Every fictional action series that introduces powers also needs a way to explain how those powers work. They introduce power systems with light explanations that will hopefully make it easier for viewers or readers to understand how fights play out later on in the series.
But sometimes a series can miss the mark with their power system, and instead of explaining things, it actually makes them more confusing than they were to begin with. This can happen for a number of reasons—sometimes a power system is just too complex to follow for all but the biggest fans of the franchise, while other times it leaves far too many questions unanswered.
9 Magi Has Characters That Break Its Magic System's Rules Arbitrarily
The magic system in Magi can often feel overdesigned. There are supposedly eight types of magic, but within those magic types there are also more sub-types, each creating different kinds of magic. But not everyone accesses magic the same way—there’s Metal Vessels and Household Vessels and Djinn Equips for Extreme Magic.
The problem with Magi’s magic system is it suffers from too many proper nouns that require people to pay extra close attention to understand it all. And all of that is without bringing in how Sinbad can break the most important magic rule of having either white or black rukh by having both, and there being zero consequences for that in the anime.
8 Black Clover's Grimoire System Has More Questions Than Answers
Black Clover’s basic ideas for it’s magic system is straight-forward enough. At a young age people get their own grimoire, which allows them to cast magic spells. But there are so many questions at play here: why can no one learn spells from other magic grimoires? What determines how one learns new spells in their grimoire? Supposedly new spells can be learned through training, but the nobles never train so how do they learn new spells? Why do nobles have more powerful magic than commoners? Meanwhile, apparently some people can have multiple grimoires.
And to top it off: Yami Sukehiro seems to come from another country which has it’s own set of powers that have nothing to do with magic at all, as he knows how to rely on ki to sense people’s energies. There are so many questions about how Black Clover’s system works, and the series doesn’t seem interested in answering any of them.
7 Hunter X Hunter's Nen System Is Too Intricately Designed
Nen is by far one of the best-designed battle systems with strictly defined rules. It’s just that there are so, so many of them. There are cool things, like the idea of “setting conditions” on one’s Nen to draw greater power out so long as the fighter is willing to abide by the rules they set up. But there’s also the four major principles of Nen: Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu, which each help build up a user’s Nen.
Then there’s another set of higher-level Nen techniques: Gyo, In, En, Shu, Ko, Ken, and Ryu. These are meant to be combinations of the previously mentioned base principles of Nen. And once the person develops their Nen, they have to figure out which type their aura is, and there’s six of those that each have their own unique attributes. Nen is so intricately designed it’s exhausting unless you’re a lore geek and willing to figure it all out.
6 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's Ripple System Was Too Inconsistent With Its Strengths And Weaknesses
The Ripple system was the original power system that was in place during the original two parts of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Ripple users could take advantage of the sunlight to affect living and unliving things. The problem was that Ripple had such inconsistent strengths and weaknesses.
The Ripple was meant to be one of the only things capable of damaging a vampire, but vampires were also capable of freezing a Ripple user’s blood, making it impossible to use the technique. At that point, what even makes it worth using to stop vampires? The limitations of the system feel like a large part of why things moved to Stands in newer storylines.
5 The Fate Universe's Servant System Has Too Few Limitations
The Fate series' Servants are basically summons, and after that it’s best not to think about it, lest one gets confused. But going deeper, servants can be anything from the gods themselves to heroic people of myth or legend.
It can also pull people from different times and pull them into alternate universes apparently, which is how Archer and Shirou are able to co-exist. But there are also higher level spirits that only appear at specific times when the world is in danger. And to cap it all off, it’s possible for one spirit to actually be summoned in a variety of different roles, which seems like it only exists to make the universe more of a game.
4 DanMachi's Level Up System Wouldn't Be Accepted In Any Video Game
DanMachi’s power level system should be simple enough. Someone levels up once they gain enough experience, right? Well, not exactly. To begin with, winning fights alone doesn’t allow a level up—the level up also comes with beating someone stronger than the level the fighter is already at.
But where things get more confusing is that everyone has basic stats like Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic. All of these stats range from 0-999, but at each level up they’re “reset” back to 0. And what’s strangest of all is this isn’t an RPG—it’s a fantasy world that appears to run on RPG rules for no reason other than because of the story.
3 Demon Slayer's Breath System Doesn't Work How Most People Think It Does
The Breath System has most fans who watch the anime confused and they don’t even know it. To begin with: there are way too many people who think the Slayers are actually using powers when they fight.
Tanjiro doesn’t have control over water, it’s just something to do with his breathing that allows him to strike in a unique way that resembles the water. But what’s more confusing is how different fighters can change their fighting style by breathing slightly differently, or gain powers that allow them to compete with their superpowered opponents.
2 Dragon Ball Power Levels Have No Consistency To Them
Dragon Ball might have the most ridiculous power system, because it was introduced so randomly. It didn’t exist for most of the Dragon Ball timeline, then suddenly it was introduced in the Saiyan Saga. The idea of calculating powers by numbers makes as much sense as anything else, but it doesn’t seem to operate by any strict rules.
People can hide their power levels, but putting more effort into something also raises one’s power level whether they’re able to hide their powers or not. It doesn’t seem to matter how fast or strong one is, as a higher power level makes you impossible to defeat by someone with a lower power-level without a transformation of some sort.
1 Fairy Tail's Magic Literally Seems To Work Off The Power Of Friendship
There are literally no rules to how Fairy Tail magic works. It’s confusing entirely because it’s so ill-defined. Most people only have one form of magic—some people can learn multiple, but it’s never explained how or why someone attains magic. It’s possible to implant lacrima in someone to learn magic, which apparently has no downside or limit to them. But the most frustrating thing is that there doesn't seem to be any limits to anyone's magic powers—they just increase whenever necessary, and that’s why people constantly make Power of Friendship jokes about the show.