Strongest Youkai In Anime, Ranked (2025)

Youkai, or Yokai, are supernatural creatures from Japanese folklore. The definition of a youkai is pretty wide with a number of creatures falling into the category of youkai.

There are a number of them in anime, with the most common ones being demonic creatures like those from Claymore. Over the years, there have been some very powerful youkai portrayed in anime capable of a great many things.

9 No Face (Spirited Away)

The Unassuming Spirit Is Scarier Than It Looks

No Face is an iconic character from Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and acts as a companion of sorts for the story’s protagonist, Chihiro. No Face seems like a harmless spirit with its simple design and noiseless interaction, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

No Face is capable of eating anything, whether humans or spirits, which is a terrifying ability considering how this could be used for evil. The spirit is also capable of powerful alchemy as depicted when it turned random objects into gold.

8 Yukine (Noragami)

The Blessed Vessel Can Hold His Own Once Wielded By Yato

Yukine is the Regalia of Yato from Noragami. Yato was once the god of calamity, but nowadays is simply a god looking to build his own shrine. Upon obtaining Yukine, the young weapon had to go through some growing pains, but is a very strong unit.

Yukine is able to carry out most of the normal spells that regalias can, including creating boundaries and casting restraints on enemies. However, beyond that, Yukine can also use techniques such as Rend, and Sunder which eliminate Ayakashi and destroy emotional connections between people respectively.

7 Akihito Kanbara (Beyond The Boundary)

His Half Youkai Abilities Give Him An Edge

Akihito Kanbara is one of the protagonists for the show, Beyond The Boundary. The half-Youkai-half-human teams up with Mirai Kuriyama, a warrior who uses her blood as a weapon. Together, they vanquish demons and keep the neighborhood safe.

Akihito is a formidable Youkai as he is immortal and will heal from just about any injury. It was also shown that he can readily make use of earth powers and also has some pretty powerful fire attacks that can cause an immense amount of destruction.

6 Tora (Ushio And Tora)

An Explosive Youkai That Might Have A Soft Heart

When Ushio, against the wishes of his father, goes into his basement, he finds stuck to the wall, a tigerish demon who asks the stubborn Ushio to set him free. He eventually does, and after some hijinks, the two decide to work together.

Tora is an ancient demon with ridiculous powers enough that even on their first meeting, there was a large concentration of demons attracted to the energy Tora was giving off. Tora can shapeshift, has incredible speed, and can make himself invisible. He was truly an excellent sidekick to the irrepressible Ushio.

5 Nue (Nura: Rise Of The Yokai Clan)

The Greatest Ever Onmyoji

The main antagonist of the show, Nue, who is also known as Abe no Seimei, was considered the strongest Onmyoji that ever existed. Interestingly, Abe no Seimei was a real person said to have lived during the Heian period.

In the anime, Nue’s powers are immense and he can use black magic which can kill instantly. Among other things, he was able to destroy half a city with a swing and is strong enough to fight the third heir of the Nura clan, Rikuo, to a standstill.

4 Inuyasha (Inuyasha)

The Half Demon Wields A Great And Mighty Sword

Inuyasha is a classic in shonen and it is chock-full of a lot of powerful characters. One of these is the protagonist, Inuyasha. Inuyasha is the son born to a demon father and a human mother, with his father, Toga, being a highly accomplished demon.

Inuyasha is blessed with a lot of demonic power which is comparable to a full-blooded demon, and he is capable of holding his own with just his physical strength. But then, he also has Tessaiga, his faithful sword which is a yokai weapon that can take on various forms and emit great power.

3 Kurama (Yu Yu Hakusho)

More Than Just A Pretty Face

Kurama is one of the main protagonists of the popular battle shōnen anime, Yu Yu Hakusho. The red-headed boy (originally named Shuichi Minamino) is inhabited by the silver-haired fox demon, Yoko Kurama.

Strong enough as a human, Kurama can turn into his former demon form, which makes him exponentially more powerful. On top of that, he can use plants to form weapons with manga creator Yoshihiro Togashi intimating once that Kurama could potentially be the strongest character in Yu Yu Hakusho with his ability to use any sort of plant as a weapon.

2 Madara (Natsume’s Book Of Friends)

The Great Demon Spirit Is Terrifying In His True Form

Natsume’s Book Of Friends is slice-of-life anime and is usually not related to power-scaling characters. But, in Madara, a high-level flying white wolf daiyokai, who acts as one of the protagonists of the show, there is an incredibly powerful youkai character. Madara has a deal with Natsume to inherit the book of friends when he dies.

Madara usually takes the form of a cat and seems harmless, but in his true form, he is a large flying beast capable of taking down just about any other youkai, and for this, he is greatly feared. He can shapeshift and make use of a spiritual light ray to defeat enemies.

1 Muzan Kibutsuji (Demon Slayer)

A Demon King

Muzan Kibutsuji is the demon king and the progenitor of all demons in the Demon Slayer universe. Immensely powerful, cruel, and immortal, Muzan is the author of a lot of tragedy including that of Tanjiro’s family.

Muzan has numerous abilities from being able to heal himself, immortality, and incredible strength. None of his generals hold a candle to him, and taking him down would require quite a lot. Muzan is a terrifying antagonist and this is seen clearly in how scared his underlings are of him.

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