Top 5 Most Iconic Weapons in Anime
Something I wanted to do for quite a while finally, my mod, who also happens to be my friend, gave the ok to do this. So most anime have a weapon associated with them. These weapons are something without which you cannot even imagine how the series would look. Now keep in mind that this is not a list about the most powerful anime weapons, just the most iconic ones and that I will specifically stick to weapons and not mechas or suites. Those deserve their own damn list. Yes, I will make that list sometime in the future. I promise.  So without wasting any more time, let’s get right into it
Omni or 3 Directional Mobility Gear (ODMG or 3DMG) from Attack on Titan
But ODMG is a suit… NO! It is a set of 2 swords, spare blades, grappling cables, and a propulsion gas canister. In the upgraded version of it, the swords are replaced by thunder spears or guns; that’s it. It is not a complete suit. What they wear under it is their military uniform. The ODMG is a weapon designed specifically to kill titans. The swords are extremely sharp as they can cut titan flesh and hence, tend to lose their edges quickly. That is the reason for carrying spare blades. The mobility and speed it provides are extremely useful in killing titans. They are designed so that soldiers can cut through titan napes and get out of there as quickly as possible. Humanity inside walls would not have lasted for long if they had not developed this, and it is the signature weapon of the series. Even after all that has happened, the ODMG is still useful and pretty damn valuable.
Dragon Slayer from Berserk
Unlike what the name sounds, the Dragon Slayer is a gigantic black sword that can only be wielded by someone like Guts himself. This sword is the reason why Guts is called the Black Swordsman. The sword and the name had a lot of impacts on culture. From video games like FF7 (Cloud’s Buster Sword) to anime like Sword Art Online (Kirito is called Black Swordsman, too), Berserk had a lot of cultural impacts. Many people don’t even know that these things originate from Berserk. After Berserk, so many anime and games had that big black sword, but the fact that this trend started from Berserk does not change. Do check out Berserk if you get the time. I recommend the manga because not even a single version of the anime adaptations does any justice to the manga. They are plain bad. So check out the manga if you wanna get into Berserk.
Zanpakutos from Bleach
The special swords carried by soul reapers are called Znpakutos. In their sealed state, they look like normal Katanas but, they have two stages of releases in which their shape changes and they gain access to unique abilities. The stage 2 release generally strengthens the ability of phase 1. Sometimes, phase 2 becomes something else entirely. The two stages are called Shikai and Bankai. Learning Shikai is a necessity for all soul reapers but, Bankai can only be performed by a few people. Even among all Zanpakutos, Ichigo’s Zangetsu is the most iconic one for sure. Just thinking of Bleach conjures the image of Ichigo holding his sword above his shoulders. The sheer work Kubo put into thinking about the unique abilities of each character’s sword is amazing. There are simply a lot of them, and every single one of them is unique. Tell me your favorite Zanpakuto down in the comments.​
The Dominator from Psycho-Pass
Dominators are a significant part of the Psycho-Pass world. The gun judges the target’s crime coefficient, and the trigger will only unlock if the target’s crime coefficient is above a certain value. Furthermore, the gun has two modes depending on the target’s crime coefficient; the gun has two modes a tranquilizer mode for people whose psycho pass can still recover and an instakill mode for people whose psycho passes are beyond saving. The damn insta kill mode transformations look so cool; I can literally watch it all day. The dominator is a very cool gun. I hope in the future an FPS game produces a replica of it. Watching that animation in the first person would be very satisfying for sure. Regardless of the game’s quality, I am pretty sure the fans will buy it just to see the dominator in first-person POV. Yes, the gun is that cool.​
The Sword of Rupture, Ea and The Sword of Promised Victory, Excalibur from Fate Series
Please forgive me here. I could not decide one from these. Both of these swords appear in almost every single entry of the Fate/Series, be it in games, VN, or anime. While Ea is always seen in the hands of our King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, Excalibur (including its replications or derivations) is seen in the hands of people other than its original owner, King Arthur. Now both of the swords are extremely cool, both in looks and inabilities. Ea doesn’t look like a sword. It is called a sword because its concept is closest to a sword rather than other weapons. In any of the UFOTable Fate anime, go watch a scene when Saber or Gil use their swords; they nailed the animations on those scenes. Those scenes are literally perfect, along with the perfect soundtrack to go on. UFOTable really did work hard on all the Fate anime.
So this is my list of most iconic weapons in anime. 5 is a very small number but, I have to keep word limits in mind and I don’t like just listing things, so pretty sure I will make another list along these lines. Of course, I will also make a list of the most significant anime suites and mechas. Let me know down in the comments what weapons you would like to see in the comments. With this, I will take my leave. Stick around the site for anime-related articles and awesome anime art. See ya!!
