Similar anime with smart main character[s]?

Treq said:
Classroom of the Elite. The MC is insanely intelligent.

SafeCargo said:
Um... yes? Sora and Shiro are geniuses, are they not?

zach293 said:
check out terror in resonance, skimmed through your list and you haven’t seen that one

zach293 said:
check out terror in resonance, skimmed through your list and you haven’t seen that one

Thigh_Tide said:


They are about as far from smart as you can get.

SafeCargo said:
May I hear your reasoning behind this? Just curious, seeing as they outsmart their opponents in several scenes.

Taneem_A said:
Can't wait for season 2. (Would read the manga, but brain disapproves.)

Thigh_Tide said:


Beat ≠ outsmart.

Every conflict in NGNL is resolved entirely through luck, cheating or intimidation, all under a thin veneer of intellectualism to mask their lack of actual aptitude.

kinaaaaaa said:
Think with me, even to cheat is difficult in that world, you see, the people just play games all the time, and to win all of the games, like cards, you'll need to cheat sometimes

kinaaaaaa said:
Man, the LN is just a Masterpiece, I really think it's worth to give a try.

ChaosEmblem said:
I definitely recommend Phi Brain! The anime revolves around solving puzzles and the mc is smart, it's pretty underrated!

Thigh_Tide said:


Beat ≠ outsmart.

Every conflict in NGNL is resolved entirely through luck, cheating or intimidation, all under a thin veneer of intellectualism to mask their lack of actual aptitude.

SafeCargo said:
In my opinion beating grandmaster chess programs makes you smart.
I mean I respect your opinion, but you dont need to be a dick and say "You actually, unironically, think NGNL has smart characters? Really?" It sounds very condescending.

Thigh_Tide said:


Anyone can write "and then they beat a grandmaster," but that doesn't mean they've actually been made a smart character. That's just listing an event that may seem impressive if done by a real person, but actually making characters intelligent has to be done in the way their thought processes are communicated to the viewer/reader.

In a similar vein, if you wanted to have a suave, playboy character, just writing that "he is attractive" isn't going to make that the case if his actual personality doesn't match. Or if you wanted to have a powerful, heroic character, merely narrating that "he is super good at fighting" is a hollow statement unless we see actually how he fights later on.

Frankly, this all comes down to the most basic technique in writing; show, don't tell. And what NGNL does, having Sora and Shiro collect feats with little effort, is telling.

Additionally, this whole "I respect your opinion but you don't need to be a dick" line is silly and evasive. This is not a question of opinion, nor does it make sense to get offended at the fact.

SafeCargo said:
Wow, it most certainly is a matter of opinion. Saying your opinion is a fact is very egotistical... And by the way, obviously the vast majority of people agree that sora and shiro are smart. And before you say "the popularity of an argument doesn't make it true" well, this is true also. I'm just pointing this out because it feels like you're saying that as if this is a well known fact in the community, when it's not. And I'm not getting "offended" at the fact... just surprised at how rude you are coming off.

Thigh_Tide said:


I never said my opinion is fact. You'll note that what I actually said is that opinions do not come into this, it's simple a matter of what is or isn't present in the text of the work.

If you think opinions are relevant here, why?

I also don't see what you try to say with "as this is a well known fact in the community, when it's not." Setting aside that knowledge of a fact does not make it so, why is it not?

Interpreting this as rude is getting offended at it. Your closing point is contradictory.

SafeCargo said:
I don't know what to say to you anymore, sora and shiro are on every top 10 smartest anime characters list out there. If you disagree with this, that's fine, that's an opinion just like the lists. And I'm sorry but how am I not supposed to interpret "you actually, unironically think ngnl has smart characters? Really?" as condescending? If that's me getting offended, then so be it, there's nothing wrong with that.

Thigh_Tide said:


Them being on a "top 10 list" is such a ridiculous thing to think valid, you must be joking. That's just an appeal to authority fallacy through and through, "some guy put them on a list."

And again, you keep insinuating this is to do with opinion somehow, but you're unable to explain why.

And if suddenly there's "nothing wrong" with you getting offended, explain why you came in with the idea that I "don't need to be a jerk?" If it doesn't matter, why should it be an issue that I am doing what you think I am?

SafeCargo said:
Alright, I will try to explain, although I'm not the best at it.

As for your first point... I should have been more clear. I'm not saying that it's true because they are on top 10 lists. I'm saying that they are generally conceived to be really smart characters, which is why they are always put on said lists. Since the majority of people believe this, I am confused as to why you said "you actually, unironically think that ngnl has smart characters? Really?" (I know I've been quoting this line a lot lol) I assumed you already knew that this was the general consensus, so I was confused as to why you saw this to be such a surprise. To me, this also came off a bit rude to me, so I apologize if that was not your intention.

On to your second point, let me clarify something. You believe that the following sentiment, "Sora and Shiro are not smart characters," to be a fact? I will give you my answer assuming you reply.

And finally the third thing, I said that there was nothing wrong with it, not that it doesnt matter. Although I will digress on this last point, it honestly doesn't matter. We are arguing about anime online it's not like we're coworkers lol

Thigh_Tide said:


To establish whether or not you were aware that they weren't, of course. That should already have been obvious from how the conversation continued.

Yes, "Sora and Shiro are not written as smart characters." That is what is, with certitude, present in (or rather, absent from) the text.

SafeCargo said:
Of course, I'm just asking why you seemed so surprised that I thought this, assuming that you knew it was a majority belief. What you said made it seem like you think that people who believe sora and shiro are smart, are dumb. Again, sorry if this was not your intention, it's just how it came off.

Also I think I understand what you're saying. Would you agree with the following statement?:

"Sora and Shiro are written to be smart characters, however the author fails in his goal since he fails to show how they are intelligent, rather than just tell."

Also I can tell you got A's in english class growing up. Have you ever written any novels?

Mikes_list said:
'The Promised Neverland'(Only season 1 because I heard season 2 was trash and I don't wanna risk it tainting a perfect 1st season), 'Death Note' and 'Kakegurui' all have some smart main characters.

Thigh_Tide said:


I don't keep tabs on the majority's consensus on every single piece of media. Strictly speaking, believing that they are smart does rather speak of being oblivious to the actual content, so, not dumb, but dumb-adjacent.

Broadly, I agree with that statement, but I would amend it to be: "Shora and Shiro were intended to be written as smart characters, however the author fails in his goal since he fails to show that they are intelligent, instead just stating they are and attributing various feats to the pair."

Since you ask, I do write, mainly short fiction.

SafeCargo said:
Any recommendations for anime that also have a genius main character, with cool outsmarting the other guy scenes?