Depending on the genres one pays attention to, anime can often seem like something of a boys club. Both the lead protagonists and supporting cast can be almost overwhelmingly male, which largely owes itself to an over-focus on the target audience of young boys and young adult men spending the most money on the hobby. But things aren’t always what they seem on the surface, and even some of the most testosterone-driven shows can have some awesome women in them. This list pays homage to some of those, compiling 25 of the most powerful women in anime. These women don’t just stand shoulder to shoulder with men -- they stand as teachers and leaders of massive organizations. We didn’t just limit the list to side characters or heroes either as some of the most powerful women ever have been the lead characters in their worlds… or the lead villain in others, and it wouldn’t be fair to leave them out.
But what does being powerful entail, for the purposes of this list? Well, we’re mostly going with the idea of power in the traditional sense. Sure, some of the women here have lead countries (or, even more impressive, Student Council organizations), but here we mean the more typical “over 9000” sense expected from anime. Most of these women know their way around a scrap, often possessing superhuman strength or other incredible abilities. As for the ones who can’t fight? They’re even more dangerous, boasting reality warping powers that would give the gods themselves pause.
25 ALLENBY BEARDSLEY (G GUNDAM)
From the country of Neo Sweden comes the only female member of the Gundam Fight, the tournament between chosen champions of different countries in the G Gundam world. Having undergone extreme training like most other Gundam Fighters, Allenby is a threat to begin with, but there’s even more to her than people expect.
Neo Sweden’s obsession with victory causes them to place the dangerous Berserker system inside her Sailor Moon-inspired Nobel Gundam. This system brings out 120 percent of her fighting ability and sends her into an uncontrollable rage that makes her nearly impossible to defeat.
24 UTENA TENJOU (REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA)
While Utena doesn’t necessarily match up with some of the heavier hitters on this list, she’s easily one of the most powerful women in her own universe. After accidentally winning the hand of the Rose Bride, this young girl with dreams of becoming a prince winds up defeating everyone who challenges her for the right to marry her friend Anthy, and the power to “revolutionize the world”.
Utena’s skills as a swordswoman are nearly unmatched, and when her soul sword is powered up she can even achieve superhuman feats like slicing cars clean in half.
23 MORGIANA (MAGI: THE KINGDOM OF MAGIC)
As usual, red-haired anime girls aren’t to be messed with. Like most members of the Fanalis, Morgiana possesses incredible strength, easily besting multiple sabretooth tigers in battle with nothing more than her own abilities.
As Magi goes on however, she only becomes more and more powerful, learning proper martial arts as well as increasing her own natural speed. Later, the Household Vessel she’s given by Alibaba grants her the power to fly on wings of fire, which of course double as an attack of their own.
22 SATSUKI KIRYUUIN (KILL LA KILL)
President of Honnoji Academy’s Student Council and one of the primary antagonists of Kill la Kill, Satsuki is a strong leader who looks down on the weak.
Still, as a perfectionist she accepts nothing but the best from herself and from those around her. Even without her special armor Junketsu, Satsuki displays abilities nothing short of superhuman, beating large gangs with nothing more than a quick force wave of chi. Equipped with her armor, she can knock over buildings, create gale-force winds with just her willpower, and run fast enough to defy gravity itself.
21 BOA HANCOCK (ONE PIECE)
Head of both an army of pirates and an entire island, Boa Hancock is a deadly pirate who commands so much respect, even the World Government allows her to do almost whatever she wants.
She has the power of the Love-Love Fruit, which lets her turn anyone who finds her attractive into stone, so she’s basically pirate anime Medusa. As if that’s not enough, she also possesses Conqueror’s Haki, a unique power which can weaken or knock out others through sheer force of will.
20 SABER (FATE/STAY UNIVERSE)
Though there’s easily something like a dozen or so versions of Saber at this point, for this list we’re talking about the original Saber, featured in Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero. Before she became a hero in the endless Holy Grail Wars, Saber was actually Artoria Pendragon, known throughout history as King Arthur, the mythical King who united Britain.
As the Saber-class servant, Artoria generally tries to hide her identity in battle by using an invisible sword. When pushed, she can brandish Excalibur instead though, a sword she wields with unmatched skill and can do long-range attacks as easily as close-range.
19 LISA LISA (JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE)
Long before the idea of Stands was a twinkle in Hirohiko Araki’s eyes, he went full force with the idea of the Ripple, a martial arts relying on breathing control and the flow of blood through the body to create and manipulate energy.
As part of the Joestar family, Lisa Lisa became a master of the Ripple, training her son Joseph to use it in their war against the Pillar Men. Still, though Joseph would be the one to defeat the Pillar Men, she was still noted to be several times more powerful with the Ripple than her son.
18 ECLAIR (KIDDY GRADE)
A member of the Galactic Organization of Trade and Tarrifs (GOTT)’s shadow forces, Éclair is initially viewed as one of the weaker members of the organization due to her youth and inexperience. However, as Kiddy Grade’s narrative continue we learn she’s actually centuries old, constantly dying and being reborn in new bodies, often choosing to forget her past due to the dangerous and morally murky work she’s had to do.
When she’s in full control of her memories, her special ability, “Power”, allows her to instantly recover from wounds, fly, create concussive waves of energy, and grants her incredible strength.
17 LUCY (ELFEN LIED)
The lead character in the horror/action anime Elfen Lied, Lucy is the primary example of looks can be deceiving. After undergoing a harsh life as a child, Lucy gave in to her base instincts and lived for several years taking advantage of the incredible powers granted her as Queen of the Diclonus people, an offshoot of the human race.
These powers included… mostly the ability to end people really, really efficiently. She could stop people’s hearts at will, and use telekinetic, invisible hands to end anyone who even annoyed her in a minor way.
16 TERESA (CLAYMORE)
Half-human, half-demon, and completely unstoppable. Amongst the Claymores assigned to protect humans from the demons terrorizing their lands, Teresa was revered for being the most powerful of them all. While Teresa boasts the same types of powers as the other women in the organization, she stands on an entirely different scale than the rest, and her unparalleled ability to perceive Yoki energy allows her to mimic any technique she sees.
Consistently throughout both Claymore’s anime and manga Teresa’s displays of power allow her to effortlessly defeat every aggressor, even fully awakened fellow Claymores.
15 BISHAMON (NORAGAMI)
In the world of Noragami, gods gain more power according to how much mortals worship them. And as one of the seven gods of fortune, Bishamon is one of the most well-known and worshipped gods in Japan. As the goddess of war, Bishamon is also naturally powerful, able to blow away even the most powerful phantoms with ease.
She has centuries of experience under her belt, and her compassion has lead her to take several departed souls into her home and utilize their abilities as weapons and armor.
14 GENKAI (YU YU HAKUSHO)
Yu Yu Hakusho managed to put a unique twist on nearly everything -- even the venerable “ancient martial arts master” trope. In a series that was pumped full of testosterone, Genkai showed she couldn’t just hang with the boys, she was better than them. Master of the Spirit Wave technique, she taught main character Yusuke everything he knows, and she was one of the biggest guns on Team Urameshi during the Dark Tournament arc.
Her mastery over the Spirit Wave made her a powerful B-ranked fighter, and even granted her the ability to reduce her age to fight at her prime.
13 LEONMITCHELLI GALLETTE DE ROIS (DOG DAYS)
Princess Leo stands as ruler of the country of Galette, and commander of the Galette Lion Army. In the land of Flonyard, she attacks the Republic of Biscotti with such frequency Biscotti is forced to summon an outsider from another world to defeat her, and even he finds himself completely outmatched without aid.
Fortunately in Dog Days the “wars” are more like mock battles, but nonetheless she remains a fierce opponent who relishes both these fights and the chance to test her strength against the demons who occasionally threaten their lands.
12 TSUNADE (NARUTO)
Though Tsunade is one of the First Hokage’s descendants, her ascension to becoming the fifth leader of the Hidden Leaf happened completely off the back of her own efforts. She revolutionized the way Konoha constructed its teams by forcing them all have a medic, and invented antidotes to some of the deadliest poisons ever created.
But she isn’t just politically powerful and intelligent, she’s also incredibly strong -- using her chakra to grant her incredible super strength. She has such incredible chakra reserves that she’s constantly using keeping up a transformation jutsu to appear younger than she actually is.
11 MEDAKA KUROKAMI (MEDAKA BOX)
Medaka Kurokami was born to be great -- literally. Born as a special project, Medaka is known as an Abnormal, beings imbued with abilities and intelligence beyond that of normal humans. In Medaka’s case, her Abnormality stands at the top of all others; known as The End, her ability copies other Abnormal’s powers and lets her use them better than their owner could.
She also has a number of “trick cards” in her possession that take the tropes of shonen anime and use them as actual abilities, including using the “Power of Friendship” to convert twisted individuals to decent people.
10 ERZA SCARLET (FAIRY TAIL)
Easily the most powerful female member of the dangerous Fairy Tail guild, Erza has earned the nickname Titania, queen of the fairies. Possessing the magic skill “Requip”, Erza can change her weapon and armor at a moment’s notice in order to suit whatever battle she’s engaged in, with some granting her elemental attributes while others boost her speed or defensive capabilities.
Her power has her recognized as an S-Ranked mage even before the series starts, and she’s known for giving out beatings to Natsu and Gray for being such a nuisance with their constant fights.
9 HIBIKI TACHIBANA (SYMPHOGEAR)
Even coming from a universe where accomplishing the impossible is expected, Hibiki still manages to stand out. In the world of Symphogear, the heroines gain special powers through the use of fragments of ancient technology activated by the power of song, and while Hibiki isn’t the best singer, her abilities are truly absurd, though much of this is from having the fragment which granted her powers embedded within her body.
Still, over four seasons she’s punched mountains, suplexed rocket ships, fought ancient horrors, and knocked supposedly immortal creatures out of existence.
8 NANOHA TAKAMACHI (NANOHA)
Anime protagonists are often expected to save the world at young ages, and Nanoha is no exception, tasked with stopping giant monsters at the young age of nine years old. Fortunately, she lucked out and was a natural genius at magic combat. She’s spent over a decade working for the Time Space Administrative Bureau, traveling to distant planets and keeping the peace all over the galaxy.
As a magical girl, her powers are generally what you’d expect, except her magic wand is a giant staff that runs on cartridges and fires magical blasts that look like Gundam beam cannon fire.
7 KAGUYA OTSUTSUKI (NARUTO)
When looking at an anime about ninja, one normally wouldn’t assume aliens would be involved, but Naruto likes to shake things up. Having consumed the fruit of the divine chakra tree, Kaguya’s already impressive abilities became almost godlike. She possesses the Byakugan and the Rinne Sharingan, a near infinite supply of chakra, near perfect regeneration skills, and the ability to manipulate the elements themselves.
Existing before humans knew what chakra was, Kaguya is the technical founder of every major clan of the hidden leaf, and all of their special techniques are either abilities she possessed or based on them.
6 ANDROID 18 (DRAGON BALL Z)
If Android 18 had completely faded into the background after the "Cell Saga", we would still remember her for the epic beatdown she handed to Vegeta. The cocky prince of all Saiyans believed himself invincible after becoming a Super Saiyan, only for 18 to disabuse him of that notion after breaking his arm with a single kick.
Still, years later she returns to be a part of the Tournament of Power in Dragon Ball Super, helping Universe 7 by eliminating multiple fighters on her own and even saving her brother from being eliminated.