Look, super smart protagonists are overrated. I’ve had enough Isekai wish fulfillment protagonists to last me a lifetime. I just need a dumb adorable himbo who has a secret dark side to make an anime worth it for me. (Hey, Yuji Itadori from Jujutsu Kaisen!) So, if I have to be forced to watch a show with a genius main lead, they better have something more multi-faceted than brains. No one likes a Mary Sue! But on that note, how smart do you think Ayanokoji from Classroom Of The Elite is?
Kiyotaka Ayanokōji was born pretty gifted. Keeping in mind that the guy is said to have more knowledge than most gather in an entire lifetime, Ayanokōji’s IQ can be estimated between 180-220. This is, in part, thanks to his experiences in the White Room where he was trained from a very young age to master his abilities and intelligence and sharpen them further than any adult.
But that doesn’t take away from his naturally perceptive nature which is how he’s getting through life at Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School. After all, it takes more than brains to survive in an environment as cutthroat. The competition in a school like that is no joke, you can’t just skate through life there. A student has to be extremely aware of their surroundings, and of the people in those surroundings. The intelligence needed to navigate a situation like that isn’t just something you learn on the fly.
So, with that high of an IQ, how does Ayanokoji fare? Welcome to Character Analysis, the section of the website where we take a closer look at some of the most popular characters across the Anime stratosphere and break their attributes down to see what makes them so iconic. Today, we’re taking a look at how far Kiyotaka Ayanokoji’s natural smarts take him. So, let’s get right into it.
Is Kiyotaka Ayanokoji A Born Genius?
Kiyotaka Ayanokoji isn’t just a Jack-of-all-trades, he’s mastered them. Be it class subjects, worldly topics such as art and philosophy, or even athletic sports that require a strict sense of tactical skill, he excels at them all. But his biggest asset isn’t his book smarts, but rather his adaptability.
When he first arrives at the school, he deliberately gets a score of 50% on the entrance exam. That wasn’t because he didn’t know half the questions, but because he knew the answer to each one. And this way, he got to choose where he would be placed in the school’s hierarchy, aka Class D.
And it’s this bending of the rules already in place that allows Ayanokōji so much power. His naturally high IQ and people reading skills help him skirt around the rules. For example, when he used points to bribe his teacher to make sure that his classmate, Ken Sudō, didn’t get expelled.
is well-versed in history, with his ability to quote prolific figures out of nowhere. He aces exams just enough that he doesn’t stand out, but remains a formidable opponent. It is also heavily implied that Ayanokōji was a shoo-in for A-Class but he purposefully derailed the test.
Classroom Of The Elite: Subtlety is Seldom Found
He might be extremely smart, but Ayanokōji doesn’t make it very apparent. He’s pretty subtle as far as ‘cool’ protagonists go, trying to stay understated so he doesn’t stand out and end up revealing all the aces up his sleeve. This choice to blend in proves his incredible perception skills, where he knows both his strengths and flaws and uses them to his advantage.
Ayanokōji knows standing out means having a target painted on your back. If people don’t consider you a threat, they open up more easily to you. And he takes full advantage of this fact, using his people-reading skills to make himself appear less of a threat, and more approachable.
He may not be a people person but that doesn’t mean he can’t discern their ambitions from a single conversation.
Is High IQ Enough To Call Someone Smart?
Sure, Ayanokoji was smart but man, his father did a number on him because of it. He was trained in the elusive White Room program, headed by Professor Ayanokōji.
The White Room program was so brutal that Ayanokoji was the only survivor left by the end of it. It’s what led him to become so calculated and cold, where he started to view everyone around him as mere tools. To Ayanokōji, life is a game of chess, with those around him the pieces he manipulates on the board. Dispensable, inconsequential, and replaceable.
It’s why he values having the upper hand and winning at all costs above everything else. No situation is too extreme when it concerns his goals.
No his iq has to be over 1,000 because if you read the light novel it was said that ananokoji out smarted a govermental computer that could think 20,000,000 different ways in a sec in a chess match and we all now the chess is a another way to test your iq so it puts his iq over the 1,000
Deep Blue is a chess machine which thinks of 200 million different ways in a second and Garry Kasparov defeated it, and Garry’s IQ is just around 135. So uh….