Featuring a charismatic anime protagonist is among the most important traits of anime. But have you seen some of the most underpowered anime protagonists, who are featured as useless and annoying within the entire show?
We’ve all seen characters who are meant to be heroes but come off as incompetent or accident-prone.
These useless anime protagonists seem like they don’t stand a chance against the threats they face. Their powers are underwhelming or they can’t seem to win a fight without help.
While these protagonist’s infinite failures may frustrate us at times, their struggles can be relatable.
Neglecting the humiliation of being weak and incompetent, through determination, they eventually deliver us inspirational underdog stories.
12: Junichi Hashiba from My Girlfriend is a Gal
Junichi Hashiba is the epitome of a useless anime protagonist in the ecchi genre. Though kind-hearted, he is awkward, cowardly, and a major pushover.
He lets people walk all over him and never stands up for himself, which is kind of irritating. His friends even call him “Otis”, meaning virgin, mocking his lack of experience with girls.
When he finally gets a girlfriend Yukana, he is totally whipped by her dominating personality. First time, it’s acceptable but Junichi repeatedly embarrasses himself in front of Yukana’s friends, stuttering and turning red.
Yup, it’s true that most ecchi animes come with such lousy protagonists, but Junichi’s extreme passiveness makes him a fairly incompetent protagonist among most underpowered anime protagonists.
11: Izumi from Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie
This unassuming high schooler is a magnet for misfortune and clumsiness. He’s constantly dropping things, tripping over his own feet, and getting injured in freak accidents.
His clumsy personality makes me think how the hell a cutie like Shikimori fell for this idiot.
Unlike most romantic anime protagonists, His sweet girlfriend Shikimori is always coming to his rescue, bandaging his wounds and saving him from sticky situations.
Izumi’s sheer helplessness makes him the most underpowered anime protagonist within the romance genre.
10: Mikado Ryūgamine from Durarara!
In my thoughts being helpless is the worst feeling in the world, and my boy Mikado Ryūgamine suffers from this situation throughout the whole anime.
Though seeking excitement, this small-town boy is naive and meek. He cowers in fear when confronted by the city’s violent gangs and bizarre happenings.
Mikado lacks any discernible strength, street-smarts, or courage to survive in this treacherous environment.
Apart from his resolve to live an interesting life, he is simply dragged along by the story, too incompetent to take meaningful action or gain control.
9: Honoka Takamiya from Witch Craft Works
This ordinary high school boy has no magical powers or combat abilities whatsoever. When evil witches attack, he is completely helpless, requiring his strong witch guardian, Ayaka, to protect him.
Honoka cowers and cries in fear during supernatural battles, unable to assist Ayaka as she risks her life for him. He repeatedly needs to be rescued like a princess in a tower.
I bet at some point, you’ll be asking yourself, for which purpose the author has made this lousiest character a protagonist.
8: Touka from The Legendary Hero is Dead!
Watching Touka become the legendary hero will make you laugh out loud, like what is this!!!
Touka is a commoner pervert from a village who has just one resolve, to put stockings on girls’ thick thighs.
After the dumbest death of the legendary Sion, a necromancer has forced Touka to carry the mission of Legendary Hero.
Touka was not interested in becoming a Hero in the first place, and he lacked all the requirements of becoming one. He has zero mana level and he has no physical capabilities.
With perverted desires and extreme humiliation due to powerlessness, Touka is one of most amusing and funny MC within the list of most underpowered anime protagonists.
7: Kazuya from Rent a Girlfriend
Despite stumbling upon three beauties, this perverted lad has failed to make a proper girlfriend till now.
In Kazuya’s character as a protagonist, you’ll feel there is something missing or is this really the MC. Apart from honesty and kindness, Kazuya is a total nerd who is merely shown as a loser in the entire anime.
Kazuya’s uselessness with women and inability to control his simplistic emotions make him an utterly helpless and incompetent protagonist.
He depends entirely on the wit and strength of female characters to cover for his failures.
At some point, you’ll feel the MC is kind of irritating it can draw out your interest from anime. The only thing that is saving this anime is fan service moments.
6: Ganta Igarashi from Deadman Wonderland
After his classmates are murdered, this ordinary middle schooler is framed and sentenced to the bizarre prison Deadman Wonderland.
Lacking any fighting ability or magic powers, Ganta is utterly helpless against the prison’s dangerous inmates.
He pathetically loses every Carnival Corpse battle, requiring his fellow prisoner Shiro to intervene and save his life repeatedly.
Ganta spends most of his time screaming and crying in fear like a crybaby as events spiral out of control around him.
For being the supposed main character, Ganta is completely reactive, inept, and needs constant protection, making him one of the most useless anime protagonists.
5: Kazuma Sato from Konosuba
Despite being saddled with the important task of defeating the Demon King, Kazuma has no actual heroic abilities whatsoever.
Well, just look at how useless he is in a crisis! The first time he tries to take out a simple cabbage-stealing demon, he wets himself and gets knocked out instantly.
Without his more capable adventuring party members like Aqua and Megumin, Kazuma would be monster fodder. He possesses no magical powers, no fighting skills, and no intelligence to survive in this fantasy world.
I think his incompetency as an MC in an Isekai makes this anime unique somewhere.
While funny at times, his extreme cowardice and incompetence in combat cement his status as one of the most underpowered main anime characters.
4: Leonardo Watch from Blood Blockade Battlefront
At first glance, Leonardo Watch seems wholly unqualified to be the hero of Blood Blockade Battlefront.
When this average high schooler is suddenly granted the “All-Seeing Eyes of the Gods“, he is thrust into the chaotic supernatural world of Hellsalem’s Lot.
However, Leo is hapless, bumbling, and powerless compared to the elite agents of Libra who actually protect the city.
In dangerous situations, Leo cowers on the sidelines, paralyzed by fear and indecision while the skilled Libra members do all the work.
He’s an incompetent fighter, with his spectral eyes causing more problems than solutions.
While good-natured, Leo’s paralyzing weakness and lack of any combat abilities make him one of the most ineffective underpowered anime protagonists.
3: Yukiteru Amano from Future Diary
This wimpy middle schooler is pathetically useless when the survival game begins, lacking any fighting skills or physical strength.
Just like Izumi from Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie, Yukiteru Amano ends up saveing by his girlfriend. how pitiful!
When faced with deranged diary owners, Yuki curls up into a ball, whimpering and crying for Yuno to save him.
She has to constantly pull him along, even using her own body as a human shield to protect useless Yuki. Without Yuno’s obsessive devotion, spineless Yuki would be dead within days.
In the final battle, Yuki pathetically soils himself rather than standing up to Yuno which even irritates me to the utmost, how powerless and coward a character can be.
2: Takemichi Hanagaki from Tokyo Revengers
For a guy who’s supposed to stop a deadly gang war, Takemichi Hanagaki is pathetically useless as the protagonist of Tokyo Revengers.
This crybaby time-leaper faints in fear at the sight of blood and violence. When confronted by thugs, he simply squeezes his eyes shut and prays that Draken or someone stronger will rescue him.
He is stubborn when it comes to enduring, but this only quality annoys the audience with waiting when their beloved protagonist gonna awaken, sadly it never happens.
Without the power of his allies in the Tokyo Manji Gang, weakling Takemichi wouldn’t last two seconds. He’s an incompetent fighter with no physical strength or intelligence to change the future on his own.
The only thing he manages to alter through time travel is humiliating himself over and over again while his determination is admirable.
1: Subaru Natsuki from Re:Zero
If you are going to watch Re-zero anime, let me ask you one question. How much powerlessness & suffering of MC you can endure? Can you withstand watching 25 episodes of merely suffering and pain?
If yes! you must watch this infinite suffering tale of Natsuki Subaru, who is the most underpowered and useless anime protagonist.
The start of the anime is going to give you goosebumps with its horror atmosphere and unique beginning where MC can retrigger time after being dead.
At first, you’ll find it intriguing but after a couple of times, you’ll be forced to think when this shitty stuff gonna stop and our MC will grab some spotlight.
He talks a big game, but this shut-in NEET is pathetically weak compared to the threats he faces in the fantasy world. Without the wit of Emilia and others, Subaru would’ve died permanently several times over.
Subaru’s crippling weakness and stupidity as a fighter make him stand at the top among most underpowered anime protagonists, who are quite useless and incompetent.
