Anime Fans Discuss Which Cartoon Genius is the Smartest of Them All in Thoughtful Thread

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Ely Bulnes • Writer and Editor
Aug 22, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

Welcome, anime fans and stans. After so many anime series and so much manga under our belt, I'm sure we've all noticed patterns and reoccurring character types and tropes. Main casts tend to include tsundere love interests, an orange guy that won't stop screaming, a stoic, muscular guy, and a genius that serves as the brains of the group. Any one of these could be the main character, and just because a character fits a trope doesn't mean that their creator didn't imbue them with unique characters traits.

So, out of all the geniuses that grace our screens, who is the smartest? It is a difficult question because there are different ways to be intelligent, and each series has a genius that best suits its world (and plot)! In the discussion below, anime fans advocate for their genius of choice. Read below to find out how netizens define intelligence and who they'd pick as the all time smartest in Japanese animation.

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  • 01
    r/animequestions u/Walidzilla 5d • Who is the smartest anime character?
    via u/walidzilla
  • 02
    URAHARA BULMA JOHAN LELOUCH DAZAI SORA L AYANOKOJI SENKU
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  • 03
    Based on anime feats alone (no manga or light novel) Note that if you see your character missing: I chose one character per show to make it more fair (Like Light and Aizen..) or I haven't watched that show yet. You're welcome to choose other anime characters if you think they are the smartest. 1,728 ☐ 628
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  • 04
    milk_lizard73.5d Bulma made a Time Machine, but Senku is like Wikipedia if it was a human so either one of them. ... Reply 426
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  • 05
    KrazyKyle213.5d I think Senku's main strength is just being able to take in information and just memorize it entirely, and have some batshit insane willpower, like even if I were as smart as him, I would not be able to stay sentient in rock form that long and still remember everything 181
    via u/KrazyKyle213
  • 06
    emploaf. 5d If Senku lived in a world with time machines and was able to see one then I am confident he could reproduce it with only a coconut and a bundle of sticks ... 45
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  • 07
    the_punn-isher • 5d . Yea these were my choices as well.both charecters are geniuses. Senku shows off immense intelligence and ingenuity by taking all the knowledge he gained up till high-school and recreated some of mankind's greatest accomplishments using only prehistoric tools. Bulma wins based on accomplishments though. She and her dad created interdimensional spaces to store large objects in small capsules, created a pocket size radar to detect the dragon balls (precious versions were huge
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  • 08
    blepposhcleppo • 5d Why is todo not on here? He literally has 500,000 IQ? Reply 165
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  • 09
    ColonelMonty • 4d I love that TODO is actually just canonically a super genius with his IQ. G 26
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  • 10
    Codicy6758 4d He's so smart he looped around to being stupid D 8 1 ♡
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  • 11
    Opening-Astronaut786 • 5d Imagine maintaining an accurate count of time while petrified for hundreds/thousands of years - Senku ← Reply Ŵ 65
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  • 12
    MarcheMuldDerevi • 5d Want to go Senku. He took the stone world into the modern era primarily by himself. A lot of other characters had labs and super science to work off of. He started in a banana hammock and ended with a spaceship. Reply 167
    via u/MarcheMuldDerevi
  • 13
    KrazyKyle213.5d Yeah, even if he's not the smartest, he is by far the most effectively useful in his field, just because he learns everything and memorizes ALL of it 47
    via u/KrazyKyle213
  • 14
    TheMechaMeddler • 4d Yeah. He isn't the smartest but his memory is more than insane. He remembers every last detail of everything he studied thousands of years ago despite being conscious that entire time. I don't even know how he remembers anything from before given the amount of new memories that would form while waiting to un- petrify. ...
    via u/TheMechaMeddler
  • 15
    Happy-You-7368.5d For being intelligent and smart, KISKUE and BULMA has a lot, AND I MEAN A LOT under their belt of achievements, and inventions Both have their inventions that just impossible to fathom, The only thing, kiskue one ups on bulma is, he is also, a battle genius, even aizen said himself admitted that, he is more intelligent than aizen himself
    via u/Happy--7368
  • 16
    He is basically batman bit with super powers, he is so feared that even yuwach considered him a threat for his unknown tactics, And both are like core important to their plot, like many here are too Reply 75 ↓
    via u/Happy--7368
  • 17
    Researcher Fearless • 5d Intelligence between these characters doesn't necessarily translate perfectly. We have innovation (Bulma, Urahara) Psychoanalysis (Johan, Ayanokoji) Deduction (L) Information Retention (Senku) and Anime Nonsense (Lelouch, Sora)
    via u/Researcher_Fearless
  • 18
    Obviously, all of these characters have good strength in all of these areas, but each excels in a different field. Discounting anime nonsense (knowing things that aren't possible to know, making plans instantly without the preperation they'd need, doing things that would normally be impossible due to uncertainty of a million types), we just have to figure out who has the most well rounded intelligence and best feats in their specialty.
    via u/Researcher_Fearless
  • 19
    Urahara has excellent innovation, inventing a reality manipulating device, though he didn't understand how it worked. His planning is great, succesfully outmaneuvering Aizen despite having WAY less control over the situation than him. We don't know much about his information retention or thought speed, but considering how he uses his bankai and can counter reishi attacks by just analyzing its structure on the fly, he's a strong contender. 9/10 Bulma invented time travel. Her work on the androids
    via u/Researcher_Fearless
  • 20
    Johan's psychoanalysis is so good that he can basically have one interaction with you and perfectly predict everything you'll do. He can find someone with a psychological break and push their buttons just right to force a psychotic breakdown in exactly the way he wants. He knew weeks ahead of time the place Tenma would use to try to snipe him, before Tenma had even found out about the event in question. The only mistake he made was failing to realize that, at the end of the day, Tenma would hold
    via u/Researcher_Fearless
  • 21
    Lelouch is... Well, he's definitely smart, but the stuff he does doesn't really make sense. After overcoming his brainwashing, he's able to in like 20 minutes, rig the building to blow up and fall in a specific way that causes him to land safely standing at the top. He didn't have access to the building plans, and didn't have time to make a simulation. I don't know how he figured out how to do that, and I'd wager the author doesn't either. He's also able to repeatedly record his half of the conv
    via u/Researcher_Fearless
  • 22
    Sora is in the same boat as Lelouch, though not as bad. He's repeatedly able to access information he shouldn't have. When asked how, he basically says that it's from context, but that doesn't explain how he's 90% accurate guessing the gender of random people on the street. The way he approaches problems also doesn't really make sense a lot of the time. Sometimes, he's able to predict exactly what someone will do because intelligence magic, sometimes he has to actually limit their options to do
    via u/Researcher_Fearless
  • 23
    L's deductive skills are excellent. He figured out Light was Kira almost immediately, and he only failed because he wanted verifiable proof of a non- physical phenomenon and he was stuck with Light's emotional father. He doesn't quite meet the others here because, although his deductions are impressive, they're able to be followed by the audience rather than being left in the "I couldn't follow this logic even if it were laid out in front of me" tier. 6/10
    via u/Researcher_Fearless
  • 24
    Ayanokoji is difficult to rank, mostly becuase of how much effort he puts into not trying. Even while putting relatively little thought and effort in, he manages to seemingly casually outmaneuver dozens of very smart people without anybody realizing he was behind it at all. I'll just give a 8/10 and leave it.
    via u/Researcher_Fearless
  • 25
    Senkuu memorized the sum total of humanity's knowledge. He has a perfect memory, far beyond what we would consider eidetic. He's also able to process information extremely quickly, doing calculations that would take me half an hour with a calculator in a fraction of a second. However, he makes mistakes. For example, he failed to realize the copper in his vacuum tubes would crack the glass as it expanded from heat. Although he's a living wikipedia, he won't necessarily remember every piece of inf
    via u/Researcher_Fearless
  • 26
    Nordic Ninja 4d • Dazai's from Bungo Stray Dogs. He excels at deduction and prediction. The character is based on the author Osamu Dazai, and so is obsessed with trying to commit suicide. I rate him 7/10 because Bulma couldn't pull off his stunts but Dazai could probably figure out her super-science if he had access to the resources she had. And cared. And think he'd've taken out Light. ... G
    via u/NordicNinja
  • 27
    The MechaMeddler • 4d I agree it's Johan, and on most of what you said really, just one thing: I think you rated L too low, and the only reason you did it is just because his deductions actually make sense rather than being code Geass nonsense and buzzwords?!
    via u/TheMechaMeddler
  • 28
    In death note and plenty of other shows there are crazy, unrealistic degrees of complexity that could never work in real life, but having deductions that actually make sense and aren't too overcomplicated is a much smarter way to figure something out than by making a 3-million step plan that only works flawlessly because it's an anime.
    via u/TheMechaMeddler
  • 29
    Cheshire_Noire • 5d Dazai finally gets representation? He's best boy, he wins by default. Then Urahara. ← Reply 29
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  • 30
    Codicy6758 4d Dazai might not be as "intelligent" as some of the others here, but his ability to calculate the future is kind of ludicrous for having a non super powered brain. ...
    via u/Codicy6758
  • 31
    GrandKingArch⚫ 5d Imma say Urahara takes this one. He plans a 1000 different plans for any one situation. His smart enough to outsmart Aizen. And smart to create, granted imperfect, a wish granting orb. Now let me break that down further. He is strategic enough to have a 1000 different back ups for any situation he puts himself in, which I believe beats out leouch.
    via u/GrandKingArch
  • 32
    He is crafty enough to outsmart Aizen and enough to be feared by someone who can see all possible futures. So I believe he out classes Sora. Lastly, he is able to create to two physical human souls (though not perfect) and a wish granting orb (though incompetent) so I do believe he beats out bulma in the engineering department. ← Reply Ŵ 5 ♡
    via u/GrandKingArch
  • 33
    D12Lemilion • 5d Urahara bro is making gods out here.. Underated asf, some went terribly wrong but he's making normal human into what can be the absolute most strongest human in history. As well as portal to other dimensions. Reply Ĵ 5 ♡ 853
    via u/D12Lemilion
  • 34
    BitesTheDust55 • 5d If we're judging by accomplishment in tech, it's Kisuke followed by Bulma. If we're judging by sheer capacity for learning information, Senku is simply a one in a thousand year talent and probably wins. He's just up against people who are further along in the tech tree than he is. Sora is the wildcard. His intellect is narrow and highly specialized, but none of these other characters could win a battle of wits with the kind of supernatural entities Sora has beaten. But he's a
    via u/BitesTheDust55
  • 35
    10Ace • 5d Honestly, unconventional pick but Lelouch. His plans are almost always completely and utterly flawless, and are only stopped by mcguffin mechs that exist only for the writers to find a way to add adversity. Otherwise he would win in like 3 weeks. Reply Ŵ 2 ♡ 23
    via u/10Ace

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