Follow TV Tropes

Following

Badass Normal / Anime & Manga

Go To

Badass Normals in Anime and Manga.


  • Akame ga Kill! has Najenda. She is the only person in "Night Raid" who does not have an Imperial Weapon that strengthens her powers in combat. Nevertheless, she can fight at the same level as the others, and is even the leader of the group.
  • AKIRA:
    • Colonel Shikishima. While perhaps more impressive overall in the manga, surviving not one but two apocalypses, the film's image of him facing down a rapidly mutating Tetsuo with nothing but a .45 Automatic and a grunted "Come on!" exemplifies the trope.
    • Kaneda himself is another example. Anyone who can face down a superpowered psychic psychopath with nothing but a laser rifle without getting splattered definitely qualifies.
  • Battle Angel Alita:
    • Daisuke Ido is likely the only Hunter-Warrior in the Scrapyard who is not a cyborg.
    • Figure Four. He frequently takes down cyborgs, and often times does it unarmed, thanks to his specialized anti-cyborg martial art.
  • Beelzebub: Hidetora Tojo manages to fight Oga on equal ground despite the latter being demonically powered and later manages to beat 100 demons by himself.
  • Berserk:
    • Guts is as badass as a human can be, and eventually fights demons. At one point he cuts off his own arm, in the middle of battle, to keep fighting. Though how normal Guts still is at this point is up for debate since surviving with the brand gradually made him stronger than any human could possibly be. Not to mention the berserker armor that allows him to fight WAY past his limit. However, Guts vowed to just stay plain old Guts no matter what, so he is not likely to use true superhuman powers if he can avoid it.
    • Other than Guts, the other members of the cast that fit this category (who don't use magic like Schierke and Farnese) are:
      • Pippin, a huge miner who was shown equal to Guts in raw strength, who could kill several Apostles before dying in the Eclipse.
      • Casca, the Deuteragonist and lover of Guts, who is incredibly skilled at She-Fu and swordplay and is the sole female warrior in the series. She’s able to kill numerous armoured knights and at least one Apostle.
      • Judeau, a dual swords and throwing knives expert who once took out an assassin twice his size with Improbable Aiming Skills.
      • Ricket, a Gadgeteer Genius and later The Blacksmith comes up with weapons that can kill Apostles and at one point defeats Rakshas one of Griffith's Elite Mooks with a medieval rocket launcher.
      • Isidro, Guts' Kid Sidekick is able to overpower grown men and later on kills trolls and even a few lesser Apostles.
      • Serpico, an immensely skilled fencer who even without his supernatural Sylph Cloak can slay Apostles and even give Guts trouble in a fight.
      • Azan, the famed "Bridge Knight" is a polearm-wielding knight who is so skilled Guts himself was caught off guard by his abilities and being badly injured, tried to avoid fighting him altogether in their first meeting.
      • Griffith used to count as this, being the only human character to defeat a grown Guts in single combat and able to slice off Nosferatu Zodd's arm. Averted later when Griffith becomes a Physical God and Dark Messiah.
  • Black Butler: Bardroy is the most normal out of the whole house staff. He isn't a super competent badass like Sebastian, doesn't have super strength like Finny, and isn't a ridiculously skilled sniper like Mey-Rin. He gets by on his apparent strategical know-how and skill with a rifle.
  • Black Clover: Asta qualifies. He was born with absolutely no magical powers. To compensate, he spent several years Training from Hell in-order to fight. However, when he is easily defeated by a mage, he becomes an Empowered Badass Normal after he receives his glimore which grants him Anti-Magic.
  • Blood+: Kai, David, and Lewis could fit the bill, seeing as they are ordinary humans who regularly wade into battle with powerful Chiropterans armed only with simple firearms (which the series establishes as being next-to-useless against them), and emerge almost unscathed every time. Out of all them, Lewis and Kai probably emphasize the "normal" aspect the most, since one is a fat, awkward slob, and the other is an ordinary teenage boy. David definitely fits the "badass" part, since he survives being shot, getting slashed by monsters, and jumping out of a helicopter moments before it exploded, despite requiring realistic medical treatment in each case, and when he infiltrated a secret research facility and found himself surrounded by armed guards, he escaped by grabbing a hostage and threatening to kill him with a ballpoint pen.
  • Cardcaptor Sakura: Li Meiling, who has no magical powers at all, but still helps to take down the cards, even beating one in a straight-up fight. To fully get the picture on Meiling's Badass Normalness: Sakura is a Magical Girl. Syaoran is a pint-sized Bruce Lee Clone. Kerberos, Yue and Rubymoon are magic guardians. Meiling can't even see the Clow Cards properly... but she's still a Hot-Blooded Cute Bruiser, and once she's even vital in capturing The Twins card: whereas Sakura fails to synch her attacks with Syaoran's own, Meiling does it perfectly.
  • Choujin Sensen: The Experts are ordinary people who honed their skills to the highest peak that their human capabilities allow them. Baron Saijou being one as a sniper and Sasamura Kouichi as a swordsman.
  • Rosette from the Chrono Crusade manga is the only one in her group that doesn't have any magical or spiritual energy, just some special bullets, but she's still easily the biggest badass of her group. She's defeated countless demons with powers that make them much stronger than her, and in the final volume even shoots the horn on her brother's head, even though those horns give him superhuman speed and strength and the ability to stop time. All this while a demon is draining away her soul to supply his power. In the anime she eventually undergoes Chickification, but still manages to have some badass moments.
  • Claymore: Raki, post time-skip. Unlike the ladies, he has no Yoki to increase his strength, no ability to sense demons beyond the regular five human senses, and he certainly is a lot less durable... He presumably heals at the same rate as a normal human. He's just a regular guy with seven years of sword training under his belt... And he easily kills the sort of youma that was giving Clare trouble at the beginning of the series. One of the Claymores even declares him the world's strongest human fighter.
  • Code Geass:
    • Kallen Kozuki is one of the few major characters without a Geass or some sort of inhuman skill, and yet she's arguably the best Knightmare pilot in the series. She's able to pilot the Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. after its creator stated that even Suzaku Kururugi shouldn't be able to, then narrowly defeats Suzaku in his own custom built Lancelot Albion, despite him using his "Live!" command through all of their fight.
    • Suzaku himself could also qualify at first, even though it verges on Charles Atlas Superpower at times (like kicking auto-tracking machine guns off ceilings).
  • Cowboy Bebop: Spike Spiegal is a unenhanced human man... who thanks to training in the Syndicate can dent steel with his fist and take on scores of foes (even superpowered ones like Mad Pierrot) as a Lightning Bruiser proficient in Jeet Kune Do. Faye and Jet play this straighter, no crazy martial skills or training but can still kick as much as ass Spike with More Dakka and Good Old Fisticuffs when the need arises.
  • Cross Ange:
  • Hei from Darker than Black was a Badass Normal until the end of Heaven's War, when he ended up with his sister's Contractor powers. As a teenager who had nothing more to go on than ninjutsu, he still managed to earn the nickname "The Black Reaper" from taking down so many Contractors. And later get Brought Down to Badass having lost his contractor powers.
  • Doki Doki! PreCure, but it must be seen from another perspective, considering that in a franchise where girls have almighty powers, it's very rare to bring this up:
    • Sebastian, the butler, for instance. The fact that he works for one of the most powerful companies in Japan give him quite the advantage. He always appear at the right moment to escort the other civilians to safety before a fight breaks out and he also has control over the company's vast network, managing to find the Jikochus or other useful informations in a matter of seconds. He's also shown to be a skilled inventor and good martial artist. There couldn't have been a more capable ally for the Cures.
    • Jonathan, if someone is attentive, considering we don't see much of him in action. If we compare him to the Cures, he's just a knight with a shiny sword and he's not at their level. But we see him charge through a dozen of Jikochus (maybe more) and the next scene he's completely fine with not even a scratch. That's really something. He also pulls a Big Damn Heroes, saving Heart from Regina in Episode 17.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • Mr. Satan / Hercule in Dragon Ball Z. All the showboating aside, he is one of the best non-superpowered fighter on the planet (only surpassed by guys like Yajirobe, Nam and Bora.) and won the World Martial Arts tournament fair and square (since none of the superhumans competed that year). His strength is nothing compared to the Z Fighters and their foes. It should also be noted that he managed to persuade the series' final Big Bad, an Eldritch Abomination that Goku had trouble with when he was going all-out, to do a Heel–Face Turn. And when the evil side of that character manifested itself, he played a crucial role in destroying it. There's also the fact that he is the only human—strike that, the only protagonist, to never die in a series where Anyone Can Die. Unfortunately, Hercule’s luck finally runs out in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' when Frieza (ever the Sore Loser) blows up the Earth out of nowhere while fighting Vegeta, forcing Whis to rewind time. Ironically had Hercule attended the battle, even to just spectate like Bulma he would’ve survived due to Whis’s forcefield.
    • Chi-Chi counts, alongside Yajirobe she’s the only main human fighter in the series who doesn’t display any Ki Manipulation (barring a Played for Laughs Kaioken-esque Battle Aura when she’s pissed off in the Garlic Junior Filler Arc). Yet as expanded material like the fourth movie shows, Chi-Chi is powerful enough to No-Sell Ki blast explosions and take down two alien soldiers (who could Beam Spam her Half-Human Hybrid Gohan son out of the sky) with a single kick. In the aforementioned Garlic Junior arc she’s presented as a genuine threat while Brainwashed and Crazy and when training her other son Goten Chi-Chi takes a kick from him when he accidentally goes Super Saiyan, considering even casual hits from a Super Saiyan can knock out Muggles and seriously injure someone like Frieza — this is extremely impressive. Only reason Chi-Chi doesn’t train to become even stronger is that she hates fighting.
    • Jaco the Patrolman while an alien cop with rocket boots and blasters, his strength utterly pales in comparison to even the likes of Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and Master Roshi. He is unable to use any Ki attacks and flat out states he would get steamrolled by any of Frieza’s Elite Mooks. This doesn’t stop Jaco from being skilled enough to take down entire squads of troops and fight aliens much larger than himself however.
    • Launch in her blonde side, she could send a Red Ribbon soldier flying with a uppercut and as a Gun Nut criminal gave the Earth’s police immense grief. She even got away with kicking Kami in the ass.
  • Elfen Lied:
    • Soldiers that are mostly mooks stand no chance against the super-powered diclonius unless in large numbers — except for Bando who is a Badass Normal that puts up a good fight whenever he can get the chance to. Despite being augmented with high-tech prosthetics, these are actually still handicaps for him. He qualifies by being Crazy-Prepared in that he will only face her in an open space on the beach that he keeps clean of debris for months by patrolling it daily. He is also very ruthless and skilled.
    • Several other characters display this trope. The Agent defeats several Diiclonii including Lucy. The Unknown Man manages to defeat Nana and get the better of Bando temporarily. Even Kurama charged Lucy head on without realizing that she had been Brought Down to Normal.
  • In Endride, some people have innate magical weapons called Warp Relics. While no one knows what dictates who gets one, it's generally assumed that people who have them are more powerful than those without. The Rebel Leader, Demetrio undercuts these assumptions by kicking more ass than anybody else, something that, being born without a Warp Relic, he achieved by hard work. As he points out to Emilio mid-asskicking, it's not about the weapon you have, it's who has it.
  • Fabricant 100: Mortsafe's fighters are humans who can match Fabricants in strength. Luka is one of the 5-stars, who can move at such speed that even No 100 has trouble keeping up if she wants to avoid collateral damage.
  • Captain Akitaru Ōbi from Fire Force has no real firepower whatsoever, but his diligent training, workout routines, and logical thinking are good enough for him to overpower Captain Benimaru, who was stated to be one of the strongest captains in the force.
  • Fist of the North Star:
    • Mamyia, while she lacks of the truly flashy Hokuto or Nanto martial arts skill of the main fighters in the series, she’s strong enough to break the skull of a Fang Gang member with her knee and using her special weapons Mamyia can overpower and kill other strong bandits who easily prey on regular women.
    • Ein and the adult version of Bat. While they don't have same martial arts training as Kenshiro and other martial artists in the series, they're capable on holding their own against the bad guys. The two of them working together managed to punch a fortress filled with goons to death.
    • Some of the bad guys, like Jackal, may qualify for this trope as well. Speaking of Jackal, while he did not receive martial art training like the other martial artists, he's an expert of manipulating the environments, people and dynamites, his pragmatism is the reason why he can outlive most villains for quite a while and posed as an actual threat to Kenshiro.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
    • Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong is the older sister of Alex Louis Armstrong. She's also a sword-wielding maniac who terrifies the Elric brothers. Even though she has no alchemic abilities, and relies only on her sword, she has put more fear in them than the Homunculi, Scar, and Father combined.
    • And her whole garrison. Who did most of the work of taking over the country toward the end of the series.
    • Lt. Colonel Hughes is also badass normal to a particular degree, wielding push knives with deadly skill and holding his own against two Homunculi until a third one kills him.
    • Mustang's men are this trope personified, although special mention belongs to Riza Hawkeye. When the single most deadly alchemist in the entire military hand-selects a female gunslinger to be his bodyguard, you know she's got to have some serious skills.
    • Sig Curtis may not have alchemy like his wife Izumi, but he proves that his muscles aren't just for show in the last arc when he kills Sloth alongside Alex Louis by throwing him on a spike.
    • Ling Yao before becoming the new Greed is quite the badass. While he has no knowledge of alchemy, he's quite skilled with his sword and at one point holds his own against Wrath while holding an injured comrade across one shoulder. His bodyguards, Lan Fan and Fuu, aren't too shabby, either.
  • Gangsta.: Worick qualifies, he’s not superpowered like his Heterosexual Life Partner Nic who’s a Twilight, he’s a Gun Fu badass and as revealed later in the manga an talented Professional Killer. Alex has her moments herself, at one point saving a girl from a rapist by wacking him in the head with a pipe.
  • Gantz:
    • While it's emphasized that usually only the characters smart enough to wear the Hunter suits are smart enough to survive a game of Gantz, one of the facts that make Kurono such an utter badass is his ability to not only survive playing without his suit (not by choice, he simply doesn't have access to it) but to thrive, regularly scoring more points than players wearing suits. That, combined with the time he killed a gang of vampire assassins with a homemade "sun gun", marks him out as the series ultimate Badass Normal.
    • Kaze technically qualities as well, having killed a few raptors with his bare hands before he gets to the point of wearing his suit. Like Kurono, the act of donning the aforementioned Hunter suits puts him well above the average Gantz participant.
  • Togusa from Ghost in the Shell stands out less for being a badass than for being normal. He got selected for one of the worlds most elite counter-terrorism made up from cyborgs as a simple street cop with almost no augmentations except for the ubiquous Brain/Computer Interface. While not being able to keep up with the other members of the team in foot chases or hand-to-hand combat, he was requested specifically by the units leader, though she never told anyone why. Though he does do a very good job at reminding the cyborgs why they are fighting terrorism and corruption in the first place. It is worth noting that while it's never specifically stated as the reason, it becomes apparent that Togusa provides a different perspective for the group, especially in his detective training (the Major mentions offhandedly as much in the first episode). In the first season, he's the one who makes most of major breakthroughs logically in the case.
  • Hiro who's Deuteragonist in Golden Warrior Gold Lightan can make dents against robotic mooks with his own bare fists for a boy his age!
  • The Gundam multiverse is a difficult issue, as it depends on the universe, what you consider a super power. UC would go with psychic Newtypes and SEED with genetically engineered Coordinators, G-verse is full of people with Charles Atlas Superpowers beating the crap out of others. Also in a mecha anime, you might consider fighting with a normal suit with or against way superior opponents a Badass Normal action. Examples (these characters also have to be directly compared to a newtype or coordinator, not just have them exist somewhere in that universe:
    • Garrod Ran of After War Gundam X. A kid who Fell Into The Cockpit, he practically survives his first few battles only by way of his Humongous Mecha's Wave-Motion Gun and The Power of Love coming from Shrinking Violet Tiffa. After being stripped of the former thanks to a premature Mid-Season Upgrade, he has to start building up his skills and becomes an excellent pilot in his own right.
    • In a war where Newtypes are the only ones getting a hit on the enemy, Zeta Gundam's Jerk Jock Jerid Messa manages to rival Kamille for the entire show, despite his total lack of the Psychic Powers that make Kamille so dangerous, racking up a highly respectable number of kills. Sociopathic Soldier Yazan "I'm gonna violate you" Gable takes this even further, with his tactical skill and penchant for ambushes allowing him to head straight into Hero Killer territory.
    • Gundam ZZ has Masai, a young woman living in a desert, laying out some traps and fighting the whole Gundam team with an near ancient Gelgoog. And then there's Rakan Dhakaran, an Oldtype Neo-Zeon pilot who matches Newtype Judau Ashta blow for blow, and manages to kill several other Newtype pilots, including the recently superempowered Mashmyre Cello.
    • They don't make a huge deal of it, but Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack features Dark Action Girl Rezun Schneider, an Oldtype pilot who is one of Char's highest scoring ace pilots, serves as The Brute in his army, and is yes, a Distaff Counterpart to Yazan Gable and Rakan Dhakaran.
    • MS IGLOO. Oliver May in the Big Rang. 'Nuff said. To give you an idea, he was an engineer with no piloting experience who got inside a patched-up MA made of a Bigro attached to a custom-built support platform, and completely stomped Fed forces all over A Baoa Qu, to the point they thought he was Char.
      • In the second movie series, there's Ben Barberry, who has the highest MS kill count achieved on foot, and Arleen Nazon, who's team was the only support Big Tray needed in their ground assault on the Dabudes in Operation Odessa.
    • UC Aces have a number of well known badass normals aside from Jerid and Yazaan, Hughes to date is canonically the oldest Gundam pilot (32 years old!), the Twin Stars of Carnage are so badass that they punched out Amuro's G3 Gundam once.
      • Look further and you'll find Ramba Ral and his Earth-bound expy Norris Packard, who will show the difference between a merely good pilot and an Ace Pilot, and they won't be doing them in Zakus. Then there are Kou Uraki and Anavel Gato, from a Newtype-less show, they show off the power of growth and Character Development, and of nukes. The Universal Century is teeming with awesome normal guys, to the point where even the faceless red shirts get a representative in Gundam Unicorn, the Londo Bell veteran (technically two, if you count ex-Titans veteran Robin Diez, whose name and face are only revealed in a side-story manga).
    • The 00 series features this a lot in many characters:
      • Lockon Stratos' companions consist of a former Child Soldier, a former lab rat with a Split Personality, and an Innovade. Neil and his successor Lyle on the other hand are both excellent at sniping despite their lack of powers.
      • Graham Aker is the biggest of them, being the first character in the series to come close to taking down a Gundam in a straight fight. Had his fight with the Eins continued, he would have chopped it to pieces with the beam saber he jacked from the same unit.
      • Ali Al-Saachez qualifies for the first part of the first season because he was able to at least put up a legitimate fight against Setsuna (but he loses due to Exia's sheer physical power). Subverted later on when he steals the Zwei and upgrades it into the Arche. After that he just becomes another Gundam Pilot.
      • Sergei Smirnoff, a middle aged man in a Sino-Russian mass production suit (which is just as crappy as that premise sounds) that nearly beats the main character in his Gundam, during his specialty, melee combat. How does he do this? By exploiting the impressive strength of his suit and nearly ripping the Gundams head off. The same pilot in the same suit just curbstomped the ace of the AEU in their Super Prototype.
    • Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny:
      • Cagalli Yula Atha. She's a Natural who repeatedly take on Coordinators (genetically altered humans) in combat and gets out alive. At one point she actually goes so far as to attack a mobile suit while armed with an RPG and a jeep. Ace Pilots Mu La Flaga and Rau Le Creuset may also count, as neither has enhanced combat skills, and they both regularly fly grunt mechs against Gundams and come out on top. When all three finally do acquire Bigger Sticks, slaughter ensues.
      • Mu, Rau, and later in Destiny and X Astray, Ray and Prayer, are an odd case. In Comparison to the Coordinators, they're certainly badass normal, but they have abilities that most normals and even some Coordinators don't - a Newtype-esque psychic link, and the ability to pilot machines with drone guns like Rau's Providence and Mu's Mobius Zero, that require a hightened sense of spatial awareness to master.
      • Gundam SEED Destiny's spinoff, Stargazer introduces Sven Cal Bayan, a Natural pilot and elite member of the Blue Cosmos' Phantom Pain unit. Having undergone Training from Hell since a young age, Sven is able to perform as well as his own side's Extended and downs numerous Coordinators in a war where most Naturals are dropping like flies.
    • Gundam AGE continues the tradition with both Woolf Enneacle and Asem Asuno. Both are not X-Rounders (the local Newtype equivalent), and both can kick ass all over the battlefield regardless, using nothing but pure piloting skill, even against X-Rounders. Thanks to some Gratuitous English of Woolf's, fans refer to them as "Super Pilots".
    • Shimon Izuma of Gundam Build Fighters Try. Shimon pilots a straight-build Destiny Gundam and makes it to the third round of the tournament. What makes it this trope is that, as stated, the Destiny Gundam is straight-built, meaning that not only was is built like the instructions said to do so, but it isn't even painted or the nubs from where the pieces were connected on the plastic ring are still there. And yet, he goes on to battle Sekai in a brutal one-on-one fist fight, tearing their Gunpla apart!
  • Hellsing:
    • Abraham Van Hellsing, the founder of the eponymous organization, is an ordinary human being... who also happens to be one who defeated Alucard back when the latter was known as Count Dracula, making him one of the most powerful characters in the series.
    • In the original TV series, Integra Hellsing is fast and smart enough to hold off superhuman foes like Anderson and Nazi vampires attacking from the front despite being a fully un-powered human. Plus shooting a perfect cross of blessed silver bullets into the forehead of a moving vampire. With a Walther PPK. At 20 yards. In a crowded conference room. In the OVA Hellsing Ultimate, she also strongarms the Iscariot, a group of specially trained Church Militants who absolutely hate and oppose Hellsing Organization, into lighting her cigarette and protecting her instead of taking her into custody by sheer force of personality. And cuts down a Nazi vampire with nothing but a sword. She is also the master of Alucard, the original vampire, and he will only answer to her.
    • Captain Pickman, a minor character only featured in the TV anime and not until the very last episodes, was the last of the Hellsing Redshirts when they were led into an trap at the Tower of London. Despite every single other Redshirt having been violently killed, he continued to fight at the side of Alucard with surprising success until a enemy offscreen mortally wounds him, and requests Alucard to kill him so he would die as a human.
    • Ultimate has Pip Bernadotte, leader of the Wild Geese mercenaries. In a World of Badass filled with superpowered priests, Nazi vampires and literally Dracula, he has no powers to speak of except for his combat experience. His claim to this trope was to simply use military tactics, which successfully held off a major Nazi vampire attack and wiped out 80% of their troops.
    • By following the above example, Lulu would have counted... at least until halfway through the first episode.
  • Demon slayer Sango is Inuyasha's resident Badass Normal. Of the main group, she is the only one that doesn't have either demonic or spiritual power, instead relying purely on her enormous boomerang, extensive combat training, and nigh-encyclopedic knowledge about all manner of demons and their weakness. Sango is, notably, the second strongest combatant in the group, formidable enough to impress even Inu-Yasha himself. Miroku sums it up when he's forced to try to take her down while she's mind controlled - he pulls it off eventually, but not without incurring some nasty injuries, and she's clearly not fighting at full potential.
    Miroku: You're truly a fearsome opponent... I'm just glad you're usually on our side!
  • Mizushima Toru, protagonist of Iris Zero. Interestingly, he lives in a setting where amongst his age group, having eye powers is the norm. His lack of iris earns him the titular nickname. He manages to get by through Awesomeness by Analysis, and utilizing his friends abilities more skillfully.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • While Phantom Blood's Jonathan Joestar would eventually become an Empowered Badass Normal through use of Hamon, even prior to that, he was still able to hold his own against a vampiric Dio, defeating him in his mansion entirely through a combination of quick thinking and determination.
    • Diamond is Unbreakable: Hayato Kawajiri is only a grade school kid with no Stand, but still manages to root out Kira, the Big Bad of the Part, after he kills his father and steals his identity before anyone else. Even after said Big Bad turns him into a living bomb that kills anyone who even questions him about Kira's identity before starting a "Groundhog Day" Loop, he still resolves to put a stop to it even if he has to kill him himself. Eventually, he manages to Out-Gambit one of the smartest villains in the series, and for an encore Jumps On A Proverbial Grenade to take one of Kira's bombs to save Josuke and Okuyasu, only managing to survive because Josuke managed to act fast enough with Crazy Diamond to save him. Again, this is a grade school kid.
    • Steel Ball Run:
      • Lucy Steel is a 14-year old girl who lacks a Stand, yet she still manages to survive against enemy Stand Users through a combination of pragmatism and luck.
      • Mrs. Robinson is one of the few villains to lack a Stand in the Part, yet is still able to hold his own against the heroes.
  • Jujutsu Kaisen has a Subverted example in Maki Zen'in. When she's introduced, it's stated that she has no Cursed Energy due to having received a Heavenly Restriction at birth, which also makes her unable to naturall see Curses. She's still said to be able to fight on par with other Sorcerers by using Cursed Tools to keep up with them, which paints her as entirely reliant on those weapons and items to accomplish anything. However, when we see finally see her in a real fight, any illusion that she has no special powers and is carried entirely by her items is instantly shattered, as we learn that the Heavenly Restriction she received traded her ability to use Cursed Energy in return for giving her ludicrous Super-Strength, far above what a Charles Atlas Superpower could possibly do.
  • Otoha of Karas is an interesting example, in that he is a Badass Normal compared to himself. He was originally a yakuza enforcer who liked killing gun-toting mooks with nothing but his sword, and was actually able to hold his own (if only barely) against a full-powered mikura. Then he turned into Karas, and anything he fought just kind of died.
  • Gareki from Karneval is one; his sharpshooting skills are well-honed and exceedingly better than a top fighter of their nation's ultimate defense organization, Circus. Even when he acknowledges that his abilities are far inferior to that of those who own a Circus I.D., he is able to hold his own with a gun (that he's not actually allowed to have on him) next to the said top fighter in a fight against two psychos.
  • Kill la Kill:
    • Kinagase Tsumugu will smoke anywhere he wants. And he can keep up and out match any Life-Fiber powered pig in human clothing. Unfortunately, he undergoes Badass Decay as the series goes on and becomes less and less effective as the life fiber uniforms just get too powerful.
    • Satsuki Kiryuin is initially able to put Ryuko (wearing Senketsu) in her place without a Goku Uniform or Kamui, and is even able to wear Junketsu, an evil Kamui, and fully control it without any special abilities and without being a Life Fiber-Hybrid like at least three main characters through sheer force of will.
  • Geronimo from Kinnikuman. In his first fight, he's just an ordinary person, but manages to not only survive getting crushed and stabbed in the torso, but destroy his opponent by screaming at him, only stopping to make his stopped heart start beating again by reaching into his own chest and massaging it. The fact that he's not even technically a superhero at this point makes this even more amazing. After becoming a superhero, though, he never wins another fight. Apparently, super powers make you weak.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords (2004): Link's father does not have Princess Zelda's sacred power, Shadow Link's dark magic, or even the Four Sword, but he is so skilled with a sword that even Link considers himself outmatched by him.
  • Domyouji from Linebarrels of Iron is a common human being who can fight toe-to-toe with nanomachines-enhanced individuals (who can easily punch normal people unconscious in a single blow, and have repeatedly done that).
  • M×0: Taiga. Despite having no magical powers whatsoever (and later on, a very limited Anti-Magic power), he still manages to keep up the charade of being a genius wizard for a school year through sheer determination, wits, reputation and intriguing bullshit.
  • Limelda Jorg in Madlax is an ordinary military officer positioned as The Rival to the eponymous Action Girl, who is Cursed with Awesome, Immune to Bullets, sports Gun Kata, and stacks up Theme Music Power Ups like no tomorrow. That Limelda survives the show where Anyone Can Die also speaks a lot about her skills.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS. Downplayed with Teana Lanster. Like most of her fellow Mid-Childans, she has capacity for magic, but unlike most of her colleagues at the Riot Force 6, she has no special magical skills whatsoever. In terms of magical capacity, she essentially a regular Ground Forces grunt serving alongside with the current and future aces of the Bureau. What makes her special and able to keep up with all of their magical talents (like Subaru's Combat Cyborg frame, Erio's Super-Speed, or Caro's Summon Magic) is a sharp mind, a reliable moral compass, a keen tactical sense, years of intense marksman training, and a metric crapton of determination. Essentially, she is what you'd get if Batman was a gunslinger Magical Girl.
  • In Medaka Box, Zenkichi Hitoyoshi, one of the normal main characters, is able to hold own his against an Abnormal(one who has a special ability caused by their personality) and a Minus(similar to an abnormal but a minus is morally corrupt). He is possibly even an inversion to the trope, having received a power that nullifies fate in battle, meaning that he will receive no second chance, nor a Deus Ex Machina, nor any other sort of reprieve from his situation.
  • Megalo Box is about boxers who use Gear, mechanical arms that increase their guarding and punching power. The main character, Junk Dog, starts off using Gear as well, but after his set gets destroyed, he decides to enter the ring as "Gearless Joe", where he manages to take down several Gear-using opponents despite lacking the advantage the equipment would grant him. When he gets to Megalonia, he decides to try going back to using Gear, but when it breaks down during a fight, he ends up having to become Gearless Joe once again.
  • The "Nanaya Shiki" of Melty Blood. He's kinda like a fake copy of the protagonist and therefore does not possess the eyes that can potentially kill anything. Doesn't stop him from doing what he does best though.
  • In the anime version of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, Nagisa, despite being a Dogged Nice Guy with little to no knowledge of the Masquerade, has a few moments of his own... like resisting a spell to immobilize humans, attacking the person responsible and destroying the item he was using to do it, despite being one of the only two normals in the entire cast, simply because Hanon was in pain.
  • Mob Psycho 100 features Reigen Arataka, the master of the main protagonist Mob and the Un-Sorcerer in a world full of powerful espers. Despite his lack of powers, Reigen's strengths lie in his ability to charm others with his silver tongue and his wisdom on how to live a productive lifestyle. These talents manage to win the favor of various Scar Bosses who pull a Heel–Face Turn and decide to make him their leader during the "World Domination" Arc. And that's not even getting into his "special moves".
  • My Hero Academia ends up deconstructing this in the early chapters.
    • Deku, a Quirkless boy, wants to be a hero despite having no powers at all. When he tells this to his hero, All Might, he's told to give it up — trying to be a hero against superpowered threats would only get him killed. When he attempts to rescue his "best friend" from a creature that tried to take over him prior, the heroes fawn over the friend as he was a Quirked kid who held on despite his powers being used against others while Deku is chewed out for getting into the line of fire.
    • Played straight with Knuckle Duster of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, who is a Quirkless vigilante who relies on regular old knuckle dusters. Despite his supposed lack of powers he is capable of fighting other superpowered opponents. Deconstructed again when it's revealed that his body has been ravaged by his reckless exploits and he's constantly using painkillers to shrug off his intense exhaustion and pain from various injuries.
    • Also appears with Mirio when he loses his powers in the Shie Hassaikai arc where he is still able to stand up against one of the big bads of the arc. His powers are later recovered, partially deconstructing this again
  • My-HiME:
    • In a school inhabited by super-powered Magical Girls, Haruka Suzushiro counts, if only for the fact that as the head of Fuuka Academy's Executive Committee, she has a whole legion of students at her direct command, and her utter refusal to take "no" for an answer even when faced with death after Yukino's CHILD is instantly destroyed by a freshly Face Heel Turned Shizuru, whom she chewed out and gave a very nasty headbutt just before she disappeared.
    • The most exemplary moment of Haruka's Badass Normal tendencies is during the Searrs invasion where she uses her brute strength to take out a pair of fully armed soldiers... and also kicking one of their tanks and somehow not breaking her foot. Wow.
  • Naruto: Mifune. While the other leaders of the Shinobi Alliance can do stuff such as creating a sea of sand, obliterating mass, healing with such speed that it equals immortality, manipulating lava and acid alike, and dramatically augmenting one's physical abilities with lightning, Mifune just draws his katana fast enough to prevent even high-level ninja from performing the hand-seals needed to use their special techniques.
  • In Negima! Magister Negi Magi, most of the characters at the least use some kind of given magic or Ki. But some of them are at least able to touch ground with the more powerful people.
    • Asakura showed sly cleverness — enough to manipulate anyone in the class — long before she got her spying device pactio weapon.
    • Kuu Fei in particular was only recently able to properly utilize Ki, and hold her own against the more magically capable opponents.
    • Although she rarely gets placed in a situation where it would become applicable due to her "clueless Muggle" status, Ayaka also proved herself capable of holding her own in battle during the school trip arc.
    • Negi's father also counts; even without his magic charging into an Anti-Magic valley filled with monsters is no problem if his woman is in danger.
    • Even without magic Evangeline can still kick Grade-A Badass Setsuna's ass all day with nothing more than some string, iron fans, and 100 years of Aikido practice. However, saying Evangeline is normal is like saying Cthulhu is just a regular guy with really bad acne.
  • Jubei of Ninja Scroll, facing various mutants and mystical opponents with nothing but a sword and his skill with it.
  • Mireille Bouquet is one of the best assassins in the world, but compared to the rest of the cast of Noir is mundane. However, her refusal to bend ultimately brings down an Ancient Conspiracy (or at least, one branch of it).
  • One Piece: Almost all of the named fighters without Devil Fruit powers are this.
    • In the crew of the main protagonists, Sanji and Zoro are proud owners of Charles Atlas Superpowers. Averted with Sanji as of Wano arc, as having gotten through most of the series with just sheer strength and skill from training, he awakens the dormant Transhuman abilities given by his Archnemesis Dad while fighting one of Kaido's Co-Dragons... Sanji isn't happy about it.
    • Usopp's durability is easily superhuman, and he's yet to meet an equal in marksmanship and sniping, but otherwise he's nothing special, getting by on ingenuity and smarts rather than just hitting his opponents till they stop getting up (except for Choo in the Arlong arc). As a frame of reference for Usopp's ingenuity, he fights Luffy at one point. Even though Luffy was holding back, that scene makes it clear that Usopp is truly badass; he gave The Hero a run for his money while he was in a freaking full-body cast.
    • Nami likewise possesses no notable physical abilities, relying on her Clima-Tact weapon to see her through battles with massively powerful superhumans.
    • Vivi didn't seem all that impressive next to the Straw Hat crew, but she did make it to a single-digit agent in Baroque Works, armed only with sharp pieces of jewelry on lengths of string...and probably undersold her abilities, too. During the climax of the Alabasta Arc, she singlehandedly defeated the Mr. 7 team, while she was only ranked as part of the Mr. 9 team while she was infiltrating Baroque Works.
    • Dracule Mihawk, the world's greatest swordsman, seems to have no Devil Fruit Powers. Likewise, Silvers Rayleigh, the first mate of Gold Roger, is shown swimming at one point (indicating he doesn't have a Devil Fruit) and can fight against an Admiral despite being retired as a pirate for twenty years. Said sea he was swimming in was infested with Sea Kings, which are usually hostile and about fifty times the size of the average human.
    • Shanks is a Handicapped Badass, able to cross blades with Whitebeard and walk away. And before he lost his arm, he was Mihawk's sparring partner. The very first chapter of the manga (the fourth episode of the anime) has Shanks scare a Sea King (a gigantic sea serpent, which often make humans look like tiny specks by comparison) into fleeing with nothing but a glare and Conqueror's Haki.
    • On the Marines' side, there's Luffy's Grandpa, former Vice Admiral Garp. The guy has no Devil Fruit powers whatsoever, but was offered the position of Admiral, a position usually occupied by Nigh-Invulnerable people who won the Superpower Lottery, several times, but denied, thinking Vice Admiral was enough.
    • Speaking of Vice Admirals, Vergo deserves a special mention despite not possessing a Devil Fruit he infiltrated and worked as a spy for years in the Marines for Doflamingo. Vergo is also strong enough to give Law, Sanji, Tashigi and Smoker a very hard time, true Vergo was cut in half by Law but the fact Law had to use his Story-Breaker Power on him speaks volumes. Vergo is also the first character to show off full body Armament Haki.
    • Zephyr from One Piece Film: Z does not have any powers except for Haki (which everyone Vice Admiral or up possesses) and a mechanical arm, which he can fight just fine without. He was an Admiral in his youth, before losing his normal arm, meaning he was in the same position as Garp, but accepted. He is incredibly badass.
    • Gold Roger himself. This guy had the not-widely-shared belief that the many drawbacks of Devil Fruit were not worth the benefits, and never used it. Still, he competed with Whitebeard for the title of World's Strongest Man, conquered the freakin' Grand Line, and was so notorious that his last words are what started the Age of Piracy.
    • Kozuki Oden, unlike the majority of powerhouses in the series (or even a few of his Retainers and family members), didn’t have a Devil Fruit power. Nonetheless, Oden was such a Master Swordsman he could’ve given both Zoro and Mihawk a run for their money and was so strong and tough that he put future World's Strongest Man Kaido on the ropes in a fight. Literally the only ones above Oden in terms of strength were Roger and Whitebeard themselves.
  • Played with with Mumen Rider from One-Punch Man. In a practical sense, it's a subversion; In a world full of people with Charles Atlas Superpowers, he's just some guy on a bike who doesn't stand a chance against the monsters most of the heroes above him have to contend with. But his sheer heroic determination eventually leads him to stand up to the Sea King to protect a shelter full of civilians he was about to slaughter, even knowing his opponent (who took out multiple S-class heroes just minutes before) is leagues above him and that he doesn't stand a chance, but he has to Hold the Line anyway because there's no one else left. As such, he's one of the few heroes that the godly powerful Saitama shows respect for.
  • Outlaw Star:
    • Gene Starwind can be seen as a Badass Normal. Certainly, he has some fancy tech and a space ship, but when his crew are made up of a ninja-esque assassin (capable of killing anything with a wooden sword), an alien catgirl who can turn into a beast form and is nigh-invincible already and his navigator is a bio-robot, it certainly makes the plain outlaw Gene look underwhelming. Furthering this is the fact that the most common enemies Gene runs into are Chinese pirates who use tao magic on a regular basis, while Gene has none of that (aside from his Castor gun, which is magic in an increasingly-rare gun form).
    • Jim, who is a 13-year-old kid (Gene himself only being about 17 in the series) whose only power is being brilliant.
    • Shimi of the Anten Seven is a grand example. Unlike his comrades, he doesn't use any special powers in combat but is no less deadly because of it. Before his showdown with Gene, he first fights Jim, Aisha, and Suzuka all at once using nothing but conventional weapons and beats all three of them within the span of a minute. He then proceeds to give Gene a thorough trouncing and probably would have killed him had he not decided that the only honorable way to finish his quarry was through a quick-draw shoot out. He lost this showdown due to a faulty pistol, but even being shot and then buried didn't stop him from surviving and digging himself out of his grave. Truly he is a manly man among normal men. Also, he threw the fight by deliberately using a faulty pistol. And depending on when he decided to lose, he may have taken down Aisha and Suzuka just to make his "death" more convincing!
  • Elliot Nightray from PandoraHearts held his own against Fang Baskerville and Lottie's Chain (a lion) with nothing but his sword. Oz tried to do the same and was a lot less successful, much to Elliot's aggravation.
  • Pokémon: The Series:
    • Looker (Handsome in Japan). He first comes off as a slightly bizarre detective, but he dares to actually fight bad guys HIMSELF instead of relying on any Pokémon.
    • Bad girl Domino in Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns holds off and pushes a Scyther away herself among other things. She is one of the few human characters who does not have a Pokémon and does things herself quite well; she is Crazy-Prepared.
    • Looker and Domino both impressed in their worlds, but it's more common in the Pokémon Adventures manga for trainers to fight against Pokémon on their own, usually out of necessity. You could easily expect such out of Bruno and Chuck, but then there's Sapphire, who is first seen fighting a Seviper alongside her Torchic, and later has her Aron chew off a bit of a fountain before breaking it off herself to save another Pokémon trapped inside!
    • And in Best Wishes both of Ash's traveling companions, Iris and Cilan prove that they can battle a Pokémon without the need of using one. Iris has demonstrated many ninja-like movements being incredibly fast compared to other Pokémon, has shown to dodge many attacks coming to her and was able to befriend Drilbur that later evolved into her powerful Excadrill because of it. As for Cilan, while he does more thinking than actual battling, he's shown to be a pro at fishing. He battled a Stunfisk just using his fishing rod and caught it after Ash caught his Palpitoad.
    • Ash himself, as well, if his ability to use Aura, which he never uses anyway is ignored. With his personality and young age, it's very easy to forget that he's faster and more agile than a lot of his Pokemon and has a tendency to jump into the action himself when things start getting rough and come out little the worse for wear. However, many agree he was at times inhumanly adept prior to Sinnoh, what with being able to toss large logs across the river and pulling off huge jumps towards Team Rocket's balloon. While his athleticism tends to fluctuate after this, in Episode 38 of Journeys, he's able to throw a freaking boulder as big as his torso in the air! That's something worthy of respect.
    • Team Rocket also counts. Even putting aside how much punishment their bodies take from constantly being blasted off, Jessie and James had multiple instances of physically fighting Pokemon themselves. Jessie actually caught Seviper by personally beating it up in a fit of rage, while James kicked a Tentacruel and later threw it away by its tentacles to defend Mareanie.
    • Iris gets this status again in Journeys, being the only trainer in the Masters 8 tournament to not use any of the allowed gimmicks that were introduced after Black and White (Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, or Dyna/Gigantamax). Despite this, she puts up a heck of a fight against Cynthia.
    • Hareta from Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure!. He's abnormally athletic, and unusually strong, which blends well with his Hot-Blooded personality. He's fought against Pokemon essentially trying to murder him on various occasions.
  • Ryou from Popcorn Avatar is still able to handle a fight against the gods on his own, despite being no longer affiliated with an Asura.
  • Psychic Squad: Main protagonist Minamoto is the head of a level 7 three-person esper (ESP user) team. He has to go up against freakishly strong espers every mission. Some of the things the espers can do is levitate fire trucks like they were nothing, ward off bullets, and read/screw up your mind. Despite this, he manages to constantly even the odds with superior tactics, usage of technology, and plain old kindness and understanding. No wonder he's respected by espers on both sides.
  • Psycho Busters has Kakeru, who, despite being the only one without psychic powers, is still able to kick ass by analyzing the flaws of each psychic and using it to his advantage. However, he may be heading towards Empowered Badass Normal instead since he does have psychic powers sealed inside him, but he's unaware of it.
  • Kodachi Kunō from Ranma ½, who is considered one of the most dangerous characters, despite being arguably the weakest character of the semi-regular cast as it comes to martial skill (even Akane is regularly able to divert her direct attacks). She combines levels of Manipulative Bastard, Combat Pragmatist and Crazy-Prepared. Often she makes use of her pet alligator and fellow St. Hebereke Gymnasts to wear down Ranma and others and keep them running around in her plots. Usually, she gets out of her storylines with little to no damage to herself and Ranma and Akane feel lucky to be alive.
  • Read or Die:
    • Nenene Sumiragawa from the TV series is one of the only normal humans in the series. However, she is the strongest-willed, and dealing with her leads to the fall of not one, but two Ancient Conspiracies. As a popular and talented author in the world of the series, her ability to write is itself something of a "superpower".
    • In both the OVA and TV series, Drake Anderson is able to defeat several superpowered beings using only his army training and machinery.
  • Natsuko Aki in Re: Cutie Honey inspires Cutey Honey to fight, after laying siege to a villain's hideout with just the artillery on her back and sheer guts.
  • Yahiko Myojin from Rurouni Kenshin. While his idol, Kenshin is a master of a Sword Style that grants both Super-Speed and Super-Strength to the user and is a Shell-Shocked Veteran, and Sanosuke is a bullet timer brawler whose skin is so tough he can shrug off a direct stab from a normal human being with no damage, Yahiko is a 10/11 year old boy who took down a Juppongatana by riding the blast wave of his own bomb and smashing him with his shinai!
  • Makoto's father in Sacred Seven is a (sorta) ordinary butler in a series populated by extremely powerful monsters called Dark Stones. Any character who has ever fought one needed special powers of their own, a Mini-Mecha, or a big laser gun. Yet, he managed to hold his own against one, however briefly, with only his barehands and two Hidden Weapons. He later managed to defeat it by blowing himself up.
  • Even Sailor Moon has a few of these.
    • Particularly Kino Makoto/Sailor Jupiter, who established her badass credentials in her debut episode by smacking around a bunch of thugs who were harassing Usagi, then doing it again later in the episode to Zoicite. This was before she awakened as Sailor Jupiter, and for that matter it was before Sailor Moon even knew she was an unawakened Senshi. When she did awaken and turned into an Empowered Badass Normal, she was one of the only Senshi to ever kill a Monster of the Week without the use of Sailor Moon's Finishing Move. Actually, Sailor Mars destroyed one in her debut episode — still impressive, since Sailor Mars is a Miko and thus, have her own supernatural powers even without transforming. Sailor Jupiter has only her own strength, and its more than enough.
    • Also, Minako, who has often shown borderline superhuman abilities without transforming, including jumping from the road to Usagi's room and outrunning a car (this one done while weakened by having given blood and having her Pure Heart Crystal extracted, something that had instantly knocked out everyone else), with Usagi's reaction every time implying it's a somewhat common occurrence off-screen. Fittingly, the manga has a scene where a Brainwashed and Crazy Makoto fights Minako and is quickly thrashed with one kick.
    • The rest of the Inner Senshi also became this trope for a brief period during the Filler Arc of Sailor Moon R. Sailor Moon got her powers and memories reawakened in the first episode, but the other four Senshi still just think they're normal girls, because Luna and Sailor Moon wanted them to be able to live normal lives. When the Monster of the Week shows up, they jump into the fight without any powers or knowledge of their nature. And while they aren't perfect, they do better than the solo Usagi.
    • Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask. He doesn't have any of the finishing attacks of the Sailor Senshi but is usually the last one to go down, making great use of his tactical mind, physical strength (which is a little above average, but not that much), and a few key weapons. This guy is Japanese Batman (even sharing one of his English VA's.
  • Genjyo Sanzo in Saiyuki is the only full human in his quest party and his main weapon, a small handgun, seems to be devoid of special magic. DO NOT MISTAKE THIS FOR BEING A PUSHOVER. He is an extremely good shot, a skillful strategist, and could best adult men at hand-to-hand martial arts by the time he was 14. They don't give you a sutra just for chanting pretty words.
  • Yumi of Saki. She entered the last match of the finals without any of the insane hacks most other characters have (Magical Eye, Photographic Memory, Stealth Mode, etc), so many people assumed that she'd get steamrollered since her table included Saki and Koromo, two characters with the supernatural luck of a god or demon. Instead, we have Yumi being smart enough to realize that supernatural stuff was going on, whereupon she not only stops Saki's third Rinshan Kaihou in a row by changing her strategy to rob Saki out of her kan even if she knows that the chance of that happening is usually a Million to One Chance, but she was also able to put a stop to Koromo's Winds of Destiny, Change! powered winning streak by intentionally playing into Saki's hand before Koromo gets yet another Haitei Raoyue. Compare her to Kana, the other normal in the table, who in the meanwhile could only watch in horror as her points dwindled to nothingness in the face of the two Mahjong demons.
  • The Seven Deadly Sins: King Arthur Pendragon fights using only pure swordsmanship, and is able to keep up with and effectively battle demons and magic users. Some characters have noted that Arthur has a lot of magical potential, but he has absolutely no idea how to unleash it, so until he can, he's a normal human.
  • Sgt. Frog: Natsumi, Aki, Paul, both Momoka's parents. Koyuki and the ninja clan are a borderline case.
  • Slayers:
  • SPY×FAMILY has Loid Forger, aka Twilight. With a wife showcasing inhuman strength and durability that belies her slim build and goes beyond what training alone can accomplish, a telepathic daughter, and a prophetic dog, Loid by comparison has no supernatural abilities. Despite this, he's the greatest spy of the country who manages to eliminate various threats that may lead into war thanks his genius intellect, flawless disguises, impeccable stealth, and high foresight.
  • In Soul Eater, Mifune is one of the few characters who is neither a witch, a magical weapon, or the wielder of a magical weapon. He's just really really impossibly good at swordfighting.
  • Genjuro Kazanari of Symphogear is just a regular dude. He eats, sleeps, and watches movies... and he's easily capable of handing the uber powerful Gear users their asses, without breaking a sweat. Sadly, despite his utter badassery, his normalness means a single touch from the Noise would still instantly kill him, so the opportunities for him to actually fight villains are very limited.
  • Talentless Nana has the eponymous Nana Hiiragi and later, Moe Makabe. Both are normal human beings among superpowered "Talented" individuals yet are perfectly capable of going toe-to-toe with them through a mix of observation skills, meticulous planning, and a whole lot of lying and manipulation. Though they can't win in a straight-up fight and get seriously injured, they often come out on top.
  • Kiyone in the Tenchi Muyo! Tenchiverse timeline had none of the exotic magical or Sufficiently Advanced powers enjoyed by most of the main cast, or even her partner Mihoshi's consistently extraordinary luck, but still managed to at least register on their scale thanks to great skills with her array of high-tech weapons and gadgets.
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
    • Viral is a Beastman, and thus does not have the ability to use the all-important Spiral Power no matter how much he may want to. Still, he manages to take Kamina's place as the pilot of the Gurren-half of the titular mecha in the latter half of the series. Despite having less spiral energy than any human, he's picked for the job and holds his own because he's incredibly skilled with Gunmen-piloting to the point where he doesn't NEED Spiral Power.
    • Kamina as well. It turns out he cannot generate Spiral Power himself, because it relies on the user being able to believe in themselves; Despite his constant hammy shouting and showboating, Kamina does not believe in himself. However according to Word of God, if Yoko did not intervene in the first episode, Kamina would have won against the Gunmen, alone with only his ordinary steel nodachi. When he was killed, he also willed himself back to life for long enough to give Simon a pep talk, invent the Gurren Lagann's signature Giga Drill Break and take out the guy who killed him before finally dropping, so there's that.
  • Bunshichi Tawara from Tenjho Tenge stars in a series filled with formally trained martial artists, people with inherited super powers and the mortal incarnations of Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, & Susanoo, yet still manages to be (arguably) the strongest fighter in the series without any kind of training or supernatural enhancement. Needless to say this has given him quite the reputation in series.
  • Subverted in Tokyo Shinobi Squad. Shuriken tells one of his mooks, a foreigner named Mayweather, to pick up a ninpo art as the only mercenaries who get by are shinobi. Mayweather brushes him off, believing his skill at boxing to be more than enough. But when he faces off against Jin, he's quickly thrown to the floor and electrocuted to death.
  • Trigun:
    • Nicholas D Wolfwood. At least in the anime, he was just a regular if not well trained guy with a really big gun. Despite this he's able to go head to head with large groups of angry thugs, a killer robot and was at least Vash's equal in a quick draw tournament. Averted in the manga where he gained his abilities through a chemical regimen.
    • Played straight with Meryl Strife and Milly Thompson. Unlike the boys they aren’t genetically enhanced or Human Aliens powerful enough to blow craters on the moon, being instead two insurance agents caught up in Vash’s adventures. Regardless they are skilled enough to get the jump on bandits with their hidden guns and Milly being as tall as Vash and Wolfwood can easily wield a BFG, which is heavy enough to knock a grown man out when she dropped it the edge of a table and it flipped up in his face. Meryl and Milly have both lived through events in the series that would kill most people.
  • Essentially the entire point of Battler from Umineko: When They Cry. Not only does he refuse to believe in magic, his disbelief in magic makes him immune to it.
  • Witchblade:
    • Reiji Takayama. Stony resolve in the face of an Ax-Crazy Psycho Lesbian with an Artifact of Doom-level power is impressive, but what seals it is that his only words to his assistant in regards to whether they should help The Hero Masane Amaha, or run, were this: "BACK HER UP!!!" He then proceeds to pull out a shotgun and blast away, even managing an almost victory, despite being massively overpowered. Was damn near raped at the same time, but merely stared impassively at the crazy bitch, as if daring her to actually finish the job. Later, he commands an army barely a fraction the size of the force he's fighting and manages to waste a full eighth of an enemy mere mortals should have had a bitch of time even scratching, with weaponry that was unreliable at best. After he led his team to patch a whole hangar of robot tanks knowing they're about to go haywire and started a point-blank shootout with units that gone wild before they finished.
    • His assistant, Hiroki Segawa, despite being the Sycophantic Servant incarnate, stands his ground with little more than a PISTOL and balls the size of small planets, especially considering said nutcase he was fighting could have killed him effortlessly, also qualifies.
  • Wolf's Rain: Hubb Lebowski starts the series as an ineffectual wuss with allergies, but by the time the world ends he's evolved into a badass that keeps up with the main characters out of sheer bloody-minded determination even after his wife dies. His refusal to die results in one of the most cringe-inducing parts of the series, since he lets himself fall off the side of what looks like the tallest mountain of the world and still lives long enough after the impact to try and smoke a cigar.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
    • Katsuya Jounouchi/Joey Wheeler. He's the only duelist in the core cast without a mystical Millennium item or reincarnation, but is still a pretty skilled player, regardless of what Kaiba thinks. (The only time he had a MacGuffin on his side would be during the Atlantis/Doma filler arc.) He's also considered the third best player in the entire world by GX. He would likely have defeated the Big Bad during the Battle City Arc if not for his injuries. That, and whereas the other prominent duelists are loaded with powerful cards, especially Kaiba, Joey's deck, ostensibly due to him being much newer to the game and a lot poorer for one, is littered with weak cards, along with chance-based cards whose effects can even things out when he gets lucky with the result. (He does get stronger cards throughout the series, most notably Jinzo.) As a result, he really has to fight for his victories, though fortunately for himself, he's one of the most driven duelists in the entire series.
    • Little Yugi, when up against Atem in the Ceremonial Duel, would be another. Whereas the latter is locked and loaded with all three Egyptian god cards and by this point the ability to will his topdecks with his Millennium powers, the non-magical Yugi takes him and his gods down with much weaker monsters augmented by strategic use of spells and traps, and in spite of Atem's ability to select what he draws every turn, Yugi manages to stay one step ahead, culminating in his calling out Atem's final strategy of revive Osiris. (Added in the anime version was Kaiba's presence, where he offers Yugi to choose among his rarest and strongest cards for help against Atem, but Yugi chooses to rely on his own cards. Not only that, he takes down all three god cards at once!)
    • To a lesser extent, you also have Kujaku Mai/Mai Valentine; not as major a character as Joey, but she was skilled enough to make it to the finals of both Duelist Kingdom and the Battle City tournament. We only see her duel twice in the latter, but she defeats Jean-Claude Magnum pretty easily, and engages Marik in a duel, and fares exceedingly well against him. She only loses due to a trick of the Winged Dragon of Ra unrelated to dueling. She'd have beaten him handily without it. Atem and Kaiba were both exceedingly impressed with her.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds: Crow was arguably badass right from his introduction, when he pulled off the series only Riding Duel First Turn Win. However, his defeat of a Dark Signer (even when faced with a Jibakushin), despite not being a Signer himself, proves that he is definitely qualified for this trope. He has also survived a day and a half inside an old fridge. His status as such was pretty short-lived, however: with the Second Season Finale, the Crimson Dragon, probably wondering why it didn't choose him in the first place, has given him the Tail Birthmark and made him into a Signer, which sadly means he can't be classified as a Badass Normal anymore.

Top