Not sure if the title makes perfect sense, looking for a manga with a MC who packs a big punch and/or has huge influence/power, but pretends to be (or is percieved to be) weak.

Can't think of any great examples, but...

ex. Id, Darker than Black, Noblesse (KNEEL), Sun-ken Rock (loved the part when he was playing manager for a company he owned haha), Sanctuary.

Generally badass main character is preferred.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

umn Holyland, Blood Lad maybe, Trigun, Koroshiya 1, Hikaru no go (not very badass though), Demon King, Vinland Saga, Dragonball, Shura no Toki, Dorohedoro

Dragon eye, Ubel blatt

Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?

Quote from liquorice

umn Holyland, Blood Lad maybe, Trigun, Koroshiya 1 Hikaru no go (not very badass though), Demon King, Vinland Saga, Dragonball, Shura no Toki,Dorohedoro

to make it link to a manga just write (insert manga here)

"Sanity is for the weak"

The Moonlight Sculptor (Novel) - in the RPG setting, the protagonist wears basic clothes because he's stingy, plus his methods at leveling up are unconventional, so people often underestimate him.

Eclipse Hunter (Novel)! ^^ Badass in a cold sense.

The Legend of Sun Knight / The Legend of Sun Knight (Novel) - he's powerless with a sword, but powerful with magic. Unfortunately, his job requires him to use the sword, so he's perceived to be weak, except during the times he's able to secretly use magic.

Kanata Kara - the protagonist doesn't brag about his power at all, and he's always meeting strangers, so he's often mistaken for being normal/weak.

Durarara!! (Novel) - this happens a lot in here. ^^ Some badass included.

Dragon Ball - happens to Goku a lot when he's a kid.

Glass Mask - she's an incredible actor, but her appearance is so plain that everyone underestimates her on first glance.

Saint Oniisan - played for comedy. They're literally Jesus and Buddha, and no one realizes it.

Man, I love you guys 🙂

Just when I felt I'd exhausted the entire supply of mangas over 20 chapters worth reading, I come here, and I am amazed.

Read a few of these reccs (more than half of them I believe), and yet that still leaves me with 5-6 good ones 🙂 🙂

Quote from Blique

The Moonlight Sculptor (Novel) - in the RPG setting, the protagonist wears basic clothes because he's stingy, plus his methods at leveling up are unconventional, so people often underestimate him.

Eclipse Hunter (Novel)! ^^ Badass in a cold sense.

The Legend of Sun Knight / The Legend of Sun Knight (Novel) - he's powerless with a sword, but powerful with magic. Unfortunately, his job requires him to use the sword, so he's perceived to be weak, except during the times he's able to secretly use magic.

Kanata Kara - the protagonist doesn't brag about his power at all, and he's always meeting strangers, so he's often mistaken for being normal/weak.

Durarara!! (Novel) - this happens a lot in here. ^^ Some badass included.

Dragon Ball - happens to Goku a lot when he's a kid.

Glass Mask - she's an incredible actor, but her appearance is so plain that everyone underestimates her on first glance.

Saint Oniisan - played for comedy. They're literally Jesus and Buddha, and no one realizes it.

And 'scuse me for doubl post, forgot to put this in. What exactly do the descriptions mean by novel? Complete books that were translated?

¯_(ツ)_/¯

And 'scuse me for doubl post, forgot to put this in. What exactly do the descriptions mean by novel? Complete books that were translated?

Generally if a work on this website has (Novel) at the end of the title, it's a light novel. Light novels are long running novel series of short books that have infrequent art drawn in manga style. Many manga/anime series are based on light novels, and several translation groups, as well as publishing companies, have released English translations.

An example would be the difference between Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu and Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (Novel). The first one, a manga, is based on the second one, a light novel.

(The short answer is yes, they're books. Whether or not they're completely translated depends on how much progress the translation group has made.)

Also, if you want to avoid double posting, you can use the 'edit' button in the top right corner of your last post.

Oh, and here's some recommendations so I can actually feel useful:

Rosario to Vampire - Though the focus is more on harem-y shenanigans than badassery, the air-headed female lead is actually an ultra powerful vampire that locks away her powers and only uses them when the story needs her to look like a badass. If I recall correctly, the male protagonist also qualifies later on.

Rurouni Kenshin - A pretty standard example for this sort of thing.

Actually, just about any story where someone very powerful has a young appearance would qualify in regards to the part about being perceived as weak. Negima!, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, Ranma ½...hey you know what? I'm just gonna link you some trope pages. Look through the examples and I'm sure you'll find some interesting stuff. Try Weak But Skilled, Crouching Moron Hidden Badass, and Cute Bruiser. Not everything will match prefectly, but they've got a lot more listed there than I'd care to list here.

(And I'd like to second The Moonlight Sculptor (Novel). It's a really great story.)

Hope I managed to help. 🙂