Manga Characters Who Hide Their Strength

Highlights

Strongest characters in action manga aren't always the most obvious ones; the quiet and unassuming ones often hide their true power.
Reasons for hiding abilities range from wanting a peaceful life to avoiding detection or for comedic effect.
Characters like Kafka, Shion, Rita, Gintoki, Sakamoto, Yor, and Saiki are hidden powerhouses in their respective manga.

In action manga, dramatic fight scenes (such as those depicted in Hell's Paradise) sometimes make it plain to see who the most powerful characters around are. It isn't always that easy, though. Considering the common trope of the strong, silent, subtle type, if the character is not flaunting their strength, they may well be the strongest one in the room. A lot of the time, it really is the unassuming ones you have to watch.

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Why would popular manga powerhouses want to hide their abilities? Their reasons can range from a desire to simply live a peaceful life, to avoiding detection, to even just for the joke's sake. This trope, however, is not exclusive to only the quiet type. The funny, goofy, nice, or sweet characters of a given manga may surprise you as well. Here are some of the most formidable manga personalities who keep their powers hidden.

7 Kafka Hibino

Kaiju No. 8

Wields the power of a kaiju
Must keep them hidden from the Kaiju Defense Force

The main character of the hit manga Kaiju No.8, Kafka isn't your ordinary shounen protagonist. He's not a rising star or chosen hero, he's a man who has given up on his dreams and just so happened to be at the right place and at the right time. Kafka always wanted to join the Kaiju Defense Force, but failed to achieve that dream and ended up cleaning after them instead.

One day, a kaiju-like creature went down his throat and gave him the ability to turn into a kaiju. Now he is the strongest around, but he has to hide his powers for fear of being exterminated by his dream employers.

6 Shion Elpihas Levi

Magico

One of the three strongest mages in the country
He doesn't like to flaunt his strength to avoid attention

Shion is the protagonist of Magico, a very underrated manga from Shonen Jump. This is a battle manga about Shion and a girl named Emma, as they try to seal away a powerful and deadly magic that is trapped within Emma's body.

Shion himself is a very powerful mage, one of his country's very strongest. His magical broom is able to lift any weight no matter how heavy, and can form into any object of Shion's choosing. Add this to his fire and sword magic, and Shion is capable of taking on the strongest foes. However, he doesn't like to flaunt his strength, to avoid unnecessary attention, and is often not recognized by the people. Regardless, this young boy is one of the most powerful magic users in manga history.

5 Rita

Kindergarten WARS

The world's deadliest assassin
People underestimate how dangerous she is

Unlike most people on this list, Rita doesn't hide her strength on purpose, but rather, the people around her never see it coming. An ex-assassin assigned to guard a kindergarten filled with children of important world figures, Rita must now have her skills put to the test by several other assassins seeking to destroy the school.

However, it's not much of a test at all, because her reputation severely understates how strong she truly is. She has an excellent aim and incredible strength, is able to easily overpower most, leap from falling buildings, and survive crushing debris. Her goofy personality doesn't help paint the picture of a cold-hearted assassin either, but that just helps ensure she's underestimated until it's too late.

4 Gintoki Sakata

Gintama

A mighty samurai who conceals his abilities (and his past) from the law
He is naturally lazy and tries to live a peaceful life

One of the most meme-worthy anime characters of all time, you would never think the amusing Gintoki is an ex-war veteran known for his skilled war tactics and unstoppable sword skills.

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Known as the Shiroyasha, Gintoki is one of the strongest characters in Gintama, with few being able to match his abilities. You just have to get him to stop being lazy first, as Gintoki tends to hide his true strength in order to live a peaceful life and dodge the police who would arrest him for his past mistakes. In truth, he is able to break swords in half with his teeth, slice through rockets, and take down entire helicopters. Gintoki is without a doubt one of manga's greatest swordsmen.

3 Taro Sakamoto

Sakamoto Days

The most skilled "retired" assassin in the world
He just wants to live a quiet and happy life with his wife and child

Sakamoto is both a convenience store employee and, secretly, the best retired manga assassin in the world. Sakamoto quit his job when he fell in love, but unfortunately for him, his retirement wouldn't last forever.

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This man just wants to live a simple life with his wife and child, but he has some business to deal with first. Skill doesn't even begin to describe what Sakamoto is capable of as an assassin, even if you wouldn't think it to watch him working at his retail job now. Have you seen a man snap a knife in half with some tonsils? No? This unassuming man's lethal adventures are definitely worth a read.

2 Yor Forger

Yor sitting down on manga cover volume 3

Spy x Family

A natural assassin with tremendous physical power
Hides her real job from everyone around her

Yor's strength is a simple case of dramatic irony. The audience knows Yor is the strongest in the room, perhaps in the whole series, but the rest of the formidable characters (besides Anya) are completely unaware. This is because Yor deftly keeps her real job a secret, in order not to draw suspicion from the people around her.

Yor is a natural assassin, and her raw physical power alone is enough to scare any target to death. She can break through walls, she is skilled enough to dodge bullets and sense distant targets, and her iconic needles will pierce you before you even blink. She is working to make money for her little brother and to stop evil from spreading in her country. However, in recent times, she has questioned her motives, having found a new family of her own.

1 Kusuo Saiki

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

The strongest Esper in the world
Uses powers secretly to avoid drawing attention to himself

Saiki wants to live an average life, even though he is an extremely powerful Esper. He has over 30 known powers with which to curse people, all the way to mind control. By some ironic twist of fate, though, Saiki is somehow the most down-to-earth character in the series. The other personalities at his school all have an eccentric side to them, which brighten and ruin Saiki's day in equal measure.

Surrounded by this cast of characters, Saiki must hide his powers, using them secretly to help out the ones he cares about to avoid standing out. Unfortunately for him, his classmates and teachers are perhaps more intuitive than they might seem in this school-centric adventure.