Lightning has always been terrifying, in nature as well as in anime.
In real life, lightning is almost always fatal. It’s quite thrilling to imagine having the ability to manipulate sometime as powerful and volatile as lightning. In anime, regardless of the show, characters with lightning abilities are super-fast and super-strong on the whole.
It’s not SHOCKing that a number of anime characters are lightning users – lightning looks great visually and it is also versatile enough to be distributed among protagonists and peripheral characters alike. It all depends on their training, their inborn abilities, or, well, the writer’s whim.
Let me give you a rundown of the top 20 strongest lightning users in anime – you might need a wooden stick to scroll down this electric list.
20Adolf Reinhard – Terra Formars
Terra Formars is about making Mars habitable for humans. But Adolf Reinhard, a German member of the United Nations Aeronautics and Space Administration, is not entirely human.
By snorting a special drug, Reinhard becomes genetically modified into a hybrid between a human and an electric eel.
Reinhard channels characteristics of this electric eel: he gives out electric shocks through his body, electrocuting his enemies by touch. Reinhardt is also good with knives – he can fire a volley of them in a singular attack and each of these conduct electric currents.
He can also build up an electromagnetic shield to save himself and others during an attack. But that’s not all – Reinhard can actually restart his own heart like a self-sufficient defibrillator.
19Mitsuki / Boruto – Naruto
Mitsuki, the artificial human or partial clone, was created by the renowned Oruchimaru, who is one of the previous three legendary Sannin. Eventually, according to his “father,” he can become as powerful as the Sannin themselves.
Lightning Release is Mitsuki’s preferred form of chakra element, along with wind release. His Snake Lightning technique allows him to pull a yellow lightning bolt in his grip and electrocute his enemies with it.
Yeah, it’s called snake lightning for a reason – the lightning bolt can manifest as a snake and strike an enemy from a distance.
Mitsuki can also enter Sage Mode via the Sage Transformation technique in which his physical capabilities and jutsus increase in power. Mitsuki can then access the senjutsu Great Snake Lightning, which is the enhanced version of the snake lightning release.
18Denki Kaminari – My Hero Academia
While discussing the strongest characters with the best quirks or abilities in My Hero Academia, Denki Kaminari is not often somewhere on the top. He’s considered quite weak, but Denki’s natural quirk – electrification – has to be one of the most useful quirks on the series.
He can cover his entire being with lightning and use it to stun or paralyze his enemies as an act of offence or defence. He doesn’t require physical contact to shock people and can also absorb other electricity and lightning-based quirks during fights and battles.
Denki is capable of releasing electricity up to 2 million volts, which is an unimaginable level of power. But the negative is, this amount of voltage can leave his brain short-circuited. If it wasn’t for this, he would surely be higher on this list.
17Zatch Bell – Zatch Bell!
Sometimes, the cuter they look, the badder they get. Zatch Bell looks innocent enough, but his lightning and electricity powers are strong enough to defeat bullies and foes alike. He has a huge amount of potential electricity.
Zatch dispels an electrical beam from his mouth in his powerful signature spell called Zaker. As the show progresses, his abilities get stronger.
He is able to generate a huge dragon made of lightning that can electrify and engulf his enemies. But most spells force him to lose consciousness and if he had more control over his abilities, he would definitely make it to the Top 10 of this list.
16Zenitsu Agatsuma – Demon Slayer
Zenitsu is a tritagonist from the anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Zenitsu, is one of the lighter characters on the show, but he’s still pretty strong.
He has enhanced physical abilities like strength, speed, and hearing. He is a talented swordsman who can defeat his opponents with his thunder breathing style.
This enables Zenitsu to lash upon his opponents like lightning tears through the sky, insanely swift and lethal. Though Zenitsu doesn’t manipulate actual lightning from the sky, he generates it with his sword. When he is cornered in battle, Zenitsu slips into an unconscious state and to unleash his full power.
15Killer B – Naruto Shippuden
Killer B is trained by the Third Raikage and can perform the Lightning Release technique of the Double Lariat along with A (the later Fourth Raikage). It can decapitate a target instantaneously.
He carries 8 lightning release swords and can beat master swordsmen in battle.
What’s cool is that he can charge a pencil with lightning and make it cut through a whole tree. B is also a Jinchūriki and has the Eight-Tailed beast Gyuki sealed within him. He is the only one who has learned how to completely control his beast and can utilize its power in battle.
14Third Raikage, Fourth Raikage (A), Fifth Raikage (Darui) – Naruto Shippuden
The Naruto-verse has a number of shinobi that can manipulate lightning. The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Raikage all have a place on this list.
A, the Third, is supposed to be the most powerful Raikage in the village history. He can call upon the fatal Black Lightning, build an impenetrable Lightning Release Armor, and perform a spear-like attack called Hell Stab with lightning channelling through his fingers.
A, the Fourth, is the son of the Third, and is so powerful that he is chosen as the Supreme Leader of the Allied Shinobi Forces. He inherits his father’s skills and can envelop himself inside his lightning chakra so all his lightning skills and physical attributes are enhanced.
Darui, the Fifth, is also trained by the Third, and can also summon Black Lightning like his master. He can paralyze any opponent with his Lightning Release Black Panther technique and can fuse lightning with his water release technique to electrocute anyone in his way.
13Gilthunder – Seven Deadly Sins
If someone has the word “thunder” in their name, it would be surprising if they didn’t have awesome lightning and thunder related skills.
Gilthunder from Seven Deadly Sins is one of the strongest Holy Knights or protectors of the kingdom. He possesses the power of the Thunderbolt, that allows him to manipulate lightning.
It enhances his innate speed and physical prowess. He can also imbue his sword with lightning and channel it through the ground to discharge lightning into either a water body or the body of an opponent. Gilthunder can also call upon thunderstorms, so really, don’t try and mess with him.
12Hei – Darker Than Black
Hei or Li Shenshun can manipulate molecules by imbuing them with electricity. Basically, he can channel lightning through conductive materials by electrifying quantum particles. If that doesn’t impress you, I don’t know what will.
The thing is, although Hei’s lightning attacks might not be as explosive as the Raikages or even Gilthunder, Hei shows a much more intricate level of control over his abilities, and is also much faster.
He can short circuit an entire building and electrocute his enemies with ease. He uses his lightning and electrical powers to annihilate a whole section of land in South America.
Hei is a contractor and on Darker Than Black, this means that you have superhuman abilities – altering molecules on a quantum level by electrifying them is as superhuman as it gets.
11Kakashi Hatake – Naruto Shippuden
And here we have another Naruto character with absolute badass lightning abilities. Kakashi Hatake or the Sixth Hokage, is the creator of the Purple Electricity lightning release technique that can attack opponents at any distance – be it short, mid, or long – along with direct contact.
He can also concentrate his chakra to activate the purple lightning through clouds, causing it to rain.
Kakashi is also extremely intelligent when it comes to battle and can use his lightning release techniques in many creative ways. In one instance, Kakashi, touches some spilled alcohol and transmits purple lightning all around the surrounding areas.
10Sailor Jupiter – Sailor Moon
Makoto Kino, more famously known as Sailor Jupitor, has some serious lightning powers and is arguably the strongest character on Sailor Moon.
She can summon lightning from the heavens with one touch of the stone in her tiara.
Sailor Moon is also physically very strong and that, along with her ability to manipulate thunder and lightning, makes her pretty formidable, especially for a teenager.
9Misaka Mikoto – A Certain Magical Index/Railgun
Misaka Mikoto is the main character in the To Aru Kagaku no Railgun or A Certain Magical Index. She is a Level 5 psychic, which is the highest rank on the show for a psychic, and is also the strongest Electromaster, who can manipulate as well as generate lightning.
She can charge empty cans to create plasma, generate a lightning bolt from her forehead, and cause thunderstorms that clan black out entire cities.
Misaka Mikoto can also – wait for it – actually fly, using static electricity, electrolysis, and electromagnetism.
8Sasakibe – Bleach
Sasakibe from Bleach is a tier 7 Shinigami who has extrasensory perception, supersonic speed, superhuman strength, and the power of invisibility. This is in addition to him being able to manipulate lightning.
Since he is non-human and a Shinigami, Sasakibe possess a soul-cutting sword called the Zanpakuto, which he uses to summon lightning. He can form a dome with pillars of lightning surrounding him. He can also bring forth storms and lightning from the sky.
7Gaja – Black Clover
Gaja, the spirit guardian of the Heart Kingdom in the anime Black Clover, is capable of some amazing magic and lightning abilities.
He can cover long distances in the blink of an eye and can levitate above the ground even without using his magic.
Gaja possesses the magical attribute of lightning, which enables him to generate lightning and electricity at will. With his special True Lightning Magic technique, Gaja can use natural energy called mana to create true or real lightning which always proves to be deadly.
Since Gaja simply uses lightning from nature itself, he can use it without decreasing his stamina. This makes his True Lightning Magic is doubly powerful
6Luck Voltia – Black Clover
Luck Voltia from Black Clover is human, and yet he’s still so high up on my list.
Luck has an interesting personality and is considered by many to be sociopath who strangely can feel only joy and is obsessed with fighting and attaining victory over his opponents.
Luck is way too fast, even for a lightning user with great magic abilities. He also has True Lightning Magic which he learned from Gaja. He uses his magic to use lightning to cover himself and enhance his abilities during a battle.
He can shape objects out of lightning and can combine his lightning magic with his other abilities to give rise to even more powerful magic.
5Enel – One Piece
The intangible, almost invincible Enel from One Piece is at Number 5. He’s the only character on this list who has never been defeated – except once, by Luffy, and that’s only because he’s made of rubber.
After eating a devil fruit call Gura Gura, Enel is able to become lightning itself, along with being able to control and create it, of course.
In his lightning form, he is so quick and agile, that it is impossible to see him coming to attack. He also uses this to travel long distances through conductive materials.
He can also read electric signals in the air – so he is always informed about everything. Enel can survive almost anything – smiling right through being impaled and chopped up. Quite crazy.
4Laxus Dreyar – Fairy Tail
Laxus from Fairy Tales possess a vast number of magic abilities. His magical powers, along with his incredible strength and extreme durability make Laxus one the strongest Mages on the show.
Laxus is known for his lightning magic to slay dragons and defeats his opponents with all kinds of lightning dragon slayer magic.
He is immune to other lightning and can absorb lightning to gain more energy. Laxus also has a special ability called Red Lightning Dragon Mode, which basically uses lightning that is more powerful than the ordinary kind, made stronger by blood. Yikes.
3Sasuke Uchiha – Naruto Shippuden
The strongest lightning user in Naruto is Sasuke Uchiha and he makes it to the Top 3 of this list.
In Naruto, Lightning Release is one of the five basic nature types accessed through chakras, and Sasuke uses the Chidori, which is the concentrated form of the lightning chakra, to defeat his enemies.
Sasuke creates the Kirin Lightning Release technique that uses real lightning from thunderclouds to add more strength and zing to his attacks. He annihilates an entire mountain with this technique.
He uses his lightning release to augment the cutting power of his sword as well as to increase speed. Additionally. Sasuke can also manipulate the other four nature transformations, along with yin release.
2Killua (Godspeed) – Hunter x Hunter
This guy has been raised to be an assassin. Not too hard to believe, since he literally has the word “kill” in his name.
He might look like a harmless, young boy but he is about a hundred times more lethal than he looks. Growing up, withstanding electric shocks was part of his training.
He develops his abilities and eventually manifests an electric aura along with lightning abilities that are indomitable.
His lightning ability called Godspeed allows him to channel lightning throughout his body, making him unimaginably fast. His reflexes, punches and attacks, become electric, his opponents don’t stand a chance. They are easily stunned, burned, or electrocuted.
1Sinbad – Magi
Sinbad from “Magi – The Labyrinth of Magic” is the strongest lightning user in anime. His Bararaq Saiqa (lightning sword) draws power from Baal (djinn).
Sinbad’s skillful swordsmanship, maogi & rukh manipulation, and his seven djinn make him the most powerful character on Magi.
He’s the King of Sindria who also defeated Ugo to gain ownership of the Sacred Place, which is a big deal if you watch the anime.
Sinbad can draw lightning from the sky and from his sword to zap not only his enemies, but entire mountain ranges off the face of the earth.
Sinbad uses the Bararaq Inqerad-Saiqa, which is Baal’s extreme form of magic, to destroy the Medium, which is a concentrated body of maogi and black ruth, impossible to beat – until Sinbad decimates it.
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