For some, all it takes is years of hard work and training, relying on brute force and sheer willpower to develop superhuman traits. For others, they stumble upon their abilities in the weirdest ways imaginable. These strange sources of power appear across all kinds of genres, sometimes played for comedic effect alone, other times explored to such a degree that it actually becomes kind of dark and creepy. Here are some of the weirdest and most unconventional ways that various anime characters acquired their powers and abilities.
10. Ciel Phantomhive Made a Faustian Bargain (Black Butler)
Faustian bargains might be common in literature, but not so much in anime. What’s that, you ask? A Faustian bargain—also known as a deal with the devil—involves someone trading their soul for something. It happens in Black Butler, an anime series about devils and the people who make contracts with them. Ciel Phantomhive makes such a bargain, but he didn’t do it for superpowers—he did it to get a powerful butler: Sebastian Michaelis, the demon with whom he made the Faustian bargain.
9. Usopp’s Intense Negativity (One Piece)
During the Thriller Bark Arc in One Piece, we’re introduced to Perona, a girl who has the ability to create ghosts. Her ghosts cause people to feel intense negativity when they pass through them. However, her ability doesn’t work on Usopp, as the guy is already full of negativity to begin with—and that turns into a superpower of its own as he’s basically immune to Perona’s ghosts.
8. Itadori Yuji Ate Sukuna’s Finger (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Most human vessel stories involve entities being sealed within another individual using sealing techniques or other similar methods. In Jujutsu Kaisen, it’s different. Very different. Backed into a corner against a Curse, Itadori Yuji decides to eat a cursed finger—what he thought was just “some cursed energy.” Well, it turns out, the finger belongs to the strongest Curse ever, Ryomen Sukuna. In doing so, Ryomen Sukuna became trapped within Itadori Yuji, with Yuji now the vessel. So now what does he do? He has to find and consume the rest of his fingers. All twenty of them!
7. Izuku Midoriya Ate All Might’s Hair (My Hero Academia)
In anime, it’s common for masters to train their successors so they can pass on their immense powers. For example, Genkai passing his Spirit Wave to Yusuke Urameshi in Yu Yu Hakusho. But in My Hero Academia, there’s a twist. Izuku Midoriya was totally excited about All Might passing his All For One Quirk on to him, and he expected it to be done in some awesome way, only to be shocked by how it actually happened: All Might simply gave him a strand of his hair to eat. We can’t blame him for that reaction given that he’d just spent the last ten months undergoing intense training. But hey, that very strand of hair did end up giving him incredible power!
6. Sanji Was Chased by the Okama (One Piece)
We all know that Sanji of One Piece loves flirting with girls. But during his time in the land of Kamabakka Kingdom, there are no real girls. While there, he was chased by the island’s inhabitants, who wanted him to adapt to and join their way of living—by being a “girl” like them. He was chased down again, and again, and again… and his legs became so strong from all the running that he gained the ability to kick into the air and do the “sky walk.”
5. Eren Yeager Ate His Father (Attack on Titan)
In Attack on Titan, there are normal titans and then there are special Titan Shifters who can transform between human and titan forms. There are nine different Titan Shifters and each one has a special ability. Furthermore, any Titan Shifter can pass their identity on to another titan—all that titan has to do is eat them. But in the case of Eren Yeager, it gets even darker. He was actually turned into a titan by his own father, Grisha Yeager, who had secretly obtained both Attack Titan and Founding Titan identities. The goal? For Eren to eat Grisha and inherit both identities.
4. Luffy Unknowingly Ate a Devil Fruit (One Piece)
Monkey D. Luffy possesses the Devil Fruit power Gomu Gomu no Mi, which grants his body the incredible properties of rubber: it can stretch, contract, and even inflate. The funny thing is, Luffy didn’t eat his Devil Fruit on purpose. Out of frustration, he took a bite without knowing what he was eating. Shanks noticed it, but it was too late to stop Luffy!
3. Saitama’s Regular Human Workout (One Punch Man)
Whenever he’s asked about how he became so powerful, Saitama simply says that he just exercised and worked out. It’s funny to think about because it seems so outlandish. It’s obviously a joke, right? Well, he isn’t lying. For an entire year, he performed 100 pushups, 100 squats, 100 situps, and ran 10 kilometers every single day. In doing so, he became strong enough to destroy meteors with a single punch.
2. Ichiro Inuyashiki Was the Victim of an Alien Ship Landing (Inuyashiki: Last Hero)
Some may call it fate, but for Ichiro Inuyashiki, it was a total accident. After he was destroyed by an alien spacecraft, he was “restored” back to life, only as a sentient machine (cyborg). During his restoration, the aliens had nothing but weapons on their ship—so Inuyashiki’s body was recreated entirely from weapons like rockets, guns, and blasters. Equipped with an arsenal he never asked for, Inuyashiki made up his mind to use his powers as a hero to fight crimes and stop his fellow victim, Hiro Shishigami, from using his powers for evil.
1. Breastmilk Gives Power (The Qwaser of Stigmata)
Most of you would probably agree that this one earns top spot on our list of weird ways to acquire anime powers. In The Qwaser of Stigmata, drinking soma allows a Qwaser to enhance his/her attributes with an intense power boost. What is soma? It’s a mystical substance that’s drawn from a woman’s breast. Yup, you read that right. It’s a nonsensical plot device that’s solely meant for fan service, which is made more evident by all the inappropriate content and themes throughout the series. Read next: Why Anime Fan Service Is Problematic (And Needs to Stop)
