History AdaptationalWimp / AnimeAndManga

** Zelda gets hit with this in the ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime1999''. In the games, [[spoiler:she is Sheik]]. In the manga [[spoiler:Sheik is a separate persona from Zelda. Zelda's mind was shut away for seven years when she insisted that Impa brainwash her]]. As a result, most of Zelda's accomplishments and helpfulness doesn't occur in her manga incarnation.
** In ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess2016'', Link's (pre-Master Sword) CharlesAtlasSuperpower of the video game is scaled down to impressive but believable feats for an athletic teenager, and all that Goron wrestling at Eldin is only accomplished by copious covert assistance on Midna's part. And even with the shiny InfinityPlusOneSword that lets him bisect dragons, Link is forced to learn the hard way that he isn't a OneManArmy so much as a One Man Infantry Batallion who still needs to coordinate with TheCavalry to get things done.

** In the manga, Lynn ''slapped'' Mary for shit-talking her father. Contrast this to the anime where this never happens, and Lynn is often reduced to tears due to Mary's bullying, blind to her malicious behaviour and [[spoiler:easily gives in to her {{blackmail}}.]]

** In the manga, Arthur gave Mary a BitchSlap (notice a pattern?) for disrespecting Sarah ([[spoiler: who he's in love with)]]. In the anime, the most he does against her is tell her mother about her bullying, who proceeds to take her side because she refuses to believe Mary can do anything wrong.

** The one time a Master Ball (the Poké Ball that can capture any Pokémon regardless of how strong it is in the games) was used in the anime, it ended up being ''[[ShaggyDogStory eaten]]'' by a Whiscash (a giant catfish Pokémon).

*** Zhu Bajie aka Piggy in the book [[OverShadowedByAwesome while weak compared to Sun Wukong]] was still a goddamn deity thus had extreme strength, being more than capable of kicking ass and defeating monsters to defend Tripitaka. Zhu Bajie‘s expy Oolong however is very much a BoisterousWeakling and while he does have shapeshifting powers like his originator it’s only used to scare or fool people, having zero strength to back it up and worse still Oolong can only transform for five minutes. Worth noting in an earlier draft Oolong was actually closer to Zhu Bajie and even wielded the patter’s powerful spike rake but this was changed in the third and final draft with Oolong becoming the smart-mouthed spectator to the action we know today.

* Najenda from the [[Anime/AkameGaKill anime adaptation]] of ''Manga/AkameGaKill'' was originally a badass ActionGirl who bravely guided Night Raid in multiple missions and risked her life assuring they were safe. In the anime, she almost ''never'' gets physically involved in most of Night Raid's fights, and whenever she does [[FauxActionGirl she goes down pretty easily or requires saving]]. Otherwise, throughout the series she mostly sits at her base providing orders for her followers and doesn't even help them in fights against named villains.

** Some [[OlympusMons Legendary and Mythical Pokémon]] tend to get hit with a power decrease in the animé:

** Ash is the anime counterpart to Red. Red ends up one of the most powerful trainers in the games by ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' and is a legend in-series. Ash's battling abilities are inconsistent and depending on the specific era of the anime, he doesn't get much respect for his countless achievements. Until ''Sun and Moon'' and ''Journeys'' that is, where he is recognized as [[spoiler:Alola's Champion and then ''[[WorldsBestWarrior World Champion]]''.]]

* ''Senkaiden Houshin Engi'', the first anime adaptation of ''Manga/SoulHunter'' (or ''Houshin Engi'') is from the start much different compared to the original manga series. As a result, while some characters are still powerful as their manga counterparts (e.g. Shinkohyo and Kou Hiko), others aren't both because the story ends much earlier before they all get a massive power up and because their roles in the story become different:
** Taikoubou himself never upgrades his Paopei Dashinben, nor obtains other Paopeis aside from Karyuuhyo, much less the Super Paopei Taikyokuzu.
** Nataku, while remaining powerful, doesn't get ahold of some of his latest Paopei like Kasenso or Kinsen.
** While Bunchu's power is overall the same, he's not nearly as terrifying and powerful as he was in the manga, while also being much less devoted to the Yin Dynasty.
** Dakki's sister Ko Kibi can use her Paopei to transform into other people or copy the appearence and weapons of others, but is quickly defeated when exposed to a single, lesser Paopei. Contrasting her manga self, whose powers allow her to pretty much transform into ''anything'' she wants.
** Chuoh, despite [[spoiler: being transformed by Dakki in a giant rampaging {{Kaiju}},]] goed down to the heroes and Dakki, contrasting his manga self, whose form allowed him to overpower the likes of late-story Yozen and Nataku simultaneously and took a VillainousBreakdown to lose.
** Dakki herself only uses her Keisei Genjo to seduce people and is more of a schemer than a fighter, but even then, [[spoiler: rather than being an extremely powerful Sennyo who's sided with [[{{Precursors}} Joka]] to manipulate historical events in a long-term plan to take over her body and merge with the Earth itself, here she's just a barely conscious doll and a tool for Genshi Tenson to manipulate historical events at the command of the three personifications of time, and ultimately goes on a rampage and is killed by the heroes.]]

** The [[BigBad evil organization leaders]] take a considerable downgrade in the show as well. Usually, they are the strongest enemy of their team and a difficult boss fight. In the show, the instant their plan falls apart they give up and/or get arrested. Ghetsis and N are the biggest examples, as in the ''Black and White'' games [[spoiler:awakening the Legendary was only part of his plan and it's implied [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he was going to defeat N after he served his purpose]] (including his Legendary dragon)]] while in the show, neither Ghetsis nor N have any Pokémon themselves. Giovanni is the only [[SubvertedTrope exception]], as he ''has'' to [[StatusQuoIsGod retain]] his role as Team Rocket's boss in order for [[TerribleTrio Jessie, James, and Meowth]] to remain motivated enough to go after Pikachu as a gift for him, the few plans of his that do fail therefore never see him get arrested.
** Ash is the anime counterpart to Red. Red ends up one of the most powerful trainers in the games by ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' and is a legend in-series. Ash's battling abilities are inconsistent and depending on the specific era of the anime, he doesn't get much respect for his countless achievements. Until ''Sun and Moon'' and ''Journeys'' that is, where he is recognized as [[spoiler:Alola's Champion and then ''World Champion''.]]

** The one time a Master Ball (the Poké Ball that can capture any Pokémon regardless of how strong it is in the games) was used in the anime, it ended up being ''eaten'' by a Whiscash (a giant catfish Pokémon).
** In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', this happens with Whitney, oddly enough. Despite her and her Miltank being feared as one of the most difficult Gym Leader battles in all of ''Pokémon'', she loses all of her fights in the ''Adventures'' manga. During her only battle where she comes off as a credible threat, she doesn't even use Miltank, instead using Cleffa and Igglybuff (who are Baby Pokémon, and in-game they are exactly as strong as they sound).
** This also happens to Brock in ''Manga/TheElectricTaleOfPikachu'' manga. In the game he's the first WakeUpCallBoss, for Charmander players and in his first appearance in the anime, it took Ash two attempts to beat him, only getting the upper hand due to accidentally setting off the gym's fire sprinklers (which even then, Ash never actually won that battle, as he decides to forfeit after Brock's siblings complain about Ash doing this and try to stop him from hurting Onix further). In the manga, however, Ash's Pikachu manages to wipe out Onix ''and'' two Geodudes in a single splash panel, despite the type disadvantage.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'':

* ''Anime/ResidentEvilInfiniteDarkness'' does this to Claire Redfield overlapping with TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter. Claire in the games (and even spin-off media like ''Manga/ResidentEvilHeavenlyIsland''), is incredibly badass and skilled ActionGirl who’s capable of taking down hordes of zombies and super monsters. In the Netflix series, she’s more of a FauxActionGirl with her experience surviving Raccoon City being brought up, but all she does is do a bit of investigating, knock down a government agent with a lamp before getter tased and bound to a chair, becoming a DamselInDistress for Leon to rescue. She doesn’t even get to directly help Leon kill the villain HumanoidAbomination Jason, getting knocked out before she can accomplish much. Particularly odd given ''Anime/ResidentEvilDegeneration'' (made by the same studio), at least highlighted Claire’s abilities with a OneWomanArmy scene, even though she was mostly regulated to babysitting.

* In ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', the BigBad [[spoiler:Akio Ohtori]] is a master [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] who [[spoiler:is able to manipulate the entire student council into entering the dueling game]], on top of being a [[spoiler:sexual predator who sleeps with both the title character (who is underage) and [[VillainousIncest his own sister, Anthy]]]]. The version seen in the movie adaptation ''Anime/AdolescenceOfUtena'' is a much more pathetic character who is shown to have [[spoiler:lost the keys to his CoolCar, which was heavily associated with Akio in the series.]] As well, ''Adolescence'' reveals that [[spoiler:Akio [[DeadAllAlong fell out a window some time before the events of the film]], when he realized that Anthy was conscious while he was raping her.]]

** In the manga and ''Brotherhood'', AntiVillain Scar was a WarriorMonk from Ishval's priestly caste capable of massacring entire squads with just his bare hands, while the 2003 anime version (made before the manga revealed most of his backstory) was just an ordinary partisan during the Ishbalan War. As such, though both versions of Scar end up gaining an alchemical right arm capable of killing anything with just [[OneHitKill one touch]], the 2003 one is a lot less scary if he cannot get the jump on someone first.

** Zelda gets hit with this in the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime manga adaptation]]. In the games, [[spoiler:she is Sheik]]. In the manga [[spoiler:Sheik is a separate persona from Zelda. Zelda's mind was shut away for seven years when she insisted that Impa brainwash her]]. As a result, most of Zelda's accomplishments and helpfulness doesn't occur in her manga incarnation.

* Jou Kido in the original Japanese ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' was the voice of reason for the group. As the oldest child, he felt responsible for the wellbeing of the others, resulting in him being very cautious around strange situations. In the American dub, he is turned into a StereotypicalNerd ComicRelief character who is allergic to everything. His cautiousness is also played more as cowardice.

** This same thing happens to Sailor Chibimoon between the manga and the 1992 anime. While she is a quite capable fighter in the manga version, even getting her own Eternal form with the other Guardians, in the original anime, she was quite pathetic. Her basic attack in ''S'', the Pink Sugar Heart Attack, is nothing more than a slap and her only real attack in ''Super S'' was calling Pegasus. It's a far cry from fighting both Death Phantom and Pharaoh 90. Basically Chibimoon was turned into [[AdaptationalComicRelief comic relief]].

** "Golden Lion" Shiki from ''Anime/OnePieceFilmStrongWorld'' is an interesting example. He was specifically created to be the antagonist for the non-canon movie Strong World, but was [[CanonImmigrant made a canonical character]] for the sake of promoting the movie. Although he [[TheGhost never appears]] in the actual manga, the things other characters say about him and his appearance in [[ADayInTheLimelight Chapter 0]] make him out to be a legendary pirate. To wit: he was one of the top enforcers of [[PredecessorVillain Rocks D. Xebec's]] crew (putting him par with [[PersonOfMassDestruction freaks of nature]] such as [[WorldsStrongestMan Whitebeard]], [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Big Mom]], and [[WorldsBestWarrior Kaido]]), he was the rival of Pirate King [[LivingLegend Gol D. Roger]], he singlehandedly stormed Navy Headquarters, was only defeated when Sengoku and Garp--two of the strongest officers in the navy at the time--teamed up against him, and successfully escaped from the World Government's prison on his own. In the actual movie though, he's defeated rather easily by Luffy who, at the point in the story that ''Strong World'' takes place, was nowhere ''near'' any of the characters Shiki was supposedly on par with. Even Chopper (whose strength is nowhere near the top fighters of the crew) could legitimately hurt Shiki with his “Cloven Roseo Metel” attack.

* ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'': In the light novels, Lisesharte Atismata has a moderate reputation as a fighter and engineer. In the anime, her contributions in battle are negligible at best, if only to give [[TheHero Lux Arcadia]] and the other girls in his harem some shared glory.

* ''Anime/XMen'':
** Storm goes from her comic book version who's powerful enough to potentially create cataclysmic weather events across the globe to being unable to conjure up more than a single lightning bolt that leaves her too tired to fight for hours.
** Wolverine is still listed as having his SuperSenses in the opening credits, but in the show itself he never shows it.

* Najenda from the anime adaptation of ''Manga/AkameGaKill'' was originally a badass ActionGirl who bravely guided Night Raid in multiple missions and risked her life assuring they were safe. In the anime, she almost ''never'' gets physically involved in most of Night Raid's fights, and whenever she does [[FauxActionGirl she goes down pretty easily or requires saving]]. Otherwise, throughout the series she mostly sits at her base providing orders for her followers and doesn't even help them in fights against named villains.

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':

* Happen a few times in ''Franchise/OnePiece'' e.g Whitebeard in the anime was brought down to one knee, in the ''Manga/OnePiece'' manga, '''[[{{Determinator}} he never fell once]]'''. But the most glaring example is Nico Robin as in the [[NonSerialMovie non-canon movies]] where despite her [[MultiArmedAndDangerous incredibly handy]] Devil Fruit power she's frequently hit with TheWorfEffect. In ''Anime/OnePieceFilmStrongWorld'' she gets weakened by a butterfly and captured by a KillerGorilla, in ''Anime/OnePieceFilmZ'' Robin can't use her Devil Fruit on Binz since he moves faster than her eyes can track (in the manga nobody has been able to dodge Robin's power) and in ''Anime/OnePieceFilmGold'' she gets held at gunpoint in FinalBattle and rendered useless.

* In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' this happens with Whitney, oddly enough. Despite her and her Miltank being feared as one of the most difficult Gym Leader battles in all of ''Pokémon'', she loses all of her fights in the ''Adventures'' manga. During her only battle where she comes off as a credible threat, she doesn't even use Miltank, instead using Cleffa and Igglybuff (who are Baby Pokémon, and in-game they are exactly as strong as they sound).

** Korrina isn't wimpy exactly, but she got toned down in the anime. In the original ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', she's long since mastered Mega Evolution, but in the anime it takes several episodes before she obtains a Mega Stone and has mastered it. Somewhat justified; in the game, she's already a Successor, but in the anime, she's chastised by her grandfather Gurkinn for her recklessness and has to earn that title.
** In the original ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', Iris is one of the strongest trainers in Unova, being either the student of Drayden or his successor as Gym Leader of the 8th and strongest gym. And in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite2'', she is even stronger to the point where she [[spoiler:becomes the Champion]]. In the anime she's a rookie who can't even evolve her Axew and gets beaten by Drayden twice. Again, somewhat justified as she's still in training as opposed to her game counterpart [[spoiler:and it's stated that she will one day take Drayden's place as Gym Leader with his words in his last appearance in the anime. Her post-series special also shows her continuing to grow stronger, with her Dragonite growing strong enough to help her defeat Clair, and with her catching another dragon-type Pokémon (Gible)]]. When she makes a return in ''Journeys'', [[spoiler:she has finally become the Champion of Unova like in the games, even having evolved her Axew all the way into Haxorus]].

** Lillie from ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' suffers this briefly, as in the anime, she suffers a crippling fear of touching Pokémon due to a mysterious incident involving a trip with her mother. This is vastly different that her game counterpart where she just doesn't like Pokémon getting hurt in Battles. She eventually goes through CharacterDevelopment and drops this fear once the situation is cleared up.

* This also happens to Brock in ''Manga/TheElectricTaleOfPikachu'' manga. In the game he's the first WakeUpCallBoss, for Charmander players and in his first appearance in the anime, it took Ash two attempts to beat him, only getting the upper hand due to accidentally setting off the gym's fire sprinklers (which even then, Ash never actually won that battle, as he decides to forfeit after Brock's siblings complain about Ash doing this and try to stop him from hurting Onix further). In the manga, however, Ash's Pikachu manages to wipe out Onix ''and'' two Geodudes in a single splash panel, despite the type disadvantage.

* While Akane Tendo from ''[[Anime/RanmaOneHalf Ranma ½]]'' is generally OvershadowedByAwesome, the anime makes her a ''much'' worse fighter than she is in the manga. Her feats of strength and ability considerably lessened in the anime and is made a DamselInDistress more often (in the manga she's more often a DamselOutOfDistress). One clear example of this is that in the anime, Kodachi is a notable threat to Akane and threatens to defeat her a few times over the course of the show. In the manga, Kodachi will make appearances by attacking Akane out of nowhere and is casually deflected.

** Ash is the anime counterpart to Red. Red ends up one of the most powerful trainers in the games by ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' and is a legend in-series. Ash's battling abilities are inconsistent and depending on the specific era of the anime, he doesn't get much respect for his countless achievements. Until ''Journeys'' that is, where he is recognized as [[spoiler:Alola's Champion.]]

** In the manga and its ''Brotherhood'' anime adaptation, [[spoiler:Selim Bradley is revealed to be Pride, the strongest of the homunculi]]. In [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime]], [[OvertookTheManga which was made before this was revealed]], the character remains exactly what they look like. [[spoiler:The role of Pride is instead taken by his father, who was a ''different'' homunculus (Wrath) in the manga.]]

* In ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', the BigBad [[spoiler:Akio Ohtori]] is a master [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] who [[spoiler:is able to manipulate the entire student council into entering the dueling game]], on top of being a [[spoiler:sexual predator who sleeps with both the title character (who is underage) and [[VillainousIncest his own sister, Anthy]]]]. The version seen in the movie adaptation ''Adolescence of Utena'' is a much more pathetic character who is shown to have [[spoiler:lost the keys to his CoolCar, which was heavily associated with Akio in the series.]] As well, ''Adolescence'' reveals that [[spoiler:Akio [[DeadAllAlong fell out a window some time before the events of the film]], when he realized that Anthy was conscious while he was raping her.]]

* In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' this happens with Whitney, oddly enough. Despite her and her Miltank being feared as one of the most difficult Gym Leader battles in all of ''Pokemon'', she loses all of her fights in the ''Adventures'' manga. During her only battle where she comes off as a credible threat, she doesn't even use Miltank, instead using Cleffa and Igglybuff (who are Baby Pokemon, and in-game they are exactly as strong as they sound).

** In the original ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', Iris is one of the strongest trainers in Unova, being either the student of Drayden or his successor as Gym Leader of the 8th and strongest gym. And in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite2'', she is even stronger to the point where she [[spoiler:becomes the Champion]]. In the animé she's a rookie who can't even evolve her Axew and gets beaten by Drayden twice. Again, somewhat justified as she's still in training as opposed to her game counterpart [[spoiler:and it's stated that she will one day take Drayden's place as Gym Leader with his words in his last appearance in the anime. Her post-series special also shows her continuing to grow stronger, with her Dragonite growing strong enough to help her defeat Clair, and with her catching another dragon-type Pokemon (Gible)]]. When she makes a return in ''Journeys'', [[spoiler:she has finally become the Champion of Unova like in the games, even having evolved her Axew all the way into Haxorus]].
** The [[BigBad evil organization leaders]] take a considerable downgrade in the show as well. Usually they are the strongest enemy of their team and a difficult boss fight. In the show, the instant their plan falls apart they give up and/or get arrested. Ghetsis is probably the biggest example, as in the ''Black and White'' games [[spoiler:awakening the Legendary was only part of his plan and its implied he was going to defeat N after he served his purpose. Including his Legendary dragon]]. Giovanni is the only [[SubvertedTrope exception]], as he ''has'' to [[StatusQuoIsGod retain]] his role as Team Rocket's boss in order for [[TerribleTrio Jessie, James, and Meowth]] to remain motivated enough to go after Pikachu as a gift for him, the few plans of his that do fail therefore never see him get arrested.

** Lillie from ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' suffers this briefly, as in the anime, she suffers a crippling fear of touching Pokemon due to a mysterious incident involving a trip with her mother. This is vastly different that her game counterpart where she just doesn't like Pokémon getting hurt in Battles. She eventually goes through CharacterDevelopment and drops this fear once the situation is cleared up.

*** Celebi is a MasterOfAll {{Olympus Mon|s}}, has the ability to travel through time and is the guardian of the forest. You wouldn't know that from [[Anime/Pokemon4Ever both of its]] [[Anime/PokemonZoroarkMasterOfIllusions movie appearances]], where it almost never fights opponents, gets smacked around very easily by Houndoom and Shuppet[[note]]Both Pokemon ''do'' have a type advantages over Celebi, as Houndoom is a Dark/Fire type and Shuppet a Ghost type (which are types that can hit Celebi super effectively, Dark being notably immune to Celebi's Psychic type while Fire resists its Grass type), but Celebi normally still stands a fighting chance when Pokemon such as these can battle it in the games[[/note]], constantly has to be bailed out of trouble, and even Grings Kodai, a ''fleshy mortal human with nothing but a mechanical claw'', makes it his bitch. What's worse is that Mew (who is just as strong/diverse as Celebi), by contrast, [[AdaptationalBadass has been shown to match its even more powerful clone almost perfectly]].
*** Latios and Latias of ''Anime/PokemonHeroes'' are a funny case. In the games, they are among one of best of Dragon-type Pokémon, but their fight against Annie's and Oakley's Espeon and Ariados[[note]]Another case where a Pokemon would be super effective on them, as the duo of Legendaries are Psychic types while Ariados is a Bug type, but Ariados' own Poison-type also makes it weak against the Psychic types it confronts[[/note]] boils down to the two turning invisible and attempted ramming before getting pummeled by Swifts and Night Shades followed by getting wrapped up in electrified nets. However in the climax in which a tidal wave with enough force to shatter solid rock threatens Alto Mare, the two dragons used their psychic attacks to level it, even after Latios was used for hours as a battery for a superweapon. It's implied that the two don't fight very often compared to other on-screen Pokémon in the series, making the two extreme examples of UnskilledButStrong that can only use their strongest powers in die or fly moments.
*** Magearna in the games is a [[MightyGlacier powerful but slow]] Pokémon with good defensive stats and typing, a powerful SecretArt, and an Ability that boosts its [[StatusBuff Special Attack stat when a Pokemon faints]]. In its debut appearance in ''Anime/PokemonVolcanionAndTheMechanicalMarvel'', it rarely battles, only uses Fleur Cannon maybe once or twice, and spends the last third as a DamselInDistress for the rest of the cast to rescue.