Most of us started watching anime because of the crazy fights and transformations of the characters, and both of them led to epic power ups for not only the heroes but the villains as well.
These iconic power-ups lead to power scaling debates, their designs, and their impact on the show. This article will look at the most iconic anime power boosts of all time.
Recently, after Bleach’s return, we have been getting many new powerups to pay homage to the most iconic anime power ups. Let’s go through the most iconic ones.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Stands
JoJo’s is one of the long-running and iconic shows. The first two parts have Hamon as the primary power system, but from part 3, we go to the iconic Stands.
The mega-creative writing from Araki makes most of the stands pop out, and every part of the stands becomes more bizarre and creative.
The most iconic powerups in the series must be Jotaro Kujo’s Star Platinum The World.
During his fight with Dio, when all hope is lost, Jotaro finally uses his iconic “so, it’s the same type of stand as Star Platinum” and starts using the enemy stand’s ability mid-fight, which allows him to be victorious.
The second iconic powerup comes from Giorno Giovanna’s stand, Gold Experience; in his fight against Diavolo, after getting the stand arrow, Giorno was able to evolve his stand to Gold Experience Requiem, which is the most robust stand ever.
Bleach’s Bankai
The word Bankai is iconic, just like the Rasengan, Kamehameha, and Gomu-Gomu techniques. After the recent return of Bleach after more than a decade with the Thousand Year Blood War arc, we’ve been reminded of how iconic Bleach’s powerups are.
Just in the TYBW anime, we have gotten to see so many new Bankai and even those Bankai that were never in the manga, too.
The list of people getting a bankai or a new version of it in the TYBW arc alone is Yamamoto, Renji, Rukia, Rose, Shinji, Urahara, Mayuri, Komomura, Shunsui, Toshiro, Zaraki, Senjumaru and Ichigo.
After finally realizing his incredible powers and how to make them coexist inside him, Ichigo finally achieved his true dual-wielded Bankai, allowing him to use all of his Shinigami, Hollow, and Quincy powers.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Edward’s Sacrifice
Fans consider Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood one of the best anime ever. The tragic but wholesome tale of the Elric brothers, where both of them lose and sacrifice themselves to bring their dead mother back.
After promising his little brother Alphonse to bring his body back no matter what, Edward becomes a state alchemist alongside his brother Alphonse as his partner.
Throughout their journey, they encounter strong foes, have many near-death experiences, and discover how the whole country’s leadership is corrupt and the main villain is behind it.
In the final fight, the last villain, Father, is really overpowered. Edward has to sacrifice his alchemy to beat Father to save not only the whole country but also his brother’s body, which was his main goal from the start.
Hunter x Hunter Gon’s Sacrifice
Hinter x Hunter has one of the most balanced power systems in any anime. At the start of the Chimera Ant arc, Gon is reunited with his savior, Kite, and goes on the Chimera ant hunt alongside Killua.
During their journey, the 3 of them encounter one of the Royal Guards, Neferpitou, which results in Killua knocking out Gon and running away while Kite is killed protecting them. Gon was heartbroken at how weak he was and trained for two months even when he had no nen for a month.
During the invasion at the palace, Gon alone went to face Pitou and made her heal Kite. Even though Pitou was far more potent than him, Gon’s intense aura kept her at bay, and she agreed to heal Kite, which was a lie.
After knowing Kite is dead, Gon goes into despair and sacrifices all his nen to kill Pitou, which leads to Gon losing not only his nen but his body getting destroyed, and the viewers get to see Togashi’s masterful writing.
One Piece Luffy’s Gear Transformations
The most iconic power-up in One Piece has to be Luffy’s Gear transformations. Since most of the powerups in One Piece aren’t as substantial as other shows, Luffy’s gear stands out the most visually or power level-wise.
The first time Luffy used his gears was in the Ennies Lobby arc, where he not only used Gear 2nd but Gear 3rd as well, to take down the World Government’s top assassin, Rob Lucci.
The downside of using Gear 2nd and 3rd was that both of them shortened his lifespan. But post-time-skip with Gear 4th’s multiple variants, Luffy utilizes Haki to negate that downside.
His Boundman focuses on the attack, his Snakeman focuses on speed, and Tankman focuses on defense.
But with the introduction of Gear 5 and the reveal that Luffy has a mythical zoan devil fruit called the Sun God Nika, Luffy has the power of imagination, and some might even argue that he can now use Toon Force like cartoon characters.
Naruto’s Nine-Tailed Fox
From episode one, we learned about the Nine-Tails and how Naruto was treated because of it Kurama.
But that did not stop Naruto from turning his weakness into strength. Even though it took a lot of time, his hardships finally paid off, and he achieved his goal.
At the start, he was not able to control the Nine-Tails chakra at all, which also stunted his chakra usage. Eventually, Naruto learned Sage Mode and later befriended the Nine-Tails Fox Kurama.
He has access to almost unlimited chakra and super regeneration by using the Nine-Tails’ powers.
This allowed Naruto to hold own against villains like Obito, Ten-Tail Madara and Kaguya Otsustuki. In the end, Naruto brought peace to the Shinobi world and broke the cycle of hatred (until Boruto).
Pokemon Evolutions
Pokemon is the most successful franchise in the world. People who don’t know about anime at least know about Pokemon, whether they watched the anime or played the games.
The trademark and iconic aspect of Pokemon anime is the evolution of Pokemon; whether in the anime when Charmeleon evolved into Charizard to save Ash or in the games, when trainers evolve their Pokemon through battling and leveling up.
Pokemon evolutions have been an icon for almost 25 years now since you not only get to see them in the anime, but you can experience them in the games, too.
Dragon Ball Super Saiyans
Without question, the most iconic anime power ups have to be the Super Saiyan transformations. Whether it was the Super Saiyan transformation against Frieza, Super Saiyan 2 versus Cell, or Super Saiyan 3 with Buu, all are just legendary.
These transformations are the closest thing we have that would have broken the internet like one transformation did back in 2018.
The iconic transformations are not limited to hair color changing, but an immense increase in power level. Another notable power up is the fusion between the two characters, which givers birth to a new person with incredibly power.
In the manga and anime, we get character-exclusive transformations like Goku’s Ultra Instinct and Vegeta’s Ultra Ego. In the latest movie, we also saw Gohan’s new transformation called Gohan Beast.