Anime signature attacks and weapons are already dangerous and even overpowered in their respective series. However, they're not exactly lethal, thanks to the suspension of disbelief, power levels, and what the plot demands. Oftentimes, a character will endure an extremely powerful attack and still be standing afterward.
On the other hand, a special ability like Dragon Ball's Kamehameha that couldn't even injure a galactic tyrant would destroy an entire city in another context. Sometimes, lethal force even is used for comedy, and the characters simply shrug it off like a bump on the head. Outside their original anime, these powers could be fatal and even world-ending.
10 City Hunter — Kaori Makimura's Hammer Would Literally Crush People
The only thing more synonymous with Ryo Saeba than his womanizing ways is getting a hammer to the face whenever he flirts too much. This comes courtesy of his partner and obvious admirer, Kaori, who whips out the mallet whenever Ryo gets on her nerves. As funny as this is in City Hunter, it would be dangerous elsewhere.
Depending on the animators' moods, Kaori's hammer weighs somewhere between 10 and 100 tons. It's only thanks to cartoon logic that Kaori can even lift it and that Ryo survived multiple blows to the head. In another anime, Kaori's violent punchline would either break someone's entire body or kill them on the spot.
9 Durarara!! — Shizuo Heiwajima's Strength Turns Him Into A Walking Disaster
Ikebukuro is filled with eccentric characters and criminals, and everyone in this underbelly agrees that Shizuo is the city's most dangerous person. The otherwise cool-headed odd-jobber is feared for his unnaturally immense strength, and he's best known for throwing vending machines at people or punching them so hard they fly skywards.
That being said, the constantly-moving Durarara!! makes it clear that Shizuo held back and that his opponents were only seriously wounded at worst. If Shizuo brought his full strength to another anime (especially something like a battle anime), he'd easily become one of that world's deadliest fighters with incredible natural strength.
8 One Piece — Monkey D. Luffy's Rubbery Strength Would Be No Laughing Matter
As comical as they look, the rubbery powers that Luffy obtained after eating the Gomu Gomu no Mi fit perfectly well in the super-powered world of One Piece. Luffy has even fought a pirate who could split his body on a whim and an admiral who was basically a walking laser. In another anime, Luffy's powers are godlike.
Luffy's ability to stretch his body, absorb inhuman amounts of damage, and amplify his base strength by unlocking his Devil Fruit's hidden Gears would render him overpowered in any other battle anime. Luffy hasn't killed anyone in One Piece, even with his immense strength, but he would definitely have a body count in grittier and more violent anime.
7 KonoSuba — Megumin's Explosion Spell Is A Rapid-Fire Nuke
One of KonoSuba's many iconic punchlines is Megumin's signature spell, Explosion. The spell does exactly as its name implies, which is to blow up whatever Megumin wants to blow up. This is the only spell Megumin can use since she dedicated all her stat points to explosive damage and casting speed.
Though it's often put to good use — especially thanks to Kazuma's directions — Megumin uses Explosion more for laughs in KonoSuba's mockery of isekai tropes. In any other anime, the ability to spam massive explosions with a devastating area of effect isn't only terrifying, but dangerous to everyone within the blast's range.
6 Pokémon: The Series — Pikachu's Thunderbolt Can Unleash 100,000 Volts
Despite being a basic Pokémon, Ash's Pikachu is somehow one of the long-running anime's most powerful Pokémon. Pikachu's mighty electric attacks, especially his signature move, Thunderbolt, are proof of this. In brief, Thunderbolt can generate more than 100,000 volts. For comparison's sake, 2,000 volts are more than enough to kill a person.
Since Pokémon: The Series is geared towards kids, Pikachu's Thunderbolt only leaves opponents comically charred or knocked out. In a more grounded anime that isn't afraid to show how dangerous electric attacks are, anyone on the receiving end of a Thunderbolt strike would either die instantly or be burned beyond recognition.
5 A Certain Scientific Railgun — A Level 5 Electromaster Can Fire Up To 1 Billion Volts
Academy City is filled with powerful Espers, and Mikoto Misaka is one of the city's strongest students. Mikoto is a Level 5 Electromaster, which doesn't just let her control all forms of electricity, but makes her a walking railgun. Mikoto uses her abilities for combat and slapstick, and the resulting injuries range from mild shock to unconsciousness.
In her anime, the worst that Mikoto's full power did was knock out some bad guys and cause repairable property damage. However, in any other series that isn't Index or Railgun, Mikoto's abilities — especially her Railgun, which can generate up to one billion volts — would level entire cities and kill countless people in a single attack.
4 Re:Creators — Magical Splash Flare Is Dangerous Outside Of A Magical Girl Context
One of the many ways that Re:Creators deconstructed anime storytelling was by showing the realistic effects of anime-styled superpowers in the real world. Case in point, Mamika Kirameki's magical girl attack, Magical Splash Flare, caused high explosive devastation in reality instead of magically turning her enemies into friends.
As destructive as Magical Splash Flare was, Mamika managed not to kill anyone with it, thanks to the fact that her opponents were also magically enhanced characters like herself. In an anime even more deconstructive and realistic than Re:Creators, Magical Splash Flare would've caused countless casualties in its debut episode alone.
3 Bleach — Getsuga Tensho Is A Concentrated Blast Of Destructive Energy
Ever since Rukia Kuchiki unlocked his Shinigami powers, Ichigo Kurosaki summoned his Zanpakuto and used its power to defend his friends and family. His signature attack was Getsuga Tensho, which was a simple but powerful blast of reaitsu that was on par with some of the powers held by the strongest Shinigami and Gotei 13 captains.
While Getsuga Tensho put Ichigo on equal footing with his foes, it would make him unbeatable outside of Bleach. Unlike others' flashier powers, Getsuga Tensho was just raw reaitsu that Ichigo could hypothetically fire endlessly as long as he had reaitsu. Something this simple yet powerful would end fights in an instant in other anime.
2 Dragon Ball — The Kamehameha Is An Unstoppable Barrage Of Ki Energy
Every Saiyan is capable of firing a Kamehameha, and their equally powerful opponents have their own equivalents to this famous anime attack from the Dragon Ball franchise. This charged energy attack isn't even the most powerful attack that Goku can use. Powerhouses like Broly or Cell can even tank numerous Kamehameha hits and come back for more.
That being said, a single blast of concentrated Ki energy would inflict immeasurable casualties and collateral damage in an anime that wasn't Dragon Ball. At worst, a Kamehameha blast leveled some mountains and wounded the anime's enhanced fighters. Anywhere else, the Kamehameha would bring death and destruction.
1 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters— Banishment To The Shadow Realm Is Existentially Fatal & Horrifying
Due to strict censors, 4Kids replaced all mentions and instances of "death" in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters with banishment to the Shadow Realm. Instead of death or torture, villains threatened the heroes with banishment to the Shadow Realm. While this change was bloodless and child-friendly, it was arguably worse than simply dying.
The Shadow Realm was described as a dimension of endless suffering, which is arguably more terrifying than death. Despite this, the Shadow Realm was little more than a forfeit to take note of for the anime's many duelists. In any other anime, a cosmic fate worse than death this existentially dreadful would be hellish, at the very least.
