Strongest Assassin Characters In Anime, Ranked

In the vast world of anime, assassin characters have come to represent a unique sense of strength and power, wowing audiences with their lethal skills, complex backstories, and blurred moral compasses. These characters often operate in the shadows, wielding their abilities with precision and cunning, making them some of the most formidable figures in their respective series.

From stealthy ninjas to cold-blooded hitmen, the anime world is filled with assassins who embody the art of killing in various forms. However, this piece focuses on assassins, who regardless of their killing methods, are undoubted representatives of power and strength in various worlds and see how they compare to each other. Therefore, this is a ranking of sorts for the strongest of the best assassins in all of anime.

10 Yor Forger – Spy X Family

The Thorn Princess

• Age: 27
• Abilities: Immense Speed, Immense Strength, Poison Tolerance

As much an assassin as she is a mother to Anya and a wife to Loid, Yor Forger is probably one of the Spy X Family’s strongest characters, if not the strongest. Working as an ordinary office clerk as cover for her actual occupation, Yor actually has a softer side to herself when she has not been tasked to take another’s life. As a person, she has awkward social tendencies and mostly comes off as aloof. However, this in no way diminishes her ability to be the most lethal killing machine in the entirety of the series.

As an assassin, Yor is terrifyingly competent at her job, with the skills and physical features to back it up, as she shows when she drunkenly tries to fight Loid during one of their many outings, quite nearly almost killing him. While none of her feats can be classified as superhuman, her abilities put her at the peak of any human, and based on raw power and strength alone, Yor is heads and shoulders above every character in the series.

9 Kotomine Kirei – Fate

The Impartial Mediator

• Age: 38
• Abilities: Immense Strength, Bajiquan specialist, Angra Mainyu, Magecraft, Spiritual Healing

Surprising as it is to see a priest double as a highly dangerous assassin, it is just another day’s work in the Fate Universe. The master of Assassin in the Fourth Holy Grail War, Kotomine Kirei, is unlike most masters and probably one of the few masters who can take on servants in a battle unaided. As a person, Kirei comes off as complex or complicated, but his warp mind does not hinder the quality of his assassination skills. He qualifies as both an Executor of the church and a Magus, specializing in healing magic, making him a rather fearsome individual.

As an executor, Kirei possesses superhuman speed and strength on top of mastery of the deadly Bajiquan martial arts, allowing him to kill a person with no weapons at all. While his knowledge of magic is not lacking, what distinguishes him as a particularly strong assassin is that by becoming an Executor, he has basically become a human weapon, making him the ideal assassin.

8 Kenshin Himura – Rurouni Kenshin

The Himura Battosai

• Age: 28
• Abilities: Immense Strength, Immense Speed, Hitokiri Battosai

The legendary rurouni, Kenshin Himura, is the titular protagonist of the Rurouni Kenshin series and the infamous hitokiri of the Meji Revolution. While Kenshin is a swordsman of the legendary Hitokiri Battosai, his exploits and actions during the Meiji Revolution classify him more as an assassin than a samurai, really, seeing as he served as one of the Bakumatsu Imperialists. Besides the ability to strike terror into his opponents on the battlefield, Himura has a conspicuous X-shaped scar on one side of his face.

Rather soft-spoken and surprisingly gentle when he is not focused on an opponent in front of him, Himura is the successor of the deadly Hitokiri Battosai sword style, the strongest sword style in the series. Outclassed in ability and strength only by his master, Hiko Seijuro XIII, his exploits during the Meiji Revolution are confirmation enough to earn his placement.

7 Akame – Akame Ga Kill

Akame of the Demon Sword Murasame

• Age: N/A
• Abilities: Immense Speed, Immense Strength, Teigu, Shingu, Meihou

The titular deuteragonist of the Akame Ga Kill series, Akame is one of the core members of the infamous Night Raid group and one of its strongest members, if not the strongest. Trained to become an assassin alongside her sister after being sold to the Empire, Akame was one of the best of the Elite Seven and the best among the children recruited to take the Forest Exam. Serious-looking but really just socially awkward, Akame is none of these things when faced with an opponent to be cut down.

As an assassin trained by the Empire, Akame is among the strongest individuals in the series based on physical strength alone and slightly on par with Commander Esdeath. However, even if it places her under a curse, she poses an even more lethal threat when possessing her Teigu, the Demon Sword Murasame. On top of this is her unbelievable speed capacity, as she can move at Mach 1, possibly the fastest speed of anyone in the series.

6 Gabimaru – Hell’s Paradise

Gabimaru The Hollow

• Age: 16
• Abilities: Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Fire-attribute Tao

Born as Saku, Gabimaru is the protagonist of Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku and the infamous shinobi of the Iwagakure village. Husband to the daughter of his village’s chief, Gabimaru is one of the many death row convicts sentenced to find the Elixir of Life on the Shinsenkyo island. Befitting his reputation, Gabimaru is mainly calm and apathetic in most situations, a trait he was born with and one that has been cemented given his occupation.

As a shinobi, Gabimaru is considered a killing prodigy even among his peers, as he was once noted to have killed twenty men without taking any damage. With an almost impervious body coupled with superhuman reflexes, Gabimaru, according to the series, is the perfect assassin. Proficient in all of his village’s ninja techniques, which include Ninpo, Taijutsu, and Ninjutsu, Gabimaru is also one of the first people in the story to learn how to use Tao, making by far the most deadly character in the series.

5 Silva Zoldyck – Hunter X Hunter

Head of the Zoldyck Family

• Age: 48
• Abilities: Emitter Nen Type, Immense Poison Resistance, Immense Strength, Immense Speed

The current head of the Zoldyck Family of assassins in the Hunter X Hunter series, it is only expected that Silva Zoldyck earns a rightful placement on this piece. The leading figure of the leading family in the assassination profession, Silva Zoldyck, is as terrifying as the reputation that precedes himself and his family.

An extremely skilled emitter Nen-type user, Silva mainly uses his Nen to create aura orbs of power, which he uses to kill the Chimera, Cheetu. Aside from his nen proficiency, he also possesses superhuman speed, strength, and agility, all of which he has honed primarily for assassination. Having been expressly stated to be one of the best killers in the world, Silva is well-rounded in every form of espionage, implying a high level of assassination versatility.

4 Koro-Sensei – Assassination Classroom

The Reaper

• Age: N/A
• Abilities: Eidetic Memory, Regeneration, Antimatter Physiology

The yellowy tentacled octopus homeroom teacher of the beloved Assassination Classroom series, Koro-sensei, is hardly the assassin anyone would imagine, as he looks like a bobbing mass of tentacles. However, beneath an ever-smiling face lies the being responsible for turning the world’s moon into a crescent and one with the power to obliterate it. While he is obviously far from human, this is with good reason, as he’s the perfect assassin.

With a body capable of moving at Mach 4, a mind that learns at an alarming and incomprehensible rate, and a memory that stores information like a sponge, Koro-sensei proved an impossible assassination target for his students while being the strongest assassin to have lived. Though not many of his feats involve actually killing anyone, the sheer quality of his abilities gives enough insight to earn his placement.

3 Itachi Uchiha – Naruto

The Ghost of The Uchiha

• Age: 21 (Deceased)
• Abilities: Ninjutsu, Dojutsu, Bukijutsu, Genjutsu

Itachi of the Sharingan, as he was famously known throughout the village of Konohagakure, was a prodigy of assassination among prodigies and shinobi alike. After graduating from the shinobi academy at the record age of six and becoming an ANBU Black ops captain at twelve, Itachi Uchiha rose to the peak of espionage and assassination as only a child and became one of the most feared names in the Naruto series, a type of reputation accorded to shinobi like Madara Uchiha, Minato Namikaze and Kakashi Hatake.

As a shinobi, Itachi was heads and shoulders above his peers even as a child, possessing abundant physical strength, speed, and intelligence. However, he had a singular flaw; a terminal illness that meant he was never fully fit in health. Considered a shinobi genius never seen before in the history of Konoha, Itachi Uchiha is one of the very few Uchiha members capable of the Mangekyo Sharingan, on top of being an expert at taijutsu, dojutsu, ninjutsu and bukijutsu. Even among the many powerful characters in the series, Itachi easily ranks among the strongest characters.

2 Toji Fushiguro – Jujutsu Kaisen

The Sorcerer Killer

• Age: N/A
• Abilities: Heavenly Restriction

The infamous sorcerer killer, formerly of the Zen’in Clan, Toji Fushiguro, was one of Jujutsu Kaisen’s most feared and notorious individuals. In a world where jujutsu reigned supreme and born to one of the most powerful jujutsu families, Toji Fushiguro was one of the only two characters in the series incapable of using cursed energy due to a Heavenly Restriction. Dubbed talentless due to being a non-curse user, Toji grew to become one of the most elite and dangerous fighters in the entire jujutsu world.

He was born with a body with physical capabilities far outstripping any jujutsu sorcerer, which made him the series’s best and strongest assassin, even in death. With a body blessed by the heavens with superhuman speed, strength, reflexes, and senses, Toji is the only character to have defeated Satoru Gojo and nearly killed him even and is single-handedly responsible for his evolution, which in itself is a testament to his own strength.

1 Zeno Zoldyck – Hunter X Hunter

Elder of the Zoldyck Family

• Age: 69
• Abilities: Emission Nen Type

Father to Silva Zoldyck and grandfather to Killua, Zeno typically looks like a frail old man with an ageing back. However, Zeno is easily one of the most powerful hunters in the series and arguably the best assassin in its entirety. With a mastery over Nen, which very few hunters can attain in their lives, Zeno is as good an Emitter, which is his natural affinity, as he is a Transmuter, an acquired class and also a very rare feat within the Hunter X Hunter universe.

Once the head of the Zoldyck family, mentioning his name in the underworld is rough to cause panic among assassins of the same profession. In terms of physical ability, he also possesses superhuman strength, speed and agility while extremely adept at stealth. While his assassination activities have reduced due to his old age, the experience gleaned over the years of his youth makes him an extremely powerful opponent and powerful enough for his placement on this list.