The Deadliest Anime Character Of All Time May Not Be Who You Think

Fiction is riddled with deadly characters. From comic book super villains to battle-worn fantasy warriors to powerful celestial abominations, the human mind can truly mine the depths of its imagination for heroes and villains that are far beyond the capabilities of mortal — and even physical — constraints. And anime might actually have some of the most dangerous characters in all of fiction. 

While "anime" is essentially just a broad term for animation from Japan which consists of many genres — ranging from slice-of-life to horror to romance to everything in-between — action is still one of the most popular anime genres, at least internationally. Furthermore, when talking about action, anime is also at the forefront of the artform as artists utilize the animated medium to render movement and power as divine spectacle ... especially when depicting the effects of deadly characters taking out their opponents in exciting and unique ways.

There are anime characters who can kill you with just a flick of their pen, decimate gods with a single punch, and throw galaxies like Frisbees. But who is the most deadly character in all of anime, and possibly all of fiction? Read on if you want to find out — it might not be who you think it is.

"Death Note" is an anime show that ran from 2006-2007, based on the manga of the same name, with a basic but intriguing "Twilight Zone"-esque premise. A young, misanthropic student named Light Yagami finds a magical book that literally has the words "Death Note" written on the cover (in English, due to that being the world's most globally-recognized language). Light is obviously skeptical at first, but writes a name in the book anyway ... and that person indeed dies. This also summons a monstrous-looking Shinigami (or "death spirit") named Ryuk, who explains the rules of the Death Note and coaxes Light to continue using the book to kill more people.

Luckily for Ryuk, Light is a budding crypto-fascist and the son of a police officer (which makes sense, given his overly-simplistic views on criminality). Going by the alias Kira, Light exponentially gains a massive god complex, due to the power over life and death he wields with the flick of a pen. Light, of course, conveniently ignores the systemic pressures that actually lead to crime, instead killing almost indiscriminately to feel morally superior (which quickly becomes outright hypocrisy as he starts killing simply to protect his own identity).

Admittedly, Light's deadliness is only contingent on his access to the titular "Death Note," but he is nonetheless the main wielder we see in the anime. In another example, is Tony Stark dangerous, or just his armor? Either way, Light is on the list for having a menacing weapon ... and using it skillfully.

"Jojo's Bizarre Adventure" is one of the most stylish anime out there, and is probably known more for its unique, slickly cool aesthetic than anything else. The anime, based on the manga of the same name, follows the Joestar family, whose first and last names can usually be shortened to "JoJo" (such as "Jonathan Joestar" and "Joseph Joestar"), and who all have — as promised in the title — bizarre adventures spanning multiple generations.

In the "JoJo" universe, people usually have names based on bands — such as one of the series' main villains, Dio Brando, who's named after the heavy metal band Dio (itself named after former Black Sabbath and Rainbow frontman Ronnie James Dio) — and can often control supernatural creatures called "Stands" (sometimes also named after rock bands).

One of the deadliest "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" villains is Cioccolata, whose supernatural Stand is a creature named "Green Day," that is indeed named after the '90s pop-punk band. Green Day's power, however, is not singing nasally while spouting simple lyrics with ineffective (if well-intentioned) political posturing. It's a large, gaseous green creature who emits a deadly toxic mold that rots people's flesh off, which can then spread really quickly. Green Day's toxic mold ability has even canonically taken out entire cities before, making Cioccolata and his Green Day Stand one of the deadliest characters in the entire show ... and anime in general.

"Naruto" is a popular, long-running anime that first debuted as a manga in 1999, and was later adapted into an anime in 2002. The manga and anime both follow the eponymous goofy protagonist Naruto Uzumaki as he trains to become a ninja master. However, in the "Naruto" universe, ninjas also have super powers to help them fight, meaning almost every main character in the series has some sort of supernatural ability. Naruto, for instance, gains many powers throughout the series, including the Shadow Clone technique, which allows him to duplicate himself, and his Nine Tails Chakra Mode, which allows him to heal and transform into a glowing beast.

The original "Naruto" manga is split into two parts with a time-skip, and the anime does the same. The first anime series retains the title "Naruto," while the second series is titled "Naruto: Shippuden." In "Naruto: Shippuden," Naruto and his fellow ninjas fight off many threats to protect their ninja village ... and, eventually, the world. This includes fighting off the deadly — and stylishly-dressed — antagonist, Madara, who was first introduced via flashbacks in the earlier series. 

Madara himself is extremely powerful, rivaling the level of a god, as he combines amazing combat prowess with a litany of powerful magical abilities, such as regeneration, enhanced speed, strength, reflexes, and much, much more. He is also exceptionally intelligent, and thus a master of manipulation and strategy. In a world that's already chock-full of over-powered magic ninjas, Madara is one of the most over-powered of them all ... making him exceedingly deadly.

1988's cyberpunk masterpiece "Akira," directed by Katsuhiro Otomo — based on the 1982 manga of the same name, which Otomo also wrote and illustrated — is considered not just one of the greatest Japanese anime films of all time, but also one of the greatest animated films of all time, period. It is also cited for helping to bring anime into the mainstream in the U.S, after earlier, less-acclaimed 1960s imports like "Astro Boy" and "Speed Racer" were dubbed, syndicated and relegated to Saturday morning children's programming. 

Meanwhile, "Akira" showed not only that Japanese animation was something special, but — alongside American contemporaries like 1981's "Heavy Metal" and the films of Ralph Bakshi — it helped shift the perspective that animation has to be kid-friendly or Disney-ified (a perception that exists to this day).

"Akira" itself is set in a dystopian Neo-Tokyo in the (then-future) 2019, after a psychic child named Akira destroyed the original Tokyo decades prior. Later, a teenage biker punk named Tetsuo gets captured and experimented on by the government, which wants to weaponize his own latent psychic ability. Eventually, Tetsuo — himself now dangerous due to the government experimentation — finds Akira's remains. The film ends with a briefly resurrected Akira transporting Tetsuo to another plane of existence by creating a new universe ... and destroying Tokyo once again in the process, cementing Akira's place as one of the deadliest anime characters.

"My Hero Academia" is set in a world where 80% of the world's population has superpowers, which are called "Quirks" in the series. Some of these Quirks are pretty standard stuff — super-strength, invulnerability, flight, shooting fireballs — while others are a little more unique, like shooting sticky purple balls, yelling out physical representations of onomatopoeias, and being anthropomorphic animals (which, to be fair, has precedence in superhero comic books).

Some Quirks, however, are particularly deadly. For instance, there's the antihero Stain, who can turn his opponent immobile if he draws blood from them. There's also Meat, a supervillain who uses his super-strength to murder indiscriminately. There's even All-Might, in his prime, who is technically pretty deadly if he ever decided to turn evil since he has practically all of Superman's physical attributes minus flight.

However, the most fearsome power in "My Hero Academia" has to belong to main antagonist Tomura Shigaraki. His Quirk is called Decay ... and it's exactly what it sounds like. Shigaraki can make anything he touches crumble into dust. As he becomes more powerful, he's even able to make buildings and entire cities decay at will. He is also the head of the League of Villains and the protege of All-for-One, one of the scariest anime villains of all time, who took power when the population gained Quirks generations ago (although fans debate the entire "My Hero Academia" timeline). Worse, Shigaraki's been genetically enhanced — to make his Quirk that much deadlier.

The often untold truth of "One-Punch Man" is that it began as a joke web-comic created by an artist who goes by the pseudonym "One," before later being adapted into a manga, and then an anime, all of which are a satire of Shonen anime. The term "Shonen" can be translated to "boy's comics" that (generally) focus on action and martial arts, while de-emphasizing things like romance (though not necessarily devoid of it). The genre is most exemplified by the aforementioned "Dragon Ball" series and other Shonen shows influenced by "Dragon Ball."

"One-Punch Man" seeks in particular to satirize the Shonen genre's frequent over-emphasis on "power levels," and the inevitable narrative dead ends that come with heroes being too godlike and powerful. Saitama's superhero name kind of says it all: He can literally kill any enemy with just one blow. And not just normal people; he can also gorily make monsters, demons, kaiju, and even gods explode with his iconic one-punch move. 

A lot of the comedy comes from how boastful a villain will be — especially after decimating many other heroes beforehand — just for Saitama to inevitably take them out with his single punch. In fact, Saitama is actually annoyed that he can't get involved in a good fight. He wants a challenge, but keeps killing every opponent he comes up against — no matter how strong or powerful they are.

Simon the Digger is the protagonist of "Gurren Lagann," an anime that ran for one season in 2007, based on the manga that debuted the same year and followed by two movies released in 2009. Simon starts the series humbly enough as a digger in a post-apocalyptic subterranean society, living underground after a devastating alien invasion has ravaged the planet. One day, Simon finds a mech — the eponymous "Gurren Lagann" — that he pilots to fight back against the aliens and any other threats to Earth. 

Afterwards, the show proceeds like a semi-standard, if well-animated, mecha anime — that is until the end, when Simon pilots a mech larger than the known universe called the Super Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann (STTGL), and eventually gets the power to throw galaxies at his enemies like discuses.

Obviously, the ability to hurl galaxies is extremely deadly. While most of the characters on this list have exceptionally dangerous powers, few are able to decimate their enemies on such a large, cosmic scale. And, unlike Light and the Death Note, the galaxy-throwing mech in "Gurren Lagann" is directly connected to Simon's fighting spirit, so only he can really control it the way he does. To be clear, when Simon fights in the show, it's in an unpopulated pocket dimension ... but that doesn't make him any less powerful or dangerous.

While Goku and Vegeta hog the spotlight in the "Dragon Ball" fandom — and for good reason, since they're badass characters — they are nonetheless far from the most powerful characters in the series. In fact, the most powerful entity in all of "Dragon Ball" might be Grand Zeno, the Omni-King, first introduced in the semi-recent "Dragon Ball Super." 

While the "Dragon Ball Super" series is technically a direct sequel to "Dragon Ball GT," some fans nonetheless argue over whether "Dragon Ball GT" is even canon, or was destroyed and replaced by "Super" as a "Dragon Ball Z" sequel series. This is because creator Akira Toriyama had stepped down from the "Dragon Ball" franchise after "DBZ," but Toei studios continued without him for "GT" (outside of some consultation work). However, Toriyama returned with "Dragon Ball Super," which contradicts some previous "GT" lore.

Regardless, "Dragon Ball: Super" has a simple, but effective, narrative hook. Essentially, it's a multiverse story where various "Dragon Ball" characters from different universes fight each other. Meanwhile, Grand Zeno, the Omni-King, is introduced as the god-like Controller of the Multiverse. This makes him not just one of the most powerful characters in the "Dragon Ball" universe, but one of the most powerful characters in all "Dragon Ball" universes. We even find out that, to prove his power and fighting prowess, a frustrated Zeno destroyed a handful of universes, with the death toll requiring scientific notation to calculate.

While "deadly" certainly isn't the first adjective you'd think of when describing Usagi Tsukino, aka the eponymous Sailor Moon from the cute magical girl anime series "Sailor Moon," that's precisely what she is. Admittedly, her inclusion on this list begs the question: what exactly is deadly? Is it the body count ... or is it simply the ability to carry out deadly consequences that matters? For instance, is John Wick any less deadly, even if he's retired and not actively killing? 

That's a valid question, since — if we look at the potential of raw, deadly power — Sailor Moon is up there at the top of the list of deadliest anime characters of all time. Even if, like a retired John Wick, Sailor Moon doesn't necessarily act on those abilities.

"Sailor Moon" debuted in 1991 as a manga written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi, before being adapted into an anime the next year that ran for multiple seasons and launched various spin-offs. Usagi begins the story as a typical — if a bit clumsy — high school student, before being granted her Sailor Moon powers by a magical talking black cat named Luna. Usagi finds other Sailor scouts to help her during the series, such as fan favorite Sailor Mercury. However, Usagi's cosmic powers eventually become so great that she can destroy entire dimensions. In the manga, she practically becomes a goddess of infinite power, which is alluded to in the anime.

Now we've come to arguably the most deadly anime character ever: Yogiri Takatou from "My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me!" And that admittedly overlong title (usually shortened to just "Instant Death") nonetheless kind of sums it up. 

In the anime, Yogiri is a dry, deadpan, and lazy student who finds himself getting lost in a fantasy world, trying to find a way back home. Meanwhile, he has adventures, meets new companions, and fights enemies along the way. However, Yogiri's power is what it says in the title ... he can make anyone die instantly. Literally. Even Saitama has to physically touch his enemy to kill them with his iconic one punch, but Yogiri just has to think about it and his enemies instantly die. These aren't just regular humans, either, but also powerful monsters, demons, celestial beings, and even literal gods. There's nothing more potent than that, really. 

The citizens of the fantasy land Yogiri finds himself in are lucky he isn't bloodthirsty, as he tries to avoid killing people unless he absolutely has to (usually when his or his friends' lives are in danger). Furthermore, later in the series, it's revealed that Yogiri is a horrific eldritch being. So there's that, too.