Spike and the rest of the Bebop crew delve into some interesting stories in Cowboy Bebop. Look at “Sympathy for the Devil” where an odd space radiation causes a young boy to never age. In an anime that can do that, it’s not hard to imagine there can be a slew of radical anime drugs with very odd effects. With that we look at the drug titled “Red Eye” from the first episode of Cowboy Bebop.

Red Eye starts the list off as being the worst of these anime drugs because of several reasons. First though we need to look at its effects which are scary to say the least. The user, in this case the man named Asimov, uses this anime drug to enhance his abilities acting as a steroid. It increases his reaction speeds and power to the point that he defeated several opponents armed with only his fists. The side effect most pronounced is the red eye but there are also signs that it creates a toll on the user’s body and creates an overly aggressive state of mind. The effects could be worse but the reason for being on the bottom of this list is because Asimov is the only user of Red Eye we see in Cowboy Bebop and the way his character meets his tragic demise because of it leads to the realization that indeed it should be a blessing he was the only user of the drug.

Fighting in a tournament real or fake can be seen as a tough challenge indeed. Any participant of a battle wants to hold their head up high and scream victory as they stand proud over their fallen enemy. The same can be applied to the series titled Togainu no Chi which is about a lot of things namely fighting in seemingly to the death battles. With that we can see why warriors may want to use something to give them the edge, namely we look at the anime drug called Line.

Line seems to be the key to winning a tough fit, ingest a little of this liquid substance and you gain superhuman prowess. That seems simple, gain superpowers right? Maybe not when you consider the facts beyond. Side effects of line include loss of control and death because apparently line can’t be absorbed by most successfully and we see maybe why this isn’t the anime drug to take to win a battle. I think the men of Togainu no Chi might want to change their training regimen, this way they can actually stand victorious after a win and then continue to do that, stand.

Most know of the greatness that is Code Geass. In a world of mecha combat and political espionage, it’s not hard to understand why the characters of Code Geass may need to remember better times. Times of noncombat and peaceful days in comparison to the battles that exist currently. That’s why next we look at the drug Refrain.

The anime drug known as Refrain is a stimulant that does some very odd but interesting things. However, the most profound reason this illegal drug is used is for the purpose of remembering greater days in a user’s life. This is done by creating hallucinations that appear as memories from the user’s mind which in the best case shows times of happiness and peace. Seems like a good deal, right? Well it is number 8 on this list because the side effects aren’t a good deal. Neural cell death, degradation of the mind and other disorders such as amnesia and delirium could follow. Yeah, I think we will stick with scrap books or old home movies to remember the better days if that’s okay with you.

One Piece is known for some zany fictional concepts. The concept of fruit, called Devil Fruit, giving powers is already a crazy concept to say the least. Fruits that give for example our main character Luffy the ability to become a rubber like being or Nico, who uses the Hana Hana no Mi devil fruit, the power to create several body parts at will. That being said, is it so hard for one to believe that a world like this wouldn’t have some insane anime drugs? Thus we look at the anime drugs known as “Energy Steroids” which deserves to be near the bottom of the list to say the least.

Energy steroids are primarily used by the “New Fisherman Pirates” for a few awesome effects. Users of this anime drug gain immense power and large muscles, a prime example is seen by Hody Jones who is able to take down the whole crew of Crab Hand Gyro (including the leader Crab Hand Gyro) without using his own two hands. With that it seems like this is a supremely awesome anime drug, right? Well now let’s see the list of side effects which include extreme pain upon use, a reduced life span and a crazed blind rage that can’t be quelled even when all opponents are defeated. Maybe we should let the New Fishman Pirates be the only people to use this anime drug and move on.

In many ways we at Honey’s Anime could say that Serial Experiments Lain is in itself an anime drug. User’s will experience hallucinations, tripped out moments of thought and overall feeling of being confused all while happy. Serial Experiments Lain is indeed an odd show that has moments where it seems nothing is real but there is one thing that we know of from the show. This one thing is an anime drug named Accela, which in itself makes an already trippy show worse for those in the actual anime.

Accela is in many ways similar to a real life drug called Ecstasy, albeit some worse affects. Users of this weird Nano machine like drug gain a heightened sense of mental speed, 2 to 12 to be more precise, which seems like a wonder for a college paper. Yet, like most of the anime drugs on this list there are some severe side effects such as intense sweating, foaming at the mouth. Let’s not forget temporary insanity and the urge to kill either yourself or others…Accela just seems like a drug the user may want to avoid using and stick with watching anime.

We arrive back at mecha and at a very popular series Mobile Suit Gundam Seed. Usually however one wouldn’t believe that Gundam would be a series where anime drugs would be relevant but in Gundam Seed, it’s actually a very important concept for some characters. The characters in question are those under the name of Biological CPU, humans who have been altered greatly by the Earth Alliance to be better than a typical pilot. To even further enhance them they use a substance called Gamma Glipheptin.

This Gundam Seed specific anime drug is indeed not as bad as the anime drugs before it on the list. It can only be used by pilots who have become CPU altered and the pros outweigh the cons, to some degree. The pros of a pilot using Gamma Glipheptin is that they gain enhanced capabilities beyond their already strengthened skills. Increased Stamina, reflexes and reaction time plus the ability similar to the Seed’s coordinators like Kira Yamato or Athrun Zala. The side effects are namely just an addiction to it, which is severe but to be a stronger pilot and live a bit longer in the world Gundam I can’t blame a pilot for meddling with it.

Imagine for a second if you could start your life back from when you were a kid. Well in many ways a lot of people, including some of us at Honey’s Anime would jump at an opportunity like that. With that, we divert your attention to APTX 4869, an anime drug that should kill you but in reality doesn’t and instead alters your very physical being into that of a young kid. However, let’s first examine if that is such a good thing.

In Case Closed the main protagonist Jimmy Kudo, or Shinichi Kudo in Japanese was an ace detective despite being only seventeen years old. One night he witnesses a shady organization and in an attempt to cover it up they feed him APTX 4869, a drug meant to be untraceable and lethal. Of course this fails and Jimmy is reverted back to that of a six year old retaining his mentality despite his appearance. For the most part, APTX 4869 seems awesome, yet like anything the side effect is the inability to go back to your previous age unless you’re under specific situations and it’s only temporary. Sorry but we’ll stick with a better alternative.

In similar contrast to the last drug from Case Closed, at number three we look at a similar drug. ReLife’s drug reverts the physical appearance as well. Yet, instead of being jolted back to the age of a kid, this one puts you into a seventeen year old version of yourself. Sounds pretty good in comparison to APTX 4869 but let’s first look at why this might not be the anime drug you want to take.

Arata Kaizaki, a twenty seven year old man has found life quite difficult lately. The life after college and in the workplace has been harsh to him and Arata feels like life barely is in his control. Luckily Ryo Yoake gives him the opportunity to test a drug from his affiliated company, ReLife, which will allow him to go back through high school. Arata can make new friends and have the high school life he never had, seems perfect right? Unfortunately like most of these anime drugs there is a side effect, while not directly from the drug itself, the user of the drug will find all of the people he meets during his year completely forget who he was. So if you don’t mind having a great year that only you can remember why not take a chance with the ReLife drug?