Copycat abilities in any medium are always a bit of a dice roll. Sometimes, they’re the most broken powers in their setting and other times they’re nothing more than a slightly-useful party trick.
But, in anime specifically, abilities that copy the abilities or aspects of others are typically very powerful. So, let’s look at some of the most iconic examples there are.
7/7 That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime: Rimuru Tempest’s Slime Powers
Next up is a very harsh example of a copycat ability from one of the nicest characters, Rimuru Tempest from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Thanks to some choice words while he was bleeding out before his reincarnation, Rimuru got the power of a Skill called “Predator” which allows him to copy the form of whatever he eats, copy their abilities, and more.
Eventually, through his growth, this power evolves into Gluttony and finally Beelzebub, though it’s not entirely clear what the distinctions between them are. In any case, these are certainly copying abilities, but the fact that Rimuru has to “eat” his target to do is pretty rough. Maybe fans will get to see a bit more of his Beelzbub ability and the full extent of its powers in the upcoming Scarlet Bond movie.
6/7 Naruto: The Uchiha’s Sharingan
Naruto probably has one of the most standout versions of a copying ability in the form of the Sharingan (all the different associated variants of it, such as the Mangekyo Sharingan). The Sharingan is capable of many things, as characters like Itachi, Sasuke, and Kakashi have shown over the course of the series.
But, primarily, this ocular power is used to perceive and copy any Jutsu the wielder sees in front of them. Unlike other copying abilities, this isn’t exactly a “copy and paste” power, rather, it’s an “observe and mimic” ability where the Sharingan user literally replicates the movements, chakra usage, and other specific actions needed to perfectly replicate a technique.
5/7 My Hero Academia: Monoma’s Copy Quirk & Toga’s Transform Quirk
Like Naruto, My Hero Academia is another Shonen series that has its fair share of copycat abilities. Though, unlike Naruto, they don’t all stem from the same power or “Quirk”, to use MHA’s in-universe lingo. Rather, there are a couple of characters in this series who have specific Quirks that allow them to “copy” the traits or Quirks of others.
One is of course Neito Monoma from UA’s Class 1-B, who quite literally copies the Quirk of anyone he touches for a set amount of time. Then, there’s Himiko Toga whose blood-based Quirk advanced to the stage where she also copies the Quirk of whoever she’s physically transformed into. And lastly, there are characters like Suneater or All for One who technically has abilities that copy or steal other abilities, but their mechanics are a bit too complex to be strictly labeled as “copying powers”.
4/7 Food Wars Shokugeki no Soma: Asahi Saiba’s Cross Knives
Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma is a unique example for this list as it isn’t a Shonen all about hand-to-hand battles. Rather, Food Wars is all about cooking. That said, this absolutely doesn’t mean it’s a series without superpowers, as some of these chefs seem to have cooking abilities that defy human comprehension.
One of the best examples of this is a character called Asahi Saiba who shows up near the tail-end of Food War’s story. Asahi has an ability called “Cross Knives”, and it allows him to precisely mimic even improve on the abilities and skills of Chefs by using their own beloved cooking tools that Asahi has won from them. It’s not entirely clear if Asahi is able to use their skills while not holding their tools, but from everything he shows, Asahi is absolutely able to replicate their expertise with perfect accuracy.
3/7 Seven Deadly Sins: Ban’s Snatch Ability
Now, this next character is a bit of a loophole, as Ban of the Seven Deadly Sins technically doesn’t “copy” aspects of others, but rather steals them temporarily with the usage of his “Snatch” power. That said, because Ban’s power always eventually returns what it stole, it basically functions the same way as copying it to Ban while disabling it for the other person.
But, where Ban’s power is extra unique is the fact that Snatch doesn’t just steal physical aspects from a person, such as their heart from their body or their weapon from their hands it can also steal conceptual aspects. Ban can take the physical strength, speed, sight, and more away from his opponent, and can even do so with multiple opponents at once. Combine this with the fact that Ban is also an absurdly skilled fighter and is functionally immortal, and it’s no wonder he’s ranked among one of the stronger members of the Seven Deadly Sins.
2/7 Hunter X Hunter: Chrollo Lucifer’s Skill Hunter
There’s a reason why many people consider Hunter X Hunter’s power system, known as Nen, to be the most well-thought-out power system of all time. And, a perfect example of this is the unique Nen ability AKA the Hatsu of Chrollo Lucifer, the leader of the Phantom Troupe.
Chrollo’s Hatsu is called Skill Hunter, and it manifests itself as a book made of Nen that Chrollo physically has to hold turned to specific pages in order to use abilities that he’s stolen. Now, once again, this is an ability that steals from the original owner, but, if they die, Chrollo can no longer use their Nen abilities. And, on top of this, Chrollo also has to fulfill a number of conditions before he can steal someone’s Hatsu, ranging from simply asking them about Nen and getting an answer to having to physically have the target put their palm on the palm print of his Skill Hunter book.
1/7 Jujutsu Kaisen: Yuta Okkotsu’s Brute Force Jujutsu Copying
The funny thing is, the copying part of Yuta’s abilities is only one minor aspect of his powers, and even then they aren’t really elaborated on in any meaningful way. To explain what is known about them, Yuta Okkotsu is one of the most powerful people in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, and he’s also the main character of Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie.
Now, the reason Yuta is so powerful is twofold. One, he’s a descendant of the legendary Jujutsu Sorcerer Michizane Sugawara, giving him an absurdly deep reservoir of Cursed Energy that even surpasses Satoru Gojo’s. Two, because of his inhuman amount of Cursed Energy and his relationship with Rika the “Queen of Curses”, Yuta can copy just about any Jujutsu technique with brute force. Essentially, think of Yuta as a Wizard who uses mana to cast spells. But, because he has such an incomprehensible amount of mana, he can cast any spell not by learning the chant needed to cast it but rather just by pouring enough mana into it. This is essentially how Yuta’s copycat abilities work, and it’s possibly one of the funniest explanations out there for how someone can copy the powers of someone else.