Disrespect is a frequent fact of life for many anime heroes. It's true that anime fans can chronically underrate some anime heroes, but in some cases, it's the story and other characters who are lacking in respect.
Being underestimated can be an advantage, and it’s often motivation for a hero's rise to glory. Sometimes, though, that journey up from the bottom rung is long and winding, and may even have no end at all. These anime heroes just can’t get taken seriously.
10 Nyx's Lack Of Control — And Status — Add Up To Disrespect And Abuse (Queen's Blade)
Nyx didn't have the best start in life. She's the daughter of a low caste worker and has to put up with a lot of abusive behavior from the people around her growing up. That's probably where she gets her strong sense of right and wrong. She becomes a wandering magician, but she has trouble controlling her powers, which are mediocre at best. When she acquires the mysterious living staff Funikura, it tries to control her, and she's seduced by the power it grants her.
9 Brief Is Everyone's Geek Boy (Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt)
Brief spends a lot of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt as a kind of tagalong kid to the main characters. He's hot, but really clumsy, and he's pretty cowardly. Then again, when he musters the courage to ask Panty for a date, she turns him down. He's a regular punching bag for a number of other characters like Knuckles, Sakura, and Dad-A-Knight. Everyone calls him geek boy, and his eyes aren’t even shown through the whole anime. Even when his secret bishonen identity is revealed, he's used by the villains.
8 Yusaku Godai Gets Taken Advantage Of Constantly (Maison Ikkoku)
Yūsaku Godai doesn't really help his own case in Maison Ikkoku. The poor former ronin may be kind to a point, but he's indecisive and does a lot of thoughtless and ridiculous things that give him a reputation for being out of it. His fellow tenants at rundown Maison Ikkoku use his apartment, steal his food, and regularly take advantage of him. Up to nearly the very end of the story, he constantly has to fight his loser reputation both socially and romantically.
7 Bastion Misawa's Disrespect Is Written Into The Plot (Yu-Gi-Oh! GX)
Bastion Misawa is a mathematical genius. He's covered the walls of his room with complicated formulas, and essentially believes everything can be boiled down to numbers. As a Duelist, it makes him analytical, and usually, it'd also make him respected. Instead, the gradual and increasing neglect of his character is a running joke through the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime.
He starts as a friend and rival of Jaden Yuki, but over time, the other characters pay less and less attention to him, and he develops an inferiority complex because of it.
6 Hideki Can't Even Get Respect From His Own Lawyer (Nerima Daikon Brothers)
Hideki owns a daikon patch in the Nerima ward of Tokyo. It's where he, his brother, and their cousin Mako live and perform on a stage that they've constructed in the middle of the daikon fields. Their collective dream is to become a world famous musical act and play to a sold-out crowd in the concert dome they're planning to build to cover their makeshift stage. Of the three struggling musicians, Hideki gets the least respect, especially from his crush Mako, who's also his cousin. He even gets misled by his own lawyer.
5 Zenitsu Agatsuma Doesn’t Recognize His Own Abilities (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba)
"I hate myself more than anyone. I always think I have to get my act together, but I end up cowering, running away, sniveling. I want to change. I want to be a competent person." It’s tough for anyone else to appreciate him when Zenitsu doesn't respect himself. Despite his actually impressive abilities, Zenitsu is lazy and acts cowardly. That gets him very little approval, especially when it comes to the ladies, which is a distinct disadvantage for the playboy wannabe.
4 Everyone Looks Down On Kazuya Kinoshita (Rent-A-Girlfriend)
It’s not only Kazuya Kinoshita's ex-girlfriend who has a low opinion of him in Rent-A-Girlfriend — it’s his friends and even his family too. They openly talk about what a loser they think he is, and his self-esteem is so low, he just accepts it.
He lies to make himself sound more impressive and then gets into trouble because of it. When his girlfriend dumps him, he installs the Rent-A-Girlfriend app, although, of course, things don't go smoothly there either. It's a long and awkward road to self-respect in this series.
3 Mumen Rider's Lack Of Ego Means He's Easily Overlooked (One-Punch Man)
It's not difficult to be overlooked in the world of One-Punch Man. Mumen Rider is only a C-Class professional hero, but his skills are actually more impressive than that low rank would imply. He doesn’t care about the glory or the fame. He only wants to get the job done: defeating the villains. He's more likely to take a supporting role with a more powerful hero than strike out on his own. But that noble lack of ambition means his talents largely go under the radar.
2 Kuroko Wants His Opponents To Take Him Lightly (Kuroko no Basket)
At first glance, Kuroko isn't an impressive basketball player — and that’s just how he likes it. The fact that his opponents assume he’s weak and pay virtually no attention to him on the court is something that he uses to his advantage. It ends up being every opposing team’s big mistake.
Despite his size and unassuming stature as a player, Kuroko is smart and strategic. He's the one who'll bide his time and wait for just the right moment to make those unexpected passes and steals that win the game.
1 Satou Tatsuhiro Is A Classic Hikikomori (Welcome To The N.H.K.)
At 22, Satou Tatsuhiro still lives off the allowance his parents give him, and since he’s too lazy to do anything about it, he seems destined for a future hiding away in his apartment room as a hikikomori. After four years, he’s become convinced of a number of conspiracy theories, among them that the Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai (N.H.K.) is responsible for his low-class status. The story is about his fight against the evil N.H.K. and a growing relationship that just might eventually pull him out of his shell.