sees an "X" or "O" over someone's head when seeking out someone qualified for a position Toru has no Iris at all, making him an "Iris Zero". However, he is so skilled at analyzing others that he was able to convince people that his Iris was being able to tell what other people's Irises were. Had he not been outed by the one person who could tell when he was lying, he'd still be doing it. He's so good at this that one character, whose Iris has yet to be revealed, admits that Toru is the only person he's ever met who was actually able to figure out what his Iris is. Toru isn't very good at solving "emotionless" puzzles, that is to say, IQ test-type puzzles, but he's exceptional when solving problems that involve other people.
• Tatsuya, the main character of The Irregular at Magic High School, has barely any magical power, yet uses sheer breadth of spell knowledge, unarmed combat, magical gadgets and Anti-Magic techniques to make what he has fight on-par with the others. Tatsuya actually has near godlike magical power, but it is restricted to two primary game-breaking abilities (and some offshoot abilities) preventing him from using powerful magic in day-to-day life. His analysis ability, Elemental Sight is a necessary secondary power to his primary abilities. His Elemental Sight gives him an innate understanding of spells and magic as he can literally read magic and the physical world. He analyses that and uses it to win. He can also read the physical history of anything/anyplace/anyone (limited to the past 24 hours).
• Jojos Bizarre Adventure: This trope pretty much became a given amongst the characters, especially in the wake of Part 3 with the introduction of Stands. A major part of Stand battles has the protagonists actually having to analyze and determine their opponents' Stand abilities in order to counter them.
  • Stardust Crusaders has Anubis, who boasts that no technique can work against him a second time. Being a Living Weapon possessing whoever touches him, it's easy for him to trick his opponent into wasting their best moves on his host so that he can possess someone else and come after them again with the knowledge of how to counter their attacks.
  • Diamond is Unbreakable:
    • In one part of the tale, Jotaro and Koichi seek to gather information on the identity of the wielder of the Stand Killer Queen, with only a jacket's button to go on. They take it to a tailor who says he was given a jacket with a missing button to be replaced, but he is suddenly Killed Mid-Sentence by Killer Queen before he can say the name of the jacket's owner, and the two of them get a brief glimpse of the jacket being taken away by the wielder. When Koichi demands that they give chase, Jotaro coolly replies that he already has all the information he needs:
      Koichi: HE'S GETTING AWAY!
      Jotaro: Don't chase him, Koichi.
      Koichi: Huh? Don't... chase him...? What are you saying? But if we chase him we'll find the killer's true identity!
      Jotaro: "Carefully observe the situation then act." That's how I work, Koichi.
      [Beat]
      Koichi: Wh... what do you mean?
      Jotaro: Take the jacket for example. We missed the name tag, but from the size, we're looking for a man about 175 centimeters tall. He works as an employee, and he's a bachelor, or else I'm sure his wife would be able to handle such a simple repair. He's pretty well-off, too. Probably around 25-35 years old... the material and design of the jacket are definitely from a high-class brand. Presently, there's nothing we could gain from a direct confrontation that we don't already know from the profile.
      Koichi: I... I see.
    • Hayato Kawajiri is not only a child, but also isn't a Stand user. Yet he manages to figure out that the Arc Villain Yoshikage Kira has replaced his father, and about how Stands (particularly Kira's) work even though he can't see them himself. His knowledge and deductions of Killer Queen's powers is instrumental to helping the heroes finally put an end to Kira.
    • Yoshikage Kira displays this when his Stand powers evolve. Specifically, when the Stand Stray Cat combines powers with that of his stand Killer Queen, enabling it to create explosive air bubbles. That just so happen to be invisible to everyone, even Kira. In order to use them safely and effectively, Kira has to actually analyze and calculate their trajectory even though he can’t see them, which he manages to do through basic trigonometry skills.
  • Golden Wind:
    • Risotto Nero, during his battle with Doppio, manages to realize the true secret of the Boss (he's a split personality living inside of Doppio's body) by observing the changes in Doppio's mannerisms and behavior as the fight continues.
    • The Boss Diavolo demonstrates this himself during the Chariot Requiem arc. He manages to deduce the full mechanics of Chariot Requiem's abilities, including the means of destroying it, simply by analyzing its reactions to his enemies' attempts to steal the Arrow from it.
• Kaiju No. 8: Before getting to join the group that kills Kaiju, Kafka Hibino's job was to clean up the corpses left behind by said group. His experience with appraising and cleaning up Kaiju remains means he's much better than average at knowing how they're put together. Put a Kaiju in front of him and he can tell you its likely weaknesses and abilities based on the ones he's dealt with before. Give him an afterbeast corpse and a good knife and he can tell you for certain.
• Keijo!!!!!!!!:
  • In general, this seems to be a trait of the best players. The protagonist Nozomi is exceptionally good at watching other players' techniques and figuring out how to counter them or how to use them to improve her own, and most of her closest friends have taken out opponents that should have been well above their level in this manner. Furthermore, while the source of the ability is still unknown, Fuyuyu, the current strongest player in the entire Keijo world, manages to pull a Perfect Play A.I. against every opponent she faces, which at least strongly suggests this may be involved for her as well.
  • Aoba's right hand, being more sensitive than a normal person's, is not just capable of picking up subtle changes in the wind such that she can predict the trajectory of a beach ball, but also able to determine physical quirks of every person she's touched. In the manga, she's covertly felt up nearly every one of her peers; the anime instead lets her get away with it via providing massages.
  • Kotone's feet are sensitive to vibration, which allows her to read her opponent's movements.
• Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple: Siegfried and Odin also use a variant: they dodge and counter their opponent's attacks by learning their "rhythm", which allows them to predict the opponent's next move. In both cases Kenichi attempts to trip them up by performing random stunts unrelated to fighting (Siegfried) or radically altering his fighting technique at quick intervals (Odin).

• Three-star Houka Inumuta from Kill la Kill appears to be this initially, defeating a berserk student wearing a five-star uniform with one perfectly-placed blow. However, in his fight with Ryuko, she immediately figures out what he's doing and counters him by simply adjusting her fighting style and making unexpected moves. When he activates Optical Camouflage to force her to move more cautiously, she simply uses an Area of Effect attack to flatten the whole arena. This results in his visor flashing "Does Not Compute". To be perfectly fair to Inumuta, it's not really his fault — his Probe Regalia is simply not advanced enough to collect sufficient data to defeat an opponent wearing a 100% Life Fiber outfit like Kamui Senketsu.
• In Kurogane (2011), this is Hiroto Kuragane's main ability, used to help offset his lack of physical abilities.
• Several characters in Kuroko's Basketball do this. Momoi uses it to predict what her team's opponents will do in games, while Aida uses it to analyze and improve her own players. Kise also seems to use it in his Power Copying.
• One chapter of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service involves a crooked insurance agent who convinces people to sign up for insurance (with him as a beneficiary), then murders them via probability: he uses a special notebook to calculate circumstances that are most likely to kill them in a freak accident, then lures them into such situations and collects the money. He tries to kill the members of the Delivery Service this way after they make contact with one of his victims. His demise comes about due to a personal weakness—his deduction is that he'll die in a plane accident, so he cancels his flight — but "accident" is not synonymous with "crash"; a screw falls off the plane and hits him in the eye at terminal velocity.
• Most of the characters in Liar Game. To survive the games, you have to be good at analyzing your opponents, exploiting their weaknesses and using them to your advantage. And, slowly, with each round, Nao is becoming quite a force to be reckoned with.
• The male lead of Lock On! is no fighter, but is so good at his career in photography that he can easily read the movements of any martial artist to roll with an attack, break a fall, or even stop an attack before it can gain any momentum.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • You know those attacks Vivio was flinging around at the end of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS? The DVD notes reveal that they're all attacks from her mamas. How did she acquire them? Chapter 10 of the supplementary manga greatly implied that she learned it from watching their combat videos. That's the "gathering magical data" she meant during the penultimate episode of the season.
  • Also in StrikerS, Teana's personal "graduation fight" consisted of knocking out three combat cyborgs at once by predicting their moves. She didn't have much choice but to think very hard, either: all three were way above her in both combat skill and power, and she was crippled, to boot.
  • Miura is revealed to be like this in ViVid Strike!, but not in the way you'd expect from a fighting series. Her combat skills? Formal training under some of the best fighters in the multiverse. Her cooking skills? Observing the chefs at her family's restaurant.
• Maria no Danzai:
  • Maria deduces that Kowase and Kumiru would run away the second they realized they were being hunted by a murderer, so she kills them first. Given that they are both Dirty Cowards who break down when they are not in control, she is correct.
  • From the circumstances surrounding the dissapearances and likely deaths of Kowase and Kumiru, Okaya deduces that the most likely suspect for killing them is one of Kiritaka's parents, being the only ones who would resent the gang enough to try and kill them since they killed their son.
  • With only a single clue pointing towards his existence and a hunch based on Yashima's own trauma, Maria successfully deduces the identity of the mysterious third party responsible for Iijima's death, who starts sweating profusely when Maria confronts him.
• Medaka Box:
  • This is how Kurokami Medaka's Abnormality "The End" primarily works. Through a combination of abnormal effort and abnormal talent, Medaka is able to analyze any technique and not only instantly learn it, but "complete" it to its maximum potential even if the technique's original user hasn't taken it that far (for example, copying someone's automatic super-reflexes, "Autopilot", but completing it by added the ability to turn it off). Later in the story, "The End" develops even further to the point where she can "complete" techniques merely by hearing about them, and even learn Minus skills that shouldn't/can't be "completed".
  • Medaka's brother Kurokami Maguro has this as his primary shtick. He himself is no fighter, and as a child he seemed entirely normal. But as a teenager, he discovered his Abnormality in his analytical skills, becoming a savant at "producing people". Simply by hugging his sister and being punched back by her, he instantly deduced every single point that she needed to work on in order to get back in shape. It was this talent that made him formerly the supervisor for the "Flask Plan", a project attempting to artificially create "perfect" human beings.
  • Kumagawa Misogi is, self-proclaimed, the "weakest human being on the planet", being a genius at losing. But as a human being defined by weakness, Kumagawa knows everything there is to know about weaknesses. Thus, merely by looking at someone, he can instantly deduce every one of their weak points.
• In Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Allenby Beardsley is apparently able to copy the main character's Erupting God Finger attack just by having watched it. Which is rather strange, because it's an inherent ability of the God Gundam, and as far as we know Allenby didn't make any physical modifications to her Nobel Gundam to duplicate it. Then again, they're Super Robots, so it doesn't have to make sense.
• In Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, after having a form of gambling explained to him for the first time, Chagum not only very quickly works out the odds involved, but also how the con-men running the game are rigging it. He ends up driving them out of business by winning everybody's money back, using the con artists' own tricks against them.
• In M×0, Taiga is a Badass Normal in a school of mages and everyone believes that he has the strongest magic possible for plot related reasons; because of that he gets in near constant fights that he wins by carefully observing the magic being used against him, its limitations, and putting terrain to very good use. He is so good at this that people in his school still believe that he has the strongest magic of any student.
• In My Hero Academia, Izuku Midoriya is a hero Otaku who spent most of his life collecting intricate notes about every hero he saw, which gives him a virtual library of techniques and specs. On top of that, he's a very quick thinker who can deduce the powers (and limitations) of his opponents, analyze their fighting styles, and create plans on short notice, letting him stand up to people much more powerful than him. He also took a few pages from his friends and mentors to add to his own fighting style, such as some of Katsuki Bakugou's punches, Tenya Iida's kicks, or Mina Ashido's dance training, hence some fans suspecting that he does have a Quirk (superpower): this.
• Naruto:
  • This ability to copy techniques and instantly comprehend motion is the main source of the Sharingan's power.
  • Post Time Skip, Naruto develops his own form of battle analysis, using his Shadow Clones in Trial-and-Error fighting until he forms a winning strategy. For example, when facing the Third Raikage in battle, he learned from Hachibi that both of them fell from exhaustion while their jutsus were still active. That gives him the idea that maybe the Third Raikage's Nukite damaged him. Testing that theory out, he entered Sage Mode since he couldn't use his Nine-Tailed Chakra Mode at the moment. Creating a Rasengan, he used his sensing abilities and Frog Katas to dodge the Third's strike, spinning around and hitting his arm with the Rasengan. Which sent it crashing into his chest, leaving him open for sealing.
  • Kakashi, according to Word of Guy: "You're second to no one when it comes to analyzing." Though he has the Sharingan, his stamina keeps him from making full use of its copycat power, so he relies more on its observational abilities. He is, as far as we know, the first person to understand how Tobi's jutsu works.
  • Itachi is also a notable example. His battle techniques highly focus on targeting the weaknesses of his opponent. In his own words, "Every jutsu has a weakness."
  • Kidomaru of the Sound Four is a noticeable example despite his rather minor role. Just by watching how Neji reacts to and counters his probing attacks allows him to quickly figure out the effects and limitations of his foe's Gentle Fist techniques, and then it only takes him a couple of minutes to find the weak-points and exploit them to bring Neji to near-death. Neji is only able to turn the tables on him with near last minute desperate gambles that put him even further on death's door.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
  • It can be said that this is Negi Springfield real strong point, in contrast to the outrageous raw power of his father. Several characters point out that the reason he's so strong isn't because of raw power, but because he's capable of understanding extremely advanced magical theories and combining various spells in unique ways. His advanced planning is the only reason that he was able to fight the physics and magical law defying Jack Rakan to a draw, a feat that impresses Eva enough to call him "Boy Genius Mage".
  • The same goes for Yue. She's able to recognize an illusory dimension and KO a griffin dragon by analyzing their properties. It helps that her artifact is a Great Big Book of Everything.
  • Jack Rakan as well. After witnessing Negi turn himself into lightning and move with such speed that even Rakan cannot match it, he is still able to hit, block, and dodge Negi's attacks. He explains that he is able to predict where Negi will move to in advance. Even though Negi is the first human mage in history to ever use such a technique, Rakan explains that he once encountered a high-level lightning spirit that used the same trick, so he's seen before regardless.
• No Game No Life: 「　」(Read: "Blank") is a crystallization of this, with Sora's impeccable skill at reading people while Shiro is able to analyze patterns and environments to a T.
• One Piece:
  • Luffy is extremely good at figuring out ways to dodge, parry, or even counter attacks after seeing them once, or at least very little. Thanks to that, he was even able to assimilate the CP9's Soru technique and use it himself.
  • Sanji can be like this when it comes to cooking. His most impressive feat is to figure out the exact ingredients and preparation for a gigantic wedding cake, enough to make a perfect replica later on, just from smell alone.
  • Trafalgar Law is shown to have figured out Hawkins's voodoo ability after seeing it in action all of once. He immediately takes out the man's subordinates before pressing the attack and forcing Hawkins to defend since he no longer has any subordinates to pass his injuries to. Notably, Law does this without any form of explanation, just noticing a few key details.
• One-Punch Man:
  • This, combined with his refusal to give up is what makes Garou so dangerous. Most of his fights start with him on the backfoot, taking shots from his opponent — then he powers through their attacks with sheer will, and once he has learned their moves delivers a brutal ass-kicking. It even allows Garou to be one of the few people to stand up to Saitama without it immediately turning into a Curb-Stomp Battle. By analyzing his movements and predicting his actions, Garou is actually able to stay a few steps ahead of Saitama for a while despite freely admitting that Saitama is faster than him, although he does lose in the end.
  • Also seems to be a power of Monster King Orochi, who effortlessly learns the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist after Garou uses it against him. It helps him stomp Garou, but, obviously, is of no use against Saitama, who splatters him with one punch.
• Since Peace Hame is an Affectionate Parody as Porn with Plot of Shonen, a chapter involving mah-jong specifically parodies Yu-Gi-Oh! where Tamao feigns being The Chikan in groping the opposing head cheerleader after a ridiculous amount of Gainaxing only to win and reveal he knew she was cheating by said breast-jiggling being a secret code to her partner and sending the wrong signal by making her nipple hard enough to ask for the wrong tile. That's not even close to the wildest chapter either.
• Hanna in Pikaia is a very good strategist who can come up with plans on the spot. Especially notable when she calculates exactly how to get to the Lost Code in shipworm mode.
• Ping Pong: Smile's playstyle. Against stronger opponents, he generally goes easy for the first game to feel out their shots, and then annihilates them by hitting their weaknesses over and over again until they become too demoralized to play.
• Pokémon:
  • Pokémon Adventures:
    • Exaggerated in the sense that nearly all of the Dex Holders with good battling skills use many clues, observe the surroundings, and quickly make plans in accord in order to win battles. However, some stick out more than others.
    • Emerald can tell where a Pokémon was born just by looking at it. While the skill has no practical use by itself, Emerald also has a special dirt-firing gun. He can calm down any rampaging Pokémon by firing the dirt of its home at it, soothing it with the dirt's nostalgic scent.
    • Pearl can also tell what move a Pokémon is about to make before it makes it by observing its movements and stance, allowing him to figure out a counter beforehand.
    • Black can use his Munna to clear his mind completely, and can determine what sort of Pokemon he's up against using various clues.
  • Pokémon: The Series:
    • In the anime, Tracey has this ability as one of the perks of being a Pokémon Watcher.
    • Also in the anime, Max thinks he's this, but the few times we see him battle he has trouble getting his plan rolling quickly enough. Granted, he's seven (most Trainers properly start their journeys at ten or eleven) and has no actual experience whatsoever.
• The Prince of Tennis:
  • There's a whole style of tennis based on analyzing your opponent's moves, abilities, statistics, et cetera, and then using it to beat them. It's called Data Tennis. It's utilized most extensively by Yanagi Renji and Inui Sadaharu, although it is used to a lesser (or at least, less successful) extent by Mizuki. Konjiki Koharu and Dan Taichi also show a tendency for Data Tennis, though in Koharu's case it is largely overshadowed by his Comedy Tennis, and Dan is yet to actually use his data in a match (largely because, at least in manga canon, he is yet to HAVE a match).
  • Jokingly subverted by all of Inui's non-Tennis sports attempts. When playing billiards, the others assume he'll be good at it, even going so far as to say "It seems like a game he'd be good at, neh?" He then proceeds to lose horribly. Another time, when they go bowling, he chooses a light ball because it should be easier to control...but in bowling, a light ball tends to get excessive spin, making it ironically DIFFICULT to control. He spends the whole game making one point per turn, because he can only get the ball to hit the far-left pin. Every time this happens, he grimaces, gets Scary Shiny Glasses, and thinks a stunned "Illogical..."
• Being a Deconstructive Parody of the Fighting Series, Ramen Fighter Miki deconstructs this trope with because Kankuro is the resident Idiot Hero, so when he tries to apply this trope being a Stalker without a Crush following his enemy Miki, Kankuro uses Insane Troll Logic to guess Miki's weakness:
  Kankuro: That Onimaru Miki didn't knock that train out of her way, she dodged it, nya! I understand at last! That body of Onimaru Miki that's as strong as a rock still can't beat a train! I finally got it nya!
• Ranma from Ranma ½ has a super-human ability to utilize and adapt to even the most complex martial moves using this trope.
• In Reborn! (2004), Tsuna's Hyper Intuition allows him to predict the actions of organic (as in non-robotic) opponents by analyzing their subtle muscle movements.
• The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World: After letting Red get his butt kicked by Lurguat's demons, Rosie is able to determine the monsters' attack patterns and perfectly counter them with the different forms of the Royal Sacred Sword after only seeing the monsters once.
• Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin is good at reading his opponent's moves and can even apply this to dodge bullets. However, one of his weaknesses is that he is a little over-reliant on this, meaning that he can be thrown off by opponents using unorthodox moves, like when Jin-e passed his sword behind his back to his other hand or when Saitou threw his broken sword as a distraction before whipping Kenshin's sword out of his hand with a belt. It also hurts him in his battle against Soujiro Seta, who is emotionless/ki-less and therefore unreadable. Kenshin flounders during the first half of the fight, but is able to turn it around when Soujiro suffers a nervous breakdown.
• Sailor Moon:
  • Sailor Mercury (Ami Mizuno) has a magical computer and a visor that analyze the surrounding and the enemy's weaknesses.
  • Sailor Venus (Minako Aino) has enough field experience to develop a nearly uncanny ability to guess the enemy's abilities and how to counter them. While not as effective as Mercury's computer and visor, it works well enough to allow her to survive a whole year of solo battles before meeting the others.
• This is, at least in theory, a skill possessed by every Athena Saint in Saint Seiya and the main reason the same technique won't work twice against them. Some of the most notable instances are:
  • During the fight between Ikki and Hyoga, Hyoga seemingly kills Ikki with his strongest technique, Aurora Thunder Attack... Except Black Swan, who had been killed by it, had managed to send Ikki a recording of it, allowing the Phoenix Saint to figure out how to survive. Later Ikki uses the Phoenix Genmaken on Hyoga... Who, having already seen it once, had a way to make it hit the user.
  • During the initial fight between Seiya and Lizard Misty, Misty, who is powerful enough to destroy a mountain with one attack, quickly overpowers Seiya, but, underestimating both him and his recently improved Cloth, fails to kill him. When Seiya comes back from the beating he suffered mere minutes earlier, Misty is still more powerful... But Seiya, in spite of being an Idiot Hero, has already figured out how to defend against his attack, get through his barrier technique, and that Misty's combat style doesn't work well in water, and, after getting through the barrier, drags him in the nearby sea, killing Misty before he can figure out how to counter Seiya's techniques.
  • When Cetus Moses and Hound Asterion first fight Marin they get through her superior powers thanks to Asterion's ability to read minds, but commit the fatal error of sparing her to use her as a bait. Asterion later fights her again... and goes into panic when he sees that Marin has figured out a way to block his mind-reading abilities. He goes down with one hit.
  • During the Poseidon arc, Seiya has to fight the Marine General Sea Horse Baian and is seemingly killed... Then Seiya stands up no worse for the wear and says that his techniques are pretty much identical to Misty's, only more powerful, and as Seiya has since surpassed Misty he has nothing to fear. He then demonstrates. This one is especially notable because Baian realizes he's screwed the moment Seiya tells him about having already seen moves similar to his (to be expected, seeing that Sea Dragon, leader of the Marine Generals, is a renegade Saint), and has to actually steel himself to continue the fight... That he knew he would lose, even if he wasn't going to admit it out loud.
• Shakugan no Shana has Sakai Yuji as its epitome of this trope. While Shana's default strategy is beating their enemies in a straightforward battle, it doesn't always work. In fact, most of the time, when faced with unconventional enemies, the direct approach never works. Then Yuji has to work out a strategy for them.
• Soul Eater:
  • Parodied with a mook who can predict and analyze the next 20 moves of an opponent in battle, and do the necessary calculations on how to deal with it. The first thing he does when faced with his opponent is to surrender, because his analysis tells him that he has no chance to win anyway.
  • Also played straight with Maka and Kidd. Maka's ability to analyse and discern who and what her enemies are (as well as how to beat them) makes her a serious threat to anyone, while Kidd (when he's not stressed out over his OCD) proves that his ability to extrapolate a fight makes him a brilliant strategist. And then there's Stein (who has a bloody doctorate in Awesomeness by Analysis). Soul also has his moments too (remember the piano soul resonance idea?)
• Spy X Family has Loid Forger aka Agent Twilight. He's not only a super-fast reader but also showcases exceptional situational awareness. He's even capable of spotting a thief in disguise by his walking pattern.
• Talentless Nana has two examples: Nana Hiiragi and Kyouya Onodera. The two of them are incredibly good at spotting minor details, inconsistencies in seemingly cut-and-dried crime scenes and uncovering the truth, and using inferences from details and behaviors to their advantage. Fittingly, Nana is a serial killer while Kyouya is trying to stop her murders.
• In Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head Kidou Kyuukyuu Keisatsu, Gou has this ability thanks to his photographic memory. He's able to plan many steps ahead just by studying a situation. The catch is that it's portrayed as both a weakness and a strength. He's so good that others can't keep up with his judgment.
• Toriko: In his first fight with Red Nitro, Toriko uses his signature Kugi Punch on him. After the creature recovers from the attack, it manages to replicate said move against Toriko's ally.
• In Trigun, this is how Vash the Stampede is so awesome with his gunmanship. In one episode, he even surreptitiously throws a rock between gun duelists to deflect a bullet in mid-flight away from a lethal trajectory. He, does, however, have the advantage of being over a hundred years old and has had plenty of time to hone his skills. Still, his physical abilities combined with his high mental abilities are what allows him to pull off such stunts. Indeed, Vash is even able to dodge bullets by noting the trajectory of a gun just as the wielder begins to pull the trigger, giving him a head start on moving out of the way.
• Keima from The World God Only Knows takes this approach towards everything. His legendary Dating Sim playing skills comes from the ability to determine the capturing route of a girl just by taking a few moments and analyzing how they look; and, as far as his schoolwork is concerned, he's the top in his class with minimum work by using the same tactic.
• Satsuki, the local (evil?) brainiac of X/1999, begins her day in the limelight with a tennis match. Not only can she instantly analyze the angles of the ball and react accordingly, but she can also read her opponent's physique and (successfully) conclude that she cannot return the serve without "an 11 percent increase in muscle mass".
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Want to beat Yugi at a game he's never played? A game of your own creation, no less? You will lose; even if you're lucky, it will take him a maximum of two turns to figure out the game to the point that he's able to invent a strategy to kick your butt. As mentioned elsewhere, the card game taking over was unintended. He is king of games, plural, and being able to do this is his thing.
  • Also, while this aspect isn't quite as prominent in the second anime, Yami is incredibly good at analyzing his environment and developing strategies against brutal gang members. One of the prime examples is the "trigger" trap in the manga chapter where Jounouchi gets tortured by Hirutani's gang with stun guns. Yami lets one of the guys hit him so that he can lead the gang to puddle, telling them that a time bomb is going up unless they find a trigger. Hirutani quickly figures out that if they use the stun guns in the rain, they might actually hurt themselves. This wasn't the trigger though. The trigger was the arm of one of the gang member's, who was lying by the puddle after getting kicked by Jounouchi, stun gun still in his hand that is kept up by a metal pipe. Above his head, Yami had tied his Millenium Puzzle so that water drops on his face, waking him slowly. The moment he stirs, the metal pipe that held up his arm falls to the side, and he drops the stun gun into the puddle.
  • Similarly, the Duel Boxes in the Duelist Kingdom. Yami says that he realized the rules of the Field Bonus as soon as he sat down. Reason for this was because he was wondering why exactly Pegasus required an entire island to hold a tournament, but then figured that the size and environment of the areas, with the Duel Boxes scattered around, had some sort of effect on the game's field.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Daichi Misawa analyzes his opponent's known cards via computer before a duel and writes complex math formulas on his walls to develop new strategies. Kagurazaka, a one-shot character in Season 1, manages to do this by copying Yugi's deck, and was implied to have done so with several more duelists. There's also Dr. Zweinstein in Season 2, who is implied to have spent most of his time since Duel Monsters came out mastering the game through analysis and "duel physics".
  • Then in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, we have Team Unicorn. Breo studies the cards and tactics of prospective opponents, memorizing and organizing it into sensible data. Jean, the leader, builds this information into plans that foresee how to counter what the opponents will do. Andore isn't given to thinking beyond the present, but he's a first-rate improv duelist, able to put down any opposing comebacks in one turn and with very few cards. Since their only on-screen duels are against the protagonists, Failure Is the Only Option.
• YuYu Hakusho:
  • The main protagonist, Yusuke Urameshi, is better at this than one would expect from your average street punk. Of note, he mastered Genkai's Spirit Wave technique after his first use of it, correctly deduced which of his friends was a doppelganger based on their personalities and traits, fought on even ground with the world's greatest martial artist after only one prior battle with him, and found the weak point of Yomi's Deflector Shield technique, using this opportunity to bring a fight with a demon several times more powerful than him to a near draw.
  • Subverted with Rando, the second Arc Villain, who can perfectly copy any technique after seeing it performed once. He entered Genkai's tournament for the express purpose of stealing everyone else's moves, Genkai herself included, but his downfall comes from the fact that while he can learn any technique just by seeing it, he is very much a Master of None, and all it takes is one poorly-timed shrinking spell to become Hoist by His Own Petard.
• Kiyomaro Takamine of Zatch Bell! does this a whole lot, but the best example comes from his and Gash's fight with Robnos, in which he takes apart his opponent's tricks in succession, as follows:
  • Once he learns that Robnos's laser beam attack reflects multiple times, he calculates the angles instantly and hides himself and Gash in the attack's blind spot.
  • When Gash still gets hit by the attack, Kiyomaro deduces that Robnos has a clone, explaining why he survived Gash's lightning attack without a scratch.
  • After Robnos and his double merge into a giant with a much more powerful laser beam, Kiyomaro defeats him by jamming a metal pole in his head and using it as a lightning rod when Robnos stored energy for his attack.
  • He almost meets his match with Koral Q, a mamodo with spells specifically designed to counteract all of Gash and Kiyomaro's tricks. Kiyomaro pulls through by inventing a new trick on the fly.
  • Dufaux's ability Answer Talker, which he shares with Kiyomaro, is knowing everything. He actually just walks into an attack from Ropes, sustaining no more damage than a big hole ripped in the shoulder of his jacket. He then proceeds to pin Apollo to a wall and burn his book, only casting his first spell the entire battle if I remember correctly. If not, only one mid-level spell to defeat their trump spell.

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