Sports anime are a very popular subset of the manga and anime sphere, and with a large variety of sports to pick from, it's no surprise that there are so many of them. From common and popular sports like soccer and baseball to lesser-known competitive activities like ballroom dancing or sumo, and even completely original sports, the genre has a lot of ground to work with.
Some sports anime go beyond just portraying the sport as is and embellish or otherwise exaggerate the way the game is played to make it more interesting for viewers. Some sports series go as far as to give the series an action-styled edge to it by giving the players special abilities or powers. While some of these powers try to stay in the realm of reality, others have powers so ridiculous that they could be supernatural. Here are some sports players in anime with the most absurd powers.
6 Ashito Aoi's Eagle Eye (Aoashi)
In the beginning, Ashito Aoi was a rather average soccer player with plenty of passion but not enough knowledge or skill in the sport. His lack of cooperation and teamwork also made it hard for him to mesh with the other members of the Tokyo Esperion Youth Team, which gave him a lot of trouble as he tried to make a name for himself and grow as a player.
However, one talent Aoi had that helped him succeed even when he was at his worst was his Eagle Eye, or the ability to simultaneously observe the positions of all the players on the soccer field at once. With this skill, Aoi is able to predict other players' moves, direct his teammates, and figure out the easiest paths in order to open up a goal. While Aoi still lacks ability in certain other areas, he is still a valuable team member just with this ability alone.
5 Agon Kongo's God-Speed Impulse (Eyeshield 21)
While somewhat cartoonishly exaggerated, the football matches in Eyeshield 21 still remain within the world of reality, with the various plays and techniques used in the series being mostly outlandish variations of real-life American football tactics. Agon Kongo of the Shinryuji Nagas, however, is quite a different beast. As the ace player of his team, Agon is considered a genius player who has both physical strength and strategic smarts.
Agon's most unique ability, however, is his superhuman reaction speed. With a reaction time of 0.11 seconds, Agon is able to react to things before everyone else can, allowing him to counter the opposing team's plays and strategies in an instant and even beat out players who would normally outrun him. Combined with his natural physical ability and intelligence, Agon Kongo becomes a mighty force on the football field.
4 Kazane Aoba's Hip Of Babylon (Keijo!!!!!!)
The sport of Keijo is one unique to the anime itself, consisting of women in bathing suits attempting to bounce each other off of floating platforms called "Lands" using only their breasts and buttocks. While the concept initially sounds fanservice-laden, Keijo!!!!!! makes a name for itself by featuring outlandish maneuvers and abilities that are both nonsensical and bizarre.
Among the many Keijo players with strange abilities is Kazane Aoba, a seemingly shy girl with a flair for tactical analysis. Her Scanning Hand allows her to sense the abilities of those she touches, among other things, and mastery of this power leads to the creation of her Hip of Babylon technique, which allows her to copy the moves of the players she has touched. In a world where bizarre, body-bending techniques are a dime a dozen, the Hip of Babylon certainly takes things a step forward.
3 Seijuro Akashi's Emperor Eye (Kuroko's Basketball)
As the captain of the legendary Generation of Miracles, it's no surprise that Seijuro Akashi stands above his fellow teammates in terms of tactical ability. In terms of pure basketball, Akashi is an incredible player who can keep up with great players like Taiga Kagami and the other members of the Generation of Miracles.
Akashi's abilities are only enhanced by the Emperor Eye, which can see even the slightest movements and habits of other players. With the Emperor Eye, Akashi can easily predict and neutralize any strategy that his opponents may come up with. With his incredible intelligence and superior basketball skills, it's no wonder how Akashi ended up leading the Generation of Miracles.
2 Kunimitsu Tezuka's Physics-Breaking Tennis Skills (The Prince Of Tennis)
As the captain of the Seigaku Tennis team, Kunimitsu Tezuka has earned his reputation as one of the greatest tennis players in Japan. Tezuka has a variety of techniques that rely on manipulating spin to control the movement of the ball. This ability is most famously seen in his Tezuka Zone, which forces his opponents to return the ball so that it always comes back to him.
Tezuka is also one of the most prominent users of the Selfless State, a mysterious state that grants its users strange abilities. Tezuka, in particular, has mastered the first of the three doors, the Pinnacle of Hard Work, which boosts his body's physical capabilities. Tezuka is able to focus this power boost on his left arm, reducing the strain on his body and multiplying the force of his strokes.
1 Seiichi Yukimura's Sense-Stealing Tennis (The Prince Of Tennis)
The Prince of Tennis is known for featuring a variety of astounding physics-bending tennis techniques, leading to a variety of absurd and exaggerated tennis matches. However, none of these absurd techniques come close to the playstyle of Seiichi Yukimura, whose tennis technique is so powerful that he causes his opponents to fall prey to yips.
Specifically, Yukimura's playstyle is supposedly so perfect and without openings that his opponents end up slowly losing confidence in their own playstyle. When that happens, they soon start to lose their senses one by one until they are left unresponsive on the court. In The New Prince of Tennis, this ability has grown so that now, instead of losing their senses, Yukimura's opponents are put into a dream-like state where they believe they are winning against Yukimura when they are actually asleep in the real world.