Though conventional weapons within anime (fists and swords to spears and throwables) are common, there are several dangerous characters throughout the realms of anime who wield a weapon that is often underestimated and undervalued. This weapon is string. String, wire, and thread users can be among the most creative weapon wielders in anime.
Whether it's a form of magic or a skill that they have honed, string users can excel at surprising opponents, both with traps and unique offensive techniques. They tend to stand out, arguably more so than many generic weapon users.
10 Machi Could Reattach Separated Limbs In Record Time (Hunter X Hunter)
Known as the strongest female member of the Hunter X Hunter's Phantom Troupe, Machi Komacine is highly skilled and dangerous with her being a Transmutation-based Nen user. Her ability Nen Stitches, channels her aura into thread, which is capable of tracking targets and even quickly reattaching severed limbs, which Hisoka is seen taking advantage of.
Machi is also well trained regardless of her Nen ability, making her highly dangerous with keen intuition, intense stamina, and resistance to pain, along with her speed that is especially useful when reattaching severed limbs with Nen Stitches.
9 Excelion Made Jenos Hazard A Formidable Assassin (Black Cat)
Black Cat's Jenos Hazard is a dangerous assassin, as a member of the Chronos Numbers and Cerberus. Jenos's weapon of choice is a glove, named Excelion, with indestructible Orichalcum wires attached to each finger. This allows for extra mobility and control, giving Jenos the ability to tightly grasp or even lacerate his opponents if he so wishes.
His control is so measured and precise that he is also capable of simply picking up objects without causing noticeable damage, which makes the weapon versatile and useful in a number of scenarios.
8 Lubbock Was Clever And Meticulous With His Traps And General Use Of His Weapon (Akame Ga Kill)
An assassin of Night Raid in Akame Ga Kill, Lubbock was one of the most understated members. With his Imperial Arms, or Teigu, Cross-Tail, Lubbock was effective in setting deadly traps with his threads and also using them in battle when needed, with him even killing two of the Four Rakshasa Demons.
In a grisly anime, Lubbock was often a point of comic relief, but was still a useful member of the group with his general versatility and especially his loyalty to Najenda.
7 Walter Dornez's Wires Were Essentially A Part Of His Very Being (Hellsing)
Throughout Hellsing, Walter C. Dornez goes on a journey, from an old member of the Hellsing Organization serving as butler to Integra and making special weapons, to showing his impressive fighting prowess, all the way to being turned and fighting for Millennium.
Walter's weapons of choice are known as Microfilament Wires, capable of cutting through steel and concrete yet also being capable of less-destructive use in binding and restraining targets without harming them. Walter can move the wires as if they are a part of his body, able to delicately move objects or destroy them as and when he sees fit.
6 Best Jeanist Was Known As The Fiber Hero For A Reason (My Hero Academia)
In My Hero Academia, Tsunagu Hakamada is known as the Fiber Hero: Best Jeanist. With his Quirk of Fiber Master, he is able to unravel parts of his clothes into fabric strings, manipulating them into offensive weapons or as a form of defense or restraint.
With considerable experience and time spent honing his Quirk, he is considered to be one of the top heroes, all while remaining cool and stylish. Despite suffering a brutal injury at the hands of All For One during the Kamino Incident, Blue Jeanist was able to apprehend multiple Nomu with his Quirk and remain defiant in the face of All For One's extraordinary power and menace.
5 Vanessa's Thread Magic Could Even Affect And Influence Fate (Black Clover)
In Black Clover, the witch Vanessa Enoteca is a valued member of the Black Bull squad, who despite her somewhat lazy demeanor and love of alcohol, has a special affinity with Thread Magic.
Her Thread Magic allows her to create and manipulate thread, and despite it often being used to fix and alter clothing for teammates, it has also been shown to be useful and powerful in battle. She learns to thread a red cat "Red Thread of Fate" that is even capable of changing fate to be more favorable to the user.
4 Sasori's Puppeteering Was A Terrifying Application Of Thread Manipulation (Naruto: Shippuden)
Sasori of the Red Sand was an S-rank missing-nin and renowned member of Akatsuki in Naruto Shippuden. Due to a sad upbringing and lack of parental nurturing due to his parents being murdered, Sasori became somewhat twisted and obsessed with puppeteering. He began experimenting and eventually perfected making human puppets.
He had tremendous skill with chakra threads, being able to suppress them to the point of invisibility, allowing him to control up to around 100 puppets, with him even being able to go beyond at a push.
3 Kaori Kanzaki Could Summon Fire, Ice And So Much More With Her Wire-Based Magic (A Certain Magical Index)
In A Certain Magical Index, Kaori Kanzaki is one of the most formidable magicians around. She has an impressive offensive arsenal stemming from sword and wire combat. Not only can she use seven wires that split into more to cut her enemies, but she can form her wires in a circle to produce even more magical variants.
With her being able to summon a god, or cast fire and ice spells using the wires, her use of wires is far more creative than most other wire, thread or string users in anime.
2 Rui's Deadly Thread Offense Was Too Much For Tanjiro To Handle By Himself (Demon Slayer)
Rui was one of the main antagonists in the Natagumo Mountain arc of Demon Slayer with him being affiliated with the Twelve Kizuki until his demise at the hands of Giyu Tomioka.
Due to belonging to the Spider Family and obviously possessing spider-like traits, many of Rui's abilities and techniques involved thread and string-based offense. His thread manipulation made threads strong enough to break blades and easily slice through humans. With various techniques such as "Cutting Thread Cage", "Murderous Eye Basket" and "Cutting Thread Rotation", Rui truly made a thread and string-based offense something to behold and cower from.
1 Doflamingo's Devil Fruit Power And Charisma Made Him One Of The Best Villains (One Piece)
Donquixote Doflamingo is a name is often thrown about as being one of the best villains in the history of One Piece, from his endless charisma and influence to his menacing presence and threatening demeanor.
In addition, he also has the powers of a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit, the String-String Fruit or Ito Ito no Mi, which allows him to create and manipulate string, with its application even being capable of tearing through almost anything. Doflamingo is seen to be incredibly experienced with his power, even using it to stitch himself back up when gravely injured.