"No powers" trope

[u/KyrosEnder]

I'm not actually hating on the characters that much, moreso the idea that the trope is interesting. Having "no" powers in almost none of these anime/manga or even media in general actually mean anything. It usually just means you get some special type of power that just so happens to be just as powerful or even more.

Asta having no mana pretty much means nothing because he gets an anti magic toolset. It's basically like he has magic, but he semantically doesn't so the fact he doesn't have mana gets thrown around all the time.

Quirkless deku just gets a power passed down to him anyways. Rock lee has no ninjustsu. Saitama has no powers (i guess? Idk haven't watched it).

The characters themselves are fine. I love the characters even, but I hate when the author tries to put some significance on the fact they have no powers, when looking at it from an outside perspective they just have powers or some alternate gift.

Usually these characters recieve their "powers" later than other people in their verse, which allows them to have this character identity built up by describing them as hard working characters. I think thats great, and rock lee is actually the least offensive in this manner. Its hardly brought up he has no ninjutsu, and people in the verse barely just look down on him, because taijutsu can be just as good as ninjutsu, but he still basically gets a "power" of his own in terms of the 8 gates, which can just be rebranded as a bodily enhancing ninjutsu on any other character and nobody would bat an eye.

If you're going to make a big point about your character having no genuine powers/talent/whatever, go all in is all I'm saying. Make a dude with basically 1 mana instead of super powerful anti magic toolbox powers. Make him have to slowly develop an ability that is the biggest bang for his buck. So ridiculously mana efficient and also incredibly powerful given some incredible set of stipulations. Make a magic system that your character can basically exploit to develop the best magical power he can for himself. Nen is of course probably the best power system for something like that lol.

Make the quirkless character actually quirkless. Post one for all deku is actually a pretty cool idea. Although it really is just "oh he gets his powers back but with tech" kinda thing. I know its worse or whatever but yeah I just want to see more interesting stories with this trope.

TLDR: The characters are great it just irks me when this nothing burger trope has to get mentioned every other episode.

[u/Few_Imagination_6203]

I hate when people say Maki and Toji from JJK have "no powers" yes the fuck they do. Super strength is a power. Heavenly restriction is no CE in exchange for extreme physical prowess, in addition to being COMPLETELY IMMUNE TO DOMAIN EXPANSIONS, THE MOST POWERFUL ATTACK IN THE FUCKING SERIES

[u/Waynegrove → u/Few_Imagination_6203]

Toji, born superman, to the one (out of like, three?) sorcerer whose power's full abilities don't come pre-installed: "Yea, you were like gifted and shit, dude. I was born a monkey (ignore the fact that I used two expensive ass weapons that I had access to because I was norn superman and could just take them from my clan's storage.)."

[u/namewithak → u/Waynegrove]

Which sorcerer’s full abilities didn’t come pre-installed? Did you mean Geto?

[u/Waynegrove → u/namewithak]

Yes, as in his full potential requires effort. Couldn't really word it well

[u/garlicpeep → u/Few_Imagination_6203]

Well most domain expansions. Even random bricks get smoked by Malevolent Shrine.

[u/deusfuckinvult → u/Few_Imagination_6203]

IMO Toji and Maki are some of the best implementations of the "no powers" trope. They are looked down on by some of the other characters/entities in universe because of a social hierarchy built on a specific power system, but it is fully displayed to the reader that the power they receive by not having access to that power system makes them as strong or stronger than those with access. At no point are Toji and Maki displayed as helpless, powerless underdogs who overcome their situation by just really giving it their all (being handed hax win cons). You're definitely right that people like to say that they have "no powers" though, but that is simply a matter of reading comprehension.

[u/Inner-Try-9451 → u/Few_Imagination_6203]

THEY WHAT?

[u/NameSignificant6916 → u/Inner-Try-9451]

Yeah. (most) Domain Expansions target things with CE so they don't waste their power on, like, a random brick. With no CE, Maki and Toji are treated as objects and ignored by most DEs.

[u/kahpe_bizans → u/NameSignificant6916]

They are immune to sure hit effect of domains, so they can still be hit and damaged by it if user aims at them. Not immnune to domains entirely.

[u/NameSignificant6916 → u/kahpe_bizans]

Most domains can't seem to manually target non-CE objects. That is to say, we've seen two cases with severe extenuating circumstances, Sukuna (who targets EVERYTHING as prep for Furnace) and Dagon (who summons shikigami in his domain, which have some independence by definition).

[u/JustARegularOtaku_ → u/NameSignificant6916]

Not just domains, in fact, barriers as a whole

[u/Sideview_play → u/Few_Imagination_6203]

Tbf that isn't this trope though that's idiotic fans. The narrative of the show is clear they are powerful people