Some of the most eagerly anticipated anime series are set to grace the big screens this scorching summer. As the temperature rises, so does the excitement for the incredible lineup of intriguing stories, thrilling adventures, and stunning visuals that awaits. Summer 2023 promises to be a great season filled with formidable shonen protagonists with extraordinary powers.
These protagonists embody strength, resilience, and the characteristic indomitable spirit that allows them to surpass the limits of human capabilities and leap past seemingly insurmountable challenges to achieve their goals. Here are some of the strongest shonen anime protagonists Summer 2023 has to offer and what makes them so unique.
4 Keitaro Gentoga – Dark Gathering
Dark Gathering thrusts viewers into the world of ghost hunting, with Keitaro at the center of it all. Keitaro is a young boy burdened with a cursed right hand, naturally attracting ghosts and spirits toward him. During his childhood, he experienced a haunting incident that resulted in him and Eiko, his friend, being cursed by an unknown spirit.
He becomes Yayoi’s lesson teacher in order to deal with his resulting isolation and withdrawal. Unknown to him, Yayoi is a ghost hunter who uses his ability as a ghost magnet to find the ghost that kidnapped her mother. This propels him into a life where he uses his abilities to hunt ghosts while trying to undo the curse that has befallen him and his childhood friend, Eiko.
3 Itadori Yuji – Jujutsu Kaisen
Itadori Yuji was a normal human till he consumed one of the fingers of Ryomen Sukuna, after which he became a vessel for the latter. In the aftermath, Yuji enrolled as a first-year student at Tokyo Jujutsu High, a prestigious institution for training jujutsu sorcerers. Alongside his classmates, Megumi and Nobara, Yuji embarks on a journey of danger and supernatural encounters. Yuji only started to manifest cursed energy after becoming Sukuna’s host; before that, he was born with exceptional physical gifts that allowed him to go toe-to-toe with some of the strongest jujutsu sorcerers in Jujutsu Kaisen’s story.
Despite his unassuming appearance, he possesses remarkable speed and reflexes that enable him to dodge and counter opponents’ attacks with swift, powerful strikes. In addition to these heightened physical skills, Itadori has good control over cursed energy, allowing him to unleash potent attacks like Divergent Fist and Black Flash, which can hammer even special-grade cursed spirits. In Itadori’s first year, he was said to be one of three students who could potentially surpass Gojo Satoru, and this was evidenced by his battle with Aoi Todo - a grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer. As the host of Sukuna, Itadori also possesses resistance to all forms of poison.
2 Kenshin Himura – Rurouni Kenshin
Kenshin was popularly known as Hitokiri Battosai due to his ability to kill his opponents in one fell swoop. Although his days as an assassin are now behind him, he’s still one of the strongest warriors in the series. Despite his unassuming appearance, he is regarded as a living legend due to his crucial role during the revolution, which led to the war's end. His blistering speed makes him near invisible to the human eye and allows him to evade Gatling gun fire.
His Battojutsu allows him to strike with lightning speed, often defeating his opponent in one strike, earning him the title of Battosai. However, his ability to use two sword styles with his sheath acting as a second sword also adds a bit of unpredictability to his frightening might. While Kenshin excels in swordsmanship, he also possesses notable hand-to-hand combat skills, employing jujitsu and aikido to fend off multiple adversaries. He eventually learns to incorporate the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu into his style, mastering it and making it his own. His impressive battle IQ, adaptability, and blistering speed solidify his place among the strongest protagonists in the summer 2023 season.
1 Kurosaki Ichigo – Bleach
As the protagonist is Bleach, the substitute shinigami is the strongest. Suddenly thrust into the middle of a conspiracy, Ichigo had no choice quickly adapt to his shinigami powers. Notably, he acquired his bankai in just two and a half days instead of the several years it usually takes. Even as a normal human, he was considerably stronger and faster than everyone else; these physical abilities were significantly boosted when he became a shinigami, learning moves like Shunpo, which allowed him to speed blitz lieutenants and dodge point-blank shots to the head.
After undergoing rigorous training at the Soul King Palace and unlocking his true Shikai, Ichigo’s power and skills reached new heights. Demonstrating his immense growth, he was able to overpower four Sternritters, formidable adversaries, simultaneously; while also defeating a Quincy using Vollstandig, a powerful technique, with only his Shikai. With his new bankai mode, he threatened Yhwach severely, forcing the latter to acknowledge the extent of his power and take the fight seriously.