In JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, many of the main characters, both heroes and villains, are Stand Users. Stands are essentially a physical manifestation of the User’s life force, which gives them some psychic abilities, usually specific to the person using them.
But JoJo is not the only franchise, in anime or otherwise, that has this kind of set-up for characters to have powers that only they can use, though of course the circumstances in which the characters receive these powers are often drastically different. It’s a surprisingly common method of storytelling, especially in action or fantasy stories, with an easy way of giving characters abilities without too much effort or explanation.
10 Persona: Characters Are Connected To A Persona That Lends Them Power
The Persona franchise is probably the closest version of this to Jojo itself, as the characters are connected to a persona that lends them power. Like a Stand, the persona is the manifestation of a person’s personality. It can be summoned in order to participate in combat, and they grow in strength as their experience in combat also improves. As the characters also level up, their personas can become stronger as well, so throughout the game, the characters gain more abilities from their personas.
9 Naruto: Shinobi Have Abilities Specific To Their Clans & Chakra
While Naruto characters don’t have the same actual manifestation of power the way that Jojo characters do, they do have abilities that are specific to their clan and chakra levels, which manifest in various ways that end up making them fairly unique. But there are some characters, like Naruto himself, who do use another, essentially invisible source of power, to help him in battle, that being the Nine-Tails, which is sealed inside of him and acts almost as a Stand would.
8 X-Men: The X Gene Gives Mutants Their Own Unique Skillset
One non-anime franchise that has a similar feel to Jojo, with characters who have similar abilities to Stands is X-Men. While Stands are manifestations of a person’s psychic powers, the X gene in X-Men turns the characters into mutants, which allows them to manifest their own unique skillsets and powers, which they then use in combat. Some of them, like Professor X, Jean Grey, or Emma Frost, even have specifically psychic abilities that make them powerful X-Men.
7 Fate/Stay Night: Souls Of Heroes Are Summoned To Help The Mages In Battle
Fate/stay night is an interesting addition to this list because, in some ways, the characters themselves don’t have the abilities, but they’re able to summon and partner with the characters who do.
In the series, mages are able to call up the souls of heroes from past lives, such as Saber, who is the reincarnation of King Arthur, and share their power in order to fight through the Holy Grail Wars. Though the Servants are technically separate people, in essence, they operate the same way as Stands.
6 Fullmetal Alchemist: Each Alchemist Specializes In Powers That Suit Their Personality
Part of the reason for this kind of narrative to be so popular is because it’s no fun to watch a bunch of people fighting each other all using the same kinds of moves. Fullmetal Alchemist is a great example of how that works, since each alchemist has a specific focus for their alchemy, giving them different ways of approaching that alchemy. Like with Stands, the characters use the alchemy that most suits their personalities, such as Roy Mustang being an alchemist who uses fire.
5 Tokyo Mew Mew: Magic Girls Are Psychically Connected To Specific Animals
Several magical girl anime could probably be argued to belong on this list, but the most direct example is Tokyo Mew Mew. The characters in this series attend an endangered animal exhibit during an earthquake, which helps them each connect psychically to a specific animal. This connection gives them magical abilities that are based around the animal that they are connected to, which they can then use in combat, much the same way that a Stand manifestation can be used.
4 Lucha Underground: Wrestlers Have Abilities & Appearances Based On The Animal Of Their Respective Tribes
Another franchise that one might be surprised to find out has this kind of narrative throughline is the wrestling show Lucha Underground. While all wrestling series have their own internal logic, Lucha Underground takes its kayfabe very seriously. The wrestlers in the series by and large belong to individual tribes that are all based around animals: reptiles, rabbits, cats, etc. Belonging to these tribes gives them certain appearances and also, in the course of the story, shows they also have specific abilities that go along with them.
3 One-Punch Man: Superheroes Use Their Unique Abilities To Fight Off Monsters
Like another superhero franchise on this list, One-Punch Man follows a group of characters who have specific abilities that allow them to act as superheroes guarding the fictional cities that they live in from monsters. There are espers who have similar powers because they’re from the same family and also people with super speed or strength. Other characters manifest their own abilities by eating monster cells, which can transform them into powerful, and horrendous, creatures.
2 My Hero Academia: Each Hero Comes With Their Own Unique Quirk Ability
Almost any series with characters who are able to manifest powers or abilities come across as similar to Jojo, and My Hero Academia is more similar than many.
Almost all of the characters possess Quirks, which are unique skills or powers that they can use to fight in combat or use in everyday life, from being able to set oneself on fire to being able to create acid from one’s skin.
1 One Piece: Pirates Gain Powers From Different Types Of Devil Fruit
One Piece involves characters that don’t necessarily have their own unique powers, the way that Stands naturally occur in specific individuals, but the characters are able to manifest new abilities by eating items called Devil Fruits. Main character Monkey D. Luffy, for instance, has a body that is made of rubber, which can’t be harmed through direct strikes and which he can stretch to incredible proportions. Boa Hancock is another character with Devil Fruit abilities, though hers allow her to knock out any man who feels sexual attraction to her.