10 Best Super Modes In Anime

When an anime hero – or villain – is in a pinch, they'll often bust out a flashy new form and these can be some of the strongest super forms in anime. This massive power-up not only gives the character a huge advantage in battle, but usually comes with a cool new look to go with it. Whether in awe or horror, everyone around just has to stop and stare at the spectacle. Often, this state is only unlockable after considerable training and experience. This applies whether the transformation is a genetic ability or born from a separate power. Either way, finally achieving it will be one of a character’s most triumphant moments.

10 Super Saiyan – Dragon Ball

Going Super Saiyan is the most famous power-up in anime, bar none. It is a legendary ability among the Saiyans, said to be achievable only by the greatest of warriors and so rare that before Goku and Vegeta, no Saiyan had awakened it for over a thousand years. As they discover, the transformation isn't limited to one form: it perpetually evolves through training and battle, making the user more powerful than gods.

While all Saiyans are technically capable of going Super Saiyan, it's easier for some than others. Goku achieved it before Vegeta due to his peaceful upbringing on Earth increasing his S-cells, much to Vegeta’s fury. Their sons, Gohan, Goten, and Trunks unlock the transformation much faster, due to growing up on Earth and inheriting the genetic capability from their fathers.

9 The Zone – Kuroko's Basketball

Athletes often talk about being “in the zone” but never like this. The world of Kuroko's Basketball elevates the concept to a physical state that a basketball player can achieve through pure passion and prodigious talent. One or the other alone explicitly isn’t enough to reach it.

Players with Dragon Ball-esque special powers on the court have their abilities magnified to the fullest once they enter the Zone, which allows them to meet 100% of their potential for a limited time. Perfect players can use the Zone to enhance their entire team's coordination. However, accessing the Zone in and of itself is tricky: players cannot do it by trying, and it's even harder to enter it a second time because of that awareness of and desire for it.

8 Demon Form – Yu Yu Hakusho

A running theme of Yu Yu Hakusho is the lack of absolutes: not all demons are evil, just as not all humans are good. Likewise, Yusuke Urameshi is both a rude, brash delinquent and a brave, heroic Spirit Detective. His late-game transformation reveals that he has yet another mix of both in his very bloodline.

Yusuke is descended from Raizen, the strongest demon who ever lived. Though Yusuke and his forty-four-greats-grandpa don't exactly get along, Raizen possessing his body gives him the lifesaving power boost he needs to finally beat Sensui. Not only does this Demon Form make Yusuke stronger and faster than Sensui, but it lets him tap into Demon Energy to power up his attacks.

With their shape-shifting ability, Envy is a master of deception, manipulation, and all manner of stealth and dirty tricks. Their true form, a giant monster comprised of thousands of writhing, imprisoned human souls, should by all accounts make up for what they lack in combat skills.

Unfortunately, Envy isn't very good at fighting. Though their true form is enormous and powerful, this turns out to be a disadvantage when they're up against someone who not only doesn’t fall for their tricks but has very inconvenient fire powers. In between blasting them to bits, Roy points out that their true form is just one gigantic target.

6 Ultimate Life Form – JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

The Stone Mask makes Dio plenty powerful by stripping him of his humanity, but the mask's creator has even higher ambitions. Kars wasn't satisfied even after becoming a vampire: he slaughtered the rest of his people to pursue complete immortality and invulnerability. With the Red Stone of Aja, he evolves himself into the Ultimate Life Form.

In this form, Kars is the pinnacle of life itself, able to survive in any environment and without nutrients, shape-shift into anything, and even learn Hamon instantly just from seeing Joseph and Lisa Lisa use it. He becomes so ridiculously powerful that even one of the best JoJos in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in his prime can’t hope to overpower him. The only way to beat him is indirectly: maneuvering him permanently off the playing field.

5 Bankai – Bleach

Soul Reapers have an impressive arsenal of powers with which to combat Hollows. Some can transform their bodies, but all of them are responsible for evolving their weapons, the zanpakutou blades. By subjugating the zanpakutou spirit within the blade and learning to call it out into the real world, a Soul Reaper makes it several times stronger than other evolved stages.

Bankai is only achievable by the best of the best Soul Reapers, usually after decades of experience and training. It increases their spiritual power and in some cases, like that of Ichigo, their physical speed and strength as well. Just like every zanpakutou spirit is different, so is the effect, appearance, and abilities of each bankai.

4 Transformed Gon - Hunter X Hunter

Sometimes, achieving a new power isn't worth the cost. Hunter x Hunter's main characters, Gon and Killua, are some of the strongest kids in anime: “one in ten million” Nen talents with the potential to become the most powerful warriors in the world as adults. In one rage-filled moment, Gon sacrifices all his future potential to attain one massive overload of power.

The contract he makes to become strong enough to kill Neferpitou forced him to transform into a tall, musclebound adult form. Dark, foreboding aura surrounds him as he pummels Pitou out of existence, leveling the surrounding forest as he does so. Achieving power outstripping anything else in the world doesn't ease Gon's grief, and what's more, his final attack destroys his body and nearly kills him, to Killua's horror.

3 The Eighth Gate – Naruto

Naruto is chock-full of powerful abilities, from Sage Mode to Susanoo. However, its crown jewel comes not from a special bloodline or help from some of the best animal companions in anime. The Eight Gates that limit every chakra user's ability to access their full potential can be opened by a rare few with intense training and will.

Trained by his father to open all Eight Gates through taijutsu skill alone, Might Gai passed the techniques and strict rules for their use on to his student Rock Lee. Opening each successive gate unlocks a greater flood of power, but takes a worse toll on the body. Piercing his heart to open the Gate of Death makes Gai one hundred times more powerful, allowing him to nearly kill Madara with Evening Elephant and Night Gai, and it’s only Naruto’s intervention that saves his life.

2 100% – Mob Psycho 100

Most anime heroes spend all their time trying to unlock their ultimate power, but Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama wants nothing to do with his. After an incident in which he hurt his younger brother, he is terrified of his world-shaking psychic powers, suppressing the strong emotions that amplify them. As viewers can see, they're always steadily counting up to 100%.

When Mob is taken over by his emotions (or ???%, the mysterious consciousness behind his powers), there is nothing that can stop him. He can unleash devastating energy blasts, absorb his opponents' attacks, and even summon natural disasters like earthquakes and tornadoes. As the story progresses and Mob is confronted with less scrupulous psychics, he learns that the secret to controlling his powers isn’t to suppress them, but to accept them.

1 Gear 5 – One Piece

One Piece fans waited eagerly for years for the long-running anime to catch up to one of the manga's most iconic scenes. Honing his Devil Fruit powers allow Luffy to achieve increasingly strong Super Modes, known as Gears. Gear 5 is the pinnacle of these transformations.

Its only drawback is knocking the user out cold from the sheer amounts of energy it expends. While the power is active, Luffy is much stronger and incredibly fast, with attacks bouncing off his rubbery body. Most important, Gear 5 gives him new control over the world around him, letting him use the entire battlefield to pummel his opponent deranged Looney Tunes-style.

Watching a character reach the heights of their power is one of the most thrilling moments in any anime. The coolest of them come with stunning transformations and flashy new abilities, allowing the character to show off the best of what they can be.