The Strategists of Anime and Manga.
- Kakuri in Bokko. When the small border city of Ryo is threatened by a large invading army, they send a request for help to their ancient allies, the clan of Bokk. They send a single man to save the city. Which he proceeds to do, in spite of seemingly insurmountable problems.
- In Brave10, Yukimura is always considering the long-term future of Ueda and trying to manipulate things to ensure its peace and safety. However, once he meets Benmaru, he realizes the kid might be even a better strategist then him.
- Claymore gives us Miria for the Claymores and Isley for the Abyssal Ones. However, since this is Claymore, even the strategists are Genius Bruisers that can curbstomp you into jam if they feel so inclined.
- Zero in Code Geass: In an inversion of the common scenario, he seeks out La Résistance rather than the other way around, and he's a Magnificent Bastard on top of that. Played straight with Zero getting Todoh to join the Black Knights. There's also a bit more screwing around in that quite often, he's involved in fights as well. On one occasion, he started a chess game by moving his King. When questioned about it later, he responds, "If the King doesn't lead, his subjects won't follow." It's also good to note that Zero's ulterior ambitions aren't all that different from the resistance, they want to liberate Japan, he wants to overthrow the Empire occupying it, it's largely a matter of scale.
- In Corsair, Canale is the chief strategist for Preveza, a pirate clan. It's probably the only thing that offers him any protection, as his refusal to actually fight (despite the fact that he's blind) is highly contentious for the other pirates.
- In the early releases, Digimon V-Tamer 01 and C'mon Digimon, this was how humans earned their keep in a world full of monsters. Later entries into the franchise would change this to monsters "evolving" due to human emotions and thus partnering to humans to get stronger. The protagonists of Digimon Tamers would try to come up with tactics, but fail more often than they succeeded, the supporting adult characters later becoming strategists instead. Teru Raku and Masuken Kana of Digimon D-Cyber, Yuu of Digimon Next and Toma of Digimon Data Squad were strategists but were overshadowed by emotional idiot heroes who simply relied on evolution. Digimon Fusion seemed to go back to humans earning their keep by being tacticians angle but then reintroduced evolution and a spotlight stealing idiot hero named Taigiru.
- Eikou no Napoleon: Eroica, the sequel to The Rose of Versailles, has its fair share:
- The first to appear is, surprisingly, Alain, who has a knack for anticipating the strategies of Napoléon Bonaparte of all people; another is Napoleon, who not only did all of historical deeds but also offered a job to Alain upon discovering they had the same idea to dispose of a counter-revolutionary insurgence (with the difference that Napoleon actually had the authority to do the job and Alain was trying a Bavarian Fire Drill); Horatio Nelson took care of frustrating Napoleon's efforts at sea; the French generals Massena and Murat, who acted as Napoleon's Lancers after Alain's death attempting to kill Napoleon; Michael Von Melas, who gave Napoleon a desperate run for his money at Marengo and would have won if Alain didn't anticipate Napoleon's need for more troops and returned at the right moment; Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov, the great Russian general, anticipated Napoleon's tactic at Austerlitz (too bad the czar ignored him), but when Napoleon invaded Russia he outsmarted him every time and, while unable to defeat him in battle, his scorched earth strategy left the invaders helpless when the Russian winter came, ultimately resulting in victory; after Kutuzov's death (and Napoleon's Hope Spot), Carl von Clausewitz in person took care of organizing the Coalition's strategy that led to the victory at Leipzig, the first defeat inflicted to Napoleon on the battlefield; and, finally, the Duke of Wellington, who inflicted Napoleon his final defeat.
- The ones who fully classifies as this trope (as they are not only very good at war but are also searched and brought out of retirement in the moment of need) are Napoleon, Kutuzov and Clauzewitz: Napoleon had been kicked out of the army for political reasons, only to be recalled in service and given command of the Reserve Army to defeat a royalist insurrection (the insurrection spontaneously imploded when Napoleon started firing artillery inside Paris); general Kutuzov was an accomplished soldier who had fallen out of favor with the czar, Alexander I, and got reassigned to the war against the Turks purely due old age and because combat wounds had disfigured him, but when Napoleon invaded and commander in chief De Tolly screwed up the scorched earth strategy (the lack of engagements was killing the morale of the army) the czar had to call Kutuzov, who restored the morale of the army with a major but inconclusive battle and organizing a guerrilla campaign to further harass Napoleon; Clausewitz was a mere major who had left the Prussian Army and joined Russia to fight Napoleon, but when Napoleon won the early battles of the Sixth Coalition War the Prussians searched him specifically because they knew he had put into theory what Napoleon had done by improvisation, and thus was able to dissect the abilities of Napoleon's army and establish a surefire way to defeat him (four battles later Napoleon was on the run, and had not been captured or killed only because he saw he was losing hard and decided to retreat).
- The Elusive Samurai: With the Elusive Warriors' help, Fubuki uses his wits to protect a village from an army of bandits using only a small detachment of soldiers, the young orphans from the village, and whatever makeshift tools and supplies were lying around. Tokiyuki invites Fubuki to be the strategist of his team after witnessing this impressive display of resourcefulness and tactical prowess.
- Most teams in Eyeshield 21 have a player who serves in this role. Usually they're the quarterback and the captain, but not always. Examples include Hiruma of the Deimon Devil-Bats, Takami of the Ojou White Knights, Marco of the Hakushuu Dinosaurs, and Clifford of the Pentagram.
- Fairy Tail:
- First Master Mavis's nickname was "Fairy Strategist". At the Grand Magic Games, she showed it off on the final day.
- In combat, Gray always defeats his major opponents with his wits. He quickly makes a plan how to defeat and executes it.
- Erza often analyzes her opponents' abilities during a battle to find out their weaknesses before choosing the right armor to take advantage of their weak spots.
- Fullmetal Alchemist:
- Heymans Breda is this on Roy Mustang's team. Mustang himself is a badass strategist, but recognized that Breda's abilities in this field were well above average, and recruited him for the group.
- Ling Yao is an excellent strategist and quickly figures out the best way to fight his enemy. His strategy allows him to keep up with even Fuhrer Bradley.
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Give Daisuke Aramakitwo street punks and he can make a SWAT team look like such fools that the "Special" in "Special Weapons and Tactics" seems to mean they ride to the crime scene in a short bus. Give him his handpicked team of specialists and it won't matter if you're the world's last superpower — You Are Already Dead.
- Out of all the trainers in Hajime no Ippo, Miguel Zail makes the best use of tactical decisions, always observing the enemy boxer in order to give the right commands. Two other examples for boxers are Kenta Kobashi, who makes up for his lack of boxing talent by studying his opponent beforehand and developing strategies against him and world champion David Eagle, who also uses strategy in his fight, but more on a psychological level.
- Narsus in The Heroic Legend of Arslan plays the trope to a T. He used to be an adviser to King Andragoras III but was expelled from the court because he kept asking the king to abolish slavery. For three years he'd been living in his remote countryside home painting and drinking. When Andragoras is defeated and the kingdom faces occupation, his old friend Daryoon appears at his place with the crown prince and demands that Narsus help them. At first, Narsus wants nothing to do with it, but then he realizes prince Arslan's potential and willingly becomes his adviser and strategist. (Arslan promising him the title of royal painter if he gets back the throne didn't hurt.) Narsus had a very fine control of understanding and manipulating circumstances, sometimes to ludicrous degrees. His debut strategy was to pinpoint the most likely thrust of The Mole's plan to smoke Prince Arslan out of hiding, then counter that by having the prince lure Lusitanian soldiers to his position, which was on a hilltop...near a massive floodgate, which is promptly thrown open to have the Lusitanians' massive numerical advantage washed away.
- Kidou Yuuto from Inazuma Eleven is described as a genius playmaker and is often responsible for figuring out how to break through opposing teams' supposedly unbeatable strategies. Fudou Akio and Fidio Aldena also fill this role in the third season, if to a lesser extent.
- Niijima of Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple. He's the only member of the Shinpaku Alliance (other than the flag-bearer) with no fighting ability. Despite this, his ability to come up with (usually ridiculous) plans to save everyone else from even the direst situations is admirable (even though he's usually the one responsible for the crisis at hand), to the point that even Kenichi's masters are impressed with his strategic ability.
- Kingdom:
- He Liao Diao enrolls in a strategist school and eventually becomes the Fei Xin Unit's chief strategist. She does not participate in combat but instead devotes herself to the role by coming up with or adjusting most of the unit's plans while staying at a safe position on the battlefield.
- Lord Changping acts as the strategist for the entirety of Qin's high command due to his position as the Chief Head of Military Affairs, being the one who coordinates most of the campaigns for the various armies.
- The Daikenja (a.k.a. Murata) in Kyo Kara Maoh! was the Shinou's strategist during his first life who helped him win the war against Shoushu.
- Tanaka Yoshiki seems to like these — in addition to the Arslan example above, he has Yang Wenli, Reinhard von Lohengramm and Paul von Oberstein from Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Yang is a drunk slob who would much rather laze around and study history than go into battle but he is the smartest strategist in the series, Reinhard is a Napoleon-like conqueror and a genius at military and politics, and Oberstein is a brilliant Machiavellian schemer in Reinhard's service.
- Shiroe in Log Horizon did not earn the nickname "Shiroe the Strategist" for nothing. His in-game class is an enchanter-type wizard, but his spells are largely supportive and are usually the key to bring his plans to fruition and his allies to victory.
- Ikki Tenryou in the Medabots anime, which has a surprisingly-well-developed sense of tactics for a Mons show. Left to his own devices, Metabee would be stuck in a vicious cycle of Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh..., but Ikki keeps him out of trouble. Ikki likes to use the terrain, such as exploiting a nearby fountain to douse an electricity-wielding opponent and make her electrocute herself, or tricking a heavily-shielded opponent into chasing Metabee over a dune, allowing Metabee to shoot at his legs from below and ignore the shields.
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED has Captain William Sutherland, who devises most of the Earth Forces' battle plans and serves as Muruta Azrael's right-hand man.
- The original Mobile Suit Gundam has another evil Strategist in the form of M'quve who created most of Kycillia Zabi's plans, and led the White Base crew around by the nose during most of their encounters. The end result of M'quve getting annoyed at the White Base advancing toward his rear positions while he's preparing for the impending Federation offensive on another front? The White Base crippled by time bombs they had absolutely no idea where they came from. Luckily for them, the only time M'quve actually got serious in dealing with them was when he decided to fight the Gundam, with his tactical skills ultimately proving no match for Amuro's sheer piloting abilities and the encounter costing him his life.
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 has two: Sumeragi Lee Noriega is Celestial Being's tactical forecaster, and her ability to predict the enemy's moves serves the Gundam Meisters very well during the first season. In the second season, the A-LAWS recruit Colonel Kati Mannequin, a former classmate of Sumeragi's, to serve as their own forecaster; Kati recognizes Celestial Being's tactics almost immediately.
- Moriarty the Patriot: Both William and Sherlock qualify.
- William is The Chessmaster behind all of his Criminal Found Family's plans, organizing everything everyone should do, and is so good at it Billy the Kid tries to recruit him to do the job for the US government with the Pinkerton Agency.
- Against his fellow Strategist, Sherlock is constantly plotting ways to upend The Lord of Crimes schemes and finally foil his plans once and for all.
- My Hero Academia:
- Due to growing up without a Quirk to guide him along, Izuku Midoriya spent obsessive amounts of time pouring over the Quirks and techniques used by others. For this reason, he's an expert at crafting battle plans that draw out the full potential of other's Quirks even after getting one of his own. These plans often involve being Crazy Enough to Work, like having Uraraka use her Gravity Master powers to make him weightless while another of his classmates uses her Overly-Long Tongue to slingshot him after a villain that was outrunning all of them. But this strength is also one of his greatest weaknesses, as his tendency to try and plan ahead slows him down in the midst of a heated fight and those who don't give him the chance to think can overwhelm him.
- Then there's Principal Nedzu, whose Quirk makes him a super-intelligent Uplifted Animal. During a test where he's pitted against Kaminari and Ashido, both of whom have good combat quirks that can be deadly at close range, Nedzu avoids them without ever even leaving his seat, using a crane with a wrecking ball to set off Disaster Dominoes that herd the duo exactly where he wants them to go until time runs out.
- Filler antagonist Saiko Intelli fills this role during the Provisional License exams thanks to a Super-Intelligence Quirk. She and her squad target Momo Yaoyorozu's group, luring them into a trap which locks them in a sealed room that gradually gets colder and colder. However, while her plan to make Momo use up her creation powers to plug the vents is a very sound one, and very nearly succeeds, she turns out to not be very flexible in her thinking and has nothing prepared when Momo eschews the "safe" tactic for an all-or-nothing offensive strategy.
- Greater-Scope Villain All For One is an amazing strategist among the League of Villains. He can deter the Quirks of others, by quick observation and genius-level intellect. It's not just his power that makes him formidable, but also his keen analysis. In fact he was able to break All Might by merely sharing him the untold truth of his former master. Indeed, All For One is an ambitious planner always appearing as if he's hiding something.
- Naruto:
- Although her job isn't advisory, Tsunade was sought by Jiraiya and Naruto for similar reasons and in the same manner. Not surprisingly, Shikamaru seems to have taken this role and has become Tsunade's strategist.
- Shikaku, Shikamaru's dad, is Jounin Commander of Konoha, and is acting as Tsunade's right-hand man, helping to coordinate the movements of various divisions. Not only that, he even creates a perfect strategy that manages to drive the Juubi into a corner.
- Gendo Ikari of Neon Genesis Evangelion is one. Aside from the examples on his screwing with the plotline and SEELE, he doesn't just see things coming, but he provides the super-subtle pushes that puts people where he wants them. He even has the layout of NERV nearly randomized to discourage intruders. However, this doesn't work out very well if you're up against people with intimate knowledge of the base or 13 years of planning, or in failing to notice that the one person his plans hinged on was on the verge of rebelling against him and in favor of his son.
- One Piece:
- Sanji is this for the Straw Hats, having proven time and time again to be an expert case of The Chessmaster and Xanatos Speed Chess player. The Little Garden, Alabasta, Skypeia, Water 7, Enies Lobby, and Zou arcs all have solid examples of him displaying this skill.
- Sengoku the (former) Marine Fleet Admiral is sometimes known as "The Resourceful General" exactly because of his great strategical skills, with the Marineford War in particular showing why he's deserving of that title.
- While there are several of capable strategists in the series, Capone Bege is perhaps the best example of it. He is one of the few pirate captains whose tactical and planning prowess outshine his actual combat capabilities (which rely on overwhelming the enemy through sheer numbers and the surprise factor anyway) and it's the reason he's even (in)famous to begin with. He even employs code names for used equipment and the like.
- Matsu in Sekirei is extremely intelligent but not a fighter like most other Sekireis.
- In Summer Time Rendering, both Shinpei and Nagumo are sci-fi thriller novel enthusiasts who make full use of their wits and knowledge of the genre to outmaneuver their enemies. Their ability to use their limited time, resources, and allies to come up with effective countermeasures against the shadows, prepare accordingly, and adjust their plans on the fly enables the rest of the cast to stand a chance against supernatural foes several times stronger than them.
- Thrust from Transformers: Armada was summoned to Earth about midway through the series to lend his tactical skills to the Decepticons. Unfortunately, it didn't help much. Although a few of his plans would have worked, if not for a bit of Deus ex Machina in the Autobots' favor.
- World Trigger: Osamu is by far the weakest member of his squad. While he can fight, he usually has to do so in a more indirect manner and is mostly relegated to supporting his teammates. He makes up for this by being a competent strategist who's outside the box tactics are responsible for most of their squads victories.
- Zatch Bell!: Kiyo's main contribution to any team is to come up with strategies that will lead to victory. It's the main reason why Zatch is able to hold his own in the tournament at all, as Kiyo is quickly able to deduce the things that Zatch had forgotten and figure ways around Zatch's critical weaknesses. Even when the two join forces with other mamodos, Kiyo is their main tactician.
