Super powerful protagonists capable of anything might feel redundant in an anime plot, but these series are fun to watch despite an OP MC.
Overpowered or «OP» becomes a dreaded term when used to describe a protagonist of any story. Why bother exploring the story of a character already at the top of their game, right? Fortunately, some anime that feature OP main characters still shine thanks to ridiculous shenanigans or overwhelming threats that will make any audience root for the protagonists.
For viewers who just don’t have the time to experiment, some anime with overpowered main characters feature powerful first episodes that could grab anyone’s attention. Fortunately for fans, there are so many great anime with OP MCs, they can easily spend months working through all of them.
Updated on December 26, 2025 by Mark Sammut: Winter 2026 is just about to start; however, for the time being, let’s focus on the OP MC anime that came before. I’ve added two sections that go into the concept itself.
Not all overpowered MCs are born equal, and not all absurdly powerful characters qualify as OP. While their abilities play a part, a character’s OP status is entirely dependent on context. Let’s take the most cliché example of a strong character who is not OP: Dragon Ball’s Goku. In a vacuum, the iconic shonen protagonist has seemingly no ceiling, to the point of reaching the level of a god in recent arcs. He can pull off incredible feats that put to shame most OP MCs; however, within his universe, Goku nearly always goes up against opponents who either match or surpass him. Hell, he is not even the strongest character in Dragon Ball.
To qualify as OP, a protagonist’s overwhelming strength has to not only be beyond question but also acknowledged by the story. They might have enemies, but they have no rivals who present anything close to a threat. Whether they can accomplish anything or can just do a single thing really well, they stand unopposed.
Ah, the age-old question: why are there so many overpowered anime protagonists? How are people not bored with these shows yet? Well, simply put, power fantasies sell. The most beloved and long-lasting anime are battle shonen stories, and they offer another type of power fantasy that emphasizes the MC’s endless struggle to achieve their dream and maximize their potential. OP MC anime fast-forward through the «struggle» part and jump directly to the end-point, allowing viewers to enjoy a carefree adventure where victory is never in doubt.
At the end of the day, most anime is designed to offer an escape from reality, and these types of stories are the ultimate form of this concept. You get to live vicariously through a character who can accomplish incredible feats without really trying, and their «normal» everyday skills are praised rather than ignored. Their effortless charm naturally attracts the attention of the opposite sex, and they do not need to do anything besides exist. 41
Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells
Failure Frame has plenty of issues. The animation is inconsistent, and that is rather kind. The story can get very repetitive, with quite a few encounters revolving around Seras (the main female partner) acting as bait so that Touka can step in and do everything. Despite aligning the protagonist with a few strong allies, they are rarely allowed to do anything substantial. The villains are very one-note, with the only exception being the goddess who serves as the final big bad. She is not complex or nuanced, but she is quite entertaining.
Still, for all its flaws, Failure Frame works well as an edgy OP fantasy about a bullied guy who gets overwhelming power and goes on a revenge tour against the goddess who summoned him to this world and left him to die. Touka’s skills revolve around status ailments, which notoriously have poor accuracy in this universe; however, his attacks always hit, a cheat that allows him to overwhelm every monster and quickly level up. Touka is not a conventional «good» guy, in the sense that he shows no mercy to enemies who do not deserve it. 40
My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me!
This anime is a bit of a strange case.
