Inverse Law of Complexity to Power: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

The reasoning behind this could be that as the concept/element becomes simpler/broader, it encompasses more, giving its controller a larger dominion. This is especially true considering that [[Artistic License Physics]] is often involved anyway; the more defined something becomes the less room you have to fudge the rules. This is the reason [[Lightning Can Do Anything]] after all. On top of this, the less complex the concept, the closer it is to a facet of reality rather than an idea of man's.

 

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* ''[[One Piece]]'''s Devil Fruits are usually more powerful if it's a logia type, which are things like fire, electricity, sand, ice, light, darkness, etc. It's notable that the protagonist has a rather narrow power (made of rubber), but still beats everybody. Of course, you could also argue that ''everyone'' has a "broad" power given some of the wacky things they do, but only important characters with simple powers use them in weird, complex ways.

* In the manga ''[[Psychic Academy]]'', the characters each have dominion over a certain thing, such as string, fire, steel, healing. The most powerful elements are light and darkness.

* Inverted in [[Naruto]], where the more complex elements (both in what is required to use them and what they are capable of doing) which are formed by a combination of the basic five are consistently shown to be vastly more effective, mostly due to the numerous special abilities those elements confer but also in absolute terms. The list of characters who have the ability to use these elements is short, but everyone on it is a certified badass.

 

** Specific powers: Reimu Hakurei has the power to "float through the air". [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart Anyway|In a setting where]] [[I Believe I Can Fly|everyone can fly]]. Turns out she can use this to ''float outside reality'', [[Heart Is an Awesome Power|becoming completely invincible without hindering her offensive abilities]]. On the other hand, [[All There in the Manual|Rinnosuke Morichika]]'s power to "recognise the name and purpose of any object" keeps giving him useless information ("Nintendo DS: World-controlling device"<ref>As in it lets you control a ''fictional'' world. [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|Definitely not something related to Nintendo's long-term plans.]]</ref>) and doesn't tell him how to use them.

* Averted in ''[[Fate Stay Night|Fate/stay night]]''. Most spellcasters have one of the five basic elements, but hybrids of multiple elements can generally create more powerful effects. Shirou and {{spoiler|Sakura}} have the bizarre elements of "Sword" and "Imaginary Numbers" respectively, both of which turn out to be insanely powerful - the former leading to [[Mega Manning]] and [[Storm of Blades]], and the latter to [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]].