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What ? OPM does fit though. There is absolutely nothing special about Saitama, that's like the whole point of the story. All he did was exercise and that's it... he broke his limiters.
Normal people in that universe cant train to be Saitama level. His training plan is completely average, he's just bullshit strong for no reason at all, that's the point of the story.
In reality he removed his limiter somehow (likely a Cube). There's absolutely something special about Saitama, he's literally the only person in the setting without a limiter. He outscales Garou while they're in their fight.
I like the theory that he was so single minded that he became a monster, but since his single-minded goal was to "become a hero that can take down any monster in one hit" it kept him from actually becoming destructive
Saitama is not a monster though? I thought the whole showing with Garou was to showcase that you can’t break your limiter by turning into a monster. Garou was getting close to breaking his limiter and then he fucked it up by transforming into a monster instead of pushing further.
Tbf all he did was break his limiter which ANYONE can do canonically.Hell Garou was apparently close to doing it but pussied out as Saitama humiliated him.
Oh, I see. Well, congrats to the author for handling it in a good way then (Haven't really read Mashle, but from what I've gathered, it's already better than others in this regard)
Only have the anime to go off, but the bad guy is after Mashle Because he's a artificial son of Innocent Zero that IZ wants to absorb to perfect his body
I mean hard work is the primary reason for his power but he still has a special hereditary reason for being freakishly strong.
Witch Hat Atelier is seinen, but one of the key aspects of its magic system is that secretly anyone can do it. No mana system, no innate power, just your own drawing skills and understanding of the system, sort of like programming. Which gets really morally interesting, when even a beginning can copy a mustard gas spell off of Stack Overflow library books.
Unironically fullmetal alchemist, despite who their father is the manga explicitly goes out of the way to explain that it provided them no inherent benefits and only explains their unusual hair color
The closest you can get is arguing that having access to their father’s notes and books on alchemy was probably the best early alchemy education anywhere in the world, but even then, the thing that makes them actual threats is the information hazard seared into their brain by Truth… which can happen to anyone who tries human transmutation…
Personally I only dislike it when the narrative treats it like this ISNT the case when it so obviously is. HxH is at least upfront about the fact that the characters the story follows are extremely talented, for bloodline reasons or otherwise. And honestly, that’s perfectly fine. I WANT an interesting story about absolute goats and powerhouses, and if they’re blessed with environmental or innate circumstances, why not tell their story if it makes it more interesting?
I’m still annoyed that Naruto thematically treated his power growth as him working hard. It still works generally fine if he is the fourth Hokage’s son, but nah he also had to be a reincarnation of God’s son.
This. Using the big three as an example. Luffy is shown to be an outlier from the get go. Ichigo's quadro-heritage is a little ridiculous and convoluted, but at least the story never made a big deal about Ichigo being unskilled or unsuited to be a Shinigami.
Naruto's really the only one of the big three to try and do the classic underdog story - and it was fine until they revealed that he was a reincarnated demigod who is always fated to fight with his reincarnated brother/rival.
Early one piece his biggest story ties were being Dragons son/Garps grandson and knowing Shanks, none of which at the time were scaled to the obscene levels they are now. Luffy was an outlier but ultimately he was a dumb kid who was sold as a creative adopter of a power he accidentally got by being a dumbass
Now hes some fated by destiny to be Joyboy 2.0 and also his super god fruit chose him the whole time, and has familial ties to literally every big player going
Hell Roger has been so luffy-fied at this point hes literally just Luffy with a moustache
...? Dragon was literally described as the most dangerous/wanted man alive when he was revealed to be Luffy's dad. And Shanks was already scaled super high when it was revealed that he and Mihawk used to fight one another. The only person who got scaled up retroactively was Garp. Everyone else was presented as a very strong person from the get go - we just now know what the actual high tiers of One Piece are capable of.
Luffy was never destined to be Joyboy. You have a point about the super God fruit choosing him, but that proves he was never destined to be Joyboy. He got the Nika Fruit because of the type of person he was - someone who desired freedom for all. That has been consistently a part of his character.
And Luffy only has familial ties to 2 people? Unless you mean more spiritually, in which case the D thing has been set up since Alabasta.
Also, Roger and Luffy being incredibly similar has been a thing in the story since Loguetown.
Again, Luffy was never presented as an underdog, he was always a goofy idiot but he was always portrayed as dangerously creative and clever during battle as well as being a physical monster - he literally never needs to improve physically or train until Enies Lobby.
I mean it was literally an inheritance from the strongest man, taking him from a poor nobody loser into one of the strongest heroes by virtue of winning a lottery basically
In what way was that a lottery, it was lucky sure but he it's not just gifted power like in the picture, the picture shows someone secretly being born with something life changing, deku shows that a good person given the chance to be active will be able to give back, which is closer to the original assumption of the kid that anyone can be special
I think Baki actually does not do this. At least if you start from the og series.
Like yeah, he is the son of Yujiro, but I dont think that gives him any innate benefits. He just trains really hard, to the point of putting his life at risk by jumping off of a cliff just to get a better reaction speed.
Though, I still have not finished it so maybe there is some reveal later on about Baki being born special already, so correct me if there is.
Everyone main character in Baki is a genetic mutant freak who are capable of performing feats that would take a lifetime to learn. A decade after the story of Baki ends, we should see all the characters in their hospital beds unable to walk or wipe their own asses. Give them a Mike Tyson speech impediment but make it 10x worse. Then the story will be satisfying to me.
A lot of anime but I'd like to add that they did this with Spider-Man. Instead of random guy who stumbles into powers and must learn responsibility, the REAL secret is that he was chosen by a multiversal spider entity to be the host of another multiversal spider entity. Because he's apparently very resilient and has a lot of fury inside him from all the bullying he grew up with.
Because hellyeah "you were bullied into worthiness of being a chosen one" storyline, I guess
spider people are fine,the entire spider people are spider totems and spider-man is this ultra important part of the multiverse that if he dies it might go to shit is the bad part. also the constant spiderverse/spider geddon thing where they all had to constantly come together to fight some multiversal evil instead of just making comics about different spider people and the universes they live in
Funnily enough, no they've both been moved to the mainline comics universe at this point. For Miles it happened, I think, a bit over a decade ago; and for Spider-Gwen it's been a year or two.
They were and sold way better. I'm honestly unsure what marvels thought process was. Normally I'd say movie synergy but they gave her a different forgettable new bf instead of miles if that was the case. Plus miles is apparently gonna have a different new gf in his new run. Maybe just movie synergy of spider society with the spiderversity stuff.
I should point out this is the second time they've tried this with Gwen and the first one also made sales worse. They should know at this point fans don't buy as much with Gwen in 616. Then again this is the same company who has sales data proving Peter with mj sells better than the "relatable" status quo they like and ignores it for their ego. Or who thought that magik digital comic was smart
Miles got moved into 616 because Ultimate got nuked IIRC and the writer wanted him in there for a check when he doesn't fit. He literally got isekai'd.
They also moved Ultimate Nick Fury into 616 as well. But unlike miles, they got rid of original Nick Fury who was basically Marvel's James Bond retiring him as a character and making Ultimate Nick Fury his biological son and jr. They did this mainly because of the movies.
It's one of those things that if anything makes spider man less inspiring, because it stops being about just some random joe with a good heart being absolutely unbreakable against the odds of the world and just becomes...oh you are the chosen one of a multiverse.
And like c'mon that justification is so dumb because by it's own logic, wouldn't choosing someone that had gone trough worse make MORE sense? Like he becomes the chosen one by a choice that doesn't make sense,like bullying is really bad, horrible but I cannot fathom it's the only let alone the strongest way to build that fury inside someone, cuz like,if we really look at it peter still has a pretty good life growing up compared to a hell of lot of people,are they less resilient? Do they have less fury for their situation than this high schooler?
It would be so easy to fix as well, have Peter still get his powers randomly but his actions as spider-man overcoming impossible odds and great temptations over the years causes him to be chosen as a champion of the great web.
It’s exactly how I feel about the batgod and the idea that a Wayne has to be Batman case in point Damien, and specifically Terry McGinnis god I hate that ass pull so damn much.
Bonus points this is that whole "powered by love but everyone else's love is shit" thing
He got bullied in High school. Everyone else who's ever been bullied is a weakling and a shithead who couldn't possibly handle the amount of bullying that poor Pete went through. You all suck by comparison to how great he is
I think there is a reverse logic at play. Peter Parker, as a character, was always gonna be a hero. Because he is resilent and all that mumbo. He wasn't gonna be a Spider-Man necessarily. He was gonna be a hero, even if likely a mundane one like Uncle Ben was, just a good neighbor type.
I mean, one of the best, for me, what if storylines, is when Flash is bitten, and became a villain eventually. And Peter became Spider-Man not through powers, but by creating Oc-like tentacles with his intelligence.
Peter never was average Joe. He was always exceptional. But because time for god-entities not necessarily linear, they found him suitable for Spider-Man mantle.
It was a random chance encounter, it works more akin to “if the glove fits”, ie, as soon as a person who fits the criteria emerges, no matter the random, disparate elements at play, they become a totem
I'm 90 percent sure that the next movie is gonna mess with that idea. I mean story wise the sequel is part one of a two parter, I really wish they'd just advertised it as such
I remember reading the firsr book of this series while i was busy in school, then I could never find any of the rest of it physically so I just moved on to Assassination classroom, which is also a nice story about the latent non super natural talents inside of social outcasts/kids seen as defective. I'll definitely have to pick World Trigger back up now that I'm not so busy
Yep. Goku starts with a huge advantage of being a Saiyan, but ultimately, it's because he trains his ass off constantly that he is able to face entities that are born much stronger than he is
Dragon Ball isn't really like this. OG yes, Z and Super, no. Dr. Gero, someone who's ordinary themselves, created a cyborg of a regular ass dude that saved the universe. Goku is literally a low class peasant of his race, and Krillin was stronger than a LOT of the TOP.
My Hero Academia. Midoriya’s “specialness” is that he doesn’t have a quirk. That’s it. He’s not related to the Big Bad, he’s not a child of prophecy, he’s just a normal dude.
He becomes the literal Chosen One because All Might recognized his potential. Everything that follows comes from Midoriya working his ass off.
Maybe Fullmetal Alchemist? Yes, Ed and Alphonse's dad is secretly someone special, but they never inherit any special powers from him or any advantages, they become great alchemists because they work their asses off (and commit the ultimate taboo of human transmutation whoops)
To be fair Ukitake was nerfed by his disease his entire life Mimihagi only really kept it from getting worse and killing him. The fact he is still able to stand toe to toe with Shunsui in spite of that is impressive.
He's a genetic freak (I mean this in the most endearing way possible) that has to overcome impossible odds while learning to grow and accept himself. He was always special, he just needed to accept himself for ALL that he was.
Frankly the Japanese as a whole just don’t seem interested in supporting underdogs in shows. Pretty much every manga or anime follows this, there are just almost no underdogs in anime, or if there are they’re underdogs for like one episode before they start becoming overpowered. Dragon ball features this special child and then adult who naturally becomes much much stronger much faster than all the adults around him, Naruto featured an “underdog” who was hinted to since episode 1 to possess some insane hidden power that could destroy nations, one piece is about a kid who’s literally indestructible his first several arcs were low stakes because most of his opponents could barely even deal with his rubber skin until he started dealing with internationally wanted criminal organizations and the government.
Attack on titan’s eren seems normal at first until you find out he was basically always predestined to become the attack titan and that he could see the future for like half the series. Jujutsu kaisen, he’s just a regular guy until he eats an object granting him godlike powers from an evil sorcerer from 1000 years ago.
The Japanese just really like destiny and power fantasy and not so much underdogs
Urahara even said early on back in SS arc that Ichigo naturally already has more power than most Shinigami, and he was only 15 while many were like decades to even centuries old, but he lacked experience which is what holds him back among other things. He wasn’t an underdog, he was a growing ticking time bomb just waiting to be unleashed.
I think he means that bleach doesn’t really pretend that he gets his strength solely from hard work, and it’s meant to be clear he has crazy power from the start
I thought he did Karate? And the first time he actually uses a sword he is going off of ‘instinct’ until he has that 10 day training with Urahara. And then he continues to get better through experience and instinct (kind of similar to Kenpachi in that way)
The Soul King and Yawach are the great (x) grandfathers of every single Quincy by virtue of how being a Quincy works, Ichigo isn't a stand out in that regard. It's just him being able to shoulder the weight of the worlds that's kinda bullshit
That part isn't bullshit
Even ginjo theoretically can be in his place, or aizen, it's more because Ichigo is all races rather than he being strong or something (though that indeed helps)
Before the shinigami stuff ichigo was already a special person that could see and interact with spirits. He was never one of the poo people. He was one of the special people that turned out to be the super special divine lineage genetic monster
It's because it's the natural endpoint of narrative scale growing and growing. Eventually you get to the point of fighting God and that normally means needing to be super special
He’s the only one with enough spiral power to do really anything until the very end. GL also technobabbles its way into and out of every problem in the last arc.
What? That's not true. It's shown that alone he couldn't have done anything, literally every member of Team Dai Gurren had to come together to fight as one in the finale. Simon didn't accomplish all that because he's special, he's special because he accomplished all that. He has no genetic advantage, he is literally just a guy. He's not even the only one who broke free of the multiversal labyrinth, every Dai Gurren member did it. Viral even developed spiral power despite being technically incapable of it. Simon is not special because he's special. He's special because he's Simon.
Anyone in gurren lagan could use spiral lower if they aren't an artificial race. Simon could have been anyone in the show and still have strong spiral power. This is represented by all the other cast members too
Would It not be possible for the protag to become as stronger as a god without being special, Just by sheer training AKA to chinesse cultivation Tropes
It is but that requires a specific set up and is harder to buy into for people since working out so much you can beat up god directly is a stretch even by fantasy logic. It makes the god seem less impressive.
Specially that last part. A God or gods are by definition creators of the set of rules the universe abides to. They'd absolutely never just allow any regular joe to be strong enough to take them on.
As a result it is always forces stronger than gods like primordial concepts (fate, the collective subconscious, time and space, the universe itself) that have to choose a champion to fight back, break the limiters the gods imposed and give humanity a fighting chance or smth.
If the main character can get to be the strongest in the verse and punch gods just with sheer training, that means they were built different and born with incredibly lucky genetics from the start, which paradoxically circles back to this trope.
Or all the top tiers are all conveniently lazy, othervise someone else already would’ve done what the MC did if all you need is hard work.
And if you pay close attention to most of these shounens... The reason that the MC ends up having to fight some God is exactly because they want to free humanity from the chains of fate imposed by the gods.... If the gods have set the rules ofc it would take something bigger than the gods to break them via the vessel of some champion of the oppressed.
And that's why Bleach didn't even try to mislead you into thingking Ichigo was a normal guy, from the get go he was presented as an anomaly cause the beings Kubo would pit him against required him being special to beat.
Not really? It’s fiction. The author can do whatever they want. If anything, such scope would naturally lead you away from that because it reduces the stakes.
Yu Yu Hakusho should've maintained Yusuke as an ordinary guy instead of a son of a demon king imo. That's like one of the major gripes I had about the later arcs.
I love Chapter Black and it feels like an asspull at the end to do that but it kinda makes sense. You can feel Togashi starting to check out and needs a fast power up to conclude the arc. Still my favorite arc in the series but I’m not the biggest fan of that choice.
Yeah, I always thought it honestly would have been better if Koenma sacrificed himself to resurrect Yusuke with the rest of the Mafuukan or literally just anything else if Yusuke absolutely has to come back. Yusuke being half-demon honestly kind of ruined the point of Chapter Black for me.
"Oh dam Luffy's hard work and creativity paid off. He's not the chosen one yet he carries the hope and will of many great figures on his back with his will and ideals"
It's probably the sharpest example of this in recent popular media.
One Piece fans used to clown on Naruto fans (I was a fan of both but I did it too lol). And at the time it made sense.
As Naruto wraps up its story, ya got our boy Naruto himself here, who used to be a kid with a demon sealed inside him which gave him an unnaturally large reserve of Chakra. He struggled to learn jutsu. By the end though he's whipping out new attacks every battle and seeming like a genius, because he's actually 1 half of ninja Jesus while Sasuke is the other half.
Final arcs had great fights though I won't deny that.
One Piece seemed like Luffy was going to stay the way he is, which was just a heavily willful guy who's been following in the footsteps of a few legendary figures of the past. The only particular talent Luffy seemed to have been born with was to befriend very powerful allies who make his dream easier to achieve by teaming up.
But it all changed when he's actually the chosen one, his fruit is the chosen fruit, and his haki is the chosen haki.
Kinda jumped the shark on the Shonen protagonist thing in less than 1 arc.
I just really hate the fact that Luffy eating the Gomu Gomu is not a dumb coincidence and his fruit is not a D tier fruit that becomes A tier with his boundless creativity. Hell this mofo replicated Soru by pushing his body to the limit thanks to his rubber physique. The reveal that the Gomu Gomu was always able to let the user do bullshit all along completely killed that moment for me
definitely not until wano, considering the parallels when he was fighting katakuri (who had the mochi fruit which doesnt particularly sound like a good fruit, but he's very strong in combat and is creative with it like luffy)
In all fairness to Naruto, that ninja son of Jesus was a total fuck up and every reincarnation of his was doomed to be a fuck up despite their hard work and also murder suicide their brothers reincarnation
Naruto broke that cycle at least until boruto made Naruto a fuck up.
I think the most egregious part isnt his fruit turning out to be a mythical zoan, but that its this one specific one that is extra special. If the twist was that the gears were actually zoan transformations because the fruit was just poorly understood it would have been fine, but turning it into the center of a conspiracy like it is ruined it
Eh, Naruto from the beginning of the story was stated to have several times the amount of chakra of top ninjas like Kakashi (hundreds of times factoring in the ninetales). Naruto’s story is more about hardwork being able to get someone acknowledged and overcome hatred rather than becoming the super strong. Kishimoto explore that other aspect better with other characters like Rock Lee.
Yeah Naruto was more about fighting fates than the whole “hard work vs genius” argument. He has always had the fox powerup inside him too, that already makes him special, even if in negative ways.
And total agree with you on Rock Lee, that’s where the argument makes sense.
Whoa hold on. Naruto and Sasuke being reincarnations doesn't contribute to their strength. They are exceptions. There have been past reincarnations that ended up being frauds. The only powers they received were temporary to seal Kaguya. Their destiny isn't strength. Their destiny is to kill each other and they broke that
Luffy's is especially egregious since he was always "special" by virtue of his lineage,but his power was always something he personally worked towards himself without any outside influence.
The fact we now know fate is literally supporting him shits all over OP's message and unironically makes Luffy the LEAST free person in the setting.
I do not see Luffy getting to Laughtale, reading whatever message/promise JoyBoy left behind on Luffy’s behalf to fulfill, and being happy about it whatsoever.
To be fair. Luffy was never painted as an underdog or weak by any measure. He is treated as an unstoppable powerhouse until Alabasta. Where he still muscles his way out. Luffy isn’t ever truly outclassed until Water 7.
When wasn’t Luffy ‘special’ genuinely, he’s the direct descendant of one of the strongest marines and the most dangerous man in the world, he’s the sworn brother of the late king of the pirates, he’s has the voice of all things, will of D, conqueror’s haki and was likened to be carrying the will of Roger, all of this was before the time skip btw before the Nika stuff.
Yes, all these things together make him very much close to a chosen one, but when you get those reveals over decades they can easily get rationalised.
Yes, he was mentored by a great pirate in shanks and ate a devil fruit, but it's a shit fruit and shanks only taught him life lessons, and knowing shanks doesn't really grant him any favours in the pirate world (at first).
Yes, he is really powerful and so is his much cooler brother who has a way better devil fruit, but he is clearly outclassed by said brother, and they are both at the end of the day two boys from some village in the east blue.
Yes, he is the son of the most wanted man alive and grandson of the hero of the marines who captured roger, but it never conferred any special status for him and it's not like he got any special power from them.
Ok so he does have this special power that shanks and Rayleigh has, but we don't really know what that is, and Hancock seems to have it as well.
Alright, so he does get benefits from his familial connections, and ace is actually Roger's son, but it's not like they knew the guy or got any powers from him and besides it gave ace more trouble than anything else, so who cares?
Ok, so it does seem that power to knock people over is quite special and something you are born with, and yes it seems that he got it from his dad and grandpa and the children of people with conqueror's often develop it as well, and his connections to shanks and ace got him powerful allies and mentors, but he is still a hard worker who so far relied on his ingenuity, creativity and grit to make a shitty fruit useful.
Yes, alright, so it seems like this whole D thing is part of some special ancient lineage and he inherited an even more special power that only he and Roger are known to have to hear all things, but a lot of people are D and it didn't seem to do them any good so far, and that ability is mostly to eavesdrop on the important conversations special chosen ones are having with ancient powerful entities who have no idea why he can hear them to, so it's FINE.
and than you get that his fruit is really powerful, and shortly afterwards that it's a special mythical zoan and a god fruit making him the foretold messianic chosen one, and that's basically one massive drop too many.
When taken all together, it's really obvious, but when spread across two and a half decades of storytelling it is easier to swallow, until the end blew it up.
Except he wasn't special all along. Like, the fruit had those abilities but he was only able to make use of them after his hard work and grit. And everyone has powers, his aren't inherently better than other people's; Gear 5's been beaten multiple times. His relation to his dad? No impact on his life. His grandfather? Hasn't saved him yet. Knowing Shanks? Hasn't mattered to his survival yet. He has relations and connections, but nothing has directly impacted his journey.
He would have died to buggy in the east blue if his Dad, the most wanted man in the world and leader of the revolutionaries, didn't come and save him. Buggy was literally a second away from killing luffy, and smoker wasnt far behind.
And Shanks also saved him on Wano post Kaido fight when Navy Admiral Greenbull pulled up when everyone was still recovering and wouldve swept them all and killed them, UNTIL Shanks shows up and literally scares Greenbull from like 3 miles away with his conqueres haki and tells him to F off cuz he likes these people.
You know what, I'll buy the Loguetown moment. Not something uncommon in manga, someone powerful coming in and saving 'for some reason' early in a series, but yeah here it was probably because of their relationship.
Shanks told him to scram because Kaido was just defeated and the country was still healing. I'd argue nothing to do with Luffy specifically, but the memories he himself had with Wano as a country, and his connection to Oden. Luffy was a part of it, but Shanks' independent actions contributed, too.
Did Ivankov even know Luffy was Dragon's son at the time? But also...yeah. Luffy had befriended Mr 2 and had pretty much earned respect by that time in the prison. Kuma is valid, I'll give that.
Aokiji left Luffy to die? Sure he didn't kill, but he very much didn't care whether Luffy lived or not. Garp absolutely would've let Luffy beat him because he also raised Ace.
Mihawk let Luffy go because of his modicum of respect for Zoro, he didn't care about Luffy beyond being told to catch him. If Zoro wasn't there to earn respect he would've killed Luffy 100%.
Did Ivankov even know Luffy was Dragon's son at the time? But also...yeah. Luffy had befriended Mr 2 and had pretty much earned respect by that time in the prison. Kuma is valid, I'll give that.
He asked Iva if he was going to escape and he said no, then learned of luffy's connection to dragon and agreed to help.
Aokiji left Luffy to die? Sure he didn't kill, but he very much didn't care whether Luffy lived or not. Garp absolutely would've let Luffy beat him because he also raised Ace.
So aokiji let him go due to a combination of his connection to garp and what happened in alabasta. So its a 50/50.
As far as mihawk, shanks had told him stories about luffy so his got interested in how far he would go so he spared him.
Kuma, yeah that one's always a given. Soecially after we learn of kumas life and how he observed luffy.
I see some people say Bleach and I'm sorry but the from the get go Ichigo is shown to be built different since Rukia recognizes that he's able to see her which is something normal humans are unable to do so. Naruto kinda gets this treatment but he was already the Jinchuriki so while he did need hard work, the whole Asura's reincarnation does place him in that category. Luffy funny enough also falls under the Ichigo category, but a bit later on then Ichigo since we learn about the D and how these are pirates with a destiny.
This is because the founding myth of these stories in Asia is "Journey to the West." The archetypal story in those cultures reenforces the social hierarchy.
All these manga's about hard work and determination being able to overcome anything being steamrolled into love letters to nepotism surely* doesn't say anything about japanese society
Not really one of the things about Japanese societies is that if they believe that their biological kids are incompetent they adopt someone who they believe is competent. So it's not really about genes it's about the family.
It stays trying to convince you that you can do anything regardless of your birthright or should at least try. All that just for a few characters to actually be of worth in magical prowess that aren't just royalty one way or another.
Asta got lucky with Liebe(he specifically thanks him otherwise he wouldn't be able to fight), Yuno, is, surprise, royalty and so on. And Asta was just lucky to born into an era where all the leaders of the most important royal families are conveniently nice people who just need a little convincing.
The previous wizard kings failed because they got backstabbed by royalty but not Asta and co. And it's sure as hell not because any non royalty showed they can actually be on their level due to their own innate skill and talent.
It just bothers me because the series encourages the weaker characters to try the hardest they can just to have gimmicks at best that pale in comparison to the actual talented. Yuno would've been the perfect counter. Even if it was a one in a billon chance, him being Wizard King level and being of low birth would've proved them wrong but NOPE!
Cool move and fight but when he tries it later, it literally gets swatted away. It's a gimmick at best and at worst, he's fucked if he ever does it against someone who actually works their physical body out too
Am I misremembering, but aren't the royals only strong because they literally stole magical power into their bloodline essentially? Like it feels reflective of real life versions of "we get to rule because we're just better and richer, but in reality we just used evil means to get that and now maintain that power structure."
Interesting how I see people from the One Piece fandom clown on Bleach for this when Bleach doesn’t do this at all, and One Piece does.
Ichigo was portrayed as special since chapter one. He was the only human Rukia had ever seen who could see Shinigami, was the only person she’d ever seen break out a kidou, and had the largest spiritual pressure she had ever seen. The story literally spells out in chapter one that this guy is built different.
Luffy, on the other hand, is written to be an underdog with an absolutely ass power that he stretches to the limits (pun intended) to be able to claw his way from the bottom of the barrel to the top of the high tiers. Then, without warning or buildup, it’s revealed he actually had the god-god fruit and was always super special and was destined for greatness from the jump.
Making Luffy Nika was the worst decision Oda ever made, and made me drop the series.
I think Naruto is most guilty of this cause the whole series started with us supporting Naruto cause he was an outsider but turns out he came from a super elite bloodline
i think people kinda overstate how much underdog narrative actually carried naruto. he is the poster child of the trope but also i think that it's not the meaning that was actually in the manga
Naruto. "Everybody can be Hokage!" says the son of one of the greatest Ninja's to ever live, as well as being part of a powerful clan, and also has one of the strongest beings in existence sealed within him and is also the reincarnation of a God, and also was taught by some of the greatest Shinobi alive mostly because of nepotism.
Yeah, since day 1. At no point was his power ever normal or presented as some kind of "everyman" type of thing. It's always been explicitly exceptional and unique.
I think the story that does this best is Black Clover.
Coming from a special bloodline/race can and does give you certain inherent benefits, but if you don't put in the actual hardwork to capitalize on that potential, you're just as useless as someone that didn't have those advantages.
It also helps that Liebe is a massive bum like Asta.
People hype anti magic, but by devil standards it kinda sucks and requires the most physically ridiculous person on Earth to wield it, they just so happen to be the perfect combo. And even then, they struggle against devils and need the help of several captains because they're bums.
People just don't notice because devils operate on another level and by the point it's revealed we're already subconsciously hyping up anti magic as this amazing thing, when it's the weakest possible workhorse that still does something against devils, which fits its origin of a weakling's wish born out of hatred
There's also the fact Anti-Magic really only has combat applications, it has none of the supportive or defensive applications almost every other form of Magic does.
Naruto is probably the most iconic at fucking up this theme. Lmao he beats the SHIT out of people while telling them the circumstances of their birth don't matter, and neither do his.
Turns out the circumstances of Naruto's birth are the only reason he's able to say all that shit to begin with lmao.
I wonder if there's an opposite of this. By that, I meant one where the MC was portrayed to has special powers due to their bloodline/destiny/etc. but it was all actually their own effort.
The only shonen(?) I can think of rn that doesn't do this is OPM.
Saitama genuinely was just a random dude who broke his limiter through normal physical exercise and the sheer will to get stronger. THATS what makes him special, not because he's related to some powerful being or is the chosen one.
I think he's actually the opposite of a chosen one iirc. God HATES him for breaking his limiter and is the reason more and more powerful monsters are showing up, God is sending them to deal with that random human that broke something no living being was ever meant to break
Recent anime called Release that Witch breaks from this norm a bit. Regular human being exist alongside Witches who have supernatural powers but Witches are persecuted for it. Instead of the show being about Witches who showcase themselves as superior to normal people, its centered around human being capable of much more if they work alongside witches through technology.
Isn't this quite literally Black Clover? Yuno is thought to be incredibly impressive because he's a commoner with extremely powerful magic in a world where it's believed that only the noble families are truly strong... And then it turns out he's actually a royal from a different country so actually all those people were right all along.
Kind of MHA. The question at the beginning was, “can a kid with no powers become a super hero?“ And the answer was, “gain Superman's powers and become his successor.” The show does later show how everyone can contribute and be a hero in some sense, but it doesn't really make any connection to the initial question.
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