Summary
- Shapeshifting abilities in anime and manga can be diverse and creatively used.
- Examples of shapeshifting protagonists include Rimuru Tempest, Soul Evans, Elias Ainsworth, Tohru, Fushi, Monkey D. Luffy & Tonytony Chopper, Ainz Ooal Gown, and Kafka Hibino.
- These characters demonstrate a range of shapeshifting abilities, from mimicking creatures to transforming between human and non-human forms.
Shapeshifting is a pretty fun power regardless of the media it's used in. The ability to transform into anything, any creature, or any person (depending on the internal rules of shapeshifting) is an ability to truly shine when the user of said ability is creative.
Every Anime Movie Directed By Makoto Shinkai, Ranked
Makoto Shinkai has directed some absolutely stunning movies but which one is the best?
And, as such, this is a power and/or character type that's used pretty often in both anime and manga. In particular, there are some real standout protagonists with shapeshifting abilities across the manga medium. With this in mind, let's take a look at some of the most premiere examples, and readers should quickly be able to see just how diverse this ability can be based on the different ways each protagonist below uses said ability.
8 That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime
Rimuru Tempest
It only makes sense to start things off with one of the most obvious examples of this, Rimuru Tempest from the hit series, That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime. In this story, Rimuru is reincarnated in a new isekai world not as a human, but as a basic slime. However, due to some absurdly lucky circumstances, Rimuru is born with a whole host of overpowered abilities and gains even more after becoming best friends with a dragon.
Throughout this series, Rimuru has shown the ability to 'mimic' (AKA shapeshift) into creatures of all different types after using his 'Predator' skill to steal the ability of one of the first monsters he kills in the cave he was reborn in. However, it's not just that, because as a slime Rimuru can also change his shape at will, and eventually learns how to go back and forth from a human to a slime body whenever he wants. In fact, Rimuru has even figured out a way to use his shapeshifting to enjoy the taste of food again, which goes to show just how developed this shapeshifting ability is.
7 Soul Eater
Soul Evans
To be a bit more technical with this next entry, Soul Evans isn't a 'shapeshifter' as much as he is a Demon Weapon. In the setting of Soul Eater, Soul Evans is the secondary protagonist next to Maka Albarn. Soul is still technically 'human' as he has a human soul, but he's also a Demon Weapon at the same time.
5 Best Isekai Anime To Watch If You Love My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered
Fans of My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered are sure to enjoy what's on offer in these similar isekai anime.
And, Demon Weapons in the Death Weapon Meister Academy are categorized by their ability to transform between a human form, a weapon form, and sometimes a hybrid form in between the two. Additionally, with his innate shapeshifting ability, Soul can elongate, change the shape of, or otherwise modify his body and/or scythe blade body at will. While Demon Weapons don't quite have the shapeshifting range as one might expect, they still absolutely count as shapeshifters.
6 The Ancient Magus Bride
Elias Ainsworth
Next up is a protagonist with some truly expansive shapeshifting abilities, Elias Ainsworth from the Ancient Magus Bride series. While it still isn't entirely clear what Elias 'is', he's obviously some sort of chimera or mixture of both fae and human genealogy.
As such, Elias has a whole host of unique abilities, with one being shapeshifting. Elias has already displayed this ability on numerous occasions in the story such as shapeshifting himself to look like a pretty normal human, shapeshifting into his more 'default' appearance with his wolf skull head, shapeshifting into this horrifying shadowy creature, technically shapeshifting into two separate 'beings', and much more.
5 Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid
Tohru (Or Any of the Dragons, Really)
Now onto some shapeshifters who don't have a ton of range in their shapeshifting, but the entire range of their abilities is still yet to be explored. Essentially, all of the dragons in the comedy mixed with romance series known as Kobayashi's Dragon Maid are shapeshifters with relatively equal shapeshifting abilities.
Bleach: Strongest Characters In The Anime, Ranked
The Bleach anime is packed with powerful Shinigami, Sternritter, and Espada. Here are the strongest characters.
With Tohru as the primary example, these ancient creatures can seemingly become any form between a full dragon or full human and usually end up looking mostly human with one or two aspects of their draconic appearance being left untouched. If it was just the ability to go from a human to a dragon, none of these characters would be included here, but because these dragons can seemingly control this transformation to leave certain parts untransformed and can even shapeshift all sorts of different outfits, they absolutely qualify as having shapeshifting abilities.
4 To Your Eternity
Fushi
Now onto one of the protagonists who is someone both the most and least human of the bunch. Fushi is the protagonist of both the manga and anime called To Your Eternity and their main power (other than immortality) is their ability to shapeshift. In fact, as far as shapeshifters go, Fushi is probably one of the ones who has displayed their powers the most. Fushi has been shown as a wide variety of different animals, different people, and even different objects.
Fushi's powers are also some of the most overpowered on this list, as Fushi can seemingly summon an unending amount of matter at will, and this ability only becomes more and more ridiculous as time goes on. It would get into some pretty heavy spoilers to say much more, but Fushi is absolutely the most iconic shapeshifter on this list.
3 One Piece
Monkey D. Luffy & Tonytony Chopper
When people look at or think about Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist of One Piece, the word 'shapeshifter' probably doesn't come to mind. However, the way Luffy uses his Devil Fruit powers almost always ties back to shapeshifting. Luffy is quite literally always shifting his shape to suit his needs, be it by using any of his Gears, inflating himself into a balloon, or even just stretching his cheeks absurdly wide to fit as much food into them at once as possible.
As a rubber man, Luffy can change the shape of his body with total freedom. In fact, the only person who shifts their shape more than him and would still count as a protagonist is the doctor who is friends (and crewmates) with Luffy, Tonytony Chopper. Chopper is the doctor of the Straw Hat Crew and his Devil Fruit abilities involve Chopper shapeshifting into all sorts of different forms or 'Points', be it Brain Point, Jumping Point, Guard Point, Horn Point, or even Monster Point.
2 Overlord
Ainz Ooal Gown
Here's the thing, this next character named Ainz Ooal Gown is not typically described as a shapeshifter, but he has displayed his shapeshifting abilities numerous times over the course of the Overlord manga and anime, and the one NPC he created named Pandora's Actor, is quite literally creature defined by its shapeshifting abilities.
Over the course of Overlord's story, Ainz has shapeshifted his face, his body, he's shapeshifted others, he's changed the shape of his surroundings, and much more. In the course of his undercover work as Momonga, Ainz has revealed his shapeshifted face to the Swords of Darkness adventurer party, and this is where a lot of Overlord fans first figured out that Ainz had extensive shapeshifting abilities. Of course these pale in comparison to Pandora's Actor, the NPC that Ainz originally created when he lived back on Earth, as he is a Doppelganger who can transform into anyone he desires and by doing so can also copy their stats, skills, and abilities.
1 Kaiju No. 8
Kafka Hibino
And last up is a character who was more recently invented, Kafka Hibino from the popular Kaiju Number 8 shonen series. Kafka is much more comparable to the dragons of Kobayashi's Dragon Maid than he is to Fushi of To Your Eternity in terms of his shapeshifting.
In general, Kafka has two 'forms', his human form and his Kaiju form. However, as he's displayed multiple times when fighting as Kaiju No. 8 or even when he was first coming to terms with his new appearance, Kafka has some pretty expansive shapeshifting abilities. In fact, one of the main antagonists of Kaiju No. 8, Kaiju Number 9, has shown the full extent of both his and Kafka's shapeshifting powers as he was able to become pretty much anyone he wanted after consuming them. While Kafka obviously has less range in these powers compared to Kaiju Number 9 since he hasn't consumed any humans, it still shows that the potential of this ability is pretty extensive.
30 Most Iconic Anime Swords, Ranked
Anime fans will surely recognize these famous swords that have appeared in some of the medium's most popular shows.