7 Best Darkness Users in Shonen Anime

The most common elemental abilities in anime tend to pertain to the likes of Fire or Ice, and while all of these powers are captivating to see, darkness powers spice things up and take them to a whole new level. The potential with darkness powers is massive, and through it, various characters rise to the top of their series, making it one of the most broken abilities in all of anime. Some of these darkness abilities can manifest as shadow powers, and others as black hole abilities, but they’re all equally dangerous.

Yuki Tsukumo

Yuki Tsukumo is an overpowered character from the Jujutsu Kaisen series. Yuki is one of only four confirmed Special Grade Sorcerers alongside Gojo, Yuta, and Geto. In her fight against Kenjaku, Yuki showed her true capabilities by utilizing the Star Rage ability and taking it to the limit.

Star Rage allows her to add virtual mass to her body to land some incredibly powerful hits. While that power itself is not necessarily related to darkness, her final trump card, Black Hole, definitely is. Upon dying, Yuki basically turns into a Black Hole that has the potential to destroy the whole world. However, Gege never showed the full destruction of this ability as the ability was stopped at the last moment.

Dabura Karaba

Dabura Karaba acted as the main antagonist of the Jujutsu Kaisen sequel series, called Jujutsu Kaisen: Modulo. He is a powerhouse from the Deskunte tribe, and is known to be the strongest Simurian.

In Jujustu Kaisen: Modulo, Dabura took part in a massive duel to decide the fate of both races on Earth. While the Simurians chose Dabura Karaba, Japan couldn’t find Yuji Itadori and had to instead rely on Yuka Okkotsu. Thanks to her Ten Shadows ability, Dabura had to take on the powerful divine general Mahoraga. In this heated battle, Dabura made use of his overpowered ability known as light. However, upon understanding how Cursed Technique Reversal works, Dabura was able to pour positive energy into his light power and turn it into Darkness. With it, Dabura was able to summon darkness and make use of it in battle. The full potential of his darkness powers was glossed over, but coupled with his other abilities, he was able to overwhelm Mahoraga.

Hiei

Hiei is one of the four main characters of the Yu Yu Hakusho series, Togashi’s big hit before the creation of Hunter x Hunter. He has since become an iconic anime character that inspired many others after him. Hiei has always been an extremely popular character, and that is not only due to his captivating character arc, but also due to his eye-catching abilities.

Hiei has quite a diverse arsenal under his belt, among which is his third eye, known as the Jagan. Through it, he can summon the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. While Fire is usually associated with light, Hiei’s Fire dragon is made up of Black Flames that he brings forth from the spirit world. This is one of the strongest abilities showcased in Yu Yu Hakusho.

Meliodas

Meliodas is the protagonist of the Seven Deadly Sins series. While Seven Deadly Sins has definitely lost a lot of traction, Meliodas is still quite a well-known anime main character, and as the Sin of Wrath, he is one of the strongest characters in his series.

Initially, it was clear to see that Meliodas’ main ability was Full Counter, but later on, he made more use of darkness abilities in combat. Meliodas can tap into his full demon mode, known as Assault Mode, which drapes him in darkness. Even beyond that, he has showcased quite a few darkness abilities, many being used through his sword, such as Dark Prominence.

Blackbeard

Blackbeard is from the One Piece series, and he stands tall as one of the most powerful characters in the story. Blackbeard, at the moment, has two Devil Fruits, but his first and most iconic one is his Yami Yami no Mi, which literally translates to the darkness fruit.

The darkness fruit is a Logia-type ability that allows Blackbeard to create and control darkness. Unlike other Logias, however, it doesn’t allow its user to become intangible and it comes with the disadvantage of taking double the damage in battle.

That said, Blackbeard can instead use his darkness to absorb all other Devil Fruit abilities. In that sense, Blackbeard can basically use black holes with ease. Blackbeard has a major role to play ahead in One Piece and his darkness ability will be used to its full potential in the future.

Sung Jinwoo

While Solo Leveling was actually based on a manhwa, it definitely falls under the shonen anime category in Japan, and Sung Jinwoo, the protagonist of the series, is one of the most popular characters seen in new-gen anime. Jinwoo started his adventure as one of the weakest Hunters around. He was too weak for even the tamest threats, but after certain events unfolded in the Double Dungeon, he acquired great power through the System.

After reaching a certain level and beating a mysterious Knight, Sung Jinwoo was able to become the Shadow Monarch. The Shadow Monarch class gives Jinwoo many abilities, but his most notable and interesting darkness-related power is that of his Shadow Army. Whenever Sung Jinwoo defeats and kills an enemy, he has a chance to raise them and make them one of his soldiers. In that sense, Sung Jinwoo has become quite an iconic darkness user in anime, and his potential is still far from being fully realized in the anime, as fans await him to become the True Shadow Monarch later down the line.

Yami Sukehiro

When it comes to the most iconic darkness user in anime, the character that immediately comes to everyone’s mind is Yami from Black Clover. Yami is the captain of the Black Bulls and he has become quite a beloved character among the fans. Yami’s personality makes him popular, but he also stands out greatly with his dark magic. With these powers, Yami has become a central figure in the series, and he has taken part in quite a few impressive battles.

It has also been stated that Dark Magic is quite rare in Black Clover. In simple terms, dark magic is the perfect opposite of light. It is quite slow, but it allows its user to absorb other magic. By using it, Yami can cut through almost everything. With it, Yami gains one of the greatest offensive abilities in the entirety of the story.