VOICE OVER: Riccardo Tucci WRITTEN BY: Alex Crilly-Mckean
Top 20 Most Powerful Anime Characters
They don’t come stronger than these guys. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we are counting down our picks for the Top 20 Most Powerful Anime Characters.
For this list, we’re tackling that age-old question of who truly is the best of the best in terms of sheer, devastating power in the world of anime. Heroes and villains are all welcome, just as long as it's clear that with enough effort they could annihilate a planet or two. We’ll be limiting it to one character per franchise, and we also won’t be including Mecha Piloted by another character such as Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann or Demonbane.
#20: Mob
“Mob Psycho 100” (2016-19)
We kick off this list with the soft spoken, hard hitting esper with a heart of gold. While he spends most of his time exorcising small-time ghosts beneath his far less powerful boss, Reigen, Mob has been shown to absolutely leather any rival espers that come his way. His psychic abilities more than make up for his poor physical strength, as he's capable of shifting entire buildings with the flick of a wrist. If it weren't for his passive nature, we're sure Mob's powers could easily level entire cities with minimal effort.
#19: Beatrice
“Umineko When They Cry” (2009)
While more powerful entities end up appearing down the line in the Light Novel, this Golden Witch absolutely dominates in the Anime adaptation. With the title of the Endless Witch, Beatrice is able to control life and death and is able to endlessly destroy and repair anything she chooses, which just so happens to be very useful in setting up multiple murder mysteries. Not only does she have the power to summon powerful servants such as the Stakes of Purgatory, but she can also command the “Shoulder Towers” which fire deadly beams of light.
#18: Fiamma of the Right
“A Certain Magical Index” (2008-19)
Isn’t that always the way? Esper that serves the Catholic Church suddenly decides that he should rule above it and God as a whole. He’s a bit of hubristic dick about it, but when you’re armed with something as monumental as the Holy Right, you can kind of get away with it! Able to create miracles and crush all he sees as evil, there’s nothing more sinister than watching the Third Arm emerge from his body and wipe out whatever heretic is caught in his crosshairs. And he briefly attained the highest reachable status in the magic side - “La Persona Superiore a Dio”, No wonder he was able to start World War Three!
#17: Ainz Ooal Gown
“Overlord” (2015-18)
Most isekai protagonists tend to find themselves gifted with extraordinary abilities, especially if the world they’ve been shipped off to is based around a video game. Even amongst that little pantheon, the undead ruler of Nazarick stands atop them all, thanks to both an endless series of top-tier insta-kill spells, an entire kingdom filled with boss monsters to act as his minions, not to mention a devotion to his evil archetype that doesn’t put him above subjugation, deceit and slaughter. While these days he loves nothing more than to let his henchmen cut down his foes, he’s certainly not above the occasional sacrificing of seventy-thousand soldiers to summon eldritch tentacle goat demons.
#16: Sakamaki Izayoi
“Problem Children are Coming from Another World, aren't they?” (2013)
The No Name community sure are lucky they got the all-star ace of psychic children on their team, because very few can hope to match this hot head in the Gift Games. Primarily, it's his monumental strength and durability you’ve got to watch out for. Gods, mountains, other problem kids, few can hope to withstand the force of his fists. When he gets going, this vulgar teen becomes an engine of destruction that won’t stop until his foe is pummelled beyond recognition. So, best not to insult Black Rabbit when around him.
#15: Father
“Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” (2009-10)
While the efforts of Hohenheim and the Elric brothers certainly brought down the ultimate being’s power level with their counter transmutation circle, the Father of the Homunculi is not one to be underestimated. Not only did he succeeded in swallowing the very concept of God, but was able to raise the dead, disable all alchemy with just a tap of his finger, and for one singular shining moment, created a miniature sun in the palm of his hand. Whatever stage he’s at, the former Dwarf in the Flask is not something your regular state alchemist can vanquish.
#14: Saiki Kusuo
“The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.” (2016-18)
The guy who just wants to live a mundane life just so happens to be the most powerful psychic to ever exist. Ain’t that a hoot. Honestly, the sheer amount of abilities Saiki has to his name is just as big as Kaidou’s daydreams of one day defeating Dark Reunion. Teleportation, telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, invisibility, flight, mind control, petrification, psychometry, super strength, time travel, x-ray vision, and so much more. All of which is also constantly restrained thanks to his suppression antenna. The boy could wipe out the world if he got serious for even a moment, but thankfully he loves pudding too much to even entertain such an idea.
#13: Tiamat
“Fate/Grand Order - Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia” (2019-20)
And you though regular Heroic Spirits were off the chain. Turns out when compared to the likes of one of the seven Beast-class servants, Archer and that are pretty much poultry. As one such God-like being, Tiamat only lives to eradicate humanity, which is a bit tragic since she sort of gave birth the species as a whole. Honestly, she’s got so much cosmic power that even the concept of death eludes her, to the point it took a Grand servant, a Grand candidate, four goddesses, Archer Gil, about eight asspulls and a bland teenage protagonist to take her down!
#12: Nono
“Diebuster” (2004-06)
There are giant mecha, and then there’s Nono. While she’s something of an airhead and sweet as pie, the truth is that she’s secretly a living Buster Machine, and one capable of taking on an entire alien fleet all by her lonesome. Traversing across the galaxy in the blink of an eye? Easy. Landing a kick that would make a solar system shake? No problem at all. Her Buster Beam? Wiped out practically everything in its path. Of course, the truest example of her mechanical might comes from how she was able to grasp and move a Black Hole. Let that sink in.
#11: Misogi Kumagawa
“Medaka Box” (2012)
He’s a bona-fied loser with a perpetual smile that is constantly underestimated, when the truth of the matter is he’s probably the deadliest thing in a school uniform. Normally, someone who can summon giant screws would be terrifying enough, but through his ability to slowly remove aspects of reality just for shits and giggles? It’s kind of a miracle this guy ever lost a fight. After all, it doesn’t matter if you’re an artist with supernatural paintings, Kumagawa will just remove colour until the world is black and white.
#10: Madoka Kaname
“Puella Magi Madoka Magica” (2011)
While the rest of her fellow magical girls might be flashier, none can hope to compare to the sheer scope of Madoka’s divine power following her wish. After managing to pull a fast one on Kyubey by calling for an end to all witches, Madoka pretty much became a deity. As a result, the universe essentially rewrote itself to accommodate for her transcendence, that and her newfound habit of saving every magical girl across history by preventing their shift to the dark side. Now everywhere, nowhere, and able to snipe down a planet-sized witch without any effort, you won’t find a cuter reality shifter than her.
#9: Giorno Giovanna
“JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind” (2018-19)
This Italian stallion has a dream, to become someone of such influence within the underworld, a “gang-star” if you will, so that he can protect the innocents from true evils of the world and control the rampart chaos that crime has divulged into. Bet he never expected to skip over that and go all the way to a super being capable of instantly overpowering whatever Stand user steps up to him. After becoming fused with the arrow and unlocking Gold Experience Requiem, Giorno wasn’t only given a major power boost, but his Stand demonstrated the innate ability to negate and undo , even the time-erasing shenanigans of King Crimson.
#8: Saitama
“One-Punch Man” (2015-19)
Whether you’re a colossal monster made of pure nightmare fuel, a tyrant that’s conquered entire galaxies, or literally anything else, it just doesn’t matter. Want to know? Because everything falls before the might of Saitama’s fist. His strength is so absolute, so without limit, that every foe that he’s swung at has either been reduced to a corpse in a rapid fire manner, or knocked into next year. Serious or casual, we’d wager at this point Saitama could punch out God, he’s already bested everything else!
#7: Altair
“Re:Creators” (2017)
You don’t mess with the Military Uniform Princess, especially when she’s on the warpath against humanity and Created alike for causing her precious Creator to commit suicide. Pretty scary when one so full of hatred in their vocaloid heart has so much power to their name, and we’re not just talking about those floating swords of hers. Armed with the Holopsicon, Altair proved to be a tad on the omnipotent side of things, since she can alter and rearrange a Created’s story i.e completely trash their abilities, while also create an entirely new universe of her own.
#6: Anti-Spiral
“Gurren Lagann” (2007)
With the single goal of halting the Spiral Nemesis, this stagnated entity was more than happy to regress and crush all races of the universe. It also had the means to do so, whether by pulling the members of Team Dai Gurren into a prison made from their own dreams, or by simply smashing them to pieces with all the force of an exploding star. Then there’s the fact he can also grow to the size of whole galaxies in order to really bring the pain. He would have likely brought all of space and time to a halt if not for Simon and his shirtless fisticuffs.
#5: Haruhi Suzumiya
“The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” (2006-09)
What’s worse than a narcissistic, annoying high school girl with absolutely no filter? How about one that unknowingly has the power to drastically alter reality and shape the universe with just a thought? A being whose has caught the attention of time travellers, Dataminds and all other crazy characters to descend to Earth, the only thing to stop Ms Suzumiya from reducing everything to zero is one cynical git named Kyon. She’s quite a marvel, in that even though she can make time on itself just to extend her summer vacation, she still manages to inspire exasperation as opposed to awe.
#4: Haruka Kaminogi
“Noein: To Your Other Self” (2005-06)
You’d think after the first few times this adorable lass altered reality, the dimensional hopping factions and their Dragon Knights would take a step back and realise hunting her down is a bad idea. As the Ultimate Observer, Haruka is both blessed and cursed to rearrange spacetime and quantum probability however she sees fit, which basically means if she wants to reject someone’s existence, then every parallel universe has to bend to her whims and get to re-stitching itself. Along with the Dragon Torc acting as her multidimensional deterrent, she’s somewhat untouchable.
#3: Zeno
“Dragon Ball Super” (2015-18)
Until Goku trains enough to one up this little jellybean, the Omni-King stands somewhat tall as the Dragon Ball franchise’s most powerful entity. It’s not so much that all Gods of Destruction, Angels and Kais bow before him with absolute fear and humility, its more-so the awe-inspiring spectacle of watching this child-like casually erased an entire universe with but a wave of his hands. That’s setting the bar pretty damn high. While his actual combat prowess is hard to measure, the fact pointing a finger is enough to squash a whole realm is hard to beat.
#2: Lord of Nightmares
“Slayers” (1995-2009)
Overshadowing all demons, humans and other creatures of the four worlds, this entity is both creator and destroyer, forever seeking to return all life to the Sea of Chaos. She’s the kind of mother you do not want to test your mettle against, on account there is nothing out there that can even come close to her power. Given how just by partially tapping into her essence Lina was able to unleash such monstrous techniques as the Giga Slave and Ragna Blade, its shuddering to think what would happen if she decided it was time to discipline her countless offspring.
#1: Kami Tenchi
“Tenchi Muyo!” (1992-)
While very little is known about this all-knowing creator that’s been reincarnated inside one of the very first harem protagonists, the fact he’s regarded as a supreme being that’s all knowing and boundless speaks volumes. He calmed the goddess-killer known as Counter-Actor with zero effort, infinite wisdom and maximum suave, and there was that one time he nearly caused the end of all things simply because the human Tenchi ascended into his god-mode earlier than expected. Guess all other OP harem masters are just trying to catch up to this guy and his inner divinity.