dumb anime characters

Sweet But Stupid: 15 Lovable Idiots in Anime

Not every bulb can be the brightest bulb in the box. Sometimes you have those defective bulbs that flicker, light on fire, and burn out in five seconds. Anime has characters like that when it comes to intelligence. There is something comforting about a character that is a bit of a moron. They may be the idiotic, but they are often a loyal best friend or they may be the sweet and stupid hero of the series. Their lack of intellect means that you can just enjoy the most straightforward path of their character arc as well.

Best Lovable Idiots in Anime

kuwabara dumb

Kuwabara from Yu Yu Hakusho

Kuwabara is the bro. He’s the guy, despite technically being a rival when Yusuke was just a low-life thug. Yet, he becomes the guy that always has your back. He has his badass moments, but even when he’s fighting, it is made abundantly clear that he isn’t the brightest bulb in the box.

goku dumb

Goku from Dragon Ball Z

In their barest essence, there are two types of main characters. The first is the character that is so cool and powerful that they border dangerously on being Gary/Mary Sues. The other is an absolute idiot savant. Goku is the latter. He is perhaps one of the most powerful people in the universe, but to use the parlance of many a youth these days – he dumb. Maybe he’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybeline it is the traumatic head injury he suffered as a child. He is the very definition of sweet, but so, so stupid.

nedou dumb

Nendou from The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.

Imagine being so absolutely brain-dead that you gain your best friend because he is a psychic who was endlessly intrigued that he couldn’t read your thoughts. Turns out, there isn’t a lot going on up there, and it makes his mind refreshingly quiet for Saiki.

taiju dumb

Taiju from Dr. Stone

When your best friend is ultra-intelligent, you will immediately look dim by comparison. Taiju is likely of very average intelligent, but he often lets his strong body do the talking, which balances things out considering Senku isn’t exactly an all-star athlete.

luffy dumb

Luffy from One Piece

Another main character that is very strong, but doesn’t necessarily exercise their brain muscles too hard. Luffy’s whole thing is that he acts a lot on impulse. In fact, he jumps into things so quickly that it often feels like many of his crew mates are there to mind him.

milly trigun anime

Milly from Trigun

Certainly Vash seems like the dumb one of Trigun, and that might be true at times, but often what Vash is doing is putting on an act. Milly, on the other hand, while she has her profound moments, is more the dim-witted one whose is quintessential sweet but stupid.

black star dumb

Black Star from Soul Eater

Since Black Star isn’t the main character of Soul Eater, I often wonder if he is a touch of parody on your typical shounen heroes. They are strong, but they are stupid. In Black Star’s case, he has a touch of delusion about being this heroic sort of guy as well.

arthur fire force anime

Arthur from Fire Force

Fire Force is by the same author as Soul Eater, and as such you see a fair bit of similar things in them. Arthur is the Black Star of Fire Force. His is a sort of sidekick to the main character, and an absolute moron. They even both have a dash of hero delusion as well.

aho girl dumb

Yoshiko from Aho Girl

Yoshiko doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together, and that’s the show! She dumb. She so dumb that she is a menace to everyone around her. Aho Girl is literally just a show about how dumb one girl can be.

mako dumb

Mako from Kill la Kill

Another character that exists purely to be an idiot sidekick, and in this case, a catalyst so the main character has a place to live. Interestingly enough, Mako’s idiocy is likely just there for comedy. She is shown being pretty competent at running the Fight Club, meaning she does in fact have more brain cells than some.

miria and isaac from baccano

Isaac and Miria from Baccano

When you think of criminals, even petty thieves, you don’t think of bubbly people like Isaac and Miria. What is perhaps the most charming thing about these already charming characters is that often when they are committing crime, they are actually inadvertently helping people by doing it.

excel saga anime

Excel from Excel Saga

Excel certainly has an abundance of stupid, but she is lacking a bit on the sweet here. Regardless, as a parody character, a certain amount of idiocy is expected, but one can’t forget that she is technically a henchwoman of an evil overlord, and therefor not always nice to people.

bakarina dumb

Katarina from My Next Life As a Villainess

There is a reason that her nickname in the series becomes “Bakarina,” and it is not because she is some evil genius. In fact, there is even a plot point in which someone is attempting to pin something on her in order to turn to harem and reverse harem against her, but everyone is like, “Nah, she’s too stupid to do that.” It was a refreshing way to juke that particular otome trope.

usagi dumb

Usagi from Sailor Moon

Female main character aren’t immune from being either an idiot or a Mary Sue as shown with Usagi. However, to be fair, she is really just shown as book dumb, but she has her moments outside of the classroom where she shows how dim she can be.

yui kon

Yui from K-On

Yui is the dim, but lovable main character in K-on. As K-on is cute girls doing cute things, the main character must therefor be about as smart as a plank because… smart girls aren’t cute? If they were, Kotomi wouldn’t have lost to Nagisa in Clannad.

Do you have more lovable idiots from your favorite anime series? Let fans know in the comments section below.

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