---
title: 'The 7 Levels Of Power System'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=4qQ22WbUxMM'
video_id: '4qQ22WbUxMM'
date: 2026-06-17
duration_sec: 0
---

# The 7 Levels Of Power System

> Source: [The 7 Levels Of Power System](https://youtube.com/watch?v=4qQ22WbUxMM)

## Summary

The video ranks anime and manga power systems into seven levels, from the worst (Noob) to the best (The Strongest). It critiques generic systems like those in many isekai and Solo Leveling, while praising creative and deep systems like JoJo's Stands, Hunter x Hunter's Nen, and Jujutsu Kaisen's Cursed Energy. The analysis emphasizes that great power systems have clear rules, limits, consistency, and originality, and often tie deeply into the story.

### Key Points

- **Level 1: Noob Power Systems** [0:18] — Level 1 systems are copy-pasted from video games, with generic abilities and no strategy, making the story worse. Examples include many isekai and Solo Leveling.
- **Level 2: Background Character** [3:35] — Level 2 systems focus on basics, like Demon Slayer's breathing techniques and Dragon Ball's energy attacks. They are simple and iconic but lack depth.
- **Level 3: Side Character** [5:18] — Level 3 systems get creative, like Mob Psycho 100's emotion-based counter and Attack on Titan's Titan transformation. They have unique twists but are still figuring out balance.
- **Level 4: Main Character** [7:35] — Level 4 systems are memorable in one way, like Frieren's scientifically developed magic or Bleach's Bankai. They excel in one area but have flaws.
- **Level 5: Transformation** [10:00] — Level 5 systems nail fundamentals and add unique depth, like My Hero Academia's Quirks affecting society and Witch Hat Atelier's magic as an art form.
- **Level 6: Overpower** [13:32] — Level 6 systems are special and creative, like One Piece's Devil Fruits and Haki, Chainsaw Man's fear-based devils, and Gachi's emotional weapon transformations.
- **Level 7: The Strongest** [16:25] — Level 7 systems are the peak, including JoJo's Stands (rewarding intelligence), Hunter x Hunter's Nen (complex and deep), and Jujutsu Kaisen's Cursed Energy (modern and tied to story).

## Transcript

There are tons of unique power systems
in anime and manga. Some are absolutely
legendary, some are okay, and some are
just bad. So, here are the seven levels
of power systems, starting from the
absolute worst to the ones you'll
remember forever. Level one, noob. This
is the absolute bottom. Level one is the
place where you're going to ask
yourself, why is there even a power
system in that thing? They often feel
like they were just copy pasted from
something way better without the parts
that made the thing they copied cool.
Those are the systems that usually have
the most basic abilities you could think
of. The real problem isn't that they're
boring. It's just that they make their
stories so much worse. For example,
there's a whole category of anime called
isekai. And most of them go something
like this. some random person is
transported or reincarnated in some kind
of strange world, which sounds
interesting until you realize that most
of them just take their entire power
system from whatever role- playinging
game they could think of. I'm talking
about literal game screens floating in
front of the characters with their
levels, health, magic. I'm talking
fireballs, water magic, that kind of
stuff. The magic systems in these shows
are so predictable. Every single
character is either the sword person,
the magic person, or the bow person.
Most of the time, the main character is
so freaking overpowered that having a
power system doesn't really matter
anyway. There are no smart tactics,
creative problem solving, interesting
abilities. No, that's lame. We just want
to oneshot stuff. Okay, but seriously,
there are some really genuinely awesome
isek out there that do all these things
in way more interesting ways, but a lot
of them do not. Level one also includes
series like Solo Leveling that have
extremely beautiful animation, but
nothing else. The main character of this
series is called Jinu, and he's
basically the only person that can
become stronger by slowly leveling up
like in a video game. And um when I say
slowly, what I actually mean is that by
episode 25, he's already one of the
strongest characters in the entire show.
Every single episode, he gets new
abilities, new weapons, new moves. The
entire idea is that he becomes super
overpowered super fast, but because of
that, there isn't really any strategy or
specific rules. There's a scene where he
fights this thing. It's this final boss
kind of enemy that's basically been
destroying everyone in the series in
like seconds. This looks like it's going
to be a tough fight. They both go all
out. Jin Wu is having a very difficult
time. They punch each other. They start
flying. The insect attacks. Watch out.
Watch out. Watch out. As Jin Wu is about
to lose, the video game system appears
and saves Jin Wu and he wins the fight
without a scratch. Listen, the video
game thing is cool, but if it's the
solution to every problem, then what is
the point of a power system, but
seriously, I genuinely like Solo Levoy.
The fights are cool. The action scenes
are beautiful. And honestly, sometimes
you just want to watch someone get
ridiculously overpowered and one-shot
their enemies without having to think
too much about how everything works. But
does that create an interesting power
system? No. Awesome fights, bad power
system. And here's the thing, good
systems are about many things like clear
rules, limits, consistency, cool powers,
original abilities that you've never
seen before, and so much more. The best
systems combine all these things, but
level one systems do not have any of
these things. Level two, background
character. Level two is where things get
a tiny bit better, and that's because
they focus on the basics. We're starting
to see power systems with some depth and
a couple of cool abilities here and
there, but they're still very far from
perfect. They do their job, but in the
end, they're still basic. Let's take
Demon Slayer. The power system in this
series is literally breathing. And
basically, the more characters master
their breathing, the stronger they get.
The cool part is that there are a bunch
of different styles of breathing, like
fire, water, and even love breathing for
some reason. Don't get me wrong, the
abilities are not that crazy. I mean,
most of the characters just have
different ways of swinging a sword. But
we're definitely starting to see some
complexity with the different categories
of breathing or even limits where
characters can only do certain moves a
certain amount of times. Everything
looks visually beautiful, but it's not
to hide the fact that there's nothing
there. Yeah, it looks absolutely
gorgeous and makes your eyes explode,
but underneath all that, there's some
interesting stuff. Level two power
systems also include legends like Dragon
Ball. Hey, wo wo, it's fine. Calm down.
Let me explain. Let me explain. Dragon
Ball has a power system that was
absolutely
amazing when it came out. I mean, this
thing gave us some of the most iconic
moves in anime history. the Kamehameha,
the Kaio-Ken, the Super Saiyan
transformation, Ultra freaking Instinct.
But it's been many years and power
systems evolve. Dragon Ball is what
everyone else took inspiration from. But
when you look at it now, it's honestly
pretty basic. Martial arts, energy
attacks, transformations. It's clean,
easy to understand, simple, and
instantly recognizable. But compared to
some stuff that came out later, it's
just not that deep. These systems are
simple, but at the end of the day,
they're just the foundation until you
add a couple of things and you get level
three, side character. Level three is
where things get creative. Power systems
start having their own style, their own
unique touch, but they're still figuring
out how to balance everything. These are
the kind of systems that make you go,
"Uh-huh,
that's pretty interesting." They don't
nail everything, but the foundations are
pretty strong. In Mob Psycho 100, the
power system is literally just how
emotional can the main character become.
The characters have something called
psychic powers, which basically means
they can do stuff like telekinesis, go
really fast, use telepathy, and a bunch
of other pretty basic powers. It's the
same psychic stuff we've seen a million
times before, just with a pretty cool
twist. Every once in a while, you'll see
this counter on the screen that goes
from zero to 100. It usually happens
when the main character is getting
angrier or sadder or just when he gets
some kind of emotion. And every time you
see that number going up, you're sitting
there like, "Oh my goodness, oh my
goodness, he's going to do it." There
are some consistent rules and there's
more depth than just a dude using random
abilities, but it's not super strict
rules. And that's the thing. Mob Psycho
100 is the first power system on this
list that I would consider a soft power
system. Basically, from what I
understand, there's this really famous
author called Brandon Sanderson and he
said that you can either have a hard
magic system, which is the kind of thing
where there are a lot of strict rules
that are very clearly explained and it
can almost feel like you're reading some
kind of encyclopedia. And then there are
soft power systems where the rules are a
bit more mysterious and they aren't
explained as much. Here's the thing.
These two things can work really well,
but they're very different. In Attack on
Titan, people transform into Titans, but
we don't need to understand all the
rules of how someone transforms and how
it works. Specifically, the system is
deep in other ways like how it ties into
the entire story. Kill is an extreme
example of that. Basically, there are
school students. These school students
have uniforms and depending on how many
stars there are on the uniform, the
student is more or less powerful. That's
it. I don't think there is anything
especially interesting with this power
system, but it's super creative and it
looks completely different from anything
else out there. This system serves the
series over-the-top style perfectly, but
it's about as mechanical as a dream.
Sometimes that's enough, but sometimes
you want a power system that can
surprise you with some strategy, and
that's where we get level four, main
character. Every power system in level
four is memorable for one reason or
another. These systems represent a big
leap in depth. They're usually really
good in several ways, but great in one
specific way. Let's take Free Ren. This
series puts so much effort into creating
this detailed system where magic is
developed over centuries. There's a
scene where a mage apprentice is
fighting against a demon. This guy used
to be one of the deadliest wizards on
the planet. And that's because he
invented a spell called Zulttro. It was
extremely powerful magic that people
used to attack other people. But as time
went by, mages became smarter and
smarter and learned how to use magic in
a bunch of different ways until one day,
Zoltro went from one of the deadliest
spells you could imagine to just a basic
spell. Instead of characters learning
new abilities over weeks or months, Free
Wrench shows us what happens when
someone has literally centuries to
perfect their craft. It's a much more
scientific and realistic way of showing
magic. It's complex and extremely
consistent. But here's the thing. All of
these spells are the most generic
fantasy spells
ever, which is probably exactly what the
author was going for, even though it's
not always super fun. Level 4 also has
super chaotic power systems that are
basically the complete opposite of free.
If I tried explaining the Dondon system
to you right now,
I'm not sure I could, honestly. The
series combines Japanese spirits, alien
powers, and psychic abilities into one
system, but it never really explains how
these completely different things are
supposed to work together. It makes
everything extremely fun, and the
abilities are super iconic. There is no
logic, nothing that explains why certain
powers work the way they do, and that's
fine, but it is very chaotic, which can
sometimes lead to very confusing moments
where you have absolutely no idea what's
going on. As a bonus, level four also
includes bleach because Bongai is the
single best power up in anime history.
Period. Level four powers basically nail
one piece of the puzzle, but they're
still missing a little something. They
are so close to greatness and they show
you glimpses of what could be absolute
perfection, but they're held back by a
couple of flaws. And I get it. Sometimes
author do all of these things on
purpose, but that is the difference
between level four and level five
transformation. Every single power
system from now on is awesome. Level
five systems are way deeper than just
fighting mechanics. Everyone in this
category has nailed the fundamentals,
but they all do something that makes
them stand out from everyone else. My
Hero Academia might seem like a super
basic power system, but there's
something it does better than pretty
much everyone else, including systems in
higher levels. The way it works is that
approximately 80% of the population has
superpowers called quirks. You have your
basic stuff like throwing fire, running
fast, or punching hard. But you also
have much more original abilities like
an octopus looking body with eyes, ears,
and mouths at the end of each tentacle
or using cables that come out of your
ears to create shock waves or even a
literal bird made of shadow. But here's
the thing, people then used to have
quirks. In the beginning, there were
only a few people that did. And as more
individuals started getting them,
society became this extremely dangerous
place where there were no laws to
control those who had superpowers.
People who used their abilities to help
others became heroes. But I'm not
talking about your regular superheroes.
I'm talking about licensed professionals
with rankings, performance metrics, and
careers. They even started creating
entire agencies of heroes. But there was
also a very dark side to this. Some
people's quirks made them very unusual.
There were those who looked very
different or others who accidentally
became dangerous. Many of those people
couldn't live a normal life anymore
because of something they were born
with. Which is why a lot of the villains
in My Hero Academia aren't people who
just decided to be bad guys. They were
people who were treated terribly because
of their powers and decided it wasn't
fair. Quirks affect literally every
single aspect of society. Economics,
education, laws, social life, everything
is built around them. Sure, there aren't
any complicated rules and the abilities
are pretty basic in general, but the
fact that everything in this story is
happening because of the power system
gives it a crazy amount of depth. Level
5 also has very recent series like witch
hat. This power system does something
really interesting by completely
changing the entire idea of magic.
Instead of it being this thing that
people are just born with or they're
not, it becomes this art that literally
anyone can learn if they just understand
how to draw it. Because yes, in witch
hat atier, the way you use magic is by
drawing specific circles and specific
symbols together to create specific
spells. Witches have a bunch of
different pens to draw on different
objects. So, for example, if someone
wants to fly, they're not just going to
focus and use some wind magic. No,
they're going to draw the specific
symbol they need to create strong wind,
draw it in two separate parts under
their shoes, and when they need to fly,
they'll put the shoes together so that
the symbol is complete. And bam, anyone
with a pen and paper can theoretically
use magic. And that's where the dark
part of the system comes in. The witch
society keeps magical knowledge a
secret. Cuz if everyone use spells, the
world would become a super dangerous
place. And whenever someone finds out
about this law, the magic police erases
their memory. The thing I absolutely
love about this is how yes, the spells
are super basic. But there's a twist
that makes you feel like you're just
rediscovering magic, and that's amazing.
But apart from that, the magic just
looks freaking beautiful. I mean, look
at that. Level five systems get to that
sweet spot where everything clicks
together. They all do something very
unique while being complex in their own
way. These are the systems that stick
with you long after you finished
watching. Level six, overpower.
Everything from this point bangs. Those
are power systems that nail several
things, which ultimately makes them
extremely deep in a couple of ways.
Level six is where creators stop playing
by anyone else's rules. There might be
similar power systems out there, but
these guys are unique in a way that
would be really hard to replicate.
They're not just good or great. They're
special. These are the systems that make
you go, "Holy moly, I never thought of
doing it that way." Listen, I know that
a lot of people think that One Piece's
power system is generic and goofy, but
name another anime that made a rubber
person cool. In One Piece, characters
get powers by eating these fruits called
devil fruits. That's basically the
system. And trust me when I say that
this feels like the author just went,
"What if I could give characters
literally any power I can think of and
somehow make it work all together?" And
he pulled it off. We have characters
like a dude that controls strings and
uses them to fly, cut entire buildings
and control people like puppets, or a
girl that can create an almost infinite
amount of limbs, or even the fusion
between a dog and a cannon. Author takes
really simple ideas like rubber or
strings or whatever he can think of and
turns them into these super creative
abilities. But on top of that, he also
added a second power system called haki
so that people without devil fruits
could fight against people who do have
devil fruits. The author has been slowly
perfecting this power system over a
year, and it now works like a very
complex puzzle. But at the same time,
it's simple enough they can still enjoy
it even without diving too deep. Weirdly
enough, level six also has a couple of
new power systems. We have Chainsaw Man,
where the main idea is that humans are
afraid of stuff and this fear creates
these monsters called devils. And the
more people are afraid of these specific
things, the stronger the devil. We have
stuff like the bat devil, the octopus
devil, and even the sea cucumber devil.
Not going to lie, these things are
pretty scary. We also have gachi, where
literal garbage can be transformed into
magical weapons if someone takes care of
it for long enough. Okay, so imagine
that you have a pen you really love.
You've had it since you were a kid going
through middle school, high school, and
maybe even work or university. So that
pen can now transform into this massive
pen magic weapon, right? Not exactly.
Transformation of the pen depends on who
you are. So let's say you love running.
Maybe your pen will turn into this
extremely fast pen hoverboard. Or maybe
you love cooking, so your pen will turn
into this kitchen tool where instead of
the ink is the exact oil you need for a
certain meal. It all depends on the
person. And that's basically got power
system. Level six systems are created by
people who have mastered all the regular
approaches and decided that it just
wasn't good enough. What makes these
systems special is the combination of
creativity and a lot of thinking. In
some cases, these power systems just
need a little bit more time. In other
cases, they're almost perfect. Almost.
Because that is the title reserved for
level seven, the strongest. We are now
at the absolute peak of power system.
Level seven isn't just great. It's the
standard that every other creator tries
to reach. All of them are great in
almost every single category. But
they're exceptional in their own unique
way. And if you ask anyone what the best
power systems in anime and manga are,
there's like a 90% chance, they'll say
it's these ones. First, we have the most
creative power system. Jojo stands. The
idea is super simple. Stands are these
spirits that only other stand users can
see. They're also linked to you. So, if
your stand gets hurt, you get hurt, too.
And each one of them has specific
supernatural abilities. pretty basic
until you realize that a lot of these
stands are extremely creative. This girl
uses strings to create any object
imaginable. This man uses bubbles to
steal the properties of things. Like,
for example, someone's ability to see.
This guy's power is to use zippers, as
in the same zippers in pants. These
powers might seem goofy, but they
actually create some of the coolest
fights you can imagine. There is
genuinely no such thing as a generic
stand battle because each power forces
characters to be super creative about
how to use their abilities and counter
other abilities. You might think that a
stand is completely useless until you
see it in action. Like the zipper guy I
just talked about, at some point he's
trying to find someone, so he's slowly
tracking them until he sees something
suspicious and puts a zipper on a wall
to get closer to it. He finds a
mysterious tunnel and slowly makes his
way inside. And bam, there's the guy he
was looking for. My man starts fighting
him and throws his stand. His arm is
trapped. Solution: turn it into a zipper
to free himself. He then proceeds to
punching the enemy as fast as possible
and cuts several rock pillars by turning
them into zippers. But then he casually
receives a phone call while fighting.
So, of course, he just takes his phone
out of his pocket. No, I'm kidding. All
this time, his phone was actually inside
of his face thanks to a zipper. This
system rewards intelligence over raw
strength. Battles aren't won by whoever
has the biggest power level. They're won
by whoever understands their powers the
most deeply. It is the weirdest um
sorry, the most bizarre power system
ever made. But on the flip side, Level 7
also has the most complex and technical
power system. Listen, even if I wanted
to explain how everything works in
Hunter Hunter, I just couldn't. I mean,
look at this insanity. There are
literally pages and pages talking about
these powers. But basically, everyone
has life energy and certain people can
control it. And amongst these people,
there are six categories. Enhancers,
emitters manipulators transmuters
conjurers, and specialists. Each of
these categories can do completely
different things that reflect who you
are as a person. So, for example, the
main character is a very determined and
brave boy. So, he's an enhancer who can
punch things really hard. This is
genuinely like the most basic way to
explain it. Trust me, there is so much
more. And even though it is complicated,
the beauty of having so many rules is
that the characters who understand these
rules are usually the ones that do the
best. Nen has influenced so many other
power systems such as the final power
system and level seven. Listen, I know
people love hating on Jutsu Kaisen, but
saying that this power system isn't
absolutely goated is insane. Juicy is
what happens when someone studies every
great power system that came before
identifies what made each one of them
special and then creates something
completely new. Biting val concept is
where the system reaches true
brilliance. It's basically nond
conditions and limitations and perfected
for modern story
but
permanent condition or situation. Okay.
Um, the rules are not very simple. But
seriously, there are so many rules and I
genuinely don't understand the power
system that well, but from what I've
heard, the author said that they
wouldn't be able to explain it even if
they wanted to. So, that makes me feel a
little bit better. But here's the
important part. In the world of Jujutsu
Kaisen, negative emotions create cursed
energy. And if there's enough cursed
energy, it will create cursed spirits.
Kind of like in Chainsaw Man. Problem is
that regular people can't control their
negative energy, which is why there are
a lot of these monsters. The people who
can control this energy are called
sorcerers, and it's their job to fight
these monsters. I definitely think JJK
is worse than Hunter Hunter when it
comes to the rules and explaining
everything, which is why the more the
series went on, the more people were
confused about the power system, and it
genuinely felt like certain moments
didn't fully make sense. So, based on
the complexity of the rules, the depth,
consistency, Hunter Hunter is the
superior power system. But when it comes
to how original and cool the powers are,
I think JJK is more memorable. Gojo's
limitless technique, summoning Maharaga,
the Black Flash, all these abilities are
iconic. Combined with the fact that the
power system is fully tied to the story
and the world, that's the perfect combo.
I mean, the power system is basically
the reason the story happens in the
first place. Level seven power systems
reach the peak in completely different
ways. They prove that power systems
aren't just tools for fights. They're
often one of the biggest reasons these
series become as popular and loved as
they are.
[Music]