Summary
Spider-Man wasn’t the first superhero to regret his fate, but it was his comics that opened Pandora’s Box with the adage “With great power comes great responsibility.” Since then, it wasn’t enough for Superman to pose defiantly in front of gunfire before socking gangsters in the face. Heroes both east and west needed more drama in their lives.
RELATED:Marvel: Darkest Spider-Man Storylines, Ranked
If they weren’t having their lives turned upside down by shocking events, they were discovering their superpowers were a double-edged sword.Dragon Ball Z’s Goku can blow up planets, but he can still go home and eat all day.Death Note’s Light Yagami could’ve ignored the titular book and lived an ordinary life. Others had no escape as these anime characters were burdened by their powers.
10Saitama
Most shonen heroes start off relatively weak, and then gradually creep up in power until they’re basically god-tier in strength.One Punch Manstarts at god-tier because One, the series' creator, wanted to give his hero problems he couldn’t solve with a punch.
The titular hero, real name Saitama, grew so good at superheroism that he could defeat any threat with a single strike. But without anything left to challenge him, he was left in a slump. It’s only when he’s challenged in areas that don’t involve strength that he finds a new purpose in life, like working on his public image or climbing the Hero Association’s rankings.
9Mob
One’s other big work,Mob Psycho 100, tackles the premise of bettering oneself from another angle. Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama looks like an average kid, but he happens to be the world’s most powerful psychic with immense power. He keeps it under wraps, but if his suppressed feelings max out to 100, he’ll dish out the full extent of his powers.
But it takesother people, espers, and threatsto bring that out in him. If Mob had his way, he’d live an ordinary life doing ordinary things, like exercising with the Body Improvement Club. Though even without these threats, he’d have to find better ways to handle his emotions eventually.
8Haruka Kotōra
One’s story isn’t the only one to go into the negative side of psychic powers. Enokizu’sThe Troubled Life of Miss Kotōratackles the subject from a more dramatic angle. The titular character was born with the ability to read minds, but it ends up making her life worse. It would cause her to lose friends, alienate her teachers, and be abandoned by her parents.
RELATED:Strongest Psychics In Anime, Ranked
But once she enters high school, things begin to improve. She meets other people who don’t mind her powers. They’re even interested in them enough to form an ESP Research Club. While they have their ups and downs (some minds are best left unread), Haruka’s friends help her learn to accept herself, her powers, and even find love.
7Kenshiro
On the face of it, being Kenshiro fromFist of the North Staris any edgy teen’s dream. He’s the strongest and most fearsome person in the post-apocalypse, able to dispense justice and vengeance with a single touch. But being the 64th master of the mystical martial art of Hokuto Shinken comes with a condition: their fates are etched in stone.
Hokuto Shinken can only have one successor at a time, and chaos follows them wherever they appear. Kenshiro tried doing things differently but ended up losing his fiancée, his brothers, and all but two of his friends, who didn’t exactly come out unscathed either. It’s no wonder that as wild as his feats of strength are, Kenshiro is equally famous for his “manly tears” too.
6Naruto Uzumaki
It’s been over twenty years sinceNarutofirst appeared in both manga and anime form, and he’s come a long way since his beginning. He achieved his dream of becoming Hokage of Konohagakure Village, married his long-time girlfriend Hinata, and had a family to pass his teachings onto. But it was a long and painful road getting there.
Orphaned as a baby, he was shunned by everyone because his body held the spirit ofKurama, a Nine-Tailed Foxthat almost destroyed the village. It’s even threatened to possess him entirely and finish off where it began. But thanks to a few people who gave an outcast like him a chance, he was able to grow strong enough to master his powers and give his story a happy ending.
5Yuji Itadori
Jujutsu Kaisen’s Yuji could’ve avoided its world of sorcery and curses if he was more of a jerk. On his deathbed, Yuji’s grandfather Wasuke told him to help others whenever he could and to not die alone. So, in a bid to save a sorcerer called Megumi from cursed spirits, he eats the finger of Ryomen Sukuna, the “King of Curses,” which turns him into Sukuna’s vessel.
RELATED:Jujutsu Kaisen: Characters That Can Rival Sukuna
He can tap into the King’s power, but he runs the risk of being fully possessed each time. Sukuna even ripped Yuji’s heart out and held it hostage to force him into doing his bidding. The only way Yuji can end him for good is to devour the rest of his fingers, then get executed. At least this way he can fulfill his grandfather’s wishes by not dying alone.
4Izuku “Deku” Midoriya
The hero ofMy Hero Academiawent from having no powers, or Quirks, to having nearly all of them when he inherited All Might’s One For All quirk. Passed down from user to user, it gives Dekua wide variety of abilitiesfrom producing smokescreens to blasting kinetic energy in big bursts.
The problem is that inheriting powers isn’t the same as knowing how to use them. Deku had to train under Gran Torino for a while just to avoid breaking his bones with its power. Plus, inheriting the power of the world’s greatest hero means there are a lot of villains willing to make Deku the last One For All user by killing him before he can master it.
3Kaneki Ken
Speaking of having a target painted on one’s back,Tokyo Ghoul’sKaneki Ken finds out the hard way that zombie-like creatures called ghouls exist when his date tries to eat him alive. He survives when he undergoes transplant surgery using his would-be killer’s organs, turning him into a half-ghoul, half-human hybrid.
Ken can now move faster than the average person, withstand worse punishment, heal quicker, and use fancy ghoul weapons like the kagune. But he can only survive by eating human flesh and has to hide from both humans and ghouls at large to avoid being killed or experimented on. So, there’s not much ofan upside to his new life.
2Natsuki Subaru
As powerful as every other hero previously mentioned, they still only have one life to live. They’re all one fatal encounter away from having their stories end for good. UnlikeRe:Zero-Starting Life in Another World’s Natsuki who, after being transported to another world, gets the ability to go back in time when he dies to undo his end.
RELATED:Best Romances In Isekai Anime, Ranked
Called “Return by Death,” it essentially lets Natsuki return with his memories intact like he’s reloading a save in a video game. But he can’t tell anyone else about his power or anyone around him will be killed by giant claws. He’s also the only one who retains his memories with each “return,” which he discovers when one success turns a close friend into barely an acquaintance to his other chums.
1Homura Akemi
Some magical girl shows can be darker than they look, but they don’t get much darker thanPuella Magi Madoka Magica. It seems normal at first, as Madoka becomes a magical girl protecting the Earth from witches after making a deal with a cat-like creature called Kyubey. A deal Homura tries to stop from happening.
She was Madoka’s friend in another timeline, and Kyubey granted her the power to go back in time to save Madoka from her fate. But Kyubey failed to mention that Madoka’s fate would get worse each time she used it, and she’d grow more distant from Homura in each new timeline. As such, this predestination paradox renders her power useless. As cute as he looks,Kyubey is pure evil.
