Super-Leaping in Anime

Super-Leaping in Anime
Author: Zorez Shahzad

Super leap is the ability to jump very high into the sky. This ability is a common trope for anime characters who have super inhuman strength. These characters lack the ability to fly, so in order to make up for it, they retort to brute strength. In a fight, in emergencies or just to travel, they propel themselves to great distances with the help of their brute strength alone and use their momentum to their advantage. These characters make walking or running a sport for plebs. Some western examples for this ability would be Superboy from Young justice and Hulk from Marvel. Both have immense strength, but they can’t fly. Today, where going to be focusing not on the western characters, but the anime characters. So, let’s see which anime characters use this ability to their advantage.

Saitama:

Saitama is the ultimate protagonist in One Punch Man. He is the most powerful character in the series, possessing limitless strength. He, staying true to the name of his series, is able to defeat all of his foes with one punch, that is if he does not restrain himself. Saitama has immense control over his strength. He shows this control by not killing humans when they challenge him. Saitama is an impressive hero but unlike a certain red caped alien, Saitama does not possess the ability to fly. He compensates for this inability through his impressive leg strength. His enhanced leap allows him to hop several hundreds and thousands of kilometers in a matter of seconds.

This ability is ideally portrayed in one of his most iconic scenes, Saitama’s Moon jump. He was able to cover 380,000 km in a matter of mere seconds. This leap left a crater on the moon and most of us fans baffled. The fans are always in awe of this Bald Hero’s invincibility. Saitama is an ideal hero. He is indifferent to the opinion of others. He became a hero for himself. He has the most powerful Super leap in the anime. I guess those 100 squats, 10 pushups, and a 10 km run every day really give you superhuman strength.

Licht Bach:

Lich Bach is the main character of Plunderer. Yes, that is a German name for a Japanese character. His real name is Sakai Rihito. He is one of the 7 legendary Red Barons in this series and is the most powerful Baron as he is the leader of all the other Barons. Licht Bach’s special ability as a Baron is the speed of flash that lets him become faster than the speed of sound. Which makes his movement very difficult to follow. He can also jump very high and cover several kilometers with one hop. This ability often confuses people into thinking that he is flying. However, Licht does not have the ability to fly.

He is a very likable character and is a pervert. He is a true man of culture who is used to girls hating him and rejecting him. He can face their rejections with a stone face. His enigmatic personality makes him a personal favorite of mine and reminds me of Sakurai Tomoki from Sora no Otoshimono. Both shows are the brainchild of the same author Suu Minazuk so it’s no wonder that they have similar main-characters. The Legendary Hero Plunderer and the Great Pervert would get along really well. Overall, the legendary Baron has an amazing character design and a very well tied backstory. He is an amazing character that needs more recognition.

Midoriya Izuku:

Midoriya Izuku the protagonist of everyone’s favorite My Hero Academia. Unlike Saitama, Midoriya is obsessed with the concept of being a hero. A great testament to that is his vast knowledge of fundamental hero skills and tactics which he accumulated after years of observations. Born quirkless, he used this knowledge to turn One For All a gift from All Might into one of his greatest assets. Even All Might was surprised at his successors’ expert use of his fading quirk. Deku’s Full Cowl allows him to achieve superhuman maneuverability with immense destructive power. This mode gives him a tactical advantage to hop around and become something akin to lightning.

These hops cover an immense area and allow Deku to become somewhat invisible to the untrained eye. This abilities toll on Midoriya’s body is not that great and it seems that Midoriya can control his quirk better in this manner. Midoriya becomes a small lightning tank when he uses this ability. He has certainly surpassed All Might in his use of One For All. He continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. Soon, Midoriya will surpass even destructive power of All Might, the destructive power the Greater Hero possessed in his prime and I can’t wait for that to happen.

Bellamy the Hyena:

Bellamy is a minor antagonist turned ally from the One Piece series. He is the former captain of the Bellamy Pirates and a former member of the Donquixote Family. After being defeated by Luffy, twice, he became a part of the Dyer; a self-proclaimed Grand Fleet of the Straw-hat Pirates. Bellamy is physically very strong, being able to bend iron bars and throw a grown man out the window, but his strength does not even come close to the other characters on this list.

Despite losing in the strength department, Bellamy has the power of Bane Bane no Mi fruit; where Bane literally translates to spring, hence the spring-spring fruit. Being a spring man lets him transform his limbs into springs, compression springs to be precise. These springs when wounded, allow him to jump long distances and maintain immense momentum. Although he cannot control himself in air, Bellamy uses his ability to dodge and get close to his enemies and strike. Which makes Bellamy’s ability quite useful against ranged combatants. Bellamy is a prime example of an enemy turned ally due to the main character’s compassion. This makes Bellamy a very likable and well-crafted character. Which is an important asset to any good story.