Genius.

That would be a word that I don't particularly like. I've always had a bit of a problem with geniuses, because, unless I've got the definition wrong, the talent for which they are so highly praised is something that comes to them naturally, without any real effort at all. This is like heaping praise onto your neighbor for being able to drink a glass of water. It's silly. And so is the idea of praising geniuses. But that sounds a little harsh from the genius point of view.

If you happen to read any manga or watch any anime, you're probably quite aware of how often the Japanese use the word "genius". If you don't, I'll tell you now; they use it for everything. There are genius ninjas, genius fighters, geniuses of hard work, genius liars, genius con-men, genius athletes, genius curry chefs...the list goes on. This is, of course, the fictional use of the word. (The actual Japanese idea of genius seems to be more...like a living hard drive. Someone who can hold all the information about one topic, and spit it out exactly as they learned it. This is, in fact, the basic idea of Japanese education. Very little critical thought or innovation going on.)

This is all well and good when you pit these geniuses against normal people and watch in wonder how the genius is 20 steps ahead of the poor, average Joe-taro. The absolutely unbelievable stuff happens when these masters of deduction face off against each other, and you get a grand Genius Battle. Two good examples of these are Death Note and a manga I am currently reading, Liar Game. Both of these manga start off simple--a genius starts showing off, and makes himself look awesome. Then he (both times it's a he) rattles off some complex explanation of what he did, and the information he just happened to have stored in his head that allowed him to outsmart some unwitting fool.

That's all well and good, but then some other genius gets word of the aforementioned schooling, and comes in for a CHALLENGE! And that's when things just get ridiculous. Both geniuses are apparently thinking 200 steps ahead with 12 plan Bs for each step, and not a single detail slips past them. The normal minded onlookers scream in rapturous surprise or blood curdling terror as the Good Genius and the Evil Genius make their finishing strokes...and then laugh at each other as they both claim over and over again to have one-upped their opponent.

I mean, I like Sherlock Holmes and his powers of deduction, but this is a man who simply promotes the power of keen observation. Japanese fictional geniuses border on precognition. And this bothers me to no end.

Then again, maybe I'm just too dumb to realize there are people who really work that strategically. Maybe because I didn't play chess as a kid, I was forever walled off from the great all-knowing geniuses of the world. I've never called myself smart. I'm just a guy with a pretty good memory (I would have been considered a genius as a child if I'd grown up in Japan), and a love of knowledge.

But seriously, Japanese storytellers...stop making geniuses out to be gods.

...oh, wait...that's almost exactly what "tensai" means! Ha!

J