Best Anime Soldiers

Important takeaways

• The best soldiers in anime stand out due to a combination of qualities such as willpower, charisma, and determination.
• Characters like Eren Yeager, Shin, Suzaku, Griffith and Levi Ackerman stand out as exceptional soldiers.
• Levi Ackerman, humanity's strongest, proves to be an invaluable asset in the fight against the Titans.

War, what is it good for? If anime is anything to go by, especially anime of the shonen genre, the answer is to entertain audiences with the biggest fights on screen performed by some of the biggest fighters on screen.

Lots of anime, usually associated with fantasy and sci-fi elements, feature characters who find themselves in the role of a soldier, part of a great army for a great (or sometimes not so great) cause. But that one best soldiers in anime stand out more than others, and this is due to various reasons.

5 Eren Yeager

Attack Titan himself

• Greatest Soldier Attribute: Strong Will

If there is a combination needed to make a great soldier, it is the combination of boundless energy and sheer willpower. Eren Yeager has both in spades. From a very young age, Eren was a fighter with more drive at ten than most had as adults. He was ready and willing to kill the men who murdered the Ackerman men and tried to attack and capture Mikasa, rationalizing that they deserved to die and had no qualms about it.

Nor was this attitude a one-time occurrence; Eren was simply born ready to fight. He was not manipulated, brainwashed or even pressured to fight for his people in any way. From the moment Eren learned about the Titans and how they stood in the way of his freedom, he had already decided that he wanted to kill them all.

Eren may not be as good a fighter as Mikasa, who was the best of the Survey Corps in terms of skill, but he's no slouch in a fight either. And the qualities Mikasa lacks for most of the series Eren largely possesses, like his aggressive form of charisma that inspires others to fight for the Survey Corps and never give up. Fans who have finished the series will be fully aware of what a soldier with Eren's level of willpower is capable of.

4 Tibia

The greatest commander of the future

• Greatest Soldier Trait: Aggressive Ambition

A boy who had aspirations of being a commanding general from the moment he could talk would always be a brilliant soldier when he was big and strong enough to fight to make those dreams come true. In the world of Kingdomwhere the ancient Chinese armies constantly battle it out with the finest tactics and bloodiest battles, Shin manages to stand out time and time again due to his skill as a warrior and the fact that he had the will of a commander before he could ever become one.

IN Kingdomviewers see the world through the eyes of this violent and gregarious character as he strives to be remembered as the greatest combat commander in history. He began training against his equally skilled friend who shared his high ambitions. Unfortunately, this friend is murdered in a plan to protect a king by a body double. Fortunately, Shin's path to achieving his goals officially begins here, as he teams up with a youthful monarch who seeks to unite many countries. He carries both himself and his lost friend's will to achieve all that a warrior can.

3 Suzaku Kururugi

Acts as Lelouch's foil

• Greatest Soldier Traits: Determination and Loyalty

When most people get in touch Code Geassthey are likely to think of its best tactician rather than its top soldier. They will think of the astonishingly intelligent Lelouch vi Britannia, who uses his Geass power and bright mind to change the world. But one character who is as impressive in the physical realm as Lelouch is in the intellectual is Suzaku, who serves as Lelouch's foil in the series.

The disgraced son of the Japanese prime minister who killed his own father and joined the British Empire to try to change things from the inside is entirely the origin story. And Suzaku has all the skills that a person with such a past is likely to have. At several points in the series, viewers see Suzaku capable of simple physical feats, such as his brilliant Knightmare maneuvers and his skill at dodging gunfire with quick reflexes and faster feet.

Not to mention the fact that Suzaku is loyal to a fault, ready to carry out the will of whoever commands him to the letter if need be. This and some Geass-Meddling comes in handy for Lelouch near the end of the series.

2 Griffith

The white hawk

• Greatest Soldier Trait: Inspiring Charisma

The charismatic leader of the Band of the Hawks doesn't look like the kind of person who would make a highly skilled soldier. With his long hair, pale skin, and stunning beauty, Griffith resembles the fantasy archetype of the sheltered prince far more than he does of a war hero leading his people into battle. But he still does. Griffith proves to be one of the best when it comes to battle plans and swordplay.

Guts, who is absolutely amazing when it comes to physical strength and fighting prowess, is beaten by Griffith with embarrassing ease in their first encounter, an encounter in which he cheekily jumps on top of Guts' master sword and jokes about how he will own him if he wins the whole the time. His shocking amounts of skill and charisma are what allow Griffith to go from being a no-name peasant, to leading the country's best mercenary band, to being ennobled with his dreams of owning a kingdom that looks more reasonable with every battle .

1 Levi Ackerman

The greatest soldier there is

• Series: Attack on Titan
• Greatest Soldier Attribute: Limitless strength, speed, and lethality

Like Mikasa, another member of the same clan, Levi has abilities far beyond even humanity's best soldiers. But even Mikasa can hardly compare to the master of ODM maneuvering and neck-snapping that is Levi Ackerman. Directly referred to as humanity's strongest, Levi deserves this title more than anyone else. Erwin knew he would be a great asset when he first recruited him and got his senses back tenfold as Levi became the people within the walls' best hope when it came to fighting the Titans.

Levi is such a good soldier that he can be trusted to kill dozens of titans on his own without any help. He is deadly enough that Reiner and Bertholdt warn Zeke that he alone could give him more trouble than an entire regiment of normal Eldian soldiers. He is so fierce that he easily defeats Zeke in every single encounter they have, with luck and circumstances preventing him from finishing the Beast Titan until the very last arc of the series. Levi is the very definition of a pint-sized powerhouse and the best warrior you could ask for in your ranks.