Highlights
- Enter a world of unparalleled intellect and talent with manhwa’s genius-type protagonists, who conquer challenges beyond the ordinary.
- From supernatural abilities to virtual reality games, these characters showcase ingenuity that defies logic, bending situations to their will.
- The diverse range of manhwa series with OP main characters offer thrilling reads filled with powerful characters and extraordinary skills.
The world of manhwa boasts of many types of protagonists. Still, genius-type protagonists are a yard different from the rest as these characters are crafted with unprecedented brains and talent that far surpass any other within their various stories. Their intellect is not just a gift but something akin to a force of nature capable of bending situations and circumstances to their mental will.
From masters in strategy and unrivaled martial prowess to prodigious inventors, these characters can excel at everything they seek to conquer, far beyond what is considered ordinary. Readers are invited to a front-row experience of ingenuity that defies logic through these characters. Summarily, below are some of the best manhwa with these characters.
10 Super Genius DNA
Anime-Planet Rating: 3.8/5
- Author: Lim Ido, Ji Unseong
- Release Years: 2020-2023
- Genre: Supernatural
Super Genius DNA presents a mix of the supernatural and the medical profession that puts the term ‘genius’ into the very fiber of its central character. The series revolves around Youngjoon Ryu, a research scientist at one of South Korea’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Ryu’s life takes a complete turnaround when he is accidentally injected with an artificial cell creation project called Rosaline.
Through this accident, Ryu can suddenly understand amplified biomedical knowledge through audio and visual hallucinations. Astonished by his abilities, Ryu vows to get rid of the corruption of another pharma company and make drugs for humanity’s good. Whether his grand quest will fail or succeed remains to be seen.
9 We On: Be The Shield
Anime-Planet Rating: 3.6/5
- Author: Lee Soongi, Park Jongsung
- Release Years: 2014-2015
- Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Supernatural
The series bases its central characters on the real-life K-Pop group BTS, but that is hardly its selling point. We On: Be The Shield presents a world facing a parasitic alien invasion that threatens humanity’s existence.
At the heart of the struggle for dominance and survival is a group of nerdy and super-powered teenagers who will give it all they have or die trying to save the world. The question, however, is, while they are trying to save the world, who will save them? With each enemy seemingly stronger than the last, their goal seems much farther away.
8 The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.3/5
- Author: Kim Tae-Hyung, Nam Heesung, Shin-C, Park Jeongyeol
- Release Years: Ongoing
- Genre: Fantasy, Action, Adventure
The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor manhwa displays ingenuity inspired by hardships and poverty in a world where earning necessitates survival. The story focuses on the central character, Hyun-Lee, a dedicated young man who lives with his grandmother. Desperate to escape poverty, Hyun joins the Royal Road virtual reality game.
Hyun toiled day and night and finally crafted a top-tier character, which he sold off for a considerable sum of money in the hopes of helping his family. Hyun’s hope quickly evaporates after he is ravaged by loan sharks whom he owed previously. Having discovered how to earn money through online games, Hyun Lee is determined to make it out of his life of poverty.
7 Tower Of God
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.3/5
- Author: SIU
- Release Years: Ongoing
- Genre: Action, Fantasy, Adventure, Drama
This series, rather than the conventional trope of genius adopted by the typical manhwa, Tower Of God features a central character who, by the context of the story, produces ingenuity akin to a species in its natural element.
The story revolves around a seemingly ordinary boy called Twenty-fifth Baam, who has spent all of his life trapped beneath the Tower, with only the company of his friend, Rachel. Things begin to progress when Rachel climbs the Tower, leaving Bamm behind. Desperate to reunite with his friend, Baam also decides to climb the Tower; however, He soon realizes that the Tower contains possibilities beyond whatever he imagined.
6 Medical Return
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.3/5
- Author: Yuin, Kidari Studio
- Release Years: 2019-2022
- Genre: Drama
The manhwa, Medical Return, presents a tale of ingenuity due to the experience that comes with adulthood and, in this case, a full-on regression. The story revolves around Kim Jihyun, a surgeon who lived an unfortunate life.
He gets the opportunity to relive his life following a good deed he did for a couple of patients who turned out to be, in fact, angels. Granted the chance to redo his life, Kim Jihyun returns to the time when he is still a middle schooler. Retaining all the knowledge and experience of his past life, Kim Jihyun is determined to live his life differently from before and make as much money as possible by becoming a dermatologist.
5 A.I Doctor
Anime-Planet Rating: 3.9/5
- Author: Hansan Leega, Kukyu
- Release Years: Ongoing
- Genre: Drama, Supernatural
Through this manhwa, readers are reminded that ingenuity can also be brought about artificially, and at the same time, a stroke of genius will always be what it is: genius. A. I Doctor follows the life of Lee Soohyuk, a first-year neurosurgeon resident chosen to work alongside the A. I program developed by the Taehwa Group called Baruda!
Things go sideways when Lee Soohyuk is hit with a strange explosion and wakes up to find that he and Baruda! have become inseparable. With no option but to coexist, they resolve to work together to become the world’s best neurosurgeon.
4 Second Life Ranker
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.3/5
- Author: Sadoyeon, Nongnong
- Release Years: Ongoing
- Genre: Action, Fantasy
Two prodigious brothers, one excelled at everything with ease and was very laid back and carefree due to having an older brother who, although just as talented, was also stoic and preferred to do everything with a sense of orderliness. However, all of this means nothing when the younger brother is discovered to be dead.
Second Life Ranker follows the life of Yeon Woo, an ex-special forces soldier who discovers about the disappearance and death of his brother after returning home. Left with clues, Yeon Woo discovers his brother was betrayed while competing in the Tower of the Sun God. Determined to exact revenge, Yeon Woo embarks on a conquest of the Tower that took his brother’s life, and he will do all it takes to find everyone connected to his brother’s death. However, it remains to be seen if Yeon Woo has what it takes to confront the Tower and its inhabitants.
3 Nano Machine
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.4/5
- Author: Hanjung Wolya, Geumgang Bulgoe
- Release Years: Ongoing
- Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Nano Machine is a reminder that the difference between genius and ordinary is sometimes a nudge or, in this case, nanotechnology. The series tells the tale of Cheon Yeo-Woo, one of the heirs of the Demonic Cult.
Held in disdain for being of illegitimate blood, Yeo-Woo has his life constantly endangered and threatened. However, all of these stop after Cheon Yeo-Woo is suddenly visited by a descendant from the future, who inserts a nanomachine into his body, completely changing Yeo-Woo’s fate. Nano Machine is the story of the man who became history’s greatest martial artist.
2 The Boxer
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.4/5
- Author: Jeong Ji-Hoon
- Release Years: 2019-2022
- Genre: Drama, Sports
The separation of talent between the ordinary, gifted, and genius is only based on degree. Take that degree one step higher than usual, bordering on monstrosity. This borderline monstrosity lays the canvas for the art that is The Boxer. The series follows the central character, Yu, a young boy who’s lived all his life in pain and suffering so much that he has become dissociated from society.
Constantly bullied, he is offered the opportunity of a better life by the world-renowned Coach K, a boxing coach who instinctively recognized Yu’s talent for boxing. Prodigiously talented, Yu quickly becomes the best there is. However, for a human who has lost meaning in life, it remains to be seen if boxing can hold salvation for Yu.
1 Windbreaker
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.4/5
- Author: Jo Yongseok
- Release Years: Ongoing
- Genre: Action, Drama, Sports
Sitting atop the pile, Windbreaker presents the ideal mix of ingenuity in all forms, primarily through its protagonist. The series centers on Jay Jo, the academic whiz kid of Sunny High School and the student council president whose goal is to get good grades and become a doctor per his mother’s wish.
Naturally gifted at every other thing, Jay is the perfect student. However, after being convinced to join the school’s biking crew, Jay quickly realizes that success might have multiple meanings and the path to it may not be as linear as he once thought. Introduced to a world of limitless possibilities through biking, Jay begins to unearth an intense passion once buried away.
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