Strongest/Smartest Anime Characters

Out of all, which deserves the title? Who is the most powerful in terms of Strength and Intelligence?
The Top Ten
1 L - Death Note L Lawliet, exclusively known by the mononym L, is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.

L isn't the strongest person in anime as many people could beat him in a battle but if it came down to smarts no doubt L trumps everyone here.

He should be no one. He's way smarter than Lelouch. Face it, Code Grass fans. Lelouch is by far very wreckless. And if you look into it L is a better tactician than Lelouch I. Face it, Code Grass fans, Light followed his ambition better than Lelouch. Anyway L is far better than Lelouch. Besides 'Physical and magical power' doesn't mean everything. L has the gift of MIND POWER. But even if you are way into 'strength' and all, you should replay Death a note and watch L and Light's fight closely. L's certainly very active and strong. And in their Tennis Match, wow! Like hell Wow! You'd never expect L to actually work Light so hardto the match. He had made Light play so hard against him! Well all of this works, but my main point is L is smarter and stronger than Lelouch! L deserve's number 1 place!

He should be first on this list. L is a genius. Even smarter than Light and Near. His loss to Light was simply due to the fact that he had never had a friend, and he was somewhat blind to Light, even though he knew who he was. And, I see that somebody said that Near was smarter. This is in no way, shape, or form true. Near himself said that he wasn't as smart, and he only beat Light because of Mikami's incompetence. Had Mikami not screwed up, Light would have won. Therefore, proper order is 1. L 2. Light 3. Near. At least within the Deathnote universe.

Should this even be a question. L IS by far the most genius, intellectual and brilliant anime character the world has ever created. He solves the most unbelievable cases and manages to crack even by not being there in person to scan the evidence (he doesn't get out much). And plus to put the shinigami idea into consideration is not what normal detectives might consider, but L is different: he is genius and creative.

2 Vegeta - Dragonball Z Vegeta is an anime fictional character from the anime series, Dragon Ball Z, created by Akira Toriyama.

Am I the only one that realizes that Sasuke Uchiha isn't on the list. Considering the fact that Vegeta is an absolute monster, Sasuke Uchiha deserves to be on this list and rank higher than Vegeta himself.
Naruto Uzumaki ranked higher than Vegeta in The Strongest Anime Characters of All Time. Sasuke Uchiha is as strong as Naruto Uzumaki. They both hold the same amount of chakra in them, they both fight as they are an equal, and they both hold the Six Paths in them, but for intelligence Sasuke Uchiha would rank over Naruto Uzumaki. Sasuke Uchiha holds the Rinnegan and the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Those dojistus help Sasuke with his defense and his offense game plan.
I do so believe that Sasuke Uchiha should be on this list because he is one of the most strongest and smartest anime characters.

I think the only other that could be higher than vegeta here is aizen, but I'm not sure how strong Aizen is and vegeta has ssb which is god power. Vegeta is maybe 3rd on this list with smarts. Shikamaru and piccolo being smarter. Vegeta is super smart maybe smarter than piccolo with piccolo saying he is one of the smartest fighters he has seen.

If you think back on how Vegeta had to go about surviving Frieza's awful treatment, you'd realize Vegeta is both book and Street smart. Even Goku wouldn't have been alive were he in Frieza's army because he's not smart.

He's fine but if he ever harms Goku again I and millions of Goku fans will murder him *grumbles*. I know he can kill all of us but he's fictional, so I myself is more powerful laugh out loud.

3 Light Yagami - Death Note Light Yagami is a fictional character and the protagonist of the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.

Am I the only one who thinks that Light was smarter than L? He was really farsighted and even though it was based on mostly luck, he had necessarily thought of all precautions before hand. He was ruthless, but behind it he had good intentions, although the power drove him mad. He also killed -ehm- a really great character, who may have revealed him to be Kira, by cheating, he had the upper hand over him. I know the majority probably doesn't agree with me, but Light is one of those villains actually having good intentions behind their stone hearted demeanor. He may have used certain people, even have debated killing his own family, but in the end only driven mad by power and to make the world a better place.

Light Yagami is the smartest character because of his deductive ability, his ability to make plans and use the disadvantages in his favor. Remember that he was the only one with the intellect able to think of a plan so impeccably brilliant to kill L without being at any visible point involved, besides the other plan he made so the death note would come back to him after so many months, while demonstrating his innocence. He made everything with such precision and perfection that even L, the greatest detective in the world, even though he knew that he was Kira, was unable to prove it, despite being guarded and watched 24/7, including all the pitfalls that L tended him. Despite that, they could not catch him before 6 years and there were required 3 genius detectives, of whom two died in the process, Interpol, the FBI, the mafia, three shinigamis, the betrayal of his own colleagues in the Japanese police and disadvantages as Rem and Misa, who were a delay. And finally, when he was caught, ...more

He has got hell of a superhuman brain. He gets himself out of every dangerous situation anyhow by using his ability and can deceive anyone. If it were not to end the story he could have cleared the whole world.

I feel that coming with ingenuous, complex plans to get out of a pinch is more difficult than deduct the culprit of a crime. Therefore Light should be higher than L. He beat him too.

4 Lelouch Lamperouge - Code Geass Lelouch Lamperouge, whose real name is Lelouch vi Britannia, is the title character and protagonist of the Sunrise anime series Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion.

How is this even a discussion? Lelouch is obviously the smartest character in all of anime.He managed to take over the world, without the superhuman strength that other characters have. All he used was his strategy. Even if you make the argument that he had a geass to help him, his power is actually so much more limited than the other people on this list. He can predict exactly what people say and record a conversation to play to them, IN THE FUTURE! On top of all that, he even managed to manipulate the entire world into creating world peace, with none of them knowing.

If any common person got a Geass, he requires the brains to use it in a cautious way, without giving himself away. Lelouch is obviously too smart for it, not only did he manage to lead a group to defy the Britannian Empire, he also managed to defeat his dad and bring world peace at the cost of his life. All hail Lelouch Vi Britannia!

The resolve shown by Lelouch to sacrifice himself for the greater good despite already owning the world shows his strength both physically as well as mentally.. Also, the execution of his plan so effortlessly says something about his tactics and intelligence.

Has tactical intelligence with instant results on an inhumane level. One can claim other characters are smart, but none has ever factored hundreds of people into there methods. Most others can barely manage helping 10 people.

5 Aizen - Bleach

Aizen does not deserve the first spot but should be 3rd or 2nd and where the heck is itachi. Anyway Aizen is past god strength and remember that huge sceem he made with Gin and that other African American captain. That must have took in weeks of hard planning and he did it in like a day.

Aizen has manipulated the soul society, for about 300 years, one does not simply trick a 2,000 year old government, and not get caught. aizen was caught because he relieved himself. he planned out every battle with thought. lelouch or light, couldn't out smart aizen, if they teamed up and given an extra 10 years. keep in mind, that aizen did all of this to kill the soul king, and he broke the borders of power between soul reaper and hollow, like "3 dimensional biens can never interact with 2 dimensional biens"

When you think of smart compared to strong, you might think of one person for each, nope. This man is both.

He is the mastermind to those who speaks about him. The true character

6 Trunks Trunks is an anime fictional character from the anime series, Dragon Ball Z, created by Akira Toriyama.
7 Shikamaru Nara - Naruto Shikamaru Nara is a fictional character in the Naruto manga and anime series created by Masashi Kishimoto.

When intelligence can far surpass strength. Shikamaru would have been literally the most overpowered character in the entire Naruto Universe. Take this into concept, Batman is considered one of the strongest heroes in the DC Universe... He's a man with nothing but wit and tools. If Shika was actually given something that wasn't used primarily as a stalling technique and had actual jutsu to use like everyone else, no one would actually be able to fight against him.

Shikamaru is smart, even as a former dragon ball fan, I think he qualifies to be a lot more smarter than Vegeta. He displayed an amazing performance defeating an Akatsuki on his own, I think he is qualified to be the smartest.

He is the smartest and the most strategetic ninja in the leaf village and he even defeated one of the akatsuki on his own without any hassle, that got to mean that he is pretty strong.

While Shikamaru is intelligent, it has been said that Kakashi is smarter. So, come one. There's no way that he's as smart as anybody in Deathnote. Even Mello.

8 Toshiro Hitsugaya - Bleach Toshiro Hitsugaya is a fictional character in the Bleach manga series and its adaptations created by Tite Kubo.
9 Sesshomaru - Inuyasha He is the older half-brother of the hanyō Inuyasha and the firstborn son of Tōga. Unlike many other yōkai, Sesshōmaru had no interest in possessing even a single shard of the Shikon Jewel to enhance his powers and considered yōkai who sought its abilities only to strengthen themselves as pathetic and weak.
10 Itachi Uchiha - Naruto Shippuden Itachi Uchiha is a fictional character in the Naruto manga and anime series created by Masashi Kishimoto.

Should be in top five. Made everyone think he was a villain while he was actually protecting konoha and sasuke. Can win almost any battle with his wit and deceptive skills. Selfless and sacrificed himself for the greater good.
Third Hokage himself said "Itachi Uchiha had the reasoning skill of a Kage at the age of seven". This sums it all

Itachi Uchiha My favourite character is finally on here and I am really glad he is in the top 10. The reason is for this he is very smart and Intellegent because he always analyze his opponent and always find weakness of everything.My favorite quote is "Every strong opponent has a weakness therefore you can use that to your advantage"

Well all know that Itachi is one of the strongest Naruto characters, he is very smart as well.

Jesus christ, I can't believe you picked vegeta over itachi! According to narutos 3rd databook, itachis intelligence surpassed kakashis, who in turn was smarter than shikamaru. That means that itachis IQ is over 200 and maybe even in the 270s. (don't tell sasuke)

The Contenders
11 Urahara Kisuke - Bleach

As far as I know, Urahara kisuke if far more smarter than Aizen. If you want to know, why? It's because people are thinking that, Aizen found the hogyoku which was stuffed in rukiya's body. No, It's not like that. The truth is, Urahara kisuke is the one who made Aizen to find out where the hogyoku is. It's because, If Aizen get that hogyoku, he'll reveal his true self. So, Everyone in the soul society will come to know aizen is the true enemy and he is the one who framed Urahara. So that the traitor mark which was made on Urahara before 100 years will be erased.

After all, This is all Urahara kisuke's Plan.

Urahara deverves at least second place, and shikamaru is the only other anime character than can rival his intelligence. By all means a complete genius. They may not be the greatest fighters, but by far, the smartest. Anybody who has read/watched naruto or bleach would know this. I also think his intelligence surpasses that of lights, L's, and lelouches.

Oh come on! What is kisuke doing so much down the list. He should be in top five. Anyone who has seen bleach knows that he is the smartest guy in the show. He established the reseach and development department whithin squad 12, he invented a way to achieve bankai in a very short amount of time, he was the first one to research hogyoku and also to realise that this research was far too dangerous, even aizen needed urahara's hogyoku to complete his own research meaning aizen would not have been able to do anything if he had not gotten urahara's hogyoku. Somehow he is always aware of everything and just likes to play it dumb. Even after exiling him from soul society the head captain sought urahara's help to create a stable passage for the captains to go to hueco mundo to help ichigo and others. It was kisuke who created the fake karakura town and swapped it with real one, and it was him that eventually sealed aizen. He is solely responsible for the survival of all the vizards and masaki ...more

He is the smartest character in history of bleach because without his bankai he with ichigo destroyed Aiken. He is cooler than all animes with very great care to his friends. The only top one of all times.

12 Frieza - Dragonball Z Freeza (Pronounced "Frieza" in the Funimation dub) is fictional character in the Dragon Ball series by Akira Toriyama as the primary antagonist of the Freeza Saga. He is a galactic tyrant who governs the Planet Trade Organization and is feared by the universe for his sadistic and brutal nature. He is ...read more.

Frieza's Favorite objective: Frieza destroys the Saiyan Planet the strongest universe and Frieza wants the dragon balls to become Frieza unstoppable

Even if he is rude and straight up cruel, Frieza is undoubtedly strong and intelligent.

13 Goku - Dragonball Z Son Goku (Kakarrot) is the main protagonist in Dragon Ball franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. He has many abilities like, super strength, utilization of ki, flight, teleportation, super speed, enhanced reflexes, and Super Saiyan transformation that increase strength, speed, and durability. His real name was suppose to be Kakarrot because that's his Saiyan name, and he is the son of Badrock, and Gina. His brother was Raditz. When they sent Goku (Kakarrot) to Earth his grandfather Gohan took care of him. Later on Goku didn't realize it when he was a kid, but he killed his grandfather Gohan because it was a full moon, and Goku looked at it, so he turned into a giant ape.

Why, he's just the celverest when it comes to fights. He only keeps in his head what's useful for him, and of course he doesn't need maths and all that. And for that stupid reason everyone's calling him dumb. Can you even come up with strategies half as brilliant as his? Sherlock Holmes doesn't even know that the Earth goes round the Sun, 'because he doesn't need that infromation, he let it out of his head. But has anyone ever heard ANYONE says that Holmes is stupid? No.

Woah, how are these people so simple-minded? If Goku doesn't have battle smart and just attacking without thinking, he would be nowhere this powerful. Goku has some of the best strategies and tactics, and he always comes up with the best training methods.

Goku is strong, smart, powerful, experienced and a brilliant strategist! He's so naive and innocent and childish that people often misunderstand him as stupid, but he's actually have genius intellect and when get serious, he learns new thing incredibly fast!

True, Goku isn't that smart based on understanding logics or academics, but you have to admit he is smart in fighting other enemies. Look, he even learned kamehameha in less than a year while master roshi needed 50years to learn it?!? truly remarkable

14 Edward & Alphonse Elric - Fullmetal Alchemist

Both of them OBVIOUSLY are smart, they're alchemists, plus Ed went thruthe Gate so he knows more than almost everyone! AND they were both physically trained to the extreme, thrown onto a deserted island and being constantly hunted/chased by a madman with a knife for a month! And they were little kids when that happened!

The power to summon/fix/build anything at your own will, is obviously gonna make these two powerful!

15 Natsu Dragneel - Fairy Tail Natsu Dragneel is a Mage of the Fairy Tail Guild.Natsu is carefree and reckless in nature, and, despite his consistent brawls with the other members of Fairy Tail, he is a fiercely loyal and protective friend. He is willing to go down fighting for his friends, regardless of how futile it might seem. ...read more.

He can emit flames from any part of his body! He gets even stronger when it comes to defending friends.

Natsu can be an idiot, but when it comes to fighting for his friends, he instantly wins. by the way, Natsu can win with erza and anyone else.

VOTE NATSU

He's amazing. One of my two favorite characters in Fairy Tail.

Natsu is the best because he can beat sting rogue in a minute also he have the power of laxus dreyar now.please voted for NATSU DRAGNEEL

16 Hisoka - Hunter x Hunter

Hisoka is the smartest for sure, he can read his enemies mind, he can see how strong they're and he knows exactly what's going on around him. He's doing whatever he wants to, well at least he's the smartest anime character I know.

Hisoka is the smartest. He is a quick learner and battle genius. He is also physically and mentally the strongest in my opinion.

He is extremely smart and one of the strongest characters in the series.

He may not be the strongest on this list, but he is the smartest and extremely strong..there is only one person I would put above him..that's KILLUA

17 Erza Scarlet - Fairy Tail Erza Scarlet is an S-Class Mage from the infamous magic guild Fairy Tail. Erza starts off as a lone wolf and stays loyal to following the rules. As the story develops Erza changes into loving mage strong and independent. As her terrible past haunts her she ignores her Nakama's calls that they want help. Erza's past starts with her working to build the dangerous tower called the Tower of Heaven also... read more

For me she has a great mastery in swordsmanship and she uses her intellect and will to beat all of her opponents no matter what, even hundreds are against her that's why she deserves to be on this list.

I mean come on no one can be better at swordsmanship than erza why is she here she is smart and most sexy girl I have ever seen.

Actually someone named Zoro from one piece is the best swordsman I've ever since, and no the sexiest but that's opinion

18 Sanji - One Piece Vinsmoke Sanji, most commonly known by his moniker "Black Leg" Sanji, is a fictional character in the One Piece franchise created by Eiichiro Oda. He is the cook of the Straw Hat Pirates, as well as the former sous chef of the Baratie. He is also the third son of the Vinsmoke Family, thus making him ...read more.

Only Straw Hat who belongs here in my opinion, as he's the only member of the monster trio who can be considered smart.
The girls are smart too but not that strong.

I'm so surprised he wasn't on this list, I mean a lot of undeserving characters, who are either not smart or not strong, are here, but not Sanji.

19 Hinagiku Katsura - Hayate The Combat Butler

Indeed, against a battle of brains, you will be at wit's ends against the genius of Hakou, and in battle, Hina-mon will easily slice you to pieces... Unless you're the unluckiest butler in the world :P.

Fits perfect into strongest and smartest category...

20 Ichigo Kurosaki - Bleach Ichigo Kurosaki is a fictional character in the Bleach manga series and its adaptations created by Tite Kubo.

The faith and utter confidence Ichigo has in himself amazes me. " I don't want to know what happens if I fail. " these words seem cowardly, but he meant that he WON'T fail. I love him so much. To top it off, he has the most beautiful hair I have ever seen ><

His power maybe limited but from his emotion comes great strength. He is not smart as urahara but his skills are not to underestimated

He is a Shinigami, meaning only the spiritual can see him. He deserves the top five at least!

21 Luffy D. Monkey - One Piece

He's got good intuition during fight and he can be perceptive. However smart is not a word I would ever use to describe him. It is absurd.

He may act idiotic, but he's very creative. His devil fruit isn't that strong, but he uses his creativity to defeat other overpowered devil fruit users

Ok. So while he may not be super smart (meaning very dumb) Luffy knows how to treat nakama and really comes through when it counts and that is all that matters.

He is the stronngest anime character.
He thinks with his fists not his brain.
That is why I like him because he is reckless

22 Armin Arlert - Attack On Titan Armin Arlert is a fictional character in the manga and anime series Attack on Titan, also known as Shingeki no Kyojin in Japanese, created by Hajime Isayama. He accompanies the Protagonist Eren Jaeger. He is mostly known for his smart and quick witted mind. His notable feature is wanting to explore the world outside the walls.

Yep. That's my shota.

Saving lives without knowing it since year 845. Probably when he's older his mind's already more dangerous than a sword.

He even destroyed Annie and Berthtoldt's plans, knocked Eren to his senses, formulated a plan to kill the remaining 7 titans,loads of stuff I can't name. If not for him, everyone could've died.

And...he's kinda hot, in my opinion.

23 Sasuke Uchiha - Naruto Shippuden Sasuke Uchiha is a fictional character from the manga and anime franchise Naruto, created by Masashi Kishimoto.

Sasuke is the reincarnation of one the sons of Sage of Six Paths, Indara. Sasuke is both smart and strong. When Naruto and Sasuke were fighting against 10 tails, 2nd Hokage, one of the most experienced and smartest characters in Naruto, was amazed and fooled by Sasuke with his perfect synchronization with Naruto. Remember his fight against Deidara? He figured his opponent's weakness and beat him, at the time when he was using only different types of Chidori and snakes. Beating Danzo who was using Izanagi with tons of Sharingan in his hand, he figured him out and beat him. With just one hand he's still badass, he both protected Boruto and supported Naruto during fight against Momoshiki.

24 Jellal Fernandes - Fairy Tail Jellal Fernandes is a childhood friend of Erza Scarlet. When he lost his own memory, he was a Dark Mage who desperately sought to revive Zeref via the R-System. Jellal served as the main antagonist of the Tower of Heaven arc and is currently a member and co-founder of Crime Sorcière.

Jellal deserves higher, he's a genius. For example, when Brain taught him the Self-Destruction Spell, he was a little boy knowing nothing about magic, yet he was able to cast it just after being described how to. And he's one of the most powerful Fairy Tail characters.

25 Lucy Heartfilia - Fairy Tail Lucy Heartfilia is a wizard in the guild, Fairy Tail. Her magic is called celestial spirit magic which allows her to summon spirits from another world. She currently possesses fifteen celestial keys, which is an extraordinary number for a celestial mage. She gets along best with Team Natsu, containing ...read more.

They've even stated in the anime and manga that Lucy is the smartest member of team Natsu, I mean, she was the only one who could decode Makarovs riddle in the Tenroujima arc. #Lucy4TheWin

Lucy is just a dumb, weak and useless character. I would say Levy is way smarter

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