Ultimate Anime Power Rankings 2026: Strongest Characters Tier List

The Definitive Anime Power Rankings for 2026

Ranking the strongest anime characters across every universe is an act of beautiful madness. Every fandom has its sacred cows, every power system has its contradictions, and every new arc reshuffles the deck. But that is exactly what makes power scaling so addictive. As of 2026, the anime landscape has shifted dramatically: One Piece has concluded its Wano saga and pushed into the final war, Jujutsu Kaisen wrapped its Shinjuku Showdown, Solo Leveling delivered its second season, and Dragon Ball Daima reignited debates about Saiyan scaling. This is not a casual popularity contest. This is a rigorous, feat-based tier list built on years of watching these characters push past their limits.

If you are new to the world of anime power systems and want to understand how different series categorize their fighters, our complete guide to anime genres breaks down the major categories and what makes each one tick.

Let us get into it.

Power Scaling Methodology: How We Compare Across Universes

Before placing a single character, we need to address the elephant in the room: how do you compare a Saiyan who punches planets apart to a shinobi who manipulates dimensional space to a rubber pirate who punches with the force of a god? Cross-universe power scaling is inherently imperfect, but it becomes meaningful when you establish consistent criteria. Here is the framework we use.

Destructive Output is the raw ceiling of what a character can destroy. This is the simplest metric. A character who can erase a universe outranks a character who can level a city, regardless of how cool the city-leveling feat looks. We measure this by peak demonstrated feats in canon material, not statements from other characters or narrator hype.

Speed and Reaction Time matter enormously because a character who cannot land a hit cannot win a fight. We look at concrete speed feats: dodging light-speed attacks, crossing planetary distances instantly, or reacting to attacks that move faster than perception. Characters in Dragon Ball and Bleach tend to dominate this metric.

Durability and Regeneration determine whether a character can survive the other fighter's best shot. Saitama can hit infinitely hard, but characters like Rimuru can regenerate from conceptual erasure. This creates fascinating matchup dynamics.

Hax Abilities are powers that bypass conventional combat entirely. Gojo's Infinity means you literally cannot touch him through normal means. Zeno can erase reality with a thought. Anti-magic like Asta's nullifies entire power systems. Hax abilities often matter more than raw strength because they change the rules of engagement.

Combat Intelligence and Adaptability separates characters who have massive power from characters who use massive power effectively. Sung Jin-Woo systematically exploits weaknesses. Goku adapts mid-fight and grows stronger. Eren Yeager manipulates the flow of time itself to achieve his goals.

Consistency is the final filter. Some characters have one planet-busting feat but spend most of their series struggling against much weaker opponents. We weight consistent performance over single outlier feats.

With these criteria established, let us rank the strongest characters in anime as of 2026.

S-Tier: Reality-Breaking Gods

The S-Tier is reserved for characters who operate on a fundamentally different plane of existence. These are not just strong fighters. These are beings who can reshape, destroy, or create reality itself. Fighting them is not a contest of strength. It is a question of whether the concept of fighting even applies.

1. Zeno (Dragon Ball Super): Zeno erased six entire universes during the Tournament of Power without exertion, emotion, or apparent effort. He did not fight. He did not charge up. He simply decided those universes should not exist anymore, and they stopped existing. That is not combat power in any traditional sense. It is ontological authority. The Grand Priest, angels, and every God of Destruction exist at his pleasure. There is no known counter to his erasure ability, no character in any anime who has demonstrated the capacity to survive having their entire universe deleted from existence. Zeno sits at the top not because he is the best fighter but because the concept of fighting is beneath him.
2. Saitama (One Punch Man): The discourse around Saitama has evolved significantly since the Cosmic Garou arc in the manga. In that arc, Saitama did not just punch hard. He sneezed away Jupiter's atmosphere. He time-traveled through the sheer force of punching. He demonstrated that his power has no upper limit by graphing his growth against Garou's copied abilities and showing an exponential curve that keeps climbing. Saitama's entire narrative purpose is to be the answer to "who would win." He is a parody of power scaling itself, which paradoxically makes him one of the most powerful characters in fiction. The only reason he sits below Zeno is that Saitama's feats, while absurd, operate within physical space. Zeno operates outside of it.
3. Goku - Ultra Instinct True (Dragon Ball Super): Goku's mastery of Ultra Instinct represents decades of power scaling reaching its narrative apex. In the Granolah arc, Goku achieved True Ultra Instinct, a state where his body and emotions work in harmony rather than requiring emotional detachment. He fought Gas, a warrior wished into being the strongest in Universe 7, and held his own through adaptability alone. Goku's scaling chain is staggering: he has fought and surpassed beings who can destroy universes, tanked hits from Jiren who transcended time itself, and continues to grow stronger with every fight. His placement in S-Tier rather than A-Tier comes down to one factor: Goku in Ultra Instinct scales directly to God of Destruction level and beyond, placing him in the reality-warping tier.
4. Rimuru Tempest - Ultimate Form (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime): Rimuru's placement will surprise viewers who only know the anime's early seasons, but light novel readers understand. By the end of the Tensei Slime story, Rimuru achieves godhood in the most literal sense. He can manipulate time, create and destroy dimensions, analyze and replicate any ability he encounters, and command an army of beings who are individually nation-destroyers. His ability Beelzebuth lets him devour conceptual attacks. His Raphael/Ciel provides computational intelligence that borders on omniscience. Rimuru went from a slime who struggled against goblins to a multiversal god, and his S-Tier placement reflects his final form, not his early adventures.
5. Anti-Spiral (Gurren Lagann): The Anti-Spiral threw galaxies like shuriken. That sentence alone justifies S-Tier placement. This entity suppressed the evolution of every Spiral race in the universe, existed in a dimension between dimensions, and manipulated probability itself. The scale of Gurren Lagann's final battle is so far beyond most anime that it creates a reference problem: when your mecha is larger than the observable universe and you are punching through the fabric of reality, you have transcended conventional power scaling entirely.

A-Tier: Planet-Busters and Dimensional Threats

A-Tier characters can destroy planets, reshape landscapes, and fight on a scale that dwarfs conventional military power. They are not quite reality-warpers, but placing them in any fight below god-level is almost unfair.

1. Sung Jin-Woo (Solo Leveling): The Shadow Monarch earned his A-Tier spot through one of the most satisfying power progressions in modern anime. By the end of Solo Leveling's story, Jin-Woo commands millions of shadow soldiers, including the shadows of Monarch-level beings who could individually devastate continents. His speed exceeds anything the Hunters Association could measure. His strength let him solo Antares, the Monarch of Destruction, a being who wiped out civilizations across dimensions. What makes Jin-Woo particularly dangerous is his necromantic advantage: every enemy he defeats becomes his soldier. The more he fights, the stronger his army grows, with no apparent ceiling. If you have been following Solo Leveling's dominance on Crunchyroll, you know why this character has captivated millions. For a deeper dive into how he compares to other modern overpowered protagonists, check out our Solo Leveling vs Lord of Mysteries breakdown.
2. Gojo Satoru (Jujutsu Kaisen): Even after his devastating loss in the Shinjuku Showdown arc, Gojo Satoru remains one of the most powerful characters in anime. His Infinity technique creates a literal mathematical barrier that prevents anything from touching him by infinitely subdividing the remaining distance. His Domain Expansion, Unlimited Void, traps opponents in a state of infinite information processing that paralyzes them completely. And his Hollow Purple combines attraction and repulsion forces to erase matter from existence. Gojo's placement in A-Tier rather than S-Tier comes down to one demonstrated limitation: Sukuna found a way to cut through Infinity using world-cutting slashes, proving that Gojo's defense is not absolute. But make no mistake: in a cross-universe battle royale, Gojo would dismantle the vast majority of anime characters without breaking a sweat.
3. Monkey D. Luffy - Gear 5 (One Piece): Luffy's awakening of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika during the Wano arc fundamentally changed his position in any power ranking. Gear 5 is not just another transformation. It is the awakening of a mythical Zoan devil fruit that turns Luffy into the incarnation of the Sun God Nika, granting him the ability to reshape reality according to his imagination. He turned the ground into rubber. He grabbed lightning and threw it. He inflated himself to the size of an island and physically overpowered Kaido, a Yonko who had been considered virtually invincible for twenty years. The sheer absurdity of Gear 5's toonforce-style physics manipulation, combined with Luffy's mastery of all three forms of Haki including Advanced Conqueror's Haki, places him firmly in A-Tier. He hits hard enough to defeat a creature who other Emperors could not kill, and his body's cartoonish flexibility makes him nearly impossible to put down permanently. Luffy sitting in C-Tier on any list in 2026 is frankly indefensible after Wano.
4. Naruto Uzumaki - Baryon Mode (Naruto/Boruto): Naruto in Baryon Mode is a different beast than base Naruto. This form, which fuses Naruto's and Kurama's chakra at a nuclear level, allowed him to physically overpower Isshiki Otsutsuki, a being who dwarfed Kaguya in raw power. Kaguya herself could create dimensions and destroy planets. Baryon Mode Naruto was draining Isshiki's lifespan through physical contact alone, a hax ability that bypasses durability entirely. The cost was Kurama's life, making this a one-time feat, but we rank based on peak performance. Naruto's standard sage mode and Six Paths abilities alone would place him high in B-Tier. Baryon Mode pushes him into A-Tier territory.
5. Ichigo Kurosaki - True Bankai (Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War): The Thousand-Year Blood War anime finally gave Ichigo the showcase his power deserved. Ichigo is a hybrid of virtually every spiritual race in Bleach: Shinigami, Hollow, Quincy, and Fullbringer. His True Bankai, which fuses all these heritages, allowed him to cut through Yhwach's Almighty ability, a power that could see and alter all possible futures. Ichigo's raw spiritual pressure passively warps reality around him. Soul Society's measurement tools could not even quantify his power at multiple points in the series. His speed feats include intercepting attacks that cross dimensional barriers, and his durability lets him tank hits from beings who reshape spiritual dimensions. Ichigo's placement in A-Tier reflects the Bleach universe's scaling, which operates at planetary to dimensional levels.
6. Meliodas - Demon King Form (Seven Deadly Sins): Meliodas at his peak absorbed the full power of the Demon King and wielded it alongside his own immense combat abilities. His Full Counter reflects any magical attack with multiplied force, making him a nightmare matchup for magic-heavy fighters. In his Assault Mode, he casually destroyed mountains and overpowered characters who could reshape landscapes. His Demon King form pushed him to the level of a being who controlled one of the fundamental forces of his universe. The reason Meliodas jumps from C-Tier to A-Tier in this revised ranking is simple: his peak feats include fighting and defeating a cosmic-level entity. His Full Counter alone makes him extraordinarily dangerous in cross-universe scenarios because it punishes opponents for using their strongest attacks.

B-Tier: Elite Fighters With Devastating Power

B-Tier characters are the elite of their respective universes. They can level cities, move at superhuman speeds, and possess abilities that set them far above ordinary fighters. In a cross-universe context, they are formidable but face clear limitations against the planet-busters and reality-warpers above them.

1. Asta - Devil Union (Black Clover): Asta's anti-magic is one of the most unique and dangerous abilities in anime because it does not just cancel magic. It negates it on contact. In a medium where nearly every powerful character relies on some form of supernatural energy, Asta is the ultimate counter-pick. His Devil Union with Liebe gives him flight, enhanced speed, and the ability to coat his entire body in anti-magic energy. He cut through spatial magic, negated time manipulation, and fought Lucifero, the strongest devil in the underworld, to a standstill. Asta's limitation is that his anti-magic only works against magical or supernatural attacks. Against a purely physical fighter like Saitama, his advantage disappears. That contextual dependency keeps him in B-Tier rather than A-Tier.
2. Tanjiro Kamado - Sun Breathing Thirteenth Form (Demon Slayer): Tanjiro's placement here reflects his peak during the Infinity Castle and Sunrise Countdown arcs. Sun Breathing is the original and most powerful breathing style, and Tanjiro is its sole inheritor. Combined with his Demon Slayer Mark, Transparent World perception, and Bright Red Nichirin Blade, Tanjiro could perceive and react to attacks from Muzan Kibutsuji, a being who had lived for over a thousand years and possessed regeneration so potent that nothing in their universe could kill him except sunlight. Tanjiro's feats are impressive within his universe, but Demon Slayer's power ceiling is lower than series like Dragon Ball or Bleach, which caps his cross-universe ranking. For a detailed breakdown of where every Demon Slayer character falls, see our Demon Slayer Power Rankings. And if you are hyped for the upcoming adaptation, our Infinity Castle movie breakdown covers everything we know.
3. Escanor - The One (Seven Deadly Sins): At high noon, Escanor becomes The One, a form where his power temporarily exceeds even Meliodas in Assault Mode. He split the earth with a single swing. He incinerated beings who could withstand mountain-destroying attacks. The catch is that The One lasts for exactly one minute, making Escanor the ultimate glass cannon on a timer. Outside of noon, his power drops dramatically. This inconsistency keeps him in B-Tier, but within that one minute, he is genuinely one of the most dangerous beings in anime.
4. Eren Yeager - Founding Titan (Attack on Titan): Eren with the full power of the Founding Titan commanded millions of Colossal Titans and could manipulate the memories and biology of every Eldian. He reshaped the physical world through the Rumbling and, through Paths, existed outside of conventional time. Our Attack on Titan ending analysis explores the full implications of Eren's power and his choices in that final arc. The reason Eren sits in B-Tier rather than higher is scale: even the Founding Titan's power is planetary at best and limited to biological manipulation of a specific race. Against energy-based fighters from Dragon Ball or Bleach, Eren's advantages diminish significantly.
5. Yusuke Urameshi - Mazoku Form (Yu Yu Hakusho): A classic that deserves recognition. Yusuke's Mazoku awakening during the Chapter Black saga and his subsequent growth in the Demon World Tournament put him at a level where his Spirit Gun could devastate landscapes. His S-Class demon power, inherited from Raizen, places him among the strongest beings in a universe where top-tier demons can reshape terrain with their aura alone. Yusuke's raw combat instincts and durability are exceptional, and his Spirit Gun provides devastating ranged output.
6. Aizen Sosuke - Hogyoku Evolution (Bleach): Aizen merged with the Hogyoku and transcended the boundaries between Shinigami and Hollow, achieving a form that Soul Society could not even perceive, let alone fight. His Kyoka Suigetsu places anyone who has ever seen its release under complete hypnosis, making him nearly impossible to fight with certainty. Aizen's reiatsu passively destroyed lesser beings who approached him. His immortality, granted by the Hogyoku, means he literally cannot be killed. Aizen sits in B-Tier rather than A-Tier because despite his incredible hax, his destructive output is lower than the planet-busters above him, and Yhwach ultimately surpassed him in the narrative.

C-Tier: Formidable Combatants With Clear Ceilings

C-Tier characters are powerhouses within their series but face hard scaling limits when compared across universes. They would dominate most real-world combat scenarios but struggle against the superhuman specialists and planet-busters above them.

1. Izuku Midoriya - 100% One For All (My Hero Academia): Deku at full power wields the combined quirks of every previous One For All user, including Danger Sense, Smokescreen, Float, Blackwhip, and Fa Jin. His 100% Smashes can level city blocks, and his speed lets him cross cityscapes in seconds. He defeated Shigaraki/All For One, a villain who accumulated quirks for generations. However, My Hero Academia's power ceiling is relatively low compared to other shonen series. The strongest attacks in MHA destroy buildings and city blocks. In Dragon Ball, that is a warmup. Deku is an incredible hero within his universe, but cross-universe scaling places him here.
2. Natsu Dragneel - Dragon Force / E.N.D. (Fairy Tail): Natsu's power spikes are legendary within Fairy Tail. His Dragon Force lets him consume and weaponize virtually any type of fire, including god flames. His E.N.D. form as Etherious Natsu Dragneel taps into demonic power that rivaled Zeref. He has punched through dimensions in the Dragon Cry movie and defeated Acnologia alongside the other Dragon Slayers. Natsu's problem for cross-universe ranking is consistency: Fairy Tail's power scaling is notoriously inconsistent, with Natsu struggling against opponents far weaker than others he has defeated through sheer willpower.
3. Levi Ackerman (Attack on Titan): Levi is arguably the most skilled purely human combatant in anime. His Ackerman bloodline gives him superhuman reflexes and strength relative to his universe, and his ODM gear mastery is unmatched. He solo-killed the Beast Titan multiple times and dismantled squads of Titan shifters. But Levi is still fundamentally human-scale. He uses blades and gas-powered equipment. Against anyone with energy projection or supernatural durability, his ceiling is reached quickly.
4. Killua Zoldyck - Godspeed (Hunter x Hunter): Killua's Godspeed allows him to react and move at the speed of lightning, making him one of the fastest characters in the Hunter x Hunter universe. His assassination training from birth gives him combat intelligence that exceeds most adult fighters. His Nen abilities, particularly his Transmutation of electricity, provide both offensive power and movement enhancement. Killua's limitation is his stamina. Godspeed drains his electrical reserves rapidly, and his raw destructive output, while impressive, does not reach the building-destroying level consistently.
5. All Might - Prime (My Hero Academia): In his prime, All Might changed the weather with a single punch and could move faster than the eye could track. His United States of Smash against All For One shattered a city district. But like Deku, he is capped by MHA's relatively modest power ceiling when compared to other universes. Prime All Might is a legend, but he is a city-level legend in a tier list that includes planet-busters.

D-Tier: Strong Within Their World

D-Tier characters are protagonists and powerhouses within their own series, but their universes operate at a lower power scale. This is not a criticism of these characters or their stories. Some of the best anime ever made features characters in this tier. Power level does not equal narrative quality.

1. Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood): Edward is a genius alchemist who defeated a being that absorbed God. His alchemy allows for rapid environmental manipulation, creating weapons, barriers, and traps from any available matter. His automail arm gives him a physical edge, and his tactical intelligence is among the best in anime. But FMA's power system is grounded in equivalent exchange, and Ed's peak feats are building-level at most. He is outclassed by the raw output of characters in higher tiers.
2. Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop): Spike is one of the coolest characters in anime history, and his Jeet Kune Do skills make him a phenomenal hand-to-hand combatant. But Cowboy Bebop is a grounded sci-fi series. Spike's power ceiling is "very skilled normal human with a gun." He is here because he belongs on any list of anime's greatest, even if his power level is modest.
3. Gon Freecss - Adult Form (Hunter x Hunter): Gon's transformation during the Chimera Ant arc sacrificed all of his future potential to achieve a form that could overpower Neferpitou, a Royal Guard capable of devastating small cities. Adult Gon is immensely powerful within HxH's scaling, but that scaling tops out well below the planet-busting tier.
4. Light Yagami (Death Note): Light makes this list as an acknowledgment that power is not purely physical. The Death Note is one of the most overpowered abilities in anime: write a name, and that person dies. Against any character whose real name he can discover, Light wins. Against characters with supernatural durability, divine protection, or names he cannot learn, the Death Note is useless. His placement in D-Tier reflects the extreme conditionality of his power.
5. Ken Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul): Kaneki's kakuja form and his status as the One-Eyed King make him the strongest ghoul in Tokyo Ghoul's universe. His regeneration is potent, his kagune provides versatile offense and defense, and his pain tolerance is off the charts after enduring Jason's torture. But Tokyo Ghoul's power ceiling caps at city-block-level destruction, placing Kaneki here.

Controversial Rankings and Fan Debates

No power ranking exists without controversy, and we would be dishonest if we pretended these placements were beyond dispute. Here are the biggest debates this list will spark, and our reasoning for each.

Goku vs. Saitama is the eternal question, and it comes down to narrative logic versus feats. Saitama is written to be unbeatable. That is his character concept. But Goku has more concrete scaling feats: he has fought and matched beings confirmed to be universe-threatening. Saitama's feats, while absurd, have not yet reached that confirmed scale in the anime (the manga's Cosmic Garou fight pushes close). We place Saitama above Goku because his exponential growth curve, demonstrated in the Garou fight, suggests a ceiling that literally does not exist. But we fully understand ranking Goku higher.

Luffy in A-Tier will anger both sides. One Piece fans will argue Gear 5's toonforce should push him to S-Tier. Dragon Ball fans will argue that One Piece's power scaling does not reach planetary levels. Our position: Gear 5 Luffy defeated Kaido, who was narratively portrayed as the strongest creature in the One Piece world. Kaido's destructive feats include island-level attacks. That is formidable but not planet-busting, which keeps Luffy out of S-Tier. However, the reality-warping nature of Gear 5, turning the environment into rubber, grabbing lightning, toonforce physics, pushes him well above B-Tier characters.

Gojo's placement post-Shinjuku is another flashpoint. Some fans argue that losing to Sukuna should drop Gojo significantly. We disagree. Gojo fought the strongest sorcerer in history with a fully matured cursed technique and pushed him to absolute extremes. His loss was narrow, tactical, and involved Sukuna using Mahoraga's adaptation, essentially an entirely separate entity's power. Gojo's abilities remain A-Tier by any objective measure.

Eren Yeager's true power is debated because of how the Attack on Titan ending played out. Our ending analysis digs into why Eren chose not to use the Founding Titan's full power, which complicates his ranking. If we ranked Eren by his theoretical maximum (full Founding Titan with no self-imposed limitations), he would likely sit in A-Tier. We rank by demonstrated feats, which places him in B-Tier.

Characters to Watch in 2026

The anime landscape is always evolving, and several characters are poised to move tiers based on upcoming adaptations and manga developments.

Denji (Chainsaw Man) is currently difficult to rank because the manga's second part is still unfolding. The Chainsaw Devil's ability to erase concepts from existence by consuming them is potentially an S-Tier hax ability. If the anime adapts the War Devil arc and beyond, Denji could leap into A-Tier on this list.

Yuji Itadori (Jujutsu Kaisen) gained massive power increases in the manga's final arc. His domain expansion, his understanding of cursed energy, and his role in the final battle against Sukuna suggest he could move from an unranked position into B-Tier once these feats are animated.

Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End) is a fascinating case because her power is enormous, demonstrated by casually defeating demons that threatened entire regions, but the series deliberately avoids flashy power scaling. As more of the manga is adapted, Frieren's quiet S-Class magic power might earn her a B-Tier or even A-Tier placement.

Sung Jin-Woo (Solo Leveling) may move higher as Season 3 adapts the Monarch War and final battle arcs. His peak form in the source material arguably reaches S-Tier, but we are ranking based on animated feats for consistency.

Tanjiro Kamado already has his peak feats established, but the Infinity Castle movie will bring his most intense battles to the screen, potentially reshaping public perception of Demon Slayer's power scaling.

Honorable Mentions

Some characters narrowly missed the list or deserve acknowledgment despite not fitting neatly into a tier.

Mob (Mob Psycho 100) at ???% is an absolute powerhouse whose telekinetic output could devastate cities. His inconsistency in accessing that power keeps him off the main list, but peak Mob is genuinely terrifying.

Ainz Ooal Gown (Overlord) is essentially unbeatable within his universe's game-like power system, but cross-universe scaling for Overlord is notoriously difficult because his abilities are defined by game mechanics rather than physical feats.

Yami Sukehiro (Black Clover) wields Dark Magic that can cut through dimensions and his Dimension Slash: Equinox is one of the most devastating single attacks in the series. He narrowly misses B-Tier.

Vegeta (Dragon Ball Super) in Ultra Ego form is arguably A-Tier on his own merits, but including both Goku and Vegeta felt redundant when their scaling is so closely linked.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the strongest anime character of all time?
Based on demonstrated feats and narrative authority, Zeno from Dragon Ball Super holds the top position. His ability to erase entire universes with a thought places him above characters who operate within physical reality. However, Saitama from One Punch Man is designed as a parody of this exact question, making him a perpetual contender depending on whether you prioritize narrative intent or measurable feats.

Why is Luffy ranked in A-Tier instead of S-Tier?
Gear 5 Luffy's toonforce abilities are extraordinary: he defeated Kaido, grabbed lightning, and reshaped his environment at will. However, S-Tier on this list requires reality-warping or universe-level destructive capacity. Luffy's peak feats are island-level in destructive output. His reality manipulation is localized and combat-focused rather than cosmic in scale. He is comfortably the strongest A-Tier character and could argue for S-Tier placement if One Piece's final saga further escalates his power.

How do you compare characters from completely different power systems?
We use five primary criteria: destructive output (how much can they destroy), speed (how fast can they move and react), durability (how much damage can they survive), hax abilities (powers that bypass conventional combat), and combat intelligence. No single metric determines placement. A character with extreme hax like the Death Note can be D-Tier because the ability is too conditional, while a character with moderate destructive output but incredible speed and durability can reach A-Tier.

Is this list based on anime only or does it include manga feats?
We primarily rank based on animated feats to keep the list accessible to anime-only viewers. However, for characters whose manga or light novel stories have concluded (like Rimuru and Sung Jin-Woo), we reference source material to reflect their full power. We note when a placement relies on unadapted material so readers can judge accordingly.

Will this list be updated as new anime seasons release?
Yes. Power rankings are living documents. As new seasons drop, new feats are animated, and new characters emerge, this list will be revised. Key upcoming releases that could reshape these rankings include Solo Leveling Season 3, Chainsaw Man's continued adaptation, and any new Dragon Ball content. We aim to revisit and update this tier list at least twice per year to keep it current with the anime landscape.