Super Mode / Anime & Manga

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• Angelic Layer: Hyper Mode. In the manga, it's the result of Kaede's tinkering with her Angel, but in the anime, all the first-run Angels have the ability.
• Aria the Scarlet Ammo: Kinji's "Hysteria Mode", which has certain trigger conditions.
• Attack on Titan: For Titan Shifters, transforming into a Titan acts as their Super Mode, since they can trigger it at will. In Episode 25, Eren goes further than this, seemingly having a Superpowered Evil Side to his Titan transformation, which is already a pretty amoral transformation.
• Asta's Black form in Black Clover. When he draws out the power of his swords and enshrouds/enhances his body with anti-magic energy. It appears as a shadow over his right arm and half of his body with a black horn and wing. This for allows him to fly at high speed, makes him stronger, protects his body like armor, and more freely project and use anti-magic energy. Over time, Asta gains more conscious control over this ability and is able to make it last longer.
• Bleach:
  • Rarely, Shinigami possess a second release for their power called Bankai, which enables them to achieve their true potential. Out of more than 6,000 shinigami, less than 30 reach this level of power at a time, and they're all in very high-ranking positions, except for a few exiles (who used to hold very high-ranked positions before their fall from grace). Ichigo is the exception: he's a Substitute Shinigami rather than a real one (except he's actually half-Shinigami courtesy of his father) with no rank in Soul Society.
  • Shunkou is a technique that fires up the physical body with a massive Power Glows boost. Only two shinigami have been shown to be able to do this, Soifon and Yoruichi. Yoruichi's younger brother Yuushirou, who's currently not a shinigami, can also use it. They also each have an enhanced version that adds elemental powers to the mix. Wind (Mukyuu Shunkou) for Soifon, lightning (Shunkou: Raijin Senkei) for Yoruichi and fire (Shukou: Bakuen Musou) for Yuushirou.
  • Subverted with the Arrancar resurección. It looks like they enter Super Mode the way shinigami enter bankai, but really they walk around in a sealed form and then release themselves back into their real form for battle. This is double-subverted with Ulquiorra, who has a secret secondary release that other arrancar don't possess, which takes him to a different level to his resurección.
  • Visoreds are shinigami who were forced For Science! to suffer a Superpowered Evil Side which manifests through the donning of a hollow mask. If they can master the monster within, they gain the ability to access great power, but only for a very short period of time. The lone exception is Mashiro, who can maintain this form for up to 15 hours. Ichigo was also able to do this for much of the story, and eventually learned how to combine both his Super Mode powers together (bankai and hollow mask) to create something unique.
  • After Tosen becomes a Visored, he's able to also use resurección. It's unclear whether this is something all Visored have the potential to do this. Given the name of his resurección is based on those of his shikai and bankai and names are immensely important in Bleach, it's likely that this is a similar combining of bankai and hollowification to Ichigo's merged form.
  • Quincies have access to two Super Mode forms. The traditional version is known as Letzt Stil, an almost-lost technique that is found only within the Ishida family. The modern replacement technique is known as Vollständig. Letzt Stil leads to a destruction of a Quincy's power after use, whereas Vollständig doesn't result in this consequence. Both versions function by forcibly breaking down and absorbing surrounding spirit particles to power up the Quincy's attacks. Which is even more powerful than it sounds when used Soul Society or Hueco Mundo, since in both of those realms absolutely everything is made up of spirit particles.
• A Certain Magical Index:
  • One is Index's John's Pen mode, which more or less allows her to use some of her vast spell knowledge to take out serious threats.
  • The second, and more visibly obvious, is awakened espers. Both Accelerator and Kakine have reached that point, and both received a boost to their powers. Accelerator managed to do it twice, though.
  • The third is to be fused with the MISAKA Network. Both Hyouka Kazakiri and Mikoto Misaka are forced to fuse against their will, significantly boosting each one's power, including potentially to Level 6 in Mikoto's case (though Hyouka voluntarily does it later on).
• Despite how long her character has been around, only one iteration of Cutie Honey has this — in Cutie Honey F, in the final third of the series, Honey has the ability to transform into Hyper Honey, with her normal outfit’s red and black color scheme becoming white and red.
• In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, even with Breathing Styles and its techniques granting the demon slayers superhuman abilities to battle demons, the narrative reminds the audience those super human slayers, even the elite Hashira group, are fighting an uphill battle against the most powerful demons known as the Twelve Kizuki — specifically the Upper Ranks, who have an extensive body count of Hashira they have killed over the centuries. According to the Demon Slayer records, in the miraculous cases a single Upper Rank fell, no less than 3 Hashira were needed to kill them. However, there was a time they refer to the Golden Era of the Demon Slayer Corps, where Slayers had special crests -like birthmarks- on their bodies that were the visual representation of their growth beyond the superhuman abilities granted by Breathing Styles, which means they are not so unfairly below the Upper Rank demons anymore, rather posing a credible threat against them. The resurgence of this Demon Slayer Mark in the present through Tanjiro is what allows the current Hashira generation to become the real threat against the Upper Ranks, who went unopposed for 113 years. The records claim the Demon Slayer Mark boosts the abilities of a slayer a hundredfold — although this number might be an exaggeration, the boost is definitely notable as exemplified by Tanjiro being strong enough to slice Gyutaro's neck; and later the Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito, going from being pushed back by Gyokko, the Upper Rank 5, to absolutely dominating him once his Mark awakened.
• Digimon: Despite several transformations and fusions, actual Super Modes are fairly rare.
  • Digimon Adventure 02 had the first example of a super mode with Imperialdramon Fighter Mode and later Imperialdramon Paladin Mode.
  • Digimon Data Squad: The Burst Mode forms of the partner Digimon at Mega-level. BanchoLeomon also gets one, which hasn't appeared in any media since.
  • Digimon Universe: App Monsters: The usage of Applidriver DUO and its Overdrive function gives a massive power boost to the Ultimate-grade Appmon. In the manga, Minerva grants a winged super-mode to all of the God-grade Appmon except for Deusmon for the final battle. In both cases, it's stated to increase the Appmons' power levels by half.
  • In Digimon Adventure: (2020), MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon get super-modes in the form of Alteros Mode and Sagittarius Mode. Alteros Mode changes MetalGreymon's non-cybernetic arm into an Arm Cannon while Sagittarius Mode gives WereGarurumon a set of Swiss Army Weapons sprouting from his back. Both are loosely based on their X-Antibody counterparts, though for MetalGreymon the cannon comes from the virus version. Finally, the final battle sees Omnimon turn into Omnimon Alter-S, a variant based on BlitzGreymon and CresGarurumon, just long enough to finish off the Big Bad.
• Dragon Ball Z
  • The Super Saiyan (and its variants) is easily the Trope Codifier; a legendary warrior with an increasingly long mane of blond hair who gains an order of magnitude of power. This is achieved through a cross between strength, a pure (good, evil, determined, etc.) heart, and a really bad day. According to Akira Toriyama, a Saiyan must be in a casual, relaxed environment for long periods of time to build up enough S-Cells, which support the transformation (on top of the pure heart and bad day requirements for it to trigger for the first time).
  • In the later sagas, Trunks and Goten can transform with no difficulty at all, to the shock of Gohan and the adults (growing up on Earth with lower gravity counted as a relaxed environment, per Toriyama's explanation above). Fan speculation indicated that if fathered by someone who can already transform, it swaps the Saiyan tail trait out for easier access to the Super Saiyan form. Another theory was that a human/saiyan hybrid (of any ratio) had a much easier time transforming. Both of these theories were lent credibility in the epilogue of Dragon Ball GT, where Goku and Vegeta's descendants go Super Saiyan without realizing the significance of it, just noting that their hair turns yellow.
  • Before there was the Super Saiyan, there was the functionally similar but inferior Kaio-ken technique. This has a red aura and increases the user's strength and speed by a specific numerical factor (usually 2, 4, 10 or 20), but puts a proportional strain on the body, which can cause injury if held for too long. After Super Saiyan, Kaio-ken becomes obsolete and isn't seen again except in a filler arc and Dragon Ball Super, when Goku finds he can combine it with the most powerful variant of Super Saiyan.
  • There's also the Oozaru form, a giant ape transformation triggered by a full moon. Though Goku's and Gohan's Oozarus were mindless rampaging beasts, native Saiyans like Vegeta learned some measure of control and used it as a desperation tactic.
  • Super introduces two highly advanced abilities, Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego, which are polar opposites of each other and are treated as transformations when used by mortals. Ultra Instinct allows the user to instinctively dodge and counter enemy attacks with minimal effort, but it requires a calm mind and, if the form is incomplete, lacks in offensive power. Meanwhile, Ultra Ego increases the user's bloodlust to the point that they tend to disregard any defense; in exchange, the user gains a destructive aura and the ability to increase their own attack power the more damage they take.
  • Most of Frieza's transformations qualify as a One-Winged Angel, and even then invert the trope since they are actually a technique to limit and mask Frieza's true strength, but his Golden Form is a traditional Super Mode. It empowers him with vastly higher ki rather than holding back his power like the other transformations. It slightly increases his height and muscle mass and turns him gold just like the Super Saiyan transformation he modeled it on. In the Super manga, he's gained a new one, Black Freeza, after training for 10 years in a Hyperbolic Time Chamber that was found on one of his worlds. It allowed him to take out Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku and Ultra Ego Vegeta in one punch.
  • Several of Frieza's Mooks, most notably Zarbon, would utilize a physical transformation to either boost or conceal their power. The fact that humans and Saiyans can do this without a significant physical transformation is considered an oddity to them, and is why they depend so much on their Scouters.
  • Frieza's Non-Serial Movie-exclusive brother, Cooler, also had a fifth form, although Cooler, rather than "evolving" like Frieza, instead used the technique their race normally uses to limit their strength to boost it, massively expanding his muscle mass and getting Spikes of Villainy.
  • Broly and Bojack, two other movie villains, also had Super modes. Broly's Super Mode was notably a genetically exclusive version of the Super Saiyan transformation.
  • In Dragon Ball Online and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Majin race characters can access the Pure Majin state, in which they tap into the latent power that has otherwise been lost to their kind over the generations and assume a form resembling Kid Buu. Also in Xenoverse 2, Frieza Race characters can access Frieza's Golden form, while they can design their character's default model to look like Cooler's transformation.
• Fairy Tail:
  • The Dragon Slayers have Dragon Force, which gives them the destructive power of dragons and can be achieved through either devouring a powerful source of magic or naturally through training. The fully realized Dragon Force literally transforms a Slayer into a Dragon, as shown by Acnologia.
  • There also exists "Take Over" Magic, which allows the mage to fight by absorbing other creatures and using their powers. Obviously, the more powerful forms will serve this purpose, like Mirajane's Satan Soul: Seliah and/or Algeria, and Dimaria's God Soul: Chronos.
• Future GPX Cyber Formula: The Zero Zone. This particular mode is the representation of surpassing the character's limits, A state where a driver can read one's mind with their car, in which the user can see a bit of the future, look into other driver's thoughts and also predict their movements.
• GaoGaiGar: Cyborg Guy has an ability explicitly named "Hyper Mode", which hugely enhances his strength and speed for three minutes. It's unknown whether he has the same ability as an Evoluder, but it is implied that his final Humongous Mecha, Genesic GaoGaiGar, has the equipment to do something similar.
  • It actually does so... for about one second, for the very last push on the last attack — it's so quick that it's hard to tell what it is without going frame-by-frame.
  • The cylindrical devices on either side of Cyborg Guy's head when in combat form were batteries storing the energy for his Hyper Mode form. He had 8 of them. Genesic's hair was made up of roughly a million of those things.
• Gundam:
  • In Mobile Fighter G Gundam, the Shining Gundam has a Super Mode which Domon initially activates with Unstoppable Rage; after McNinja Schwarz Bruder trains him in the art of Meikyo Shisui,^note "Clear Mirror, Still Water Domon gains access to Golden Hyper Mode. He retains this with his Mid-Season Upgrade God Gundam, and it's later shown that the other members of the Five-Man Band learned it as well (and it goes without saying that Domon's mentor, Master Asia, had achieved this state long ago).
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00: The Trans-Am system, which triples a Gundam's performance while turning it red.
    • As for Setsuna when he gets the 00-Raiser, it doesn't double the suit's power. It SQUARES it.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: SEED Mode. The show's director once described it as the physical representation of a character surpassing his limits. Rather than a super mode for the machine, though, it's for the pilot, who enters a sort of Zen state where they gain hyper-awareness and extreme precision and reflexes. One of the reasons Kira's so tough in Destiny is that he's learned how to activate this state at will (for everyone else who can use it, it's spontaneous).
    • An interesting aspect of the SEED Mode is that there's actually two forms and is shown through the animation used. The "seed bouncing and exploding" is the rage-activated SEED mode while the "zoom in seed exploding" is the resolve one. Shinn Asuka's usage of the rage-activated one shows the ultimate downside of it - so lost in ones determination in beat the other guy bloody, he'll gladly tear through anyone in his way, even his own girlfriend (which nearly happened before Athrun stepped in and brought him down).
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn: The titular Unicorn's NT-D (short for Newtype-Destroyer) is described as "the mode in which the Unicorn's performance limiters are disengaged". When activated the suit's armor expands, revealing a glowing red frame underneath. It becomes faster, mentally controlled by the pilot, gains an I-field (making it invulnerable to beam weapons), and the ability to take control of enemy remote weapons and use them against their masters. Also doubles as Dangerous Forbidden Technique, as it puts incredible mental strain on the pilot and runs out of power after 5 minutes.
    • There's an upgraded version of this Super Mode that only activates when a fully awakened Newtype is in control: the green psycoframe. While the normal NT-D is constantly attempting to ramp up the pilot's aggression (making it tough to control) and runs out of juice after 5 minutes, the green version has everything entirely under the pilot's control, no time limit, and allows the generation of a Psycofield on its own, allowing it to perform physics-defying stunts like blocking Wave Motion Guns or recreating the Axis Shock.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam F91 plays with this. The titular F91's super mode is actually a design flaw, the system generates too much heat and the transformation (radiator fins expand, face opens) is done for better cooling. That being said, the shredding armor layer and heat signal it leaves behind when moving creates after-images, which can be very useful in battle.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: The Gundam AGE-FX has "FX Burst Mode", in which the suit gains incredible speed and a nigh-impenetrable energy barrier, as well as over a dozen beam blades popping out of every conceivable joint on its frame. The one downside is that it can't use its C-Funnels in this mode.
  • Gundam Build Fighters includes the Star Build Strike's "RG Mode", in which the Gunpla becomes much faster and stronger... but it has limited duration and there's a chance that the increased performance, if mishandled, could break it due to strain. The Gundam X Maoh also demonstrates a sort of Super Mode by double-charging its Satellite System, which turns the X-fins red and allows it to wield a superpowered beam saber, the Maoh Sword.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans has an example similar to the Unicorn's NT-D: whenever a Gundam Frame catches sight of a Mobile Armor, the OS automatically disengages the bandwidth limiters of the Alaya-Vijnana System, signified by the Gundam's eyes turning red, which either knocks the pilot unconscious from the immense strain or grants him greatly increased control over the Gundam. The problem is, doing so causes permanent neurological damage to the pilot, resulting in gradually worsening paralysis that only goes away while the pilot is plugged in. After his first use of this function, Mika lost use of one arm and one eye; the second time, a full half of his body became paralyzed. Coupled with the Gundam Frames' naming theme of Ars Goetia demons, the meaning is self-evident.
    • An alternate version is eventually added to the Gundam Kimaris Vidar in the form of the Alaya-Vijnana Type-E, which uses Ein Darlton's Brain in a Jar as a buffer to take the neurological damage instead of the actual pilot, allowing him to go all-out without risking any damage to himself.
  • In Gundam Build Fighters Try, Sekai's Try Burning Gundam gains the "Burning Burst Mode", which is an extension of the old "RG Mode", ejecting armor pieces and unleashing flames as it did. A few rival units, such as the Denial Gundam and Transient Gundam, has similar power ups.
  • In Gundam Build Divers, Trans-Am is the order of the day. Riku starts off with normal Trans-Am with his 00 Diver Ace, but when he upgrades to the 00 Sky, using pieces of the Destiny Gundam allows him to upgrade the Trans-Am into Trans-Am Infinity. He further upgrades that into "Higher than Sky Phase", which allows him to also create powerful weapons as finishers. Equally, his rival Ogre starts off with a normal Trans-Am with his Ogre GN-X. When he upgrades to the GP-Retsu, he carries over the GN Drive and, thus, Trans-Am, creating Ogre Trans-Am. The Ace Kyoya Kujo's AGE-II Magnum Ver. SV has the powerful FX-plosion, which functions similar to FX Burst Mode, and another unit, the Astray No Name, uses the n.i.t.r.o. System.
• Guyver:
  • Guyver Gigantic. Pronounced "gih-GAN-tic", it's part power-up and part Humongous Mecha, as the wielder is about nine feet tall.
  • The step up from that is Guyver Gigantic Exceed, which is the size of a skyscraper. Considering the Lensman Arms Race that drives the series, it was only a matter of time.
• High School D×D: The Sacred Gears have an ultimate state of activation explicitly called Balance Breaker that turns their base abilities up to eleven along with other benefits.
  • Issei's Boosted Gear doubly qualifies on it's own due to it's innate ability to double its user's power every 10 seconds as long as the owner's stamina holds out, on top of his Balance Breaker summoning a suit of crimson armor that gives a general boost in power along with removing the time requirement altogether.
  • Vali's Divine Dividing works similarly to Issei's, right down to the suit of armor in Balance Breaker, except it halves the target's power and adds that to his own instead of simply doubling the user's power.
  • Curiously enough, Balance Breaker was described as a "bug" in the system, rather than an intended feature. Since the Sacred Gears were intended to change and grow depending on the user's thoughts and feelings, it's implied that even the deity that created them (the original Christian God, no less) didn't expect them to be able to develop to that extent.
  • A more traditional example would be Sirzechs Lucifer's Human-Shaped Aura of Destruction technique, where he mastered his family's hereditary Power of Destruction technique (something he was already a prodigy in his use of) to the point of becoming one with the destructive, matter-erasing energy in a condensed humanoid form. In this state, it's said that he could even defeat Hades himself, something that the latter himself also realized.
• Higurashi: When They Cry: When Ryuugu Rena enters "adorable mode", she does not lose.
• Kaze no Stigma: Kazuma's 'Contractor' state falls under this: Lasts for 5 minutes, and leaves him somewhat weakened when it wears off — but with no permanent side-effects. While it lasts, his eyes turns bright blue, and he's basically unstoppable. If they turn red, be somewhere else!
• Kuroko's Basketball: The Zone, an ultimate state of concentration achievable by only the most absolutely talented of players, who love their sport above anything else. Represented visually by colored lightning trailing from a character's eyes, the Zone allows a player to draw out 100% of his true potential for a limited time, making him a One-Man Army on the court and ramping some already spectacular abilities up to eleven. There also exists a higher form of the Zone, known as the Direct Drive Zone, which can only be achieved by a player in the Zone who has absolute perfect synchronization with his team. This results in lightning-fast perfect plays that even an Emperor Eye has trouble following. Kise has his own personal Super Mode in Perfect Copy, which allows him to use all of the special techniques of the Generation of Miracles, and mix and match them at his leisure. In the sequel miniseries Extra Game, Kise awakens the Zone as well, and he's able to combine the two for some truly devastating play.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Nanoha's Blaster Mode and Fate's Sonic Drive in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS.
  • Only seen once is Subaru's yellow-eyed berserk-mode. She practically lost an arm, and didn't notice.
  • Fate's "Overdrive/True Sonic Form", which makes her literally the fastest fighter in the Nanohaverse seen so far.
  • A's Portable: The Battle of Aces has Full Drive modes for everyone, which gives stat boosts, Power Glows, and allows usage of the Limit Break.
  • Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force features the Reacted forms for the Eclipse Drivers.
• In the climax of Mazinger Z: Infinity, Lisa is able to grant Mazinger Z the world's entire supply of Photonic Energy (boosting his power by a whopping 5.6 billion percent), creating a massive Mazinger Z to deliver the final blow on Infinity.
• Mob Psycho 100: Mob generally tries to keep his emotions down to avoid hurting people with his Psychic Powers. But if his emotional volatility builds high enough, he enters 100% Mode, which alters his powers, behavior, and sometimes even his appearance based on what emotion he's feeling most strongly at the time, such as 100% Rage, 100% Sadness, 100% Gratitude, etc.
• My Hero Academia:
  • Eijiro Kirishima's "Unbreakable," which as the name suggests, amps up his hardening powers to Nigh-Invulnerability for a brief period of time.
  • Defied with Izuku's "One For All: Full Cowl," which has all of the properties of a typical Shōnen super mode (a Battle Aura, enhanced strength and speed, etc.), but Izuku makes it a point to specifically think of Full Cowl as his normal mode of operation, instead of as a trump card. Played Straight at the end of the Internship Arc, when Izuku uses Eri's rewinding Quirk to negate the bone-breaking drawbacks of One For All's full power and beats down Overhaul with Full Cowl 100%.
  • All Might is sort of an inversion — his super-powered form was originally just his normal appearance, but an injury downgraded it to a time-limited power-up. When not "flexing," he reverts to his real body, which has become weak and emaciated. Pushing himself past the time limit reduces the limit permanently. His unfortunate situation is top-secret, known only to a few people he trusts, to avoid tarnishing the image of the "Symbol of Peace" and ushering in a new wave of villains.
  • Fat Gum has a super mode of his own: by releasing all of the kinetic energy in his body fat, he can transform into a slimmer version of himself that grants him increased strength and agility. He can only use this technique for a brief period of time, however: not only does this come at the cost of his usually high degree of defense, but because his Quirk requires him to maintain a large body mass, he needs to eat vast quantities of food to regain the weight he loses.
• Naruto:
  • Both Jiraiya and Naruto have the "Sage Mode". By drawing on the natural energy around them, they can drastically increase their strength, speed, endurance, and durability, as well as get a whole new array of abilities and heightened senses. The difference between Jiraiya and Naruto is that, while Jiraiya has achieved an "Imperfect Form", which changed his appearance quite a lot, giving him toad-like limbs, Naruto has achieved a "Perfect Form", and the only visible effects of his Sage Mode are a pair of red-lidded, golden frog eyes, which are said to be the mark of a true sage. The only physical drawback for both the forms is the time limit, however, with proper planning the form can be exploited to handle most combat situations. Though Naruto can enter it near instantly now with further practice, has sustained a higher duration when needed, and raised his Rasenshuriken count of it from two to three. Naruto can now combine Sage Mode with the power of the Nine-Tails, making him stronger than before.
  • Also, Kabuto has his own version of Sage Mode, called "Snake Sage Mode" (Though Kabuto calls it "Dragon Sage Mode") which is a snake/dragon equivalent of the toad one used by Naruto and Jiraiya, complete with changing his appearance to a reptilian-one, even though he has achieved a "Perfect Form" just like Naruto.
  • Later chapter reveals that Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, has his own unique version of Sage Mode, which, unlike the other three examples, does not appear to have an Animal Motif, but a God Motif. And it's FREAKIN' awesome.
  • The Jinchukuri's (i.e. Naruto) Bijuu forms also count here. It requires rage to unlock it, similar to the Super Saiyan. However Naruto and Bee can fully control Kurama and Gyuki respectively, giving Naruto a Golden Super Mode and Bee a Full Power Mode, as well as having a form called "Tailed Beast Mode" in which the Jinchuriki can transform into their Tailed Beast, but in Naruto and Minato’s case, their Tailed Beast Mode takes the form of an avatar of Kurama.
  • Later, after receiving the chakra of all 9 Tailed Beasts, meeting the Sage of Six Paths, and receiving his Six Paths Chakra along with the "Six Paths Yang Power", Naruto can enter a transformation of godly power called "Six Paths Sage Mode", in this form, Naruto is capable of flying, and creating "Truth-Seeking Balls" (Morph Weapons with Disintegrating Touches, and the favored weapons of the Sage of Six Paths). And during his final battle with Sasuke, he can combine Six Paths Sage Mode and Tailed Beast Mode to form his most powerful transformation, "Asura Kurama Mode".
  • There's the "Chakra Gates" used by Lee and Guy, increasing their physical stats humongously. By pushing it to its limit though, the power output will inevitably kill the user.
  • The Akimichi Clan has their own called 'Calorie Control' which produces butterfly wings out of chakra from their back. Inexperienced Akimichi access this with the forbidden Red Pill which, unless Tsunade is there, means certain death. However, experienced Akimichi like Choji and Choza can access this to increase their speed, physical power, and endurance to tremendous amounts.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
  • First, Albireo's Pactio, which lets him take on the form and power of other people he's met. He notes that taking the form of someone weaker than himself is not generally that useful in a fight, but he can do this for people stronger than himself as well. In the latter case, however, the transformation only lasts a few minutes.
  • The kanka technique that Takahata, Asuna and Vanderburg use, which drastically increases speed and power, at a downside of draining magic and ki at what is implied to be a a decent bit faster for both than fighting normally with either alone.
  • Negi's Magia Erebea (black magic). Rather than simply powering him up, though, it allows him to absorb a spell into himself and transform his own body according to that spell's properties. Negi being a Wind/Lightning mage, he usually absorbs a Thousand Thunderbolts spell, which literally turns his body into lightning and lets him hit with all the power and speed that implies. He can even stack the transformations, though controlling that much power is difficult and dangerous. The big downside to black magic is that it slowly turns him into a demon, and before that happens Negi has to deal with some nasty side effects both mentally and physically. Once the transformation is complete though, these side effects disappear (his morality is not affected by being a demon).
  • Evangeline can also use Magia Erebea (being the one who taught Negi how to use it). Though Evangeline is so powerful to begin with, she has only once or twice encountered an opponent strong enough that she needed it.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • Unit 01 goes into "berserk" mode several times which it operates autonomously and becomes much more powerful than it normally is — though this is less a Super Mode than it is the Eva getting angry enough to temporarily overpower its Power Limiters.
  • Played straight, however, in Rebuild of Evangelion, where in the second movie, Shinji somehow makes his Eva enter a state where it can fire Eye Beams and has greatly increased control over its substantially more powerful AT field. The third movie identifies it as the Eva transforming into a 'pseudo-evolved state', caused by the pilot's complete loss of emotional self-control; in Shinji's case, it ended up starting Third Impact. Then at the end of the movie, it turns out that Unit 13 is capable of achieving this state as well, which it promptly does in response to Kaworu losing his shit when he realizes he and Shinji had been fooled by Gendo to start Fourth Impact. Bottom line: if an Eva starts to glow like Adam, run like hell 'cause chances are the world is about to end.
  • Another Super Mode appears in the second and third movies as well: Unit 02 is capable of turning off its Power Limiter at will to revert into a bestial form that behaves more like a rabid animal than a human. In the second film, Mari invokes it with the now-memetic line "Invert controls; backdoor code: THE BEAST"; in the third, Asuka uses "Mode change: Code 777" instead, making the Eva adopt a more animalistic appearance: digitigrade legs, prominent fangs and even an animate tail. In this mode the Eva is capable of, among other things, catching Zeruel-grade Eye Beams with its mouth and slapping them aside as if they were nothing. The only downside is that it makes the pilot go Ax-Crazy for the duration of the mode and it's also stated to cause mental contamination, though we haven't seen any ill-effects from that.
• One Piece:
  • Monkey D. Luffy:
    • He develops the Gear transformations in the Enies Lobby arc. The first one, Gear Second, pumps blood in his body to strengthen his organs, giving his body a pink hue with purple, glowing veins, while sweat steams on his body, giving an appearance similar to a Battle Aura. He's MUCH faster (able to go Hypersonic+ speeds) and MUCH stronger (the mere punches he throws causes the air around him to impact onto his target) and prefixes all of his attacks with the word "Jet". His Gear Third technique uses air to blow up his body parts to massive sizes, able to destroy entire towers in one punch. However, his speed heavily decreases and afterwards he temporarily shrinks. Obviously, he uses his Gear Second more. Post Time Skip, he adds Gear Fourth to the mix. This one involves blowing his muscles to massively increase his strength (blowing past Doffy's Haki Defense in one punch), speed (Gear Second Level), size (bigger than the 10' tall Doflamingo), durability (No Selling Doflamingo's kicks), elasticity (change attack direction and compress his arms like a spring), and buoyancy (can fly in this form.)
    • Later on, Luffy's abilities grow even further: it's revealed that Gear Fourth has different variations. Boundman/Bounceman is the default form, which is described above; Tankman is completely immobile, but has immense defense and can bounce attacks back at his opponents. Finally, Snakeman's attacks get faster the longer they last, but his durability stays the same as Luffy's base form.
    • In Chapter 1044, Luffy Awakens his Devil Fruit, gaining the new Gear Five - for all intents and purposes, the "pinnacle of everything he can do." This form allows him to blow air throughout his body without the need for "charging", removing all of the weaknesses of the previous Gears, making him even tougher and stronger than Gear Four, and allowing him to channel his Rubber Man powers into the surrounding environment, to the point that it seems everything around Luffy is now operating on Toon Physics. However, the ability's also got the initial drawback of Gear Second, in that it takes an enormous toll on Luffy to use Gear Five at all.
  • To a lesser extent, some of the other members of the crew have super modes too, like Zoro's Asura which spawns an extra 2 heads and 4 extra arms to allow him to use 9 swords at a time, Chopper's Monster Point form (Even though that counts more as a Dangerous Forbidden Technique (at least pre-Time Skip)), and Sanji's Diable Jambe which literally sets his leg on fire.
  • Luffy's Gear Second also counts as a low-tier Dangerous Forbidden Technique, at least according to Lucci, who observes that using it stresses his body past its limit and shortens his life, similar to modern-day doping. (Luffy acknowledges this, and simply states that he'd rather shorten his life than lose his friends.) Interestingly, there's no indication that Gear Third has such long-term effects, since its side-effects are immediate and wear off within minutes.
    • The drawback appears to only come from overusing the ability. The main feature of Gear Second is that it drastically increases his metabolism making all his bodily functions work that much better at the cost of consuming his body's nutrient stores quicker. When he overused it against Lucci he was trying to sustain use with an already starved body. Later on, short bursts of the ability, or using it then eating immediately after show no drawbacks.
  • The Mink Tribe all have one in the form of their Sulong forms. Looking at a full moon results in their fur turning white, becoming longer, and taking on a fiery look with their animal features becoming much more fierce. Their power and speed are increased massively to the point its considered the race's trump card. If untrained, it turns them into berserkers and their stamina drains rapidly to the point of potentially being fatal. Trained properly, however, it loses these flaws and becomes a straight Super Mode, minus the need for the full moon. Chopper invents a drug that can permit a Mink to enter their Sulong forms at any point by taking it.
• Pokémon: The Series
  • It introduced Mega Evolution in the XY series to coincide with the games. Certain Pokémon can unlock Mega-Evolutions in battle for a power boost.
  • Ash's Greninja gets one courtesy of The Power of Friendship, and Word of God made it explicit that it's not a Mega-Evolution. From the Spoiler Opening right up to when it was first shown, it seems to be activated when trainer and Pokémon are in Synchronization with each other.
• Pretty Cure: Most series have different Super Modes seen only in movies.
  • Fresh Pretty Cure!: The first to introduce a Super Mode in the televised series, the Cure Angel form, though it's for only one Cure at a time.
  • Heart Catch Pretty Cure: The Super Silhouette would be the first series to give the whole team a Super Mode.
  • Smile Pretty Cure!: The Cures' Princess Form, which they go into to use a super-powerful joint attack. Their designs get spruced up as well.
• The Prince of Tennis: Kirihara Akaya's Devil Mode. There's also Muga no Kyouchi ("State of Self-Actualization") and its three doors, especially Ten'i Muhou no Kiwami (literally "The Pinnacle of Perfection").
• Ranma ½: Ranma has the "cat-fist" ("neko-ken"), which makes him more agile and gives him invisible claws that can cut through anything. It has two big limitations: 1) it can only be induced by an intense fear of cats, and 2) it gives him the mentality of a cat, making him easy to distract and incapable of using tactics and strategy.
• Rosario + Vampire: Moka has two forms: her normal form, which looks like a normal but very Panty Shot-prone schoolgirl, and her Superpowered Evil Side, which is taller, has bigger tits, silver hair and red Glowing Eyes of Doom.
  • Inner-Moka is more just extremely arrogant and violent than evil, but she's very much a Super Mode for Moka. Tsukune gets one of his own later in the manga, his eyes change and his expression deadens and he proceeds to kick the ass of everything in the area that isn't Moka.
  • Tsukune himself develops one as a result of his Emergency Transformation. After repeated blood injections, if not for a certain measure, there would be unpleasant consequences. By the end of the manga, Tsukune and Inner Moka each get an even stronger Super Mode as fully awakened Shinso Vampires. Tsukune's gives him silver hair and glowing red eyes plus Instant Armor and bat-like wings. Moka, already having silver hair and red eyes, has no visible alteration other than the wings. And her mother Akasha Bloodriver can similarly transform, gaining six truly massive wings.
• Sailor Moon's seasonal upgrades started out with very minor changes, but in S she acquires the Holy Grail, which gives her an upgrade literally referred to as Super Mode: a white skirt with gold and blue trim, a giant froufy back bow, and lots of new little fancy details. SuperS' seasonal upgrade was to make her Super form her permanent form, giving Sailor Chibi-Moon a similar Super powerup. Eventually, all the other sailors also got a Super form power-up.
  • And then in Stars, she goes one step further with her Eternal form, altering almost every feature of the costume. It starts off as being so powerful that she can only maintain it for a short time, but a few episodes later it becomes her permanent form. A manga-only upgrade gave the rest of the teams uniforms in a similar design (and without any of the individual details that had distinguished them from each other in earlier modes).
  • The manga eventually starts treating the very Sailor transformations as this, as they become formidable combatants even untransformed. This culminates in the Stars arc, when Sailor Galaxia proves she's stronger than any previous enemy without bothering to transform... And Usagi manages to drive her off.
• Saiyuki:
  • Son Goku. When his restraining coronet is removed, he reverts to his Sage form, the Seiten Taisei, which amplifies his speed, power and invulnerability to godlike levels but renders him incapable of speech or of distinguishing friend from foe. When the coronet is back on he has no idea what he's done.
  • Cho Hakkai's youkai form, similarly unlocked by removing the power limiters, is even closer to this trope, as, unlike Goku, he retains his rational thinking (though there's a risk of him losing control due to the Minus Wave, the one time he started going too far with violence Gojyo was able to snap him out of it). While nowhere near as strong as the Seiten Taisei, his ability to use his powers strategically makes him almost as efficient in battle.
• Shinzo: In this series, earth is populated by half animal half human creatures called Enterrans. Some Enterrans are known as Hyper Enterrans, meaning they can transform into a what is known as a Hyper Mode at will. These Hyper Modes are usually larger and more armored versions of their normal counterparts.
• In Sonic X, like in the games, Sonic and Shadow have transformed into their super forms a few times.
• Soul Eater: Very common, with subtropes included (usually Bishounen Line). There's the basic Resonance of Souls, the more advanced Chain Resonance, using the power of the Black Blood, Maka's Witch Hunter and Demon Hunter attacks, Black☆Star's Uncanny Sword mode and the blade modes after unlocking Masamune's true power, Free's werewolf form, Mosquito's younger forms, and many others.
  • And later Black Star and Death the Kid uses the Insanity.
    • Followed by Kid activating two of the Sanzu Lines himself, using his 'killing intent' (and, apparently, his father's power) to destroy Noah. Sort of.
    • Kid's Sanzu Lines turn out to be a different trope, functioning as a Super Mode only until they began, one after the other, to become permenant.
  • As both Maka and Black Star's original super-modes have become standard, they've essentially been replaced by their upgrades — Witch Hunter by Demon Hunter, and the improper version of the Uncanny mode with the real one.
• Tekkaman Blade: D-Boy undergoes a procedure which has a fifty percent chance of killing him in order to evolve his powered form into "Blastor Mode." Later, his Evil Twin Tekkaman Evil also acquires a Blastor upgrade.
• Tenjho Tenge: The cute, petite chibi girl Maya Natsume becomes a Huge Schoolgirl when getting ready for fighting. Inverted since her tall, sexy form is actually the true Maya, while the chibi form is her restraining her immense power.
• Tentai Senshi Sunred: Sunred, like any good Sentai hero, has a super mode. His is called Firebird Form, and if the opening (maybe) is anything to go by, it's very impressive.
• Tiger & Bunny: The two protagonists play this trope straight with their superpower Hundred Power which amplifies their existing human abilities by 100 times but only lasts for five minutes in addition to this they have the Good Luck Mode, a modification in their Powered Armor that enhances their power by not a damn bit — but it sure looks cool, doesn't it?
• Parodied in Yo-kai Watch. In one episode Nate tries so hard to get static hair that he starts glowing yellow light, his eyes turn red, and his hair becomes huge. His shirt rips off from all the static as well.
• Yuma and Astral from Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL are able to overlay with one another to become ZEXAL. The ZEXAL Morph/Change resembles a Super Saiyan, which gives him the ability to perform Shining Draws. With Shining Draws, Yuma and Astral are able to create a new card they need, that's how they create the ZW archetype. However, ZEXAL can only be used in specific areas, which prevents Yuma from overusing this Super Mode. In the second season, Yuma and Astral gain access to the more powerful ZEXAL II and ZEXAL III, with both of them still giving him the ability to perform Shining Draws. ZEXAL II allows him to change a card into its true form, while ZEXAL III allows him to disperse harmful Barian energy. Yuma and Astral have still access to their previous ZEXAL form, as shown during the duel against Don Thousand, as he used all three ZEXAL forms one after another.
• YuYu Hakusho:
  • After Yusuke dies and comes back to life, he is able to change into his demon form, which gives him access to both spirit and demon energy. Kurama can also revert back to Yoko Kurama (who was much stronger), and Hiei also has his demon form (where multiple eyes sprout on his body, used only once in the series); Hiei can also absorb his Dragon of the Darkness Flame attack, which grants a massive power boost.
  • Toguro also has his transformation to 100% power, which temporarily causes an eclipse and kills half of the audience in the process. It's every bit as cool as the 30+ episode buildup to it implied.
• Zombie Land Saga: Being electrified causes Franchouchou to absorb the energy and enter an empowered state, manifesting as a light-blue aura that auto-tunes their voices. They can also channel the energy to create mesmerizing holographic effects like rings of electricity and laser beams.

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