A list of the most powerful anime swordsman characters of all time:
Swordsmen are typically depicted as strong anime characters who are skilled in the art of wielding and fighting with their swords or katana. They frequently have a sense of honor and justice that they strive to uphold at all costs, making them one of the most iconic characters in anime series.
In this article, we’ll look at some of the greatest anime swordsmen of all time and some well-known examples from popular shows like Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece.
29. Mikaela Hyakuya from Seraph of the End
The protagonist of the anime and manga series Seraph of the End, Mikaela Hyakuya, who was forced to become a vampire by the third Progenitor Krul Tepes, makes the top 10 list of the best anime swordsmen.
Mika is a Noble Vampire who can wield First Class vampire swords that can consume his own blood to further enhance his strength and speed. He also possesses the seraph gene, which is related to the forbidden taboo and a focal point of the story, Seraph of the End. Yuichiro Hyakuya and a few others also possess this gene.
28. Nicolas Brown from Gangsta
Nicolas Brown is the main character of the GANGSTA series and one of the most formidable anime swordsmen on our list.
His speed sometimes gives the impression that he is teleporting, disappearing, and reappearing in battle, despite the fact that he was easily outmatched by Ginger in that regard. Nicolas’ primary weapon, Nicolas is highly proficient with his sword. His ability to ambush skilled fighters like Doug without the latter noticing is probably his most dangerous trait.
He was also able to push back Doug, a dual Kukri user, and even break one of them, demonstrating how he uses his enormous physical strength in conjunction with his sword. He was also able to briefly match and then later overwhelm another blade user in battle. Nicolas is just as deadly with his bare hands as he is with his sword, even though he uses his sword more frequently.
27. Miyamoto Musashi from Vagabond
One of the main characters in the Vagabond manga series is Miyamoto Musashi, a historical figure who is regarded as one of Japan’s greatest swordsmen.
Musashi is unique in terms of his sword skill due to the unfamiliar movements and lack of style he uses. This is because he spent most of his time in the forest, having been labeled as a demon child by his village for his demeaning and wicked nature. His father would teach him Jutte, which helped him create the two sword styles.
He is known for his arm strength; in the Yagyu arc, he was able to cut a steel sword with one hand. He also created the two-sword style by using a katana in the offensive hand and a Wakizashi in the defensive hand. Throwing the wakizashi blade like a shuriken or Kunai is one of the techniques’ secrets.
26. Kirito from Sword Art Online
Kirito, the protagonist of the mainstream anime series Sword Art Online, is one of the most powerful male anime swordsmen, and his fighting style is very interesting to watch. He is skilled in combat and has exceptional reflexes, allowing him to easily defeat enemies even when outnumbered. With such skills, he is one of the few people in the SAO VR world who has managed to survive. The series is a virtual reality role-playing game.
25. Askeladd from Vinland Saga
In the historical anime series Vinland Saga, Askeladd is a fictional character who is a powerful swordsman. In the show, he is the leader of a band of a hundred Vikings and the one who killed Thorfin’s father. Askeladd’s ability to turn enemies into friends and allies demonstrates not only his level of power but also that he is skilled at bringing people to him—like Thorfinn, Thorkell, and Canute.
24. Hyakkimaru from Dororo
Hyakkimaru is one of the most well-known anime swordsmen on the list. He is the main character of Dororo and a ronin who wants to get back at the demons who stole his body parts.
He regains a part of himself that is rightfully his own after each Demon dies, so he wanders around alone for a while before being befriended by an orphan named Dororo. Together, the unlikely pair fight to survive and regain their humanity in an unforgiving world.
23. Akame from Akame Ga Kill
In addition to being one of the prettiest anime girls of all time, Akame is the female protagonist of the Akame Ga Kill series. She is also one of the most overpowered female anime swordsmen in history. This girl is cold-hearted and fierce against enemies but compassionate toward her allies. She carries the burden of those lost in senseless violence, which is impressive considering that she is the symbol of a rebel in this story. Akame is also one of the prettiest anime girls of all time.
22. King Bradly from Fullmetal Alchemist
King Bradley is one of the main antagonists in the Fullmetal Alchemist series. He is shown as a skilled swordsman and martial artist, but his Ultimate Eye makes him even more dangerous when he turns into Wrath.
King Bradley as Wrath is a battle-hardened swordsman with incredible skill who will fight an army alone and put an end to them quickly. He has enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, stamina, durability, senses, and instincts that are superior to any human.
21. Yato from Noragami
Yato is the main character of the anime and manga series “Noragami.” He is one of the most extraordinary swordsmen in anime. In the past, he was known as the supreme being of Disaster, but now he struggles to even have a shrine with followers.
In addition to his immortality, teleportation, and other abilities, Yato is also a skilled swordsman who can quickly adapt to any sword or katana and use it effectively. Notably, all of his previous Shinki, or spirit weapons, have been swords.
20. Teresa from Claymore
Teresa from the television series Claymore is one of the best and most powerful swordswomen on our list. She is the 182nd Claymore in the Organization and was previously ranked as the first. Teresa is one of the eight No. 1 warriors and is considered to be the strongest. She is arguably the most powerful character in the entire series because she has unmatched combat prowess.
19. Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho
Hiei is another overpowered anime swordsman and the main character in Yoshihiro Togashi’s Yu Yu Hakusho series. He is one of the fastest swordsmen in the Yu Yu Hakusho universe and can slice an opponent sixteen times in a blink of an eye. This has made some people think he can teleport, when in fact he is just moving very fast. His incredible speed gives him an advantage over slower fighters or fighting from a closer distance.
18. Saber from Fate/stay night
Saber is the Saber-class Servant of Kiritsugu Emiya in the Fourth Holy Grail War and Shirou Emiya in the Fifth Holy Grail War. She is also one of the three main heroines in Fate/stay night.
Saber is able to easily disarm Taiga, who is said to be an unmatched kendo expert, even when she is unarmed and facing a surprise attack without even taking a stance. She is one of the best anime female swordsmen of all time.
She takes up teaching Shirou, but she only focuses on giving him as much battle experience as possible because she doesn’t like teaching other people. Her skill as a swordsman is good, but her true strength is her enormous amount of magical energy. She believes that no Servant can beat her in close combat, and she is sure she can find a way out of the battlefield in any bad situation.
17. Zabuza Momochi from Naruto
Known as Demon of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi was a missing-nin from Kirigakure’s Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. As a Kiri-nin, Zabuza was a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, a group of the village’s best swordsmen.
Zabuza’s signature weapon was the Kubikiribch, a large broad sword with the unique ability to absorb and utilize the iron from all the blood it sheds, from whoever it cuts, to reform itself if damaged or broken. In the Naruto anime series, he belongs to a generation of swordsmen who were the strongest ever within Kirigakure.
Zabuza is such a powerful anime swordsman that he can kill a lot of enemies in the Naruto series with just a few slashes. He claims that his swordsman skills “never cut a second time,” so he killed a lot of people in one hit.
16. Nobunaga Hazama from Hunter x Hunter 2011
Nobunaga Hazama, one of the Phantom Troupe members in the anime series Hunter x Hunter, has a physical strength that ranks ninth.
Because Nobunaga is such a skilled swordsman, he could get close to his foes without getting hit and still strike them first before they even noticed him.
This anime character is one to avoid because he is extremely skilled with swords; he can even swing his enormous sword around like it were nothing and use two swords simultaneously.
15. Nanashi from Sword of the Stranger
One of the main characters in Sword of the Stranger, Nanashi, is one of the best swordsmen in anime. He is an honorable warrior who has promised never to kill again. However, his time of peace is cut short when he meets Kotaro, an orphan, and he uses his sword to save them from one of Ming’s members who was chasing them.
14. Mugen from Samurai Champloo
Mugen is one of the main male characters in Samurai Champloo, and he is arguably one of the best swordsmen you’ll find in any anime. He is a great foil for Jin, who is probably his best rival when it comes to sword fighting skills. His sword fighting style is characterized as being reckless and erratic, which makes it harder to predict. Opponents find it difficult to decipher how he fights, which makes his style harder to counter.
13. Gintoki Sakata from Gintama
Next up is Gintoki Sakata, a badass anime swordsman who is the main character of the Gintama series. He is the founder and leader of the Yorozuya and a highly skilled samurai who has previously fought in the Joui War.
Gintoki’s powerful swordsmanship and demonic white appearance earned him the Shiroyasha “White Demon” moniker during the war. He frequently wields even full-length katanas one-handed and employs fair wide chops that are quick. He has received praise for his skill level from many highly regarded swordsmen, such as Yagyuu Binbokusai, who noted that Gintoki developed his style rather than having it taught to him
12. Afro Samurai from Afro Samurai
We have Afro, an extremely talented anime swordsman who is one of the best swordsmen ever. As a child, Afro’s father was killed in front of him, and that traumatic event caused an innocent little boy to be filled with resentment. As a result, Afro became a cold-blooded killer who was willing to kill anyone in order to become the best.
Afro can use his subconscious mind to create completely new combat techniques in the middle of the battle, as instructed by his Sword Master. He was also able to fight effectively during an aerial battle with the Afro Droid. Afro is a highly skilled swordsman who is also able to perform lethal sword attacks and deflect crossbow bolts.
11. Yami Suhihero from Black Clover
Along with Asta and Yuno, Yami is one of the main characters in the Black Clover series. He is the captain of the Black Bull squad and used to be a member of the Grey Deer squad. Despite his crude and reckless behavior, Yami is a powerful Magic Knight who is respected by his peers.
In the end, he is an anime character who is a skilled swordsman. His fighting style demonstrates his swordsmanship skills, which he combines with dark magic to fight alongside enemies and easily defeat them.
10. Levi Ackerman from Attack On Titan
Levi Ackerman, a well-known anime swordsman who serves as the captain of a Special Operations Squad within the Survey Corps, is next. He is shown to be able to kill titans with just his swords, earning him the moniker “humanity’s strongest.”
Levi takes a slightly different fighting stance by holding his sword backhanded. This allows him to cut his opponent in a decagonal pattern, giving him a number of spinning and other rotating attacks that allow him to fight with his swords with incredible speed and agility.
9. Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin
The main character of the anime series Rurouni Kenshin, Himura Kenshin, is a legendary swordsman who was known as Himura Battosai during the Meiji Revolution.
In the show, Kenshin is portrayed as a man who has moved around Japan for a long time in search of redemption. In 1878, he lands in Tokyo and goes to the Kamiya dojo, where he has to give up his promise to never kill anyone.
8. Yoriichi Tsugikuni fom Demon Slayer
Yoriichi Tsugikuni is a powerful swordsman in the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime and manga series. He lived during the Sengoku Era and is regarded as the strongest Demon Slayer of all time. He has a phenomenal ability with a sword. Even when he was seven years old, he was able to defeat someone who had been training for many years in his first time using a sword.
Yoriichi’s swordsmanship easily defeated Muzan Kibutsuji, the Demon King, and if his brother Kokushibo, the strongest swordsman of his time and a demon, hadn’t died of old age, Yoriichi would have killed him.
7. Atomic Samurai from One Punch Man
One Punch Man’s Atomic Samurai is a hero of the S-Class who leads a group of heroes who specialize in swordsmanship. In the series, Atomic Samurai is regarded as the strongest swordsman on Earth, and legend has it that he can eliminate more than one hundred enemies simultaneously.
It’s easy to see why he is regarded as one of the most powerful anime swordsmen on our list because his sword attacks are so quick and powerful that the enemies are slashed into many pieces in an instant and have no time to react.
6. Kisuke Urahara from Bleach
One of Bleach’s most powerful and skilled anime characters is Kisuke Urahara, captain of the 12th Division. Urahara is a powerful anime swordfighter who has lightning-fast attacks and remarkable control over them. He can deal with precise hits or stop them in a split second with precision.
He is overpowered and regarded as dangerous by others, such as Ulquiorra Cipher, the fourth strongest Espada who stayed out of Urahara’s fight despite the fact that swordsmanship appears to be his preferred fighting style.
5. Roronoa Zoro from One Piece
The “Pirate Hunter,” or right-hand man of Luffy, the Straw Hat Pirates’ swordsman and former bounty hunter, is Roronoa Zoro.
Zoro possesses immense superhuman physical prowess, particularly his strength and agility. After two years of intense training with Dracule Mihawk, Zoro has grown significantly more powerful. These training regimens consist primarily of exhausting bodybuilding exercises and hard swordsmanship training.
Zoro’s three-sword style has changed throughout the series as he strives to become the world’s strongest swordsman. He is already powerful enough to defeat many emperors, so if his skill continues to improve at this rate, he might succeed in the end!
4. Kenpachi Zaraki from Bleach
Kenpachi Zaraki, the eleventh person to hold the position of captain of the 11th Division in Gotei 13, is one of the roughest anime swordsmen. He appears in the anime and manga series Bleach.
His first lieutenant was Yachiru Kusajishi, and his current lieutenant is Ikkaku Madarame. However, he has outperformed all of them by masterfully honing his sword skills, allowing him to strike multiple times with a variety of attack types—from slash to pierce—without difficulty.
He was able to kill hundreds of powerful fighters when he was young and wound Retsu Unohana. His sword is so strong that he can always fight with one hand free, but he uses both hands when he thinks an opponent will beat him otherwise.
Due to his numerous powerful abilities and being the most skilled swordsman in Soul Society, he is a respected captain of the 11th Division in the Bleach anime series.
3. Dracul Mihawk from One Piece
Another character from the One Piece anime and manga is Dracule “Hawk Eyes” Mihawk, a world-renowned pirate who is currently the strongest swordsman in the world of the series. Prior to the group’s dissolution, he was one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Mihawk’s status as one of the world’s strongest swordsmen has caused Zoro to view him as an obstacle that must be eliminated in order for him to set his sights on his goal. In the past, he was listed as an infamous “Marine Hunter” and a rival of Shanks Akagami.
2. Guts from Berserk
Guts, also known as the “Black Swordsman,” is one of the most powerful anime swordsmen ever. He is from the Berserk series. Guts is a former mercenary and wanderer who always has to choose between his own plans and his feelings for his friends and family.
Although Guts has a large and strong stature, he is also very agile, able to dodge and retaliate against even the quickest attacks in the heat of battle. He has been using oversized swords since he was 6 years old, resulting in his extraordinary strength and exceptional sword skills.
1. Shanks Akagami from One Piece
Shanks Akagami from One Piece makes it to the end of our list of the best and strongest anime swordsmen. He is literally the man. His strength and swordsmanship have been a force to be reckoned with, and he is one of the rulers of the One Piece’s World. He has shown himself to be an insightful, strategic thinker with a drive for justice. Even though his powers may not have been introduced in the series, all of his actions point to immense power.
He saved Buggy from drowning, Luffy from a sea king, and Koby from Sakazuki. He was able to deflect Akainu’s attack, putting an immediate end to the war at Marineford, and he also shielded his daughter from the Marines, as shown in One Piece Film: Red (2022).
