Creatively reimagined weapons are one of the most beloved anime staples of all time, but some anime take this to the next level by weaponizing things that no one should use in combat. Instead of increasing a gun’s size to impossible degrees or imbuing swords with mystical powers, these anime use things like paper for war.
That being said, what’s even more unbelievable than an anime character using office and school supplies as a weapon is how effective and deadly their odd weapon of choice actually is. Thanks to these anime, both the characters and audiences won’t be able to look at these unremarkable every day objects the same way again.
10 JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders — DIO Turned A Road Roller Into A Legendary Weapon
Part of the fun of every JoJo’s fight is seeing the creative brawls. Usually, fighters channeled their powers through ordinary objects. For example, Joseph Joestar channeled Hamon into whatever he could hold, and Pesci had his Stand-empowered fishing rod. Meanwhile, DIO threw a road roller on Jotaro Kujo.
Unlike other Stand Users, DIO didn’t infuse the road roller with anything special; he stopped time with The World then tried to crush Jotaro with the heavy equipment. DIO’s use of the nearby road roller became one of the most iconic moments in anime history, and it will be a long time before it gets usurped.
9 Blood+ — Hagi’s Cello Case Doubled As A Shield & Bludgeon
To fight Chiropterans, everyone in Blood+ used weapons like swords and guns. Hagi had his daggers, but he’s better known for slamming his cello case on Chiropterans. Besides the fact that it looks like a coffin and is sturdy enough to be used as a shield and weapon, Hagi’s cello case is just a cello case.
Hagi’s cello case does have a cello in it, and the only thing that separates it from other cello cases is that it has extra space for Saya’s sword. It could be theorized that Hagi’s cello case is made from the kinds of materials that a typical cello case wouldn’t need, especially given how much damage it can tank and inflict.
8 Future Diary — Yuki Amano’s Darts Were Deadlier Than They Seem
In Deus’ game for godhood, all weapons were fair game. To wit, Diary Users armed themselves with bombs, guns, and all kinds of blades. At the game’s start, Yuki was an ordinary high schooler who was too afraid to hold a gun. This, however, didn’t stop him from using throwing darts with lethal efficiency.
One of Yuki’s hobbies was playing darts, and he was good at it. Even when he was panicking, Yuki destroyed The Third’s diary with a perfectly-aimed dart, and he even took out The Ninth’s eye with one. By the time Yuki took Future Diary’s death game seriously, his darts and aim were as deadly as a gun.
7 My Hero Academia — Sir Nighteye Used Office Stamps As Projectiles
Since he’s a psychic support hero, Sir Nighteye was at a disadvantage when it came to close-quarter combat. To make up for this, Sir Nighteye trained hard to maximize his speed and durability. His weapon of choice were the kinds of rubber seals one would find in an office, and he threw them like darts.
While this sounds ridiculous, each hyper-density seal actually weighed 5kg. Combined with Sir Nighteye’s enhanced strength, these rubber stamps were strong enough to break walls or burst one of Twice’s clones in one hit. These stamps and Sir Nighteye’s clairvoyance made up for his lack of brute strength.
6 One Piece — Charlotte Katakuri Flicked Jellybeans Like Bullets
If there’s something One Piece’s Katakuri loved as much as his family, it was sweets. In fact, his private quarters were made of sugary snacks and candies. That’s not to say that he was defenseless in his personal space, since he could use some of his favorite foods as a weapon. Case in point, he used jellybeans like bullets.
Whenever Katakuri wanted to quickly get an annoying person out of the way, he’d flick a jellybean at them with such immense force that it inflicted the same injuries a bullet would. Anyone who could dodge these high-speed jellybeans and quickly land at least one hit on Katakuri was worth his full attention.
5 Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex — Fem Used Coins As Bullets & A Statement
Stand Alone Complex is a politically-charged anime, and the one-episode assassin Fem made some of the most blatant criticisms of capitalism. Fem is an anti-capitalist assassin, and she took jobs that let her kill the wealthy. To hammer her point in and throw in some irony, she murdered billionaires with coins.
Specifically, Fem loaded her arm-mounted shotgun with rolls of coins. Besides the symbolism of killing the rich with money, Fem’s ammo let her stock up without attracting attention. Fem’s deadly use for loose change and her concealed firearm let her move around the globe unnoticed, and this unsurprisingly caught INTERPOL’s eye.
4 Mobile Fighter G Gundam — Master Asia Took Down Mobile Suits With His Sash
G Gundam was the super robot reboot of the realistic Mobile Suit Gundam, so it goes without saying that it took the real robot anime’s concepts for a cartoonishly fun ride. That said, G Gundam’s most ridiculously awesome weapon wasn’t one of its many silly mobile suit designs, but Master Asia’s sash.
Master Asia was Domon’s mentor and a world-renowned martial arts master, so that obviously meant he could topple mobile suits with his sash. In some cases, all he needed were his bare hands. Master Asia also piloted of the intimidating Master Gundam, but he’s better remembered for his cloth-based combat.
3 Read Or Die — Yomiko Readman Wielded The Power Of Paper
When it comes to ordinary objects being used as weapons, no other anime codified the trope the way that Read Or Die did. In the original OVA, books were both a source of knowledge and literal power. Case in point, Yomiko (codenamed The Paper) was a Paper Master who had the power to control paper.
With this power, Yomiko commanded piles of paper to take any shape she desired or protect herself from other attacks. Yomiko’s control of paper came with a strange price, though, as her abilities turned her into an extreme bibliophile whose addiction to reading could literally kill her if she didn’t satiate her urges in time.
2 Speed Grapher — Tatsumi Saiga’s Eyesight Caused Explosions
After the photojournalist Saiga infiltrated the Roppongi Club and was kissed by “The Goddess” Kagura Tennozu, he gained the power to make whatever he took a picture of explode. At first, Saiga thought that it was this was his camera’s doing. In reality, it was Saiga’s eyesight, and his camera just channeled this power.
The trade-off was that the more Saiga used his explosive photography, the more damage he inflicted on his eyes. This was doubly troublesome since his line of work demanded that he take pictures, and he was getting addicted to the rush. By Speed Grapher’s end, Saiga used his powers so much that his eyes exploded.
1 Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions — Toka Takanashi’s Ladle Was Beyond Unstoppable
Despite Rikka’s anime-fueled fantasies, the world of Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions was grounded in reality. One of the few outlandish constants was the power that Toka’s ladle held, since it was basically a multipurpose weapon. Toka didn’t just have a ladle because she was in culinary school, but she needed it to keep Rikka in line.
More than once, Toka used her ladle to either literally knock sense into her younger sister or to combat her umbrella-wielding fighting style. Even when she wasn’t fighting Rikka, Toka used her utensil to impose her authority on everyone else. Fittingly, Rikka’s fantasies interpreted Toka’s ladle as a giant ice cream scoop.