20 Anime With Incredibly Intelligent Main Characters

Crafting a strong character is easy. Slap some muscle on that bad boy and put your budget in to visual affects – Bam! However, crafting an intelligent anime character takes a little more finesse and, well, thought. While every anime main character can be said to posses moderate intelligence to get by, these anime main characters have a brain that goes above and beyond its call of duty.

Best Anime With Intelligent Main Characters

Death Note

You know me, I like to start with the very obvious ones first to get them out of the way. Death Note has an enduring legacy for being the ultimate anime game of cat and mouse between an intelligent murderer and an equally intelligent detective. Mystery series typically demand smart protagonists, but Death Note, with its many schemes, really quite enthralled everyone.

Code Geass

In a similar vein to Death Note, you have not so much a mystery show, but more so a political thriller of rebellion. The main character has the benefit of a top tier education, a naturally intelligent mind, and a power that can force anyone to do what he says. With all that, he shakes an empire apart in his vengeance.

Monster

Monster is a game of cat and mouse, but it deals with not so much various schemes between the two players, but rather focuses on ponderous psychological and philosophical questions. The plot itself is set up on a popular philosophical question that is twisted to an odd outcome. Unfortunately, as a bit of a slow burn, it may not be for everyone.

One Outs

I like to call One Outs the “Death Note of sports anime,” and you can see why when watching it. It is a lot of internal dialogue and it all comes with the same intensity that is dialed up to eleven. It is a sort of gambling anime, which may indicate it requires luck, but there is definitely a need for strategy and skill in this particular sport.

Log Horizon

This is the smart option when it comes to the whole “trapped in a game / isekai” genre. The main character is still legendarily strong, but he is actually famous for being a great strategist. As such, every action he does involves a fair bit of thought.

Overlord

Unlike Log Horizon where the main character that is trapped in the game is known for being intelligent, Overlord doesn’t advertise it like that. The intelligence of Ainz is more of a “show don’t tell” sort of affair, but is still almost as immediately obvious. He is particularly adept at the manipulation of everyone, from his allies to his enemies.

Steins;Gate

As a mad scientist, Okabe can seem so smart, yet so dumb. In fact, placed next to Kurisu, he looks quite the dumb-dumb. However, he is a tinkerer with very clear skill in engineering and physics. Furthermore, dealing with the effects of time travel is not exactly fitting a square peg in to a square hole.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War

Romances are a genre where one doesn’t necessarily have good luck finding overly intelligent main characters. The smarts tend to be a bit alienating, I guess. However, this series is about two smart people that are too stubborn to admit they like each other. From there, it is schemes to get each other to admit it, flirt, or in general to grow closer to each other. It is both cute and clever, the whole package.

Detective Conan

Conan is a teen detective that got transformed into a child and named himself after the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to disguise himself. As a teen now a child, you see his mind work brilliantly while he solves mysteries, but then you see him act profoundly dumb as hell when it comes to common sense matters.

No Game No Life

No Game No Life is all about puzzles that are posed to the two main characters. Imagine the surprise when those characters not only make those puzzles their bitches, but manipulate everyone they encounter with their intelligence. The flashy colors may attract you to No Game No Life, but it is an incredibly clever series as well.

Terror in Resonance

Similar to other series, Terror in Resonance starts out feeling like a very familiar game of cat and mouse between teen terrorists and a police task force. However, as the series goes on, the psychological element becomes increasingly more obvious.

Hyouka

I rather dislike Hyouka’s representation of an intelligent character, but he fits the bill. Oreki is the type of intelligent protagonist that is so smart he can’t really be assed to do much of anything. He finds himself being pulled into mysteries by his more assertive peers where his intelligence comes in handy. It has its lovely moments, but Hyouka as a series does kind of meander about until it just ends.

Classroom of the Elite

As this series surrounds an incredibly competitive high school, you could say that everyone in the series is pretty intelligent. Essentially, you just sit back and enjoy the schemes as the main characters try to climb to the top rankings.

The Irregular at Magic High School

The plot is a bit of a usual one. The main character, because he has unusual magic abilities, is put in the dumb class. However, his magic is strong, just different. Furthermore, both he and his sister possess quite impressive technical skills as well. If you really enjoy your Gary Stu characters, Tatsuya is right there.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Space operas, at least good ones, demand strongly intelligent characters. I guess that’s why Legend of the Galactic Heroes is considered the best space opera. Whether it is strategies for battle or navigating troubling political waters, the main characters on each side are savants.

Dr. Stone

Dr. Stone is all about advancing civilization. Yet, the most impressive thing about Senku’s intelligence is his memory. Even the best scientists need to look up references these days, but Senku not only works out what he needs, but remembers how to do it. He is, by every definition, a genius.

Saga of Tanya the Evil

Who says intelligent main characters need to be the protagonist? Tanya is in many ways a villain, or at least an antihero. She has the benefit of having the mind of a middle aged man and the face of a cute little girl. She uses it to manipulate her way to the top.

High School Prodigies Have it Easy Even in Another World

This series literally built its plot around having smart characters. Prodigies, if you will. This can mean different things other than intelligence, but they are all quite smart anyways. The twist is the characters often have to rein their activities in so they don’t completely screw up their new world.

The Promised Neverland

The interesting thing about The Promised Neverland is that it does feature intelligent main characters, but the ignorance of their upbringing limits their ability to display it. They were raised in a sheltered place to be eaten by monsters, as the smartest, the three main characters are considered quite the delicacy, which has kept them alive. In order to escape, their intelligence truly comes into play as they try to disguise their escape training.

Gosick

If you count the male character as the sole main character, he is not applicable. He is, in fact, quite stupid. However, his female partner in mystery solving got an extra large heap of brains when they were handing them out in the womb. He handles all the leg work, she does all the thinking.

Do you have any more anime series where the main character is a serious smarty-pants? Let fans know in the comments section below.