An MC who likes being insulted, beaten, underestimated, humiliated and much more just to hide his powers... honestly I really feel that whoever thinks that an MC like that is a good idea (except for comidic purpose) is an absolute idiot
Case in point Captain Aizen from Bleach sure he dressed up like a nerdy professor and faked his own death but he did not compromise on his self respect to hide his true intentions he was a captain of an entire squad ,well respected and appeared to be a very kind, well-respected captain and was looked up to by many, especially his lieutenant, Momo Hinamori.
That is a true hidden behind the scenes mastermind not the I am so weak as fuck so no one will suspect me
Following the art of mob-fu is an arduous undertaking not fit for sane people. Those who are not masochists or don't think themselves as hidden bosses or eminences in shadow are highly encouraged to avoid seeking this kind of training. There are easier kinds of fighting-fu to take, like kung-fu, gun-fu, sword-fu, sexy-fu, talk-fu, and other such badassery-fu out there.
Look like a person who is minding his own business and stay away from any academy or hero princess stuff and live in a nice peaceful village that is secretly a hidden village of Ninjas (also there is something called spys that can keep track of events)
Following the art of mob-fu is an arduous undertaking not fit for sane people. Those who are not masochists or don't think themselves as hidden bosses or eminences in shadow are highly encouraged to avoid seeking this kind of training. There are easier kinds of fighting-fu to take, like kung-fu, gun-fu, sword-fu, sexy-fu, talk-fu, and other such badassery-fu out there.
Unless they have a really good reason, and no, "mimimimi, the plot will get annoying, but I don't want to avoid Le Plot, cuz, like, dunno, reasons?" is not a good excuse, it's really stupid and annoying. Not wanting to disturb the "order of the world" or some other BS is also stupid enough to warrant a brain check. Not wanting the antagonists to notice you is also as stupid as the above excuses, unless there's some semi-omniscient world-destroying deity-level being involved, in which case you're screwed anyway...
The only reasons I could see a character trying to play grey eminence is if they need certain characters to acquire certain items or powers or if they're already involved from the beginning like being a family member of the "main cast" of the world or if they want to be the secret final boss.
It’s one of the stupidest things to do actually as one stands out even more as the ”trash“. Unless it’s one of the roles society deemed as bottom of the bottom (alcoholic, gamblers). But in most cases it’s not. The MC has a perfectly normal standing and behaves below his status. It’s just poor writing ?
I like the balance of delivery man from murim. MC is deity level but just wants daily peace. Does not hide his power when people are in need but doesn’t register officially as S-rank hunter as the lifestyle of the profession is not what he wants. Valid reason.
I really don’t see why so many MCs can’t find the balance between getting insulted and worshipped. Probably for the thrill of getting worshipped, because it’s easier to seem strong when someone was a dunce before
It’s one of the stupidest things to do actually as one stands out even more as the ”trash“. Unless it’s one of the roles society deemed as bottom of the bottom (alcoholic, gamblers). But in most cases it’s not. The MC has a perfectly normal standing and behaves below his status. It’s just poor writing ?
That's partly why eminence of shadow execution is the troupe was good or REND that executed the troupe well in the part I read, both mc had valid reasons to hide their power, one hid it for his fantasies and the other to stay alive.
That's partly why eminence of shadow execution is the troupe was good or REND that executed the troupe well in the part I read, both mc had valid reasons to hide their power, one hid it for his fantasies and the other to stay alive.
I hate it when the trope has long overstayed its welcome and we've entered the "now it's getting ridiculous" territory in how blind people are to not realize the protagonist's obvious hidden identity. Anyone read "my life as a government worker in another life" (title paraphrased, so I hope you know what I mean), or the one where people are judged by the rank of their souls and the protagonist pretends to be F-Rank, but is actually an SSS-Rank or something? The latter does make sense in a way, because he's afraid of his power, but there have been instances in which he could have long since told everyone and it would have made more sense to do so. At this point, it only gets frustrating. But the first one I mention is simply infuriatingly dumb in this regard. Like, people who know who he is are literally in the same city as him, but accidentally miss him every time, despite actively searching for him. Of course, there's no real pictures shown around to the people who have seen MC before, otherwise, looking for him would be waaaay too easy, right? Because once his real name got out, they'd know he's monstrously strong.
But when you comment on it, people will spring at your comment, telling you you're only looking for that "power fantasy". Hate pissing in your chips, but that's already what it is.
Anyway, my favorite Manga (excluding Jojo's, because Jojo's is a religion), Dendrobates, also centers around an MC that hides his awesome talents - he's a hitman, raised by japanese parents in Colombia, especially in an active guerilla war zone, so the parents are killed in a terrorist attack, leaving their small son behind, who's then picked up by an organization, raising him as a sicario (colombian hitman), who then becomes the embodiment of their sicario symbol, the poisonous frog "Dendrobates". Later on, he returns to Japan, where his parents hailed from, becoming a police officer with a badge, just so he could have the power to be put in charge of the vault holding evidence like narcotics or small arms. With homemade quick silver ammunition, that explodes on impact, causing unnecessary damage that's nice to look at and destroys evidence like barrell markings, he fiddles with the books and regularly "borrows" guns from the vault he's solely authorized to open in his police station. They would then "grow legs" and return to him as evidence - with the police none the wiser. Obviously, he can't go around telling people what exactly he's capable of, because he's actively using those guns to murder people for money.
Sadly, nobody takes him seriously, because he has that accountant vibe all over him, instead of giving off the air of a policeman.
I gotta admit though, In my own stories, just taking the three Webnovels I'm currently writing into account, the MCs ALL hide their identities and true abilities. But similarly to Sengawa (Dendrobates MS, lol), they aren't technically hiding how strong they are, but what they are. Their strength just comes with it. The one closest to pretending to be weak would be the protagonist of my transmigration story, but she doesn't do much to pretend. She comes from a different world, in which the magic system is further developed, but took over the body of a noble lady, which didn't allow her to smurf around as she pleased to begin with. She just did whatever and yes, coincidences help her keep her secret, but with every fight she steps up to, because it's deeply ingrained to jump when someone is in need and nobody else can help, people know more and more of her abilities, until they finally see it all in the second season. Her goal is to live quietly, she only ever trained in order for her to protect herself if needed, so she didn't want to reveal it. In one story, the protagonist works for a God. Everybody knows about those Gods, but nobody knows who this God's servants are, because their identity stands protected, in order for their enemies to not come after their family and friends. Also, they themselves are immortal and their job is to judge people in place of their God, in other words, to kill them. You wouldn't feel good about your neighbor being a person with the license to kill given out by a God, would you? And the last one is tricky, because it's a LitRPG, where people are getting abilities from certain Gods, as you would think. Protagonist really is as strong as he's "pretending" to be - as a human, that is. But he is also one of the Gods who give out those powers, or at least their ego on earth, so he can also turn into the God, as his soul form. But firstly, that would be too much for most to handle and secondly, the Gates they have to raid cannot be entered by the Gods themselves. In his human form he is, by all rights, a human being, so he may enter. But he's a genuine weakling at first. Also, he didn't even want to fight in the first place.
I hate it when the trope has long overstayed its welcome and we've entered the "now it's getting ridiculous" territory in how blind people are to not realize the protagonist's obvious hidden identity. Anyone read "my life as a government worker in another life" (title paraphrased, so I hope you know what I mean), or the one where people are judged by the rank of their souls and the protagonist pretends to be F-Rank, but is actually an SSS-Rank or something? The latter does make sense in a way, because he's afraid of his power, but there have been instances in which he could have long since told everyone and it would have made more sense to do so. At this point, it only gets frustrating. But the first one I mention is simply infuriatingly dumb in this regard. Like, people who know who he is are literally in the same city as him, but accidentally miss him every time, despite actively searching for him. Of course, there's no real pictures shown around to the people who have seen MC before, otherwise, looking for him would be waaaay too easy, right? Because once his real name got out, they'd know he's monstrously strong.
But when you comment on it, people will spring at your comment, telling you you're only looking for that "power fantasy". Hate pissing in your chips, but that's already what it is.
Anyway, my favorite Manga (excluding Jojo's, because Jojo's is a religion), Dendrobates, also centers around an MC that hides his awesome talents - he's a hitman, raised by japanese parents in Colombia, especially in an active guerilla war zone, so the parents are killed in a terrorist attack, leaving their small son behind, who's then picked up by an organization, raising him as a sicario (colombian hitman), who then becomes the embodiment of their sicario symbol, the poisonous frog "Dendrobates". Later on, he returns to Japan, where his parents hailed from, becoming a police officer with a badge, just so he could have the power to be put in charge of the vault holding evidence like narcotics or small arms. With homemade quick silver ammunition, that explodes on impact, causing unnecessary damage that's nice to look at and destroys evidence like barrell markings, he fiddles with the books and regularly "borrows" guns from the vault he's solely authorized to open in his police station. They would then "grow legs" and return to him as evidence - with the police none the wiser. Obviously, he can't go around telling people what exactly he's capable of, because he's actively using those guns to murder people for money.
Sadly, nobody takes him seriously, because he has that accountant vibe all over him, instead of giving off the air of a policeman.
I gotta admit though, In my own stories, just taking the three Webnovels I'm currently writing into account, the MCs ALL hide their identities and true abilities. But similarly to Sengawa (Dendrobates MS, lol), they aren't technically hiding how strong they are, but what they are. Their strength just comes with it. The one closest to pretending to be weak would be the protagonist of my transmigration story, but she doesn't do much to pretend. She comes from a different world, in which the magic system is further developed, but took over the body of a noble lady, which didn't allow her to smurf around as she pleased to begin with. She just did whatever and yes, coincidences help her keep her secret, but with every fight she steps up to, because it's deeply ingrained to jump when someone is in need and nobody else can help, people know more and more of her abilities, until they finally see it all in the second season. Her goal is to live quietly, she only ever trained in order for her to protect herself if needed, so she didn't want to reveal it. In one story, the protagonist works for a God. Everybody knows about those Gods, but nobody knows who this God's servants are, because their identity stands protected, in order for their enemies to not come after their family and friends. Also, they themselves are immortal and their job is to judge people in place of their God, in other words, to kill them. You wouldn't feel good about your neighbor being a person with the license to kill given out by a God, would you? And the last one is tricky, because it's a LitRPG, where people are getting abilities from certain Gods, as you would think. Protagonist really is as strong as he's "pretending" to be - as a human, that is. But he is also one of the Gods who give out those powers, or at least their ego on earth, so he can also turn into the God, as his soul form. But firstly, that would be too much for most to handle and secondly, the Gates they have to raid cannot be entered by the Gods themselves. In his human form he is, by all rights, a human being, so he may enter. But he's a genuine weakling at first. Also, he didn't even want to fight in the first place.
There are variations of it. The "Despicable [son/daughter/son-in-law]" who suddenly gains power, but nobody believes it until it's too late, the character who was under a curse for a while and not able to use any power who suddenly has the curse lifted...
It can be done well, but it can be overdone ... or it can just drag out to a ridiculous length.
