Anime is awash with weapons, but not all of them are particularly remarkable or memorable. No one fondly recalls the many times the lowly kunai saved the day in Naruto. No, no. They remember Zabuza’s big sword even if it was just in one rather short arc. Now being a big weapon doesn’t necessarily mean it is powerful or should become an icon, but there are many ways that an anime weapon can ascend to legend.
I tried not to double up on series on this list. Otherwise we’d just be talking about Zanpakutos this whole time. So this list is strictly “one entry per series,” though we’ll talk about some honorable mentions in that entry too.
Best Anime Weapons
The Dominator from Psycho-Pass
There are quite a few large caliber handguns in anime, but none quite like the Dominator. What separates this gun from its peers is the fact that it essentially fact-checks the person it is aimed at. The Dominator reads the psychological data of a person it is aimed at. If it deems they are likely to commit a crime, only then can it be fired. It also has both lethal and non-lethal ammo variants, but it does suffer from smart device problems by being unable to work if not linked with the Sibyl System.
Dragon Slayer from Berserk
It’s too big to be called a sword. Too big, too thick, too heavy, and too rough. It was more like a hunk of iron that can cleave demons from tits to toes, even when used one-handedly.
Samehada from Naruto
Naruto is a show that is remembered for its jutsus, not it its weapons. However, a notable exception is the interesting case of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist Village who all carry interesting, powerful blades. The most terrifying of these blades is Samehada, a sentient blade wielded by Kisame, a traitor to the Village Hidden in the Mist. Even as an already greatsword, it stretches and extends, shredding anything that touches the scales it is covered in.
Scissor Blade from Kill la Kill
Ah, it is interesting how many people realized that a pair of scissors, once separated, could indeed serve as two separate blades. It wasn’t a big leap to see that one side of a scissors blade wielded by Ryuuko and think the other side of it was going to come into play eventually. Furthermore, as a fighting fashion show, scissors as weapons are surprisingly apt.
Tessaiga from Inuyasha
Unlike other shows in its genre, Inuyasha is a show that is just as notable for its weapons as it is for its powers. Tessaiga, wield by the titular Inuyasha is perhaps the most iconic. Of course, that status is cemented by the fact that he yells that name near every time he draws the sword. It’s big, it can wind slash, and it was made from his father’s fang. Inuyasha’s half-brother also has a complimentary sword that heals instead of cuts, much to his chagrin.
Hiraikotsu, the giant boomerang wielded by Sango, is also pretty notable. As is the Banryuu, a sword shown to take several normal humans to carry it, but wielded by Bankotsu single-handedly.
Ea, Sword of Rupture from The Fate/Stay Series
Sure, Excalibur is kind of the face of the Fate series, but Ea is the distinctly evil flare of it. This is the sword of a ruler, for a ruler, and wielded by the ultimate ruler, Gilgamesh. A weapon born before even the concept of a sword existed. It is a sword rife with ominous lore and legend, but what does it actually do? Well, it kind of tears the fabric of reality, leaving behind a state of nothingness on whatever it hit. The one downside to the blade is it is kind of time-consuming to use it sometimes.
Death Note from Death Note
Perhaps a notebook is not the most menacing weapon, but it is one of the weapons with the highest kill count on this list. All you need to do is write down a name…
Cross Punisher from Trigun
While the AGL Arms pistols carried by ideologically opposed brothers Vash and Knives should be the icon of Trigun, A giant rifle that looks like a cross and is carried by a priest steals the show with pure style points.
As a side note, Milly pulling out a minigun on occasion is less stylish in design, but just as beloved.
Excalibur from Soul Eater
As about half the characters in Soul Eater can turn into weapons, you would expect some of them on this list. Certainly dual guns Liz and Patty are interesting companions, and Soul is powerful and titular. However, the most iconic weapon from Soul Eater is, without any doubt, the legendary Excalibur.
Because he is legendarily annoying, you fool.
(Ragnarok is pretty dope, too.)
Zangetsu from Bleach
Zangetsu in any form is perhaps the least visually enjoyable weapon in Bleach – a series of visually enjoyable weapons. However, it is the most iconic of the series as it is carried by the main character. At the height of Bleach fever, there was rarely an anime fan who didn’t recognize Zangetsu big ol’ cleaver shikai form.
As I said before, Bleach is the anime series for people that like cool weapons. I’m personally a big fan of Renji’s Zabimaru and Ikkaku’s Hozukimaru, even though they aren’t perhaps as powerful as something like Yamamoto’s Ryujin Jakka. They just look cool, okay?
Yoru from One Piece
Causal and non-One Piece fans know the series for the various Devil Fruit powers. However, as a series of significant girth, of course there are legendary weapons littered throughout it. Yoru, this gigantic, sinister, cross-shaped blade wielded by Dracule Mihawk is one not to be forgotten. It craves a master wielder and can cleave ships with ease, though it is simply augmenting Mihawk’s skill.
While Supreme Grade Blades like Yoru, Ace, and Murakumogiri win in terms of power, perhaps Zoro’s three swords are arguably more iconic to One Piece due to how they are all wielded simultaneously.
Busterman Sword from Fairy Tail
If there were an award for biggest anime sword, it would in fact not go to the Dragon Slayer. It would go to the Busterman Sword hidden in the unassuming, weapon-sparse Fairy Tail. This series is about mages, and as such, you see more magic than weapons. However, Busterman garners attention by being less the size of a normal sword and more the size of a sword for a mech.
Dark Repulser and Elucidator from Sword Art Online
Why have one sword when you could have two swords. In that respect, that’s where Sword Art does something interesting since very few characters actually carry two blades that they use in tandem in many anime series. In the case of Dark Repulser and Elucidator, the blades themselves aren’t as remarkable as they way they are used.
Also notable is Eugeo’s Blue Rose Sword, not just because it has style points, but because it is actually a sword with an ability, which becomes more of a thing as the series goes on.
The Casull and Jackal from Hellsing
Hellsing is show with a love affair for big ol’ tits guns. While Seras and her gigantic Harkonnen attract attention with sheer size and explosive power, you will see far more of Alucard’s guns. The Casull is his original gun. The Jackal is Alucard’s second gun, a handgun made specifically to be even more powerful and with an inscribed cheeky phrase on the side to mock his long-time nemesis, Father Anderson.
Extra shout out to Walter’s Mono-filament wires, a weapon which lacks flash, but is dripping with style.
Anti-Magic Swords from Black Clover
Throughout the series, Asta uses several swords to augment his abilities. Since his magic is to negate magic, the swords work in a similar vein. A sword for cutting and reflecting magic, a sword for borrowing magic, and a sword for removing and absorbing spells. As these swords all look kind of similar, to be honest, none is more iconic than the other.
Kurikara from Blue Exorcist
While rather unremarkable looking, Kurikara holds crucial powers for Rin in Blue Exorcist. It is a container for his demonic heart, and as such, allows him more use of his demonic powers that manifest as blue flames. Of course, a sword that is a container for your heart is also dangerous since breaking it could kill him.
Nichirin Swords from Demon Slayer
Who can pick just one sword in Demon Slayer? First, the swords themselves aren’t remarkable. It is the breathing techniques that they allow that are the real flash and sizzle in Demon Slayer. Still, these rather unremarkable, albeit interesting colored katanas have earned themselves a spot if only because of Demon Slayer’s rapid popularity.
Venuzdonoa from The Misfit of Demon King Academy
It should be mandatory that any demon king, reincarnated or not, should have an awesome, unrealistic, highly stylish, and overpowered sword in their possession. The standard is hereby set by The Misfit of Demon King Academy where he literally materializes his blade from shadows and can use it to destroy literally anything.
Reverse Blade Sword from Rurouni Kenshin
At a glance, Kenshin’s sword is just a normal katana. However, the closer you look, the more you realize it is curved wrong for a katana. It is a sword with a blade, but the blade is just on the wrong side. This is a form of atonement for a man who was essentially an assassin, but no longer wishes to take life. Still, as a man with a dark past, he still requires a weapon to defend himself.
Honorable mentions shout out to Sanosuke’s large and unwieldy Zanbato as well.
Cerberus Handguns from Gungrave
Gungrave probably is a long forgotten anime at this point, but I’ll remember it. I’ll remember the betrayal. I’ll remember how he was brought back from the dead to get his vengeance and given a dual set of pistols too unwieldy for a normal human man to have.
Singer’s Sword from Guilty Crown
As a series about being able to pull out physical manifestations of a person’s soul, you are bound to find a few weapons in people here or there. However, not everyone’s soul is a weapon either. Sometimes they are super mundane items. Anyway, the most iconic manifestation is the Singer’s Sword, a giant blade that pulled from Iori that is easily twice as large as she is.
Nyoibo from Dragon Ball
You remember the Kamehameha from the Dragon Ball series, but that’s not really a weapon. Old school fans will remember the martial arts that came before all the power ups and ki powers. They’ll remember the times when Goku, closer resembling the Goku of Chinese mythology he was based upon, beat people with an extending bo-staff.
Imperial Arms from Akame ga Kill
Akame ga Kill is another one of those shows where all the weapons are so unique and interesting that it would be hard to pick one that is the absolute icon of the show. Mine’s cutely named gun Pumpkin is as powerful as she is tiny, Akane’s blade kills in one cut, Sheele’s Extase is a giant set of scissors – They’re all great weapons. The interesting thing about the Imperial Arms, though, is that they are not always “arms.” Sometimes the weapons are armor or accessories that grant the user unique powers.
Iron Hammer from D Gray Man
Like the many other shounen series on this list, you don’t really remember weapons in D Gray Man since they are more manifestations of people’s innocence. However, Levi’s innocence takes the form of an actual weapon – a hammer! Furthermore, a hammer that can shrink and grow in size on command but still remains as light as air to the wielder. It puts Kanda’s black bladed Mugen to shame in terms of style points.
Rose Whip from Yu Yu Hakusho
Since Yu Yu Hakusho is all about spiritual powers, you find that a lot of the weapons are just manifestations of energy like Kuwabara’s sword or Yusuke’s finger gun. However, while that is probably true of the rose whip, it is a weapon that actually looks like a physical weapon. It looks like a weapon that would hurt too. Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon needs to perhaps borrow this from Kurama sometime.
Model 4001 Rickenbacker from FLCL
It is easy to forget a bass guitar in a rock band as it carries the rhythm on its broad back. It is hard to forget a bass guitar when a crazy lady on a Vespa is zipping around beating boys on the head with it.
Quinque from Tokyo Ghoul
Like the Imperial Arms from Akame ga Kill, there is no real way to pick the most iconic Quinque, weapons used by Ghoul Investigators in Tokyo Ghoul. Certainly they all have names and unique wielders, and while some are certainly cooler than others, none are as iconic to the show as say something like Kaneki’s mask is.
Lostvayne from The Seven Deadly Sins
Almost all of the Seven Deadly Sins have a particular weapon of legend that they wield. It is shown that they are powerful without these weapons, since a good portion of them lost them in some way for awhile, but once they are in their hands, they rise to another level of power.
Perhaps the pinnacle of these legendary weapons is Meliodias’ Lostvayne. This sword has the rather tame-seeming power of allowing Meliodas to create clones of himself at a fraction of his power. However, as his power is quite high and each clone can use his Full Counter that reflects the power of his opponent rather than his own. It is effectively like fielding an army.
Omni-Directional Mobility Gear from Attack on Titan
The ODM gear is the unsung workhorse of Attack on Titan. Certainly Mikasa is a formidable weapon in human form, but even she needs the help of these blades that let tiny humans fly through the sky and slash necks with concussive force.
Playful Cloud from Jujutsu Kaisen
As a series, Jujutsu Kaisen isn’t really an anime notable for the weapons so much as the wielders. Regardless, Playful Cloud is notable for being a rare example of any anime incorporating a split-staff and it is a cursed tool not actually imbued with the power of a curse. It instead amplifies physical strength, meaning devastating power even for those without strong cursed energy.
Honorable mention for Nobara’s hammer and nails for being another notably unique anime weapon. However, really this slot is just a placeholder for when the Inverted Spear of Heaven makes its anime debut.
Double Edge Tsurugi from Samurai Champloo
You remember Samurai Champloo for the fighters, not the weapons they carry. Still, as iconic a character as Mugen is, it is only fitting he carry a different sort of sword in a katana-dominated Japan. While the tsurugi is still a Japanese sword, unlike something like Jin’s traditional wakizashi katana, the tsurugi is not curved as much and has a double edge to it.
Deviant Blades in Katanagatari
In a situation much like Demon Slayer, Katanagatari, literally Sword Story, is an anime all about various blades, but you can’t just pick one. They have magnificent powers, but they also don’t look so magnificent in design. Mostly they look a lot like normal swords.
Part of me just wanted to put Shichika as the most iconic, but…
Legendary Shield from The Rising of the Shield Hero
Imagine being summoned to another world and finding out your destined weapon of legend isn’t like a cool sword or a spear, but a shield. How do you fight creatures with a shield? By buying a slave to serve as your sword, that’s how! No, really, Naofumi makes it work since this particular shield gains new powers and aspects with each piece of a new creature or thing that is fed to it.
Yo-Yos from Hunter x Hunter
Almost all weapons in Hunter X Hunter have a bit of uniqueness to them. It is as if the author said to himself, “Any asshole can have a sword, but have you seen this little kid stylishly beat ass with some yo-yo’s, yo?” Coins, cards, fishing poles, umbrellas – all objects can be deadly in this series, even the mundane pipe.
Golden Bat from Paranoia Agent
Does an anime weapon count as powerful and iconic if it is perhaps a figment of a character’s imagination? Still, fictional in-universe or not, as a major antagonist in Paranoia Agent, this bent golden bat washed Tokyo away in a wave of beating-based paranoia.
Blood Sword from Beyond the Boundary
I feel like the only weapon most people remember from Beyond the Boundary is that one time they fought a spirit with a choreographed idol dance. But, still. I maintain that Mirai’s ability to make weapons out of her own blood is cool as hell.
Kokorowatari from Bakemonogatari
Everyone is all about Hitagi’s staplers because they are random and comical, but let’s have some real talk about the real best weapon in Bakemonogatari – this huge-ass sword, Kokorowatari. This large katana occasionally hide down throats is able to cut oddities and doesn’t actually hurt normal humans. In a Tessaiga / Tensaiga sort of affair, it also has a counterpart called Yumewatari that heals oddities.
Toyako Bokuto from Gintama
With katanas banned in this alien-laced version of Meiji Japan, you would think you wouldn’t find a lot of notable weapons, but as this is a comedy anime, you would be wrong. Still, while Kagura parasol machine gun is neat, you’ll see more of Gintoki’s wooden sword, Toyako Bokuto. He bought it on a school trip to Lake Toya as a kid. Lucky for him it was created from an ancient tree from another planet an cuts better than any real sword.
Silver Horn Custom “Trident” from The Irregular at Magic High School
Despite being a literal Jesus-kun in the show, the titular irregular at magic high school Tatsuya requires this stylish gun to bring out the best of his lower grade magic. As such, this gun is a casting assistant device.
Dekomori’s Twintails from Love, Chunibyou, and Other Delusions
What? Ok, yeah, I needed one more weapon to make for an even number of weapons on this list. “39 Powerful and Iconic Anime Weapons” just doesn’t roll off the tongue the same, you know? So I picked a fun one. I mean, it is one thing to hair-whip people. It is an entirely more awesome thing to actively tie weighted balls to the end of your twintails and used them to beat people.
I missed many weapons, assuredly. If you have a favorite not on this list, tell us about it in the comments section below.
