It's hard to watch a long-running anime and not see some sign of power creep. When villains are introduced, they have to be powerful enough to not just give the hero a challenge, but to make the viewer wonder how the hero can win at all. But once that villain is defeated, the hero has to face continuously stronger challenges. Eventually, the original villain that seemed impossible to defeat is now so weak he can be defeated in a single punch.
Some anime know when to bring their series to an end, but some series go on for years, and by the end of it all the power scaling is a complete mess with characters being capable of destroying the planet.
10 Dragon Ball Has It's Characters Blowing Up Planets By The End
Dragon Ball began it’s series with Goku being a talented young martial artist that had super-human strength and speed. But by the time Master Roshi was introduced, the power scale was already weird, as Roshi showed off the ability to obliterate an entire mountain with his Kamehameha wave.
Later on, characters would be introduced who were far stronger than Roshi just in Dragon Ball alone. Dragon Ball’s need to make the next enemy so much more impressive would gradually leave behind nearly everyone that was relevant at some point. And everything was gone out of the window when Frieza displayed the ability to destroy a planet with a beam from his fingertips.
9 Bleach Introduces Villains Aiming To Alter Reality Itself
Ichigo Kurosaki starts out as a fledgling Soul Reaper with barely enough power to battle against Hollows. But by the time the Soul Society arc begins, he’s expected to keep up with characters who have been fighting for centuries.
It’s only thanks to training with Kisuke Urahara under intense methods that he figures out ways to gain his Shikai and Bankai in mere days despite it normally taking decades or longer to gain those powers. And that’s only the start—eventually, Ichigo gains enough power to far surpass most of the Soul Reaper Captains and defeat Aizen, who’s goal was to become a god.
8 Gundam 00 Keeps Introducing New And More Powerful Robots
Gundam 00 starts out introducing four Gundams made by Celestial Being. They’re made of better material than most mecha, which makes them more durable, but what really makes them superior are the GN Engines they run off. This power makes them nearly impossible to stand against, with just the four of them capable of taking down whole armies.
But by the mid-season, the other countries gain access to “fake” GN Engines that put them roughly on the same playing field. Eventually, Celestial Being and the Innovades even produce Innovators, special humans with unique brainwave patterns that make them superior pilots to normal humans.
7 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Goes From The Ripple To Stand Powers
JoJo's experiences massive power creep just in it’s first three seasons. The original storyline, Phantom Blood, just has Dio as a vampire with all the abilities that come with it. Jonathan Joestar becomes a Ripple user, which can counter vampire abilities but is also countered by those same powers.
By the legendary Stardust Crusaders arc alone, this level of strength is rendered irrelevant. The Ripple is a thing of the past, with everyone boasting “Stands” now—summons with their own unique special abilities. Dio’s Stand grants him the ability to stop time itself, making him far more powerful than a normal vampire.
6 Yu Yu Hakusho Eventually Has Yusuke Becoming A Monster Himself
When street punk Yusuke gains special powers, all he has is his spirit gun—it’s an offensive weapon that he can use exactly once a day. This forces him to know when and where to use it to avoid being helpless against a stronger opponent. By the time he finishes training with Genkai, the Spirit Gun can be used up to five times a day, and he’s acquired an array of other abilities. By the end of the Chapter Black storyline, his Spirit Gun can obliterate entire mountains. The strength of Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama is so great they literally leave Kuwabara behind for the Three Kings tournament.
5 Boruto Quickly Levels Up The Kids To Be Able To Keep Up With New Threats
Naruto ends with Naruto and Sasuke as beings so powerful they can literally force the rest of the ninja world to accept them because of their strength. But Boruto is about the next generation, so it makes sense they would want to ratchet down the scale of things and allow them to grow again.
But this isn't the case. With Naruto and Sasuke the level Boruto has to reach and surpass, they have to introduce characters quickly and get them close to the same levels. Boruto masters the Kage Bunshin and Rasengan, while Sarada has learned the Sharingan, and Mitsuki can use Sage Mode at will. They’re already at where Naruto and the others were at the start of Shippuden and they’ll be surpassing it soon.
4 Hunter X Hunter Went From Yo-Yos To Enemies So Powerful They Needed Nuclear Weapons To Stop Them
Hunter x Hunter begins with characters using weapons like yo-yos and fishing rods, but it gets serious fast. This is a series where the power creep waits for no one, not even the main character. The Yorknew City arc introduces a group of villains Gon and Killua can only run from, while the Chimera Ant arc introduces more enemies just as strong. The Chimera Ant king, Meruem, is so powerful, the main characters never even get to fight him. It’s hard to say if Gon or Killua are able to fight any of the strongest characters introduced in the show or manga right now.
3 Yu-Gi-Oh Gradually Introduces More Powerful And More Complex Cards
Yu-Gi-Oh’s power creep is more blatant than any other series on this list. The original two arcs started with a bunch of vanilla monsters and fairly simple rules. The monsters fought, and the spells and traps either destroyed monsters, each other, or hindered the opponent’s strategy.
By the time of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s the very concept of tribute monsters is obsolete. By Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V, every duel takes multiple episodes because every turn takes ten minutes or more. Monsters do everything spells and traps do, while spells do everything traps used to do, and traps are mostly irrelevant. The power creep in Yu-Gi-Oh got so bad they reset everything with Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS just to make the game approachable for newcomers and kids.
2 Code Geass Takes Their Mecha From Realistic To Absurd
Code Geass begins with some relatively low-tech mecha that use simple weaponry like machine guns and travel via wheels that are deployed from their legs. But no mecha series can ever stay low-tech for long. Eventually the Guren is introduced—a high-speed robot with maneuverability that can easily tear through multiple enemies at once. The Guren is one-upped by the Lancelot, and so on. By the end, Lelouch (not a great pilot himself) is piloting a mech that flies and has laser cannons. Older model mecha are helpless in comparison.
1 Naruto Goes From Realistic Ninja To Fighting Space Aliens
Naruto seems like a ninja series with some anime powers at first. In the first episode everything is about the use of positioning and usage of ninja tools. It’s entirely possible for weaker yet smarter opponents to topple more powerful ones, and that arguably is the entire point of the Land of Waves arc. But by the time Shippuden starts, this is rarely the case anymore. Naruto and Sasuke are up against literal aliens with chakra powers, and their ninja abilities only match up after getting massive power-ups, leaving nearly everyone else behind.