Spatial and space-time abilities in anime are some of the rarer ones you'll see, and depending on the actual ability, you might even find that these are the most likely to be one-of-a-kind.
These abilities are the ones that allow users to influence, alter, or manipulate the so-called space-time continuum. You can see how that might be a huge game changer in any fight scene!
While fireballs and healing spells are a dime a dozen in anime, spatial and space-time abilities don't show up often—and that's what makes them stand out when they do appear. We love them because they often allow for creative usage in coordination with other abilities.
Here are my picks for the best spatial and space-time abilities in anime and why they're so cool compared to other abilities.
20. Ope Ope no Mi (One Piece)
In One Piece, Trafalgar Law's Ope Ope no Mi Devil Fruit ability allows him to create a "room" where he can do all kinds of things on anyone and anything caught inside, from painlessly dismembering people to commanding inanimate objects.
Inside this spherical room, he can even manipulate things to the point of switching places with someone else to dodge an attack or to initiate a more devastating combination attack.
19. Kamui (Naruto Shippuden)
Kamui is one of Obito's Mangekyo Sharingan abilities (which can also be used by Kakashi, since he has one of Obito's eyes). This ability was awakened after the tragic event where they both lost Rin.
Kamui allows the user to enter a special space-time pocket dimension that's completely separate from the real world. It can be used to hide objects or trap people, cutting off their existence.
Obito creatively used Kamui to hide parts of his body's physical properties, making it look like he was visually present but physically untouchable and invulnerable to attacks.
18. Warp Gate (My Hero Academia)
In My Hero Academia, Warp Gate is Kurogiri's Quirk, which allows him to summon portals whenever and wherever he wants. His boss, Shigaraki, often uses his ability to make surprise appearances and attacks, like infiltrating a location with hordes of villains.
Shigaraki also uses smaller warp gates to touch targets from blind spots, with Kurogiri creating those portals.
17. Flying Thunder God (Naruto Shippuden)
In Naruto, Flying Thunder God is an ability that comes from the creative usage of sealing and summoning techniques, used by the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju and Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze.
Flying Thunder God involves two steps: first, preemptively placing a seal on an object or location where they intend to visit, and second, using those seals to summon themselves there. In practice, it looks like an actual teleportation ability.
That's what makes this ability unique from other abilities that only appear to teleport. Whereas other abilities are really just lightning-fast movements from point A to B, Flying Thunder God is an instant disappearance from one spot and appearance elsewhere.
Sasuke has a very similar ability called Amenotejikara, which comes from his Rinnegan, but instead of using seals and summons he instantly switches places with anyone or anything.
16. Time Innocence (D.Gray-Man)
In D.Gray-man, Miranda Lotto owns the Time Innocence that affects the flow and continuity of time. With her Innocence, she can revert damage inflicted and prevent attacks by using a sort of shield: no attacks can enter the space-time field protected by her Innocence.
This ability, however, takes a massive toll on her—both physically and emotionally—as seen when she doesn't want to deactivate her ability because she knows everyone who was healed via time recovery will suffer the effects of unreverted time.
15. Senescencia (Bleach)
In Bleach, Barragan Luisenbairn uses an ability called Senescencia, which allows him to control time itself. He can slow down time around him, making everything in his range move slower, too.
Barragan can also use "time" offensively, by speeding it up and causing everything in range to rapidly age and immediately suffer the effects of time. We saw this when Sui Feng's affected arm began to disintegrate.
14. Hide and Seek (Hunter X Hunter)
In Hunter X Hunter, Knov's Hide and Seek ability is a crucial element in their mission to exterminate the Chimera Ants. It allows him to create doors that lead to a separate dimension created with Nen, and can be used to instantly infiltrate the castle.
In Black Clover, Valtos has a similar kind of spatial magic that works in the same way as Knov's ability, which he uses to capture Fuegoleon with one of his portals.
13. Dream Magic: Glamour World (Black Clover)
In Black Clover, the Captain of the Coral Peacocks, Dorothy Unsworth, uses the Dream Magic: Glamour World to trap her opponents in a dimension that she rules over.
In it, she can create, influence, and affect all matter and events in it. The dream dimension is cut off from the real world, so other magic and curses have no effect on those who are inside.
Surprisingly, Yami Sukehiro was able to escape Dorothy's world with the use of his dimension-cutting technique, Equinox.
12. Gura Gura no Mi (One Piece)
In One Piece, Gura Gura no Mi is the Devil Fruit that gave Whitebeard the power to cause tremors anywhere he wants. It ends up being one of the most destructive abilities in the entire series.
Whitebeard can create shatters and fissures through any medium, including air, sea, and land. He can also distort space by grabbing it with his fingers, causing wide-scale destruction across seas and lands.
With this power, Edward "Whitebeard" Newgate becomes a man who can literally destroy the world. After his death, Blackbeard stole his ability during the Marineford War.
11. Megumi's Shadow Technique (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Apart from summoning spiritual shikigamis (e.g. frogs, owls, dogs), Megumi also uses his shadow technique as portable storage for cursed weapons. He pulls out different kinds of weapons—including his black blade—from a dimension only he has access to.
10. Blood Demon Art: Infinity Castle (Demon Slayer)
In Demon Slayer, after the death of Rui, the other Lower Moon Demons were summoned by Kibutsuji Muzan to the Infinity Castle.
The entire majestic castle, however, is Nakime's ability (the Biwa Demon accompanying Muzan) and every time she strums her musical instrument, the Infinity Castle shifts its interior to her will.
The Drum Demon Kyogai's Blood Demon Art also works the same way, shifting and altering the orientation of the Drum House with every beat of his drums.
9. Finral's Spatial Magic (Black Clover)
Most of the time, Finral's Spatial Magic only serves as a means of transportation, especially for Yami. But in their battle against Vetto at the Seabed Temple, his ability is proven to be a game changer when he works offensively with Vanessa and Asta.
During the Royal Knights Selection, he incorporated some offensive capabilities into his spatial magic, which was then able to cancel out his brother's spatial magic.
Void, one of the God Hand in the Berserk series, uses the same spatial manipulation ability as Finral's.
8. Mark of the Wind (Chivalry of a Failed Knight)
Ayase Ayatsuji's Noble Art, the Mark of the Wind, is a unique application of spatial manipulation in Chivalry of a Failed Knight.
Ayase cuts space with her sword, which leaves behind an invisible vacuum blade. When triggered, the vacuum blades then cut her opponents—even if they are beyond her sword's reach.
7. Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Domain Expansion in Jujutsu Kaisen is an advanced application of cursed magic, in which the user creates a space that traps his enemies. Inside the domain, the user's abilities are heightened, unavoidable, and they have influence over everything within.
Sukuna's Domain Expansion, the Malevolent Shrine, is one of the coolest abilities in the series. Contrary to how Domain Expansion works, Malevolent Shrine's effects can manifest even without creating a special space that separates a target from the real world.
6. Deva Path (Naruto Shippuden)
The Deva Path is one of the abilities granted by the Rinnegan, which we saw used by Pain. The Deva Path allows the user to attract and repel, pull and push, anything and anyone.
It's a kind of spatial manipulation in which the user becomes the epicenter of a force field that either pulls in or pushes away anything in that field. The devastating Shinra Tensei is a large-scale technique derived from the Deva Path (used by Pain to wipe out Konoha).
Madara Uchiha also uses a similar technique derived from the Deva Path, except his is of a much higher caliber: the Tengai Shinsei, which pulls meteors from outer space.
5. Zushi Zushi no Mi (One Piece)
If you think only the Rinnegan can pull meteors from outer space, think again. Fujitora's Zushi Zushi no Mi Devil Fruit ability allows him to do the same!
With just a swing of his blade, he can shift the gravitational force in a certain area or that of a certain target. This Paramecia-type Devil Fruit allows him to create a downward force to pin down enemies or an upward force to send them flying.
Lance Crown's Graviole in Mashle: Magic and Muscle works the same way as Fujitora's gravity control, but instead of a sword he swings his wand to create gravitational forces that cover certain areas.
4. Key Magic (Black Clover)
The Key Magic of the former Wizard King, Conrad Leto, is one of the most unique magic attributes in the Black Clover series. It allows him to open portals or rifts where he stores magic, grimoires, and tools. Basically, a pocket dimension only he has access to.
Key Magic is also a magic attribute compatible with the first Wizard King's Sword, making it one of the most powerful magics to ever exist.
3. Zenon's Spatial Magic (Black Clover)
Zenon Zogratis is one of the three main devil hosts of the Spade Kingdom. What's unique about them? They can use two different magic attributes! In Zenon's case, it's Bone Magic and Spatial Magic.
His Spatial Magic is similar to the aforementioned Spatial Magic of Finral, who can teleport and transport targets, but Zenon's is way more powerful than ordinary spatial magic.
Aside from creating portals, he can also manipulate space and the mana within. He shares this spatial magic attribute with Beelzebub, the devil with whom he's contracted.
2. Luffy's Gear 5 (One Piece)
Devil Fruits have an ability called Awakening where their powers reach new heights and manifest greater potential. Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Mi's Awakening, known as his Gear 5, is one of the best examples.
Luffy's Gear 5 not only turns him into a more powerful rubberman but also allows him to use the environment and space as he pleases, from turning the ground into a rubbery battlefield to making anything possess rubber attributes (stretchy and bouncy).
Another Devil Fruit Awakening in the series is Doflamingo's Ito Ito no Mi, where he turns almost everything in Dressrosa into strings that he can control and use against Luffy.
1. The Curtain (Jujutsu Kaisen)
In Jujutsu Kaisen, the Curtain is a barrier technique enforced with jujutsu. It's a versatile ability that can do all sorts of things, like concealing what's really happening within from the naked eye to permitting or denying entry of individuals.
When invoked, a dark liquid-like essence oozes out of thin air above the target location to form a dark dome. The curtain is clearly visible to sorcerers but invisible to normal eyes, thus preventing ordinary people from seeing the gruesome exorcism of curses.
During the Shibuya Incident, specialized curtains were created by Kenjaku and his team to start their assault. These curtains trapped both sorcerers and non-sorcerers inside, then were flooded with curses causing chaos and death in every corner.
