The protagonists of shonen anime are certainly a colorful bunch. If there’s one all of them have in common: they want to win. Whether it’s challenging their rivals or other opponents to fights, or a battle of wits, theprotagonists won’t give upuntil their achieve their goals.RELATED:Best Shojo Anime, RankedJust because they have the determination, doesn’t necessarily mean they have the brains to do it. Some rely heavily on their fists to the do the talking while others take a more strategic approach. Then, there are a few who are a perfect balance of brain and brawn.Update June 25, 2025 by Sarah Prado:Most shonen anime protagonists follow the trope of being a little more brawn than brains. This doesn’t mean they’re dumb; in fact, most of them are very talented in fighting and use clever tactics to win. However, that doesn’t mean they’re intelligent off the battlefield. There are some protagonists who prove that brains can be deadlier than any punch, given even if they lack the physical prowess. Having natural instinct definitely helps and gets them far, but it helps that most of them have allies to help balance out in the areas they lack in.
15Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece)
It’s a good thing he has a crew with him, because Luffy doesn’t have much in the way of brains to get him far. However, he certainly has the heart for adventure. Luffy is only around because he wants to be the best pirate in the world and adventure, while his crew is there to help in areas he lacks.
Without them, Luffy doesn’t bring much to the table other than strength and spirit. It’s gotten him this far. But when it comes to brains, it’s best to leave it tohis crewmates to do the thinking.
14Goku (Dragon Ball)
He might be one of the strongest anime characters ever, but that doesn’t mean Goku is the smartest. When it comes to the battlefield, Goku is a genius. After fighting his opponents for a while, he can figure out how to win the battle. That’s also the problem: it takes him a while. For as long as he fought Frieza, he didn’t even have to do anything to defeat him. Frieza accidently sawed himself in half with his own attack. Against Pikkon,it took Goku a whileto figure out how to counter his Thunder Flash Attack. He’s never officially won against Vegeta in one-on-one.
There’s no doubt Goku is an excellent warrior. Goku’s experience helps make him a lethal warrior and one of the best in the universe. Outside the battlefield, the man just doesn’t understand anything.
13Gon Freecss (Hunter x Hunter)
Gon isn’t the most academically gifted teen and is even made fun of for not being good in math. Some characters will have to correct him and ensure he gets it right. He even gets confused if someone explains their Nen powers, especially if it’s a long and complicated explanation. Steam will literally come out of his ears and explode if the information proves to be too much for him to comprehend. Granted, Gon is anEnhancer, a Nen classthat’s known for being a little simple-minded.
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His fighting prowess is still a work in-progress, but he has proven to surprise those around him. He’s able to think outside the box and come up with strategies when fighting to catch his opponents off-guard.
12Natsu Dragneel (Fairy Tail)
There is no doubt that Natsu is a powerful fighter, but his intellect is the lowest among his guildmates. His battles usually result in the area around him being destroyed, getting him into trouble. He’s not a big picture kind of guy, and his social skills are below average at best. He’s pretty dense when it comes to life outside of battle, but luckily,he usually has Happyand Lucy with him for this.
However, in battle, Natsu is surprisingly strategic and has won a lot of his fights using his wits. He is more brawn than brains, but Natsu uses his experiences and knowledge from both allies and opponents to help him in battle.
11Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)
As brilliant as Naruto is on the battlefield, his book smarts and common sense is out the window. If anything, it’s a bit of running joke throughout the series. He barely managed to pass the exam to graduate the Academy.
He’s able to come up withclever ideas to take on his opponents,but it doesn’t apply outside of battle. Other characters have to explain things to him a lot because he doesn’t pay attention. It’s no wonder Sakura is always losing her patience with him.
10Yusuke Urameshi (Yu Yu Hakusho)
Yusuke mayskip school a lot,but he’s not dumb. Instead of thinking of his next move, Yusuke relies on instinct and his innate aggressiveness to get him through fights. Thanks to his rough upbringing and time as a street fighter, he’s picked up on fighting techniques. However, there are times he doesn’t think before he acts; for example, when he shot a Spirit Gun at Sensui, and didn’t realize until the last second that Kuwabara could’ve been hit.
Though he doesn’t attend school regularly, Yusuke has some common sense and street smarts. He knows that not all demons are innately evil and that some, if not most, need to eat humans in order to survive. Plus, he’s shown that he can be clever, and has outsmarted demons like Goki and Rando.
9Yuji Itadori (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Yuji was a normal teenager before he was thrust into the sorcery world, but has proven that he can pick up on things easily. Despite his short time learning about cursed energy, Yuji mastered it along with martial arts. He has natural talentwhen it comes to learningnew skills, and mastered techniques like Black Flash in a short amount of time.
There are times when his naivete shows, mostly due to his inexperience. He might seem like an airhead, but Yuji has a good balance of brain and brawn. He’s eager to learn and improve his skill set and very focused when it comes to achieving his goals.
8Eren Yeagar (Attack On Titan)
Eren has always been known as a hothead among his peers and for good reason. Compared to the brains of Armin and Hange, he’s not as smart as them. At the beginning of the series, his emotions were front-and-center instead of logic.
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Luckily for him, others like Armin, Levi, and Hange were there to help him and make sure to keep their plans simple enough for him to follow.As the series went on,Eren showed that he was more than capable of thinking plans out.
7Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach)
While he isn’t the smartest in his class, Ichigo doesn’t neglect his school work. He ranked 23rd in his class and studies regularly to keep his grades up. When not in the classroom, Ichigo has proven he’s a great fighter and able to catch onto things like his opponent’s attack patterns.
Ichigo was able to grasp Shinigami techniques pretty quickly. He wasable to achieve Bankaiin two and a half days when it usually takes ten years.
6Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Edward managed tobecome a State Alchemistat age 12, and the youngest ever to achieve this. He is a student no matter where he is, and learns from everyone around him. Edward is also known to be studious, reading multiple books for long hours to learn whatever he needs to know. There’s no doubt he’s smart, but he is still a teenager that learns from experience throughout the series.
He is a bit of hothead and quick-tempered, sometimes letting his emotions get the better of him. Despite this, he is able to quickly adapt and think of strategies to beat his opponents after their ways of combat and use of alchemy once. He was able to counter Scar’s deconstructive alchemy and Greed’s armor after fighting them once which surprised them and gave him an advantage.
