Whether they’re based in magic, ancient arts, or learned through sheer will and training, there seems to be no end to the unique and genuinely uncommon abilities that characters can have. The worlds we can visit in anime (and the things we can experience, powers included) can sometimes be beyond belief. Occasionally, that’s for all the wrong reasons. So here’s our list of the weirdest powers, superpowers, and quirks in all of anime.
15. Ai Mori – Making an Opponent a Fan of Glasses
Anime: The Law of Ueki (Ueki no Housoku) Not only is Ai Mori’s power in this anime weird in and of itself, but it also requires an incredibly weird and contrived method of activating it. See, Ai can’t activate the power by herself. It requires her opponent to strike a very specific, cutesy pose to make it work. And when it does work? It makes that opponent… a fan of glasses. Yes, this power gives you a secretary fetish. But only if you somehow accidentally put yourself in the right pose to trigger it. I think Ai Mori might have been better off having no powers, like she did at the start of the anime.
14. Tohru’s Cleaning Spit
Anime: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid (Koboyashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon) A dragon with the ability to transform into a girl isn’t the strangest part about this entry on the list. No, it’s another of the powers Tohru Kobayashi is capable of that puts her here: Her saliva can remove stains. While it’s an infinitely useful ability to have as a maid, the image of her wandering around and gushing spit over everything she intends to clean is something you’d watch and have to do a double take. If it’s stupid but it works, it isn’t stupid – but this is a power that ranks highly on the “super weird powers” list for a good reason.
13. Tanjiro Kamado’s Sense of Smell
Anime: Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) Yet another ability that seems only useful at first glance. One of Tanjiro’s many powers is his incredible sense of smell. He can smell demons from a ridiculous distance, and he can track someone by scent. His sense of smell is so powerful that it can render an image of the smell on the air. At one point, he can smell when someone is lying. All nice and weird so far, right? Imagine having that incredible sense of smell and walking past an open sewer. Or accidentally cracking a rotten egg. It’s an amazing power, but that doesn’t make it any less weird – or risky.
12. Jurai Ando’s “Dark and Dark”
Anime: When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace (Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de) Quite possibly the most useless power on this list, Jurai Ando has been blessed with the gift of… A lukewarm flame. That doesn’t do anything. The ability, “Dark and Dark”, is literally just that. A not very hot fire that doesn’t do much of anything. And yet, there’s still a catch. See, the evolved version of the power, “Dark and Dark of the End”, is the exact opposite – an ability so powerful and relentless that he would have to cut off his own hand to stop it if it was used. Poor Jurai simply can’t catch a break when it comes to weird powers.
11. Mīna Tsukishiro’s Carrot Transformation
Anime: Getsumento Heiki Mina Aliens have come to Earth to ruin our competitive sports, because they don’t have any of their own. Yes, this is a weird anime with an even weirder premise – and some even weirder powers and stipulations. As the leader of the Miina, or Rabbit Warrior, Mina must eat a carrot to transform into her super-powered alter-ego. The why of this is poorly explained, but it gets stranger still. As if eating vegetables wasn’t a bizarre way to invoke your powers, turns out poor Mina absolutely hates carrots, and makes it very clear every time she has to transform. This is one that’s simply weird all round.
10. Hanta Sero’s Tape Dispensing
Anime: My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia) As one of my personal favorite characters from My Hero Academia’s long list of wildly powered teens, Hanta Sero is the first of two characters from the anime that grace this list. And, by whatever metric you want to measure it, this is possibly the least weird of the two. The Taping Hero: Cellophane has two organs in his elbows that allow him to dispense a sturdy tape. Not indefinitely, however – if his skin dries out, no more tape. Sero has used his tape-dispensing talents to a multitude of effects, including making sticky tape traps, tying up enemies, and swinging from the tape like a giant vine. It’s equal parts hilarious, surprisingly useful, and totally weird.
9. Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck’s Healing “Drool”
Anime: Bleach This one has a little basis in truth – saliva does have some very low-level healing qualities to it. However, it’s the application – and the truth of it – that makes Nel’s power so unusual, and gives it a place on this list. When Nel is in her child-form, she can massage her uvula (the wobbly bit at the back of your throat) to produce saliva that heals whoever she drools on. Or so she thinks. You see, for the most part, Nel is literally just vomiting on the people she wants to heal – and has somehow convinced herself, in her childlike innocence, that she’s just spitting on them. It’s a little gross and a whole lot of weird.
8. Warcry’s Tear Magic
Anime: Fairy Tail Most anime tough guys are the furthest thing from being emotional wrecks. So you won’t often see them sobbing. Warcry, however, is the complete opposite. Being able to reduce himself to wailing tears in seconds, Warcry powers himself up through his strangely watery ability. However, no-one really knows how strong it could actually be, given he’s never had a chance to use an attack of any note. So whether there’s much truth to his insistence “Only through tears one becomes stronger” is yet to be seen. However, judging by other characters’ reactions to his bawling, we can only assume there’s great power in his blubbing. Very strange indeed.
7. Wanze’s Ramen Nose
Anime: One Piece This is one of the more unusual powers that don’t require eating a Devil Fruit to attain. Chef Wanze terrorized the Straw Hat Pirates with his ramen cooking skills, by being able to shoot noodles from his nose to create a suit of armor to fight in. Using his nose hairs to cut the noodles after eating the flour (yes, seriously), Wanze is not only able to shoot them out at high velocity, but is also a skilled hand to hand fighter – at one point analyzing Sanji to the point he could figure out his weakness. What does he do with this power when he isn’t fighting, you ask? Well, he serves the noodles in his cooking. It’s little wonder anyone who knows how he prepares them is too disgusted to eat them.
6. Melona’s “Breast Utility”
Anime: Queen’s Blade A shapeshifter, assassin, and superhuman-ly strong warrior rolled into one. Yet Melona has one more unique ability. I’m not going to beat around the bush on this one, it’s corrosive breast milk. Yes, the Protean Assassin can fire milk that not only dissolves non-organic materials – but can also be focused to rapid-fire high velocity explosives. It’s exactly as weird as it sounds – possibly even weirder than it sounds, actually. You’d think all of her normal powers would be enough to make her a formidable foe. But this one takes her into the realm of bizarre powers that not many others can match.
5. Minoru Mineta’s Pop Off
Anime: My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia) Here’s the second of the two My Hero characters I promised you, and this one is a doozy. Mineta’s sticky balls (stop giggling in the back!) have many uses – though he does have to be careful not to accidentally bleed out while using them. Ouch. Both sticky and rubbery in nature, Minoru is able to use the balls to bind enemies, stick them in place, or in a non-offensive trick, use them as trampolines to access areas he couldn’t reach otherwise. Despite his perverted nature alienating a lot of people, Minoru uses his Quirk a lot in team related ways – stopping enemies in place so that others can defeat them, for example. It seems that no matter how strange they are, Mineta will always have a use for his balls (I said stop laughing!).
4. Uiharu Kazari’s Thermal Hand
Anime: A Certain Magical Index (Toaru Majutsu no Index) While she isn’t as strong as a few characters on this list, and her power may get stronger, I can only tell it as it is. Uiharu Kazari’s Thermal Hand will keep whatever she touches at the same temperature – as long as it’s not too hot or cold for her to touch it. Keeping food warm? Check. Keeping drinks hot? Check. Ice-cream kept solid? Check. She does have other powers too. But this one seems too unusual to not mention. Another bizarre stipulation to this bizarre power exists: Whatever the item is that she wants to keep at the same temperature, it can’t be any bigger than a basketball. Again, as her powers grow from a Level 1 Esper this might improve. But it’s still pretty weird all the same.
3. Motojiro Kajii’s Lemon-Shaped Explosion Immunity
Anime: Bungo Stray Dogs Just the title for this entry might clue you in on the weirdness of this one – Motojiro Kajii is immune to only lemon-shaped explosions. No other explosions, they’ll kill him. Just lemon-shaped ones. To get around this, he manufactures his own lemon-bombs to make the most of his “Lemonade” ability. Which, yes, must be a play on the “when life gives you lemons” saying, now that I think about it. The character is named for a famous Japanese author who wrote short stories with a poetic twist. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume the author wasn’t also immune to very specific explosions.
2. Fist of the Nose Hair
Anime: Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo Shinken, or “True Fist” in the “Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo” universe, might seem like a familiar term as it’s a direct reference to the Shinken in “Fist of the North Star.” Here, however, main character Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo doesn’t use his fists. He uses his nose hair. Yes, his Hanage Shinken (Fist of the Nose Hair, get it?) technique involves complete mastery over the hair inside his nose. This allows him to tie up enemies, whip them, or grab things – among many, many more uses in the anime and the manga. While having a pseudo-extra pair of hands might sound incredibly useful, that doesn’t stop the Hanage Shinken from being downright and utterly weird.
1. Heaven’s Door Stand
Anime: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (JoJo no Kimyo na Boken) Rohan Kishibe can read you like a book. Literally. There are plenty of weird stands across the history of the JoJo franchise. But this one tops the list. When he uses his ability, whoever it’s directed at begins to turn into a book, pages unfurling from their skin in scenes that make me cringe every time. Written on the pages happens to be absolutely true information about his opponent, including fighting styles, fears, and their history. Not only can he see this information, but he can also re-write sections to make opponents do his bidding. Imagine peeling that little bit of skin next to your fingernail, and then it turning out to have all your secrets written on it. I’m shuddering at just the thought.
