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The story
An article by Tokyo University graduate and writer Tenma Fusegawa, which pointed out that online, “IQ” has joined “academic background” and “income” as a tool for one-upmanship on social media, while arguing that the “high IQ” settings given to popular anime characters like Lupin III (IQ 300) and Gihren Zabi (IQ 240) are scientifically unrealistic, became a hot topic on 5ch’s “Entertainment & Sports News+” board. The thread saw a mix of cool reactions along the lines of “don’t take anime settings so seriously,” detailed posts calculating the real upper limits of IQ tests and their percentile equivalents, and a string of users sharing their own testing experiences.
Tenma Fusegawa, Tokyo University graduate and writer
Do you know your own IQ?
Anyone can find out by taking a test called the WAIS, but since it costs tens of thousands of yen without insurance coverage, not many people want to bother. Still, judging from what I see on social media, online, “IQ” seems to have become an effective tool for one-upmanship, right alongside “academic background” and “income.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Wait, isn't that just from Good Will Hunting?
Chibull Alien — IQ 50,000
Mefilas Alien — IQ 10,000
General Ruchi — IQ 1,300
They're all aliens, so being beyond human comprehension isn't really a problem.
So do those guys actually sit still and take the test?
Thought it was a joke, but it seems like it's actually real.
They're more like partners than boss and subordinate, so how do they even have a conversation with that kind of gap?
IQ / hensachi
100/50
115/60
130/70
145/80
160/90 — anything beyond this is basically impossible
85/40
70/30
55/20 — anything below this is also basically impossible
Most people fall somewhere in the 25 to 87 hensachi range
Re: #51
Correction: that should be roughly 25-87 for hensachi, and roughly 63-155 for IQ
An IQ of 300 is just absurd
Well, he did go and modify Rider No. 2's belt on his own, so that tracks.
With an IQ of 95, what kind of license are we even talking about — something like the Class 4 Hazardous Materials Handler cert?
Usually it's something you get checked at a psychiatric clinic, right?
When I was diagnosed with adjustment disorder, they tested me for something along those lines.
I took it back in elementary school alongside a cram school entrance exam.
I vaguely remember it being around 145.
I went to a university-affiliated elementary school and we took it every year.
Someone I knew in college who went to an affiliated elementary school in a different prefecture said the same thing, so I guess that's just how it is.
How did you find out your own IQ?
I took part in a research study.
What kind of research?
Why'd you end up as a subject?
If you're a minor, they usually run something called the WISC intelligence test — if it wasn't that, it's probably not an accurate IQ score.
The real one takes a psychologist an hour and a half to administer.
Ah, I see.
So the one I took in junior high must've been the simplified version then.
Well, I ended up becoming a researcher, so no complaints.
Isn't 165 supposed to be the max for IQ?
Depends on the test.
Japanese tests usually cap around 160, but there have been ones that go up to 220 or so.
Wait, isn't that not the WISC then?
So I'm honestly not sure if 'finding smart people' even falls within what the tool was originally designed for.
Yeah exactly lol.
The other tests are just simplified screenings, so they don't really have solid evidence behind them lol.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
The WAIS (for adults) and WISC (for children), commonly used as formal intelligence tests, are official assessments administered by a psychologist over the course of an hour or more, costing tens of thousands of yen without insurance coverage. Scores are designed around a mean of 100 with a standard deviation of roughly 15, meaning the theoretical realistic ceiling sits somewhere around 160 to 180 — numbers like 300 or 240 essentially can’t occur given how the tests are structured. Where the thread split was over how strictly to apply this “test ceiling”: some posters went as far as converting scores to Japan’s hensachi percentile scale, while many others argued anime settings were never meant to be compared to real tests in the first place. One point of confusion for readers is mistaking simplified test results taken in childhood at school or cram school for scores with the same precision as an official WAIS/WISC assessment — this distinction came up repeatedly within the thread itself.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “Lupin’s at 300, Gihren Zabi’s at 240, and other popular characters too… ‘High IQ settings’ feel off — Tokyo University grad says ‘it’s overrated’.”
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