In the list of powerful abilities anime characters have sported over the years, most tend to be directed toward keeping the user alive. A few even play around with post-death states, but reincarnation is an odd ability, as it offers no immediate utility.
Reincarnation is when a person dies and is born again in a new body/life. It differs from revival, which retains the previous attributes of the deceased, and regeneration which returns one to a pre-death/damage state. It’s usually a passive, uncontrollable force that only exists to give characters a chance to start over in another life. Here are some characters who possess this ability.
8 Elizabeth – Seven Deadly Sins
Elizabeth is one of the main characters of Seven Deadly Sins, and one of the first to team up with Meliodas at the start of the series. However, escaping her life as a princess to seek his help was far from the first time they met.
In her original life, Elizabeth was princess of the gods, instead of just a human kingdom. When she and Meliodas tried to end the conflict between their people, she was cursed to reincarnate, while he was cursed with eternal life. The two have since met countless times, in Elizabeth’s countless lives.
7 Power – Chainsaw Man
All devils in Chainsaw Man share a similar life cycle. They are born from humanity’s collective fear of a certain thing (like guns or zombies) and roam the earth as they please. Once they are killed, however, the devils return to hell. But this is not the end.
If they are killed again in hell, devils are reincarnated in the human world, although they seem to retain none of their memories. While she might be a fiend at the moment, Power was originally the Blood Devil, meaning if she ever dies, she’ll simply be reincarnated in another realm.
6 Kagome Higurashi – Inuyasha
Before Inuyasha was trapped in a sacred tree, he and his then-lover, Kikyo began to fight over a sacred jewel that Kikyo was tasked with protecting. Eventually, Kikyo was forced to seal him away in the tree, while she took the jewel into herself before dying.
Years later, Kagome was born. Unbeknownst to her, she was the reincarnation of Kikyo, meaning that she had the jewel within her soul as well, and dark forces would soon come for it and her. It’s fortunate then that she was able to free Inuyasha and reform their previous team.
5 Usagi – Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon is an iconic shoujo series and stars Usagi, a high school girl who gains the ability to transform into the titular Sailor Moon. While Usagi more than formed her own legend, she was arguably destined for it, as she is the reincarnation of Princess Serenity, the princess of the moon kingdom.
The princess was very similar to Usagi in both appearance and disposition. When their kingdom finally fell, her mother the queen used her powers to make sure her daughter and companions could have another lease on life. Luckily for her, they would unite in another life as the sailor scouts.
4 Yona – Yona Of The Dawn
In Yona of The Dawn, Yona is the princess of the long-lasting Louka kingdom. Not only that, but she’s also the reincarnation of the dragon god who founded the kingdom to begin with. This makes her a fairly unique character for having reincarnated into the same family more than once.
While she enjoyed a rather easygoing existence as a princess, Yona was forced to flee her home when her father was murdered in a coup. This provided her the opportunity to adventure into the world, eventually becoming a seasoned warrior and leader, just like in her last life.
3 Aqua – KonoSuba
Aqua sticks out on this list by being the cause of someone else’s reincarnation. While it’s unclear whether she can reincarnate after death herself, for a long time she served as a goddess who would meet newly dead souls to offer them reincarnation.
Usually, she sends her charges off with little incident, but due to the spitefulness of Kazuma, her cushy goddess job was uprooted, forcing her to reincarnate with him in his new life. Despite taking on a graceful persona as a goddess, reincarnation tore her down to earth, causing her to give in to her worst impulses, often being found drinking heavily or crying profusely at every inconvenience.
2 Tanya Degurechuff – Saga Of Tanya The Evil
The isekai genre is rife with sad Japanese men being reincarnated into new worlds with amazing powers. Tanya, however, was rather comfortable. She was a salaryman, but had a managerial position, and seemed pretty comfortable with life until a disgruntled ex-employee pushed her onto some train tracks.
Had Tanya had the good sense to play along, she may have been reincarnated into a better life. Instead, she jeered God himself, causing him to reincarnate her as Tanya, a little girl in a country embroiled in war.
1 Jujutsu Sorcerers – Jujutsu Kaisen
Cursed energy in Jujutsu Kaisen is a pretty flexible resource. It can be used for powerful combat abilities and even healing, but its use in exorcism is not to be forgotten. Jujutsu sorcerers often use it to exorcize cursed spirits, but they themselves also need to be exorcized at times.
It is well established that if a jujutsu sorcerer is killed by any means other than using cursed energy, they will reincarnate as a cursed spirit. This means that everyone from Yuji to Gojo has the potential to become a cursed spirit if they aren’t killed properly.