Sometimes, the best weapons an anime hero can have aren’t the most powerful: they’re the ones who can talk back. Sentient weapon partners take many different forms. From objects that can speak or even form a spiritual bond with their human, to humans that can transform to be wielded by a partner, theirs is a rare and powerful friendship to earn.
Whatever form they take, their endearing (or terrifying) qualities remain consistent. Usually, they come to resonate very closely with the person wielding them, and provide advice, support, and even sometimes teasing in battle. Some weapons only want to take their wielders over, such as Anubis in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, but these partners prefer to grow stronger alongside their wielders.
10 Shinki - Noragami
In Noragami, even the most powerful gods need weapons called shinki to slay ayakashi, the creatures invisible to the human eye that corrupt anything they touch. These lost souls of the dead form bonds with the god who finds them by being given a mark and a name. A god can have many shinki, like Bishamon and her powerful clans, or just one, like Yato and Yukine.
The form a shinki takes depends on the god they serve; for instance, Mayu was a dagger in Yato’s hands and a pipe in Tenjin’s. If a shinki forms a particularly intense bond with their god, they can evolve into a Hafuri Vessel and gain a new weapon form by risking their life to protect their partner. As seen with Takemikazuchi’s many failed attempts to imperil Kiun into the stronger form, this is a sacred transformation that cannot be forced.
9 Zanpakutou - Bleach
Unless your name is Kenpachi Zaraki, no Soul Reaper can hope to go far in Soul Society without going through all the proper levels of bonding with their sword. The further they go, the more pronounced their weapon’s sentience becomes. This both makes the zanpakutou spirit stronger in battle and harder to tame.
Born from the Reaper’s own soul, a zanpakutou might reflect its master’s own personality and desires, but it possesses a strong will of its own. Through meditation, training, and battle experience, a Soul Reaper learns their zanpakutou’s name and becomes able to manifest it in the material world. They become stronger together, culminating in the ability to use Bankai, the pair’s ultimate technique.
8 Samehada - Naruto
All Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist are famous for their outlandish blades and lethal swordplay. However, Kisame’s sword Samehada is special even among them, and that’s not just talking about how it is the most powerful of the seven. The sword has a will of its own, and stabs the hand of any “unworthy” wielder who touches its hilt.
Being a chakra-eating sword, Samehada chooses its wielder based on the taste of their chakra, and how easily a wielder can feed it in battle. It’s very picky and chooses on a whim: it switches loyalties from Kisame to Killer Bee after finding Bee’s chakra delicious. However, it does have some semblance of loyalty, or at least affection, actually crying when Kisame is killed.
7 Touga’s Swords - Inuyasha
Forged from the fangs of the Great Dog Demon Touga, he left each of his sons a sword in hopes of guiding them through life. Unfortunately, the half-brothers Inuyasha and Sesshomaru spend a lot of time fighting over the swords in one of the best sibling rivalries in anime before realizing Dad’s intentions. Fortunately, Tessaiga and Tenseiga can help with that.
The two swords were once one blade, and despite one possessing destructive powers and the other healing powers, they both have subtle but clear sentience. They can ask to be drawn and implicitly choose who is able to hold them. They’re also able to nudge their wielders in the right directions, such as Tenseiga pushing Sesshoumaru to save lives.
6 Senketsu - Kill La Kill
A suit of clothes might be one of the weirdest weapons in anime. Senketsu is an extremely powerful Kamui, one of two creations of Ryuko’s father Isshin. The other is the more imperfect Junketsu, who, while powerful, not only can’t speak like Senketsu, but takes more blood from Satsuki and has to be locked up when not in use to keep him from rampaging.
Senketsu is unfailingly loyal to Ryuko, doing everything he can to protect her from harm, to the point of sacrificing himself for her sake. He adamantly resists being worn by anybody else, and only allows Ryuko to bring out his true strength. She is also the only one able to hear his voice, which he uses to help and advise her as best he can.
5 Pochita - Chainsaw Man
Even when Denji had nothing and no one else, he had Pochita. After feeding the Devil his blood to save his life, Pochita became his inseparable companion, providing him comfort and friendship as well as help fighting other Devils. When Denji is murdered, the little Chainsaw Devil makes the ultimate sacrifice by merging with his body to resurrect him.
Now, Pochita exists as Denji’s heart, allowing him to transform into a vicious Devil by pulling the cord protruding from his chest (formerly Pochita’s tail). Pochita's consciousness is still somehow ligenring inside Denji, and even if he doesn’t speak often, when he does, it’s clear that Denji’s well-being is a very high priority. He tells Denji he wants to achieve Denji’s dreams alongside him, and gives him subconscious warnings in his dreams.
4 Cursed Gear - Owari no Seraph
Sometimes, a weapon and their partner click instantly, as if they were meant for one another. The demons sealed within the regulation gear of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army in Owari no Seraph think very little of that idea. They’re born from passionate desire, and to wield them, human recruits must rise above desire.
To claim Cursed Gear, Yuu and his friends must face the demons within them, which take the forms of their loved ones and will possess their bodies if they falter. Once they have taken control of the weapons, they still maintain communication with the demons inside, asking them to lend them more of their power in battle. Wielding Cursed Gear is the only way humans can gain an advantage over vampires in battle.
3 Imagine Blade - Black Cat
Villains are not exempt from forming bonds with sentient weapons, too. In Black Cat's Creed Diskenth’s case, he might have been better off never picking up the Imagine Blade at all, but good luck convincing him of that. It’s a living energy blade that Creed manifests through pure ki, and the higher Creed’s emotions run, the stronger it evolves.
The Imagine Blade doesn’t speak, but it doesn’t need to. The cackling face it grows once Creed levels it up enough makes it clear that it’s as unhinged as he is, biting Creed’s opponents and spitting their attacks back at them, in between hitting them with devastating attacks. However, all that power comes at a price: it’s connected directly to Creed’s mind, and if it’s ever destroyed, Creed goes with it.
2 Shishou - Reincarnated As A Sword
Usually, the sentient weapon is the partner of the main hero, and in this case their story is the secondary one if it gets any attention at all. However, as the name implies, Reincarnated as a Sword turns that idea on its head, when an average man dies and is reincarnated as a magical sword in a fantasy world.
Fran and Shishou meet by chance, but instantly become inseparable companions. With Shishou’s help, Fran frees herself from enslavement and embarks on her own journey, refusing to let go of her giant sword no matter what. Shishou becomes a substitute for Fran’s murdered parents, providing for her (his cooking isn’t as great as some other anime chefs, but he tries) and protecting her with every ounce of magic in his body — or blade, as it were.
1 Demon Weapons - Soul Eater
The descendants of a witch’s experiments centuries ago, Demon Weapons have the genetic ability to transform their bodies into weapons. These range from conventional weaponry, like swords, guns, and scythes, to objects that are difficult to impossible to wield, like guillotines and lanterns. The partnerships between meister and weapon are the heart of Soul Eater’s entire story.
Compatibility with each other’s souls is necessary for a partnership to be formed at all, and a bond must be nurtured for them to grow any stronger. Soul Resonance not only boosts the pair’s abilities, but allows the partners to communicate telepathically when their souls are in harmony. Weapons in particular are trained to always protect their meister, even at the cost of their own life, but meisters aren’t so willing to sacrifice their beloved partners: just look at Maka and Soul when their fight against Crona goes south.
The friendships between human wielder and living weapon are some of the most unconventional and strongest in anime. Both partners grow and become more powerful through the unique bond that they share, and in most cases each would be incomplete without the other, proving how unique and interesting the concept of sentient weapons in anime can get.
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