The world of shōnen anime has had iconic and unforgettable characters for decades, to which anime fans can relate in terms of strength and resilience. There were Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto in terms of male characters…but even female characters, such as Boa Hancock in One Piece. Some of them are strong, some are not as much.
Therefore, the amount of strength of various shōnen anime characters is immense and needs to be studied at some point. Fans debate daily on who is the strongest female or male character. So, to calm your boiling spirits, here are the 10 Strongest Shōnen Characters, Ranked (your opinions might differ from this list).
10 Light Yagami
‘Death Note’
Light Yagami is the famous and beloved villain from the anime Death Note. He is well-known in the anime as Kira, which translated from Japanese means “killer.” This nickname was given to him by Detective L and the police since he was considered at first a mysterious killer who has the Death Note notebook in his hands and used to kill people. Light gets the notebook in the first place because the demon Ryuk makes him stumble into it accidentally. Consequently, he feels it’s his duty as a “god” to kill criminals for the good of the world…or to fulfill his own selfish, villainous goals.
However, Light would be powerless without the Death Note. But he has very highly skilled intelligence, often clashing with Detective L’s, and the duo try to outsmart one another. However, his desperate necessity for attention from the world makes him even weaker because the Task Force ends up catching up with him in the end.
Death Note (2006)
- Release Date
- October 21, 2007
- Cast
- Mamoru Miyano , Brad Swaile , Vincent Tong , Ryō Naitō , Trevor Devall
- Seasons
- 1
9 Shoyo Hinata
‘Haikyuu!!’
Shoyo Hinata is the decoy from the volleyball-themed sports anime Haikyuu!!. He has always dreamed of becoming a decoy for the volleyball team and worked hard to get where he is now. This is all thanks to the help of his teammates on the Karasuno volleyball team, but especially of his starting setter (also his closest best friend in the whole universe), Tobio Kageyama.
Hinata’s strengths are most definitely his phenomenal stamina, his jumping abilities, the attacking “quicks” alongside Kageyama, and his constant willpower. Let’s explore a bit in detail: he gets his stamina because he always commutes to school with his bike, and practices for hours. Because of the “quick” attacks, he discovered that he was able to do them in a moment of anger, with his eyes closed, after failing to be faithful in Kageyama’s tosses to him. But in the end, he becomes so much more skilled than any other decoy. And what about willpower? He is simply focused and hungry for power, specifically for the title of “Little Giant,” because of his short height.
Haikyuu!!
- Release Date
- April 5, 2014
- Cast
- Ayumu Murase , Kaito Ishikawa , Yu Hayashi , Satoshi Hino , Miyu Irino , Koki Uchiyama , Soma Saito , Nobuhiko Okamoto
- Seasons
- 4
- Creator(s)
- Haruichi Furudate
- Character(s)
- Shoyo Hinata , Tobio Kageyama , Ryunosuke Tanaka , Daichi Sawamura , Koshi Sugawara , Kei Tsukishima , Tadashi Yamaguchi , Yu Nishinoya
8 Bakugo Katsuki
‘My Hero Academia’
Bakugo Katsuki is one of the heroes in the famous anime My Hero Academia. He is very fiery, driven, and stubborn, with a hunger to overpower his enemies as much as he can. He is a student at U.A. and his biggest rival is the anime’s main lead, Izuku Midoriya (Deku). Every person enrolled in that school has a specific “Quirk,” which is a power that, with enough practice, can be skillfully used to defeat enemies. It’s developed during childhood, and Bakugo has one of the strongest ones: Explosion, which is coincidentally matched to his powerful personality.
Bakugo can use some power techniques from his Quirk to defeat the bad guys. One of them is the X Catapult, which Bakugo can perform in mid-air. This specific power is also called Explode-A-Pult, as Bakugo can grab the enemy with one arm, and the other is used to create explosions that destroy the enemy and send him flying. Another power is the Howitzer Impact. This specific power gives Bakugo the ability to use his Quirk to the maximum power, specifically putting himself in the air, and spinning extremely fast to create a powerful yet explosive tornado.
- Release Date
- April 3, 2016
- Cast
- Aoi Yuki , Ayane Sakura , Christopher R. Sabat , Yûki Kaji , Nobuhiko Okamoto , Luci Christian , David Matranga , Justin Briner , Kenta Miyake , Clifford Chapin , Daiki Yamashita
- Rating
- Seasons
- 7
- Franchise
- My Hero Academia
- Characters By
- Kohei Horikoshi
- Distributor
- FUNimation Entertainment
- Main Characters
- Tsuyu Asui, Katsuki Bakugo, Ochaco Uraraka, Izuku Midoriya, Shoto Todoroki, All Might
- Production Company
- Bones
- Story By
- Kōhei Horikoshi, Yōsuke Kuroda
- Number of Episodes
- 113
7 Monkey D. Luffy
‘One Piece’
Monkey D. Luffy is the captain of the Straw Hats Crew and has the goal of becoming the future King Of Pirates. He is the male lead of One Piece. His power comes from a Mi Devil Fruit, named Gomu Gomu when he was a kid. That is because he was lurking around his pirate mentor Red Hair Shanks’ loot, and ended up eating it, which gave him the power of elasticity.
His powers consist of stretching his body parts to the point of becoming elastic. With his recent Gear 5 power enhancement, he can use his imagination to bring objects up in the air. His physical strength ensures he can use his elasticity Gomu Gomu power at any speed he wants!
- Release Date
- October 20, 1999
- Cast
- Mayumi Tanaka , Kazuya Nakai , Akemi Okamura , Kappei Yamaguchi , Hiroaki Hirata , Ikue Ôtani , Yuriko Yamaguchi , Kazuki Yao , Chō
- Seasons
- 20
- Creator(s)
- Eiichiro Oda
- Writers
- Junki Takegami , Shoji Yonemura , Hirohiko Uesaka
- Franchise(s)
- One Piece
- Directors
- Kônosuke Uda , Junji Shimizu , Munehisa Sakai
6 Naruto Uzumaki
‘Naruto’
Naruto Uzumaki is the main character from the iconic old anime Naruto. He is a phenomenal ninja, with huge strength and physical abilities. He is a shinobi from a special lineage, so he can use chakra. Chakra is an energy that comes from various focal points of the human body and is part of many Buddhist traditions.
Naruto can use chakra in different techniques. One of them is the Rasengan technique, in which he can mold the chakra into a destructive ball to destroy his enemies. The other famous technique is Shadow Clone, in which Naruto can summon many clones by just using his chakra power. Furthermore, one other interesting thing is that Naruto can get energy from nature when needed, which makes him very powerful.
- Release Date
- October 3, 2002
- Cast
- Junko Takeuchi , Noriaki Sugiyama , Chie Nakamura , Kazuhiko Inoue , Hidekatsu Shibata , Yoichi Masukawa , Masashi Ebara , Ryôka Yuzuki
- Seasons
- 8
5 Hisoka Morow
‘Hunter x Hunter’
Hisoka Morow is a very peculiar yet very strong characterin the anime Hunter x Hunter. He has a very sadistic, manipulative personality and a distinctive aura (appearance) to his persona. He is known for being a member of the Phantom Troupe, a band of thieves who use their hunter/Nen abilities to hurt people.
In the first few seasons, he is considered a villain, but later becomes a supportive character for the main leads, Gon Freecs and Killua Zoldyck. Hisoka is well-known for his Bungee Gum ability, in which he can use various Nen power techniques with gum and rubber, making him one of the most skilled characters in Hunter x Hunter. This ability allows him to manipulate objects in mid-air and trap his opponents, as seen in his matches during the anime’s Yorknew City arc. He is one of the most controversial yet most powerful characters in the anime.
Hunter x Hunter
- Release Date
- October 16, 1999
- Cast
- Junko Takeuchi , Yuki Kaida , Kanako Mitsuhashi , Annika Odegard , Hozumi Gôda , Yoshikazu Nagano , Norihisa Mori , Eiji Takemoto
- Seasons
- 3
- Creator(s)
- Yoshihiro Togashi
WATCH ON NETFLIX
4 Roronoa Zoro
‘One Piece’
Roronoa Zoro is the first person that Monkey D. Luffy persuades to join his Straw Hats Crew in the iconic anime One Piece. Reluctant at first, he then becomes Luffy’s biggest supporter and best friend. Zoro has a stern and distinctive personality that differentiates him from the rest of the pirate crew. He always distances himself and is known for losing his temper too easily.
Zoro is one of the best swordsmen in the anime, being able to cut large objects with incredible precision, even if he doesn’t have a left eye. Furthermore, he has phenomenal physical abilities and is considered one of the top three fighters in the crew. One of them is being able to lift an entire building, which showcases an incredible amount of stamina. He is even very skilled in hand-to-hand combat!
3 Ran Mouri
‘Detective Conan’
Ran Mouri (Rachel Moore in the Funimation dub) is one of the strongest female anime characters seen in the 90s/early 2000s. She is the main female lead of the anime Detective Conan (known as Case Closed internationally) and is very determined, intelligent, and kind. She is the childhood best friend (and love interest) of Shinichi Kudo, the main male lead, yet the daughter of famous investigator Kogoro Mouri and “Queen Of Ice” attorney Eri Kisaki.
Ran is known for having a black belt in Karate, given to her by internationally famous martial artist, Makoto Kyogoku. Her strengths are mostly physical, as she was able to dodge a bullet and attack the owner of the pistol in Movie 14 (seen above). Furthermore, she was seen defeating various criminals in hand-to-hand combat. Ran’s most notable physical ability is named Wall Level (that mostly being her attack potency) since she was able to punch a hole in a wall with only her bare hands. She is one of the most phenomenal female anime characters out there!
- Release Date
- April 13, 2018
- Cast
- Minami Takayama , Kappei Yamaguchi , Wakana Yamazaki , Yukiko Iwai , Ken’ichi Ogata , Rikiya Koyama , Megumi Hayashibara , Tôru Furuya
- Writers
- Gosho Aoyama , Takeharu Sakurai
- Director
- Yuzuru Tachikawa
- Runtime
- 115 Minutes
- Character(s)
- Edogawa Conan , Kudo Shinichi , Mouri Ran , Ayumi Yoshida , Dr. Agasha Hiroshi , Kogoro Mouri , Haibara Ai , Rei Furuya
WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO
2 Son Goku
‘Dragon Ball’
Son Goku is one of the most powerful male beings in anime EVER. He is the main lead of the famous anime Dragon Ball. He was born as a Saiyan and has very good martial arts training. Goku is known for having a kind-hearted and determined personality, but it changes throughout the anime, mostly because of the losses and traumatic experiences he faces.
Goku’s powers are superhuman, filled with immense physical abilities. His physical fighting techniques are insane: an example can be seen early in the anime when he is seen using either closed-fist, open-palm thrust, or two-finger jabbing assaults while training with his grandfather. Other best-known Saiyan power techniques are Kaio-ken and Dragon Fist. The Kaio-ken technique enforces his physical abilities and Saiyan powers to the maximum, but he nearly died when using it once, so he stopped using it when he became Super Saiyan. Instead, Dragon Fist is when Goku can create a gold serpentine-like dragon while charging his body to the maximum Saiyan power, and then trap his opponent in it to destroy him.
Dragon Ball Z
- Release Date
- September 13, 1996
- Cast
- Christopher Sabat , Scott McNeil , Sean Schemmel , Brian Drummond
- Seasons
- 9
1 Killua Zoldyck
‘Hunter x Hunter’
Killua Zoldyck is most definitely the strongest Hunter, with the most immense Nen abilities, and phenomenal physical strength. He is one of the main leads of the anime Hunter x Hunter, alongside Gon Freecs. He joins the Hunter Exam in the first episode of the anime after explaining he ran away from home because he didn’t want to be part of his family’s assassin league.
Because of his past physical abuse endured by his family’s harsh assassin training, Killua has very strong physical strength, as stated beforehand. He can open a 16-ton gate, lift heavy objects, and has immense stamina. He developed high resistance to elevated pain, electricity, and poison during his assassination training. Furthermore, he has impeccable speed, even better than Gon. When he acquires his Nen, with the title of Transmuter, his techniques are two: one is to create thunderbolts of lightning from his fingers, and the other is to run very fast, throwing electricity into his opponent’s body in a flash, so this person can’t counterattack before it comes.
