The 15 Amazing Anime With Absurd Elemental Powers

Elemental powers in anime have always had their great appeal.

Who as a child didn’t dream of having the superpower to control an element, especially after seeing Sasuke spit out a fireball while watching Naruto? Let’s not kid ourselves.

But it is never late to experience this thrill again or even for the first time. That’s why today we’re going to look at the best anime with elemental powers used by characters.

The definition of element is quite large as it extends to pretty much everything present in nature, like mud or even gas.

Rankings are based on our taste and experience.

15. Arata the Legend

Arata the Legend is a battle shonen that has gone vastly under the radar compared to some of its peers, probably because of its low-impact story and characters.

Due to an evil spell, two boys named Arata find themselves living in each other’s place in an alternate world where modern and mythological Japan coexist.

In the world-building of this anime, there are Hayagami, elemental weapons, that will give their master incredible powers.

Arata the Legend is definitely not a bad anime, but we don’t feel like calling it good either.

Its animations are unfortunately nothing much and the plot, characters, and situations are quite cliché. But if you want to be the judge, you just have to watch it.

14. Yes! Pretty Cure 5

A Majokko anime released in 2007 with 49 episodes, which received a decent reception.

We will see the intriguing and colorful adventures of the Pretty Cure 5, a group of heroines tasked with defeating the Nightmare Company and restoring peace to the kingdom of Palmier.

Each of the 5 heroines will have a different elemental power, so we will see a lot of variety and interesting dynamics.

Yes! Pretty Cure 5 is a textbook Majokko anime belonging to the long-running Pretty Cure series, one of the most iconic in the genre.

It has excellent transformations, action scenes to the last breath, and very colorful and vivid animations and settings.

The only reason we put it so low is that the focus on elemental powers is not as well taken care of as in other anime higher up.

13. Bakugan

You will all have owned a Bakugan, one of those cute little ball-shaped toys that in contact with a magnet would open, revealing their true form.

Then you will also know that, similar to Pokémon, each one belongs to a different category, based on one of the elements.

And the same principle applies to the anime, released in 2007 in 51 episodes, starring Dan and his friends, tasked with stopping the evil Masquerade.

Bakugan is a series obviously aimed at children, which also suffers from poor animation and a story full of clichés.

For these reasons, we recommend watching it if you are nostalgic or feel like watching something without commitment.

12. Ronin Warriors

A very old anime, released in 1988 in 39 episodes, which makes action and fighting its strong points.

Defeated centuries earlier by the heroic Kaosu, the powerful evil spirit Arago, born of the negative feelings of human beings, awakens in modern times to enslave humanity.

Fighting him will be five warriors who inherit samurai armor, endowed with extraordinary elemental powers, forged by the legendary Kaosu himself.

What can somewhat be called the precursor of power suit fighting anime remains enjoyable and in its own way modern despite its release date.

This is because of its crowd-pleasing vintage flavor, its well-curated action scenes, and a plot that works even though it starts from nowadays basic premises but popular at the time.

11. Kaze no Stigma

Kaze no Stigma is an action anime with magical and ecchi elements released in 2007 in 24 episodes that passed very quietly, although it presents interesting dynamics.

Four years before the story began, Kazuma Kannagi was defeated by his cousin Ayano in a duel to decide the successor to Enraiha, the sacred sword passed down from generation to generation within their clan.

This was because of his ability to control Enjutsu, the art of controlling fire, a specialty of the Kannagi, and he ended up being kicked out of the family.

After four years he returned to Japan, now master of Fuujustu, the art of controlling the wind, with a new name: Kazuma Yagami. But a dense web of mysteries is about to begin.

Kaze no Stigma is a fighting anime that manages to present a fairly innovative plot in its premise, but unfortunately ends up becoming banal as the story continues.

But except for this, the theme of the elements is treated very well, and this is definitely a merit.

10. The Familiar of Zero

Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière is a mage who studies at Tristain Academy. She is unable to cast elemental magic spells properly so she is mocked and called Louise the Zero.

One day in class one of Louise’s spells results in an explosion that results in the summoning of a boy named Saito Hiraga from the real world of Japan.

He will be treated like a slave but Louise will quickly realize that Saito is special as he starts to acquire many new abilities that will be helpful throughout the whole show.

Eventually, the fantasy world will suffer geo-political turmoil so, despite the pretty regular premises, the plot will develop in the following seasons.

There will be many warlike events during which firearms and war equipment will be shown regularly.

The Familiar of Zero is a peculiar anime, combining many elements and features into the same anime.

This is already true from the premise, which as you may have noticed begins as a classic shonen anime but ends up having a more mature and warlike connotation.

But all this is always in a colorful world with vivid features.

The Familiar of Zero is one of those classic pretentious anime that you either love or hate, with no middle ground.

9. Fairy Tail

The plot of this anime focuses on Lucy Heartphilia, a girl whose dream is to become a powerful mage and join the famous guild of magicians called Fairy Tail.

Her dreams will become reality when she meets Natsu, a boy who travels around the world and is a member of the guild. He will bring her in and so Lucy will end up teaming up with the other members in their travels and quests.

They will have to face many obstacles and adventures within a good enough fantasy setting.

Fairy Tail can be good if you’re just starting with anime but the slow pacing and the bad character development are deterrents if you have some experience under your belt.

But to stay on topic, many of the powers of Fairy Tail characters are based on the elements.

To name a few examples Natsu, who controls fire, Juvia who controls water, and many many others.

8. Black Clover

This anime tells the story of Asta and Yuno, two orphans that have been abandoned at the same church on the same day so they grew up as brothers.

Since they were little they decided that they will compete for the title of Wizard King the strongest mage in the kingdom.

The only peculiarity is that Asta, in a world where magic is now everything, is born totally without powers.

We cannot anticipate too much, but the grimoire that will be given to Asta, that of the black clover, will give him demonic powers, making him increasingly a demon lord.

Black Clover has the distinction of not offering anything new in the battle shonen scene, but rather, without concealing it, puts together and takes cues from all the most successful mechanics of the genre.

Therefore, you will not find innovation by watching it, but rather a very enjoyable battle shonen anime.

Black Clover has very varied powers within it, ranging from the most common element controls, as in the case of Yuno controlling the wind, to others that are also very complex.

7. Digimon

Digimon is an extremely well-known and popular franchise, an eternal rival to Pokémon, which we will see later always in this ranking.

For those who don’t know, the plot revolves around a group of children who one day are transported into a new world populated by strange animal-like creatures called Digimon.

The Digimon tell the kids that they’ve landed in Digiworld and they will have to find their way back home. Every kid will get a Digimon partner and the group will be led by Taichi Yagami and Agumon.

The kids will unravel the mysteries of the Digiworld and grow alongside their Digimon.

Digimon has so many series, sequels, reboots, remakes, and you name it, so it can please everyone from vintage lovers to modernity.

It is a solid and highly entertaining franchise, which also shows us a fresh vision in the isekai genre, positioning itself as one of the undisputed pillars of the genre.

If it is such a popular product, in the end, there will be a reason.

6. Naruto Series

No long introduction is needed for Naruto, one of the iconic Shonen Jump big three and one of the most important anime ever.

The events narrated are those of budding ninja Naruto Uzumaki, who carries the burden of being the vessel of the nine-tailed fox, which destroyed the village years earlier.

Because of this, he is ostracized and treated with contempt by the villagers, making his past extremely dark and painful.

His dream is to become Hokage, the leader of the village, and be respected by all.

Naruto is one of the milestones of Japanese animation that everyone should watch or at least know about.

It is still to this day one of the archetypes and landmarks for the battle shonen genre, and one of the best anime to watch for beginners, and always will be.

And when it comes to elemental powers, is really outstanding.

It is even explained to us that each ninja, by nature, belongs to a different elemental power, and can base his techniques on the latter.

Moreover, to make things even more interesting, these can also be combined, creating new techniques.

5. One Piece

One of the most influential anime ever with unbeatable worldbuilding. A big part of its success is probably due to its setting which adds value to the Straw Hat’s journey to find the One Piece.

This masterpiece is not even finished and we have already seen a lot of islands, sceneries, and unique places. But one of the highlights of the work is unquestionably its excellent power system, based on the Devil Fruits.

Each fruit, when eaten, can give different powers. They fall into two categories: Paramecia, which modifies your body as in Luffy’s case, making it rubber, and Rogia, which makes your body capable of controlling a certain element.

They can be natural elements, such as a fire in Ace’s case, but also different and innovative ones, such as poison and mud.

4. Magic Knight Rayearth

Magic Knight Rayearth is a 1994 anime based on the manga of the same name written in 1993 by the famous CLAMP.

It features 3 girls, called Hikaru, Umi, and Fu, who during a school trip to Tokyo Tower are teleported to the fantasy world of Cefiro.

Upon arriving in this new reality, the three realize that the world is in grave danger and decide to fight for its salvation as Magic Knights, using elemental magical powers.

Rayearth is a more unique than rare product, which goes so far as to make so many even seemingly incompatible genres coexist within it.

Indeed, we will see a wonderful fantasy world with isekai premises, Magical girls contaminations and even mecha during fights.

But contrary to how it may seem the whole thing works great, without jarring, and this certainly contributes to the stupendous design of CLAMP and a vintage flavor.

3. Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

A Magi is a magician whose inclination toward magic is so immense that it can be said to shape the world.

Each Magi chooses a worthy candidate to become a king, then helps them conquer strange labyrinths called Dungeons. Above all else, the Magi supervises their elected representative as they build a country that might one day bring the world to its knees.

Aladdin is one of these Magi, and he will choose to protect Alibaba, a young and talented boy. Thus begins their adventure.

Magi has a very interesting power system, based on Rukh and Djinn containers, obtainable upon completion of a dungeon.

The former is the life nymph that gives power to people, like Ninjutsu in Naruto, and the latter are weapons with precisely the Djinns inside, which unleash different elemental powers according to their nature.

Alibaba possesses that of fire, to give an example.

But other than this, Magi is a very complete and unique anime, with wonderful settings, combining fantasy and exotic locations, looking like something out of a fairy tale, with believable and very well-characterized characters.

2. Pokémon

Tell us you do not know Pokémon and we, without any margin, would not believe you.

Between the legendary video games, anime TV series, movies, and whatnot, we are talking about probably the most famous franchise ever.

And equally legendary is its anime, which we will now discuss, starring the adventures of the very famous Ash, or Satoshi in the original language.

There is no need to go into explanations about why elemental powers will be present, we all already know that each Pokémon has its elemental type, with attached techniques.

Pokémon, whether you embrace the franchise through video games or the anime series, is always a timeless adventure that can give you hours and hours of wholesome fun, whether you are young or old.

1. Pretear

Pretear is an anime that deliberately takes inspiration from the Snow White fairy tale, making many different kinds of references to the classic story.

Himeno Awayuki is a quiet 16-year-old girl whose only wish is to be able to live a normal life after losing her mother.

Meanwhile, the Princess of Disasters Saihi is sending her seeds of evil to Earth to suck the life energy of all living creatures.

To avert the catastrophe, seven warriors of the elemental powers, the Riphe Knights, set out to find the Pretear, a princess with magical powers to foil the threat, who of course turns out to be Himeno.

It wouldn’t even need to be said if you are a fan of the fairy tale of Snow White, then you cannot miss this vision that takes several elements of it and references it.

Also impossible not to mention the stunning fantasy settings that this anime offers, along with an incredibly solid plot despite starting from premises that are not exactly groundbreaking.