My Favorites in Anime: Top 10 Anime Transformations

Greetings, fabulous peoples!  Welcome back to my final countdown of September as I look at some of my favorite transformations in anime.  They’re a staple in the world of anime.  Some are pretty stereotypical while others are awesome, or just plain weird.  Transformations in anime are unique to say the very least.  And of all the transformations, I picked ten of my personal favorite transformations. That’s right people!  Balls to the wall!  Last countdown of the month and I’m going all out with a top ten.   In fact this was the first countdown I had written down on paper.  One quick note, I based these choices on the appearance and relevancy to their respective show’s overall plot.  Oh yeah, there will be spoilers too.  And so, without further adieu, let’s take a look at my top ten anime transformations!

#10: “I am a Ghoul” (Tokyo Ghoul)

Starting off my list is one particular transformation that many of you could say is cheating.  And you’re probably right.  But if you’ve ever seen season one of Tokyo Ghoul, think about how freakin’ long it took for Kaneki to get that white-haired, half-ghoul look we all wanted to see…and maybe a pair of testacles.  Yeah, I rest my case.  This one seen was worth that wait.  While being tortured by Yamori in the season finale, Kaneki starts to have delusional conversations with Rize Kamishiro- the ghoul who’s organs he now possesses.  By conversation end, Kaneki realizes that he can’t continually stay in the middle on just about everything and decides that he needs to except that he is a ghoul.  In a surreal moment, he “eats” Rize and proclaims “I am a ghoul,” which then leads to one of the coolest fights in the entire series.  Like I said, this sorta-transformation took a while, but it paid off in the end.

#9: Ichigo’s final Getsuga Tensho (Bleach)

This was a pick that I initially didn’t include at first.  But let’s face it, Ichigo never looked so good when this happened.  In his final battle with Aizen, Ichigo decides to go all out and literally become his iconic attack itself-aka, Getsuga Tensho.  This half-dementor, half-mummy appearance can only be summed up as stunning… and bad ass.  In the end, Ichigo is able to defeat Aizen in this form, but at a price; after the Battle for Katakura Town takes place, Ichigo gradually loses his soul reaper powers.  Sure, the price of this transformation was big, but anyone who’s seen Bleach can’t deny that this was one of Ichigo’s most bad ass moments.

#8: Sailor Scouts Transformations (Sailor Moon Crystal)

Ok, I know what you’re thinking.  These are some of the most iconic transformation sequences in anime.  Why put them so low on the list?  Well, for one, you would be right. These are some of the most famous anime transformations ever.  The ones in Sailor Moon Crystal get an especially nice CGI upgrade-not to say the ones from the original weren’t cool to watch either.  But here’s the thing, these transformations are so overused throughout the series that they just get boring.  It’s true they’re a staple in the Sailor Moon franchise, and for the magical girl genre in general, but good Lord, in that time you could be sitting through this sequence you could be watching a fight scene.  So yeah, they’re really cool transformations, and some of the best, but they just do them way too many times.  It’s overdone and overused, but shouting makeup never looked so cool!

#7: The Death of the Forrest Spirit (Princess Mononoke)

This was a sequence that I’m surprised no one really talks about.  I won’t lie when I say that the Forrest Spirit is personally one of the creepiest characters in anime.  And when he’s killed towards the end of Princess Mononoke, he gets an equally weird transformation.  After he’s beheaded by Lady Eboshi, the Forrest Spirit transforms into what you could call a god of destruction, taking on a headless version of his night walker form.  Even stranger though, from the headless portion sprouts this dark cloud of elongated arms, destroying everything they touch.  Yeah, just describing it sounds weird.  So again, it’s hard to believe no one really talks about this seen.  Sure, it may not have been the most memorable moment in this film, but it was one hell of a send off for a character.  It’s by far the weirdest end for the weirdest character (shudder).

#6: Eren’s First Titan Transformation (Attack on Titan)

For all that I’ve said about Attack on Titan in the past, this one may come as a shock.  I’ve argued that there are a lot of things wrong with Attack on Titan, but this scene was not one of those things.  Of the two Attack on Titan transformations on this list-yes, there’s another one on here- this one was one of the most violent.  And if you’ve seen Attack on Titan, you know how it goes.  After Eren get’s eaten by that God-looking titan, and subsequently watching another scout cry for her mom as she’s being dissolved in stomach acid, Eren initiates his first titan transformation.  But what makes this scene so awesome is how it goes down.  To put it bluntly, he punches through the titan’s mouth and tears his way out.  Sure, the gory details are spared, but when you see that fist fly through, it’s just epic.  Though it got out ranked by another AOT transformation, it was one of the reasons season one was worth the watch.

#5: Sesshoumaru’s True Form (Inuyasha)

For what it’s worth, there were many other transformation sequences in Inuyasha that could have topped this one- Inuyasha’s full on demon transformations in season two are especially noteworthy.  But this one has always been a personally favorite for its end result, which is how most of these transformations wound up on this list in the first place.  It had some build up and the initial transformation is pretty quick, but Holy crap, are the end results epic.  While battling in their father’s tomb for the Tetsuaiga, Sesshomaru decides to turn things up a notch against Inuyasha.  At first, Sesshomaru uses part of the transformation process to attack Inuyasha, but then goes all the way through, giving us a cool eye color change and freaky dog face, and then KABOOM (yeah)!  What we get in the end is a giant terrifying dog.  Sure, it doesn’t sound all that great, but just look at it!  It’s a giant monster dog!  Plus, it does up the anty to an extent, but Sesshomaru ultimately loses the fight and his left arm.  But like I said, while there were other Inuyasha transformations that I could have mentioned, this sequence put the wow in bow wow.

#4: Goku’s First Super Sayan Transformation (Dragon Ball Z)

Yet another famous transformation sequence that I’ve seemed to blatantly underrate.  While it’s not as high as many of you readers think it should be, I will go to bat for this one and say that it is in fact an awesome transformation.  The first time it happened was so amazing.  In fact, Team Four Star ranked it as their top DBZ moment of all time.  But much like the Sailor Scouts transformations, this transformation is so overdone throughout the series, and by so many other characters afterwards.  It would have been cooler if only Goku could pull it off and that it happened in only a major crisis, but sadly that was not the case.  It seemed like all of a sudden, everyone had to be able to pull it off.  Still, can you blame them; both characters and fans alike try so hard to pull this off.  And like I said, it may be one of the most overdone transformations, but it’s not hard to see why.  It’s a super transformation for one super Saiyan.

#3: Reiner and Bertholdt’s Revelation (Attack on Titan)

This transformation was not only my favorite out of Attack on Titan, it was also one of my favorite moments from season two-maybe even the series in general.  The initial revelation itself is really blunt, unusual, and kind of stupid.  Reiner just simply tells Eren that he and Bertholdt are the Armored and Colossal Titans… in front of a crowd of scouts.  Yeah, really?  How come no one heard this going on?  So yeah, at first, it comes off as almost a joke.  But you don’t initially believe it until you see it happen.  Even the first couple of seconds that lead up to it really cement the fact that Reiner is serious, but that mostly comes from the fact that we watch Reiner pretty much lose his mind by this point.  Like I said, the initial revelation itself is laughable, but it becomes all the more shocking when you see it happen.  It was a colossal transformation from two of the worst traitors in anime.  But seriously, though, how come no one in the scouts heard that?!

#2: Alucard’s Level 1 Release (Hellsing Ultimate)

This was another one of those transformations that I picked because it was a personal favorite series moment.  Of all the moments in Hellsing Ultimate, this was one of my favorites, as well as one of the craziest transformations out there.  And for the record, I’m referring to the moment when Alucard uses this transformation on Luke Valentine.  Much like Sesshomaru’s transformation, there were other transformations in Hellsing that could have topped it.  Alucard’s Level 0 transformation is epic beyond belief, and Watchmojo thought Alexander turning into Groot was noteworthy, but this one was just so much cooler for so many reasons.  For one, the visuals are insane.  You watch Alucard go from a black mass to a black dog and somewhere in between.  And the shaky camera shots add to the suspense.  Plus the whole time you’re watching Luke try to run is just as suspenseful, especially if you’re wondering what exactly Alucard is turning into.  And finally, this is only a preview of what kind of power Alucard possesses, not to mention how violent Alucard can be.  I do think it’s a shame that this transformation goes unnoticed, especially by Watchmojo- although it was included in its top ten anime overkills list.  But regardless of what they say, I’ll go to bat for it by saying it’s one bat shit crazy transformation.

No honorable mentions this time because if I did, we’d be here a while.   But be warned, my number one pick strayed towards the weird.

#1: Tetsuo’s Mutation (Akira)

Yeah…you were warned.  For all that I’ve talked about this film, you guys had to know this one would be on the list.  This transformation is beyond weird.  It’s one of those transformations that just scares you silly.  It comes at the end when Tetsuo starts to lose his powers.  There’s a lot of build up and one major moment that hints at what’s to come, but then all hell breaks loose.  But for what it’s worth, it’s actually a very beautiful transformation-in a freakishly ugly sort of way.  The detail that you see in this sequence is something you rarely seen in anime at all, which is what makes it so unique.  Plus there’s no denying how uncomfortable this scene is in general.  If the visuals weren’t enough to scare you, just listening to Tetsuo scream and cry throughout this sequence is enough to send you over.  It’s a transformation people still talk about thirty years later, and it’s my number one transformation in anime.

So what do you think?  Was there a transformation I missed?  What were you’re favorite transformations?  Should the Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z transformations been higher on the list?  And seriously, how come the scouts didn’t hear Reiner say out loud he and Bertholdt were the Armored and Colossal Titans?!  Anyways, that’s all I have for this week!  Stay tuned when I reveal Character of the Month of September!  Yes, I’m still doing that for this month.

-Hanime on Anime