The anime series typically features radical transformations. Characters cast their auras, change their hair color, increase their muscle mass, or approach a divine state that leaves the earth trembling before them. Some of these transformations are truly monstrous and grotesque, sometimes tending to hurt the weakest.
While it's not unusual for villains to go through a nightmare transformation, some heroes have gone through horrible transformations as well, although this is somewhat less common. Below are eight of the most grotesque hero transformations.
Akira Fudo (Devilman)
No matter what series of Devilman you watch or read, one thing always holds true: Akira is possessed by the demon Amon and his life becomes a nightmare. Even if the old 70s anime feels soft by today's standards, Akira still turns into a killer monster. Devilman's presence is terrifying enough to provoke insanity and paranoia in society. Even if the real monsters were not the people in Devilman, Akira's merger with Amon is certainly horrible. This becomes even more evident in the OVA, Amon: Devilman Mokushiroku, where Akira gives in to Amon's influence and the demon performs horrible acts.
Kyo Souma (Fruits Basket)
Kyo is one of the many members of the Souma Clan cursed with the zodiac, causing them to transform into an animal when hugged by a member of the opposite sex. Kyo's transformation is a cat, which at first glance seems quite adorable. However, Kyo's second transformation, which is triggered when he removes the rosary from his wrist, is by far more grotesque. A manifestation of ugliness and self-hatred, Kyo's second form was shocking enough to leave Tohru Honda on the brink of a terror attack. If it wasn't for Tohru's infinite love, this might have been the last time the two of them exchanged words and Kyo was left completely alone.
Armin Arlert (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Multiple characters in the series can transform into Titans, specifically, the select group known as the Nine Titans, each with unique powers. While Eren Yaeger has done his duty in life by bringing together the power of three of the Nine Titans in his being, Armin Arlert might have the most shocking transformation of all.
Armin may become the skinless Titan Colossal, this after the disappearance of the previous Colossal Titan, Bertolt Hoover. Armin's Colossal Titan possesses even more of his bones protruding from his flesh, and this slow transformation will eventually kill him due to Ymir's Curse.
Shinichi Izumi (Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu)
Also known as Parasyte, this series is a horror anime about alien entities infesting and mutating the flesh of their hosts, reminiscent of John Carpenter's horror classic The Thing. However, Shinichi had the "good luck" that his alien parasite, Migi, only managed to infest his right hand. The two form a symbiotic relationship, fighting off other parasites by creating blades and weapons using their own flesh.
Later, Migi spreads throughout Shinichi's body, allowing her to practically use her entire body as a weapon of destruction. He can twist and calcify his flesh, sprout new limbs, and even regenerate. Certainly quite a fabulous power that includes quite shocking transformations.
Chise (Seishuu Heiki Kanojo)
A tender and innocent high school student was made into the ultimate weapon. While Chise does not generate new members or change her exterior, the monstrous transformation she undergoes is one that persists under her skin. Her insides are devoured by the parts of a machine to fight in a brutal and grotesque war that makes no sense to her.
The monstrous horror Seishuu Heiki Kanojo presents is an existential fear, with Chise continually looking at her altered body until the scope of what the government has done when her skin literally peels off her body is revealed to reveal that her organs have already been devoured by mechanisms. She loses her ability to feel, to taste, to touch, to generate body heat, resulting in a genuine horror anime, disturbing like few others.
Ken Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul)
After a romantic encounter with despair and horror themselves, Kaneki turns into a meat-eating monster, known as the Ghoul. However, while the change in the color of his eyes and hair are nothing out of the ordinary, his internal appetite for human flesh is the monstrous manifestation of his new abilities. And if this is not enough, it should be mentioned that Kaneki has many ways related to the release of his kagune, a tool of the Ghoul to defend and fight.
However, Kaneki's most horrendous and surprising transformation was when he became the Dragon, a colossal kaijuu that completely destroyed Tokyo. Kaneki's only salvation came when he was physically ripped from his own mutated limbs.
Rei Ayanami (The End of Evangelion)
Rei Ayanami's transformation in the movie The End of Evangelion, where she merges with angels Lilith and Adam, doesn't look terrifying at first. After all, she's just a naked girl the size of the planet. What makes the giant Rei grotesque is how strange her attitude is throughout her transformation.
Although her will is to fulfill Shinji's wish on whether or not to carry out the Instrumentalization, her body in this great structure causes a feeling of unease in the viewer and not exactly terror. Her actions during the Instrumentalization certainly drove Shinji to insanity and in the end, all that was left of Rei's body was a body that does not rot, falling apart and looking towards the planet's population being reborn.
Alucard (Hellsing)
Being one of the most notorious vampires in history, Alucard is not lacking in monstrous abilities. The worst of them is when he unleashes his true power, sprouting relatives from his flesh, be they demonic hounds, the souls of those he has killed, or any variety of fangs, eyes, or fangs.
What makes Alucard so scary and grotesque is that he really has no shape when he transforms. Anything can spring from his body as he transforms, which certainly sparks panic in his adversaries as he sees the world become an extension of Alucard's bloody flesh. Unlike the others on this list, Alucard is already a monster on its own, but only on certain occasions does it become a true monster.
