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With the surging number of shonen manga getting an anime adaptation, there is also an increase in the number of powerful characters who are too overpowered to be defeated in conventional ways. Hence, many anime came out with the same shonen trope of sealing away a character. While the trope isn't loved by everyone, the event does bring some layers to the narrative.
While fans may be led to believe that characters being sealed away is a new shonen trope, the same is also prevalent in some of the all-time classics, such as the Dragon Ball series and the Naruto franchise. So, let's take a look at some anime characters who were sealed away in their universe.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the below-listed animes and purely reflects the author's opinions, which are subjective by nature.
King Piccolo, Sukuna, and 8 other anime characters who were sealed off in their respective universes
1) Naruto Uzumaki
With the recent chapter of Boruto released, Naruto and Hinata are, without a doubt, the most popular shouts for the sealed-off characters. However, this is not the first time for Naruto, as previously in the series, he was sealed off by Isshiki when he and Sasuke fought him.
Just so Sasuke could make his escape, Naruto allowed Isshiki to seal him away, after which the new Team 7 later came to his aid after fighting Boro.
2) Satoru Gojo
As revealed in the manga, the fake Suguru Geto, i.e., Kenjaku, sealed away Satoru Gojo in the Present Realm to initiate his plan for the Culling Game. Moreover, the entire Shibuya incident was organized so that Kenjaku could seal away Gojo, and he succeeded in the same.
The incident took place in chapter 91 of the series, and since then, 119 additional chapters have been released but with no updates on Gojo. As a result, fans have been urging mangaka Gege Akutami to bring back the strongest sorcerer.
3) Lumiere Silvamillion Clover
Unlike other characters in the list who were sealed away by people who were hostile towards them, Lumiere Silvamillion Clover was sealed off by Secre Swallowtail, his loyal attendant.
After the fight against the Devil Licht, Lumiere was mortally wounded, which is why Secre decided to seal him away to preserve his life. Five centuries later, she released him using the magic stones, with some help from Finral.
4) Kurama
Kurama, otherwise popularly known as the Nine-Tails in Naruto, is one of the tailed beasts created by the Sage of Six Paths by dividing the powers of the Ten-Tailed Beast into nine individual parts.
After the death of the Sage of Six Paths, each of these tailed beasts were held captive by different shinobi villages as they considered them to be a valuable military power. Thus, the villagers sealed them away in individual shinobis, who were later known as jinchuriki. In the case of Kurama, this was Mito Uzumaki, followed by Kushina and Naruto Uzumaki.
5) Liebe
Earlier in Black Clover, Liebe used to live in the underworld, where he was constantly bullied for having no mana. As part of the bullying, he was thrown towards the gate of the underworld. Fortunately enough, he passed through it and reached the world of the living.
Here, Asta's mother, Richita, adopted him as his son and took care of him. However, when the two were attacked by the top-ranked devil Lucifero, Richita was gravely injured, after which she sealed off Liebe within the five-leaf grimoire she had found.
6) Yhwach
At the end of the first war between the Shinigami and Quincy, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni managed to beat the Father of the Quincy, Yhwach, after which he sealed him away indefinitely.
However, according to the Quincy folklore, The Sealed King was to regain his pulse after 900 years of being captured, his intellect after another 90, and his strength after nine more years. Following Yhwach breaking out from his seal, he made his move against the Soul Society.
7) King Piccolo
Speaking of sealed-off characters, King Piccolo from Dragon Ball has quite the expertise in it since, within the same series, he has dealt with the situation twice. He was initially captured by Master Mutaito as he used his special technique, "Evil Containment Wave" (Mafuba), to seal King Piccolo within an Electric Rice Cooker.
After he was let out by Emperor Pilaf, King Piccolo was again faced with the technique twice as Master Roshi tried to copy Master Mutaito's technique. However, he failed.
8) Sosuke Aizen
In the original Bleach, Sosuke Aizen had fused himself with Hogyoku, causing him to be overpowered. However, after he had transcended, Ichigo came to fight him with his Final Getsuga Tensho. This form helped the orange-haired protagonist to overpower Aizen and defeat him.
However, as revealed by Yhwach in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, given that Aizen had fused himself with Hogyoku, it was difficult to kill. As a result, he was sealed away underneath the First Division's headquarters.
9) Ryomen Sukuna
Ryomen Sukuna, aka the King of Curses, was previously known as the Imaginary Demon and was defeated by a group of sorcerers to stop his menace. However, after his death, he became a cursed spirit since he was too strong to handle and was thus sealed away within his remains of 20 indestructible fingers, preserved in grave wax.
At present, he has reincarnated himself within Itadori Yuji after the latter consumed one of Sukuna's fingers during a cursed spirit conflict at his school.
10) Annie Leonhart
At the end of Attack on Titan season 1, it was revealed that Annie Leonhart was the Female Titan and the one who had been targeting the Scout Regiment. After Eren Yeagar managed to defeat her in his Attack Titan form, Annie Leonhart was forced out of her titan.
However, in order to preserve her secrets and Marley, she sealed herself within the unbreakable hardened crystal she was able to produce in parts of her body. She later came out of her seal in the final season of Attack on Titan.
These were our picks of characters who got sealed off. Do let us know in the comments if we missed out on any characters.
