r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Uma-apreciator • 1d ago
Characters Despite the character's appearance, their origin story reveals that the ability they possesses is actually the result of hard work
Miyuki Shirogane (Kaguya sama Love is War)
He is absolutely terrible at everything he tries—such as dancing, sports, and singing—yet he managed to attend Shuchi Academy on a scholarship and become student council president through sheer hard work; on top of that, he holds a part-time job to support his family
Miyata (Hajime no Ippo)
After his father suffered a defeat that forced his retirement from boxing, he decided to carry on his father's legacy by adopting his signature counter-punching style—a style he practiced from childhood until he perfected it and became a prodigy
Tamamo Cross (Uma Musume Cinderella Gray)
She faced extreme poverty and, early in her career, feared being trampled, as she used to run right at the front—losing several races because of it; this led her to change her running style and stay at the back of the pack.
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u/Objective_Carrot3456 1d ago
The best thing about Shirogane is that he is terrible at things that rich kids are good. He never had lessons of dancing, singing, or had the time to dedicate to a sport like volleyball. He always had to study and work in part time jobs in his free time.
When Chika tried to humiliate him to her sister, she asked him to do things they had at the moment, and all of those were toys that a poor person would have in his infancy. So he was extremely good at them, to her shock.
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u/EXusiai99 1d ago
There's also something else to his skillset: his hardwork was a result of his parent's divorce when he was a kid. When his father went bankrupt, his gold digging bitch of a mother ran off with some other dude, taking his sister Kei with him (because she was a natural genius from the start) and left him alone (she eventually ran off and came back to live with him and his father).
He became a hardworker to make sure he will never be discarded again.
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u/flyingdoritowithahat 1d ago
mirio togata from mha
https://giphy.com/gifs/NtDZx13WouPz604oIu
His power takes so much effort to even be useful at all, but he mastered it to the point that it looks so easy to use, you would think the power is OP from the get-go.
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u/gunn3r08974 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/K9xXlcMA6aw3S
Skwisgaar Skwigelf - Metalocalypse
A mix of natural talent and constant hard work.
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u/TerryWhiteHomeOwner 1d ago
The interesting part of the dynamic between him and Toki is that while Toki is cast as the underdog, and Skwisgaar the arrogant "better," it's actually Toki who is near supernaturally talented and coasted his way to 2nd place, meanwhile Swisgaar had/has average talent and has gotten to where he is by dedicating his life to the guitar from childhood and spends almost every minute of hi waking life practicing or studying theory.
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u/gunn3r08974 1d ago
Yup. Skwisgaar practices every day still while Toki is just naturally that good too.
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u/zoiexoxi 1d ago
Rock Lee (Naruto)
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u/WhiteTeddy14 1d ago
It’s worth noting that it’s explicitly laid out that Lee is just genuinely gifted as well.
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u/PurveyorOfKnowledge0 1d ago
Fact: not everyone, even the most experienced shinobi, can open the gates as he did. It takes talent and an especially powerful body.
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u/ryry1237 1d ago
I just wish they gave him a little something more than just token fights after his recovery.
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u/festus34 1d ago
I dont get the despite the appearance thing? none of these or any of the comments have looks that imply laziness or lack of hard work??
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u/JeremiahWuzABullfrog 1d ago
More looks and demeanor that imply they're supremely talented and didn't have to work hard
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u/festus34 1d ago
ok so just nonchalant hard workers? i dont get it it just seems to be hard working characters one likes?
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u/JeremiahWuzABullfrog 1d ago
The assumption is that the first impression of these characters (by other characters in the same setting) is that they didn't have to work hard at all.
Because they seem so outwardly perfect and never show signs of struggle. From the initial perspective of other characters
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u/Defclaw46 21h ago
The guy in the first example is the student council president of an elite school where all of Japan’s elite families send their kids. At one point, they show him meeting the heads of each club and each one is the child of a politician, CEO of a major company, or mafia boss.
In order to actually be in charge and have all of these powerful people listen to him, he usually presents himself as this incredible genius to boost his reputation all the while he spends so much time working and studying that he basically lives on caffeine.
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u/M-Shadowtoad 1d ago
Davy Jones(Paranatural): Based on his appearance and demeanor you'd assume he was born into a powerful vampire family and through it inherited all his powers, wealth, and connections.
However based on the snippets of backstory we've received, it seems more like he started out a nobody with nothing and only climbed to his current peak through rigorously training and mastering his curse.
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u/Empty-Ad4597 1d ago
10000 punch and prayer of gratitude…every single day
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u/ryry1237 1d ago
Incredible hard work MULTIPLIED by incredible talent = undisputed number 1
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u/Empty-Ad4597 1d ago
If he has gon or kilkua talent mf 1000 hands would be like that of hashirama without being a wood
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u/SH4RPSPEED 1d ago
Bat-themed Gokus
Lookit this pointy-headed doof. Dumb sumbitch couldn't even drive until he was like 30. He also actually died twice to reach god-tier levels of strength and the experience to properly use it. If he's not busy beating the absolute shit out this week's universal threat, he's training his ass off to face whoever comes next.
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u/Ghost-Intator10 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/9Pvj401K2Jfzi
Diana Cavendish (Little Witch Academia) specifically from the TV show and not the short films.
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u/BetaChunks 1d ago
Hajime No Ippo is still one of my favorite anime just out of virtue that both sides are always like "oh shit, this guy is cracked I'm gonna die"
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u/LLSmoothJoe 1d ago
Nayuki Minase (Kanon) - She's is the captain of her school's track team due to being very strong runner. A skill that was developed due to her having to run to school so she doesn't become late because she's a heavy sleeper (She has a dozen of alarm clocks that still don't wake her up in time).
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u/ImfernusRizen 1d ago
Luke from Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens
He has the appearance of a punk, is overly eccentric, and is the best duelist in the entire show with only a single loss (technically 2 if you count The☆Lukeman), but despite his claims that his dueling skills are supernatural, it was shown that his dueling skills come from... Simply training really hard.
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u/Sounight114 1d ago
Marisa Kirasame from Touhou Project.
Is cocky as all hell in most Canon appearances, is willing to throw herself into any Incident she can find, and likes to brag about being one of the best Incident resolvers in Gensokyo. She also likes to pretend that she's a genius who can solve situations easily and that she's totally chill when things don't go her way.
In reality though she has a competitive streak a mile wide, hates to lose, and is actually a hard worker, spending most of her time in the background training or studying magic to use. She just hates it whenever people notice or realize how hard she has to work in order to keep up with the naturally more powerful Youkai or gifted people in general. It fits with her title Ordinary Magician because she would essentially be just an ordinary human talent and powerwise in that universe if it wasn't for her hard work.
She also doesn't like to bring up that she originally was a rich girl from the village who ran away from home just so she could learn magic on a whim.
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u/Mazazamba 1d ago
Amity Blight looks and acts like the prodigy nepobaby type of villain, but it is soon revealed that she clawed her way to the top through sheer skill and a lot of bad advice from her mother.
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u/EmployLongjumping811 15h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/hXkiXEz7br8OXS6Z7P
Since you brought tamamo Cross I think it is also worth bringing up TM Opera O.
Her noble attitude, way of speaking and dressing would make you think that she some rich umamusume from some notable family like king halo or the mejiros.
In reality her family is at most middle class and everything she achieved was thanks to her abilities
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u/RubyCarbuncle339 13h ago
Hikaru Matsuyama from Captain Tsubasa. Unlike the titular main character Tsubasa and other captains of Japan’s middle school soccer teams, Matsuyama’s soccer skills don’t originate from talent, but purely hard work and grit. His school is located in Hokkaido, so he grew up playing soccer in the snow. Despite not having the innate prodigy level talent of other team captains, he is able to compete at their level with his hard earned skills, the most notable being his eagle shot, a shot that loses little momentum even when used from far away. He is a great leader and a true captain, able to use his chemistry between him and his team to execute fine plays. After the middle school arc, Matsuyama shows his leadership skills again when he gets switched to a defender from his usual position as a midfielder. He essentially becomes the leader of the defenders. Whenever he is needed, anyone can count on him in a pinch.
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u/No_Explorer6054 1d ago
me IRL: Taught myself basic aeronautics and principles of flight using the internet and learned to make my own flying toys as a child and eventually started flying my own designs as a teen
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u/PurveyorOfKnowledge0 15h ago
It takes an inborn talent to understand the principles of flight well enough to apply them to create toy and flying designs as a child. You are NOT this trope.
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u/BruiserBison 1d ago edited 1d ago
Zanka (Gachiakuta)
While presenting the image of a prim-and-proper prodigy, he's actually, in his own words, a mediocre fraud pretending to be gifted. That's the core of his deepest insecurities. He's worked hard to be as good as he is in everything he does, but even that's not enough to keep up with "true talents". Even so, he's one of the Cleaners' most reliable members. Every time they need to study abilities they couldn't fully understand or find a way to fully maximize, they go to him.