Shonen Upgrade is a common trope in, well,
Shonen series. It's an item, power, or transformation gained by a main character to drastically increase their abilities. Most commonly it's some sort of "special ability" or "new move," like a
Super Mode. It sometimes appears as an
Eleventh Hour Superpower, a
Dangerous Forbidden Technique, or, rarely,
I Am Not Left Handed.
It usually doesn't involve "just" training; there's always some exterior source for the power, like a magic weapon, an
infusion of
ki, or a
Transformation Ray.
The most well known example of this trope is going Super Saiyan (
Dragonball Z). A live-action example would be in
Power Rangers, when the original five Dinozords were turned into Thunderzords.
See also
New Powers As The Plot Demands. In
Mecha Series, the equivalent is the
Mid Season Upgrade.
Examples:
- Most of the One Piece characters gained a new weapon, tool, or power in the Skypeia arc.
- Specifically, Zoro gained a Razor Wind attack and Nami got a Jet Ski. The real upgrader was the CP 9 Arc, when Luffy gained two new forms, Chopper gained a Superpowered Evil Side of sorts, Nami upgraded her previous weapon, Usopp became a superhero, Sanji set his attacks on fire, and Zoro tripled his swords to nine.
- Shinigami in Bleach have 3 forms to their Zanpakuto, "Unreleased", "Shikai", and "Bankai". This is a very formulaic form of Shonen Upgrade. In addition, Ichigo's Hollow powers are a similar example, powers acquired, not through training, but by dramatic need.
- In Naruto, the title character's Kyuubi tails are a form of this, as is the forming of Sasuke Uchiha's Sharingan mid-fight-scene. Choji Akamichi's special Food Pills also count. There is also Orochimaru's Curse Seal, which Kimimaro, the Sound Four, and Sasuke all have. Kankuro gains more Ninja Puppets, while Tenten gets Weapon Scrolls. Later on, there is Jiraya and Naruto again with Sage Mode. And, of course, Rock Lee and Might Guy have the Eight Gates to move up through. Naruto uses the trope a lot.
- Bobobo Bo Bo Bobo 's Shonen Upgrades are direct parodies of Dragonball Z's Super Saiyan and Fusions.
- In Yu-Gi-Oh!, the God Cards are a version of this. So are the Orichalcos arc Legendary Dragon cards, which were brought into the main character's deck by pure willpower and The Magic Poker Equation. The cards didn't actually exist before the moment the main character needed them and they magically came into existence. In Yu-Gi-Oh GX, Judai/Jaden's Elemental Hero Neos and the Neos Fusions count too.
- In S-Cry-ed, Kazuma goes out to upgrade his Alter power because it is too weak, then later gets an additional upgrade at the end of the series through willpower. Ryuho also follows this, but his first upgrade is more an I Am Not Left Handed, in that he had it retroactively.
- In Guyver there is the Gigantic upgrade for each character equipped with a Guyver. Only problem there is a limit on using it and is essentially a suit that can be worn by only one character at a time. Aptom himself can qualify in which he slowly gains more power by absorbing more Zoanoid types.
