The List

7 Intellectually-Challenged Heroes

There's an unspoken rule that physical prowess is inversely related to intellectual intelligence in fiction, and anime is no exception. For every super genius secondary character, there's a dumb-as-bricks leader who fights their way through trouble with pure determination and spirit! The following eight characters would have trouble passing their high school Algebra course, but it's not going to stop them from saving the world.

7. Usagi Tsukino (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon) Usagi has notoriously bad test scores. In fact, if she hadn't gotten a 30 on her English test, she wouldn't of bumped into her past-lover/future-husband Mamoru Chiba. She puts her nose to the grindstone and miraculously ends up in the same high school as most of her friends, but her academics remain low as letters sent from the future show she never really grasps kanji despite becoming Queen of Earth.

6. Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece) Luffy would rather storm into battle and ask questions later. The method starts to lose its effectiveness post the Imperal Down arc but its impossible to separate the character from his wacky hijinks. Even creator Eiichiro Oda admitted part of the reason Luffy isn't a giant ball of stress is "probably because he's so stupid."

5. Gourry Gabriev (Slayers) Lina Inverse's sworn protector Gourry is a master swordsmen and one of the most forgetful anime characters in recent memory. He can't remember his enemies' names or things he did only moments earlier. Gourry possesses a capacity for magic that is rendered null because it'd be impossible for him to remember incantations. Despite his mental shortcomings, he does possess a great sense of intuition that proves useful on the battlefield.

4. Photon Earth (Photon: The Idiot Adventures) Simple-minded Photon possesses all the power of "Aho" energy (lit. idiot energy) AND is the source for un-Aho energy. I guess that places Photon as the strongest idiot and non...idiot? The kid also spends the entirety of the OVA with "baka" written on his forehead in permanent marker. When he writes the same word on Keyne's head, the two end up married, one of the "dumbest" accidental proposals in anime.

3. Momoko Kuzuryuu (Sumomomo Momomo - Chijō Saikyō no Yome) Momoko is head-smackingly, depressingly dim. For all her optimism and earnestness to impress fiancee Kōshi, there's certainly an intellectual disconnect. Kōshi is determined to become a prosecuting attorney while Momoko has her eyes set on being his wife and baby mama. Momoko's draw to domestic life is rooted in her father's disregard for her martial arts prowess. Supposedly Momoko can't master her family's martial arts techniques effectively due to being a woman. Not one to buck adversity, she sets her sights producing a son where a little critical thinking would show that the idea is ridiculous.

2. Akihisa Yoshii (Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts) Akihisa is a resolute slacker, probationary student, and "the fool over all the world" according to his own parents. His own laziness prevents any change in his situation, instead living out an "ignorance is bliss" approach to day-to-day life. His probation status at school gives his beasts the ability to interact with the physical world and Akihisa the (unfortunate) side-effect of feeling anything his beasts feel, too. He lacks any financial sense, more or less living in poverty because he spends all of his living allowance on material objects.

1. Excel (Excel Saga) Poor Excel is the hapless member of ACROSS and lackey to Il Palazzo in his pursuit of world domination. Excel's enthusiasm to please Il Palazzo does nothing to make-up for how inept she is at fulfilling the mission of the day. She's extremely unlucky and would have died multiple times if not for Great Will of the Macrocosm resurrecting her (although not nearly as often as Hyatt). Her foolishness leaves her on the verge of destitution with her dog Menchi as her back up meal plan.

The new poll: Which of the listed anime characters has the coolest beard?

The old poll: Last week's poll asked whether anime vampires or werewolves would win out in a war! Vampires won by a landslide. Here's the result:

1. Vampires! 70.9%
2. Werewolves! 29.1%

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Alright everybody, see you all next week! I look forward to your input in the comments and feel free to follow me on Twitter @ANN_Lynzee or e-mail me at [email protected].