There are tons of wonderful sci-fi anime series out there. Each of them has cool thoughts about the potential future or the what could have been present. These shows give us all kinds of crazy ideas from human potential to crazy technology. But the one thing that every series seems to have is the one thing we really care about: aliens. Whether it’s a comedy or a serious anime, aliens seem to make everything so much better. It’s interesting to see the variety of aliens creators come up with -- some look like fantasy beasts with powers unthought of while others look just like us, with some minor changes. These extraterrestrials can be the key point of a story or they can be supporting characters that help a hero on their main quest. Sometimes, they are the main character.
Think of series like Dragon Ball where our main character is literally the Superman of the anime world -- living on Earth and protecting the innocent. Other, more humorous, series like Space Dandy might have us meeting and even living with random and crazy aliens that seem just like us in personality. Regardless of the series, there’s always something out there that fits everyone’s tastes, and we love every anime alien we come across. But what are some of the most powerful species in the entire genre? We’ve compiled 20 of your favorite series and their famous aliens, ranking them from least to most strength. See if your favorite is on the list!
20 NEWTYPE - GUNDAM SERIES
The Newtype are technically evolved humans who’ve spent their lives in space. This new stage of evolution is somewhat small but impacts the series in a whole new way. After these human needed to adapt to life in space, they grew a new type of mental awareness. This is sort of considered a sixth sense that makes them have a whole different degree of focus.
In the Gundam series, we’ve seen plenty of other humans that have changed due to living off Earth, but most of the time it’s through artificial means -- like genetic engineering for the Coordinators. Certainly, these new alien humans have giving our species a whole new name, especially when they’re piloting giant robots.
19 PRINCES - GINGA KIKOUTAI: MAJESTIC PRINCE
Born to deal with the hostile aliens of Jupiter, humans genetically modified their own space race known as “Princes”. Much like the Newtype of the Gundam series, the Princes were artificially created and raised in order to pilot robots in space that would help them defeat other aliens. These children, and later adults, aren’t exactly human anymore because of this genetic altering.
This gives them the ability not only to pilot the AHSMB, but also to have inhuman skills in traditional battle, swordsmanship and other forms of melee. While these talents on their own wouldn’t be too out there, it’s the strength and ability combined with their solider training that have made the Princes a type of alien themselves.
18 DATA OVERMIND - THE MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA
The Data Overmind, or Data Integration Thought Entity, is a combination of data organisms that look over Earth and the surrounding area of the galaxy. There are several sects that are a part of the Data Overmind as it splits itself off into factions such as Moderates, the Compromise, Thinking party and so on.
Each faction is a little different and they don’t always collectively agree. However, they do have a goal to evolve itself, which is why they target Haruhi Suzumiya, a human whom they believe holds the key to their success. The Data Overmind is as old as the universe and, while they can only modify data, seek to evolve so that they too can create data.
17 BETA - MUV-LUV ALTERNATIVE: TOTAL ECLIPSE
Most of the knowledge collected on BETA comes from humans, meaning we’re not entirely sure the extent of their power or physiology. However, we do know that these are space invaders out for our planet in the Muv-Luv series. After conflict with space forces and eventually touching ground on Earth, the BETA began a brutal slaughter of human.
There are several types of BETA that humans have distinguished via rank: warrior, solider tank, laser, destroyer and so many more. Each one has a varying type of ability depending on their class, but the abilities can range from heavy armor to immense firepower.
16 CTARL-CTARL - OUTLAW STAR
These creatures are presented in the Towards Stars Era of the Outlaw Star series. These aliens are able to change their physical form into primordial creatures and can increase their durability and strength by taking said form. The cool part about these metamorphic aliens is that the ability to transform is tied to the planet’s moon.
The only drawback to transforming is that it does take a lot of energy and power, meaning that it can only happen for short periods of time. But what is time to a race that is immortal? The only way you can kill the Ctarl-Ctarl is through extreme pressure and temperatures in space or by damaging their brain.
15 LALA SATALIN DEVILUKE - TO LOVE-RU
The main protagonist of To-Love Ru, Lala is technically an alien hybrid. The princess of the planet Deviluke, we find that not only does she have a bit of a “royal” personality, but she also has a few powers that can be seen throughout the series. Because her heritage is both Devilukean and Charmian, she is given the upper hand of both races.
In addition to the traditional heightened abilities that humans have, such as speed and strength, she also has a tail that shoots laser beams and a sonic scream that actually stopped a rather large typhoon from hitting Japan.
14 GALACTIC SPACE POLICE BROTHERHOOD - FLCL
Space police may not sound fun at all to most humans, but the Galactic Space Police Brotherhood seems to make it more interesting than it sounds. This militant force is relatively unknown about because we’re only ever introduced to it through Haruko, who’s a 1st Class Space Patrol Officer, and the official name was only ever given in the manga.
We can deduce what the abilities of this group of aliens are through her own display throughout the series. Haruko has incredible strength in addition to a wide range of tools and is known for riding a super-powered Vespa that’s not only incredibly fast but can also fly. Perhaps the most incredible power she possesses is the ability to absorb strength from other beings.
13 ALIENS - GANTZ: O
These beings fled to Earth from their dying star system, seeking refuge. Some of these aliens, however, were not exactly great. During the series we meet many different kinds of aliens. In the first mission, we find the Onion Aliens, who can have razor sharp hands, wield super strength and can produce a thick, green mucus that provides an alternative attack.
We also meet Tanaka aliens in the second mission who have a wide range of capabilities. Their leader was particularly known for speed, being able to dodge and attack at astonishing rates. While the aliens of Gantz: O are more or less lumped in together, there’s always a variety of them with ranging capabilities that makes them worthy to be on our list.
12 THE FIRST ANCESTRAL RACE - EGANGELION
A humanoid species with access to immense and powerful technology, the First Ancestral Race is a key to the Evangelion storyline. This is partially because they’ve been the reason behind the creation of things like the Seeds of Life or Angels. Hidden in an unknown world in the Milky Way Galaxy, this species is considered a higher intelligence that was responsible for life on other planets.
With the power to create whole new species, there’s no way we could forget these aliens on our list. Unfortunately, they have been considered long since dead as their physical species have gone extinct while other life has thrived elsewhere, thanks to them.
11 SPIRAL/ANTI-SPIRAL BEINGS - GURREN LAGANN
The Spirals and Anti-Spirals are beings that are defined by their DNA in the Gurren Lagann series. The Spiral Beings have helical DNA that spirals, or the being comes from a galaxy in a spiral. This grants the beings Spiral Power that amplifies the creature’s potential infinitely and makes them hyper focus on goals or tasks. These beings tend to fight and evolve despite their circumstances in environment and evolution, making them extremely limitless in power.
Anti-Spiral beings are humanoid beings that find the Spiral Power to be dangerous, and therefore purged themselves of it. Because of this, they are all stuck in suspended animation and created a collective consciousness that looked to purge the world of their foes, the Spiral Beings.
10 AMANTO - GINTAMA
If you’re a Gintama fan, you already know where this is going. The Amanto is actually a Japanese blanket term for extraterrestrials in this particular series. The Amanto were founders of a power called Atlana which is essentially a planetary life force that they converted into energy so that it could upgrade their technology. While the Amanto may look human, most of their capabilities are not.
In particular, they have super strength, speed and durability with an incredibly natural style of fighting that is completely beyond a human’s abilities. The most popular Amanto we’ve seen is Kagura, a member of the Yato Clan who keeps most of her physical capabilities hidden until she become enraged.
9 PARASITE - PARASYTE
Perhaps the most alien-looking alien on this list, the parasites from Parasyte are extremely cool looking and powerful. These creatures are extremely mysterious -- we’re not sure where they come from or how. But we do get to see what they can do, thanks to the parasite of the main character, Migi.
After accidentally taking over only Shinichi’s right hand instead of his brain, Migi gives the human’s entire right arm some pretty amazing transformative abilities. Some of these abilities include giving Schinichi a bladed whip, sword, extra muscle and even healing. He even has the ability to completely detach or fuse to another parasite’s host.
8 LIFE FIBERS - KILL LA KILL
These little microorganisms may not seem like a big deal for those who haven’t seen Kill La Kill, but they are perhaps one of the most powerful on this list. They are not invaders, by any means, but they’ve certainly changed the lives of humans on Earth. Usually, these are multi-cellular, long strands that are parasitic in nature.
They’ll feed off the bio-energy in a human host -- usually from the outside rather than inside, since it would kill the human. This is how, according to the anime, humans began to cover themselves. Eventually, we’d find them stitched into the very fabric of clothes, which is how creations like Senketsu were created in order to fight them off.
7 SAILOR SCOUTS - SAILOR MOON
We know what you’re thinking; the Sailor Scouts aren’t aliens. This is true to some extent. Scouts like Usagi and her crew technically aren’t part of their alien race anymore, despite their powers still holding that connection. However, fellow scouts like Pluto or Chaos most certainly would still hold that title, seeing as they were never reincarnated.
These scouts may look human, but the power they wield is anything but. Perhaps the strongest alien scout we’ve ever heard about is Sailor Chaos, a mysterious scout who’s said to be even more destructive then Sailor Galaxia. In the manga, Chaos is often the reason for the evil of the universe.
6 DEATHGERIAN - SPACE DANDY
Space Dandy is usually a humorous, sometimes inappropriate, anime but we’ve still seen some scary aliens come out of the series. Amongst these, the Dethgerian are certainly one w just had to place on this list. When they’re not hungry, these aliens will take on the shape of a helpless girl, most of the time, this is to lure in some prey.
However, once they’re feeding form takes hold, they become these large, horrifying creatures with various mouths. We saw this when Dandy encountered Mamitas who looked like your normal girl until she was ready to eat anyone or anything, except for maybe expired space food.
5 VIRM – DARLING IN THE FRANXX
We’ve been introduced to the hive-mind terror of DARLING in the FRANXX; space invaders that are the enemies of Klaxo sapiens. These aliens are ruthless invaders and will take down anyone who stands in their way or does not submit to their will.
They host an impressive amount of ships and an arsenal that make them a terrifying opponent in war, some of which are mechs that parallel the Klaxosaurs. Out of many of the aliens on this list, the VIRM are some of the most ruthless invaders we’ve ever seen in a series. It seems that they will always be at war.
4 SAIYAN - DRAGON BALL
You can’t leave out one of the most popular aliens in anime history! We’ve had many human-like aliens on this list, but these are perhaps one of our favorites. The Saiyan are definitely one of the strongest anime aliens out there with no question about it. While some can argue that the Frieza race is equally as powerful, we’ve seen Saiyan like Goku defeat them time and time again. Because of their winnings, it’s clear that these guys are the top dogs from their series.
It goes without saying that the warriors of Universe 7 are trying to hold the title for strongest warriors in the galaxy; leading to some obvious moves like the Super Saiyan transformation.
3 VAJRA - MACROSS
There are certain types of popular anime in the world, and big giant robots (or mechs) are one of the genres that fans gravitate towards. And if you love any type of mech anime that has ever come out you’ve probably heard of Macross, a very popular series over in Japan that has quite a strong following here in the U.S. as well.
One of the largest enemies in this show is the Vajra, a group of bio-mechanical extraterrestrial life-forms that terrorize the Macross Frontier Fleet. Some of their powers include having impervious energy converting armor, anti-ship beam weaponry and being able to space fold.
2 DARK MATTER THIEVES - ONE PUNCH-MAN
Everyone loved One-Punch Man, but an anime is only as good as its villain. In this case, the Dark Matter Thieves were a group of alien invaders set on attacking various planets. The race of aliens we known for their strong regenerative abilities, and we’ve seen the greatest extent of their powers through their leader, Boros.
As their leader, he is the peak of their race -- a super alien amongst his own kind with moves like immense speed, strength and durability. He also has the ability to do energy projection and has great regeneration abilities, like the rest of his race. We know he has to be powerful because Saitama has even said that he is one of the strongest enemies he’s ever fought.
1 INCUBATORS - MADOKA MAGICA
Madoka Magica may seem like an adorable magical girl anime, but we can assure you it’s not. One of the staple icons to this show is the incubator, Kyubey, who’s an adorable cat-like creature. But don’t let the cuteness fool you -- this is perhaps one of the most powerful aliens out there. Incubators are extremely hard to kill, as we’ve seen in the show.
However, their biggest asset is that these creepy aliens can grant any wish your heart desires. Incubators use magical girls and witches to fuel their own universal energy, which is why Kyubey tries to get Madoka to make a wish. She effectively rewrites the laws of the universe and becomes a god because of the kind of powers incubators have.