Feeling burnt out on anime where the hero just steamrolls every challenge? Yeah, we’ve all been there. This list is for those times you want to root for the underdog, the hero who maybe couldn’t win an arm wrestling contest with a toddler.
We’re talking weak, we’re talking frail, but we’re also talking about some seriously determined heroes. Get ready for these scrappy fighters to prove that muscles aren’t everything, and that even the wimpiest looking hero can pack a punch (or a well-timed dodge). So grab your snacks, curl up on the couch, and let’s cheer on these unlikely champions in the top 10 underdog anime!
Big Windup
- Number of Episodes: 25
- Release Date: April 12 to September 27
Ren Mihashi was the ace of his middle school baseball team, yet they never won because of his awful pitching. Constant losses finally led to his teammates bullying him to the point that his teammates no longer tried to win, forcing Mihashi to graduate with low self-esteem. As a result, Mihashi decides to attend a high school in a different prefecture where he has no interest of playing baseball. Unfortunately, upon his arrival to Nishiura High, he is pulled into joining their new team as the starting pitcher.
Despite his initial hesitation, Mihashi understands that here is a place where he will be welcomed for who he is; with the help of catcher Takaya Abe, he begins to have greater confidence in his own talents. Seeing Mihashi’s potential, Abe sets a goal of helping him become a pitcher deserving of the title of “ace.”
Doukyuusei-Classmates
- Number of Episodes: 1
- Release Date: February 20, 2016
Hikaru Kusakabe is a typical, carefree rock band member who is always focused on the present. During the summer, his entire class is required to perform in a chorus festival. By chance, he comes across his classmate Rihito Sajou, who is known for being an honour student with high grades, practising his singing alone.
Sajou can’t seem to get their class song right, and Kusakabe, delighted to see a new side to his straight-laced classmate, offers to assist him in preparing for the event.
Despite the fact that their lives and personalities are diametrically opposed, they grow closer over time. But, with the uncertainty of the future, what will become of them and their growing relationship?
Rosario to Vampire
- Number of Episodes: 26
- Release Date: January 3 to December 24, 2008
This time, our mc Tsukune Aono is not fragile and frail, but rather a human in a school full of monsters.
Youkai Academy appears to be a typical boarding school, except that its students are monsters learning how to coexist with humans. All students attend in human form and study standard academic subjects like literature, gym, foreign language, and mathematics. However, there is one unbreakable rule at Youkai Academy: any humans discovered on school grounds must be executed immediately!
Tsukune Aono is a typical teenager who is unable to attend any high school due to his poor academic performance. His parents enrol him in Youkai Academy inadvertently as a last-ditch effort to secure his education. Tsukune has a run-in with the most attractive girl on campus, Moka Akashiya, as he unknowingly enters this new world. He decides to stay in the dangerous realm in order to advance his relationship with Moka, not realising that beneath her beauty lies a menacing monster—a vampire.
World Trigger
- Number of Episodes: 74
- Release Date: October 5, 2014 to January 23, 2022
Osamu Mikumo, our main character, is not particularly fragile; rather, he is average in Mikado City, which has been invaded by strange creatures known as “Neighbors,” malicious beings immune to traditional weaponry. In response to their arrival, the Border Defense Agency was formed to combat the Neighbor threat using special weapons known as “Triggers.” Even after several years have passed since the gate first opened, Neighbors remain a threat, and Border members remain vigilant to ensure the planet’s safety.
Despite this delicate situation, members-in-training like Osamu Mikumo are not allowed to use their Triggers outside of headquarters. However, when a mysterious new student in his class is dragged into a forbidden area by bullies, they are attacked by Neighbors, and Osamu is forced to do what he believes is right. To his surprise, transfer student Yuuma Kuga easily dispatches the aliens, revealing himself to be a humanoid Neighbor in disguise.
H2O: Footprints in the Sand
- Number of Episodes: 12
- Release Date: January 3 to March 20, 2008
The plot of H2O revolves around Takuma Hirose, a blind young male junior-high school student whose cause of blindness is unknown. His mother’s tragic death left him with a deep emotional scar, causing him to become very lonely and reserved. Takuma and his uncle are forced to relocate from the city to a rural area, and Takuma enlists in a new junior high school.
At his new school, he meets several new girls, but three stand out above the rest: the firm and obstinate Hayami Kohinata, the kind and accommodating Hinata Kagura, and the cheerful and mysterious Otoha. Takuma’s medical condition gradually improves as he interacts with these girls, and he eventually recovers completely.
Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie
- Number of Episodes: 12
- Release Date: April to July 2022
Yuu Izumi’s high school life is filled with mishap after mishap. Unfortunate events happen to him at every turn, no matter how unlikely the situation. With such bad luck, Izumi enters his second year with one wish in mind: to spend more time with his lovable girlfriend, Micchon Shikimori.
Shikimori is a popular student at their school because she is cute, athletic, and caring. But, in the year since they started dating, Izumi has noticed a surprising side to his otherwise adorable girlfriend: when the occasion calls for it, she turns incredibly cool! When she is there to protect him with an awe-inspiring look on her face, his misfortunes are easily avoided. She never fails to make his heart skip a beat in every way. Despite his misfortune, Izumi’s bad luck is about to end thanks to the lovely yet cool Shikimori.
Days
Days follows Tsukushi Tsukamoto, a shy, clumsy, and bullied teenager about to start high school. He decides to enrol in Seiseki High School in order to be with his next-door neighbour and childhood friend Sayuri Tachibana, who is a year his senior.
Tsukushi is bullied after visiting Sayuri at work, but he is saved by Jin Kazama, who scares the bullies away by attacking them with nunchucks and declares himself a vagrant and lost in town. Jin then asks Tsukushi if he likes football and invites him to a futsal match the next night because his team is one player short. Tsukushi surprises Jin by arriving after running nearly ten miles in the pouring rain.
Shounen Maid
- Number of Episodes: 12
- Release Date: April 8 to July 1, 2016
Chihiro Komiya, an elementary school student, is left without a home and family after his mother dies unexpectedly. This all changes when he meets a wealthy and frivolous stranger who turns out to be his long-lost uncle, Madoka Takatori. Madoka offers to house Chihiro, but when he arrives at his uncle’s lavish mansion, he is greeted by a flood of dust and garbage. Chihiro begins cleaning the entire house as his neatfreak instincts kick in.
Natsume’s Book of Friends
- Number of Episodes: 74
- Release Date: July 8, 2008 to present
While most fifteen-year-old boys have secrets related to girls, Takashi Natsume has a peculiar and terrifying secret involving youkai: he has been chased by these spirits for as long as he can remember. Natsume soon discovers that his late grandmother Reiko left him the Yuujinchou, or “Book of Friends,” which contains the names of the spirits she possessed. The book, which is now in Natsume’s possession, gives Reiko’s grandson this power as well, which is why these enraged beings now haunt him in the hopes of gaining their freedom.
Natsume is looking for solace—a place where he belongs—after losing his parents and a loving home and constantly being followed by hostile, merciless youkai. His only companion, however, is a self-proclaimed bodyguard named Madara. Madara, also known as Nyanko-sensei, is a mysterious, pint-sized feline spirit who has his own reasons for remaining with the boy.
Taisho Otome Fairy Tale
- Number of Episodes: 12
- Release Date: October 9, 2021
Pessimist by nature Tamahiko Shima lives alone in the Chiba mountains after losing use of his right hand in the same car accident that killed his mother. He has been forced into exile after his father and other wealthy relatives regarded him incapable; he spends his idle days reading and his sleepless nights with uncontrollable sadness. Tamahiko is resigned to his new duty—stay in the mountains and wait for death to end his suffering—true to the Shimas’ famous pride and determined not to disgrace his family.
On one snowy night, however, Tamahiko’s sleep is broken by a knock at the door. He then meets Yuzuki Tachibana, a 14-year-old girl who announces that she has come to be his future wife! Tamahiko recalls his father promising to send him a bride to help him with problems in his daily life.
Despite being sold as a bride to repay her family’s debts, Yuzuki shows thoughtfulness, diligence, and devotion to Tamahiko. Will the world-weary teenager be insensitive to the rare breeze of kindness she brings to his mundane existence?