Many great teams could use better leaders in anime, but there are also many situations where it is the opposite; the leader is great, but the rest of the team is nowhere as skilled or are not good team players.
Some team leaders suffered from their teams fighting each other or fighting over the leader themselves, while other team leaders constantly dealt with the shenanigans their teammates caused. No matter how effective these leaders were, from Azuma in Yakitate!! Japan to Catarina in My Next Life As A Villainess, they were often brought down by the rest of the team.
10 Team Japan Suffered From Kawachi And Suwabara Not Getting Along (Yakitate!! Japan)
During the Monaco Cup, Azuma was technically the leader of Team Japan since he won first place in the Pantasia Newcomers' Tournament while Kawachi and Suwabara tied for third. However, Kawachi and Suwabara barely got along, making their teamwork suffer for much of the Monaco Cup arc.
Kawachi and Suwabara additionally suffered from shortcomings during the later rounds. Kawachi tried to leave all the hard tasks up to Azuma and Suwabara, while Suwabara made some fatal errors when presenting some of his bread (including adding alcohol to bread meant for F1 racers). This forced Azuma alone to pull off their victory with his baking.
9 Pecorine's Gourmet Guild Had A Complete Amnesiac And A Secret Spy (Princess Connect! Re: Dive)
Pecorine was a fun leader and a helpful, kind person in Princess Connect! Re: Dive. Unfortunately for her, the rest of her team let her down at times with their teamwork. It did not help that one of the members, catgirl Karyl, was initially a secret spy for Mana to check in on Pecorine's activities.
Yuuki, meanwhile, was a complete amnesiac when Pecorine first met him, and he was extremely bad at combat at the beginning of the series. Even after Karyl permanently chose to stick with Pecorine and ditch Mana, while Yuuki slowly recovered his memories and got better at fighting, both of them still fell short compared to Pecorine, who did most of the work on the team.
8 The Karasuno High Girls' Volleyball Club's Leader Was The Strongest While Everyone Else Fell Short (Haikyu!!)
Yui was a great, effective leader of the Karasuno High Girls' Volleyball Club in Haikyu!!, but the rest of the team was not nearly as skilled as her when it came to playing volleyball. Yui did her best to motivate her teammates to succeed, despite how tough the matches were for them, and even put up a brave face in front of them when they suffered a devastating loss.
However, even though Yui was a good leader, her lack of success in winning fell on the rest of the team compared to her. It also did not help that Yui practiced the most out of everyone on the team and was their most skilled member.
7 Sayuri Had To Save Her Team Despite Everyone Else Being More Experienced Than Her (Bonjour Sweet Love Patisserie)
Sayuri was forced to save her team from losing the Galaxy Dreams Competition late in the series, despite her being the least experienced when it came to making sweet confections. After she and her team progressed to the final round, they had to make a dessert based on the theme "What you wish to convey to the future." Instead of deciding ideas as a team, everyone else decided to leave that decision to Sayuri alone, forcing her to come up with something on the spot. Thankfully, her idea of making a confectionary version of Earth itself helped win the competition.
6 Reiji Could Have A More Effective Pharmacy With Different Employees (Drugstore In Another World)
Reiji often suffered from dealing with the shenanigans his co-workers and employees went through in Drugstore in Another World. These shenanigans included Noela constantly drinking potions to another one of his co-workers being initially bound to the pharmacy building thanks to being a ghost. The Demon King later joining the drugstore as an employee only made things worse, as he mainly spent his time there trying to woo Noela. Reiji's business at the drugstore would be easier to do if he had more effective employees.
5 Raul Took Care Of Magic Shop Leon's Main Operations (I Couldn't Become A Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided To Get A Job)
Despite not being the manager at Magic Shop Leon, Raul mostly took care of all the shop's main operations. He acted as the main leader whenever the manager was not present (which was, unfortunately for Raul, most of the time).
Not only did Raul have to cater to customers and help drum up business in any way he could, but he also had to train the Demon King's daughter, Fino Bloodstone. He also dealt with many magical items, befitting of the shop's name, leading to Raul being forced to deal with any magic-related shenanigans that ensued.
4 Riko Became The Love Lab's Main Leader Despite Her Being An Assistant To The Student President (Love Lab)
Riko, despite having no experience in having a boyfriend, lied to the student president Natsuo about previously dating people. This led to Riko becoming the leader of the Love Lab. However, she quickly realized that the other members, including the student president herself, were clueless when it came to interacting with boys. This led them to practice running into boys around the corner, going to cram school to meet cute guys, and bailing each other out of trouble when one of the girls was initially forced to leave the student council after being found out for dating, which was against their all-girls school rules.
3 Kohana Had To Put In Lots Of Effort To Even Make Her Council Members Show Up (Magic-Kyun! Renaissance)
In Magic Kyun! Renaissance, most members of the Hoshimori Summer Festival refused to show up to the first meeting for various reasons. This led Kohana to go out of her way to make sure every member showed up since her rival and fellow member Teika refused to help her in any way.
Teika was not a team player, and the rest of the council members were reluctant to come to meetings. The Summer Festival would be far better executed if everyone put their personal feelings aside and just showed up to the meetings to decide things together, instead of forcing Kohana to do most of the work herself in the beginning.
2 Glenn Litbeit Was The Only Clinic Member Who Could Put His Personal Feelings Aside During Work (Monster Girl Doctor)
Sapphee constantly got jealous of Glenn working with other monster girls while Arahnia only joined working for the clinic to see him more often. Glenn was the only person from his clinic who could properly put his personal feelings aside during work and stay wholly professional. Glenn was extremely patient, and his helpful diagnosis and surgery-related skills saved many monster girls' lives. In comparison, Sapphee and Arahnia mainly worked on minor operations or general aspects of the clinic such as restocking medicines and fixing small wounds.
1 Catarina's Friends Kept Fighting Over Catarina (My Next Life As A Villainess)
It is a running gag in My Next Life As A Villainess for all of her smart friends and loved ones to fight over Catarina's affections. However, this sometimes led to them getting into wild situations throughout the series. This included each of the characters trying to woo Catarina while they were stuck in magic books and dollhouses together. They also teamed up occasionally to stop others from seducing Catarina.
Catarina was completely oblivious to most of the characters falling in love with her until the second season. Even though her friends often worked together when the situation got rough, especially in cases of dark magic occurring, Catarina could benefit from her friends fighting less over her and working together more often.