The Worst Episodes of Toei Sailor Moon

Recently I completed re-watching the Toei Sailor Moon, this making it I believe the fifth time I watched the series completely. To mark this event I wanted to review the series. Toei Sailor Moon is a series that draws more polarizing feelings from me then any series: The only series who's best matches the Sailor Moon Manga, my favorite series of all series, yet who's worst is painful to me in a way few other series can match. As such I thought I'd make three blogs to express my feelings about this series: one to go over what I don't like about the series, one to go over what I like about this series, and then finally one to express my feelings towards the series as a whole.

After watching the series I attempted to rank the 200 episodes. It was a difficult experience, and many episodes were interchangeable, but a general picture began to develop. Of those 200 episodes, there were around 20 episodes or 10% of the series I had negative feelings towards. There were around 30 episodes I felt mixed or neutral on. There was around 120 episodes, the meat of the show, that I liked divided roughly evenly between episodes I liked moderately and episodes I liked a lot. Finally there was around 30 episodes I fully loved. 

There's about 50 episodes that I feel mixed or outright negative on. That is one quarter of the show, one in every four episode, though they tend to be clustered in R and SuperS, the second and fourth seasons respectively. The flaws of these episodes tended to be one or more of three specific problems:

1: The Episode was just kinda dull. I'm not really a fan of slice of life as a genre, and Toei Sailor Moon adds a substantial slice of life element. Beyond that it's a 200 episode weekly slice of life monster of the week type series where about half the episodes have no particular plot relevance and was made by Toei Animation 30 years ago. It was always going to be the case some of the episodes were going to miss on a base entertainment level. I'm honestly impressed it wasn't more. 

2: The episode was mean-spirited. Toei Sailor Moon is a strange beast to compare to other versions of Sailor Moon as it has a reputation as the fluffiest, most comedic, light-hearted and optimistic series. However while it is the most comedic, its comedy is very 90s which sometimes means being mean to characters for comedy. Most often this happens to Usagi, which is to me a very strange quirk of Toei Sailor Moon, the amount it pokes fun at its protagonist.

3: The episode has a bad moral. The only quality of fiction I consider objectively bad, some episodes express morals that are at best, quite dated, which is particularly troublesome given that this is a series aimed at children.

All 20 of these episodes are ranked at the bottom from some combination of these traits. I am first going to give the Dishonorable Mentions unranked with a very brief explanation, before giving the bottom 10. 

Dishonorable Mentions:

Episode 16: This is the episode where they make Wedding Dresses. I saw a podcast that was confused why anyone would put this in bottom 10. For me it's a combination of it's a kind of mean-spirited ep (the girls make fun of the fiancé of the victim of the week cause he's not conventionally attractive), I don't like the characterization of the girls here, and it's a spider monster and spiders really ick me. 

Episode 29: The ep where Usagi and Makoto go after Motoki that introduces Reika. I don't like how Usagi is treated as inept and Makoto eventually hits her for being inept at cooking. Also while she doesn't go through with it I don't like the characterization of Makoto trying to convince Reika to go so she can get Motoki. 

Episode 42: The ep with the Sailor V backstory. The backstory doesn't make a lot of sense and involves Minako not telling her British friends she's alive because she was Alan and Katarina were already together. It set the vibe for Minako for another half season that I don't think works well with her and also for how much the fandom like to caricature Manga Usagi as a cold hearted murderer and Toei Usagi as a constantly crying wuss, Toei Usagi is the one who was like "you took my friend's love interest so I will kill you" which doesn't fit with anything we know about Usagi.

Episode 63: The Grandpa Hino Wrestling Ep. Grandpa Hino in Toei is a problem, he is very often hitting on schoolgirls to the point its become a problem, but the ep wants us to feel sympathetic towards him as he gets beat up. Also it's just kind of dull. 

Episode 66: The Curry Ep. I have seen this series I think five times all the way through and I truly honestly can't tell you what happens in this ep. It's very unmemorable.

Episode 101: The Usagi's Birthday Part 1 Ep. This ep paints Usagi in the WORST light, having her slap Mamoru and run away crying for forgetting her birthday only to reveal she forgot she never actually told him her birthday making her out as stupid and petty. The ending was good though. 

Episode 122: The Viluy Episode. So this is weird because it's actually kinda similar to the Manga. However in the Manga this happens earlier in the arc when you don't know very much about the villains. Here it's near the end of the Season so Ami investigating Mugen is like... well we know all this already. Plus the dialogue is so painfully on the nose. "there's no place for emotions in science" "please you have to believe in love." 

Episode 133: The First Ep with Diana. So I LOVE Diana to pieces, but Toei Luna is maybe my most disliked character in this entire series and this ep really shows why. Toei Luna is basically Usagi in the Usagi's Birthday ep but for the entire series. She's jealous of Artemis looking at a human nun, and then when she finds a talking grey cat with a moon symbol she think he got with some other cat. Like it's so dumb, obviously Diana is their daughter and Luna is so unlikeable this ep especially after the S movie where she fell in love with a human herself and her having feeling for Rhett Butler back in Season 1.

Episode 139: The Ep with Miharu, the little Samurai Girl. So Miharu herself is great and I like how this ep parodies Samurai Tropes. That's what keeps it out of bottom 10 because Miharu's mom and this moral it teaches deserves to be near the bottom of the Bottom 10. No Usagi, not all parents love their children and I hope that children in a bad home state didn't internalize this ep's message. 

Episode 142: So this is the ep Diana runs across this mean older woman Mayako who is acting out cause of a sad backstory. This ep kinda shows one of the problems of Toei Sailor Moon's philosophy and the shows that took inspiration from it. It wants to redeem everyone but having a sympathetic backstory is not the same thing as being sympathetic. Being mean to people for 20 years cause you love left you is not a reasonable reaction and you'd usually have to make amends in some way. Also Usagi in almost every ep of SuperS either gets insulted as "fat" or is unreasonably jealous or both. In this one she gets jealous that Mamoru shared his umbrella with an old woman. K. At least Diana is cute in it

Episode 178: The Luna x Yaten Ep. Because seriously, Luna is the worst, falling in love with yet another human just to prove that she is hypocritical and petty. Also kind of a dull ep. 

Bottom 10:

10: Episode 67: The infamous Chibiusa finds a dinosaur episode. If you polled a bunch of casual Sailor Moon fans I think that this episode would be the most highly ranked for worst episode in the series. It's such a meme it's almost fun to get to just because of how famously bad it is, except it's not fun to watch the way some bad media. It's just boring and slow. A Volcano erupts and the Senshi have to fight it with their powers and that sounds cool except all they do is make holes in the ground with their attacks so a small portion of lava flows into it. There's such a forced connection between Chibiusa and the baby plesiosaur with Chibiusa being like "oh you miss your mommy too?" Outside of the fact that random dinosaur shows up, this is exactly the kinda of plot often given to young children in media especially at the time this came out, that bores everyone. Granted I obviously don't think this is the worst ep in the series and honestly it might be Bottom 10 solely for reputation because it doesn't really displease me but I do kinda feel it should be on here.

9: Episode 89: The Clipshow Ep. I think if you polled a bunch of HARDCORE Sailor Moon fans, this ep would be the most rated for worst and once again I think I might be putting it here for reputation. Because what am I supposed to say? It's a clipshow ep. It's like talking about a soup spoon that comes with a meal that doesn't even have soup. Even compared to other Clipshow episodes there's basically no new footage, like a couple of shots from the literal next ep. The idea of the Senshi arguing who should be the Main Character is funny for like 10 seconds but all they do is go one by one and be like "I'm Sailor X, and my good qualities are that I am Y and Z" with really basic examples of the Senshi's good qualities. It also inadvertently expresses a problem I have with the Toei Anime where the Guardians are made out to be pseudo main characters but don't have a broader story arc going through it like Usagi does cause they weren't designed for that. 

8: Episode 154: Hey remember when R didn't give Makoto and Minako their own ep but instead gave them one ep? Let's do that again. SuperS is infamous for how much filler it has, how boring it can get, and yet while Ami and Rei both get an ep to get their new attack, Makoto and Minako do so in the same ep. And not in a fun clever way talking about their friendship or contrasting their personalities. The two have an unpleasant fight for an ep over petty nonsense that paints Minako especially out really badly, and then has Artemis just randomly say "BTW you should have new attacks." This ep is baffling creatively speaking and is just not fun. The joke is that all the children like Makoto's attempts to take care of them and don't like Minako's. That's MAYBE funny once and the ep keeps doing it. 

7: Episode 143: The Fisheye is a Shotacon ep. So this ep has... several things that happen in it. I will say Fish Eye's comical inability to throw knives was funny as was Moon and Chibi-Moon's double kick failing. With that said this ep is incompetent in a way that is unique for the season. Depending on how much this effects you, how bad it will varies but I've never seen anyone see this ep and not be unaffected. First of all we find out that Fish Eye is a Shotacon, attracted to a boy in Chibiusa's class. See the Trio are supposed to not know what morality is because they are shapeshifted animals which is what gives the leeway for their redemption later despite their thinly veiled sexual assault metaphor. That said even the other two members of the Trio are like "Wha? That's a kid" "You can't do that." This makes it harder to accept Fish Eye's redemption and also supports particular nasty stereotypes about people like Fish Eye being shota I don't want to get into. Beyond that, the Guardian Senshi have to believe in Pegasus to get their power and I'm not as Anti-Pegasus as some, but this is not a good look mixed with the idiocy of giving all the girls their super transformation in the same ep where once again SuperS was infamous for having way too much filler. It would have made all the sense in the world to give each girl an ep of getting their Super Power and maybe getting it from something inside of them like a different SM series... just saying. 

6: Episode 177: Remember that Viluy ep back in S, let's do that again but worse. Ami and Taiki are at a science presentation with the scientist Professor Amanogawa when a kid asks if the stars are our deceased ancestors watching over us. The Professor says so and Taiki gets really mad and is like "there's no room for emotion in science." This is very similar to the Viluy ep down to some of the scenes being shot the same, the same very dumb conflict that misrepresents science and scientific thinking to a childish caricature of cold and mean, except this ep actually wants you to act like Taiki is being reasonable. Like at least Viluy was like the villain of that ep, in this ep we're supposed to think Taiki is super smart and reasonable, smarter then Ami even, and yet doesn't understand the basic emotional motivations for science. 

I will say, the last 5 eps while bad I don't consider that bad. These are eps I genuinely could have and did exchange with the dishonorable mentions while ranking. However this bottom 5 was pretty clear to me immediately and the only question was ordering them.

5: Episode 65: The original ep of Minako and Makoto fighting back in R. While this ep isn't as bad as I remember it on rewatch, the start of this ep is really unpleasant to me. It just involves Makoto and Minako being mean to each other and fighting about boys as well as more unfunny Usagi/Chibiusa antics. I get that it's realistic for teenage girls, but also this is so antithetical to what being a Sailor Senshi means. 

The rest of the ep is mostly fine outside of the usual characters making fun of Usagi, but it mostly involves a very obvious parallel between Petz/Calaveras with Makoto/Minako and the two Senshi resolving their difference while the Ayakashi don't. Mainly I don't like this ep cause of the start which is one of the few times we see the Inner Senshi in really any version have a conflict that's presented as more then just comedic, and it's unpleasant.

4: Episode 145: The Ballet ep although that has very little to do with the problem with it. SuperS every couple of episodes would have the joke "haha Usagi fat." However this ep uses that joke repeatedly. I would say more often then one should make about a 14 year old girl who is drawn with the same proportions as everyone else, except one time would be too much. This is the kind of media that can be actually damaging for children watching. This is the kind of thing that gets prepubescent girls to start worrying about their weight. It's rare for me to say it but I will go so far as to say this should not exist, I believe it is objectively bad. Like I said it happens in an unfortunate lot of SuperS, but this ep easily has the most in the season. 

In case you're going to tell me that people today are just too sensitive and back then this was fine, I'm just gonna say it: not only do I think that's a really bad argument but no I'm actually old enough to barely remember the 90s and know how this was received in the early days of online Sailor Moon communications. People weren't as angry about it but even back then people thought these jokes were hacky and unfunny. Even if this WAS a good joke, it's still beating a dead horse.

3: Episode 157: So this ep has probably more going for it then either of the two eps prior, the Quartet are funny in it and Chibiusa has an amusing interaction with VesVes where she gets tired charging up a hill at her at Ves Ves's confusion. That said this ep is kinda infamous for this messages that it "accidentally" teaches. I say accidentally because they're so obviously what a child would take from this I'm not sure what the writers were thinking.

So this ep has a broad theme about having belief in things, yet its idea of belief is the kinda bad word you'd get from the more irreverent skeptics. The main plot is Chibiusa asks Pegasus what's going on and because that would involve moving the plot forward Pegasus says he can't say, and when Chibiusa wants to know, he just leaves. The Senshi rely on Pegasus to fight the villains this season which leads to the obvious unfortunate implications that tell children "hey if someone mysterious wants to speak to you and ONLY you in secret and doesn't let you ask questions... you should just go along with it." Not a great idea, especially considering the other themes already in this season. 

They try to tie it in with the other part of the ep which is about a kid making a flying bike and having childlike imagination and belief which is not quite as serious though again probably not the best idea teaching children that putting a flimsy looking wings on your bike will let you fly if you believe hard enough. SuperS in general is a rather childish season, and while being childish is not inherently wrong, this episode on a meta level shows what a really childish understanding of belief is.

2: Episode 4: This episode probably SHOULD be the worst. It has all three elements that makes a bad Toei Sailor Moon episode, all to a large degree, it represents to me what everyone thinks is wrong with the Toei Anime. This is the episode that focuses around becoming fat. In terms of bad messages, this is the kinda episode that can give children eating disorders, genuinely, expressing constantly how the very normally animated Usagi is worthy of ridicule for getting "fat." In terms of meanness characters are constantly mean to Usagi about her weight including Luna and to a lesser extent Mamoru. There's a general meanness as well where like Usagi at this point has numerous civilian friends and one of them is drawn kinda fat and the others are kinda snide about it when she says she's tried dieting and it didn't work or the way Usagi is afraid to fight and Luna literally threatens her to get her to fight. 

Even beyond all that though if you somehow get past all that this episode is boring. Sailor Moon is, depending on the medium, a villain of the month or monster of the week type series. That might seem superfluous but this episode is before any other Senshi has entered the story and has no Monster of the Week, it's just Jadeite without any confrontation with Sailor Moon, and at the end a few regular brainwashed humans. Because of that the ep is slow and boring, involving the cast by accident of their teacher going to the evil brainwashing gym, ending up there and running across Jadeite's plan. 

This episode I feel probably should be number 1 because it has everything you'd expect of a bad Toei SM ep. When people think of what they don't like about Toei SM it's usually that its got boring filler that you have to get through, its the characters being whiny or mean, its dumb 90s anime plots, and this ep is all that and it has a really terrible message on top of it. There's nothing I can think of I actually like about this ep, and plenty to dislike. So why is it number 2? The episode of Toei SM I dislike most is one that hurt me much more personally then Episode 4. 

1: Episode 61: I wanna start by saying, I've seen this ep in people's Top 10 eps lists before and... I get it, I really do. This episode is beautifully shot and intensely emotionally evocative. The Phonebooth scene where Usagi breaks down crying in the phone booth after Mamoru leaves her is emotionally devastating and never fails to make me cry. The ep even has some good comedy and social satire with the makeup droid that tries to get women to think if they use more makeup they can get the man they want. This ep is a very polarizing ep, and if you're on the love it side for this one I truly do get it. But where Episode 4 represents I think the common critiques of Toei Sailor Moon, Episode 61 episode represents my problems with it as someone for whom this franchise means a hell of a lot.

This is the episode Mamoru declares a breakup with Usagi, secretly because he's been getting bad dreams that being with him will destroy her. As a young girl, I had my favorites but I liked almost any show you put in front of me. Even as a child though I HATED this. I was like "No, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen have to be together!" As an adult I still hate this decision because it's antithetical to what I want from Sailor Moon. We had Mamoru famously be turned evil in Season 1 and Usagi forced to fight her true love and finally do it. Then immediately after we have Makaiju where he doesn't have his memories and Usagi has to restore them. Frustrating to delay this further, but okay whatever. But of course they can't just have them finally be together, no we have to delay this even further with petty BS like this. Mamoru not telling Usagi is so frustrating, the series delaying the romance we know will happen is so frustrating, and the series focusing on this stuff instead of the magical girl superhero series with elements of cosmic horror shows a complete misfocus from what I come to Sailor Moon for. I enjoy romance stories but I will drop a romance I'm enjoying if they even start to do this delay the inevitable type stuff. I have a disdain for stories actively wasting my type like this, especially with such a lazy way to do it. That by itself could put this ep in my bottom 10. But the reason it's at the bottom is because of Mamoru's excuse for breaking up with Usagi. Mamoru says that the reason he doesn't love her anymore is because "I don't like weak girls." This is a lie, but it's something we are supposed to find believable with the other characters acting like Usagi should be better for Mamoru. 

This is the kinda thing that can cripple a young girl's self-esteem and unlike Episode 157 and Episode 4, I'm not talking in hypotheticals. I'm talking from firsthand experience. I compared myself to Usagi a lot at her age. I saw her go through the emotional journey of the First Arc Finale, I saw her development into into a Superheroine and save the world. What this episode taught me honestly was that is still not enough, that if I didn't do it perfectly, if I still cried sometimes, if I was still scared sometimes, that I was not good enough to warrant true love. This episode to me reflects the element more then anything I can say is the problem with Toei SM for me, the thing I despise. There's a lot of jokes at Usagi's expense in the Toei anime. I don't like these but at the end of the day they're not supposed to be taken seriously. This is the one time that dismissing Usagi's capabilities is played seriously and it exposed how messed up that whole thing is. People will sometimes say the manga makes Usagi out to be the Messiah. She literally is in both versions but besides that sometimes I wanna say to those people "I'm sorry that I prefer the version that told me I could be the savior of the world rather then the version that told me I could save the world and still not be good enough." 

What I don't like about Toei Sailor Moon is essentially reflected in those bottom two eps on a much more minor but broad scale across the series. It delays things the developments I want and find interesting for content that I find boring at best and insulting at worst, pettiness and civilian drama that I could find in any series as opposed to the Magical Girl Superhero content that is unique to Sailor Moon. It is a series that feels so bound by its time, a time where teenage girls were pushed to be straight and unnaturally thin and told our emotions were something to find funny. It has weird unexplained plot and thematic hiccups caused by its weird relationship to the Manga where it will include elements from it but not the context or the results from it. It's a series that's longer then is optimal with numerous episodes that are made purely to kill time like the clipshow episode or are just repeating the same things that are not going to push the status quo. I associate it so strongly with my adolescence when I first sat down and purposefully watched the entire thing front to back. Those were hard days when the world stopped seeming to make sense, when I noticed people constantly diminishing the importance of my feelings, when petty school drama became common, where day after day would go by in a seemingly never ending status quo of tedium and perhaps on some level I can't help but connect those two things.

How strong was Start of Series Samus

 

For the next of these how strong was start of series blogs, I thought I'd do one for Samus Aran. This is the first though one of these blogs involves a character with non-chronological appearances like this so I need to specify the rules and whether it's how strong they were in their first appearance chronologically vs first appearance out of universe. For this I am using first appearance out of universe, the first time the character was shown to the audience. If I used the first manga prequel chapter for Samus she'd be a little girl and without any of the training or equipment or even the genetic modification that gives her abilities. Also this is the first game one and for games I am including everything that qualifies for the first "level" or equivalent. For Metroid 1 or Zero Mission this is basically the expected path up to the Kraid fight, the first boss.

In terms of power, Samus even at this early juncture is the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy and scales above the Federation Soldiers, with even a brainwashed and holding back Samus being stronger then the Federation Force. These same soldiers can fight and defeat alien creatures that can cause seismic activity calced as requiring gigatons of energy. Similarly she has to fight the ultimate hunters of the Chozo, the Metroids for which the series is named after. These Metroids were designed to hunt even the fearsome X Parasite and are clearly among the most dangerous alien species in this universe. During the Leviathian impact on Tallon IV, an impact calced at 3e32 joules, some Metroids were within the impact zone and were seemingly fine. They are obviously vastly longer then the living meteors the Leviathans however going by surface area this would be upper end gigaton level, which is consistent with them and Samus being above normal Galactic Federation Troops as mentioned prior. 

Even normal Soldiers and Space Pirates in the Metroid universe have demonstrated supersonic movement feats and the ability to pilot starships moving at FTL Speeds, with Samus not only being superior to them as a Genetic Super Soldier in her Zero Suit, but with her Power Armor is likely comparable at this point to this speed of Ridley who can personally fly between planets in short intervals. 

In terms of capacities Samus Aran even without her Power Armor was genetically modified by the Chozo and trained by them to master all her skills including melee combat, ranged combat, scientific knowledge, tactical knowledge, acrobatics, vehicular mastery, and stealth. This physical alteration also made Samus better able to withstand acid rain and possibly made it so the X Parasite could not absorb her quickly as per normal. She also has shown a low level danger sense which she likely would have back originally as she is never shown developing it.  

This Samus would also have several resistances, most prominently to various forms of psychic attack with Mother Brain able to control the lifeforms of the entire planet of Zebes to attack Samus but was unable to mentally affect Samus at all. Mother Brain also has a predictive form of precog, able to analyze information to determine the future but was unable to predict Samus even at this early juncture. She would carry her relatively weak paralyzer gun which is able to stun Space Pirate tier enemies. 

However Samus capacities primarily come from her Power Suit she can summon at any time. This protects her from damage, extreme temperatures, and inhospitable climates like the vacuum of space via an energy shield. It has various scanners in the visor to show a 3D map of the environment to Samus up to enter planets, aid her aim and acrobatics, find enemy weak points and more. Samus also has access to the first transformation, the legendary morph ball that allows her to transform into a ball less then 1 meter tall and roll around. 

Samus in her Power Suit also has the very game-y mechanic to absorb energy and weapons from defeated foes to add them to her arsenal or energy level. 

Offensively Samus' Power Armor is equpped with the Power Beam which lets her shoots energy blasts out of her arm. Samus' attacks with the Power Beam can hit non-physical enemies like Chozo Ghosts or even spirits born of the souls of shipwrecked creatures that her missiles can't showing a good higher plane interaction as well as elemental things like fire and electricity. Samus can somewhat control the Power Beam's blasts in motion and use it to reflect some kinds of energy attacks.

By the time of the Kraid fight, Samus would likely have picked up the Charge Beam which allows her to charge up the Power Beam to increase its attack potency.

Samus also has various other weapons she would gained access to at this point. She can fire missiles from her arm cannon though has a limited supply. These missiles have been shown to home in on enemies before. In her morph ball form can drop an unlimited number of bombs beneath her which she can use to propel herself upwards or do damage to enemies. 

Finally Samus would likely have gotten the ice beam at this point which shoots a beam that freezes enemies, a helpful form of mild offensive hax. This is particularly helpful for Samus as Metroids, the primary enemy the games are named for are vulnerable to cold. 

Samus does have several weaknesses at this stage. Like pretty much all forms of Samus, she has a limited arsenal of energy and missiles and without recharge station can run out, with the former disabling functions of her suits. Samus lacks flight herself and needs her spaceship to get around vast distances despite her speed.

Also while this Samus is still the great warrior and bounty hunter, the hope of the Chozo and has many of her heroic traits already, she has not yet overcome the trauma of her encounter with Ridley as a child, meaning certain psychological tactics would be effective

So as for how strong Start of Series Samus is, of the characters I know she arguably starts out stronger then any character I know that doesn't have outright cosmic tier stats, having FTL and Island Level Capabilities, Peak Human-ish Mental Stats, A variety of weapons including anti-hax like freezing and non-physical interaction, sensory abilities, numerous helpful resistances, a mild danger sense, and some more minor assets. 

Against most other Nintendo protagonists it really just depends on if they get stronger or not. Like Samus would pretty easily defeat most Links at the start of their games as most of them start at max building level and would just be blitzed and overpowered as would characters like start of game Ness, while the strongest characters who like Mario and Kirby who don't grow as much in power would absolutely win.  Breath of the Wild Link would be a bit different starting at basically endgame level as a laser timer and on the level of Calamity Ganon. I think Samus likely still wins from being orders of magnitude more powerful still but Link does have the abilities and mental stats to possibly pull a win. 

Compared to other games, and in particular to my favorites Samus is probably the strongest game protagonist at the start of their games that isn't outright cosmic in tier. Even at this early point she is just well beyond the power level of most Military Super Soldiers like Master Chief, Commander Shepard, etc. and even most cartoony platformer protags tend to start at most as city level and lightning timing unless they are outright cosmically strong. If I bent my rules, Samus vs Kratos at first level Chronologically in God of War Ascension would actually be a really great fight with similar levels of power, speed, mental stats, hax, and more. 

Outside of video games, even characters that have similar speed scaling might be beaten by early Samus' freezing and skill. I could see her beating Episode 1 Cure Black for instance who is planet level but only relative in speed to Samus and has no special attacks by herself outside punching, with Samus able to dodge around and blast her with freezing missiles. Yuki Yuna would be a particular problem for her given that Yuna's forcefield would make her immune to any of Samus attacks though Samus would also be way too fast and durable for Episode 1 Yuna to do anything too. I don't know if Yuna could eventually be signaled to Mankai but otherwise would genuinely stalemate. Sam from Totally Spies even her Season 1 Self (as she probably doesn't get stronger during it) would have similar speed and superior but not vastly superior power to Samus, though her equipment is very variable at this point and I think Samus would likely win more times then not from superior range and hax. 

A particularly interesting fight that could happen using just the start of series version of both is Samus vs Naruto using their start of series versions. Base Naruto would get slaughtered however Naruto since the start of the series has the Demon Fox Kurama within him and if he gives himself to the Ninetails can spike up to Biju Level, a level that would actually have very similar stats to Samus. Samus would be protected from the Ninetails poison via his power armor and would likely be able to engage the Biju Mode Enraged Naruto as a boss battle where she has relative stats and can pepper at him from a distance but would have to be careful of his raw power. 

How they Compare: Itachi Uchiha

Itachi Uchiha was born to a world of war. At the age of 4 he saw the world ravaged by the Third Shinobi World War, an event that left him broken and wishing to find a way to end war. Itachi was born a Uchiha, a clan outcasted and hated by their village due to suspicions of their power and their potential role in the Ninetails attack on the village. Itachi was however a hope for the Uchiha Clan. He was a peerless talent, with legendary accolades, surpassing the Chunin and the Jonin before even reaching his teenage years. He was always alone however. Many thought the lonely and mysterious Itachi was alone because his power distinguished him, but it was in truth a disdain for the world of the Shinobi around him, a world of war and death. 

For his talents he was allowed to sit on the highest rank meetings of the Uchiha Clan, finding that they planned to ensure a future for their clan in an uprising. Wanting to avoid this Itachi was a double agent, reporting to the Hokage of what he had seen, hoping they might find a peaceful resolution. However peace failed to win out. Danzo told Itachi the Uchiha planned to revolt and gave him an ultimatum. Join his clan in their uprising, and have them all be wiped out. Or, kill the clan himself, preserving their name and the rest of the village. The 13 year old Itachi agreed because he was given special permission to save one person, the person he cared for most, his little brother Sasuke. And thus Itachi who disdained death killed his own clan. Itachi began his plan there, playing the villain for Sasuke, telling him he did it merely to test his power, daring Sasuke to get strong enough to kill him. Itachi left the village hated and feared. 

From there Itachi would join the criminal ninja group the Akatsuki as a double agent for the Village hidden in the Leaves, secretly protecting them. His plan worked, with Sasuke growing strong and capable out of hatred for Itachi, strong enough to face Itachi, strong enough to create a future for their clan. Itachi died in battle with Sasuke who had grown strong enough to become a leader of their nation. Yet when Itachi briefly from the grave he saw that Sasuke was planning to destroy the village for what they had done to Itachi and their clan, more senseless death, and realized he was wrong. Even as he returned to the afterlife he tried to impact a final lesson to Sasuke, that he had spent his life lying and being alone and that maybe if he had been willing to share his burdens then tragedy may have been prevented, and telling Sasuke that no matter what Itachi would love him always. 

Itachi possess the unique feature of his clan, the Sharingan which are a major feature in his Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu. The Sharingan are special eyes awoken through extreme emotions divided into the Eye of Insight and the Eye of Hypnotism. The Eye of Insight grants extremely enhanced perception, enough to see through walls, see faint shadows in a heavy mist, and see things on the cellular level. Beyond that it allows most famously the ability to copy techniques it sees as well as see a bit into the future by predicting what will happen based on the current movement of things around, giving power mimicry and minor precog. It also sees through most illusions and can reflect them back on the user. 

Itachi has evolved his Sharingan to the most advanced level, the Mangekyo Sharingan. These enhance all of the prior abilites of the Sharingan and each eye grants an extremely powerful ability for Itachi's usage as well as the Susanoo granted to all Mangekyo Sharingan Users. However because they are not Eternal Mangekyo Shanringan they are very highly stamina draining and slowly drain the eyesight from the user until they go blind. 

Taijutsu which involves physical stats and martial arts skills is probably Itachi's least impressive quality and it's still extraordinarily impressive. For most of the story he is slowly dying of sickness and this Itachi is still considered one of the strongest members of the Akatsuki, to the point of being more then a match for a version of Sasuke that prior easily defeated Sasori, another Akatsuki member. The Akatsuki are a squad of elite criminal Ninja who hit down the Jinchuriki, Ninja hosts of the Biju, Kaiju Monsters made of Chakra. These Biju are capable of vaporizing their surrounding areas and creating mountain sized explosions calced into the gigatons. Itachi is likely in the range of the Kage Onoki who literally carried around Turtle Island and with some help from Gaara stopped Madara's meteor with likely gigaton to teraton level power. All of this is a weak sick Itachi. When he was brought back with his Edo Tensei, he was able to fight KCM Naruto directly who had a substantial amount of Kurama's chakra, Kurama being an an entity that could turn the world to ash and protect the Shinobi Alliance from the Tentails cataclysm calced as being in the petatons level. Even in KCM1 Naruto would likely be in the teraton range, consistent with Edo Tensei Itachi being likely far above his sick dying self who scales himself likely much below the weaker Jinchuriki. Even this was however was stated to be below Itachi at his prime. There's more feats that make this consistent as well.

In speed, Itachi even as he was dying out was able to block the Kirin which is a lightning Jutsu stated in databooks to move at lightspeed, though this is likely in part due to the Sharigan's precog and ability to fight faster opponents. He was still faster then Kakashi who was able to lightning-time even at a young age. Edo Itachi was able to match KCM1 Naruto in speed, albeit Naruto may not have been trying his absolute hardest. This is still impressive as KCM 1 Naruto had just recently shown the ability to outpace even the Raikage, the speedster of the era, who could move at lightspeed, suggesting Itachi would likely be nearing lightspeed. When he was alive, he'd likely be even faster. Itachi was also able to match Naruto in hand to hand skills temporarily, Naruto being so skilled in combat that even in Part 1 he was able to land hits on Sasuke despite Sasuke using the Sharingan to precog Naruto's movements through sheer skill alone. 

In terms of Ninjutsu while most Ninjas only learn one Elemental Release they have particular affinity for, Itachi has learned three of the five elemental styles. He is noted to known Wind Release and Water Release, the ability to create wind and water, able to use wind to increase the potency of fires and through water can shoot out water bullets at light speed or turning them viscous to trap foes. However what he is most known for is Fire Release, creating fire including normal and blue fireballs from his hands or breathed out. 

This is released to one of his two Mangekyo Sharingan abilities, Amaterasu. Amaterasu is said to be the highest level of Fire Release and the Most Powerful Physical Ability of the Mangekyo Sharingan, world ending flames, that scorches all things in Heaven and Earth. It can spawn anywhere Itachi can see, and will burn any target, even other flames or flameproof creatures, until the target is ash. Nothing, even water can extinguish them, and they will burn for seven days and seven nights. Itachi can also create a ring of it as a defensive technique. Given its description of scorching all things in Heaven and Earth, it may be able to hit incorporeal enemies like ghosts. 

Itachi is also highly proficient in both Yang and Yin Release, especially Yin Release and given his master status would likely possess a wide variety of Ninja abilities that are common to the verse such as as adhesion, shapeshifting, and switching his body with other objects. Itachi has actually learned the most famous high level technique in the entire series, Shadow Clone Jutsu allowing him to duplicate himself numerous times creating physical copies.

Itachi also has numerous other forms of clone techniques. In particular Itachi is most famous for his crows which he can summon, seal in other people, and see through. He has a particular technique known as Karasu Bushin no Jutsu where he forms a clone of himself from his crows. This has similar power to a Shadow Clone but requires far less chakra to maintain. 

Like all Uchiha who have awoken the Mangekyo Sharingan, Itachi also has access to the extremely powerful Ninjutsu, the Susanoo. The Susanoo manifests a giant humanoid Chakra Armor around the Ninja, greatly boosting their physical offenses and defenses. With his Susanoo and Amaterasu for instance, Sasuke was able to fight the 5 Kage, the greatest Ninjas of the 5 nations, and Itachi's experience with the techniques were superior to 5 Kage Summit Sasuke. Even then Itachi's Susanoo is special.

Itachi's Susanoo has two legendary weapons. The First is the Totsuka Blade, a spiritual blade that ignores durability and seals whoever is hit inside the Susanoo's jar in a state of drunken dreams. The other is the Yata Mirror, a shield that adapts to the properties of what is thrown at it to nullify incoming attacks, including attacks vastly stronger then Itachi. 

But more then his Taijutsu and even his Ninjutsu, Itachi is known for his Genjutsu, the Ninja Art of messing with their opponents' minds. Most Genjutsu requires eye contact but Itachi has two ways to bypass this. One is that because he can see through his crows, making eye contact with one of them gives the same effect. The other is that Itachi has a special Genjutsu called Ephemeral which he can use just by pointing at his opponent. Most Genjutsu is used for illusory purposes with Itachi's illusions so potent he can make Sasuke believe that Itachi pulled out Sasuke's eye, messing all his senses for an extended period. Itachi's Genjutsu is strong enough that it was believed he might be the source of various agents slipping past the Allied Shinobi Forces' sensory Ninjas across the war and was able to easily reverse the Genjutsu of Kurenai, a Genjutsu specialist back onto her. 

The Sharingan and especially the Mangekyo Sharingan can grant access to the more advanced uses of Genjutsu. This would include such things sending hundreds of people to sleep, inducing paralysis, inducing crippling fear even in people without emotions like Sai, read memories, and inflict massive pain. More then that the Sharingan has been used to control even the Tailed Beasts, giant monsters made of Chakra with which Obito used to control even the great Ninetails to attack the Village though how Itachi compares to this version of Obito in Genjutsu is unclear. Fugaku, father of Itachi and Sasuke believed he could control the Ninetails in the anime, so Itachi may be able too at least briefly.

Itachi also has access to some of the most powerful Genjutsu techniques. His other Mangekyo ability is Tsukoyomi, a Genjutsu so powerful that despite being introduced early in the series, it remains in contention for the best Genjutsu in the series. Tsukuyomi allows Itachi to create a world in the mind of his opponent where he controls everything about the reality and can use it to try and mentally break his opponent. This ability creates an infinite sized mental reality and is a form of infinite potency mental hax, dedicated to causing so much mental strain that the person experiencing it that that their mind breaks. Unlike other Genjutsu someone outside can't break someone undergoing Tsukuyomi out of it as the effect happens instantly from their perspective, with whole lifetimes being able to be lived out in picoseconds. 

One of Itachi's crows also possesses the eye of Shisui which allows him to use extremely occasionally (once every 10 years) the ability of Kotoamatsukami which is a from of mind control that works by incredibly subtlety altering the way a person's minds forms thoughts, so subtle that the target doesn't realize anything is happening at all and doesn't trigger normal mental resistances. 

Itachi has also learned the ancient Uchiha technique of Izanami and likely its counterpart Izanagi. These are abilities that hypothetically any Sharigan user can learn but each one comes with the cost of one of their eyes so are last resort type moves. Izanagi is a Genjutsu cast on oneself that turns events that happened in reality into parts of a Genjutsu illusion instead, blurring the boundary between reality and illusion. It lasts for 60 seconds during which any unfavorable outcome in battle can be rewritten including having been killed which is how Madara escaped his death at the hands of Hashirama. 

Itachi is more known for his usage of the technique designed to counter Izanagi, Izanami. Izanami is a genjutsu technique that takes requires some time to set up but not eye contact and what it does is it causes the people trapped in the technique to undergo an infinite time loop of the events in the set up. Izanami is said to control fate itself and can only be broken out of if the target is able to accept their destiny rather then fighting against it, used to break the strongest of wills by by subjecting them to the infinitude of time that wears away wills.

Along with all his abilities, Itachi is also proficient in all the mundane skills that make a Ninja a Ninja, having completed 340 missions and with even the first Hokage Hashirama calling him a greater Ninja then he. Itachi has a huge suite of impressive feats such as being described as thinking like a Hokage by the age of 7, being promoted to the Anbu Black Ops directly unto the Hokage by age 12, figuring out strategies to defeat Nagato and Kabuto. In the latter case figuring out how to counter Shinra Tensei in seconds and in the latter case Kabuto's Edo Tensei was said to have no weaknesses only for Itachi to say that "every jutsu has a weakness... and the weakness of your jutsu is my existence." Itachi has been praised for his intelligence by many of the smartest characters in the series, was able to manipulate Sasuke over a grand master plan to make Sasuke a hero to the village and bring about the rebirth of their clan, and infiltrated the Akatsuki manipulating them to minimize collateral damage and protect the village hidden in the leaf over the years. He has a high degree of knowledge of the Ninja world, knowing of the legendary Izanagi and Izanami, can quickly analyze his opponents, and even Obito the leader of the Akatsuki thought that Itachi's preparation would have killed him with his post-mortem trap if he knew fully about Obito's abilities.  

Itachi has a mastery of all the normal ninja arts including stealth, sleight of hand, acrobatics, environmental manipulation, pressure point combat, various weapons, and control of one's Chakra. He also has a high willpower, strong enough that he could attack Obito despite Obito's fear aura. 

Itachi was also resurrected by the Edo Tensei along with most of the great ninjas in history during the War Arc. As an Edo Tensei, Itachi is a regenerating zombie ninja. The regeneration is on a low-godly scale with an Edo Tensei able to come back from complete destruction of their body so long as their soul still exists. Usually Edo Tensei are controlled by the caster of the Jutsu, in this case Kabuto, but Itachi though preparation used the Kotoamatsukami on himself to slip out of the control of and eventually defeat Kabuto himself. This form is particularly helpful for Itachi as is it mitigates his biggest weakness. 

Itachi's major weakness for most of the series is his lack of stamina. Not only do his most powerful techniques take a lot of Chakra, but over the series until his final fight he was slowly dying of a disease that gradually eroded his physical capabilities, his stamina in particular. This is compounded on how many of his techniques are focused around defeating one opponent very thoroughly, causing him to have more difficulty fighting numerous opponents at once. However this weakness is less potent in his Prime in Part 1 when he wasn't suffering from the disease or in his Edo State as Edos have seemingly infinite chakra. 

In addition, he has many of the common ninja weaknesses. His powers come from his Chakra and his Sharingan, and if he is drained of chakra, he only has his passive Sharingan abilities to rely on. Taijutsu requires melee range for the most part, Ninjutsu requires hand seals to use, and Genjutsu usually requires eye contact, though Itachi's ephemeral is activated by pointing instead. Also most techniques have balancing drawbacks such as the Yata Mirror which can block any attack but is unidirectional meaning once again, multiple opponents or other multi-directional attacks can get past it

Name: Itachi Uchiha, Itachi of the Sharingan

Origin: Naruto

Powers and Abilities: Kage+ Ranked Naruto Ninja Abilities, Enhanced Vision, Technique Mimicry, Illusion Negation and Reflection, Elemental Manipulation (Fire, Water, and Wind. Can also summon the black flames of Amaterasu), Duplication, Animal Manipulation (Crows), Can summon a Chakra Armor Mech (Susanoo), Sealing (Totsuka Blade), Attack Reflection (Yata Mirror), Non-Physical Interaction Totsuka Blade and possibly Amaterasu), Mind Manipulation with Genjutsu (Various Forms including Illusions, Mind Manipulation, Emotion Manipulation, Memory Manipulation, Sleep Manipulation, Pain Inducement, and Paralysis Inducement), can trap his opponent in an infinite mental reality that Itachi controls to mentally break them (Tsukoyomi), Subtle Mind Control (Kotoamatsukami), Reality-Warping (Izanagi), Fate Manipulation (Izanami) | All of the Prior, Low Godly Regen, Zombie Physiology 

Weaknesses: Dying and Relatively Low Stamina in Part 2, individual techniques have various drawbacks such as most of his Genjutsu requiring eye contact, tends to hold back as he hates conflict and killing

Attack Potency: Island Level when weakened, Country Level in his Prime or with the Susanoo | Country Level

Range: Several Kilometers normally (Can affect things in his visual range), Higher with some techniques like the Susanoo

Speed: FTL Reaction/Attack Speed. FTL Movement Speed in his Prime, Sub-Relativistic Movement Speed when Weakened. | FTL

Durability: Island Level when weakened, Country Level in his Prime or with the Susanoo | Country Level

Stamina: Superhuman in his Prime, though diminished when he was sick | Superhuman, possibly Infinite (Edo Tenseis are said to have infinite chakra, though this is seemingly contradicted later)

Intelligence: Upper Genius Level General Intelligence (Regularly demonstrates incredible feats of intelligence in numerous categories), Low A Tier Combat Skill (Scales to superhuman combat skill, briefly matched KCM Naruto in Taijutsu)

Key: Alive | Edo Tensei

So if Itachi was given missions to assassinate targets in other universes, how would he do?

Kishomoto's main artistic inspiration in the writing of Naruto was the world of Dragon Ball, so how would Itachi do in the Dragon Ball World. In raw power regardless of the form of Itachi he doesn't do that well with Max Power Roshi in original Roshi able to destroy the Moon, and even suppresses with a power level of 120 able to vaporize Mt Fry by accidently with the Akatsuki arguably around this suppressed Roshi in terms of attack potency. In terms of speed if you don't think the arguments for early Dragon Ball being lightspeed apply from how Goku had to improve to reach lightning speed nearer to the end of Dragon Ball, with them only clearly reaching the FTL range in the Saiyan Saga, particularly with the Sharingan's Precog allowing users to fight people notably faster then them. 

While Itachi has some good defenses in the Yata Mirror and the Edo Tensei regen there the capacity to protect from the planetary+ ki attacks get increasingly questionable, as such for the most part Itachi vs DBZ characters really just depends on if he is able to make eye contact before they blow him up. This would actually work on at least some characters who are prone to speaking or boasting before combat though obviously at some point Itachi is too slow for them to wait for him to react. Something like Tsukuyomi could probably still incapacitate characters from Dragon Ball Z and he could then seal them with the Totsuka blade or fry their brain. He could also protect at least temporarily from dying with the Izanagi though this would be a very temporary defense if he was severely physically overpowered.

For the most part Itachi has the speed of a Saiyan Saga characters and could defeat most characters in the single digit thousands of power level via hax despite his relatively low attack potency, or possibly characters much stronger if they allow him to make eye contact, but could quickly get overwhelmed by DBZ's speed increases or by numerous characters fighting him at once. 

Bleach is one of the original Big 3 with Naruto compared to it all the time both in powerscaling and otherwise. However Bleach's scaling is definitely one of the most contested in terms of Shonen verse scaling. Generally speaking though in terms of Soul Society ranking I think it's mostly consistent for Itachi to be considered Lieutenant Rank when he's sick, and Captain Rank in his Prime. Being an Edo wouldn't particularly help since everyone in Bleach is a Shinigami or something similar that hits souls but in terms of general capacity. The Lieutenants in Bleach have feats of light-timing albeit with difficulty and from some distance, which is fairly reasonable to compare with Itachi being able to react to Kirin a lightspeed attack from a similar distance while dying in his fight with Sasuke and to feats of Early Soul Society Arc Ichigo and friends blocking a shot from a cannon that shook the entire soul society, and early Toshiro creating a storm casually with his attack that extends over a wide space calced also into the megatons to gigatons range, similar to the feats of the Biju the Akatsuki have to apprehend. Itachi should be able to keep up in speed with Captain Tier characters that are an order of magnitude faster in the FTL range arguably even when sick via the Sharingan and definitely when he was in his prime.  Their power unless lowballed probably does start to eclipse him as the Captains are around Soul Society Ichigo's level who blocked the Sokyoku execution blade that is stated to have the power of 1,000,000 Zanpakutos while Itachi is more like thousands of times stronger in his prime by feats, and is a threat to the Soul Society itself and while Ichigo doesn't scale fully to it, he does scale to a portion of it which even just talking about the planet, would be more akin to the level of the full Ninetails.

With that said however Itachi should still be a threat to Espada and Captain Tier characters in his Prime or in Edo as he has relative speed, possibly somewhat relative power and broken hax, though he'd have a lot of interesting interactions with the verse. His Totsuka Blade is a Spiritual Weapon much like Zanpakuto and it's likely the two could parry each other. He has numerous forms of Genjutsu that should likely work though many characters in Bleach use sentient weapons such as the Zanpakutos that can potentially snap them out of a regular Genjutsu similar to how Ninja Teams break each other out of Genjutsu in Naruto. On the other hand characters in this tier can probably have their attacks blocked by their Yata Mirror meaning in a one v one Itachi can block attacks from Captain and Espada Tier threats.

Itachi's strongest Genjutsu are possible win cons though it depends on if his opponent is more like Ichigo, Grimmjow, and Byakuya, who are melee fighters who are prone to getting close and making eye contact or ranged fighters like Stark or Uryu who would just shoot at Itachi from a distance which he'd have to use the Yata Mirror to block. Itachi broadly has a very strong arsenal of abilities compared to most of the fighters in Bleach having a wide arsenal of broken techniques. However he also has more weaknesses as much of his techniques have drawbacks and he has a basically normal human body and mind that is being amped such that things like being worn down and exhausted by spiritual pressure or his opponents regularly being able to fly around and even teleport through dimensions being things Itachi is somewhat limited against. Overall he does pretty well, better then most Naruto characters due to his fighting style but is far from OP. A possible Nightmare Match for him is Espada 2 Barragan who regularly leaks an aging aura around him that would probably decay the chakra flow Itachi would use to try to cast Genjutsu and even if Itachi summoned Amaterasu on his position, the flames last for 7 days and nights while Barragan believes he could decay even the stars with a lifespan of billions of years instantly so Itachi may lack a win con entirely.  

What about in One Piece, the other of the ol Big 3? In terms of power, Franky was able to withstand a mountain dwarfing explosion. Not only was this calced into the gigatons range but is visually comparable to Sasuke's destruction of the Uchiha Hideout across a mountain with this Dying Itachi being stronger then Sasuke at the time. This is consistent with a few higher gigaton level feats early into the timeskip of Elizabello and Chinjao fragmenting the arm of a massive stone golem Pica, with Chinjao at the time being around the strength of Second Gear Luffy. This means in power even when weakened from sickness Itachi should reach around the level of the Vice-Admirals and could contend with the most of the Warlords. His Prime would be more around the level of Timeskip Zoro and Gear Four Luffy who were able to slice Pica in half entirely showing a substantial increase in power calced as teraton level. In terms of speed a lot of the One Piece cast have relativistic to FTL reaction speeds similar to Itachi though in terms of movement speeds Kizaru's ability to move at lightspeed is considered a massive speed cliff for the verse with Luffy only recently eclipsing him with Gear Five, meaning that while there are numerous characters Itachi can't blitz, he can easily react to pretty much anyone in the verse and in his Prime would have movement speed comparable to the top tiers. 

Itachi has a lot of advantages when fighting One Piece characters. Devil Fruit Users are elemental enemies but Itachi's powerset broadly doesn't care about it with Amaterasu able to burn anything in Heaven and Earth, the Totsuka Blade being a sealing spiritual plane sword, and Genjutsu being mental techniques. Furthermore Devil Fruit Users are weak to water with even a bath depowering them and one of the Elemental Releases Itachi knows happens to be Water Release and with the Genjutsu's ability to read memories, Itachi can find out about this fairly quickly. Observation Haki's ability to sense presences and see the future is similar to the sensory abilities of the Sharingan while Itachi has the Mangekyo Sharingan, equivalent to the sensory abilities of Mastered Observation Haki and Conqueror's Haki which allows the mentally overwhelming someone of a weak will is going to do nothing to Itachi who had a strong willpower even as a boy and can easily reverse most Genjutsu tried to be used against him. With the ability to one-shot anyone in the verse and top tier speed Itachi would be an immense threat one v one against anyone in the tier, even characters with raw power much higher then him like the Admirals who scale to Whitebeard threatening the One Piece world.

That said One Piece does have a few advantages against him. Armament Haki allows the attacking of internal organs which is treated as a super strong ability in Naruto, bypassing most forms of defense, and could be argued to perhaps be able to get past the Susanoo armor. This means Itachi would could be OP but a bit glass cannon-y. Also characters tend to travel in large groups meaning it's possible to wear down sick Itachi. An interesting match might be Itachi vs the Strawhats early to mid post-timeskip as they'd have numerous fighters that can physically pressure Itachi but would have never gone against someone with such a broad and potent suite of hax. 

My Hero Academia is one of the new Gen Shonen that got most compared to Naruto so how would Itachi if placed in the My Hero Academia world? Even when weakened, Itachi would be one of the most powerful capes in the setting in raw stats, as even when dying Itachi's raw power was still in the range of the Biju who would have a large amount of the power of Stars and Stripes' two gigaton level calcs of splitting the sky with Itachi and his speed is able to react to lightspeed attacks akin to some of the fastest things in the verse. In his Prime or as an Edo Itachi would be an endgame threat. While his power does get eclipsed by the top tiers like Deku's Final Smash reaching double digit teratons from changing the weather across the planet, his power with Susanoo or in his Prime would be up there. Itachi in his Prime also has arguably better FTL scaling then anyone in my Hero meaning that Itachi would be an absolute top tier physically, probably on the level of Modern Day All-Might, someone most Heroes consider the pinnacle of power.

This is a problem as Itachi has a vastly wider arsenal of broken abilities then almost anyone in my Hero save perhaps for Shigaraki. Physical powerhouses like Deku or Bakugo should be able to break through Susanoo pretty easily as Tsunade was able to break through Madara's. And while this does mean they'd have to get close enough for Itachi to trap them in a Genjutsu users of One for All can fight off mental attacks shown by Deku's fight with Nighthide and the two Symbols of evil. Itachi's more advanced Genjutsu however would pose a threat as would the Totsuka blade's sealing. It would be much safer for them to engage Itachi with a team which would likely go much better. If it's Edo Itachi they'd also need a way to kill him though All-Might was able to fight an enemy of pure energy which might allow him to hit Itachi's chakra directly, or they could rely on help from someone like Eraser Head who if you use verse equalization might be able to negate the Sharigan altogether as it is a genetic ability of the Uchiha clan. 

However more likely is Itachi fighting the villains and most villains at least one by one would not be a threat even to a Sick Itachi. Against Prime Itachi it would take likely a team to beat him though Overhaul would be a valuable asset if he can suck Itachi's chakra level (though Kisame can do this as well and admits inferiority to his teammate Itachi so Overhaul probably can't 1 v 1.) The only villains I think could beat Prime Itachi 1v1 are the the two Symbols of Evil All for One and Shigaraki, and even then it's arguable. Neither of them have the mind hax resistance to protect against Tsukuyomi and while the Rewind quirk would undo Genjutsu by reversing their body to before Itachi's chakra entered their mind, the point of Tsukuyomi is the effect happens in an instant and fries the mind through mental trauma. Similar they lack the sealing resistance to deal with being hit by the Totsuka Blade. That said the Decay Quirk can probably eat through the Susanoo like Mei did with her Vapor Style Jutsu and they have enough raw power to just overwhelm him. I think Itachi would have a decent chance against either of them. 

Finally outside of anime, Star Wars is a verse that's had numerous comparisons with Naruto due to some odd parallels, so how well would Itachi do if he entered the Star Wars Galaxy. This depends on both canon and Itachi's status. In the Disney Canon most High Tiers Force Users scale to the feat of Knights in the High Republic being able to stop Hyperspace Emergencies that can destroy Moons or highly damage their surface, these events varying from high end city level to outright moon level with continental being most common. Itachi doesn't quite reach that high so would be more akin in power to upper mid tier force users, such as A New Hope Luke Skywalker and who's power would be notable but not a serious threat to the major force users of the OT like Darth Vader and Obi-Wan. In the Legends Canon where planet level power or higher is common among the Jedi, Itachi even in his prime and with a very high end interpretation is probably not getting anywhere substantial on raw power. In terms of speed however, most of the verse in both canons scale from laser-timing, with Legends Canon having high upscaling from it. Itachi would be able to compete in speed quite handedly in the Disney Canon and if it was Prime or Edo Itachi he might actually be notably fast compared to most characters. In the Legends Canon where there is higher upscaling with even mundane warriors able to light-time and the strongest characters scaling to massively faster then light, Itachi would have a more normal Jedi/Sith speed.

Of course the real reason to put Itachi in the Star Wars universe is that Itachi is one of the most famous psychics in Naruto and Star Wars is one of the most famous psychic-verses in fiction so it's really a matter how their psychic powers compare. Both have mind manipulation, illusions, and paralysis as well as the ability to resist and the ability to enhance their reactions. A Force User has the advantage of better sensory abilities, the ability to erase memories as opposed to just reading them like both can do, and more helpfully telekinesis which would be especially helpful as it could affect him through the Susanoo. On the other hand Itachi would have high tier fear manipulation on the level of a powerful Sith, more reliable precog, sleep manipulation, and can copy techniques. He can also induce pain though for a Dark Side User that would make them stronger. This isn't getting into his more esoteric abilities like reality-warping and fate manipulation. All this is to say that I think if Itachi fought a Sith like Darth Maul in Disney Canon, Maul would be able to sense him pretty easily, but Itachi would have a high degree of speed and skill along with mind, an combined with ways to one-shot him, I think Itachi would do quite well especially as an Edo where he not only might have a power advantage but also a regenerating body where a lightsaber slash of telekinetic crush wouldn't do any permanent damage. The hard stopping point is Darth Vader who he can't use any Genjutsu except Ephemeral on because of Vader's visor that prevents eye contact. He could still try to use the Totsuka Blade but Vader can just telekinetically throw him back and unless he'd an Edo, crush him telekinetically. If Itachi is an Edo it would be a lot harder for the Disney Canon to do anything permanent to him as he has the will and Sharingan to resist mind manipulation and his body regenerates from complete destruction though in the comics they've shown the ability to affect ghosts with the force so they may be able to hit his soul afterwards. It's very likely he could defeat someone powerful but with psychological weaknesses like Kylo Ren through manipulating them with Genjutsu while setting them up to be sealed by the Totsuka Blade, hit with Amaterasu to burn them to death eventually, or get eye contact to put them in Tsukuyomi. Overall he'd be a very high tier threat, with a modest power level but good speed and top tier abilities mostly from being esoteric and unlike what people can counter. This is especially because Jedi and Sith usually travel in pairs or by themselves, which means they really can't take much advantage of Itachi's primary weakness. 

In the Legends Canon it's a lot worse for him, his stats being relatively low tier held up by decent speed and that canon having way more abilities to scale including all of Itachi's normal abilities. Itachi's stronger Genjutsu would still be a threat though he would be only roughly middle of the road in terms of threats, being a threat to a Force User if they make eye contact and he uses Tsukuyomi though given their danger sense it's likely they would know not to and they absolutely don't need to use their eyes to fight him given that they primarily fight via Force Sensing. Against powerful mundane warriors like General Grievous Itachi probably couldn't rely on his Genjutsu considering he exists in a world of Powerful Psychics though it might take him a sec to get through the Susanoo armor and if Itachi is an Edo he might have trouble killing him at all and Itachi can still try and seal him with the Totsuka blade, a spiritual plane sword he probably can't block. That said he'd probably really struggle to fight Mid Tier and up Force Users especially Dark Side ones that can often drain energy from Living Itachi's rather finite pool of it. 

DC Exploration: Allura

Who is She?

Allura is the "greatest foe" of the Golden Age Superhero Zatara and the first villain his daughter Zatanna had to fight alongside the Justice League, intimately connected with Zatanna's origin. She is my favorite of the Zatanna villains and so imagine my excitement when she was revealed as the villain of the 2025 most recent Zatanna series, her first appearance since DC Special in the 80s. 

Sindella, one of the Homo Magi and mother of Zatanna, found a good princess being fed on by a dark spirit and to save the princess' life banished the spirit to the darkness. This spirit hated more then anything to be trapped and stirred in resentment. When she escaped she sought vengeance but without Sindella there, she instead attempted to take vengeance on Sindella's husband and daughter, taking Zatara from Zatanna and unwittingly starting Zatanna's superhero career in her quest to find him. 

Allura is a "Mistress of the Dark Elementals", a spirit being that represents something ephemeral. In particular Allura is connected both with lies/deception and being stuck in the past. While Zatanna's journey has always been one of moving past the tragedies of yesteryear, Allura is motivated by past resentment. 

How Strong is She?

As a minimum, Allura was considered Zatara's greatest foe and one even he could not defeat unaided. This would include a whole bunch of Homo Magi Tier threats as well as The Rip, one of the Otherkind like Upside-Down Man who Zatara and Sargon originally defeated. These Otherkind are strong enough that they could somewhat assist Upside-Down Man with a full on scale invasion of the Multiverse from the Dark Multiverse. 

Even in the original stories, Allura is definitely above the level of a normal Homo Magi, though the level is unclear. In the original storyline Zatara was unable to beat her himself and it required the original Princess, a good elemental that was her equal opposite to stop her. While she was incorrect, Zatanna thought Allura was the one who infected the city of Homo Magi with a magical diseases, showing she believed she was strong to override all of their magical defenses. Zatanna needed the Justice League's help to save her father from Allura. The newest Zatanna series shows Allura to not have been power cliffed. In the newest run Zatanna got help from the Justice League Dark, with Allura fighting both Wonder Woman and Zatanna individually as of 2025 and them only getting the best of her due to basically type advantage Wonder Woman using her nature as spirit of truth and Zatanna using her magic specialty. Even then Zatanna still only won due to one of her newer villains The Lady White turning against Allura and aiding Zee against her.

She's definitely more powerful then any other Zatanna villain save Xaos, Mammon, and Zor. Compared to them I think she's probably stronger then Xaos who was trying to break down the Earth/Darkling Plane yet Allura can go to any mystic plane she wants with Xaos being more like the Otherkind conceptually. While I think she'd probably defeat Mammon indirectly, whether she could overpower him directly is a bit more questionable. Zor I do think is probably stronger then Allura, even if she still might win via trickery. Compared to other Magic Villains in DC's Roster, Allura is an underrated beast. She doesn't have many appearances and feats, but what she does have suggests she can contend with Wonder Woman's stronger rogues like Circe and Queen of Fables given their relative performances against Wonder Woman and Zatanna. 

What are Her Powers?

Allura is Dark Elemental, a spiritual being made of pure negative emotion who parasitically latches onto others and causes a whole bunch of effects. She can steal souls, fill someone's minds with lies, possess people as strong as Zatara and more. She has shown the ability to change her size and appearance at will and is broadly immortal subsisting off peoples' memories and magic. 

Allura is also a powerful magic-user who's magic gives her a broad reality-warping. Most famous example is she cursed Zatara so if he contacted Zatanna directly or indirectly Zatanna would die, starting the arc of Zatanna searching for her first and beginning her superhero career. Allura created a dimension where she controlled the rules such as her declaring that Homo Magi magic doesn't work. She was able to make illusory environments so well that she said no person before Zatanna had ever seen through it. She described herself magically spying on Zatanna for weeks keeping her from reaching Sindella and the other Homo Magi before binding Zatanna with "tendrils of nothingness" that drained the heat and life from her and teleporting through dimensions away. In the new series she shows a bunch of new magical abilities including spatial destruction/portal creation and soul stealing. Basically she is a classical magical do anything type reality warper. 

The new series also showed her getting a new piece of equipment in the Laevateinn, a magical spear made from a piece of the tongue of Loki representing pure lies. Stabbing someone within it traps them in an illusion of what binds them to the past and splinters their soul into infinite pieces unless they're able to move past the things that hold them back. Also while not a power per se, she's also arguably the craftiest of Zatanna's villainess, one of the few who have ever mentally gotten the best of Zatanna, and completely duping Lady White with a sob story of how Sindella actually was the villain in their fight. 

What are Her Weaknesses?

So Allura's classic weakness is that she can't exist in the physical plane without a body that she has to possess and if exorcised from it must find a new body or escape back to a magic plane. She like a lot of other spirits also seems to have a general weakness to being sealed away so long as she doesn't have a host body. Both Zatara and Zatanna have defeated Allura originally by forcing her out into the open and sealing her away, Zatara in the Sword of Paracelsus and Zatanna inside a bottle. 

Allura also has a habit of her own things being used against her. In her third appearance even though Allura set the rules for her dimension, Zatanna was able to use those same rules to win, and in the fourth and latest appearence Zatanna was able to get and use the Laevateinn on Allura. While she has lost in all these, it is somewhat notable that in all four cases, she lost to some combination of an exact equal good duplicate of her, her specific weakness, or her own powers used against her without the powerful Homo Magi ever just defeating her in a bout of magic power. 

In conclusion, Allura is easily one of Zatanna's strongest foes and on the upper end of Justice League Tier given that she was able to fight Current Wonder Woman and Zatanna separately and even prior to this was a considered a threat on par with the Silver Age Justice League and an entire city of Homo Magi. She'd pretty clearly beat most of Zee's other villains. She beat Brother Night directly, and would be above Nimue Ravensong regardless who was below Brother Night. Lady White would likely lose one v one as it took her and Zatanna working together to defeat Allura with the Laevateinn. The Pre-Crisis Powerful Magic Users like Warlock or Druid, it depends likely on what realm they're in as if they're in Allura's realm she should easily win and if she's in their realm they'd likely win, though on  a neutral battleground Allura definitely has more hype in power, has shown more broken abilities, and shown more cleverness. 

Compared to Zee's more powerful enemies like Mammon, Xaos, or Zor, I do think Allura might be outgunned in raw power outside of questionable scaling with the Otherkind, that said it's not inconceivable to win as I think she's craftier then them, and the Laevateinn would be a pretty nasty weapon against any of them. She's also shown better abilities then either Mammon or Xaos and Xaos is pretty comparable in nature to one of the Otherkind and was struggling to make a connection from the Darkling plane to Earth while Allura can travel to "any" mystic plane with ease, which gives me the impressive that Allura could beat Xaos. 

Against most of the non-magical characters on her tier, Allura would be an extremely broken type threat given the difficulty of fighting her and her ability to bring people to a magic dimension she controls the rules of or possess and siphon the soul from those with a body to possess. She'd also do already against magic users on her tier especially if she can manipulate them like Circe, or they don't have a lot of powers that work on a spirit like Anton Arcane. Enchantress might be an interesting fight for her as Allura probably has the raw power advantage on Enchantress though she probably can't possess Enchantress given she's already possessed. Enchantress has shown a lot more abilities though they are both broadly reality-warpers who can do much so I think it would depend on if Enchantress can outhink Allura.