When it comes to anime, “This isn’t even my final form” is a tried and true trope. Here are some of the most popular anime upgrades across five generations of the medium.
When it comes to anime, “This isn’t even my final form” is a trope as old as time. As the battle gets heated and the chances of defeat increase, heroes and villains alike reveal that, through either training or just sheer luck, they have at least one more powered-up version ready to go. At its best, like with Luffy’s Gear 5, the latest upgrade to One Piece’s future King of the Pirates, it can be absolutely thrilling. And watching fans react to the event (and inevitably argue over it) makes it clear why it’s become such an enduring trope for the last half-century.
So, to celebrate Gear 5, let’s hop through five decades of the greatest anime power-ups, jumping through genres and icons to dive into what’s made this such a beloved plot device. Mazinger Z’s various power-ups
Manga author Go Nagai’s influence on pop culture can’t be overstated. He created series like Devilman, Cutie Honey, and Violence Jack, and also helped pioneer the “super robot” genre with Mazinger Z. Giant fightin’ robots would become one of anime’s bread-and-butter subjects in the ’70s, and Mazinger Z was at the forefront of the genre, telling the story of pilot Koji Kabuto using his late grandfather’s fantastical mech to battle the nefarious Dr. Hell.
Pretty cool, right? But that combat doesn’t come without some wear and tear on Kabuto’s big robot, so old parts are replaced with newer, cooler, more powerful enhancements. Like Mazinger Z’s Hover Pilder, the little craft that Kabuto uses to fly around and pilot Mazinger Z, which is replaced by the more streamlined Jet Pilder. And when it’s time for the robot to get back in action with the sequel series Grand Mazinger, it’s not made out of your grandpa’s Super-Alloy Z, but rather Super-Alloy New Z, which is much lighter and more durable. Rad. Fist of the North Star’s Hokuto Shinken
Despite one of Google’s “people also ask” questions being “Is Hokuto Shinken a real martial art?” — no, the fighting style that allows combatants to access all 100% of their abilities (rather than just a meager 30%) isn’t something you can actually learn. But it sure looks cool, especially when wielded by Fist of the North Star’s protagonist, Kenshiro. Even if you’ve never watched the series, you likely know its trademark move — the rapid strikes that, when performed correctly, cause the evil opponent’s body to burst and break apart in a variety of beautifully bloody ways.
Set in a Mad Max-esque post-apocalyptic wasteland, Kenshiro is a solid dude in a land full of brutal wannabe warlords. And his sense of ethics helps, because as is common in this sort of thing, one’s mastery of Hokuto Shinken is heavily influenced by one’s feelings of love and friendship. So when Kenshiro is able to tear through his own shirt thanks to the Art of Dragon’s Breathing and then explode a bad guy’s head by just touching it, you’ll know it was all possible because he liked being nice to people. Well, most people. Dragon Ball Z’s Super Saiyan form
Undoubtedly the preeminent anime power-up, the Super Saiyan form has long gone past being a mere adjustment to Goku’s hair and biceps and joined the mass cultural lexicon beyond anime. It’s been used in reference to professional athletes, been a joke on Saturday Night Live, and inspired a new form of Sonic the Hedgehog, among many other things. It’s the go-to reference when someone is about to do something that exceeds whatever limits we thought previously existed.
