Badass Normal/Anime and Manga: Difference between revisions

** 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 [[Almighty Janitor|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.

*** 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]].

* 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 ({{spoiler|he's got [[Artificial Limbs]]}}). A better example would be Leon Garcia de Asturias aka "Dandylion".

** Sig proves that his muscles isn't just for show in the last arc when he {{spoiler|kills Sloth alongside Alex Louis by throwing him on a spike}}.

** Ling Yao {{spoiler|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.

** Lady Eboshi only has intelligence and restraint to think things through before she acts. By the end of the movie {{spoiler|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 [[Charles Atlas Superpower|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.

* In a school inhabited by super-powered [[Magical Girl|Magical Girls]], Haruka Suzushiro from ''[[Mai-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 {{spoiler|even when faced with death after Yukino's CHILD is instantly destroyed by a freshly [[Face Heel Turn|Face Heel Turned]] Shizuru, whom she [[What the Hell, Hero?|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.

** 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 - {{spoiler|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, {{spoiler|at the age of 90, Claire - still a mortal - continues his eccentric activities, traveling around the world and locating treasures ''merely to impress Chane.''}}

*** Among the Gundam team we must not forget Lockon Stratos! Compared to the other pilots {{spoiler|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 {{spoiler|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 [[Cool Old Guy|middle aged man]] in a [[Mecha-Mooks|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]].

* 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, [[Good Is Dumb|super powers make you weak]].

* Gourry Gabriev of ''[[Slayers]]''. In a show where practically [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards|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 [[Laser Blade|Sword of Light]] ({{spoiler|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|badass.]]

* While it's emphasized that usually only the characters smart enough to wear the [[Clothes Make the Superman|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 {{spoiler|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 {{spoiler|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.

* ''[[Mx0]]'': Taiga. Despite having [[Muggles|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 [[Determinator|determination]], [[Book Dumb|wits]], [[Shrouded in Myth|reputation]] and ''[[Fake Ultimate Hero|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 ''[[Quirky Miniboss Squad|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]].

** The rest of the [[Fan Nickname|Inner Senshi]] also became this trope for a brief period during the [[Filler Arc]] of ''[[Sailor Moon|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 [[Jumped At the Call|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.

** 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''!

* Yumi of ''[[Saki (manga)|Saki]]''. She entered the last match of the finals without any of the insane hacks most other characters have ([[Evil Eye]], [[Photographic Memory]], [[Invisibility|Stealth Mode]], etc), so many people assumed that she'd get steamrollered since her table included Saki and Koromo, two characters with the [[Born Lucky|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 [[wikipedia:Japanese Mahjong yaku#Going out on a supplemental tile from the dead wall|Rinshan Kaihou]] [[Finishing Move|in a row]] by changing her strategy to [[wikipedia:Japanese Mahjong yaku#Robbing a quad to go out|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 [[wikipedia:Japanese Mahjong yaku#Last tile from the wall|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 [[The Dragon|pet alligator]] and [[Faceless Goons|fellow St. Hebereke Gymnasts]] to wear down Ranma and others and keep them running around in her [[Batman Gambit|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 ''[[Youkai|mikura]]''. Then he turned into [[Super Mode|Karas]], and anything he fought just kind of ''[[Curb Stomp Battle|died]]''.

** And later returned to Badass Normal after [[Brought Down to Normal|having lost his contractor powers]].

* ''[[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. {{spoiler|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.}}

* 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 ''[[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 [[Charles Atlas Superpower|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 [[Battle Butler|Sebastian,]] doesn't have {{spoiler|super strength}} like Finny, and isn't {{spoiler|a ridiculously skilled sniper}} like Mey-Rin. He gets by on his apparent [[The Strategist|strategical know-how]] and skill with a rifle.

* [[Samurai in Ninja Town|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). {{spoiler|The Shinobi World War arc implies that she's turned into a full fledged [[Action Girl]]}}.

<!-- %% Do not include Rock Lee. Just because he doesn't have ninja magic doesn't mean he's normal. He's got superspeed and superstrength. He's a full-fledged Charles Atlas Superpower. -->

* Makoto's father in ''[[Sacred Seven]]'' is a ([[Battle Butler|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 [[Frickin' Laser Beams|big laser]] [[BFG|gun]]. Yet, he managed to hold his own against one, however briefly, with only his barehands and two [[Hidden Weapons]]. {{spoiler|He later managed to defeat it by [[Heroic Sacrifice|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).