When people think about anime, they always think about the skilled young geniuses. Since anime is aimed at a younger crowd, to begin with, the protagonists are always young, and to justify having the entire show be about them they have to have incredible powers.
But not every power player in the anime world is fresh out of middle school. Some characters have years, and even decades, of experience under their belt. They've been beating down everyone who gets in their path since before the protagonist existed. They were the young geniuses at one point, and they have no problem proving they're still just as good as they used to be.
10 Bang Is An S-Class Hero With Master Martial Arts Skills (One-Punch Man)
Also known as Silver Fang, Bang is one of the most powerful S-Class heroes in the Hero Association. He doesn’t have a bunch of ridiculous superpowers either—his special ability is literally just being a talented martial artist. His speed and strength place him above Genos even after multiple improvements, as Bang has easily defeated enemies Genos didn’t even have the strength or speed to keep up with.
Aside from Saitama, the only Hero capable of keeping up with his abilities appear to be Bang’s brother Bomb, who he trained and developed much of his martial arts skills with.
9 Master Roshi Blew Up The Moon (Dragon Ball Z)
Master Roshi was at one point the most accomplished martial artist that ever lived. He created his own martial arts style in the Turtle School, mastering the Kamehameha technique to the degree that he could use it to put out a fire at full power.
Even after spending several months training his smartest student, Roshi still had the strength and skill to defeat Goku in hand-to-hand combat. He’s also shown the ability to use the Kamehameha wave to destroy the moon, a power most wouldn’t display for years.
8 Hiko Seijuro Is The True Master Of Hiten Mitsurugi Style (Rurouni Kenshin)
The man responsible for teaching Kenshin Himura the Hiten Mitsurugi style, Hiko Seijuro is still technically the strongest person in the Kenshin universe. Despite him training Kenshin, the Hiten Mitsurugi Style isn’t meant to be used by someone as small as Kenshin. It’s difficult on the muscles, and requires someone of Hiko’s stature.
Because of this, Kenshin’s ability was never as effective, and he can’t keep it up as long—his abilities fade the older he gets. Meanwhile, Hiko is just as powerful as he was the day he trained Kenshin, and since Kenshin has defeated everyone else on the show, Hiko stands at the top as the strongest.
7 Hiruzen Sarutobi Trained The Three Sannin (Naruto)
The Third Hokage was seen as a kindly old man at the beginning of Naruto, but don’t look down on him. At one point he was considered the god of shinobi, because of how talented he was in ninjutsu. He was one of the strongest Hokage that had ever lived, having trained all three of the legendary Sannin.
In the end, Orochimaru was only able to match him because Hiruzen had aged so much and also because Orochimaru had kept his body young using so many forbidden skills.
6 Zeno Zoldyck Is A Master Of Emitter Energy (Hunter x Hunter)
Zeno Zoldyck is Silva Zoldyck's father and has spent several decades training his skills. With his transmutation abilities, he was able to destroy the Chimera Ants’ base by raining down energy with his Dragon Dive technique, which didn’t even seem to exhaust him.
Zeno is also able to fire out blasts of energy from his palms, which basically makes him into a Dragon Ball character that’s just hanging out in the Hunter x Hunter universe. They’ve never shown the limits of his abilities, and he’s never had to push himself in battles against some of Hunter x Hunter’s strongest.
5 Yamamoto Genryusai Founded The Gotei 13 (Bleach)
Captain of the 1st Division of the Gotei 13, the rumors around Yamamoto Genryusai aren't just for show. He created the entire Gotei 13, having trained several of the most talented of the Soul Reapers. His powers are incredible both in terms of swordsmanship and raw strength despite his age, and he’s even a master of shunpo.
The only problem with Yamamoto is that he never looks strong because people are only ever fighting him after they’ve completely figured out how to shut his abilities down.
4 Furinji Hayato Is The Invincible Superman Of Ryozanpaku (History's Strongest Disciple: Kenichi)
Hayato Furinji is the leader of the Ryozanpaku dojo. In the world of Kenichi, he’s supposedly the master of every martial arts style that’s known, and is so talented he can copy any technique he’s ever seen before.
Furinji suppresses most of his power, keeping it down to keep from harming anyone else. As he takes fights more seriously, Furinji has shown supernatural levels of strength and speed, right down to moving so quickly only a high-speed camera can track what he’s doing at the moment.
3 Makarov Has Mastered The Three Fairy Magics (Fairy Tail)
Makarov Dreyar has looked after all of the members of Fairy Tail for decades. He’s a powerful mage who’s mastered the ability to shapeshift at will, making himself into a giant whenever he needs to fight someone. He doesn’t fight often, but as shown in the series, he has no problem transforming and throwing down when necessary.
He’s also a master of all three of the Three Great Fairy Magics. He’s specifically known for using Fairy Law, a spell that attacks anyone the user doesn’t view as a friend.
2 Genkai Was One Of The Strongest Members Of Team Urameshi (Yu Yu Hakusho)
Genkai was a Spirit Detective just like her student, Yusuke Urameshi. She quit after her partner Toguro lost his way, and turned into a hermit who refused to interact with anyone. When she met Yusuke, she saw enough in him to devote her effort to training him and helping him break through his biggest weakness: being detached and caring too little.
By the time of the Dark Tournament, she was still the strongest member of the group, and it was only after she gave most of her ki to Yusuke that he had the strength to stand at the same level as Toguro in the finals.
1 Kaguya Otsutsuki Can Absorb Any Ninjutsu Used On Her (Naruto)
In the Naruto universe, Kaguya doesn't belong in the same sentence as anyone else in terms of power. She’s basically a deity. She’s a space alien who can travel through space unassisted and wipe minds, and absorb any ninjutsu anyone hits her with. She has almost limitless chakra, and can shut down opponents with powerful shockwaves. Even her sons at their best weren’t on her level.
Kaguya doesn’t even need chakra to perform any of her jutsu, which means she’s not even operating by the same rules as the rest of her opponents.