Anime guns often serve as powerful weapons and tools for characters to utilize for survival. While some anime firearms wield extraordinary abilities and defeat supernatural monsters, others prove relatively useless in combat. Overly restrictive requirements and ineffectiveness against deadlier powers lead certain anime guns to pose little threat.
Anime guns with explosive power can turn cumbersome due to overly complex designs and significant drawbacks. Wielding inconvenient firearms requires characters to use intelligence and alternative weapons to find success in battle. Firearms that appear intimidating can end up only proving useful in specific circumstances and unreliable in other forms of combat.
10 Mototsugu's Shotguns Rarely Get Used (History's Greatest Disciple Kenichi)
Mototsugu Shirahama's trio of shotguns function as effective weapons yet rarely get used due to his wife Saori's interference. Each shotgun remains largely relegated to storage as a result of Mototsugu's tendency to overact to his son Kenichi's dojo activities. Though Mototsugu wields each of his firearms with masterful skill, his shotguns primarily see combat during emergencies.
The shotgun trio remains a tool that only proves useful when Mototsugu covertly hides his actions from other people. Each gun acts as a symbol of reverence that Mototsugu longs to utilize more often.
9 Blood Bullets Come With Risks (Deadman Wonderland)
Ganta's gun from Deadman Wonderland enables him to compress his own blood into bullets that exceed the speed of conventional ammunition. Using greater amounts of blood allows for more powerful bullets, yet also risks the user's life by diminishing their blood supply. Ganta's gun comes with the requirement of carefully limiting its use to delay the side effects of inevitable blood loss.
The Ganta gun's ammunition source also forces its user to endure pain to produce the bullets themselves. The firearm ability becomes increasingly exhaustive to use as combat drags on and more injuries appear.
8 The Punisher's Size Inhibits Its Functionality (Trigun)
The Punisher hybrid gun wielded by members of the Eye of Michael organization packs explosive firepower yet has a massive size that would easily inhibit its use. The Punisher's heavy cross-shaped design makes transport difficult and demands extra time to set up properly.
Anyone without exceptional strength will find lifting it or attacking from a direction other than a straight line difficult. The Punisher's exaggerated proportions make it unsuited for close combat or reacting to opponents at short notice. Each Punisher's strength comes at the cost of convenience and speed.
7 Firearms Often Miss Critical Spots (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)
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Firearms within Jojo's Bizarre Adventure feature in some crafty Stands yet rarely succeed in critically injuring protagonists. Jojo protagonists who face guns often survive bullet wounds due to lucky circumstances and last-minute strategies, such as Hol Horse's bullet merely scraping Avdol in India.
The supernatural reflexes of Stands prevent bullets from striking with accuracy, as seen when Crazy Diamond shields Josuke from Enigma's gun. Firearms require an extensive strategy to show usefulness in combat against Stand users or experienced fighters. Characters must catch opponents by surprise to effectively attack with a gun and bypass a Stand's capabilities.
6 Guns Stand No Chance Against Nen Users (Hunter X Hunter)
Regular guns in Hunter x Hunter work effectively yet prove ultimately useless against Nen users and their abilities. Guns that remain un-powered by Nen lack the speed and accuracy to match a Nen user's superhuman strength and reflexes. The Yorknew City mafia's guns pose no challenge to the Phantom Troupe or the enhanced firepower of members like Uvogin.
Firearms remain the weapon of choice for individuals who lack a Hunter's training or mastery over a Nen ability. Nen provides a more reliable form of defense than the standard gun in a serious battle.
5 Reg's Incinerator Knocks Out Its User (Made In Abyss)
Reg's Incinerator cannon packs devastating explosive power yet renders its user unconscious after every shot. The cannon's one-shot limitation requires flawless accuracy for its users to hit targets or successfully deter threats. The inevitable unconsciousness of each shot leaves users vulnerable and dependent on allies to protect them while asleep.
The Incinerator's advanced technology and massive damage come at the cost of a temporary state of defenselessness. Reg's own mysterious origins and mechanics make the Incinerator's capabilities less than fully understood. The Incinerator's side effects force wielders to only depend on it in dire circumstances.
4 The Dominator Follows Strict Rules To Work (Psycho-Pass)
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The high-tech Dominator firearms allow Japan's inspectors and enforcers to scan and apprehend citizens with a high likelihood of committing crimes. Dominators function as effective weapons yet require the Sibyl System's permission to function properly. The Dominator's limited target range against individuals with high Crime Coefficients renders it useless against exceptions to the system.
Dominators depend on a constant connection to the Sibyl System that eliminates their usefulness outside its range. The Dominator's various forms only prove reliable under specific conditions and connect to technology that never works with accuracy in all situations.
3 The Ten Year Bazooka Has Chaotic Results (Reborn!)
Lambo from Reborn! wields a special bazooka that switches the places of those it hits with the version of themselves from ten years in the future. The Ten Year Bazooka's effects only last for five minutes before both targets return to their original time points. The bazooka possesses a tendency to malfunction which produces potentially disastrous results.
The Ten Year Bazooka never guarantees an advantage in combat and potentially replaces an opponent with a stronger future version of themselves. The firearm's strength lies in its ability to create confusion rather than cause damage.
2 Firearms Deal No Damage (Nichijou)
Misato from Nichijou vents her emotions through a variety of firearms that deal no damage whatsoever to her intended targets. Every firearm Misato wields, from handguns to missile launchers, only succeeds in engulfing both the environment and her classmates in smoke. Her gun collection remains entirely useless and incapable of intimidating anyone who knows her.
Misato's firearms receive a nonchalant reaction from anyone who finds themselves a target of Misato's wrath. Her guns exist as more of an extension of her tsundere personality than useful weapons that actually cause damage.
1 The Patriot Has No Use Whatsoever (Gintama)
The Patriot initially claims to be a multipurpose gun yet exists as the result of a desperate attempt to fake a job. The Patriot remains entirely nonfunctional and ineffective in combat due to its composition of mundane objects. Each Patriot eventually bases its advertising around being useless yet also having a hidden symbolic value.
The Patriot exists as a parody of a firearm rather than an actual weapon with the capability of firing projectiles. Each option the Patriot offers only draws inspiration from a firearm's design and the name of its attacks.