Top 20 Brutal Anime Overkills

“Akame ga Kill” (2014)


Leone is one kitty you don’t want to play rough with, but Honest didn’t really have a choice after everything he did. Serving as the prime minister of the empire, Honest’s corruption was comically obvious and he was largely responsible for the deaths of many members of the Night Raid. Alas, he couldn’t evade his fate forever, as he soon came face-to-face with Leone who was ready to serve a knuckle supper. Despite being shot, Leone did not take a break from this brutal pummeling. Pretty soon there was more of Honest’s scheming mind outside his head than in it…

“Darwin's Game” (2020)


If you’re stuck in a death game, chances are you’re going to bump into a nutter like Wang sooner rather than later. This psychotic gang leader took more than a little pleasure in dishing out cruel punishments for those who wronged him… or just anyone he could get his hands on for that matter. After killing Kaname’s friend, his time on earth was about to be cut dramatically short however. First, he’s picked apart as Shuka’s plaything. Then, Kaname gets to serve his own brutal punishment on him which comes in the form of a bullet - which, let’s face it, was pretty redundant when he was already in pieces.

“JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” (2012-13)

What started with a bitter rivalry between two hot-headed Hamon users became a beautiful bromance, between Joseph and the Italian ladies man, Caesar. Unfortunately the latter isn’t strong enough to hold up against one of the infamous Pillar Men. It’s bad enough that his body was shredded by Wammu, but in the aftermath he has a giant stone cross fall onto his already doomed body. He may not have kept his looks in death, but at least he managed to carry over the last of his will to Joseph. Arrivederci.

“Mobile Suit Gundam 00” (2007-09)

Amazing how one bit of tragedy can turn a spoiled but ultimately cheerful girl into a merciless pilot whose desire for revenge consumes her life. Case and point; Louise Halevy. After the death of her parents, along with some added manipulation by the Innovators, Louise finally gets her chance at vengeance on Nena Trinity, and boy does she go all out. Blowing up Nena’s Mobile Suit to pieces, her psychosis reaches completion before taking her out with a final shot right to the cockpit.

“Fist of the North Star” (1984-97)

As one of the four Hokuto brothers, Jagi held great resentment for his younger adopted brother Kenshiro, especially considering the fact that he’s the whole reason why he wears a helmet to hide his disfigured face. He would commit grievous acts on the innocent, all the while impersonating and defaming the wandering martial artist. When the two finally face off, Kenshiro strikes Jagi with the Seiei Ko technique, which causes him to feel like his entire body is covered with bare nerves. He then proceeds to prolong Jagi’s death by striking him four agonizing times for each victim he wronged. For someone who likes to tell their opponents they’re “already dead” Kenshiro sure took his time with this one!

“King of Braves GaoGaiGar” (1997-98)

If you’ve seen GaoGaiGar, you know that the GGG doesn't do anything by half measures. In their continuing war against the Zondarians, they must find a way to destroy the Zonder monster of the week without killing the human inside. With the Hell and Heaven technique proving too much for Guy Shishio’s body, they instead opt to give GaoGaiGar a giant hammer that doesn’t know the word subtlety. With it, Guy hammers in a giant nail, prys out the human core, then utterly obliterates the remaining body with an attack that, as the name implies, turns them into light. Yeah - anything the Goldion Hammer touches is reduced to photons below the atomic level!

“Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World” (2016-)

Really anime? It’s not enough that the best girl is denied a romance with the main lead, but then you go do this to her? After being captured by the Witch’s Cult, our beloved blue haired maid finds herself dying in a rather excruciating manner as all of her limbs are twisted. The obvious silver living stems from Subaru’s morbid ability to rewind time following his death, however he won’t soon be forgetting what a horrific fate befell the adorable Oni.

“Pokemon” (1997-)

The subject of death is rarely ever explored in the Pokemon anime, so to this moment was shocking is putting it lightly. Hunter J is a lot like many of the villains in the series, she’s a despicable Pokemon Hunter who captures and steals from others, and then makes a great profit on the black market. This would ultimately be her undoing however when she captured the three Lake Guardians, Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf. After completing this job, her airship is suddenly struck down by a Future Sight attack and proceeds to crash right into a whirlpool. Underwater, the pressure from the water breaks the glass, leaving her and her henchmen to drown. You’d think that would be more than enough to ensure her death, but of course to add insult to injury her airship suddenly explodes!

“Eureka Seven” (2006)

It’s fair to say that Holland wasn’t exactly the best host to Renton when he first arrived on the Gekko. Even so, everything fell on Renton’s shoulders when, after attempting to save the priest Norb, Holland found himself in the middle of an ambush. Pressured by his fellow Gekkostate members, Renton bursts onto the scene with the Nirvash and cleans house… but that’s where it gets complicated. His conflicting feelings over Holland and the adrenaline rush he feels in combat overpower his actions and he soon finds himself high off the rush. He hammers the last opposing L.F.O relentlessly, reducing its pilot to a bloody paste. It’s only after he sees what’s left of the human inside that he finally realizes what he has become.

“Jujutsu Kaisen” (2020-)

Anyone who’s watched Jujutsu Kaisen knows that Gojo loves to defeat his opponents in a way that’s as over the top as possible. But what happens when you actually attempt to piss him off somewhat? Well Hanami the others soon found out when they tried to use civilians as human shields. With the power of his Infinity, Gojo essentially pushes Hanami against a wall and crushes them like a hydraulic press. There’s a good reason why they call him the strongest sorcerer, as he essentially crushed this special grade cursed spirit like a bug!

“Death Note” (2006-07)

It really doesn’t pay to be an ally of Mello. A potential successor to the genius detective L, Mello finds himself taking up his own crusade against the threat of Kira after his mentor’s death, even employing his close friend Matt to help him out. Eventually the tide turns against him as Matt finds himself surrounded by the authorities at gunpoint, forcing him to surrender. Except there’s one little problem, these guys happen to be big fans of Kira. …One bullet would’ve been enough guys!

“Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters” (2000-04)

What? You didn’t think a series centered on a children’s card game could have an example of overkill in it? Well, you would be wrong. During a rematch between Yami and Weevil Underwood, our heroic Pharaoh manages to win by playing a card that allows him to attack continuously as long as he keeps drawing monster cards. He ends up drawing a lot of cards, and despite his life points reaching zero, Weevil gets metaphorically slaughtered. We’re thinking he won’t be able to hear the words Monsta Cardo without wincing from now on.

“Psycho-Pass” Series (2012-)

We’re kind of cheating here by including a collective of overkills, but we think we’re justified in our choice given the fact that the signature weapon of the Enforcers doesn’t put a bullet in targets - it causes them to explode. Whether its flesh or metal, these transforming pistols have so much kick behind them that there is no such thing as a stealthy kill when they are switched into Lethal Eliminator mode, leaving behind one hell of a bloody mess.

“Mobile Suit Gundam” (1979-80)

Throughout the original gundam series, Char had only one thing on his mind - revenge. The target of that revenge was the very family he served under, and trust us, no Zabi was safe. Outside of her hitler-esuqe brother, none deserved that revenge more than Kycillia thought it seemed that she was just too fast for the red comet in her escape. But anyone who knows Char knows that he will go to some unconventional lengths to get what he wants. Instead of say, exploding the ship they were on, Char just had to be extra and instead opted to perform the most ridiculous headshot of all time… with a rocket launcher…
Anywhere would’ve done the job, Casval but you just had to flex didn’t you?

“One Punch Man” (2015)

Turns out that while Saitama can destroy anything from an alien overlord to a meteor with just a single blow, it doesn’t mean he has to stop there. It’s just when he does decide to throw more than one it results in a supervillain getting blown to bits like they’ve just been hit by a bomb. In all honesty a single punch would have been enough to take out pretty much anything. But we’re not telling him to stop. By all means give us more Consecutive Normal Punches.

“Yu Yu Hakusho” (1992-94)

In their battle against Team Rokuyukai during the Dark Tournament, Hiei takes on their supposed leader Zeru in the place of the snoozing Yusuke. The upper C class demon possesses great power over heat energy, covering his entire body with it and engulfing his opponent in flames. Shockingly, Hiei gets right back up and decides to fight fire with fire, except this time he evokes the Dragon of the Darkness flame. With just one single blast, Hiei utterly removes Zeru from existence. Honestly he didn’t have to go this hard, and to think this is all because he insulted the Jagan eye!

“Danganronpa: The Animation” (2013)

Junko Enoshima is one crazy lady. After imprisoning a group of students inside of an abandoned school, she seeks to invoke despair by throwing them all into a murder mystery game of death. Of course she’s eventually called out, and after realizing that hope has won over her precious despair, decides to do the only logical thing; subject herself to every wacky torture that she inflicted onto others. This includes: being pelted by a barrage of baseballs, stuck inside a motorcycle cage, burnt at the stake, sent into space and just crushed. Like we said. Crazy.

“Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” (2009-10)

Anyone fella who takes a glance at this sultry homunculi would want to light her world on fire… but Roy Mustang would perhaps prefer a more literal approach. In order to avenge his friend Hughes, the flame alchemist put a big red target on the heads of every homunculus - and he got his first shot at one of them when he came into contact with Lust. Unsurprisingly, his weapon of choice was his scorching abilities which were pretty damned effective. However, this is not a one-shot deal. This is a non-stop barrage of fire that eventually reduces her from sin to cinders.

“Hunter x Hunter” (2011-14)

Even the strongest of the Royal Guards finds themselves powerless when up against a transformed Gon, who channels his anguish over the loss of his friend into a series of strikes that end up decimating Pitou. You can honestly feel every single hit that the Chimera Ant takes. Even long after the fight is over, Gon is still laying into the chimera ant…

“Dragon Ball Z” (1989-96)

The once feared space tyrant really had an unfortunate change of luck after encountering Goku. He was sliced in half and blasted to bits…but still survived. Leave it to the time traveling half-saiyan to get the job done, though. After traveling to earth with daddy dearest, not only does Freiza get cut to ribbons, he also gets evaporated courtesy of a ki blast. The villain got killed so hard that when he was eventually revived by the Dragon Balls, he was still in pieces!

What do you think is the biggest overkill in anime? Let us know in the comments below!