Worthwhile? Finished viewing “Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid”. I won’t bother to review it because it was neither great nor bad, but it made for great ‘comfort anime’ to watch with Jen and Ryan. It took us close to 3 months to watch this short 13-episode series, so it couldn’t have been that good, but we did finish, so that counts for something. It’s really a disappointment that there’s no official statement on a final season to cover the last few books of the novels… A little bit more nudity (both male and female) than I like to see in anime that I’m watching with my wife and brother, but a fun show overall.

Well, enough of all seriousness and some apocalyptic economic meltdown!! Let us have some fun and run through the top 5 geniuses in Japanese Anime!!

At number 5 we have….

Kotomi Ichinose!

First from the back, we have Kotomi Ichinose! There are two things that are rather misleading about this little lass. While she looks like the common outgoing, socio-natural, outspoken stereotype girl we find in anime, Kotomi is in fact a quiet, speak-only-when-spoken-to, extremely shy person in  Clannad (family in Irish).

The second misleading fact is picture no.2 where she is holding a violin like some worldwide acclaimed virtuoso when in fact all form of ‘music’ coming from her drives her friends ‘nuts’. In fact, she is so poor at playing the violin that she causes pain to everyone that hears her play.

However, being the child of two professors (hinted as world renowned academicians), Kotomi inherits the academic abilities of her parents by being top ten in every subject throughout the whole country (Japan, I presume) in standardized examination results!

So how does she do it? In the anime, Kotomi is often seen to have made the library a second home (refer to picture no.3). Besides that, since Kotomi is exempted from normal classes in school, and spends all her school time in the library where she reads a horrendous amount of books..in foreign languages!!

At Fourth Place, we have….

Kei Takishima!

I sincerely wished to have put Kei at a higher point in this list. The reason is that the things that he can do seem to be something achievable yet so superhumanly impossible at the same time. Nevertheless, I would  have to settle with him at fourth place after a brief comparison with the other characters.

Kei is a student of the Private Hakusen Academy which is the best school in the prefecture. Classes in Hakusen are separated into A-F with class A being only opened to the top seven students in the school. Kei, which you should have guessed by now is the proud number one of class A (also know as Special A) and has remained so throughout the series.

Armed with number one status in class Special A and also the son of the CEO of Takishima Corporation (a very very large multinational corporation with a private helicopter), Kei is most of the time seen with a cool facade and a calm expression. But do not be fooled by his appearance as Kei’s true genius lies in his photographic memory and the ability to do anything right on his first try!

Kei also excels at everything from representing his father in board meetings to sports and even cooking. The only thing that Kei cannot achieve is a lover’s relationship with his long time rival and childhood friend Hikari (which is a really blur girl that is immune to all Kei’s advances and love signals). A classic example of how bitter rivals usually fall in love (please don’t give me that shocking expression..you know it happens sometimes)….

No. 3,

Toshiro Hitsugaya taicho!

In the middle of our five geniuses, we have everybody’s favorite, Toshiro Hitsugaya, Shinigami (death God) captain of the 10th Division of Soul Society! Toshiro was recently voted as the most popular Bleach (this is the name of the anime in case you are socially disconnected) in Shonen Jump polls (replacing the main character, Ichigo Kurosaki!!).

Toshiro is very young by the standards of Soul Society (there people live hundreds of years). Being usually called the ‘boy genius’ or ‘child prodigy’, he is the youngest Shinigami to have attained the rank of captain in the Gotei 13.

Toshiro’s great natural talent led him to nearly freeze his grandmother to death (that is the power of his sword) in his sleep. Realizing that he must learn to control his power, Toshiro joins the Soul Reaper Academy and becomes famous due to his knowledge and capabilities. He usually has an icy and mature attitude which is in stark contrast to his lieutenant’s carefree demeanor.

Going down to no.2, we have,

Edward Elric!

Edward Elric is another favorite of anime fans out there. Don’t all of us loved the funny jokes made due to Edward’s short stature and hot temper? ^^ Yet being short seems to be not a limitation to a person’s worth and achievements as Edward Elric is the youngest State Alchemist to be selected by the State Military in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist.

What Edward really excels in is the secret art of alchemy which enables to user (alchemist) to transmute a certain object into another object of the same mass. Famous for his competence in alchemy, Edward attained the rank of Major at age twelve (hinted in the anime to be the youngest to ever attain this rank).

Another unique ability that Edward has acquired in contrast to his fellow alchemist is the ability to use alchemy without drawing transmutation circles. This enables Edward to react quickly and become a very formidable opponent to his foes. Furthermore, Edward was also trained by skilled alchemist Izumi Curtis in both alchemy and martial arts.

Last but definitely not least,

is Teletha (Tessa) Testarossa!

Of all the five candidates in my anime genius list, Tessa definitely had the most unbelievable, preposterous, and craziest of abilities that earns her first place. Tessa, is the cute but clumsy captain of the submarine Tuatha De Danaan that is more commonly known as the ‘Toybox’.

Being captain of a secret military submarine at only age 16, Tessa’s CV is inflated drastically by the fact that she played a part in building the submarine itself! It was revealed later in the anime that Tessa is a ‘Whispered’ with very high intelligence in the fields of mathematics and science.

Rumor has it that she derived the answers to one of Albert Einstein’s non-linear differential equations (whatever that is) at age 6..by herself!! Furthermore, Tessa played a part in the programming of the submarine’s artificial intelligence, Dana.

Other than being extremely smart, Tessa is also well-versed in battlefield tactics and anti-terrorism conflicts. Adding to her outstanding intellectual ability is also the leadership she portrays when she tries her outmost best to minimize casualties and retain control over hopelessly unorganized situations.

There you have it! The Top 5 Geniuses in Japanese Anime! Some of the near misses were Sailor Mercury from Sailormoon and Light Yagami from Deathnote….Up next, will be a post on the Top 5 Geniuses in our world!!

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Further Reading

GENIUSES AND PRODIGIES – COMEDIES AND TRAGEDIES

BEHOLD THE FUTURE – TACHIKOMATIC DAYS