Speed is one of the most important assets in a fight. A character with superior speed will have a huge advantage in a battle as he/she can strike first. The first strike can effectively decide the battle.
In the world of anime, many characters move at incredible speeds, and some of them move faster than light itself. As mentioned above, these characters enter a fight with a huge advantage. They dominate battles with their superior speed. In this post, we will discuss five characters who move faster than the speed of light and five who don't.
Update on October 6th, 2021 by Claris Lam: Though the original list covers many characters that are and aren't faster than the speed of light, there are many more anime characters that also fit these criteria. To make this list further complete, five more entries have been added across both categories.
15 FASTER: AZUSA (I've Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years...)
Azusa might be an overpowered isekai protagonist, but she's also one of the fastest and strongest characters in I've Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years And Maxed Out My Level. She can quickly conjure almost any spell possible to counter her opponents, use her magic to fly around and dodge attacks, and she can also use her powers to teleport to an extent around the battlefield. Her speedy reflexes and spellcasting made her incredibly fast, resulting in her ending battles faster than her opponents could blink.
14 NOT FASTER: CLEAR (DRAMAtical Murder)
Even though Clear is a great robot that can use his singing to take down evil clones of himself and can take several hits in a fight, including a douse of acid to the face, he is not the fastest person. The other robot clones he faced in DRAMAtical Murder were much faster than him, as they easily caught up with him and Aoba while chasing them, and they also initially countered his attacks with no problem.
If it was not for Clear having good bodily resilience and Aoba helping him out with his Scrap ability, Clear likely would have died fighting the clones without any chance of defeating them.
13 FASTER: GON FREECS (Hunter X Hunter)
Gon Freecs is one of the most nimble characters featured in Hunter X Hunter. His quick thinking and agility helped him avoid many monsters during the Hunter Exam, keep up with speedy characters including Chairman Netero. He even used his fishing rod to help him with speedy efforts such as stealing Hisoka's badge during one part of the exam and blowing out the candle of an opponent in another. Despite being only a child, he's faster than most children and could even keep up with Killua, who was a trained assassin.
12 NOT FASTER: KARYL (Princess Connect!)
Despite being an amazing magic user and having good reflexes, Karyl is far from speedy. It can take her a while to charge up magic spells, no matter how powerful they are. This often resulted in her taking down opponents later than sooner.
Considering that it was her initial duty to spy on Pecorine, Yuuki, and Kokoro battling opponents for Mana rather than participate in the fight herself, however, her later assistance in battles was likely deliberate for the sake of reconnaissance.
11 FASTER: NARUTO UZUMAKI (Naruto)
Naruto Uzumaki is the main protagonist of Naruto. He was elected the Seventh Hokage of the Hidden Leaf after his gallant efforts in the Fourth Great Ninja War. Naruto has insane feats to his name and these include almost destroying the moon with a single punch, fighting against Kage level shinobi with just shadow clones. Naruto has also shown amazing speed feats and the most notable one is when he dodged Madara's Purple Lightning attack.
10 NOT FASTER: RORONOA ZORO (One Piece)
Roronoa Zoro is among the most renowned swordsmen within the anime community. He is also one of the main characters in One Piece. Zoro uses a unique three sword style to fight. Zoro's endurance and stamina are top-tier, however, his speed is lacking. Zoro can dodge attacks with Observation Haki, but he cannot move at the same speed.
9 FASTER: SAITAMA (One-Punch Man)
Also known as the Caped Baldy, Saitama is one of the most unique protagonists. A lot of things about Saitama remain a mystery, but one thing is for sure is that he is one of the most overpowered characters in the anime world.
Saitama jump leaped back from the moon after he was kicked away by Boros. The astounding thing is that he wasn't even using his full power at that moment. Saitama was also able to match the speed of Flashy Flash. He can move faster than the speed of light.
8 NOT FASTER: GUTS (Beserk)
Guts are the main character of Miura's Berserk. He carries a large sword on his back with which he hunts down apostles. Even though he is a mere human, Guts can withstand several blows from the demons. Guts boast of the incredible feat of killing a hundred men on his own. He received a huge power-up when he acquired the Berserker armor. The armor increases Guts' speed and power. However, the armor cannot be used for prolonged periods as it slowly consumes the user. Guts has trouble dealing with foes who are agile as his sword slows him down.
7 FASTER: GOKU (Dragon Ball)
Next up on the list is Son Goku. He is the main character of the Dragon Ball series. Son Goku is one of the strongest characters in the anime world. He has fought some of the strongest ever characters. Goku can instantly teleport himself to any place provided that the place has a strong Ki presence. Teleportation is instantaneous, so it is much faster than the speed of light.
6 NOT FASTER: MIDORIYA IZUKU (My Hero Academia)
He is the main character of My Hero Academia. Midoriya was born without a quirk and he had no hope of becoming a pro hero, but after receiving help from All Might, he started his journey of becoming a pro hero. Midoriya's quirk is One For All, which grants him the power of several quirks.
Midoriya can channel a limited amount of power from his quirk but that limited power is still greater than most of his compatriots. Midoriya's speed feats aren't that impressive and he is certainly not able to move at the speed of light.
5 FASTER: MINATO NAMIKAZE (Naruto)
Also known as the Yellow Flash of the Hidden Leaf, Minato Namikaze is undoubtedly one of the fastest characters in the anime world. Minato worked on Tobirama's teleportation ninjutsu and perfected it. This resulted in Minato surpassing Tobirama Senju in terms of speed and becoming the fastest shinobi in history. Nakmikaze can be found in the Naruto series.
4 NOT FASTER: TANJIRO KAMADOU (Demon Slayer)
Tanjiro is the lead character of Demon Slayer. Tanjiro has mastered the Breathing Technique which gives him a boost that is necessary to fight against demons. Tanjiro has fought against some super strong demons and came out on top. However, as a human, his body has its limitations. In his universe, he is top-tier but when compared to characters from other universes he pales in comparison.
3 FASTER: JOTARO KUJO (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)
Jotaro is the main protagonist of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders. He possesses one of the strongest stands in existence. His stand- Star Platinum is capable of punching at light speed. The stand has very high destructive power and it is almost unparalleled when it comes to attacking power. Jotaro can also use Star Platinum to stop time for several seconds, which puts Jotaro at an incredible advantage against most foes.
2 NOT FASTER: SAKATA GINTOKI (Gintama)
Gintama is considered by many to be a comedy anime but those who have watched the anime know that there are several talented fighters in the series. Sakata Gintoki is the main lead and he was hailed as the "White Demon," due to his heroics on the battlefield.
Gintoki is a master samurai and he has fought gallantly against strong foes like Jiraiya, Takasugi, etcetera. Gintoki's speed is pretty good for an ordinary human but he is nowhere near light speed.
1 FASTER: AIZ WALLENSTEIN (Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls...)
Aiz Wallenstein is one of the speediest warriors featured in Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon!? Even though she is a regular human compared to the many gods and goddesses that exist in her world and look after Familias, including her own Loki Familia, Aiz proved herself to be one of the fastest warriors. She easily beat Bell Cranel when she started personally training him to fight better, and she could even go toe-to-toe with several monsters that were released from the arena late during the first season, taking them all down by herself.