Protagonists are usually loveable and heroic and that’s what makes them stand out. They’re the main heroes around which the entire series revolves and therefore, have a lot of pressure on them to be amazing.
Protagonists come in many varieties based on different Anime. One of the types of protagonists that have recently emerged with regularity is the dumb ones!
Although many people don’t understand the idea behind the protagonist being a dumb one, maybe it’s done to give the show a comedic aspect.
Dumb protagonists that have limited knowledge but amazing fighting skills may also indicate that those who aren’t the smartest, still have the potential to achieve great things in life.
However, there are a few dumb protagonists out there that truly stand! But before we dive in any deeper, here’s a list of these top 5 dumbest protagonists and the Anime that they’re from:
| Dumb Protagonists | Anime |
| Yusuke Urameshi | Yu Yu Hakusho |
| Gon Freecss | Hunter X Hunter |
| Ash Ketchum | Pokémon |
| Naruto Uzumaki | Naruto |
| Son Goku | Dragon Ball |
Now let’s take a look at these characters in more detail and figure out how they’ve portrayed their dumbness in the series.
So let’s get right to it!
Yusuke Urameshi
Yusuke Urameshi is the main protagonist of the Anime series, Yu Yu Hakusho. According to many fans of the show, Yusuke is not a very intelligent protagonist. However, there are many fans who’d like to disagree.
The way that Yusuke Urameshi is portrayed as dumb is through his academics. He boasts about receiving a score of 12 on his tests, which definitely isn’t that great. Plus, he’s always skipping school.
Although Yusuke isn’t book-smart, he’s incredibly street smart. He has spent most of his life living as punk and that has taught him survival skills.
These skills aid him and help him become one of the best Spirit Detectives. However, this doesn’t distract away from the fact that he’s still the dumb protagonist of the series.
Even his most clever moments in the show result from something stupid that he did. So can his success actually be a product of luck, rather than his own skills?
For instance, during a battle with Hiei, he uses a reflected Spirit Gun to beat him. However, he was only able to do so because he half-remembered that light bounces off mirrors.
Regardless of how dumb of a character he is, Yusuke has always been able to defeat his opponents and attain victory in the end.
Nevertheless, it shouldn’t be forgotten that most of his early battles were won because of his luck and determination, instead of his intelligence.
Gon Freecss
Gon Freecss is the main protagonist of the show Hunter X Hunter. As the name suggests, this young boy dreams of becoming a Hunter all his life.
Gon began his journey as a naive kid who still has a lot to learn about the world. This is also one of the reasons why he’s regarded as a dumb protagonist.
However, his dumbness might not be his fault and it only seems that way because he’s a young kid trying to survive in an extremely complex and dark world.
Although he has some amazing skills, the major problem in his life is that he becomes very disoriented and out of his element when he encounters dangerous situations.
For this reason, it might also be a little unfair to describe him as dumb, but Gon still has a lot to learn. As a kid, he has many gaps in his knowledge and that is what actually gets him in trouble.
Ash Ketchum
I think almost everyone who watches Anime is aware of the main protagonist Ash Ketchum from a childhood favorite Anime series, Pokémon. Ash is quite a popular character known for being his goofy self.
Ash Ketchum is a trainer who usually pulls out his Pokedex when he comes across a new Pokémon. However, Ash began his journey as a trainer without having any actual knowledge of the basics of being a trainer.
He’s not a book-smart character but can be regarded as a street-smart one. For instance, he doesn’t know how electricity affects certain things, like rocks, until and unless all of it blows up in his face.
However, he’s also shown as the character who learns as the show goes forward. While learning is fine, what makes him a dumb protagonist is the fact that he always seems to forget vital lessons.
As soon as he travels to new regions, it’s as if he’s forgotten his training and all that he’s learned so far. This brings him back to square one and therefore, puts him in a lot of trouble as well.
Take a look at this video giving a review of the original series of Pokémon:
Naruto Uzumaki
Naruto Uzumaki is the most famous protagonist from the long-running Anime series, Naruto. Even those who don’t watch Anime are aware of who he is because of how large of a fan base his character has around the world.
While Naruto definitely isn’t the dumbest protagonist in the world, he still makes the list because of how he was in the earlier episodes.
Naruto was a very poor student and again wasn’t book-smart. The only reason he pushed forward was because of his amazing tenacity and the powers he was given by Kurama. Kurama was sealed within Naruto’s heart.
If you’ve watched the original series, you would have seen that Naruto used to struggle a lot with processing the information which surrounded him.
Neither he was able to understand the basics of ninjitsu nor he was able to comprehend the social norms. This put him in a lot of trouble and this is why he’s also regarded as a dumb protagonist.
However, Naruto was able to redeem himself in the series Boruto, when he proved his skills and became a capable leader.
Son Goku
Son Goku is the ultimate dumb protagonist of the series, Dragon Ball and many of the goofy, dumb protagonists in other Anime are actually based on his character.
However, his dumbness is partially due to the fact that he was raised in the woods alone by an old man. He hit his head as a child and since then he’s been caretaken by an old man.
Goku’s problem is that he’s very ignorant and doesn’t understand the concept of marriage. He can’t even differentiate between a cis woman and a cis man because of his ignorance.
Therefore, his character is shown as someone who’s slow at learning anything. However, he still learns a lot as time goes by and he grows older.
Goku’s lack of intelligence is iconic as it provides justification for his foolishness. Even his own son was smarter than him by the age of only four. While he does learn as he grows, his ignorance still remains his biggest problem.
Can you call Luffy the most stupid anime character?
While Luffy is extremely intelligent in fighting and, in some ways, emotionally, he is unquestionably one of the dumbest characters in all other respects.
There are numerous reasons why One Piece’s protagonist is also one of its dumbest characters, but one incident is particularly telling.
During the Whole Cake Island storyline, Luffy accidentally consumes a toxic fish and is saved by Reiju. However, as soon as he is spared, he tries to eat the fish again, completely forgetting how dangerous it was just proven to be.
Who is the most pointless anime character?
Sakura Haruno is one of the anime community’s most useless characters in the eyes of the fans.
Fans despise her because of her personality. Because of the fans’ persistent hate for her, an image of her as useless evolved. Many fans believe Sakura is completely useless, yet this is not the case.
Sakura is currently one of the series’ strongest ninjas. She is an excellent medical ninja, and she has surpassed her teacher, Tsunade.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, the main points from this article are:
- There are many types of protagonists in the Anime world and these also include dumb protagonists.
- Dumb protagonists have recently been emerging at a surprising rate. Many Anime fans believe that this is being done in order to provide comic relief in an otherwise very serious Anime.
- The top five dumbest Anime protagonists include Son Goku, Naruto Uzumaki, Yusuke Urameshi, Gon Freecss, and Ash Ketchum.
Other Articles
- Gon VS. Naruto (Complete Breakdown)
- Strongest Anime Characters Of All Time (Powerful)
- Top Underrated Anime Of All Time (Explained)
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