Demons require living hosts in order to be able to take form. However, should an individual possess a strong enough will, it is fully possible for them to overcome demonic possession and transcend both being human and a demon, a Devilman. Fudou Akira is a teenage boy who has always been considered weak and his extreme levels of empathy fuelled such labels. It is this empathy which causes Akira to agree when his childhood friend, Asuka Ryou, asks for his help in discovering demons. To his surprise, the two of them end up at Sabbath – a wild party which goes horribly wrong as blood is shed and people are killed in the midst of demons possessing the partygoers and causing intense destruction. In a bid to save his friend, Akira unwittingly merges with the powerful demon, Amon and becomes a Devilman, one with the power to defeat all the demons present. However, this new partnership changes various aspects of Akira’s personality and physical body, but not his empathetic heart.

Upon assimilation with the legendary demon, Amon, Fudo Akira’s entire temperament, appearance and physical prowess are all greatly changed. He becomes taller, more self-assured, hunkier, stronger and of course, faster. So much faster that Akira goes from being a studious yet weak high school student to being the fastest member of the school track team! However, Akira’s speed on the track, no matter how obscene, still isn’t the maximum that he can achieve using his Devilman abilities, not to mention that his flight speed and running speeds are two completely different beasts altogether!

With the sustained appearance of superpowers called “Quirks” in human beings, society rapidly becomes superhuman, bringing to the fore the profession people could only dream of and read about in comics: superheroes. With 80% of society having some sort of special ability, a fifth of people lack such powers, including Midoriya Izuku. Despite lacking a Quirk, Izuku has always wanted to become a hero like his idol, the number 1 hero, All Might. Izuku’s dedication to his dream has him taking notes of all heroes whenever he can. When he meets All Might, he soon learns of All Might’s inheritable power and to make things better yet, All Might sees Izuku has his successor. After several months of gruelling training, Izuku enrols at UA High, famous for its hero training program, beginning his journey to becoming the best hero.

Iida Tenya, 15-years-old. Quirk: Engine. Iida’s Quirk makes him one of the fastest students in class 1-A and he uses this speed in addition to his strength and intellect to formulate a fighting style based on powerful kicks. The powerful engines in Iida’s calves enable him to go into three gears, each faster than the last. Not only does Iida’s quirk give him the ability to make rapid dashing movements, he also boasts heightened reflexes.

Ayase Chihaya is a strong-willed tomboyish girl who lives in her older sister’s shadow. With no dreams of her own, her life is content, at least until she meets Wataya Arata; the quiet transfer student in Chihaya’s elementary school class. Arata introduces Chihaya to the game of competitive karuta, a demanding card game inspired by the classic Japanese anthology of Hundred Poets. Inspired by Arata’s passion for the game, Chihaya falls in love with karuta as well. Together with her friend Mashima Taichi, Chihaya and Arata join the local club and spend their childhood days playing together until life got in the way. Skipping forward to high school, Chihaya’s zeal for karuta has only intensified, with her looking to establish a karuta club at her highschool and work her way to the national championship at Omi Jingu. Finding herself reunited with a more sober Taichi, Chihaya sets out to put together a good team and achieve her dream!

You must be wondering just how Chihaya could be on this list when there hasn’t been a single allusion to speed at all in the Chihayafuru outline. That is because karuta is an intense game that requires both mental and physical fortitude, and Chihaya for the most part, has bags of both! Chihaya’s reaction time is possibly the swiftest in her current generation of karuta players, not to mention the fact that she almost has a 6th sense of sorts with regards to the game, hearing the first syllable of a card before the syllable has completely left the mouth of the dictator. Her intense arm swings do make her very susceptible to shoulder injury, which actually ends up happening at some point. This reveals the most potent part of Chihaya’s entire make-up – her ability to learn.

Kakeru is a former elite runner at high school finding himself being chased for stealing food. He’s saved by a Kansei University student and runner named Haiji, who persuades Kakeru to move into the old apartment named Chikuseisou, where he’ll team up with the other residents to enter the Hakone Ekiden Marathon. This is one of the most prominent university races in Japan and Kakeru accepts Haiji’s proposal; however, what he doesn’t know is that all the Chikuseisou residents, save for himself and Haiji, are complete newbies to running.

A serious character who puts his all into his chosen sport, Kakeru is a first-year sociology student at Kanazaku University. Kakeru used to be an elite runner at his high school and soon joins the Kanazaku University Track Team. Kakeru’s experience in running is greater than the majority of his teammates in Chikuseisou residence. We’re introduced to Kakeru’s running early on, with him brutally outpacing a convenience store clerk who was in hot pursuit because Kakeru stole some bread! While that isn’t severely impressive, Kakeru still managed to maintain pace and be slightly ahead of Haiji, who was pedalling away on a bicycle!

Otosaka Yuu is seemingly a regular high school student; however, he has a secret – he can take over people’s minds and control their bodies for five seconds at a time. He has made use of this school to get ahead in life, but when Tomori Nao catches him using his power, she coaxes Yuu and his little sister Ayumi into transferring to Hoshinoumi Academy, a school for those with supernatural abilities. The school’s student council is secretly tasked with tracking down teenagers who misuse their powers and Yuu finds himself enlisted by the student council to assist. They face an incredible number of challenges and as they do, it becomes more and more apparent that the nature of the world may not be all what they thought it was.

Takajo Jojiro is a member of the Hoshinoumi Academy student council, of which he is the Vice-President, second-in-command to Nao. His ability allows him to move at incredibly fast speeds in any one direction. He moves so quickly that he appears to be teleporting; however, it is movement so fast that things around him begin to slow down! Unfortunately for him, he is still unable to control how he stops, which often ends up in some hilarious results and a little blood!

Saitama is a seemingly unimpressive man who has a unique hobby: he is a hero for fun! Pursuing his childhood dream, Saitama fights against evil relentlessly and over the course of three years, this has caused him to lose all his hair. Currently, Saitama is inconceivably powerful; so powerful that no enemy can beat him in battle. In fact, it takes only one blow from Saitama to end a fight, which brings us to Saitama’s biggest problem – crime-fighting and being a hero no longer have the thrill of battle and now he’s bored! However, when 19-year-old Genos, a cyborg, approaches Saitama hoping to become Saitama’s disciple after seeing what he can do, Saitama’s dreary life gains something interesting as Genos proposes that they join the Hero Association and become certified heroes. Saitama, shocked at the fact that no one knows who he is, agrees, starting off the action-packed journey of a guy who just wanted to be a hero for fun.

Aside from the very telling name, Sonic from One Punch Man’s speed isn’t simply in his movement, but his decision-making too – he immediately attacks Saitama when they first meet without so much as waiting for an explanation. More seriously; however, Sonic is an individual harbouring an S-Class fighting ability, using his intense speed to blur himself from view. Some of Sonic’s abilities, like his Ten Shadows Burial, allow him to create several afterimages of himself and even enter hypersonic speeds. Quick!

Seven years after the defeat of Majin Buu and the quelling of the Majin threat, Earth is at peace once again. However, peace is short-lived, and a sleeping evil awakens somewhere in the galaxy: Beerus, the God of Destruction. Spurred on by a prophecy foreseeing his own defeat at the hands of a “Super Saiyan God”, Beerus and his attendant, Whis, search the universe for this being. Soon, they come upon Earth, where they encounter one of the strongest warriors in the universe – Son Goku, and his band of powerful friends.

The angelic attendant to Beerus the Destroyer is the peppy and pleasant Whis. Soon into the events of Super, we are made aware of the fact that Beerus himself is under Whis’s tutelage. This obviously means Whis must be a big deal and soon into the events of Super, you come to see why. Whis is capable of a slew of different abilities, but we’re very interested in his Warp technique, which allows Whis to transport himself and Beerus between realms and even through time if need be.

Hunters are people who exist to do some of life’s most dangerous and challenging activities. Twelve-year-old Gon Freecss is determined to become the best Hunter there is in order to find his father, who has a Hunter himself and disappeared from Gon’s life when he was much younger. While on the way to achieving his goal of becoming a Hunter, Gon makes many friends including the doctor-in-training, Leorio, the red-eyed Kurapika, and the ex-assassin Killua. Together, they attempt to navigate the dangerous Hunter Exam which has claimed several lives before and throughout, they are tested like they have never been tested before.

Super confident and quite obviously a speedster given his cheetah-like form and name, Cheetu was one of the Chimera Ants who besieged the area of Neo-Green Life during the events of the Chimera Ant arc. Cheetu was also known as the Speed King given his incredible speed – he would do things like wait until the last minute to dodge a hail of projectiles. He is actually capable of reaching 200 km/h in an instant and he can also easily dodge bullets.

15-year-old Kurosaki Ichigo is a high school student who has always had the uncanny ability to see and interact with ghosts. When a woman in a black kimono named Kuchiki Rukia suddenly appears in his room one night. She introduces herself as a Soul Reaper, an entity which exists to guide souls to the afterlife and purge evil spirits known as Hollows. Soon after Rukia’s arrival, a Hollow attacks Ichigo’s home and wounds Rukia, who offers Ichigo her powers so he can save his family. After the encounter, Ichigo is forced to take over Rukia’s job as a Soul Reaper and his life from then on is never the same again.

Dubbed the “Flash Goddess”, Yoruichi is the former head of the Soul Society 2nd Division, as well as the 22nd Head of the Shihouin Clan. As such, she was also head of the Stealth Corps in Soul Society – which then begins to nod at Yoruichi’s exceptional espionage-related repertoire of skills. Her Flash Step, or “Shunpo” is so quick that she appears to be in several places at once, closing incredible distances in an instant while remaining completely undetected. Unsurprising for one of the best assassins Soul Society has ever seen.

When a mysterious creature cuts the moon down to a permanent crescent, the students of Class 3-E at Kunugigaoka Middle School find themselves presented with an incredible task: they must defeat the creature before it lays waste to the Earth too. However, the creature is capable of Mach 20 speeds, so his apprehension is proven to be impossible for anyone on Earth. Calling himself “Koro-sensei”, the tentacled monster further shows his might when he proves to be the best teacher the kids in 3-E have ever had!

Koro-sensei’s speed is said to reach speeds of about Mach 20. For those who are unsure, it means that Koro-sensei can cover up to about 25000 kilometres in an hour. Perhaps if his speed were the only thing to worry about then maybe Koro wouldn’t be such a threat but in being that quick and that powerful, he proves to be an uncomfortable acquaintance to humankind.