What is the difference between a smart MC and a genius MC?
How smart would a character have to be to be considered a genius?
If I go with my own interpretation - that someone who is smart enough can be considered a genius - rather than the show having to explicitly label a character as a “genius”, then my pick would be Aqua from Oshi no Ko.
Edit: forgot to explain what makes Aqua’s intellect believable:
We were shown his thought process / inner monologue time and again, and it always sounds reasonable. Also, the people who he had to outwit never get dumbed down to move the plot a certain way. And yet his wit still managed to surprise me from time to time, proving his smarts.
(But to be fair, he’s a grown man in a child’s body, so he may not actually be a genius when compared to others in his age group.)
Also, just because someone is a genius does not mean that they are infallible or perfect in everything. In fact, them having flaws just make them more realistic.
Honourable mentions:
Shirogane and Kaguya from Kaguya-sama (mentioned to have genius-level intellect / achieved gifted-level test scores in the anime IIRC)
The trio from The Promised Neverland (mentioned to have genius-level intellect / achieved gifted-level test scores in the anime IIRC)
P.S. Following the logic that “a character is only as smart as their author”, Akasaka Aka is a genius. He was able to show, not tell, the genius of characters in two stories.
What is the difference between a smart MC and a genius MC?
How smart would a character have to be to be considered a genius?
If I go with my own interpretation - that someone who is smart enough can be considered a genius - rather than the show having to explicitly label a character as a “genius”, then my pick would be Aqua from Oshi no Ko.
Edit: forgot to explain what makes Aqua’s intellect believable:
We were shown his thought process / inner monologue time and again, and it always sounds reasonable. Also, the people who he had to outwit never get dumbed down to move the plot a certain way. And yet his wit still managed to surprise me from time to time, proving his smarts.
(But to be fair, he’s a grown man in a child’s body, so he may not actually be a genius when compared to others in his age group.)
Also, just because someone is a genius does not mean that they are infallible or perfect in everything. In fact, them having flaws just make them more realistic.
Honourable mentions:
P.S. Following the logic that “a character is only as smart as their author”, Akasaka Aka is a genius. He was able to show, not tell, the genius of characters in two stories.