Teen Genius: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

On a show with an ensemble cast, the teen genius is usually included as a (generally misguided) attempt to appeal to a teen audience. On a show with a teenaged [[Competence Zone]], this is about the only way for the [[Five-Man Band]] to include the requisite [[Smart Guy]].

 

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Theresa "Tessa" Testarossa, Sagara Sōsuke, and Kaname Chidori from ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]''.

* Shirogane Ryou from ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]''.

* ''All'' the main characters in ''[[Death Note]]'', though you could argue Misa's case since she's a [[Genius Ditz]]. Especially Light. Words can't describe his level of thinking.

* ''[[Naruto]]'' has Shikamaru Nara who has an IQ over 200. He's so smart that everything seems boring to him. Also Itachi Uchiha who had done everything from reaching the very top of his career (Anbu Captain), to joining the most powerful criminal organization as a spy by the time he was only 13 years old. Kakashi Hatake and Minato Namikaze (who would later on become the [[Asskicking Equals Authority|Fourth Hokage]]) were also teen geniuses when they were young.

** Orochimaru, too. The ninja world has a lot of geniuses, which is to say prodigies. Over 50% of them go violently bananas.

** Lelouch is also a subversion in that at the the start of the series, he is bored to death and extremely pessimistic.

** Mariel from the [[Alternate Continuity]] manga ''Suzaku of the Counterattack'' has a ''[[PHD]]'' and is described as being only a year older than Suzaku.

* Seto Kaiba from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!''.

* Both Miki and Mikage in ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]''.

* Thomas/Touma Norstein in ''[[Digimon Savers]]'', and, to a (much) lesser extent, Koushirou "Izzy" Izumi and Ken Ichijouji in ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]''. (With Koushirou as a former [[Child Prodigy]], even.)

* 17-year-old Shin'ichi Kudo and Heiji Hattori in ''[[Detective Conan]]'' both have vast amounts of knowledge and mental abilities superior to most of the adults around them. [[Kuudere|Shiho Miyano]], on the other hand, led [[The Syndicate]]'s lab before she's 18. This trope tends to be somewhat obscured in Shin'ichi and Shiho's cases by the fact that they spends most of the series in ''even younger'' bodies, thus giving them the ''appearance'' of [[Child Prodigies]].

* Fuu Hououji from ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]''.

* Irina Woods from ''[[Mai-Otome]]''. In addition to her normal Otome duties, she also studies engineering and computers, and is very good friends with [[Hot Scientist|Professor Youko]].

** Wu Fei, oddly enough, is apparently their intellectual, followed by Quatre, who's the best military mind among them. Heero has a flair for tactics, although he also acts dumb as a post sometimes. In terms of practical knowledge, they're all extraordinary.

** Don't forget Relena Peacecraft. She's mostly an [[Ordinary High School Student]] at first, but with some more prodding she {{spoiler|becomes the sponsor of a school ''and'' later... the Queen of the World.}}

* In ''[[Starship Operators]]'', even you're a veteran tactician, you do not mess with Shinon Kouzuki. Trust us, it's a very bad idea fighting her.

* Yue in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', a [[The Philosopher|philosopher]] whose strategic abilities have allowed her to even be a threat to magically over-powered foes in the [[Magical Land|magic world]]. Chao and Hakase certainly qualify as well. Negi is more of a [[Child Prodigy]], tho.

* Tony Tony Chopper in ''[[One Piece]]'' is only 15 at his introduction, yet is an experienced doctor trained by one of the best doctors in the world.

** Considering that he spent most of that time traveling and only a few years in school, to be able to be in the same class as his peers is rather impressive.

* Edward Elric of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' became the youngest [[Badass Bookworm|State Alchemist]] ever at the age of twelve; his younger brother Alphonse is no slouch either.

** Ichigo is a freak. Mentally, metaphysically, and ''[[Half-Human Hybrid|biologically]]''. Also, some of the Espada aren't very old at all, at least as their present consciousnesses.

** What about Uryuu Ishida? Not only he's top of his class, but a prodigy Quincy. I'm sure even Mayuri called him a genius, just before they had that giant fight where Mayuri's Bankai gets epically cut in half by Uryuu in a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

*** Subverted, though: the guy's got [[The Worf Effect|a pretty bad record streak]] when it comes it ''actual'' fighting. More understandable when we recall that he's much younger than the other captains, and while he presumably has roughly equivalent power he has far less experience in how to use it effectively. If anything, this portrayal is more reasonable than were he the inexperienced prodigy who had the power, the skill, ''and'' the flawless winning streak.

** Don't forget Inoue Orihime. She may act like a total ditz, and say ridiculous things, she is third overall in school ''and'' is a pretty decent healer/BarrierWarrior at age 15-16. Not bad for a scatterbrain.

* [[Eyeshield 21|Hiruma Youichi]], who first learned poker from American soldiers stationed in Japan. After losing the first hand, he figured out the rules without anyone telling him and proceeded to gamble his way to taking all of the soliders' money. By high school, he can count cards in blackjack and earn a ridiculous profit. Has managed to figure out a way to get blackmail material on nearly everyone in the country, and many outside the country.

** Subverted in the World Cup arc when it's made clear that even with all their abilities, most of the talented players in the series still aren't quite at the NFL level yet (though they're still incredibly talented for the high school and possibly college level).

** Maria is 17 at the time of the series, so she also falls here, though during her time at the school she was a [[Child Prodigy]], [[Up to Eleven|having graduated at the age of 13, setting a school-wide record that has yet to be borken]].

** The school the story takes on thrives on this trope, it's year-end exam is given in German.

* Zera from ''[[Litchi Hikari Club]]'' is a certified genius at the age of 13. His sanity may be questioned but he came up with a thinking machine that somehow runs on litchi fruits, his chess skills are superb. More, the prequel shows that in elementary school he constructed a robot all by himself which makes him a [[Child Prodigy]] too. Dentaku is also very smart, he programmed Litchi. {{spoiler|And against all odds Jaibo may also qualify. For the most part he acts like the psychotic pretty boy but he did manage to frame the original members of the club in such a way so as to completely fool Zera. Unfortunately his pyschotic tendencies boycot his intelligence.}}

* Bulma from ''[[Dragon Ball]]''.

== Films ==

* All the main characters in ''[[Real Genius]]'' apply, even though half of them are over 19. The main character is only 15, and Jordan (at 19) is also a [[Genius Ditz]].

* Chekov in the 2009 ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' movie.

* [[Donnie Darko]]. His test scores were "intimidating".

* Malcolm from ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'', as well as his brother, Dewey, and his classmates Lloyd, Dabney, and Stevie.

* Lucas Wolenczak from ''[[SeaQuest DSV]]''. A rather successful example of the trope; where the character and the actor became a [[Teen Idol|hit]], from an otherwise flop show.

* Adric from ''[[Doctor Who]]''. And Luke Rattigan from the latest series.

* Luke Smith from ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' appears to be this, subverted in that he was [[Artificial Human|created with a body]] [[Younger Than They Look|on the onset of puberty]].

* A less common example would be Quinn Mallory from ''[[Sliders]]'', who, although not a teen at the time of the series, falls under the category by virtue of being young, brilliant, and angsty.

* The show ''[[Smart Guy (TV series)|Smart Guy]]'' was centered around this type of character, although he's a ten-year-old in high school.

* Billy from the original ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' team.

** Rose from ''[[Power Rangers Operation Overdrive]]'' was this in the backstory, but by 18 years old, she was already out of Harvard and working in a university in London. Of course, if she's 18, she's technically still a teenager.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

 

 

* Ciel of ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' created {{spoiler|Copy-X}}, a near-perfect duplicate of [[Techno Wizard|Thomas]] [[Mad Scientist|Light's]] greatest work, when she was ''six years old'' and devised a completely new energy source before she'd finished her teenage years. ''[[Mega Man ZX|ZX's]]'' backstory indicates she also created the biometals sometime after the Zero series, and on top of everything else she's a [[Hot Scientist]] to boot. [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist|Girl gets around, doesn't she?]]

** [[Mega Man Legends|Tron Bonne]] certainly counts. Aside from the fact that she created the 40 Servbots, most of the machines she makes are made from ''spare parts'', such as an entire train and even Bruno in the first game. She was 13 in the first game (and her spinoff) and 14 in the second.

** ''[[MOTHER 1]]'' has Loid.

* Genis Sage in ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]''. Somehow he is the best friend of [[Book Dumb]] Lloyd Irving and is 12 years old. In the Japanese version his name was [[Meaningful Name|very obvious]] ("Genius").

* Rita from [[Tales of Vesperia]], occasionally to a ludicrous extent. Despite her age she's probably the most intelligent person in the world by a fair margin; her response to a request for a device that would break most known natural laws is essentially, "It'll take until breakfast at least."

* Sachi, one of the heroines of [[Sharin no Kuni]], is explicitly said to have an IQ of 140, is a prodigy-level painter, and something of a math wiz. She pales in comparison to the protagonist, Kenichi, who's in the final stages of what amounts to government sponsored [[Ubermensch]] training, which means he has a college level education already, as well as having a resume of accomplishments that'd be impressive for a person of any age. He can expound on complicated concepts at the drop of a hat and has to consciously tone himself down so as not to be an [[Insufferable Genius]].

* [[Mad Scientist]] Mao from ''[[Disgaea]] 3''. Despite being [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|several centuries old,]] he's around fifteen by demon standards.

* In Fallout 3, player character (a 19-year-old) can be this if you use XP right.

 

== Web Comics ==

** He's still managed to adapt the technology a lot and the Aliens who gave it to him in the first place couldn't even begin to fix it, so his genius title remains.

* Molly & Galatea in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' are both child geniuses, able to perform technological wonders with minimal effort. Considering that they are artificial life forms less than a year old, they are in fact ''very'' young. Molly's personality is overtly and unapologetically childlike. Galatea's speech patterns are [[Little Professor Dialog|much more adult-sounding and pretentious,]] but her naivete still displays her extreme youth.

* Ventura in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', a nineteen-year-old expert in robotics and AI [[Future Slang|growpramming]]. She also has a moment of [[Cute Bruiser]]-dom thanks to her company's standard-issue [[Powered Armor]] giving her [[Super Strength]].

* Just a year out of being a [[Child Prodigy]], Kat Donlan of [[Gunnerkrigg Court]] is a thirteen year old [[Gadgeteer Genius]] who designed an anti-gravity device at the age of twelve... which she didn't even find that remarkable, instead getting annoyed when the practical purpose of the device was ignored at the school science fair for the anti-grav device itself.

* Fernando in ''[[Drive (webcomic)|Drive]]'' is a subversion despite being the head engineer of his ship at 14. He didn't get the job because of an exceptional intellect, but because he's a member of the Royal Family. Only the ''Familia'' can service the ship's drive, and they're ''badly'' in need of more men.

** Also, to a [[Always Second Best|lesser extent]], her bodyguard Leeroy. He branched into more physical training after realizing he [[Can't Catch Up]].

** [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|Walter]] and [[The Strategist|Izor]] might have been in their youth.

 

 

** She's only chronologically older. Being a [[Sealed Good in a Can]] made her not age past 11-13, and she was in stasis for ten years, which pretty much makes one assume that she wasn't aging in any sense.

* In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', Sari became one of these in Season Three.

* Cyborg from ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'', most of his angst derived from his [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|cybernetic limbs]].

** Actually all of the [[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]] are teen geniuses in some way, but Robin, who angsts over everything, is a pretty straightforward example.

* Johnny's twin older sisters, Mary and Susan, in ''[[Johnny Test]]''.

* Cody and Starlee from ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward]]''.

** Donatello himself. TEENAGE Mutant Ninja Turtles, remember?

* Alan and Tom Chan in ''[[The Amazing Chan and The Chan Clan]]''; Alan of the mechanical sort, Tom of the intellectual sort.

* Heloise from ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', who works for a [[Mega Corp]] at [[Vague Age|14ish]]

* [[Iron Man: Armored Adventures]] is focused on Tony Stark's teenage life. In this incarnation, he's already developed Iron Man armors.

* Dotty from Hanna-Barbera's ''[[Clue Club]].'' A forensics expert at age 13.

 

== Real Life ==

* [[Benjamin Franklin]].

* In the [[The Philippines|Philippines]], there are high schools specifically designed for geniuses in science and technology. In Metro Manila, there's one in almost every city, but there's also the Philippine Science High School, which spans nationwide. And every high school graduates in the country enter college at 16, at least until the K-12 program is implemented nationwide.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Youngsters]]

[[Category:Intelligence Tropes]]