Stories have been around almost as long as humanity itself, and in all that time, certainstorytelling tropeshave become quite well known for their frequency of use. One of the more prevalent in fantasy stories is the ‘chosen one’ trope.
Most protagonists have something unique or interesting that makes them fit to be the protagonist. However, the chosen one is specifically a character who is blessed with some great power or destiny, making them the only one who save the world from whatever threatens it. Most famously, this includes being mentioned in a prophecy of some kind, but that’s not necessarily the case. As with every trope however, several stories end up parodying or subverting it, whether in a minor or major way.
7My Hero Academia
On the surface, Izuku “Deku” Midoriya seems like a pretty standard chosen one. He was born powerless, but managed to gain the attention of his idol All Might, and eventually had the powerful quirk ‘One for All’ passed down to him.
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My Hero Academia’s subversion is admittedly quite subtle. While Deku spends most of the series stating via narration that this is the story of how he became the number one hero, he ends up not being able to handle that pressure. He tries so hard to be the chosen one, that his health and psyche deteriorate. Eventually, his classmates have to rescue him. The story then clarifies that it’s not Deku that must become the new All Might, but his generation of heroes that must spread the responsibility among themselves.
6Mob Psycho 100
Much like its sibling seriesOne Punch Man,Mob Psycho 100features an extremely overpowered protagonist. Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama was born with powerful psychic abilities that allow him to accomplish feats most teenagers can only dream of.
However, instead of being treated as a unique and legendary hero, almost nobody cares about his powers. Despite his immense power, Mob’s journey focuses instead on relatableself-improvementgoals like exercise and social skills. In several climatic fights, he even sits the battle out for one reason or another, often so he doesn’t become too comfortable with violence.
5Death Note
InDeath Note, a high school student by the name of Light Yagami finds a mysterious book at his school. He later discovers it has the power to kill anyone he wants, and develops an intense god complex, believing himself to be a chosen savior and ruler of humanity.
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However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The ‘shinigami’ (death god) Ryuk, who actually owns the death note, explicitly dropped it onto Earth out of boredom to see who would pick it up. He even added instructions in English since it is the most spoken language on the planet. Ryuk isn’t even the only shinigami, as there’s a whole society of them, all with their own death notes, making Light just a lucky random.
4Drifters
Driftershas quite a unique premise for an isekai. It features several historical figures transported into a fantasy world at the point of their deaths. They range from Japanese figures like Oda Nobunaga to Europeans like Hannibal Barca and Americans like Butch Cassidy.
They are eventually revealed to have been chosen by the mysterious god Murasaki to help save their new world. However, the foes they face are exactly the same. The villainous group are drifters themselves, and the chosen fighters of Murasaki’s rival god, Easy. This anime is a war between chosen ones.
3Jujutsu Kaisen
Yuji Itadori took a huge risk when he swallowed the finger of the king of curses, Ryomen Sukuna. Luckily for him, it turned out that he had therare abilityto contain the curse’s power. He then commits to finding and eating all of Sukuna’s fingers, in order to prevent him from ever reincarnating.
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The twist is that the fingers are indestructible. Yuji might be able to eat and nullify them, but the only way to guarantee Sukuna’s destruction is to kill Yuji once he eats the fingers. As such, while Yuji is ostensibly the chosen one of the story, his destiny is to ultimately be executed instead of becoming some great hero.
2Neon Genesis Evangelion
Famously,EvangelionframesShinji Ikariand the other evangelion pilots as the only defense humanity has against the invading angels. They are told that they’re the only ones who can pilot the evangelions, making them out to be some kind of unique, special soldiers.
While they are necessary for the use of the evas, it’s not for the reasons they are told. As it turns out, each eva unit has the soul of a woman bonded to it. This stops anyone besides their children from piloting them. This adds a morbid twist to the children’s even more morbid experience as pilots.
1Attack On Titan
From the moment he saw his mom eaten by a titan, Eren Yeager has been on a mission to eliminate titans from the world. After discovering his ability to turn into a titan himself, Eren seemed like the perfect hero to lead humanity to victory against the titans. As the series goes on though, this role begins to be twisted.
Not only is Eren far from being the only titan shifter, but he also turns out to have gottenhis titan powersdue to his father stealing them from the royal family. Through bizarre methods, he even turns out to be the one who made his own father steal the power to begin with. Even worse, instead of his original goal of saving humanity from titans, Eren has a heel turn and becomes the series’ main villain, leading an army of titans to flatten the world.
