Some anime characters have their own unique strengths to accomplish their goals, whether it be through pure, unadulterated muscle, cunning strategies, loyal comrades, magical abilities, or even hidden talents unknown even unto themselves. But what really ups the ante is when these heroes are not only ridiculously overpowered in whatever abilities they possess, but also retain personalities that are likeable and don’t get subdued by said skills. When a character’s powerful abilities are only rivaled by the strength of their hearts and loveable personalities, that’s the mark of the perfect hero.
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But not all heroes are created equal. Some are more serious, and some are more wacky. Some have different motivations from friends to food. Some have worked hard to gain their abilities while others may not even be aware of their own strengths. In any case, while the world of anime contains countless heroes with varying abilities and personalities, which ones are the most overpowered ones we just can’t help but love? We’ve got the answers!
Son Goku (Dragon Ball)
From the beloved, classic Dragon Ball series and in the decades and multiple anime since, Goku is a renowned, iconic hero not just for his strength, but also his friendliness and kindness that’s just as bottomless as his stomach. In the eyes of most anime connoisseurs, Goku is not just a hero among heroes, but the hero that all other heroes are compared to when it comes to who could even hold a candle to his abilities. Moreover, while Goku is pretty overpowered and definitely loves a good fight (often to a dangerous degree), he’s a cherished heroic character also because of his immeasurable love for his friends and food.
Saitama (One-Punch Man)
Many kids dream of becoming a superhero when they grow up. After training so rigorously for three years straight to the point of losing his hair, Saitama managed to achieve that dream. Now that he’s so strong he can defeat anything with a single punch, challenges have become not so challenging. In fact, they’ve become so easy to conquer that his once-beloved hobby has become a source of boredom. That doesn’t stop his fights from being thrilling, his human moments from being hilarious yet charming and relatable, and the impressive cast of fascinating supporting characters from carrying the excitement, and indeed the tension, in his absence. With intense action sequences and hilarious exploits, Saitama doesn’t lose his hair over even the most imposing villains. Well, at least metaphorically.
Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama (Mob Psycho 100)
What reserved, passive middle schooler Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama lacks in friends due to his distant, inexpressive demeanor he makes up for in pure unadulterated psychic power. Or at least, in theory. But as much as Mob tries to control his power by suppressing his emotions, his untapped potential fights to let his emotions run rampant, driving him towards exploding at 100% power capacity. From the same creator as One-Punch Man, it’s no wonder how Mob brings audiences a balance of both intense supernatural action and endearing comedy all rolled into one beloved, relatable character.
Alucard (Hellsing Ultimate)
Hellsing, headed by Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, is an organization that specializes in the supernatural extermination of creatures of darkness threatening humanity. However, even with a vast military armed with powerful weapons, there is one weapon that stands fathoms above any other that Integra prides herself on in wielding: the vampire Alucard.
While admittedly more of an anti-hero and being one of the very monsters the supernatural extermination organization intends to eliminate, Alucard presents a power that gives Hellsing the upper hand in any fight. Along with his immense vigor, you’re sure to enjoy Alucard’s character as much as he enjoys his work, as though killing a multitude of supernatural enemies was synonymous with an all-inclusive vacation to Disney World.
Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End)
While ten years is a huge amount of time for others, it’s but a drop in the bucket in Frieren’s extremely long lifespan of over a thousand. Upon disbanding after a decade-long quest to defeat the Demon King and returning to her everlasting hobby of traveling to collect spells, Frieren realizes how the time spent with her former companions truly impacted her. As she journeys beyond what was once a task completed to create and understand personal connections better, although she seems like just a cool, cute elf girl, it becomes clear that she’s actually a legendary mage with immense power. Said to have killed the most demons in history, she even earned the title “Frieren the Slayer”.
[RELATED: 10 Best Fantasy Anime if You Loved Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End]
Madoka Kaname (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
When junior high school student Madoka Kaname and her friend Sayaka Miki happen upon the cat-like magical creature Kyuubey, the contract it offers of being able to grant them each a wish in exchange for becoming magical girls to fight witches sounds too good to be true. In battling the surreal evil creatures, Madoka and Sayaka soon learn that the idea of becoming magical girls isn’t as it seems.
Madoka may be a magical girl, but with the series’ subversion to the genre and darker themes challenging conventions, it isn’t for the faint of heart. Facing monsters in visceral battle and learning the harsh reality of Kyuubey’s motives, Madoka must learn the true power her single wish can hold.
Haruhi Suzumiya (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
An eccentric schoolgirl with no interest in “ordinary” humans, Haruhi Suzumiya created and heads the SOS Brigade, a club that, although officially is meant to befriend aliens, time travelers, and espers, actually mainly serves as a form of entertainment at the behest of Haruhi’s whims. Although unknown to her, she has god-like abilities to alter, destroy, and reshape reality to suit her desires. So, with the looming threat of the destruction of existence, it’s believed that Haruhi becoming bored would be a very bad idea. Unbeknownst to her, the members Haruhi recruited for her club were precisely the kind of beings she wanted to meet, albeit sent by each of their respective higher-ups to prevent such a disaster.
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo)
There’s one hero who definitely stands above the rest in terms of both powerful fighting flair and slapstick eccentricity. When the world is attacked by the Chrome Dome Empire, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo isn’t afraid to stand up against the bald bad guys. As a child, Bo-bobo realized he could hear the voices of hair and began training to be a true master of the Fist of the Nose Hair. While his fighting style isn’t really a martial art, Bo-bobo prefers to “wig out” — “the art and philosophy of doing bizarre or unexpected things in order to… create attacks that either parody what they are up against or have nothing to do with”. Using his special follicle fighting style, Bo-bobo rebels against the depilated despotism and fights for hair justice.
Shinji Ikari (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
While Shinji Ikari faces monstrous creatures known as Angels by fighting back with the use of sentient “mecha” known as the Evangelion, he also fights to prevent the cataclysmic event known as Human Instrumentality. But when the world inevitably meets its Armageddon, it leaves only Shinji floating through his own consciousness.
Contemplating through introspection of his core purpose and reason for existence, Shinji comes to realize that he is not only ultimately the driving force of his own destiny, but through the realization of solipsism (the philosophical view that “the self is all that can be known to exist”), he becomes the driving force to affect, well, everything. The original ending to the series has definitely been the center of much speculation over the years, and Shinji himself has been a very relatable character to many a fan.
Dandy (Space Dandy)
“Space Dandy: he’s a dandy guy — in space. He combs the galaxy like his pompadour on the hunt for aliens. Planet after planet, he searches, discovering bizarre new creatures, both friendly and not. These are the spectacular adventures of Space Dandy and his brave space crew — in space.”
Spoiler Warning for the End of Space Dandy!
In a similar vein to Haruhi Suzumiya and Shinji Ikari, Dandy is way more overpowered than he realizes. However, this is mainly due to the Narrator being an actual God character in the series instead of just, well, a narrator. The Narrator, all along Dandy’s adventures, has manipulated the plot in order for things to turn out for the better, even if it had been implied that Dandy and his crew may have met their ends in a previous episode.
But in the end, it’s the Narrator who begins fading away as the universe is undone. Although the Narrator even gives Dandy the chance for himself to become God of the new universe, in typical Dandy form, he turns down the offer in favor of remaining in his human body in order to further enjoy frequenting his favorite intergalactic breastaurant, BooBies.
Who’s your favorite overpowered anime hero of all time? Let us know down in the comments what beloved character you think could possibly beat Goku!
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