Overpowered Anime Characters

The overpowered anime character trope has become a staple in anime. They’re characters with overwhelming powers that make it impossible to defeat them. And while the strongest anime characters are similar in strength, they are quite different in personalities. Some have physical appearances that fit their strength while some look cute or silly despite their prowess.

You can find these overpowered anime heroes in an anime genre called “OP anime”. OP anime, which stands for overpowered anime, usually has settings where the main character or another character in the series has “cheat abilities”. These abilities rig the process for the character’s physical or magical ability, making them difficult to defeat and even stronger over time.

OP animes about magic schools are fairly common. You can say the same for an isekai anime with an OP mc (main character).  However, you can find other anime where the main character is OP in other genres. This is because the genre itself has been around for a long time, but only reached popularity over the years.

Not only are OP animes entertaining, but they also teach us the values of strength and humility. Many of the characters have different personalities and objectives which aids them in growing more mature as time goes forward in the series. While they may also get even more overpowered, the characters themselves also have personality developments that many of us can learn a thing or two about.

Origins of the Overpowered Anime Characters

Overpowered anime characters began in the shonen genre. Astro Boy is the first shonen anime as it featured a young robot boy who defends mankind. Despite his round adorable features, Astroboy has 100,000 horsepower installed in him and can lift objects heavier and larger than his size. Astroboy takes charge of dealing with extraterrestrials, rogue robots, and even nasty humans.

The eventual evolution of shonen anime led to Goku of Dragon Ball, who excelled further and further throughout his journey. As a result of these characters, even more ridiculously overpowered MC animes were born. While it remained simply called “shonen” anime, the subgenre became noticeable after a continuous trope of the OP character diminishing other characters quickly and effectively.

By the late 2010s, anime characters with cheat abilities became popular. Their personalities were also significantly vibrant compared to their predecessors. Animators and mangakas developed selfish but powerful characters. Sometimes they made evil ones with the intention to destroy. This led to the unattachment that an overpowered character needed to be good or responsible. After this development, the physical appearances of their characters also began to mismatch their strength. Some OP characters became cute, dumb, and even harmless-looking.

Nowadays, OP anime characters have more cheat abilities than before. Some are even godlike and even create worlds and destroy them. An example would be the Demon Lord Sadao Maou from The Devil Is a Part-Timer! leaving his realm to become a part-timer on Earth for a break.

List of the Most Overpowered Anime Characters

Now that we know the origins of the overpowered anime character trope, it’s time we learn about a few good examples. Listed below are 21 of the strongest anime characters to date. Included are their names, backgrounds, the plot of their anime, their cheat abilities, and weaknesses. However, it is important to note that these characters aren’t just the only OP characters in the genre. The only difference is that these characters are considered the most powerful anime characters by many viewers.

Rimuru Tempest

First of our most overpowered anime characters is Rimuru Tempest. He is the main character of That Time I Got Reincarnated into a Slime or Tensei Shitara Suraimu Datta Ken, also known as TenSura or Slime Isekai.  Rimuru is a fairly new character in the OP anime genre. He was first published on the novel website, Shosetsuka ni Naro, around 2013. Micro Magazine bought the story and published it as a light novel in 2017. Its popularity only increased from there, becoming a manga-adapted novel by Kodansha. However, his popularity grew internationally when Eight Bit debuted his anime adaptation.

Rimuru was a 37-year-old salaryman who died protecting his subordinates from a stranger’s fatal stabbing. As he lay dying, he wished for his body to be resistant to cold and heat, to no longer feel pain, to be wise, and to be able to talk to women. The great sage was listening to him and decided that the form he wishes to be reborn in was a slime. However, his slime form in his new life has a cheat skill called “Predator”, which could devour anything instantly.

Rimuru reincarnated after puberty, unlike most isekai main characters. He was nearing his forties, making him an adult with a sense of identity who prefers communication rather than violence. Most of the characters in the series initially undermine him. This is because of his cute physical form and the prejudice against slimes. However, his predator skill allows him to easily swallow strong enemies and absorb their skills. Along with the great sage, he even manages to create a country with people becoming stronger under his influence.

Goku

An overpowered anime character list shouldn’t be without Goku. Son Goku is the protagonist of the Dragon Ball series. Akira Toriyama created Dragon Ball in 1984 as a manga serialized for Weekly Shonen Jump. Toriyama was inspired by Hong Kong martial arts films and the novel Journey to the West in the progress of creating the Dragon Ball franchise. Toei Animation’s anime adaption of Toriyama’s creation also gained commercial success, following 20 more animated feature films, three OVAs, and two more anime sequels. Eventually, the success of Dragon Ball also launched figurines, trading cards, and video games. Hollywood even had its live-action adaptation, which failed commercially and critically.

Dragon Ball centers on Goku’s life. His adventures began when he met Bulma, who he accompanied across the world to look for Dragon Balls that can grant wishes. The series doesn’t necessarily focus only on their quest. Dragon Ball also featured characters that became their allies, the background of Goku’s ancestry, and even powerful foes. Eventually, Goku became a family man who married Chi-Chi and fathered two sons: Gohan and Gotan.

Goku is a descendant of the Saiyan race. Saiyans are extremely strong warriors with superhuman strength, speed, endurance, durability, and senses. Naturally, Goku has all these traits. He also has expanding lungs and heat resistance. Goku also mastered the use of his ki which enhances his natural abilities and manipulates the life forces around him. As a result, he can fly, heal, have spirit control, and sense long-distance ki emanating from others. Goku also achieved Godly Ki mastery, which transforms his normal ki into the same energy as a god.

Saitama

Saying Saitama, also known as One-Punch Man, is an overpowered anime character is a bit of an understatement. Known to completely obliterate the strongest foes with a single punch, what makes Saitama a cut above the rest is him being one of the funniest anime characters in anime. Unlike most heroes, Saitama entered the superhero career for fun and lost his interest when nobody could match his strength and ability.

Saitama’s abilities do well for his job, but unlike the rest of the characters in the series, he uses little to no effort to solve their problems. Whenever faced with a strong opponent, Saitama allows their long explanations and time for them to power up to their strongest form. However, he lacks the patience to continuously listen and only waits for 20 words or less before interrupting the enemy. His battles usually end anticlimactically. After one punch and a long-winded explanation of the villain, Saitama wins while staying deadpan.

Despite his overwhelming power, Saitama allows others to take the rewards that rightfully belong to him. He also shows remorse and sympathizes with his enemies. One of these specific enemies is Boros, who did not go down with just 1 punch and experienced similar challenges that Saitama did.

One-Punch Man hasn’t explained in detail where Saitama truly got his powers or their limits. However, it is clear that Saitama believes its due to his exercise regimen. While Saitama is incredibly well intuitive, he’s also bad at things besides fighting such as rock paper scissors.

Saiki Kusuo

Most overpowered anime characters are from action genres where their skills are put to the test. However, Saiki Kusuo prefers stability and silence in his anime series. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K (the name is a wordplay on psychics) is an anime about Saiki and his challenges to conceal his overwhelming power. He was born with psychic abilities that only became more powerful over time. Included in his strengths are his superhuman strength, time travel,  teleportation, and psychometry.

You would think that with all his abilities he would become a superhero or villain, but Saiki’s only objective is to become a normal high school student. He does credit his mother, Kurumi, for her nurturing that prevented him from destroying the world. Despite Saiki’s intelligence, he cares for his friends, Chiyo, Kokomi, Nendou, Kaidou, Hairo, Aren, and Mikoto. Although he initially considers them a nuisance to the silence he wishes to obtain in his everyday life, Saiki goes to extra lengths to protect them as the story progresses. He even feared they would treat him differently should they know of his abilities.

Shuichi Aso, the creator of Saiki and his friends, created his story as a gag manga. The popularity of the series gained his commercial success and weekly serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2012 to 2018. Additionally, the anime series has also become famous, with Netflix even purchasing rights for streaming.

Shigeo Kageyama

Mob Psycho 100 has an overpowered anime character named Shigeo Kageyama. Just like Saiki K, Shigeo is a seemingly ordinary student with overwhelming psychic abilities. However, Shigeo is a pacifist, kindhearted, and lacks confidence in comparison to Saiki. He stars in Mob Psycho 100 with his mentor Arataka Reigen, who claims to be a more powerful psychic than he really is. The running gag of the show is Reigen’s manipulative business and Shigeo’s mentorship under Reigen’s bluff.

Shigeo’s psychic abilities range from telekinesis, psychic energy absorption, psychic energy transference, spiritual awareness, astral projection, and chlorokinesis. While Saiki and Shigeo have similar powers, Shigeo’s abilities heavily depend on his current emotions. An example of this is when he is protecting the people he loves. He would go berserk with the intent to kill just to ensure their safety. In comparison, Shigeo’s positive emotions can give him 100% control over all his psychic abilities.

By nature, Shigeo is a pacifist. This results in him being dependent on Reigen when learning what is right and what is wrong. Reigen’s influence on Shigeo almost always gives Shigeo the opportunity to grow into a better person, despite Reigen being weaker than Shigeo.

Mob Psycho 100 is a fairly new entry to the OP anime genre. ONE, the mangaka behind Mob Psycho 100, serialized his masterpiece on Shogakukan’s Ura Sunday website between 2012 to 2017. The series received commercial success, being licensed in Crunchyroll, published in North America under Dark Horse Comics, and two anime seasons with a third season coming for release.

Giorno Giovanna

Unlike other characters on this list, Giorno Giovanna is an overpowered anime character that is not the main protagonist. Giorno Giovanna is a character from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, which focuses on the Joestar family and their battles against evil forces. Hirohiko Araki began serializing the story in 1987 and it’s still going strong. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has gone through two publishers, movies, anime adaptations, and even live-action films.

The series introduced Giorno Giovanna along with other characters. However, you can easily see the difference in strength between him and his peers. The first of Giorno’s abilities is “Gold Experience” which allows him to create and manipulate life. While Giorno uses it mainly to create flora and fauna, he can also use this ability for battles. In addition, Giorno can use “Gold Experience” and “Stand-creating Arrow” to perform “Gold Experience Requiem.” By using this ability, Giorno can force enemies to eternally loop unto their death.

Giorno is the illegitimate son of Dio, the antagonist of the series. He was abandoned long enough that his own stepfather carelessly abused him. The way he was raised resulted in Giorno becoming stoic and apathetic towards everything and everyone. Giorno believed he was worthless and was treated that way by his peers. However, his personality changed after an unknown gangster earned his trust, resulting in him becoming a confident and kind person.

Aside from Giorno’s cheat abilities, he is also a determined person. This can be seen in the fifth part of the series where he was willing to sacrifice his safety for their goals to be achieved. Planting himself in dangerous situations has resulted in gains for him and his party. This courage, alongside his compassion and strength, has gained the respect of his peers, making him a valuable ally.

Sung Jin Woo

Studio Mir developing Solo Leveling was just the right move as it introduced us to Sung Jin Woo, another overpowered anime character. Unlike most of the characters listed here, Sung Jin Woo comes from a Korean manhwa (web novel) titled Solo Leveling. Chugong, the creator of the story, published it on KakaoPage in 2016. The series became popular enough to be published by D&C Media with English translations under Yen Press.

Solo Leveling is set in modern times with hunters protecting ordinary civilians from dangerous monsters. The protagonist here wasn’t strong overnight. He was actually a well-known E-rank hunter, the weakest level, who constantly threw himself in dungeons despite having almost zero magical abilities. After a traumatizing experience in a double dungeon, Sung Jin Woo awakens his cheat abilities.

Sung Jin Woo eventually becomes the Shadow Monarch after progressing as the strongest hunter in the world. Aside from his superhuman strength, and durability, Sung Jin Woo can also create armors, and achieved immunity. As an enemy, Sung Jin Woo can force his enemies to submit through intimidation, use telekinesis, a master with daggers, cause panic just by shouting, and create an army with the corpses he has defeated.

Father

Fullmetal Alchemist’s story centers on Edward and Alphonse who lost their mother and committed a terrible mistake. In their world, alchemists have the ability to manipulate objects and transform them into other items. State alchemists, in particular, are those called to war, protect civilians, and obey orders without complaints. The series gained a heavy following and enjoyed critical acclaim over the years, even spawning two anime seasons, countless movies and figurines, and a live-action film. However, the most overpowered anime character in the series isn’t the brothers, but an entity named “Father.”

Father was a homunculus that bonded with Edward and Alphonse’s father, Van Hohenheim. The people of Xerxes called Father “The Dwarf in the Flask. His only friend was Van Hohenheim, who he taught well enough to become a scholar. Unfortunately, the king of Xerxes was greedy and demanded Father produce a philosopher’s stone, which could grant him immortality. Father seemingly submitted to this request but actually became the stone itself. The only 1 left to survive was Hohenheim, whose body became immortal with the souls of Xerxes’ citizens inside of him.

Father aimed to create another catastrophe similar to Xerxes by creating his own country. He created other homunculi named Greed, Gluttony, Lust, Pride, Wrath, and Sloth to govern his will in the shadows. They eventually succeed in creating bloodshed as necessary material under the guise of military leadership.

Father’s abilities further improved after his absorption of God, making him able to defy more than just the laws of alchemy, but time and space itself. Father lost only because of the wills of the souls, Greed, and God who rejected him.

Naruto Uzumaki

One of the best-overpowered anime characters of all time is Naruto Uzumaki. Millennials love him not just because of his strength, but the way he was introduced. This is because the particular generation grew up with Naruto in a literal sense. Naruto was introduced in 2002. By that time a large portion of the millennials was in their primary or elementary years. Coincidentally, Naruto was also around the same age. He started as an awkward tween with issues about his worth. Additionally, he was grouped with Sasuke Uchiha, a prodigy ninja. Their relationship and the progress of their growth were watched by the millennials as their lives progressed as well. This made Naruto more than just a character, but a childhood friend to many.

Naruto’s story centers on a fictional world where ninjas formed cities that were at odds with each other. During his younger years, Naruto was an ostracized orphan. However, this didn’t stop his will to become the greatest ninja of all time. It wasn’t until Kurama, a nine-tailed beast with catastrophic powers, revealed himself did Naturo finally understood why the residents of Konoha avoided him.

There were many more trials that Naruto faced. Included are Sasuke’s departure, his mentor Jiraiya’s death, and his friend Neji’s sacrifice. Despite trials, Naruto became a great sage, bonding with Kurama and unifying all the ninja tribes for a peaceful coexistence after defeating Kaguya.

Sasuke Uchiha

Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto’s rival and best friend, is another overpowered anime character. And just like Naruto, he is also one of the most famous anime characters of all time. The two friends are complete opposites, with Sasuke being more in tune with the dark and Naruto in the blaze of the light. Their unlikely friendship is the basis of Sasuke’s growth.

Sasuke was a prodigy in his younger years. He is also a direct descendant of the Uchiha clan, one of the most powerful clans in Konoha. In his younger years, Sasuke took pride in his older brother, Itachi. However, Sasuke became the only surviving member of the clan after Itachi massacred all of them. This filled Sasuke with overwhelming rage against his brother, vowing to kill him and avenge his fallen clan. This meant that even during his time in school with Sakura Haruno, his future wife, and Naruto, his only goal was to chase after his brother.

Sasuke inherited the Sharingan, a powerful dojutsu that allows the user to see chakra and use hypnosis. Additionally, he and Naruto are the reincarnations of Asura and Indra, who were children of Hagaromo, the ancestor of shinobis. This led to a natural evolution of his abilities. He eventually evolves his Sharingan, obtains rinnegan, summons complete-body Susanoo, uses all elements in nature transformation, can cross dimensions, and masters bukijutsu (weapons).

Sasuke could have easily remained a villain throughout his life. However, Naruto’s belief in him and Itachi’s unconditional love brought him back to his true path.

Gojo Satoru

Gojou Satoru is the most overpowered anime character in Jujutsu Kaisen. However, Gojo Satoru is not the main character of the series. Instead, Gojo is the mentor of Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, and Nobara Kugisaki. Jujutsu Kaisen is set in a world similar to ours. The only difference is that every living thing emits cursed energy that creates “curses”, beings that are born from the world’s negative energy that wish to destroy the human race.

Humanity’s only line of defense against this threat is the Jujutsu Sorcerers, humans who can use manipulate cursed energy and make “cursed techniques”. One of the most notable techniques is Domain Expansion, which transfers both enemies and allies within an area where the caster’s abilities double in damage. Most Jujutsu Sorcerers and higher-ranked Curses can perform Domain Expansion only once a day, but Gojo’s vast amount of cursed energy allows him to use the technique more than once. Additionally, Gojo can even heal himself with the Reversed Curse Technique, managing to bring himself back to health despite being near death. He also inherited Limitless, which allows him to control space. To make things more difficult, Gojo can never be truly injured as he controls the infinite space between him and those around him, making it impossible for attacks on him without his consent or control.

Mangaka Gege Akutami released Jujutsu Kaisen in 2018. Ever since the shonen manga’s release, it has spawned an anime series and a movie.

Zeno

Another Dragon Ball character comes into this list, but he’s not as intimidating as Goku. In fact, Zeno can be considered cute with his round features and small hands. Formally called Grand Zeno, meaning “King of All”, he is granted the title of Omni-King. Zeno is the supreme ruler of the multiverses. His abilities include “erase” which could destroy even immortal creatures and mimicry, allowing Zeno to instantly copy moves from an enemy fighter after just seeing it once.

Despite being an overpowered anime character, Zeno has one major flaw. Just like other godlike beings, Zeno is indifferent to all forms of life. An example of his recklessness is when he destroyed six universes out of anger and frustration. Another example would be when Zeno and his future self played a game that resulted in multiple planetary destructions. Unlike Goku, Zeno is remorseless and a sadist. You can see these specific personalities of Zeno while destroying Universes 3 and 9 with his future self. The degree of his apathy even extends to his fellow godlike beings. You can see him get even worse when he feels indifferent to Roh, the supreme leader of Universe 9, as Roh cries his name out in desperation.

Zeno’s subordinates treat him with respect, fear, and complete loyalty. Their behavior, however, caused Zeno to feel lonely. This is why he became attacked by Goku, who isn’t afraid of him but respects him.

Ainz Ooal Gown

Isekai animes with OP main characters are fairly common. Unlike other OP characters, Ainz Ooal Gown is overpowered because of the equipment and skills he was allowed to bring with him. Kugane Maruyama wrote Overlord as a light novel series in 2010. Its success as an online novel caught the eye of Enterbrain, which bought the series. Eventually, Satoshi Oshio became the mangaka for the story for Comp Ace. Because of its popularity, Madhouse produced an anime adaptation of Overlord in 2015. Since then, three more seasons have been produced alongside two OVAs and an upcoming film.

Ainz Ooal Gown is the protagonist of Overlord. Ainz is actually Momonga, a player of the game YGGDRASIL. When the server for YGGDRASIL was to be shut down, Ainz stayed put to watch his beloved game, his NPCs, and the relationships he formed in the game. Unable to leave the game, Ainz had become the Overlord of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the NPCs they made are now alive and serve Ainz as the most powerful of the Almighty 41 Beings (a name they called Ainz and his online friends.)

Since Ainz was a master of YGGDRASIL, his powers in the game also transferred to him in his new world. This resulted in him becoming an overpowered anime character in the series, leading him and his friends’ NPC characters to create a nation and secure the safety of Nazarick. Ainz managed to reach level 100 in the game, making all his magical and physical abilities strong enough that he feels no pain and destroys things with minimal effort. Additionally, his equipment itself is divine-class and his spells can kill a person instantly or summon thousands of undead armies.

Lelouch Lamperouge

Lelouch Lamperouge, also known as Lelouch vi Britannia, is an overpowered anime character and the protagonist of Code Geass. In his world, there are only three superpowers in existence: the Holy Britannian Empire, Europa United, and the Chinese Federation. Lelouch’s parents were Charles zi Britannia and Marianne vi Britannia. His sister, Nunnally, witnessed the death of their mother and was traumatized to the point of blindness and becomes paraplegic. Afterward, the siblings were sent to Japan as hostages.

The story becomes thrilling once Lelouch meets C.C. who gives him a Geass known as “Power of Kings”. This cheat ability allowed Lelouch to force people to submit and obey his will. However, he could only use this ability once on a person. This begins Lelouch’s march towards vengeance as he plots to destroy the Britannian Empire, protect his sister, and discover who killed his mother.

Unlike most animes, Code Geass was created as an anime first. Sunrise produced its series while working with Clamp. It was televised on MBS Japan with sequels, spin-offs, light novels, and mangas following after. Bandai Entertainment acknowledged Code Geass’ potential and franchised the English release of the anime series for Adult Swim.

L

L is a famous character from Death Note, a popular series that mimics the real world. Mangaka Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata created him as the contrast for the protagonist of the series, Light Yagami. In Death Note, a notebook with the same title allows those who possess it to kill whose names they write down. The manga was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump released from 2003 to 2006. Eventually, it was animated for TV by Madhouse for Nippon Television. Following the anime adaptation was a video game for Nintendo, three well-received live-action films, two miniseries, and a Netflix adaptation.

L was the only one that could counter Light Yagami. This is because Light’s ability needed the real name of those he targets. Unfortunately for Light, L was an extremely secretive person. L was often misjudged because of his messy appearance and obsession with sweets. However, L is a world-class detective that outsmarted all of his enemies and allies. In contrast to many of his peers who were at a loss over Light’s true identity, L was already aware that he was the mass murderer.

In addition to his intelligence, L was great at deception. His methods would always turn risky, with tactics that are life-threatening but necessary in his eyes. An example of this was having an inmate on death row pose as himself and bind himself with handcuffs to Light.

Unfortunately, Light does win the battle between the two. While he does fail to capture Light, his successors Near and Mello managed to.

Light Yagami

Light Yagami is another overpowered anime character from Death Note. He is the polar opposite of L, who was previously discussed. Light was once an ordinary high school student who was frustrated by the injustice of the world. However, upon receiving the Death Note and control over the Shinigami Ryuk, he takes it upon himself to avenge the victims of the freed criminals. Initially, Light’s noble cause would give you a chance to root for him. However, Light is eventually led astray from his true goals.

Unlike most people, Light’s ability to stomach the deaths and sacrifices he has made is unparalleled. There was even a point where Light’s father was a victim of his actions and still seemed remorseless afterward. Light has also abused the lovestruck Misa, another character without concern for her mental health and well-being. The police found it difficult to catch Light, who went under the codename, Kira. Soon it became a battle of wits between L, the detective and Kira, the vigilante.

Light continuously manages to evade authorities. He does achieve his goals, with criminal activity reducing after his actions with the Death Note. He even managed to outlive L. His intelligence, manipulation skills, and determination exceed that of a normal high schooler.

Great Will of Macrocosm

The Great Will of Macrocosm stands out as the most overpowered character with little screen time in an anime. She hails from Excel Saga, a comedy anime known for its banned episode. Here, the Great Will of Macrocosm is not the protagonist but is a necessary entity in the universe.

Excel Saga is set in a world where a dangerous organization named Across plans to gain control of everyone. Their belief is that the world itself is too corrupt, and to achieve their objective, they’ll have to conquer 1 city at a time. The main protagonist is Excel who is accompanied by her partner Hyatt and pet dog Menchi. The comedy was evident in the show when Excel and her friends lived in the same apartment complex as other characters against Across. While the plot may sound serious, most of the plans from both sides end in total failure.

The Great Will of Macrocosm is an overpowered anime character because of her abilities. Since Excel Saga is filled with chaotic events and unplanned situations, there are many times when the story becomes completely derailed. An example would be Excel accidentally dying. She will appear to revive her and can even reverse the effects and casualties caused by the characters. The Great Will of Macrocosm’s abilities are largely overshadowed. However, by taking into account that she can literally turn back time and revive living people, the Great Will of Macrocosm’s existence can change the very nature of the universe.

Tanya Degurechaff

There’s nothing silly about Tanya Degurechaff. However, this overpowered anime character is anything but kind. Tanya is the main character of Youjo Senki, also known as Saga of Tanya the Evil. Unlike Rimuru, Tanya prefers control and domination over the weak. She was once a successful corporate man who fired people quickly. Tanya’s remorseless actions resulted in her murder. A fired employee pushes her on the railroad tracks. God intervenes in the middle of her death. He reprimands her for her atheism. Unfortunately, their conversation turns sour. God then punishes her by being reborn in a parallel universe during World War I.

The twist is that Tanya has a special gift. Every time she prays to God whom she insulted, she receives a boost of magic powers. This furthers her career, all benefitting her goal to become an officer stationed in the main city and away from the battlefield. She eventually denounced God and called him Being X. All this time, declaring war against Being X and gaining victory in battles with her team.

What’s interesting about Tanya is her age and motive. She was only 9 years old when she charged toward the Battle of Rhine which earned her the nickname “Devil of the Rhine”. She is also strong enough to defeat companies by herself. Other than her skills in the field, she’s also intelligent, going to War College at 10. Unfortunately, Tanya is apathetic and considers her subordinates and enemies as pawns rather than actual people. She cares little about the war or the people she’s fighting for. Instead, her only goal is to serve herself.

Azusa Aizawa

Following Tanya is an overpowered anime character with a less intimidating personality, but still pretty feisty. Azusa Aizawa is the protagonist of the manga, light novel, and anime called I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level. She first debuted in her light novel in 2016. Revoroot, an animation company, followed up the success of Azusa’s story by creating an anime adaptation in 2021. I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level has also been announced for a second season alongside spin-off novels.

Azusa was once a Japanese woman who died from overwork. Since the cause of her death in her previous life was stress, Azusa decided to live a slow life in her new timeline. For 300 years, Azusa simply killed slimes for an income, unaware that her actions caused her to become the most powerful person in the world.

Unlike other characters, Azusa was completely unaware of the limits to her abilities. She eventually discovers her overwhelming power and proceeds to learn how to use them. Thanks to the Goodly Godly Godness fulfilling her request, Azusa remains youthful and eternal with the title of Divine Blessed Witch. Azusa is a god-tier level mage with abilities such as teleportation, levitation, mana absorption, magic reflection, detoxification, mind control, shape-shifting, creation, barrier, restoration, invisibility, item appraisal, and spells with elemental damage.

Sadao Maou

Sadao Maou is not your average overpowered anime character. Unlike everyone else on this list, Sadao was not transmigrated or reincarnated into another world. Instead, Sadao retreated into ours. He is the protagonist of The Devil is a Part-Timer, and is a powerful devil king in his homeworld. Unfortunately, his declaration of war against Ente Isla (his original world) ended with his retreat.

Sadao and his general Shiro retreated to Earth. In order to survive, they must learn to work properly. This resulted in Sadao taking a part-time job at MgRonald’s. Eventually, Emilia Justina, the hero of Ente Isla, followed him to Earth. More characters from Ente Isla transported themselves to the area where Sadao now lives. However, rather than causing chaos and battles, the devil king instead makes an honest living and strives to make sense of the social construct of his new home.

Sadao has a wide range of abilities that make him nearly impossible to defeat. He can control minds, use magic combat, teleport, use telekinesis, create forcefields, heal, create magical swords, and even injure someone by simply staring at them. He is also incredibly intelligent, managing to learn 300 years of Ente Isla’s history.

Two different publication companies have released manga adaptations of the series. Animators also created a season and are currently developing its sequel.

Meruem

Last on our list of overpowered anime characters is Meruem of Hunter x Hunter. Yoshihiro Togashi, the mangaka of the series, has been releasing the manga through Weekly Shonen Jump since 1998. Nippon Animation created its anime series that lasted from 1999 to 2001 with additional OVAs. Madhouse, another animation company, contributed a new anime series from 2011 to 2014. The successful franchise, with video games, musicals, and audiobooks, still creates more anime seasons with its latest being an anime film in 2013.

Meruem is not the protagonist of Hunter x Hunter. However, he is arguably the series’ most powerful villain. Meruem was a spawn of The Chimera Ant Queen and was eventually declared King of the Chimera Ants. Because the Chimera Ant Queen desired a strong and invincible son, Meruem believed he was untouchable and looked down on everyone. He was a violent king, with no regard for anyone’s life, including his own mother’s. He does begin to care for a human girl named Komugi, and questions the difference between chimera ants and humans.

Meruem was incredibly strong, fast, and durable. In addition to his strength, he also has vast amounts of life energy called nen. By manipulating his nen, he could destroy nations with adept nen users.

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed learning about the overpowered anime characters in this list. Did you decide which one is the strongest anime character for you? There are many other powerful anime characters with colorful personalities and backstories not included in this list. Who knows? There might even be a future character that tops all of these overpowered anime characters.

The future of the overpowered anime character subgenre is only rising as time goes by.  There are even current anime adaptations of old OP series that boost their popularity. Animators and mangakas are slowly diverting from the original plotlines of OP animes and giving them their own twists. It’s exciting to anticipate what is next for us anime lovers!

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