This list is gonna hurt some feelings.
99% of anime viewers watch anime for one reason: to watch strong people do stuff. The most popular anime IN THE WORLD are about this EXACT THING. One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z, all of these anime focus SOLEY on a character becoming more and more powerful as the series progresses. Everyone has their favorite strong person, and everyone wants their person to beat everyone else. However, they my find that their favorite Blorbo From My Shows might not even make the cut.
Now, when we’re speaking about strongest anime characters here, we’re going use a slightly different metric than what we used for our overpowered anime characters list. An overpowered anime character may be the biggest fish in their small pond (i.e. Spike from Cowboy Bebop), but once they venture out into the OCEAN OF POWER, they might discover that there are bigger fish than they ever thought possible. That’s who we’re here to talk about.
So here we go.
10. Mob – Mob Psycho 100
The last place character on this list is a god among men, so that only goes to show what kind of power levels we’re dealing with here. Mob is a psychic. The world’s greatest. The boy can level cities with his mind. He’s perhaps one of the most powerful psychics not only in anime but in all of media. I’m sure that Professor X would not want to go toe to toe with this kid. He only gets downgraded because his body itself isn’t very strong. He’s sort of a glass cannon—can dish it out, but can’t take it.
9. Kaido – One Piece
Kaido, on the other hand, is made of 100% solid steel. And dragon scales. Yes, he’s a dragon. They don’t call this dude the World’s Strongest Creature for nothing. He possesses a gum gum fruit that allows him to turn into a massive dragon that is nearly impervious to harm. He’s stood up against blows from the Worst Generation in a combined attack. That’s Luffy, Zoro, and at least three other super strong people. And Luffy is the MAIN CHARACTER. Kaido is a monster of epic proportions.
8. Kaguya Otsutsuki – Naruto
Another foe that was able to fend off the attacks of the main character is this woman, Kaguya Otsutsuki. This is where the list is gonna start taking a turn into becoming a PANTHEON OF ANIME GODS. Kaguya Otsutsuki is basically a small “g” god in the Naruto universe. She is the person who brought charka into existence by eating the fruit of the God Tree when the world was young. Without her, the ninja world wouldn’t exist. She was defeated by her own horniness, however, as Naruto was able to use his sexy jutsu in order to distract her and land a blow.
7. Lucifer – Devilman Crybaby
Lucifer from Devilman Crybaby is where the power disparities on this list begin to get astronomical. Lucifer is an angel. You know, those unkillable beings of light and fire that capital “g” God sends to level cities and tell virgins they’re pregnant? Well, Lucifer is one of the strongest angels in heaven, second only to Michael. As such, he is able to wipe the floor with our poor Devilman hero Akira. One attack from Lucifer was able to split the Moon in half. Yikes.
6. Griffith/Femto – Berserk
Griffith is another powerful angel on this list, albeit in name only. He is one of the five fingers of the Godhand and is practically untouchable. He exists outside of physical reality, and therefore cannot be killed by physical means. A battle with Griffith would be fought in the astral world, and he’s got the home field advantage. I don’t know how Guts will beat him, but he definitely won’t do it alone.
5. Tetsuo – Akira
So now we’ve crossed over from small “g” gods to at least a mid-size “g” gods. Tetsuo isn’t the “God” of our universe per-se, but he does become “God” to another universe of his own creation. At the end of Akira, Tetsuo’s psychic ability gets so out of control that he basically collapses into a singularity and then Big Bangs his way into an alternative universe. I’d like to see anyone else on this list do that. I’m only taking points away because he isn’t in control of his powers, and therefore someone else on this list could possibly beat him.
4. Beerus – Dragon Ball Super
Beerus is the God of Destruction, and the only being that Goku is unable to beat. And GOKU IS THE MAIN CHARACTER. WHAT GIVES? Goku even powered up into Super Saiyan God mode to take this guy out and he STILL couldn’t defeat Beerus. In fact, Beerus was able to beat Goku quite easily. Sure, he was “impressed” while they were fighting, in the same way that I’d be “impressed” if a cockroach I crushed under my shoe were still twitching.
3. Whis –Dragon Ball Super
Whis is Beerus’s martial arts teacher, and another all-powerful angel. This dude is so strong that he was assigned to watch over Beerus and keep the God of Destruction out of trouble. He’s technically Beerus’s assistant, and helps prepare Beerus’s meals and even puts him to bed. At one point, Whis is able to knock out a rampaging Beerus with a single karate chop. When you consider that Beerus is the being that brought Goku to his knees, Whis becomes all the more terrifying.
2. Zeno – Dragon Ball Super
Zeno is a capital “g” God. What’s that? You don’t think he looks like one? Say that to his face and he will simply delete you and the rest of your universe. Zeno may have the appearance of a li’l alien baby, but he is the strongest being in the Dragon Ball multiverse. Somehow, Goku manages to befriend him, though, which is a good thing, because I would hate to consider what would happen to Absolute Reality if this guy had enemies.
1. Saitama – One Punch Man
One Punch Man can defeat any opponent in one punch. That is the conceit of the show. Therefore, he is the most powerful character in anime history. I don’t care if Zeno could “delete” him from existence, because Saitama could probably punch his way into existence again. He is simply an unstoppable being. No, he can’t create life and other universes, but he sure as hell could punch them away. And are not destruction and entropy the most powerful forces in existence? God could say, “Let there be light,” but if Saitama were trying to sleep, he would simply punch God out of existence and then nap in the cool darkness of Unbeing. Let’s just hope it never comes to that.
(featured image: Toei Animation)
