Shonen Power Systems Explained

[@mothersbasement]

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[@Homtas_]

Avatar is not an anime

[@7deadlypins]

at one.three million subs you cant pick your own ad content? or you think paying for animated sex is good for society ? werid.... just weird

[@tyriekbaker2667]

Oh snap, I made a card game nen concept too. It's time to dual my guy, I'm taking your best card if I win.

[@flipflop2221]

Can you make a video on how to download the game on mobile I got a iPhone 11 and the pf viewer option on the store it recommended is abysmal. I enter the url to download it on the app and it refuses to work.

[@jamescallanan2443]

I unironically want to hear you fully explain your Nen ability

[@jasonstruck5102]

I will say, the more elaborately constructed and diverse a story's power system is, the funnier it is when a character with a gun is introduced

[@mr_indie_fan]

Mustard: *allow me to introduce myself*

[@pine_13]

World Trigger’s power system heavily consists of a variety of firearms and bullets with special properties (tracking enemies, controllable flight paths, exploding on impact, transforming into weights that slow opponents down, etc.) which I find allows it to really stand out.

[@CyberKirby]

"I can hurl boulders 10 miles in distance!" "I can shoot lasers out of every one of my fingers." "I can slowly reduce the temperature of whatever room I'm in, slowly freezing my enemies to death." "I brought a shotgun."

[@Ash_Wen-li]

That shit caught me off guard in Hunter x Hunter

[@hollowshield2315]

Tanjiro and pretty much every other demon slayer: I have trained myself to death for years on end, coughing up blood, tearing off the skin on my hands, and taking my body past its natural limits, to become a master of the sword and just get a *chance* at claiming a demon's head Genya: shooty mcbooty your head is now kablooey

[@ChaosLierLen]

Please embrace your obvious urge to make this into a multi part series! We'll have almost as much fun with it as you will!

[@Slayer_Jesse]

Same, i could listen to you gushing about power systems for quite awhile ,even if i never watched the involved anime.

[@ActuallySatan]

I would listen to a hundred episodes of Geoff explaining anime/manga power systems.

[@Eagledude131]

I would love this, especially a part that deconstructs the bad power systems in anime, using the previously discussed good ones as a point of critical comparison.

[@chrismicke89]

Yu Yu Hakusho is probably my favorite childhood anime, and in my top 5 of all time. I loved literally everything about it, Characters, art style, power system, plot. It was a masterpiece and I would love for it to get The Ronan Kenshin treatment, and have its animation updated.

[@CrucibleOfHate]

this

[@MeagenImage]

I gotta respect the hustle of JJK making "explaining your powers in the middle of a fight" into a valid tactical move and even an additional contest of wits.

[@MrGksarathy]

JJK puts so much effort into explaining it's powers that it doesn't really explain its world or its characters beyond the bare minimum, unless your name is Maki Zen'in, Yuuji Itadori, or Kenjaku. Sukuna and Gojo sort of count, but there are a ton of blanks character-wise.

[@LuisSierra42]

So much explaining made me fall asleep

[@mrprotoman154]

⁠@@MrGksarathyMomo is the only blank I could think of.

[@corey2232]

People can complain about it, but it at least gives an in-universe reason, and a decent one at that, for what's otherwise a pretty stupid thing we see all other battle anime do anyway. And even at an early age, every kid or adult watching their first anime will inevitably think to themselves "why tf are they telling their enemy all this stuff?!" so it's not like this is some subtle thing only those of us in the know would understand. I appreciate JJK's approach, because it doesn't just explain why people do it, but it's not really done in a corny way either. Though it does get a bit cringe when other characters point it out over & over... "Oh, you're just telling me all this because explaining it makes the effects more powerful!" Yes... we get it. You've told us this already... Every character does not need to reaffirm why this is happening 😅

[@PandaKnight-FightingDwagon]

@@corey2232 yeah but tbf, ppl explaining their power only get interrupted when it's a power that we the audience already understand, or the character is about to get low-diffed so hard that what their power does doesn't matter

[@SirAsdf]

The fact that it's a plot point in JJK that explaining how your powers work makes them stronger will always be hilarious.

[@sanddry738]

I’ve always adored how Bleach shows off power through spiritual pressure and reishi. Being brought to your knees is one thing. Being flattened into the ground because your enemy literally *increases the pressure so you can’t stand* was always such a fun display of power. Seriously the world building is amazing! It’s not in your face but once it clicks, it *clicks*

[@abedmick2267]

Lmao

[@hypothalapotamus5293]

I always love how Rukia does the Margarett Thatcher/Elizabeth Holmes power voice, but in Japanese.

[@ConvincingPeople]

The choice of the scene with Makima and the prisoners to accompany the argument that not knowing the mechanics of Chainsaw Man's powers is part of what makes them effective was apt, because there is a perfect logic of cause and effect to that scene, but that logic is very… *old.* Makima changes her clothes beforehand not simply because she's covered in blood, but because she needs to cleanse herself because she is performing a ritual sacrifice. What we witness in that scene is not the systems-based hard magic of a modern fantasy series, but sympathetic magic, like putting an enemy's hair inside a straw doll and setting it on fire while praying that he should die. She is calling upon something great and terrible to do one thing for her, *and it does.* Absolutely terrifying scene, and an excellent encapsulation of what Chainsaw Man is all about.

[@aitomatica5285]

That's an excellent point. That scene demonstrating Makima's powers just gives off this horrific, twisted vibe that, without a thoroughly explained power system, just leaves the audience confused and uncomfortable, which is exactly the tone they were going for. The mystery of the unknown is so much more ominous and terrifying than any threat, no matter how powerful or menacing.

[@MrGksarathy]

That was actually one of the more understandable parts of CSM for me. Makimawas using the prisoners as ritual sacrifices to remotely kill her enemies. It doesn't even matter what her Control Devil powers may or may not allow her to do, it just makes sense.

[@worthlesshuman5041]

Reading this comment actually reminded me of another similar concept, the revelation that in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist, philosopher's stones are made of human souls. Both of these are to do with human sacrifice, but csm's is ritualistic, primal, and unexplainable, eliciting a sense of primal fear and dread, meanwhile FMA's is a fully explained scientific process, lending to that show's themes about cold, calculated atrocities committed in the name of a greater cause. Where CSM's acts as an analogue for old magicks and bloody rituals, FMA's acts as an analogue for the clinical horrors of Mengelev or unit 731, going to show how interwoven both power systems are with their show's themes and how that affects their takes on similar concepts

[@mochiman6307]

I think the best part is when something completely out of left field happens, like not everything is tied to quirks and there is an actual talking gorilla

[@summers7554]

Thanks for the MHA forecast 💀

[@jonathandear4914]

while everyone was playing heroes and villains, the animals rose up against them xD

[@akaliislifeakaliislove5968]

Speaking of gorillas, you should read Tokyo Ghoul creator's gorilla web-manga it's really good

[@TekRobo]

One Piece be like

[@ChaosSepher]

Like we have a kid who has a bird head which, aside from probably giving it a cooler shape, has nothing to do with this quirk of having a living shadow.

[@BadMuthaFugga]

I think the key with Nen is the restrictions. Always having a way to make your ability stronger by making it HARDER TO USE is such an obvious but mind blowing solution to power creep. The stronger your ability the more of a glass cannon you become, or maybe you just never even get a chance to activate it! So the series becomes about finding a way to either elevate your simple ability to godhood through practice (Hisoka) or creating an unstoppable ability and spending all your time trying to nail every condition to activate it.

[@SergeantMild]

Gon: "I'll give you to the count of three, then if you don't guess which move I'm using you basically insta-lose! (unless it's paper, still working on that)" Killua: "I have to electrocute myself every time I use my hatsu, I just don't mind it as much as you will." Kurapika: "Most of my abilities seem completely broken until you realize that I can only use them against roughly 13 very specific people or I'll literally die."

[@MrGksarathy]

@@SergeantMild Not to mention, Emperor Time literally shaves a year off his life every second it's active.

[@noblesseoblige319]

​@@SergeantMildthen there's killuas sister, who's entire gimmick is "the more you know about the rules that are unknown to EVEN HER, the stronger you are", and it's beautiful

[@perro692]

And it works so well for character writing, Kurapika going "i have the most broken ability ever, but only against these 13 guys and if i use it with anybody else i fucking die" tells you so much about him

[@coranbaker6401]

​@@MrGksarathy A year per second? Wouldn't he have lost over 100 years against Uvogin?

[@Adalore]

I just love the bounty system in one piece. It just creates such great writing contexts. classics like jobbers picking a fight with someone that is under ranked. I just also love how it presents a disfunctional system with limited information trying to cope with what is happening in the story. It is another element that makes the world feel larger than what is immediately around the protagonists.

[@jorgemartinez3600]

Oda needs to use Bounty Hunters alot more seems like a given with bounties

[@Paratet]

The bounty system is probably my favorite power scaling system because it's used more as a narrative tool rather than an actual "who beats who in a fight." This is how you get fortified henchmen like Buggy being seen as one of the most feared pirates because he has the pedigree, the wits, and most importantly the luck of being in the right place at the right time. Come to think of it, One Punch Man's "class" system is pretty similar. Where it's mostly arbitrary.

[@TheScholarabull]

@@jorgemartinez3600facts bounty hunters sort of disappeared after the got to the grand line it seems

[@mario98730]

It also serves the anti-government themes of one piece very well. The Navy created this system to say how dangerous its enemies are, but its completely arbitrary and has so many flaws that it almost might as well not exist at all.

[@josiahbrown5582]

⁠@@TheScholarabullI think that’s because everyone who’s strong enough to really matter in the grand line (particularly in the new world) has bigger ambitions than just making money. They’re either a pirate themselves or part of the navy/govt. I can hardly imagine someone who’s strong enough to contend with yonko crews merely being interested in bounties.

[@writinggoose6059]

What I appreciate the most about Chainsawman's power system is how it encourages readers to read critically into a given Devil' name and what they represent. By tying their powerlevel directly to how much fear the name produces, you're invited to think WHY that name invokes fear and what that says about society and the human condition. Which naturally leads into character interpretation for the Devils and whoever is associated with them

[@TheBleachj16]

Nen is the peak for me. Cursed Energy comes close, but Nen is just so well designed that its easy to insert yourself into it. It offers incredible freedom and personal touches. You can tell Togashi loves RPG's and was already incorporating some aspects of it in YuYuHakusho in Chapter Black. Curse Energy is cool, but you can get stuck with a shitty technique.

[@Captainflowers1011]

I'm inclined to agree and, while he's not my favorite Mangaka, Todashi is easily the most talented author in the industry in my opinion. My ONLY criticism I have with Nen isn't an issue with the system itself, more that, after it's introduced, everyone is either a nen user or a rich guy who can hire a bunch of nen users and Killua not knowing nen (basically magic) exists while having a literal demon for a sister seems strange. I think it was a no win scenario, introducing nen on top of how well developed Hunter x Hunter's world and characters are would be information overload and ruin the pacing so I'm not knocking him, he made the right choice, I just personally always found it distracting.

[@exomancer3632]

Yes and no to the shitty technique point. Refine a shitty technique enough and it can be game changing (this is largely because techniques are fairly simple but with complex implementation, merely bringing a concept into reality [except 10 Shadows, that one is weird]) But also you can be shafted in terms of Heavenly Restrictions, and otherwise low Cursed energy.

[@mackielunkey2205]

I think what really makes HxH’s power system work for me is the contracts aspect, the fact that by limiting yourself you could become even more powerful. For example, imagine if I had the power to manipulate gravity in a certain space. I could make it so that if I don’t say the phrase to out loud to activate my powers, and instead in my head, I would amplify the effect of my opponent going up or down. Or, I could make the effect of my powers stronger in smaller spaces compared to bigger or outside spaces. The possibilities are limitless!

[@InternetAddict069]

​@@mackielunkey2205 and this is why I love the "sacrifice" or "subtraction" system of cursed techniques, its basically Nen contracts.

[@Dell-ol6hb]

Cursed Energy is a cool power system but it just isn't structured enough to match Nen. Because Nen is simultaneously so free but also so structured it allows for very complex and unique powers to exist and also allows for interesting battles where you can't assume someone will win just because they seem to have more Nen or more raw power.

[@harrison1735]

Nen does have one minor downside from a writing POV which is that when you introduce a character with a quirky unique power the reader is going to ask why they would choose that very specific power. Conversely with something like Stands or other power systems where characters just play with the hand they're dealt there's no need to justify why a character might have a very weird, niche ability. They just do.

[@tominieminen66]

Yeah, a certain white haired dude comes to mind, even he himself thinks his powers are so troublesome 😂

[@jarrahcook8124]

I'm not sure this is a downside so much as a means for expressing characterisation - like you said, it creates the question of why the character created their powers that way, which gives us a look into their thought process and style. One of the best examples of this is that one cheetah Chimera Ant (I forget his name), where the reason he picked his particular power is... he isn't very smart, and only thinks of one strategy to best it, when there are other options. This combination of rash hotheadedness and stupidity give a great insight into his character.

[@tominieminen66]

One good reason to have extremely weird and unusual power is that the opponent has no idea what's going on Of course they will slowly piece it together to some extent, if they can't be overwhelmed before that I wonder if we will ever see them building teams of people to counter specific characters, like in a certain story I've read they snatched little kids and trained them brutally, so brutally in fact that most of of those numerous kids died And all that training was to assassinate one specific person, years of training and immense amount of resources only to complete one singular contract

[@madeliner1682]

Ththat's not a problem, that's just called "I'm not a good enough writer to create believable characterization"

[@animealpha4795]

I believe it’s like an epiphany, where you don’t actively choose the technique, it just come as a strong thought, that makes sense to you and actually ends up manifesting. Say a certain white haired guy might have felt that a clown roulette weapon dealing omnitrix might be a dope power but only after it manifests did he realise that omnitrix is pretty inconvenient. Another example, why would a kid choose rock paper scissors as his ability when all he ends up doing is punchfighting.

[@pine_13]

World Trigger is often underrepresented when it comes to discussion about power systems in the west, but I’ve always found it to be one of the most intricate and expressive in all of Shonen. The best way I can describe it is like a video game or e-sport where there’s different weapon classes ranging from melee weapons to firearms with very distinct functions and weaknesses. On the surface it seems extremely simple and limited, but the limitations allow for tons of creativity and out of the box thinking. It’s always hype seeing an ability you’ve always thought was supposed to work one way, be used for a completely unexpected purpose but also still makes perfect sense. There’s a huge emphasis on tactics and team play that is hard to find in other Shonen these days. Everything is taken into account from the terrain, weapon load out, to resource management. At times, there are even fights between multiple teams of characters at once, each with their different strategies and team compositions which allow for every fight to feel dynamic and limitless. I’d highly recommend taking a look at the series if you haven’t already.

[@thatnerdygaywerewolf9559]

Another cool aspect is the way injuries work under this system. Since everyone is using an artificial body while fighting, injuries and losing a limb are less life threatening issues, and more an inconvenience that can be deliberately taken for a tactical advantage. And it's not like combat is risk free either, because fighters still have real bodies that can be attacked once their trion body dissipates (though the bail out system lowers that risk), capturing someone works regardless of whether they are in their real or trion body (bail out can be manually initiated, but the person must be able to initiate the command), and civilian casualties are frequent risks.

[@hoanglongnguyen3125]

Sounds kinda like Tf2 if you ask me

[@battousaix4263]

WT is my favorite power system in all of anime/manga simply because of how simple and yet technical it gets. Earth/Border's triggers are the exact definition of simple to understand, but hard to master. The powers themselves are extremely easy to understand, but their applications are always creatively written. It really does feel like a grounded sport, Rank Wars wise. And then Neighbor triggers offer more of the wild powers that typically come with the genre of shonen battle stories, with enemies having unique individual powers instead of the cohesive collection that Border Agents use. It really offers the best of both worlds. I also really like it that it offers a really solid chance for every character to be strong. Stat walls aren't super apparent, since trion amount, albeit crucial to a character's power options, isn't the end all be all in determining a character's strength. Trion body durability seems so far to be the same for anyone, so every character can be dangerous in the right situations. I really hate genetic/set in stone differences between characters in a power system, as it just offers so much of a huge powercreeping issue and WT is thankfully pretty clear of that. Attackers like Kitora and Yoneya (to an extent) shows how strong Osamu can be on a straight up fight if he builds himself up and trains, without needing to rely too much on trion amount and trion consuming moves.

[@tominieminen66]

​@@battousaix4263Fuck that, tiny girl, use carpet bomb!

[@kaffka4753]

Bro you just speak my mind out Thank you

[@IceAokiji303]

Tiny note about the introduction of Haki into One Piece: It's actually mentioned by name way earlier than you might think, in chapter 234 - the end of Jaya. Blackbeard makes an offhand mention of it there. Not a surprise that you wouldn't be aware though, because _no translator ever catches it_ so you'd have to look at the original Japanese. Similarly, some translators miss Crocodile's mention of Devil Fruit awakenings in Impel Down. Edit: Funny how people are reading me saying it was mentioned way _earlier_ than Geoff says as me saying it was mentioned _early._ Two different things, people!

[@SerjicalXStrike]

way earlier... its only more than 200 chapters lmao

[@hawk222]

Wasn't it translated as something like "ambition" in most translations, and not literally as Haki like it should've been?

[@marcop.525]

The translators should know some Japanese no?

[@IceAokiji303]

@@marcop.525 They do, but in this case that doesn't exactly help. The pitfall is, haki also has a non-One Piece meaning. It's also a word for ambition or something of that nature, so it usually gets translated as such in that moment - or some translators alter the phrase a little further, not directly mentioning ambition or a synonym, but saying something like "a guy like that". Entirely understandable to not get that Blackbeard is referring to something specific to the One Piece universe instead of the general thing the same word can indicate. It only becomes clear in hindsight.

[@eemelimeemeli]

It also sorta gets refrenced in the very next arc, Skypiea, as Enel's "mantra" power is basically just a really powerful observation haki that goes by a different name since he's the only one on Skypiea who has any haki or even knows that it exists

[@hectorgregorio95]

God bless Togashi and Araki sensei for making modern shonen as good as it is. Weekly JJK chapters are peak right now

[@code066funkinbird3]

And gojo getting slice

[@hectorgregorio95]

@@code066funkinbird3 insane fight, tbh i never had hopes for gojo winning that. Gege still cooking though

[@jockpackage1770]

it's just sad that Hakusho's ending was a bit botched because of his health catching up with him with a vengance for being a mad man who wrote 2 massively influential manga at once. a real tragedy since the final arc had some interesting set up before it was rushed. yeah, for those who didn't know, Hakusho was still going when Hunter X Hunter started and the health issues resulting from that overlap are why he's basically retired now having his wife do the hard work form him while using his story boards. writing/illustrating 1 weekly shonin manga can be stressful enough but haing 2 is just pure insanity.

[@excusemewhatthefuck8091]

Nah Gege wrote himself in the corner. JJK is now just consecutive cheap shock value moments for hype and nothing else, just for the sake of subverting usual shonen tropes and expectations. Jjk fell off super hard since Shibuya Incident.

[@hectorgregorio95]

@@excusemewhatthefuck8091 you just don't like the series last developement dude (Wich is fine btw). There's enough hints about the possible ways to defeat the current enemy, like Itadori's unknown CT (soul swap being the main possibility), the last finger remaining, etc. Gojo is dead like it or not, he might come back, he might stay dead. Heck, maybe bad guys win and thats it. Personally I enjoy it and it's maybe the best weekly manga I've read since promised Nederland's early Arcs. Gonna have to wait for the ending though

[@kingsleycy3450]

Chainsaw Man's power system is perfect as a storytelling device. It gives so much characterization to the devils and the users. Yes, it's nonsense how one Future Devil user lost all his organs while Aki doesn't need to make any sacrifice to use the same Devil, but it tells us something about the characters: their preferences and values. At the end of the day power systems should help with the storytelling

[@finnvost9349]

I second this and personally found it very enjoyable that whilst one poor sod lost all his organs partnering with the Future Devil, that same devil found the rest of Aki's life so goddamn tragically hilarious that he just said "fuck it, go ham lil' bro"

[@MrGksarathy]

@@finnvost9349 Honestly, that part made perfect sense to me, especially since Fujimoto-sensei absolutely delivered with that promise.

[@finnvost9349]

@@MrGksarathy oh absolutely, I completely understand the Future Devil's take

[@tweetugwe1270]

It is really nonsense if its born out of a character? I think its established pretty early Devils are quite fickle and have their own personality.

[@kingsleycy3450]

@@tweetugwe1270 I meant nonsense in a fairness sense. It makes perfect sense within the context of the characters

[@themaskedfacade9939]

"That arc can really be its own video." I'd absolutely love to see you do a video on the Chimera Ant arc! It's an arc that I can't get enough of hearing about!

[@dracosfire7247]

Which is good because the narrator Never. Shuts. Up.

[@MrGksarathy]

@@dracosfire7247 Seriously, I wanted to throttle my laptop. It's the one time where I was begging for show, don't tell as opposed to the other way round.

[@DavidSartor0]

@@dracosfire7247Hahahaha.

[@dracosfire7247]

@@MrGksarathy Yea. Like, I fully understand why it was done, and I generally really liked that arc overall, but my god.

[@gsgaming6976]

After I while I ended up enjoying the way it built the tension. Iirc it hit me right around the time the one dude turned old and scared just from "feeling* Pitou's arua.

[@kyledouglascox]

Dude, he really thought about that Nen ability 😂 it was actually pretty detailed and believable though lol

[@rock21611]

Yeah, no, hold on, go back, I want to hear the rest!

[@Project129]

@@rock21611 You aren't the only one, I was actually getting annoyed hearing the high pitched noise cutting in as I was so engrossed in his explanation. It sounded pretty great.

[@littlebitydragon6008]

​@@rock21611 transmute my nen to have the properties of air and blades

[@whizthesugoi]

really makes you wonder whether that was something he really thought, just wrote for the bit, or had brewing on his subconcious ever since he watched the show and then allowed it to let loose on the script

[@SuperCaleb283]

​@@whizthesugoiAs a fellow HxH fan who has had many conversations about Nen fanfics, I will say pretty confidently that that is his Nen power. It really fits his Conjurer nature, too! The philosophy of the ability is aquisition and recontextualization of experiences.

[@TheRockerX]

The courage to dream an impossible dream and having the will to pursue that dream is the core message of One Piece. That's what I love most about One Piece's dual power system. Just how perfectly it encapsulates the story's core themes: The outlandish power of dreams and desire (Devil fruits), and the physical manifestation of human will (Haki).

[@slevinchannel7589]

Cool but its not Dual. Science and Blades are just forgotten by this KZbinr.

[@ThermiteKitty]

@@slevinchannel7589 Those are just concepts, "there are good swords" is not a power system and neither is "being turned into a cyborg." One Piece has a variety of cool fighting styles and cool concepts that exist in the world, but most of those things are not "power systems."

[@slevinchannel7589]

@@ThermiteKitty Haha, wrong. These things are very clearly treates as Magic-Systems rtoo. I cant believe you overlooked that. This KZbinr is one of the few who does. Ask any One Piece KZbinr and they know its a littttle more thoughtouttt than 'ah theres some cool blades. Some are rare.'

[@marcop.525]

And Usop lies that turn truth

[@jeffreywright9165]

What are you talking about those are all power systems

[@nontondo2134]

Out of nearly every series I’ve seen, Stands consistently remain one of my favorite power systems for their top-tier design work and impossibly wide range of abilities, but I think there’s also an important aspect that often gets missed. No matter what kind of crazy, reality-bending ability your stand might have, you yourself are still just a normal vulnerable human, and that means you’re vulnerable to everything ordinary people are, which unsurprisingly, is a lot. It’s so perfect for keeping power scaling in check, like almost every aspect of stands, and it helps to keep the characters still feel grounded.

[@The5lacker]

You can have control over time, fate, and explosions, but at the end of the day if an ambulance backs over your neck you're down for the count.

[@ncrveteranranger4454]

That kinda sucks though when plot armour comes into play. Like I agree with you on everything, but some stuff is damn silly. Like Doppio surviving literal razorblades being vomited out of his mouth and pulling out a pair of scissors from his neck along with losing all the iron in his blood. Still a cool fight though.

[@eemelimeemeli]

​@@ncrveteranranger4454The plot armor in JoJo's is also really inconsistent, like yeah when Jotaro literally gets his whole body covered in flames in the fight against Wheel of Fortune and in the next chapter/episode he's all well and good but when Kakyoin gets his eyes sliced by water he has to stay in the hospital for a good chunk of part 3

[@ncrveteranranger4454]

@@eemelimeemeli another great point!

[@doasitellyouu]

Sounds great in theory but Jojo never really sticks its guns to that. Seems other replies already point that out, so I won't bother. I find that the most "safe" power system in all of shounen truly has to be World Trigger. From the get go it sets limitations as if it thought about the potential fact of breaking them later on, as to make sure it never happens. I was hoping this video would touch up on it, there are a lot of parts about it really that are just as interesting to hear as HxH's nen system. But I think a big telling in this specific comparison to your statement is how World Trigger handles "defeat" in a battle. Because of that system specifically, it can still tell the stories it wants to say without needing to go into plot armor territory, making the battles a reasonable chess-like game where everyone is a piece that can be taken out. That coupled with the specific limitations to how it handles character's offensive power, it's pretty much set up to be an extremely engaging tactical battle using cool abilities without the risk of the power scaling issues other shounen face (The whole every new villain introduced is the "strongest" over and over again issue) That said it's still a shounen, so there are hiccups but, I mean it's the closest I've ever seen any shounen get.

[@rizikos_]

You’re so right about hxh’s power system like it's ridiculous how well the nen classifications can work for a completely separate anime...especially using the personality test and how it correlates with their nen type. For example jujutsu kaisen: Yuuji: enhancer Nobara: manipulator Megumi: conjurer Gojo: specialist So cool!!!

[@thanosal-titan]

Megumi is Emitter Manipulator and Gojou is Enhancer Transmutter

[@thanosal-titan]

Btw, Yuuji is Specialist

[@MrGksarathy]

Yeah, JJK is like if Bleach and HxH made tantric love, and their union produced a perfect fusion of both. In all seriousness, I think Akutami nailed the technical aspects of the power system, but miserably failed at Kubo's breadcrumbs style world and character building.

[@satanus_369]

@@MrGksarathy agreed, specially with the failing at breadcrumbing. Hakari vs electricity dude was miserable to read specifically because of this

[@MrGksarathy]

@@satanus_369 For me, the biggest failure is Megumi's entire character arc. We get bits and pieces of a genuinely interesting and traumatic past, but none of it comes together in a particularly interesting way as shit hits the fan. It feels as if Megumi is detached from his own trauma and emotionally closed off in a way that alienates me as a reader, and much of his development is with regards to mastering his very powerful technique and almost nothing to do with confronting his inner demons or growing as a person.

[@ibbu2017]

I really like how jjk works with cursed techniques. I like the harsh reality of jujutsu sorcerer talent being innate, and how that explains why the messed up society, that our favorite characters are trying to go against, is the way it is. Very fatalistic, which makes it feel more real because in reality life is unfair. Gojo was always gonna be the strongest from the moment he was born, and it just makes sense to prioritize the talented and toss aside the talentless. And man you didn't even go into heavenly pacts, but to be fair jjk hasn't done a lot with it yet either.

[@incognit01233]

Those aren't actually powers. Those are horrifying curses placed upon certain families and occasional individual that they've learned to weaponize and use to fight against monsters and other people.

[@kamuyking551]

I've fallen so hard into the Vinland Saga pit lately, and I keep wishing there was a video from this channel about it, because there's just... so... much... meat... on the bones of this thing. there's so much to analyze, it's insane. the narrative is dense, it's like an endless wellspring to me, I _can't_ stop whenever I want actually, it's here in my brain forever now. I will be making connections between all the little details in this thing for a very long time. I am overjoyed to have it.

[@guillermopena8412]

I actually don't know if it's classified as a shonen battle anime, but I really like the approach the To Aru franchise takes. By presenting two power systems each based on a different way of comprehending reality and each having similar but significantly different ways to function, they manage to make a very clear separation between the two factions, the science, and the magic sides. Esper powers are based on scientific principles and work by harnessing an individual's personal psychic energy to allow them to alter their personal reality (as in their own personal perception) and thus have an effect on the common reality (as in the way everyone perceives you). Because they are science-based, they are limited to a singular scientific principle but are explored in huge detail. They all require enhanced intellect to even function because they all need to be calculated in real-time to actually work, meaning that the stronger a Esper is, the smarter they are. They are effectively lab-made powers which makes each Esper fairly specialized, even those who have very versatile abilities are really just using a single very specific power. Magic powers are faith-based. While Esper powers are all about harnessing an individual's own energy, Magic is all about harnessing the energy of the world, the Mana. While Espers use Scientific concepts and principles to alter reality, Magic users implement Idol theory, in which they use religious rituals, esoterism, and faith to make their beliefs a reality. Through Idol theory, Magicians are able to use replicas of legendary objects to harness the powers of legendary figures, this is the explanation as to how a Christian crux can be believed to hold holy power, the fact that it's a replica of Jesus' crux its enough to draw power from the real thing. Unlike Esper powers, Magic is not explained in excruciating detail because it is entirely based on esoteric secrets, religious practices, and mysticism, so when a Esper throws a lighting bolt, they have to calculate the voltage and amperage they are going to put into it, but Magicians just need to perform a ritual tied to a lighting based figure or deity. Because this is a studied power, Magicians have way more versatility as they aren't limited on which powers they can draw from, they just need to study ancient lore and develop rituals that give them a specific power, as a result, a fire magician can still use a completely unrelated healing spell. Then there is the way they interact with each other. As a symbolic way of showing that both the Magical and Scientific sides are always at odds and in permanent conflict, their power systems are also literally incompatible. It turns out that an individual's own psychic energy is incompatible with magical Mana, so when a Esper tries to channel Mana, the two energy sources clash and destroy their blood vessels, either injuring them heavily or straight up killing them. There is only one exception to this rule, a perfect hybrid...and he isn't really powerful at all. It's a guy who is a magician but took Esper experimentation and has a healing factor Esper ability, allowing him to use Magic, suffer the damage, and then heal himself with his Esper power. The problem is that he lacks any control of the Esper powers and gaining such control requires a certain type of person (and even if someone is smart enough, there is no guarantee the experiment was 100% successful), meaning that the healing factor might not even work. This character chooses to sit in the middle of the two factions and still is completely shrouded in the uncertainty of when this middle state will bite him in the ass. That's it. That's all I have to say about that. It's too long of an explanation, but it's by far one of my favorite power systems in fiction. You can literally spend days reading the wiki just on the power system, it’s that detailed.

[@МагжанЖаксылык-м1с]

And then there's Touma who just imagine breakes all over the place

[@warpspeedscp]

I love when he says its imagine breaking time and imagine breaks all over the place

[@Snooopy28]

Doesnt the negative effect of using Magic as an Esper only exist because during Esper training they subconsciously reprogram the person to have it so? I remember coming across something like that

[@guillermopena8412]

@@Snooopy28 It's not an intentional side effect I think. It has more to do with the nature of the two energy sources Espers and Magicians use. There are Espers who do not go through experimentation to get their powers, they are just born with the powers, and they still can't use magic without suffering the consequences. I guess it's possible that the scientist purposely never tried to fix this issue, but that's something the higher-ups of Academy city would have chosen because there were scientists who tried to make Esper-Magician hybrids and their experiments were a total and brutal failure.

[@zomfgroflmao1337]

What I love most about the science side is that you are basically limited by your creativity and knowledge. Misaki for example is extremely powerful, but she could be even more powerful if she used the basis of her power more creatively. Or how Uiharus power is incredibly broken when combined with computing.

[@AresOMegas]

Please give us a part two! The transition between time periods and the influences each author has from his predecessors is so interesting when correlated with these magic systems! Please PART TWO!

[@Getwright-]

I personally dig how ONE immediately subverts his own power system in that by the time we hear about S-class, we already know that saitama completely negates it. And he farther goes on to purposely resist the urge to power up all his other favorite characters all to the top level, so that even guys like mumen rider are still relevant to the story with out a power up

[@Turbo_Waitress]

Aww I was looking forward to hearing you go into FMA. I’ve always loved that take on “alchemy”. I would definitely watch a part two of this that went into some of the things you mentioned, like FMA, Yu-Gi-Oh/Shaman King, and Avatar. This was a great video.

[@SamTheGumMan117]

Yeah, Shaman King got a pretty cool system

[@Dell-ol6hb]

I love the way alchemy is perfectly integrated into the world, the way Arakawa ties alchemy to the circle of life and the cycle of the universe is masterful and it really sells the idea that this really is an integral and natural part of the flow of the universe, it really is a science.

[@loczek1965]

​@@Dell-ol6hbit's integrated into the fucking romantic subplot, that's how goated it is

[@thehopeofeden597]

Geoff releasing a near hour-long super interesting video that praises my favorite power system in anime, in the middle of the night as I’m about to go to sleep feels both really awesome and cruel…

[@JackVanFleet]

43:40 Jeff please don’t stop lol. Your passion in this video is even more infectious than usual. I really hope you make more with this idea since you seem to almost have a series worth of ideas here. And I’d watch that series

[@tiazoh]

Would love to see more videos in this vein, power systems are what keeps me coming back to battle anime

[@Btihale]

Me too! I would love to hear about other anime and manga power systems, maybe we can finally get that Chimera arc video too.

[@jeremiahbennett3004]

Nen and cursed energy are some of the best power systems i've seen in manga, mostly because of the complexity they have that allows for unique abilities i've never seen in other anime, so instead of "wow this guy has fire powers, and he can shoot fire" it's more like, "this guys power lets him roll a pachinko machine, and if he wins the jackpot he becomes literally invincible" but these power systems still allow for simple abilities to exist, like gon's straightforward rock paper scissors ability, or killuas lightning based powers, or from jjk, yuji just uses cursed energy with no real technique and relies moreso on his physical capabilities and affinity for black flash. But what nen does is just nuts man, i had to reread how chrollo's ability worked like several different times in his fight against hisoka. a runner-up would be the zanpakuto from bleach, but i think the main issue with that shows power system doesn't have to do with the system itself, but rather that it doesn't always get utilized in the best ways.

[@tinyguy1015]

Could you please better explain corollo's ability for me? I didn't quite understand it.🙏

[@mackielunkey2205]

@@tinyguy1015Basically, he can copy a person’s Nen ability by recording it in his book, but he has to see it and interview the user, and have him verify it. This has to be done in an hour.

[@nequitia4665]

@@mackielunkey2205 that is cool rules for a broken power

[@paperboy1116]

@@mackielunkey2205 Todashi really gave someone the power of a job interview

[@aghadlarhen9397]

@@mackielunkey2205 As a power it logically tracks. [Skill Hunter] basically does what it says on the tin: You have to basically understand the ability as if you're the one learning it yourself. (It's basically the scientific method but for nen) The hour time limit is probably a restriction that helps him compensate for the fact that some abilities are REALLY complex and require a TON of training to master. Kinda like a gamble (if he can manage all of that in one hour, he get's to keep it)

[@YetiCoolBrother]

Power Systems are really the thing that seperates and elevates manga over comic books for me. It's just way more interesting when there's an underlying throughline between all the characters that's then built on top of with each person like with Nen & Cursed Energy than each persons abilities being wholly isolated from each other like in comics. Probably why I always gravitated to the more "team oriented" ones like the Green Lantern Corps. or the X-Men.

[@2qup2]

for an easy example of how thought process change just look at the difference between weather report vs storm

[@sumitrana2420]

There are also Random Ability types in Anime, heck I would even say they are even more perevelant now that a lot of the Manga focus on using some really bizarre and niche thing and using that for a combat. But the underlying difference is the origin of the power. Like Stand abilities are all so different that you can't think they must be the same thing if you looked at them individually but they are Stands nonetheless. Many Jutsu are Naruto are quite similar to each other but many are not and yet what strings them together is that they are Jutsu. Compared to that, Many superheroes in Comics have completely different way of getting their power and their is not much scope of amalgamation possible for it.

[@markkoehr5003]

"Persons abilities being wholly isolated from each other" only really applies to massive shared universes like Marvel and DC. There are way more comics out there than just those two.

[@benpelczynski6964]

Some of my favorite power systems are the ones that base themselves around a core concept: Undead Unluck’s powers of negation, Bungo Stray Dogs’ abilities based on the titles and themes of classic literature, Fire Force’s exercise in how far you can stretch a power system of only pyrokinesis; by setting these kinds of boundaries on your world, you can really flex your creativity in designing unique and interesting powers within those bounds (and making it fun your audience to think about what they would design in those bounds). One of my favorite (non-anime) examples of this is the web series Epithet Erased, where 1/5th of the world is inscribed with an Epithet: a single, random word that grants them powers based on that word’s definition. It’s not the only kind of power in that world, and there’s a TTRPG-esque mechanic system mixed in, but Epithets are the big thing and I love their concept so much. Having a powerset based on the user’s own understanding of and creativity with their powers is great for building interesting powers and interesting characters in tandem, especially when the “random word” concept means characters often have to work under very unorthodox powersets (like “Soup” or “Bellybutton”). It’s a lot of fun to watch, and much like HxH’s Nen it’s a lot of fun to try and build your own power out of. I definitely recommend it for power system lovers.

[@marcosdheleno]

you should read saint seiya. its the most over the top and yet most logical power system i have seen. its basically called sense. characters who can use their sixth sense are called saints, and that allows them to manipulate the atoms in the world. and there's the seventh sense, which is the power of the gods, which allows them complete control over the fabric of reality itself. only the most powerfull saints can use the seventh sense. but those who can are able to do insane stuff, for example, everyone who reaches the seventh sense is able to move at the speed of light, and its not the flash speed of light where he runs for a few seconds and goes around the world, but the "i can circle the early 7 times in a single second".

[@shaned2415]

One of my favorite videos made in the last few months and I would love you to expand it further lol. That tangent is something I feel we all need. Also a timeline explaining which power systems were influenced by which is something I can not stop thinking about now, so thank you for sending me down that rabbit hole.

[@timnorton7669]

Ironically, within a past few weeks, some of my friends and I made up our own Nen abilities. Myself- an enhancer with two techniques 1st- Life is Pain A mixed transmute/enhance ability that converts the sensation of pain into a physical booster to my aura. The downsides are that the boost is slow to build and it doesn’t remove the pain, it builds within the aura and must be felt eventually. That’s where the 2nd ability Let Me Sell You Something comes in. A pure Emitter ability lets me detach parts of my aura and stick it to someone else. Say for example the part that contains the pain that’s about to be felt. It’s limited by that it has to be done by touch and doesn’t really do anything on its own. My best friend is a Conjurer with his tools Your Own Worst Enemy First is a Rapier that functions much like a normal sword aside from its polished silver color and the ability to steal small bits of aura from those hit by it. Once enough aura is stolen, he can form his second tool, a buckler shield that is equally silver and steals aura from those it is used to block. His last tool forms automatically as each additional bit of aura forms an image on the shield. Once the image is complete, it pops out as a fully formed copy of the opponent that will fight the original. It’s a slow building ability that works best against single opponents of relatively equal aura, not so much for crowds. My roommate is a Manipulator with the ability I’m Gonna Get’cha I won’t tell you what it does, but the moment he tagged you with it, you won’t be able to escape him until he’s done with you. He chose it to specifically make his target as paranoid as possible.

[@thedeviantguy]

Coincidental, not ironic My nen ability gives me the power to provide the correct words when faced with improperly used ones.

[@timnorton7669]

@@thedeviantguy Ah, I heard of this Nen ability; Word Crimes. You must have studied in the great master Al of Weirddom.

[@darkdestiny9106]

I think you explained so well why I love Chainsaw Man so much: That Devils' abilities are tied to how terrifying the concept is seems trivial initially, and later on keeps showing us the truly terrifying ones - and there is no need to explain any power levels except for following the rules he sets - and later on when a truly terrifying Devil appears, there isn't even a need to tell us we should be afraid, we simply see it happen on the screen or on the page itself. Fujimoto loves filmmaking and for Chainsaw Man to commit to the motto of 'show, don't tell' turned up to 11 is why I love the series so much, can't wait for Season 2 to drop and let the anime-only fans truly witness what terrors lie ahead

[@tusherabtahee9839]

Discovered this channel 2 nights ago and have been blazing through all the videos. I've never watched an anime youtuber that has resonated with my own sensibilities and opinions so well, while still having so much more contemporary knowledge on the subject that I can learn from. And can still provide compelling arguments for stuff that I still fundamentally disagree with. I love this channel.

[@thanosal-titan]

Do you know Gigguk and New World Review?

[@RhysClark97]

Glad someone expresses just how cool but also effortlessly complex the bleach power system is whilst also staying 100% consistent throughout the entire series, easily my favourite power system.

[@marcosdheleno]

mine is the sense from saint seiya, basically, characters have a sixth sense that allow them to manipulate the atoms, and there's a seventh sense, that allows them to manipulate the very fabric of reality(for example, one character can open gates to other dimensions, while another can just pullverize stars in a diferent galaxy and use that energy on their enemies), its some absurd level of power... but here's the thing, the seventh sense is the limit, you cant go beyond that. the seventh sense is the level of the gods, and only the most powerfull saints can reach it. and the seventh sense is something that is introduced very early on, around the 1/4th of the story, even before its main first arc. and remains the limit even at the last chapter.

[@AnalogStick95]

And few phrases will ever reach the level of hype that "bankai" has. Domain expansion is a good one that is really catching on lately

[@yeonbibi191]

For real, and his explanation in this video (knowing it's a general analysis) is just a tease on the whole power system of the series

[@thanosal-titan]

​@@AnalogStick95 The concept of Domain Expansion (the most common one with barrier) is based on Kaname Tousen's Bankai

[@mookiestewart3776]

@@thanosal-titanthat’s cool

[@CakeoftheMews]

The thing that always bothers me about "power-scaling" discussions is inevitably, the actual story and characters are always forgotten. Like, who cares about emotional through lines when that guy punching the other guy doesn't make sense! But at the same time, having these in depth discussions about these writing styles while never truly forgetting WHAT those cool powers are supposed to amplify is super great :3

[@Cerri22PG]

Yeah, like the never ending battle between Saitama and Goku is absurd, as they would surely become buddies who may casually fight to train or get entertained, but no battle to death thing

[@implosive4778]

@@Cerri22PGwell I mean it’s not like anyone denies that. It’s that people have fun debating who would win if they were to fight to the death not that they would

[@implosive4778]

Tbf you can have story important moments but if someone who logically shouldn’t be able to beat someone else does for no valid reason other than emotion then that’s a flaw. Obviously power systems shouldn’t be the most important but it ideally shouldn’t be disregarded for plot convenience

[@Cerri22PG]

@@implosive4778 Yeah, but some people is just entitled with arguing about it that it stops being fun, specially when the discussion is always brought up on non related posts or videos

[@implosive4778]

@@Cerri22PG the arguments not being fun is a different conversation. It being brought up in places unrelated is just the internet in general

[@MajoraZ]

Gash / Zatch Bell, a very underrated shonen manga (it's anime diverged from it's plot entirely), also has a great power system, IMO. The gist of the series is that there are 100 demon kids who get paired up with human partners, who allow the demons to use spells by reading out of their books, but if the book is burnt, that demon goes back to their world, and the last one left is crowned king. There's 2 key things here: The fact that demons are paired up with human partners, which has implications not just for the power system but also the main theme and narrative, and the fact that there are specific spells, not just powersets. In reverse order: Spells do specific things: Zakeru is ALWAYS going to be a lightning blast, Jikerudo is ALWAYS going to magnetize the enemies body, etc. So while different demons do have different sets of spells which imply an elemental or strategic (illusions, transformation, evasion, etc) toolkit, their actual attacks always do specific functions, without much room to contrive out of situations. While that's arguably a limitation, it's also a strength, because it means they have to creatively use their spells in tactical ways like Pokemon moves, not just "Well I have electrical powers so I can do anything with electricity". Different spells also have a different mana cost (Heart Power), so even late into the series, weaker spells still get used as a way to pace yourself through a battle. As a bridge between this point and the fact there are partners, the series always HEAVILY utilizes team battles: Starting around volume 8, almost every fight actually has multiple human-demon pairs working together/against each other at once, so you have creative ccombinations of different spellsets. The humans are also active particpants, many jumping in the fight alongside the demons. The series regularly has fights whicch match the tactical nature of Jojo stand battles in Part 4 onwards, IMO,. Next, the fact that demons are paired up with humans and that humans have to read the spells both implictly means that the relationship between human and demon is key in fights, and more broadly, that relationship is one of the series's key emotional and thematic aspects: Perhaps THE overarching message of the series is how interpersonal bonds and connections lead to mutual growth and this ties into the power system in that new spells are unlocked when the demon has character development or deepens their relationship with their human partner. Even WHAT spell is unlocked is tied into what that development is: Jikerudo is a non-offensive immobilizing spell, and Gash unlocks it after he resolves to become a kind king to end the demon tournament. He gets Rauzrauku, a spell which buffs his physical abilities, after he realizes that spells come from his own personal grwoth rather then the spellbook and he realizes he has the power to grow stronger and protect others, and so on. To swerve away from the powersystem a bit, those relationships are, as I said, a key part of the series: Gash/Zatch is a naive, optimistic hyperactive 6 year old, who plays in sandcastles as much as he gives rousing speeches of determination. Wheras Goku, Naruto, and Luffy are childLIKE, Gash IS a child, As much Yotusba then any of those. His partner, Kiyomaro, meanwhile, is a jaded teen genius who has sort of given up on the world and interpersonal relationships, so Gash opens Kiyo up and makes him see the value of optimism and doing what is right and making friends, while Kiyo grounds Gash and forces him to confront both logical and phislophical questions about how to win in fights and what being king really means. Some of these demon-human pairs have a sort of sibling dynamic like that, others are more parent and child, others are lovers. Some other examples of dynamics is that THE WORLD FAMOUS ITALIAN SUPERSTAR PARCO FOLGORE and Kanchome are both cowardly losers, but they want the best for one another and step up to grow and become strong so the other can succeed. Your obligatory rival pair, Brago and Sherry, HATE each other intially: Brago is a demon obesssed with strength and sees humans as something that just gets in the way, while Sherry sees demons as evil beings destroying the world and people's lives around them, but Sherry's drive to push herself to and past human limits of endurance to burn as many books as possible wins Brago's respect, and Brago seeing the worth and determination she and others have and eventually fighting to enable others achieve their goals makes him win hers: They even get to take out a major arc villain alone WITHOUT the protagnist because that villain ties into their backstory more then it does Gash's. Another thing the series does really well, beyond power systems, is the contrast between it's lighter and darker moments: The series does not shy away from corny "power of friendship" moments, and has some of the most absurd but most hilarous comedy and gags i've seen in a shone, as well as slice of life chapters, but on the flip side also hits you DEEP in the gut with dark emotional moments (the premise ensuring that EVERY character eventually "dies" is not one it sidesteps or cowards out of: Even the winner will, eventually, have to go back to the demon world). The fact that you can have a song about breasts in one moment and then a kid trying to commit suicide due to an abusive home life the next COULD come off as mood whiplash, but the series effortlessly manages to make both extremes synergize with the other: Otherwise cheesy or generic moments feel genuine and earned because of the hardship the characters facer, and otherwise edgy or tryhard moments hit home and harder because of all the lighthearted moments the characters went through. I've only read a bit of One Piece, but it's the only other manga I've read that manages a similar synergistic contrast. Even the art in Gash switches between absurd caricatures and reaction faces and almost horror manga crosshatch shading and negative space expansive pitch black shadows The last point of praise I'll give it (not that I can't go on for ages) is that it also avoids almost every issue most shonen have where they get worse the further in you get: Many suffer plot/pacing bloating, the abanonment of side characters, and the endless power-escalation changing what the series even used to feel like, but In Gash Bell none of those are p[roblems and the pacing only gets tighter the further in you get, characters get used effectively and consistently till the moment their book is burnt, and the power escalation only goes crazy during the final climax for the sake of making it fun. The manga's one big downside is that, in exchange, it does not start off as strong as many other shonen, and takes a while to switch from villain of the week content to full arcs, but it's still solid early on and it never stops improving. If this sounds cool, or people have only seen the anime (which is a terrible adaptation, and, again, totally diverges from the manga's plot, a la FMA, except at least SOME people prefer the OG Full metal anime over brotherhood: Nobody does for Gash/Zatch) please check it out.

[@seanh2785]

Honestly, this has me pumped up to read Zatch! I only knew it from the anime, but you really sold me on the power system, and general story details!

[@plutosyndrome]

I usually never comment or reply, but I have been trying to convince people to read Gash Bell for years and youve summed up everything that I love abt the series here. Completely agree, Gash is underrated af

[@gmaxx5478]

Thanks for writing this comment, Gash/Zatch bell is so amazing, and has a top tier power system combined with great character writing, and narrative tension, yet no one talks about it. Hopefully someone who sees this comment will read it, or even better Geoff will pick up and cover it

[@daltonfreeman6551]

i remember liking the anime as a kid, but it was so long ago. i kinda wanna go back and watch it now

[@chichichichilling4822]

I've only seen snippets of the anime andreally didn't like how it looked so I waved it off. But your Summary of the manga has convinced me it's not as silly as the anime made it look to me. Much appreciated

[@kimojord]

"logical understanding is the antithesis of fear" - what an absolute banger of a take. What do we need courage for if we have knowledge, what is fear and the evil it brings if the evil is known? EAP would be proud.

[@denstruction]

i like how despite haki and devil fruit powers seemingly being 2 different power systems that can work completely independant of eachother their strength and growth still stem from the same core of self actualization/imagination

[@Chris-rj4bt]

Haki and Devil Fruits are one of my favorite power systems. Devil fruits act as the creative and wacky powers while haki acts as the balancer for those powers, which also expands the creative limits of devil fruits. Haki also lets other fighting styles exist in the world. They also work perfectly on a thematic level

[@Jack_Ss]

Devil Fruit yes. Haki hell no. Haki turned One Piece fights into boiling down to “my Haki stronger den your Haki” and put an ugly glossy black sheen on everything. Maybe if it had been limited to non DF users it could’ve been interesting but I am so tired of Haki. Especially since it made essentially half the crew worthless in actual fights.

[@wesleywyndam-pryce5305]

​@@Jack_Ss thats a take. its a take that is directly contradicted multiple times in the cannon of one piece. but it is a take.

[@zashgekido5616]

Devil Fruits are imagination and desire incarnate Haki is Willpower

[@Chris-rj4bt]

@@Jack_Ss Can you give examples of when a fight was determined purely by haki advantage? Also which crew members are useless now? Because in the raid most of the strawhats had a fight or played a part

[@Jack_Ss]

@@Chris-rj4bt all fights. Luffy couldn’t even compete with Kaido till he got stronger Haki. There is no imagination or anything interesting about that. Oh another easy one is Law vs Vergo. “My Haki strong. No uh my Haki stronger”. All the crew members that can’t use Haki are virtually worthless or have to end up in situations where they are fighting other people who for some reason don’t have Haki and it’s always lame.

[@landonhagan450]

This just straight up needs a part two. I could think about this stuff forever.

[@GonzaloRCU]

"Undead Unluck", a series that will soon get its Anime debut, in my opinion is something that you won't want to miss. The power system which revolves around people with the ability to Negate an speficic Phenomenon, manifesting that ability and applying it in different ways, is a nice and creative addition to manga series, with an elegant touch of novelty. Entertaining story, following fun characters and the relationship between them, as everything develops in this contemporary world similar to our own, but with a little twist.

[@calvinnguyen1870]

One Piece’s power systems are incredible story-telling devices. It’s no coincidence that every devil fruit user has a power that reflects their personality, and haki is a literal manifestation of strength of will. It’s really elegant.

[@thebossrayden]

Haki represents will, Fruit represents dreams.

[@mibber121]

Elegant is the perfect word for it. Ive never seen a power system that works so well with, or rather, IS, the themes of the story.

[@raulrojas9253]

Devil fruits are great, however Haki was a mistake.

[@diono5324]

Elegant but inconsistent

[@Tekau1]

It’s elegant but it also lessens its effectiveness as an actual power system. In terms of providing powers devil fruits are incredibly mid. It ONLY works narratively but not literally

[@hasan7275]

the importance of Bleach’s complexity in its power system is in the fact that in history, it was all one. a major theme in the series is that there is a sense of likeness and humanity in all of the races even if they all see themselves differently, and the way their powers manifest also shows how they see themselves and others. their powers are also why the races organize themselves the way they do. Soul Reapers believe in a strict hierarchy and having names for things, hence why they have a long list of kido and specific techniques that are based on names. Birthright is critical and your position as a soul reaper is usually determined by how rich you are from the start, and bankai is the biggest signifier because all those who attain it usually have something more special. But shinigami powers are also about self understanding, and important idea for swordplay and something we see heavily with Kenpachi. Hollows live in a survival of a fittest manner and their powers reflect that. you can rise up in the hierarchy by consuming enough. The fullbringers are sort of anarchical in structure, even though they had a leader in Ginjo there was actual respect among all of them in contrast with the arrancars who live in fear of Aizen, the driving force of natural selection, and the shinigami who simply obey the bureaucracy. The fullbringers have powers that can bend reality in insane ways and are really similar honestly to curse techniques in JJK, but the main idea with fullbringers tapping into souls causes them to connect together with one another and stick together so they can keep each other safe from a world around them that can’t understand them. lastly, there’s the quincy, who obviously hate hollows because they’re poison, but look down on all the other races in general which fits well with the fact that their abilities are about the domination of spiritual energy around them.

[@MrGksarathy]

Never really thought of it that way, but that is very true. To add to the Hollow bit, their powers are in a sense a counterpart to Shinigami powers, since to gain further power, Arrancars must revert to their original Hollow forms and rediscover their primal instinct/drive much like how a Shinigami must gain greater understanding of their Zanpakuto and the part of their soul it reflects in order to draw out its full power and accept the blade as one with themself.

[@sanddry738]

Really good explanation on the different races and how they’re similar yet different. Gives you more of an understanding as to why someone like one of the villains cared so much about breaking the boundary between powers.

[@Sizdothyx]

Interesting. Now, why the fuck is the afterlife post-renaissance Japanese.

[@MrGksarathy]

@@Sizdothyx I mean, why not? Kubo could choose whatever aesthetic he wanted. That, and Soul Society does have other branches abroad who don't share the aesthetic.

[@sanddry738]

@@Sizdothyx IRL probably because Kubo wanted to contrast Ichigo being a modern “punk” with the rigid old age. In Lore the people who made the Soul Society don’t give a flying fuck about the inhabitants and never bothered to improve conditions. Hence why the afterlife is… pretty bleak. Again contrasting the Living World with its human advancement

[@Soccer333bc]

It was name-dropped, but I have to give a shoutout to World Trigger. The emphasis on team combat and synergizing different people's skillsets is amazing when paired to the e-sport level balance that the border triggers have. That's not taking into account all of the neighbor triggers and black triggers that I'm sure will expound on the power system even further when the away mission finally begins.

[@rifataraf4893]

Yeah, I would've liked it if it got the spotlight a bit more, like the other series, considering it has one of the most well-thought-out power systems I've seen in any shounen series. I do understand that there are lots of other series with unique power systems out there, and the video only highlighted the more popular ones. But WT is my favourite of em all.

[@PutiPino]

I love WT for it's balanced power system. Love me some good strategy

[@autoscorer]

The Trion body system creates dimensions to most fights that other series can't tap into as easily--namely, the fact that characters can be grievously wounded or taken out of commission during battle without having to actually recover from those wounds afterwards; which means even allied characters can fight each other all they like without holding back. It also creates great tension when someone's /actual/ life is on the line, not just their combat body.

[@callumdavis9841]

36:20 it's not exactly giving it away but at least on the Soul Society side, Uryu's glove turning the buildings around him into a giant arrow made it significantly clearer

[@TACtheDragonRider]

Love this video. The fact you talk about all the power systems from all my favorite manga and anime is amazing, but mentioning Reborn and World Trigger were the juicy, fresh out of the oven bownie points. Wish you did talk about World Trigger where it's power system relies on the tools/weapons instead of the few humans who have very niche, but useful powers (minus the future sight of course).

[@TinyTyranitar]

An aspect of these systems you touched on is the general level of understanding the characters have of their own power systems. In Naruto, every Ninja has a fundamental understanding of how Chakra works. While the extremes of its use might not be known, the fundamentals are understood to the degree of being taught to literal children younger than 10. Comparing it to Bleach where outside of a couple individuals, no one really understands reishi outside of their own direct interaction with it. And that creates such a wild shift in tone.

[@aadil3569]

Could you delve a bit deeper into what shifts in tone you mean? I think this is a very interesting idea you've touched on

[@SamTheGumMan117]

Man, World Trigger's power system doesn't ever get talked about enough it has one of the best with Trion and Triggers among other things also Undead Unluck has one of the best new power systems in shonen in recent years but awesome stuff and lengthy baby

[@WumboGuy]

Not only does World Trigger deserve to be on this list with the classics, it's Power System is written in such a clever way it deserves a whole video on its own.

[@PacWatt2020]

I would LOVE an in depth analysis video on Magi's world/power system. That series desperately needs more eyes on it!

[@MrGksarathy]

True. The manga was bold in some of the directions it went, and the Balbad arc was only a primer for how political it'd get. Shame it swerved just shy of going full-on anti-capitalist.

[@MamaMuerta]

@@MrGksarathy Sounds based to me.

[@Canido19]

Please do tall about ALL of those power systems towards the end someday. This is hot stuff!

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

There’s also a real merit in making a system that works even in lesser hands. Something like the Stand system is very strong in the hands of someone like Araki where it lets a fantastic character designer make everyone two characters at once, and for an imaginative writer imposes almost no limits on creative problems and solutions. But for anyone less good it quickly gets underwhelming, and as the sea of bad fan works will attest, is easy to just not use well. Compare to Dragonball Z’s whole thing, which while it is very simple and limited, is pretty hard to get wrong. Few people manage to create a system with a high ceiling without leaving a very low quality floor.

[@marcosdheleno]

you should give saint seiya a read. it popularized the super armor that became a fad during that time. from shurato to samurai spirits(and bt'x and many others, including mazin saga). it had an amazing down right absurd power level, but the most impressive thing is, it was the most consistent power level there is. simply because it allowed the story to both, have a hard limit on the power, that is never broken, but also with enough flexibility to let them play around that limit.

[@Im_Not_Here57]

For my favorite power system i gotta go with Oversouls from Shaman King. I love how the form and function is subjective with the caveat of the form of the oversoul needing to relate to the ghost partner. On top of needing a physical object by which the oversoul is channeled through.

[@BladeWinters]

As Sanderson was the person who popularized the idea of Hard Magic Systems, I wonder what his thoughts are on the Power Systems on at least the more well-known anime/manga

[@marcosdheleno]

i would love to see how he reacts to something like saint seiya, possibly the best implementation of a power system i have ever seen. it allows both a hard limit, that is introduced very early on, but also enough room to let the characters do stuff that is beyond their level. seriously, more people need to read saint seiya.

[@standowner6979]

He didn't popularize that idea.

[@BladeWinters]

@@standowner6979 Is that so, my mistake then

[@andrewwestfall65]

I love watching power systems over the years. They went from real simple: "I can punch harder than a normal person" to: "I can warp all space and time at a whim and will alter reality so that you never existed" to now be "I'm so good at punching that you can't do that though"

[@joshwatts5869]

The hisoka joke earned you a new subscriber lol excellent video

[@hoanglongnguyen3125]

My nen power, Hundred Loti, has two abilities: - Making a maximum of 100 bamboos grows out of the ground and control them with telekinesis, the harder the bamboos, the shorter the range I can control them. - Creating energy lotus that can either shield you, heal you or shoot an energy blast at your enemies.

[@soulstice94]

Bleach and One Piece both are really fun power systems! I love getting to dig into both (like the Bleach version more since I really like "show don't tell" story telling and world building) AND it's really fun seeing all 3 of the big 3 having big influences on the new generation anime, even if you can draw more direct parallels, most either drew inspiration for their own stories, or drew inspiration to even start as a artist

[@SirGareth]

While not the most complicated power system, Zatch Bell was really creative with it's fights to allow comedic and serious fights

[@matthewgunn6003]

So, one of the things that sets Chainsawman’s system apart is that it leans on Western philosophy instead of Eastern (like JJK and others). Fujimoto took the idea of the Platonic Forms and flipped it on its head. Instead of a Heaven-like plane where all the most perfect things exist and to which all earthly things aspire, Fujimoto created a Hell-like plane where all the worst things get there power from the fears of those on Earth. The greater the fear, the more perfect the power. But perhaps the craziest part is that this creative world system appears to be merely a vehicle for the themes of love, relationship, loss, humanity, grief, masculinity, and growing up which Fujimoto actually wants to talk about. It’s kinda like Oda creating Devil Fruits so he could talk about racism, slavery, the abuses of word governments, narcissistic family structures, etc.

[@prathameshrana2099]

Bro not gonna lie u save me so much time with this video with all the Power system i was searching for and those videos were like 17min, 32 min etc. I am grateful for this video.

[@thomasffrench3639]

I feel like that Kinnikuman should’ve been mentioned because it was the origin of power levels, even if it wasn’t really a power system. Love that Saint Seiya was mentioned, as it was the blueprint that would be improved with Bleach.

[@byronrush9802]

I still say saint seiya was better curse people in the States for not recognizing it's greatness

[@incognit01233]

I know. The messed up part, is that so many people bitch about power levels in DB and how OG DB is so superior. But DB would have been a footnote compared to Kinnikuman without the introduction of powerlevels and aping of some of kinnikuman's style.

[@Lightspeeds]

​@@byronrush9802as a member of the US who knew of Saint Seiya in the oughts, I apologize for how it got treated. Saint Seiya deserved to be at least the Digimon to Dragon Ball over here.

[@Ivoravoid]

You didn't mention my favorite part of Hunter x Hunter's Nen system, Nen Contracts! The concept that placing limits on yourself makes you stronger is a super cool way to reduce power creep and make characters that are specialized instead of being good at everything. It invokes Brandon Sanderson's second law of magic: "Weaknesses, limits and costs are more interesting than powers". Damn, I love Nen Contracts.

[@mothersbasement]

I got there in the JJK segment

[@Ivoravoid]

:o

[@nerdinahoodie7972]

My favorite system mentioned in this video is definitely Devil Fruits/Haki from One Piece. Though a personal favorite of mine will always be Dying Will Flames from Hitman Reborn. They feed back into the theme of the series nicely as Tsuna learns to fight for things with all his heart as the "boss" of his found family. His strength growing as he becomes more willing to give everything to defeat a foe. His dying will you could say. That isn't even to mention how the powers of the flames feed into what each of the guardians roles are. Like how the Dulling ability of the rain flame to slow things to a crawl and end fights quickly tie directly into the role of the rain guardian and how they must decisively and quickly wash away the fallout from a battle that threatened the family.

[@jaden2040]

Please keep going with this series i could've listened for hours. You really opened my eyes with bleach and i love that

[@Malicious_Hero]

The screens of the gameboys on your shirt match the greenscreen you use and I didnt notice until you were talking about CSM and JJK, but honestly I kinda love it and I feel like it fits your brand pretty well.

[@acecommanderjoker3926]

Second comment, your ability "Stack the Deck" sounds quite similar to something I made a long LONG time ago for a one piece RP. The user, initially, touches an object not exceeding 100 pounds and transmutes the object into a physical playing card to then be re-summoned later with its own release ability. As time went on it weight limit increases and can even capture human beings for a 24 hour period. The cards can be destroyed and when they are the objects are released immediately and not damaged. Useful when you needed to steal something, transport objects or even smuggle people in and out of prison lol

[@traeh1714]

Now I can’t stop thinking about a Mother’s Basement video on why the Chimera Ant arc is amazing. I have a friend who doesn’t “get” why people love it so much and I think Geoff would be able to sell it

[@hiitsalex6780]

One of my favorite power systems is Yu-Gi-Oh due to how Yami Yugi keep making things up as he go.

[@KaizerSozeRaps]

Heart of the Cards and the power of friendship 😅😅😅

[@hiitsalex6780]

@@KaizerSozeRaps It because of this power systems, it taught me a important lesson...screws the rules!

[@Advent3546]

The Heart of the Cards has the power to make even Yugi's shitty deck [by today's standards at least] even stand a chance against his enemy duelists.

[@poppers7317]

@@Advent3546 yeah, it can't even win turn one.

[@byronrush9802]

​@@Advent3546yeah because he's literally cheating the whole time as he's literally controlling fate That's what the millennium puzzles power is The show makes you think it has no powers besides Yu Gi being possessed by the Pharaoh but that's what the heart of the cards is The ability to draw damn near any card whenever he needs it most which is why they had to take the exodia cards away

[@bourne8636]

The coolest type of powersystem is when characters have their own unique abilities that nobody else could replicate. It gives the fights a fresh feel as it’s not just blast of energy vs blast of energy, but actual strategy and execution.

[@implosive4778]

That’s not inherent to power systems with unique abilities. That just comes down to execution

[@justajobro1266]

i like stands for this exact reason and thats the only reason i feel it cant ever be beaten

[@romajimamulo]

You inspired me to finally actually write up some ideas of what the magic system actually is for a story concept of mine, where I've previously just been focused how having it works (basically if normal people see you use magic, you have to teach the person who noticed you used magic first before you can use it again). In particular, it plays with the idea of power levels by making it so only the magic users know their actual power level and then learning accurately what the level of others is by working with them and seeing how their magic typically works.

[@medalkingslime4844]

Couple notes on YYH and HxH I don’t think I saw mentioned but I could have just missed them: in YYH’s Chapter Black the territory powers are an early exploration of the ideas that would ultimately would become Nen. On Nen: what I think really pushes Nen to the next level is Conditions. There is always a push and pull between what is effective and how easily it is to use. Kurapika’s entire skill set is extremely OP but takes an insane amount of thought in order to properly execute (and in the Succession War, we see how important Emperor Time is to his abilities). Characters generally don’t have completely OP movesets (Meruem aside but his is basically deliberate) because Togashi explicitly wrote limitations into the concept nearly 3 decades ago. Edit: okay it was said much later. Good description of CSM’s power system and what good it does for the story. I’ve spent too much time thinking about CSM though and I’ll say most everything makes sense on a logical or thematic level even if at first when all the fights get “solved” they seem out of left field. Denji’s true weapon isn’t the chainsaws that erupt from his body-it’s his absolute willingness to do whatever the fuck sounds like it might have some twisted logic to it despite how wild, ridiculous and stupidly dangerous it may be. That won’t be totally clear until the end of the IA arc gets animated for the anime audience though the Eternity Devil is a good preview of said insanity.

[@tylergoodman3560]

I never thought something as simplistic as power scaling would have so emotional depth. Who knew that it was so connected to nearly every anime in existence? Great video from mothers basement. 🎉🎉🎉

[@FanOfMostEverything]

As a Brando Sando fan, I deeply appreciate any author who goes so far as to develop the physics of their power system. As someone who enjoys fiction, I deeply appreciate when someone doesn't bother, so long as it still makes the story enjoyable. Balance in all things.

[@nessgottesmann063]

"If you're reading the manga you'll know why" literally relevant months after this video came out and probably will be until the manga ends

[@snickey3483]

I love this video, When I heard you start discussing Hunter x Hunter I was already excited but being so intensely connected with the series wasn't expecting anything super special-- Only for you to instantaneously out of left field start to describe your fucking nen ability in detail and blueballed me because I WANTED THE WHOLE THING. My smile was so wide it could've filled the grand canyon because I knew you were someone that loved Togashi's near obsession with detailing the power system in that manga along with explaining and overexplaining a LOT of stuff in Hunter x Hunter, And it's why I can't express how happy I was when I read Jujutsu Kaisen and realized it was the only recent shounen to have shared genetics WITH Hunter x Hunter (Possibly Black Clover aswell). It made me realize just how much of a power play Gege made by not only making similarly structured abilities in Jujutsu Kaisen (being based on the character using it) but also giving the characters an in universe reason for explaining them to their opponent and thus the audience. Because in Jujutsu Kaisen when a character goes to explain their ability they themselves aswell as the readers know that they don't have all day, The opponent is standing in front of them and they are using the dialogue as a downtime to play some mind games or gain an advantage from explaining said ability. Whereas in Hunter X Hunter there are many times where something is explained through a lengthy INTERNAL dialogue or even anonymous narration that SOOOOME people don't exactly love (I do.) Jujutsu Kaisen and Gege in my opinion are much simpler creatures-- on the surface anyway, The series has a decent amount of depth in its characters and abilities being a VERY battle heavy shounen battle manga. But if you ever want to look under the hood and see just HOW much goes into the thought process of the power system in that manga I highly recommend reading it because Gege has a whole section where he discusses Gojo's ability and what it's based off of.

[@suapan9139]

I'm also a big fan of how Naruto's power system relies heavily on the history and world building of ninja world

[@DavidSartor0]

Thank you.

[@st.altair4936]

World Trigger has one of the most fleshed out modern power systems I've ever seen; highly recommend giving it a watch.

[@SamTheGumMan117]

Let's go a fellow WT enjoyer

[@364-unbirthdays8]

Another World Trigger fan! Glad to see my people in the wild!

[@akabaneolivia9550]

I'm glad you finally watched Hunter x Hunter! It was seriously missing from your other videos and I don't think you could've made this one without it.

[@jfess1911]

I had watched HxH a number of years ago and this video reminded me that I have forgotten most of it. Now I have to decide whether to rewatch HxH or just go on to something else.

[@AegisRamble0]

Your nerd dump of your Nen powers was awesome! Love seeing a fan just dive into what they love!

[@michaela6425]

I personally want to talk more about the Kamehameha. The reason why I love this technique so much is because it shows us the basics of ki/chi usage with these basic steps 1. Charge up ki. Make sure you have the perfect amount 2. Focus it into your hand. Get it under control 3. Force it out with all your might Unleashed all the Ki you built up I also love how depending on how skilled you are as a martial artist your blast comes out faster or slower than your opponent

[@quaktoons331]

Vigorously taking notes in Professor Thew's lesson on Shonen power systems 📝

[@003dylan]

This was a stellar video, thanks a bunch and please don't hesitate to educate us more on the power systems of the best (and maybe the worst?) anime out there.

[@Taubenkill0r]

I think one big kind of system not mentioned here is the mythology / history based power system. Like servants in Fate, magicians in A Certain Magic Index, ability users from Bungo Stray Dogs and... well a lot of other series that are even less known. And one could also bring up the video game based power systems that most Isekai seem to at least partially make use of.

[@acid4413]

O yes let's explain the nasuverse

[@MrGksarathy]

@@acid4413 That's...not happening. You honestly can't really understand it without being able to read Japanese, though I think it's possible to get enough of the gist.

[@acid4413]

@@MrGksarathy nasuverse not monogatari

[@MrGksarathy]

@@acid4413 No, seriously, the amount of half-baked takes from the English fandom is honestly why a specialist forum still needs to exist. The wiki is just straight wrong for the most part...

[@LOS18]

​@@MrGksarathy yeah, it's unfortunate that the wiki is just wrong a lot of the time. i'm not sure why the nasuverse doesn't have a better wiki. beast's lair is a great resource, but due to it being more forum than anything else, it is ridiculously hard to navigate and find specific information on it. i spent around 20 minutes looking for a small piece of information before giving up, while it only took me around a minute at most to find a mostly likely incorrect interpretation of the information on the wiki. even the works themselves make it convoluted to find lore, and then the works contradict each other. fate grand order has no easy way to find specific points in the story segments, and if you didn't complete events or missed them, you have to wait for a re-run or watch the entire event somewhere else to learn more about characters or events. samurai remnant does a great job presenting the lore in a clean manner with its terms list, providing definitions, lore, and biographies all in a short section. i just wish the rest of the nasuverse works did the same. even if you did manage to learn most of the lore given to us in english, a lot of the other lore is left in japanese, since the original version of tsukihime, fate/stay night, fate/hollow ataraxia, some of the older nasuverse works like angel notes, etc. have never been translated. while fan translations are good, they lack the creator's intent or input a lot of the time, so even these translations can be wrong. we need a new wiki

[@Jojo.F87]

PART 2 WHEN BUDDY?! My literal fave channel to listen to about anime. Another banger video my dude.

[@Atle-ez7ir]

Something that wasn’t mentioned very much throughout all of the discussion in the video was the ways that people get stronger in each power system. In Ki, Nen, and Haki, for example, one can just train (often in how to fight harder), for example. Devil Fruits will sometimes give power-ups by creative application of the powers they give but that’s more in the user’s growing creative capacity with their power rather than the power itself increasing. And for something like Juryoku and Black Clover’s Magic, while training can increase your power over time, most power-ups will directly be tied to a character’s growth as a person or desperation in a crisis. Stands, similarly to Devil Fruits, also only gain power by their user’s increasing creativity, though it’s a lot more defined and specific what each one can do from the start (except Act Stands and Yoshikage Kira). And probably the most interesting thing of all for this, at least to me, is that nobody ever gets stronger in Chainsaw Man. Characters may have *already* made contracts with devils, but nobody ever finds creative new applications of their contract power, or even gains any particularly impressive new power outside of Aki, who MANGA SPOILERS MANGA SPOILERS MANGA SPOILERS. Denji never goes beyond swinging chainsaws around to cut things up. Power never gets further than making weapons out of extremely hardened blood to swing around and hit things with. Aki might improve his fighting by getting to see into the future a little, but he’s still just swinging a sword around, or his fists if he doesn’t have a sword, and it still MANGA SPOILERS MANGA SPOILERS MANGA SPOILERS. Even after MANGA SPOILERS, Denji never MANGA SPOILERS again to get an edge on an enemy in a fight or something. And the way people get more powerful, or don’t, is also part of a power system’s use and importance in telling a story. If the solution to every problem is “pull a deus ex machine out of your ass at the darkest hour” in a series which means to make a point of steady, consistent practice as worthwhile and important, it’ll undermine the point. And on the other side, if your series fails to highlight the new power that a character has gained in a crisis or growth as truly *new*, it won’t be very clear that this isn’t just the results of their training. If your power system is highlighting creativity, you’ll need to put the creativity up front so it doesn’t seem like people were just hitting the problem harder this time. And for Chainsaw Man’s own part, the *inability* of people to ever get stronger follows from its horror side. The lack of a path to the strength one would need to fight some of the strongest devils only heightens the emphasis of the characters’ weakness in the face of those devils.

[@ianharrison5758]

This is aspect of power systems isn’t talked about enough, and I fully agree with you, a power system needs to consistent and concise to whatever extent is needed to fit the narrative, tone, and pacing of the story. When done to a par or subpar level, the power system itself loses its gravity with the audience and that can fuck with how well fans take any direct interactions between narrative and power system. One of the reasons I can’t really take fights in dragon ball very seriously, specifically nowadays (the og is peak) is the fact I can guarantee that any given conflict will start with either Goku getting whooped or in any otherwise down bad scenario, or with vegeta being sacrificed to the big bad to show off how broken the new big bad is. Then, either through more complex and impactful events like seeing a homie get packed or Goku hitting yet another devious training arc to either master or obtain some rare new power that he’s always lucky enough to be one of the people that can pick it up almost immediately and the conflict ends with either a fusion beat down when the solo power ups aren’t done cooking or Goku(and occasionally vegeta) will step up and save the day bc the training arc hit different or the people of earth heard him ask for their energy for the 15th time and that spirit bomb came out early and boom, that’s the general plot. Dbz does manage to make the stories themselves entertaining enough that despite being an asspull with its clutch timing it never really feels unwarranted nor boring.Db has some great fights but I just can’t take the massive power creep the formula caused seriously in the sense I don’t care how many multiverses Goku can destroy it means nothing to me The same way saitama one tapping everyon is a moot point for me. It’s so absurd that My brain sees both as satire. When done well, tho, power ups add so much to the experience as a reader it’s insane. Perfect example is JJK. The way it handles power ups got me pondering what my own domain expansion would be and how I myself would unlock it if I was a character. The powers themselves are spiritual but power level is a combination of innate potential and psychology. Growth isn’t steady nor regular. Explosive growth is typical and most often the result of a near death experience, or a shift in mindset that alters their perception of self and their abilities. Those who want to reach the top need both an unshakable sense of self and a disregard for others. To what extent disregard for others and the sense of self play into a character is often based on their personality, and can take multiple forms. We see that in Gojo, Sukuna, and Yuji. Gojos send of self is that of the strongest. He disregards the authority and power of anyone who gets in his way. It doesn’t matter if it’s the higher ups or Sukuna himself, gojo doesn’t care about your input if you aren’t one those he cares for. His disregard is often what saves those he does care about. Disregard isn’t inherently bad, but it’s a slippery slope. Sukuna is a perfect example of that. For him, only his pleasure or displeasure exist. He care about nothing but himself. Another way this can be portrayed is in Yuji, who is both blessed and cursed by the power system. One thing I didn’t mention before that’s actually important is that sorcerers need to be at least a little ambitious and greedy to push themselves to higher levels. Motivation that stems from others is weak, and can’t lift you to the peak of one’s potential. This is most apparent in Yuji. His sense of self is unparalleled. He can actively dominate the will of Sukuna, his own soul overpowering that of Sukunas. Normal vessels can’t do that. Yujis sense of self is so strong that it actually backfires on him in a way. By prioritizing his ability to control Sukuna and seeing that as literally his only purpose, the turns he can’t lead to Yuji blaming himself regardless of how many times it’s made clear its not his fault. He’s burdened with guilt and shame to the point it holds him back. He can’t focus on himself and his power when in his mind he can only focus on others. Yuji hasn’t been able to fully disregard others. His empathy is so strong he asks Sukuna why he can’t just live in peace despite knowing what Sukuna is. Despite that, there are moments when that disregard shows and those are by far his most terrifying moments. His speech to Mahito, starring him down with cold eyes calmly promising to kill him here, and every time he comes back no matter what form Or name he takes is the first time we see Yuji when he simply doesn’t care anymore. The next time that disregard and greed show is the best showcase of his potential and why Gojo said he could surpass him one day. After Sukuna steals his best friends body, and punches him through a city block, we see Yuji utterly lose his shit with rage. He’s so angry, and wants to kill Sukuna so much he leaps at him with no hesitation. For the first time he’s fighting for himself and himself alone. This allowed him to receive and absurd explosion in physical stats. His jump collapsed a building, he slams Sukuna through part of another one, kicks a corner of a skyscraper roof at him and is cracking concrete with the force of his run. He is even able to tank a barrage of dozens of attacks from sukuna. Note: His output would fall to 10% if he used his technique on Yuji bc Megumi had enough strength to interfere with his technique but not weaken his body. Regardless, at Sukunas power level at the time 10% is still stronger than an earlier use of it at 2 finger(20 total, each fingy exponential boosts Sukunas power. His fight with Yuji was 15 fingers.) that could one shot a finger bearer. Which are special grade. Yuji tanked dozens if not hundreds of hits from a more powerful version of the attack and walk through it. It’s such a massive power boost it’s actually insane and it was the result of his empathy and humanity led to so much suffering for him that when he finally snapped he gaps his previous power level by that alone. I went a bit too in depth with Yuji bc I love his character but to wrap this comment up before it’s a book: When done right, power ups are the most hype shit ever and not receiving one when it is possible will have fans disappointed on characters behalf, when done meh, you get no hype at all for what the power up means to the story, only how much it amps the character for the sake of fighting

[@axelexplode]

Actually I think what's cool in chainsaw man is specifically the powers themselves do not get stronger. Except but external forces. Iykyk But people get better via experience and essentially battle IQ. How many applications does my toolset have. How many ways can you use a hammer or, in this case, a chainsaw.

[@MegaDman16]

Hunter x Hunter's Nen will forever be my most favorite power system in anime. One piece Devil fruits and Jujutsu Kaisen Curse energy being a close second and third.

[@mackielunkey2205]

You could have the most pathetic power in the world, and have it be deadly by mastering Nen basics and adding a few contracts.

[@marcosdheleno]

mine is saint seiya's sense. basically, people who are able to use their sixth sense can manipulate the atoms. and they are called saints, following the greek gods. but what makes it so special is the fact that there's a higher level, called the seventh sense. which is the realm of those gods, and only the most powerfull saints are able to reach it. there's no point beyond the seventh sense. that's the hard limit. seventh sense is introduced even before the first main arc starts, and remain the top bar even at the end of the story.

[@thomasffrench3639]

42:34 not to mention that Devilman is basically evil Kamen Rider, which also brings in other Tokusatsu like Ultraman, which is pretty much the origin of Titan shifters, and now we got a whole other medium to go into with the origins of Toku with Godzilla, and it’s a mess.

[@IZEASGT]

And of course Hideaki Anno is a big Ultraman fan, and it was ALSO a major influence on Eva like Devilman was…

[@theultimatelifeform7077]

It can be hard for me to love Shonen power systems having experienced the power scaling community. Taking something so cool and turning it into a toxic slur ridden battlefield is almost impressive.

[@cyberhikikomori5326]

I mostly agree with your analysis aside from 1: Naruto's power system is clearly more directly-inspired from Dragonball (ki being a power source for techniques available through training to everyone, not personalized restrictions is more akin to DB than HxH) I think forcing to view Naruto under the lens of just a "poorer attempt at Nen" severely undercuts how elegantly intuitive Naruto's chakra system & bloodline jutsu was (at least at the start). Also I think a missing factor that needs to be explored is the how the blending of non-anime factors (Buddhism, Shinto, martial arts) with the anime systems has helped inspire the newer authors to "evolve" their battle systems beyond the original concept of Ki

[@johnlindsay7301]

I’m gonna hold you to that whole, “that deserves its own video” when you were talking about the Cimera Ant arc. That is something I’m very much looking forward to watching. Such a great arc and it would be great to hear your extensive thoughts on it. So we’re all waiting… 20:35

[@Biostar96]

Another aspect to note is that each Devil Fruit has its own Awakening ability that generally starts to affect not only the user but the environment, with Zoans being the exception with their awakening. For MHA you also have quirk evolution and mutants who can defy the punnet square genetics.

[@andreweisenberg5770]

So glad that, even though they were only off-hand mentions, Undead Unluck and Magi’s power systems got mentioned, because those are my two favorites. (Not counting Nen)

[@hassanshaikh3451]

Man I'd definitely watch a sequel video talking about the power systems of World Trigger and Undead Unluck.

[@EmoElmo007]

Absolutely here for listening to more shonen power system breakdowns! This was highly enjoyable!