One of the most entertaining tropes in anime is the rags to riches of power. Some of the best anime series of all time star a character who could be considered one of the weakest in the whole world as they quickly become anything but. These characters start from humble beginnings, gaining immense power throughout the series and end somewhere either at the top or, sometimes, far beyond it.

While these characters become stronger than they could have ever hoped for, they started off in a much more vulnerable state. These characters are usually humble, even as the strongest in the world, because when the series started, they were too weak to change their own circumstances. With their newfound power, they look to change the world for the better, ing where they came from the whole time and using that to inform how best to use their newfound gifts.

8 Rimuru Tempest

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

Rimuru Tempest started That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime as a titular slime. He was blind, deaf, and had no real ability other than to crawl around aimlessly. He was reincarnated in a cave with no real understanding of where, or what, he was.

After eating some magic crystals and meeting Veldora, the Storm Dragon, he gained a few abilities that would snowball him on his journey to the top. He gained the ability to essentially copy any power from something he ate, an insane trait that gave Rimuru the ability to grow exponentially.

While he started as a lowly, powerless slime, he ends the Reincarnated as a Slime series as something closer to a living god. He's strong enough to run and defend his own nation, become a Demon Lord, and even defeat a fellow Demon Lord without taking any damage at all.

7 Ritsu Kageyama

Mob Psycho 100

Mob Psycho 100 is about Shigeo Kageyama, better known as Mob. He's the strongest esper in a world filled with espers. His younger brother Ritsu, however, is powerless. He's a great brother to Mob, but even he couldn't help but be jealous of his brother's overwhelming abilities.

He didn't have any powers at the beginning of the series. In season 2 of Mob Psycho, Ritsu's esper abilities finally awaken. Like his brother Mob, Ritsu's powers are much stronger than most. He quickly becomes one of the strongest espers in the series, and luckily, uses his powers for good.

The original webcomic Mob Psycho 100 is based on was created by the same mangaka who created One-Punch Man.

One of the best fights on the series involves Ritsu as he and a few other espers try to take down Shimizaki, one of Claw's Ultimate 5 espers. While Ritsu started the series as a normal, powerless person, he eventually gets so strong that he can even hold back ??? as it possesses his brother and wreaks havoc across Japan.

6 Hajime Nagumo

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest has main character Hajime Nagumo's character arc in the title. He starts as a commonplace Synergist, one of the least powerful classes in the new world that he gets transported into. His class is so weak that he can't do anything to really even protect himself, relying on his classmates to protect him instead.

After being betrayed by one of his classmates, he wakes up in the bottom of a horrific Labyrinth. He has to eat deadly monster meat to survive, and while it should have killed him, the purifying water he finds saves his life. Not only does it save his life, but it allows him to gain the powers of the monsters he's eaten, setting him on a path that will take him to the top.

Within just a few episodes, Nagumo becomes one of the strongest characters in the series. His new monster-hybrid powers give him a myriad of new abilities, and his Synergist class allows him to create a ton of new weapons, vehicles, and more.

5 Kafka Hibino

Kaiju No. 8

All Kafka from Kaiju No. 8 wanted to do was the Defense Corps. He tried out every year for the organization, but he was never good enough. He wasn't very strong, smart, or any of the other qualities that might have landed him a job with the Defense Corps. After he was put in the hospital towards the beginning of the series, a monstrous bug came to visit him.

The bug ends up inside of Kafka, giving him the ability to transform into the titular Kaiju No. 8. Not only did Kafka become immeasurably stronger, but there's a strong argument to be had that he quickly became the strongest character in the entire series.

The same character that couldn't run for more than a few laps around a track gains the ability to destroy a massive Kaiju with a single punch. He does a complete 180 power-wise, leaving his weak humanity behind for a new, hybrid version of himself that can do things he would never have dreamed of. His growth into one of the strongest Defense Corps around makes for a great story and makes Kaiju No. 8 one of the most fun shōnen series around.

4 Denji

Chainsaw Man

Denji's beginning is sad in Chainsaw Man. He's treated as less than human by most of society, and because of how weak and poor he is, he can't really do anything about it. He's forced to work for the Yakuza to pay off a debt his father left him with, and even after all of his hard work, it seems like Denji is barely making a dent.

After meeting and merging with the Chainsaw Devil Pochita, however, Denji's life turns around. He's no longer the same guy that can barely defend himself. Instead, he's a Hybrid that can take on both his human form and a Devil form at will.

In one of the Chainsaw Man, Denji takes on the Katana Devil, showing just how far he's come. He's not only able to survive getting both of his arms cut off, but he's able to take down one of the strongest Devil Hybrids in the series. He's even smart enough to transform his legs into chainsaws, showing that his intelligence has grown in tandem with his strength in battle.

3 Eren Yeager

Attack on Titan

Eren Yeager is a complicated character in Attack on Titan. He starts the series as a bright-eyed young boy who just wants to see the world outside the Walls. In one of the most gripping first episodes in anime, Eren watches his whole world crumble around him as the Titans break through the Walls that have protected him his whole life and kill scores of people.

One of the people who died was Eren's mom, Carla. She was trapped by a piece of rubble when the Titans broke through the Walls, and Eren was too weak to do anything about it. Eren never forgot the face of the Titan that ate his mom, and when he gained a ton of power later in the series, he was sure to pay it back.

​​​​Eren later gains the power of several Titan Shifters, including the Coordinate, Attack, and the War Hammer Titans. Not only does he have a host of Titan abilities at his disposal, but he even enacts The Rumbling, killing 80% of the world's population by himself.

2 Asta

Black Clover

Asta is one of the most gung-ho heroes in anime. He always has a smile on his face, and he's one of the most determined characters in the world of Black Clover. While he quickly masters one of the strongest magic types in the series, he started without it.

Asta was born as a poor peasant orphan. He didn't have any magical abilities whatsoever, and when people started getting Grimoires, he was never chosen. With his back against the wall and his determination on full display, however, he finally gets chosen by the demonic Five-Leaf Grimoire.

With his new Grimoire and the same never-say-never attitude he's always had, Asta quickly becomes a force to be reckoned with in Black Clover. Within just a few years, his Anti-Magic stands out as an unstoppable ability that can erase anything it comes into with. Asta is the perfect person to use it too, as his work-ethic ensures that he's always at least one step ahead of his enemies and the best ally for his friends to rely on in battle.

1 Sung Jinwoo

Solo Leveling

Sung Jinwoo is destined to become the strongest character in Solo Leveling. Before the events of the terrifying Double Dungeon, Jinwoo was quite literally the weakest hunter in the world. He was an E-Rank Hunter who couldn't do much in a Dungeon, but he continued to go on raids so that he could save up money to pay for his sister's education and his mom's medical bills.

In the Double Dungeon, after Jinwoo is left for dead, he laments his weakness. His anger at his own lack of strength is part of the reason that The System chose him to Reawaken. Jinwoo not only survived the events of the Double Dungeon, but gained a unique ability within Solo Leveling to actually get stronger.

Jinwoo has gotten stronger at a rate that's hard to understand. He went from a character who couldn't defend himself to the commander of an entire Shadow Army. He can summon dozens of Shadows that are already stronger than he ever was, showing how absurd his strength is now to where it was at the beginning of Solo Leveling.