While there is some charm to a training montage, it seems that many people find watching a character train in order to get more powerful to be boring these days. Instead, many anime series are now choosing to just make the main character ridiculously overpowered right from episode one, so much so that they can crush every obstacle that they come across. This allows the anime to faster progress to the meat of the plot, but it does leave something wanting in terms of character development. Well, we do enjoy our immediate gratification, don’t we?
If wildly overpowered anime characters just stomping everything in their path is your jam, we got some anime recommendations for that.
Best Anime That Start With an Overpowered Main Character
One Punch Man
Would it be wrong of me to say One Punch Man really kicked off the trope of just having the main character be immediately overpowered from the first episode? Almost assuredly, but still. One Punch Man takes the idea of wanting to be a hero, training hard to become strong, becoming the strongest, and then being bored with the lack of challenging fights.
It’s right there in the title. He can beat opponents in one punch, and his apathy towards the hero life has taken over. Which means he possesses a lower hero rank than others and lives a low key life, fighting monsters and often holding back when he does. However, when he puts on his serious face, no one is surviving one punch.
The Misfit of Demon King Academy
What do you do when you are the demon king who has conquered the entire land and is the most powerful person in the world? Reincarnate. The Misfit of Demon King Academy follows that demon king who reincarnates, grows himself up from child to teen with magic, and then attends a magic academy only to find that this world of peace has greatly diminished magic capability. This means his current magic easily trounces his peers, but don’t worry, problems from the past are still around to give him some sport.
The Demon Lord is Reborn as a Typical Nobody
Hey look, another demon lord reincarnating into the future because he was unparalleled, but this time, also because he was lonely.
This series follows a demon lord who reincarnates into the future in order to live normally and make some friends. Unfortunately, even though he tries his best to hide it, his magic capabilities are still wildly above everyone else, and worse yet, it turns out his social skills are somewhat lacking. Unlike the similar Misfit of Demon King Academy, this show is more comedy, but still has plenty of action to let him flex his muscles.
The Strongest Sage With The Weakest Crest
While not about a demon lord this time, this series follows a very powerful magic user who reached the maximum potential of his crest, something that dictates your power from birth. He craves a different crest and just decides to be reborn in order to get it. He succeeds, but finds out that demons have infiltrated humanity and slandered his desired crest as super weak and undesirable. He, of course, proves them immensely wrong immediately in front of his new school peers.
The Irregular at Magic High School
I’ve heard criticism of The Irregular At Magic High School which have called the main character Tatsuya a “Jesus-kun” type of character, and it is pretty apt. He is not as bred for perfection at magic like his sister, but he still manages to trounce literally everyone with what magic capabilities he does have combined with his physical training. He is also handsome, kind, and in every way a perfect, wildly flawless person. Regardless of that, the way he combines his magic with unexpected physical and mental abilities is interesting in that everyone in the show is measured by certain standards, and he circumvents that in creative new ways.
Sword Art Online
This is an old one now, but still quite true. Kirito, because he was a beta tester for the original Sword Art Online game, was able to greatly succeed initially in the game and it gave him further edge when everyone was trapped there. That was a believable excuse for his power, but as you continue to watch Sword Art Online in the next arcs and seasons, he doesn’t have that insider knowledge that would make him powerful, but is wildly powerful none-the-less.
I’m Quitting Heroing
Imagine being a hero so strong that you don’t even need compatriots. You go out, defeat a demon lord and their generals all by yourself, and peace returns to the land. However, what use is such a hero in peacetime? No use, and furthermore, might even be a threat.
That’s what happens in this series. Humanity pushed him out because of his fearful amount of power, so he decides to go join the Demon Lord and rebuild her army back better. Of course, while it sounds like he went straight evil, the demons reason for invading is not quite as evil as one would think and the entire series is really quite light-hearted except for the backstories.
Skeleton Knight in Another World
As is the trend, a random guy gets reincarnated into a new, game-inspired world. He is excited to live a nice and happy life, but since he is a undead for some reason, he deems that humanity won’t accept him. Luckily, he is wearing magnificent armor to hide his appearance and decides to just take small, low-key quests for money to life.
Of course, as you discover, his natural power greatly eclipses even the most hardened warrior or talented mage in the world. So he is inadvertently overpowered and it ends with him getting caught up in unraveling an elven slave trade and all the intrigue working around that.
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
In a bit of a twist on the whole isekai thing, Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero poses a world in which many kids were sent to other worlds, and eventually came back. Many of them brought things with them, but this main character brought back the daughter of the demon lord he defeated and then pretends that she is his sister.
What follows is a school life with him still having his fantastic magical powers. These powers were strong in the other world and still just as strong in this world, which has given him a huge ego. The series is also an ecchi show, so be ready to see him use these powers for mischief as well as battle.
Cautious Hero: The Hero is Overpowered But Overly Cautious
While the title clearly states the hero is overpowered, this comedy series takes the route of giving him one inconvenient flaw. His flaw is that he takes too much time to prepare. He could go in there half-cocked and rely on his power and skill, but prefers to make every possible preparation for every possible scenario. It ensures success, but frustrates everyone in a hurry.
Wise Man’s Grandchild
In order to not make things boring, many series adopt the stance that they can make an overpowered character, but they should at least have one flaw for him. In this series, it decides that the one and only flaw with Shin, a boy reborn into a fantasy world and found by a powerful mage and hermit, is that he doesn’t have social skills. His father taught him splendid magic skills, but when it comes to go out in the world, he is also splendidly socially stunted. Of course, this still manages to charm pretty much everyone he meets.
The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace
Hundreds of years ago, mankind was threatened by demons, so after hearing their prayers, the gods sent battle deities to defeat them. Even though the demons were defeated, the deities remained. While some of the older ones keep the younger deities trained up, peace has lead to boredom, apathy, and other oddness. This series has a plot that it follows, but much of the fun of it is seeing how peace times have twisted wildly powerful individuals.
Overlord
The story of Overlord follows a guy who is suddenly in his MMO for real as his in-game character. He is the leader of a powerful guild, but all his guildmates had left the game, so it was just him being a supremely powerful late-game character with the NPCs he created come to life.
He sort of also accidentally suggests that they should conquer the world, and they start to. However, while he possesses the power to subjugate most everything, the series takes the stance that might does not always make right, and it follows him as he employs more crafty approaches towards conquering. However, yo do get to see him really flex some of his skills over the course of this beloved series.
Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody
This is perhaps an example of an overpowered character handled poorly. The series follows a game developer who works himself to death and wakes up in one of his games. Having developer knowledge of the game, he immediately is able to take advantage of advanced abilities, and within the first episode he has started a harem that is attracted to his immense battle capabilities. That’s it, there’s no flaws to him. He overcomes battles if not through sheer power alone, then by thinking of a unique way to use his power.
Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor
Taking place in a magic school, this series follows the substitute teacher Glenn Radars whose lackadaisical attitude towards teaching puts him at odds with his very serious students. However, while he is laid-back and seems like a slacker, what his students don’t know, but come to realize, is he is a brilliant mage. However, he is also one with a very dark past that puts into question his qualifications to teach.
Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town?
This series adds a fun twist in explaining as to why the main character is overpowered. It follows a group of heroes who beat the dangerous last dungeon of their world, then settled there. As such, their descendants, growing up in that tough environment, are all very strong. A kid, who is the weakest of that village, seeks to grow stronger, wants to attend school, but the area of that school is essentially the starter zone. If you enjoy watching some happy-go-lucky kid inadvertently stomp everyone with magnificent abilities, then this is for you. That set up is also much of the comedy as well.
In The Land of Leadale
One final game-based isekai for the road. This one has a girl getting into a VRMMO in the hospital, only to have her die and be transported into that world hundreds of years after she played. She finds no immediate other player characters, but tries to sort out what has happened. As with any MMO, you can fully expect a player character to have the magnificent abilities of a god when compared to all the other NPCs.
Do you have more anime recommendations where the main character is overpowered right from the start? Let fans know in the comments section below.
