Sadly, anime has a lot of clichés, and one that is often used in battle shounen series is the protagonist hiding his strength to get an advantage. The MC (main character) does this for various reasons such as wanting to save their power or not appearing too strong. However, this trope can be irritating at times because it makes you think “why would they do that?” and “isn’t he powerful enough already?”
In this blog post we will discuss some of the worst offenders as well as manga with good examples of how to implement this plot device successfully. The protagonist is strong but they don’t want to reveal it. Many times a character will be hiding their strength for one or more reasons, such as wanting an advantage over the opponent, not appearing too powerful, etc.
It can be irritating because you often think why would they do that and isn’t he/she powerful enough already? But this plot device has been done successfully in many manga series! Here are some examples of how this trope has worked well in anime (and manga)! In Bleach Ichigo doesn’t let his Zanpakuto’s power get out even though it could kill every Soul Reaper on Earth if he wanted; instead opting to save up its.
