Kara Dennison
July 19, 2024 
Some heroes train deliberately to be at the top of their game. Others may train and train and train… without realizing how broken their powers already are. This summer season, we have some mighty examples of strong anime characters who either don’t know their own strength, or realize it over time.
From a parrying master to an older adventurer to a status effects whiz, meet the heroes who pack more of a punch than even they bargained for!
Touka Mimori, Failure Frame
Getting isekai‘d is a great opportunity to show your classmates what a hero you are… unless you end up getting the short end of the stick, of course. Failure Frame is filled with strong anime characters, wielding the rank to prove it. And then there’s Touka Mimori: a Rank E whose only skills are status effects like Poison, Paralyze, and Sleep. To keep him from weighing the party down (allegedly), the local goddess banishes him to a labyrinth of certain death.
Except… thanks to some savvy debuff usage and a handy level up, Touka ends up gaining lots of XP in a very short amount of time. With his levels already in the quadruple digits by episode 2, he’s squaring up to make it back to the surface and exact some serious justice.
Rick Gladiatol, The Ossan Newbie Adventurer
The Ossan Newbie Adventurer is packed with strong anime characters, but it’s our star—Rick Gladiatol—that we’re focusing on. Once an office worker for a guild, he’s decided to become an adventurer in his 30s. To prep for his exam, he’s received training from one of the strongest adventuring teams alive: the Orichalcum Fist. So naturally, he’s also pretty tough.
But Rick doesn’t know he’s tough, thanks to his skills being assessed as unusually low. Thus, he’s very confused when high-ranking fighters go toe-to-toe with him and he wins easily. Is the bar for adventurers just that low? Of course not… but Rick doesn’t have a clue what a punch he’s packing.
Noor, I Parry Everything
Truly strong anime characters don’t need fancy attacks to fight. Sometimes, you just need one reliable move. Take Noor in I Parry Everything. He’s trained largely in (what he considers to be) useless attacks. Sure, he can parry anything—it says so in the title—but adventurers need more than that. And he can’t really understand why everyone is so excited that he fought off a cow.
What Noor doesn’t realize is that that cow was a minotaur, and he really is that strong. So of course he’s taken aback by the praise and rewards he’s currently receiving. Will he ever get his head around his own strength? Or will he continue to parry adulations the same way he parries monsters?
Want more strong heroes? Start reading Rooster Fighter!
