Nowadays, there are dozens of popular anime with characters who are each strong in their own way. Series like Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia have chaptered the attention of modern anime fans. Although the anime characters from these modern series are incredibly unique, they are all influenced by anime characters of the past.
Whether they are human, cyborg or something else entirely, anime from the 1990s has strong characters that many fans still look up to. In many ways, anime from the early 2000s and earlier has set the tone for what makes a strong character.
10 Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost In The Shell, 1995)
Motoko is a cyborg and squad leader of Public Security Section 9 in Ghost In The Shell. As a full cyborg, she has several abilities, including camouflage. She is also incredibly intelligent and able to access multitudes of information in the blink of an eye. Her body can be completely destroyed, but that still doesn't kill her. She's a master in hand-to-hand combat. When fighting the hacker, known as The Puppet Master, she easily breaks his arm and leg without even trying.
9 Alita Has An Innate Strength (Battle Angel Alita, 1993)
Battle Angel Alita's Alita is a cyborg with amnesia. Even though she can't remember anything, she instinctively knows the incredibly powerful martial arts style of Panzer Kunst. After discovering her innate ability to fight, Alita becomes a bounty hunter. Although she is small in stature, she is incredibly strong and agile. She easily cuts through her opponent's mechanical limbs and punches a crater into a wall with the strength of her fist alone.
8 Guts Is An Incredible Swordsman (Berserk, 1997)
Berserk's Guts is known as the Black swordsman. He is a mercenary and warrior, best known for wielding a giant blade which is the same size as him. Not only does he have incredible combat prowess, but he is physically strong. Despite the size of his sword, he is able to wield it as if it weighs nothing at all.
Guts is so powerful, he is able to attack with precision. He takes on 100 men and even parries a mace that weighs hundreds of pounds. Guts doesn't have any special abilities or secret techniques but despite that, he is still a very powerful man.
7 Kenshin Is Legendary (Rurouni Kenshin, 1996)
Kenshin is both the world's greatest and the world's deadliest swordsman. His skills are so renowned, they are practically legendary. He is able to cut down several opponents in the blink of an eye and can even cut a statue in half without even trying. Rurouni Kenshin shows he is so talented that the average swordsman thinks of him as a demon with supernatural powers. Even though he stops killing people and uses a reverse blade sword, he is still someone that shouldn't be messed with.
6 Gon Has Multiple Abilities As A Hunter (Hunter X Hunter, 1999)
The original Hunter X Hunter aired from 1999 to 2001, and another which began airing in 2011. Gon is a hunter which comes a plethora of different abilities. Not only does he have advanced hearing and vision, but he also has advanced taste and smell.
His agility is top-notch, and he is so strong he is able to catch a fish that five grown men couldn't even handle. His pain tolerance is out of this world and he even has advanced healing. With all of Gon's abilities, he is the perfect fighter and can take on any challenge.
5 Luffy Is A Powerful Rubber Man (One Piece, 1999)
Luffy has been kicking around as one of the strongest characters in One Piece since 1999. He is young but still incredibly powerful. As a child, he eats a Gum-Gum fruit, which turns him into a rubber man. He loses the ability to swim, but gains a lot of power despite the Gum-Gum fruit's drawbacks. Bullets no longer affect him, simply bounce off his rubber body instead.
He is also able to stretch his limbs so he can dish out powerful kicks and punches. He's immune to lightning attacks, which helps him a lot during his fight with Enel during the Skypiea Arc. At his weakest, he is still one of the strongest characters in One Piece and at his strongest, almost no one can touch him.
4 Yusuke Is A Powerful Demon And Human (Yu Yu Hakusho, 1992)
Yusuke from Yu Yu Hakusho is a punk kid who regularly gets into fights and is known for breaking the rules. After sacrificing himself to save someone else, he is brought back to life and becomes a Spirit Detective. Initially, he can fight but not with great ability.
After he trains with the legendary psychic, Genkai Yusuke becomes unstoppable. It seems like he reaches his limit after defeating Toguro during the Dark Tournament. Throughout Yu Yu Hakusho, he continually becomes stronger. When Yusuke is killed again, he comes back as a powerful half-demon with the powers of the Mazoku. From then on, he is completely unstoppable.
3 Genkai Is The Strongest Human (Yu Yu Hakusho, 1992)
Before Genkai passes on her powers to Yusuke, she is originally the strongest human in Yu Yu Hakusho. Even after her powers are gone, she is still a force to be reckoned with. She is a legend among demons and even won a previous Dark Tournament. In her heyday, her powers were completely unmatched. She even destroys an entire mountain with the force of one spirit gun attack.
Even in her old age, she can destroy any opponent. When the Dark Tournament first starts, she is able to defeat a group of demons all by herself with one attack, meaning she is one of the strongest anime characters.
2 Goku Is Anime's Strongest Man (Dragon Ball Z, 1989)
Many anime fans consider Goku from Dragon Ball Z as the strongest anime character of all time. Fans usually gauge how strong another character is by whether or not they can beat Goku in a fight. The praise of his strength is not unfounded. Even as a child he is super strong, Bulma shoots at him and it does absolutely no damage. He can create an attack the size of a planet and he's even taken on Gods. Goku is so powerful that it's hard to believe anyone is even capable of challenging him.
1 Usagi Is Underrated As Anime's Strongest Characters (Sailor Moon, 1992)
No anime character truly compares to the Celestial Queen with the power of the universe at her fingertips. When she first discovers she is able to become Sailor Moon, Usagi is incredibly cowardly and weak. When she faces her first obstacle she actually cries for help, which ends up being one of her most powerful attacks at the time. By the time she gets to her most powerful in Sailor Moon, she is able to harness the Legendary Silver Crystal and utilize all the power in the universe. It truly is hard to believe just how powerful she really is.