When it comes to the magical girl anime, two of the biggest franchises within the genre are Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura, both of which are beloved by fans in both Japan and the West. They both feature pretty powerful heroes, too. As their respective shows go on, Sailor Moon’s Usagi Tsukino and Cardcaptor Sakura’s Sakura Kinomoto not only gain experience fighting monsters but also learn new abilities that help them in saving the day.
Needless to say, Usagi and Sakura end up getting pretty powerful by the end of their stories. But enough about them -- what about the other magical girls in anime history?
10 Ryuko Matoi Came Out On Top In Most Of Her Battles (Kill La Kill)
Kill La Kill is a Studio TRIGGER anime, so a lot of it is incredibly tongue in cheek. In fact, it’s directly critical of magical girl anime. But there’s no denying that Ryuko is one of the most powerful magical girls out there. She takes part in several grueling battles, and she comes out on top of almost all of them, with her power only growing with her need for vengeance and the support of her friends.
9 Madoka Kaname Becomes A God & Saves The Universe (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
Madoka Kaname takes that trope first established in Sailor Moon of a magical girl essentially being a god once she reaches a high enough level and if she’s willing to make a notable sacrifice. Madoka, in order to save the world, manages to become an actual god.
She resets the universe, erasing herself from it so that no one remembers her, but despite this melancholy note, she still manages to save everyone in the process.
8 Sailor Galaxia Could Easily Handle The Sailor Senshi In A Fight (Sailor Moon)
Sailor Galaxia appears in Sailor Moon as the last villain the Sailor Senshi face. She isn’t evil on her own, but thanks to being possessed by Chaos, she is an antagonist, at least until Sailor Moon is able to break through to her by using her love and compassion for those in the world around her. But the Sailor Senshi are absolutely unable to take her down through actually fighting her. She does away with them with almost no effort at all.
7 Atsuko Kagari Worked Hard To Unlock Her Magic Potential (Little Witch Academia)
Atsuko Kagari in Little Witch Academia is a lot like Naruto Uzumaki in Naruto, particularly regarding her skills. The thing they most have in common is being generally seen as untalented but actually possess a lot of skill. But Akko spends a lot of time in Little Witch Academia working hard to become a better witch, and it’s clear she has some untapped potential. By the end of the series, she’s the only one, with her faith in magic, who can take the villain down.
6 Illyasviel Von Einzbern Uses A Command Spell To Make Berserker Obey Her (Fate/Stay Night)
Illyasviel von Einzbern from Fate/stay night is an interesting example of a magical girl since the Fate series in general involves a lot of people who have magical skills. But she is considered to have even more potential as a Mage than anyone else. Her Servant is Berserker, who is usually hard to control by a Master, but Illyasviel is actually able to make him obey her using a Command Spell with relatively little difficulty.
5 Misumi Nagisa & Yukishiro Honoka Make A Powerful Magic Duo (Pretty Cure)
Natsumi Manatsu and Yukishiro Honoka are the two main Cures in the first couple of seasons of Pretty Cure. While each of them is strong on their own, it’s together that Cures are particularly powerful, not unlike in Sailor Moon when the Senshi attack together as a group. As Cure Black and Cure White, Misumi and Yukishiro do most of their attacks together, sharing their power and making them incredibly powerful as a pair.
4 Haruhi Suzumiya Possesses God-Like Abilities To Destroy & Rewrite The Universe (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
Many anime fans are familiar with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya thanks to the incredibly popular dance in the credits, which appeared with surprising regularity at anime conventions for several years. But those who actually watched the series also know that Haruhi Suzumiya is a surprisingly powerful character.
Though she appears as a schoolgirl in the series, she’s essentially a god. When things don’t go her way, she uses her abilities to destroy and rewrite the universe to make it better for herself.
3 Nanoha Takamachi Can Improvise With Her Magic (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha)
Nanoha Takamachi is surprisingly talented at magic in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. She is very young in the early seasons and doesn’t have a lot of experience, but she’s still fairly powerful. As the series goes on, her abilities grow as well. She’s able to improvise her own magical techniques, based on things that she has already learned. By the time of StrikerS, she’s so powerful that she is required to wear a power limiter.
2 Amu Hinamori Can Heal People Who Are Suffering (Shugo Chara!)
Shugo Chara! is one magical girl series that has taken a lot of cues from the popularity of Sailor Moon. For Amu Hinamori as a character in the series, it’s clear that much of her power is meant to bring positivity and healing, as opposed to being offensive techniques that many magical girls are more likely to have. Like Sailor Moon, Amu’s ability revolves around healing people who are suffering from negative influences or despair.
1 Jiyu Nanohana (Jubei-Chan: The Ninja Girl)
Jiyu Nanohana is the main character of Jubei-Chan: The Ninja Girl, a series created by the same manga creator as Fruits Basket, though this series is much different. Jiyu is chosen to be the recipient of the Lovely Eyepatch, a powerful magical item that gives her the skills of Yagyu Jubei who is considered the most skilled swordsman of all time. She is also able to sometimes use the abilities of her friends, as long as they also carry Wayfinders, which link the characters together.