Badass Normal/Anime and Manga

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Guts from Berserk is just about 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.
  • Reiji Takayama from Witchblade. 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 Renfield 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.
  • The few characters of One Piece without devil fruit powers are that. Mainly the strawhats, Zoro, Sanji, Nami and even Usopp, as they beat the crap out of elite fighters with sometimes nothing more than a leg (which is mysteriously burning, at least).
    • Sanji and Zoro are proud owners of Charles Atlas Superpowers. Usopp's durability is easily superhuman, but otherwise he's nothing special, getting by on ingenuity and smarts rather than just hitting his opponents till they stop getting up. 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 Strawhat 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.
      • Not only did she make it to single digits, but 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.
    • Mihawk, the world's greatest swordsman, has 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.
    • Shanks is a Handicapped Badass, able to cross blades with Whitebeard and walking away. And before he lost his arm, he was once rivals with Mihawk, the world's greatest swordsman, who had sought him out for fights.
      • Haki too.
      • The very first chapter of the manga (the second 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 a Death Glare.
    • On the Marines' side, there's Luffy's Badass Grandpa, 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.
  • Hugue de Watteau from Trinity Blood is characterized as being the only ordinary human in the main cast who can stand his ground and actually persevere in a fight against vampires, a proficiency stemming only from extreme training and fitness and reflexes honed to perfection.
    • It should be noted that Hugue is not entirely normal (he's got Artificial Limbs). A better example would be Leon Garcia de Asturias aka "Dandylion".
  • 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.
  • Jounouchi/Joey from Yu-Gi-Oh!! 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 Mai Valentine in the Battle City arc. We only see her duel twice, 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.
  • Crow from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's was arguably badass right from his introduction. However, his recent 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 also has the series's only Riding Duel First-Turn Win under his belt, and has survived a day and a half inside an old fridge.
    • However with the Second Season Finale, the Crimson Dragon, probably wondering why the hell 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.
  • Nenene Sumiragawa from the Read or Die 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. It should be noted that, 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.
  • 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).
  • Natsuko Aki in Re: Cutey Honey inspires Cutey Honey to fight, after laying siege to a villain's hideout with just the artillery on her back and sheer guts.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Nicholas D Wolfwood of Trigun. At least in the anime, he was basically 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.
    • This is clarified a bit in the manga. Chapel raised Wolfwood on some steroid-like chemicals that made him incredibly strong with lightning fast reflexes, much like Vash. Unfortunately, the drug did a number on his pituitary and caused him to age rapidly. He's a teenager, but looks to be in his thirties. Actually, given that Chapel lets it slip that Wolfwood is 17 in the anime and his childhood is still kept pretty secret, the implication is that his backstory is the same in both versions: it's just not revealed in the TV show. You have to read the manga if you want to know all the details.
  • 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. Not to mention 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.
    • And don't get me started on Walter...
    • 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.
    • Sir Penwood in the manga is initially one of the more useless knights that Integra has to deal with, being heavily biased against the organization's way of functioning. However, he gets one hell of an awesome ending.
    • And how have we gotten this far without mentioning Pip? Or Heinkel (at least before the end of the series) and Yumie?
  • 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.
  • Togusa from Ghost in the Shell is noted several times as being the only member of Section 9 who is not heavily cyberized. Despite this, he is a crack shot with his revolver, survives battles with several cyborgs, and manages to get critical data on the Laughing Man Case, among others.
  • Major General Olivier Milla Armstrong in the Fullmetal Alchemist manga 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 Gunslinger Girl to be his bodyguard, you know she's got to have some serious skills.
    • Sig proves that his muscles isn'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.
  • Princess Mononoke title character. In a world containing spirits, gods, and some guy with a possessed super-powered arm, San is just a girl with a spear, knife, and wolf. Which are apparently enough to go over a thirty foot wall.
    • Lady Eboshi only has intelligence and restraint to think things through before she acts. By the end of the movie she pretty much defeated everyone with only minor casualties. At the same time! Things only turn bad when the actual god of the forest intervenes, but that actually takes place after she killed him in single combat!
  • Ein and the adult version of Bat from Fist of the North Star. 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 an entire fortress filled with goons to death. Some of the bad guys, like Jackal, may qualify for this trope as well.
  • Kai, David, and Lewis from Blood+ 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.
  • Limelda Jorg in Madlax is an ordinary military officer positioned as The Rival to the eponymous Extraordinarily Empowered 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.
  • Daisuke Ido from Gunnm is likely the only Hunter-Warrior in the Scrapyard who is not a cyborg.
    • You can't mention Gunnm in this trope without bringing up Figure 4 - He frequently takes down cyborgs, and often times does it unarmed
  • Colonel Shikishima from Akira. 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.
  • In a school inhabited by super-powered Magical Girls, Haruka Suzushiro from My-HiME 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.
  • While several of the characters in Baccano!! are immortal beings that have drank the elixir of life, many of the most amazing fights and other feats are performed by completely normal humans such as Claire Stanfield, Chane Laforet, Jacuzzi Splot, and Ladd Russo.
    • It's worth pointing out, however, that Ladd is Ax Crazy and Claire thinks he is immortal.
    • In the light novels, Claire takes this trope even further - he manages to best a vampire in a fight. The author of the novels has even stated that, if such a situation were to come up, Claire would be able to win against all of the many characters in the series with little effort; the reason the author plans to avoid such a fight is simply because should Claire be pitted against the rest of the cast, the story would come to a swift and uninteresting end. What's more, at the age of 90, Claire - still a mortal - continues his eccentric activities, traveling around the world and locating treasures merely to impress Chane.
    • The light novels themselves note that the only character that might match up against Claire in a fight is Ronnie Suchiart. To clarify, the resident demon/Eldritch Abomination has trouble fighting Claire Stanfield.
  • In Mahou Sensei Negima!, 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 even then 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 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 (and also note that 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 is just a normal human, even though he exists in a world with Newtypes. His "normal" status is a first for a main series protagonist, since his predecessors were a series of of potent Newtypes, a man genetically engineered for his job, and a super powered martial artist able to kick entire buildings clear into the sky.
    • In a war where Newtypes are the only ones getting a hit on the enemy, Zeta Gundam's Jerid Massa and Yazan "I'm gonna violate you" Gable are at least able to put up a fight with their opponents, though they hardly if ever succeed.
    • Gundam ZZ is more difficult in the beginning, since much was just comedic and no Serious Business, but one person should be given credit: Masai, a young woman living in a desert, laying out some traps and fighting the whole Gundam team with an near ancient Gelgoog.
    • MS IGLOO. Oliver May in the Big Rang. 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 pretty much 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.
    • The 00 series features this a lot in many characters.
      • Graham Acre 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 literally 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.
      • Setsuna F. Seiei at the beginning of the second season when he performs a personal intervention against the A-Laws. Although he nearly gets killed in the fight, it should be kept in mind that his Gundam was essentially a lost one since it was a makeshift repair of a 5 year old model using outdated technology. To add the icing on the cake, his weapon couldn't thrust because it had no point and the cutting edge was beaten to pieces. This carries over to the 00 later on because although the Gundam is technically a Bigger Stick, it was no bigger a stick than the average enemy suits since it could not go Trans-Am, at least not until the Trans-Am Raiser was equipped. Then that title goes to hell.
      • Among the Gundam team we must not forget Lockon Stratos! Compared to the other pilots Setsuna was a child soldier in the Middle East, Al was a tykebomb, experimented with to become a super-solider and has a super powered evil side, and Tieria a creation that was meant to purge emotion and be a fighting machine, is just an ordinary guy. An ordinary guy who pilots a Gundam, is the unofficial leader of the four, could have any woman, or man, and near the end of the Season 1 was able to force back Ali, the guy who was whupping the main character once he got the Zwei, without trans-am! Mind you the Zwei was built for close combat and the Dynames meant for sniping and yet Lockon was winning in close combat without his dominate eye! BAD-ASS-NORMAL!
      • Another contender is 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. Keep in mind that the same pilot in the same suit just curbstomped the ace of the AEU in their Super Prototype.
    • Cagalli Yula Atha of Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny. 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, (upgrading to Badass Abnormal) slaughter ensues.
  • 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.
  • Gourry Gabriev of Slayers. In a show where practically every hero and villain worth their money can fly, cast devastating spells, and create force-fields, he is the idiot with the sword who somehow manages to hold his own. Sure it's the Sword of Light (at least until the end of Slayers Try), but still.
    • Jillas qualifies even better: he has no magic ability nor wields a special weapon, but with his bombs he sometimes manages to be quite badass.
    • Prince Phillionel, Amelia's ogrish father, is equally as worthy, as all he has to rely on his is hulk-like strength, which is powerful enough to defeat a lesser demon and even harm a low-ranked Mazoku/Monster.
  • While it's emphasized that usually only the characters smart enough to wear the Hunter suits are Genre Savvy 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 almost an entire 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. Of course, like Kurono, the act of donning the aforementioned Hunter suits puts him well above the average Gantz participant.
  • Gene Starwind of Outlaw Star 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.
  • Many people consider Kyon from Haruhi Suzumiya already in this trope (if you include the novels, that is), as he still kicks everyone's ass without having any power at all. In the 4th novel, he courageously pwns the Data Overmind, threatening to use Haruhi to recreate the universe, should anything happen to Yuki Nagato. Pretty much Badass Normal, yeah.
    • Worth pointing out that it's been made more or less clear that the S.O.S. Brigade members actually seem to be more loyal to him than Haruhi. Particularly in the case of Yuki who seems to take commands from him more often than Haruhi. Inspiring that kind of loyalty is indeed all kinds of badass.
  • Li Meiling from Cardcaptor Sakura, who has no magical powers at all, but still helps to take down the cards, even beating one in a straight up fight. Tomoyo would count, but she always stays out of the fights.
    • 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.
  • Kallen Kouzuki from Code Geass is one of the few major characters without a Geass or some sort of inhuman skill, and yet she's arguably the best pilot in the series. She's able to pilot the Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. after its creator stated that even Suzaku shouldn't be able to, then narrowly defeats Suzaku in his own custom built Lancelot Albion, despite him using his "live on" 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).
      • By following the above example, Lulu would have counted...at least until halfway through the first episode.
  • The Obstinate Arrow task force from Scrapped Princess. Centuries ago, the Guardian Factor was seeded in human DNA to produce people with the strength and will to protect the Providence Breaker when she is born. None of these people are in the task force which confuses the hell out of Zefiris when they come to the Pacifica's rescue and join her side.
  • Demon slayer Sango is Inuyasha's resident Badass Normal. Of the main Five-Man Band, 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!

  • Mx0: 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 an entire school year through sheer determination, wits, reputation and intriguing bullshit.
  • 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, mind you, and for that matter it was before Sailor Moon even knew she was an unawakened Senshi. When she did awaken and turned into a Badass Abnormal, 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 strenght, and its more than enough.
    • 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 basically Japanese Batman.
  • Hubb Lebowski of Wolf's Rain 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.
  • 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 actually be a Badass Abnormal instead since he does have psychic powers sealed inside him, but he's unaware of it.
  • Claymore's Raki, post time-skip. Unlike the ladies, he has no Youki to increase his strength, no ability to sense demons beyond the regular five senses, and he certainly is a lot less durable... Not to mention 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.
  • Captain Bravo from Busou Renkin would seem to fit this trope. Although he does have a kakugane, it is simply a metal shield, however he is able to destroy the ground and kill people with a single punch, pull out of a spinning kick in mid air, etc.
  • Looker (Handsome in Japan) in Pokemon. 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 held off and pushed a Scyther away herself among other things. She was one of the few human characters who did not have a Pokémon and did things herself quite well, of course, she was Crazy Prepared.
    • Looker and Domino both impressed in their worlds, but it's more common in the Pokémon Special 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.
  • 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.
  • Yumi of Saki. She entered the last match of the finals without any of the insane hacks most other characters have (Evil 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 Dangerously Genre Savvy 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
  • Jubei of Ninja Scroll, facing various mutants and mystical opponents with nothing but a sword and his skill with it.
  • Kodachi Kuno 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, Fighting Dirty 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Elfen Lied has soldiers that are mostly mooks that 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.
  • Minamoto from Zettai Karen Children is this trope. The protagonist of the series, he's the head of a level 7 three-person esper(ESP user) team. Not to mention 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.
  • Domyouji from Kurogane no Linebarrel 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).
  • In Durarara!!, Masaomi Kida doesn't have any Super Strength, KGB training, control over darkness, or a Hive Mind army like some characters: he's just a kid that's really good at street fighting. Really, really good at it.
  • 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.
  • Bardroy of Black Butler 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.
  • 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.
  • Mifune in Naruto. 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 basically 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.
    • Lest we forget Tenten too. In a world rife with immortal ninjas, one girl seeks to take them all down with just about every type of weapon there is (though she's had little chance to shine). The Shinobi World War arc implies that she's turned into a full fledged Action Girl.
  • Fans of Voltron would know that Sven, the original Blue Lion pilot, is one. He survives being nailed in personal combat by a robeast, and survived a plunge from the heights of Castle Doom. Even after that, he was in good enough condition to fly Blue Lion again.
  • 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.
  • In the manga 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).
  • 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!
  • 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.
  • Similar to the Captain Bravo example above, Erza from Fairy Tail is considered one of the strongest mages in her guild, despite the fact the only magic she can do is to summon the swords and armour with which she fights.
  • Genjuro Kazanari of Senki Zesshou 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.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Badass_Normal/Anime_and_Manga?oldid=1985109"