Characters Who Achieve Godhood

Surely there are plenty of characters who have the desire to become their version of deities in their world. But which ones actually achieve this?, and which ones come closest?

Requirements:

• They must be actively seeking "godhood".
• Godhood need not be literal, physical or spiritual. Ex - they want to become the god of tax reports - because they work as a tax accountant and the manga itself is about business and 'making it big' in a corporation.
• The character cannot be a pre-exiting deity in their universe. Ex, if they started as a god and were demoted, and their storyline is all about them regaining their godly powers.
• Manga/anime characters, obviously.

edited 11th May '14 4:00:26 AM by FOFD

I actually can't think of to many who were seeking it. Honestly, seeking to become a god is usually a villain thing and they usually get beat around that time.

Would Future Diary count?

Madoka? Homura might be a better choice actually.

That I can think of off the top of my head? Black * Star and Father. A case could probably be made for Yui Ikari as well.

Would the God of Conquest counts? Although he started out already being a "god"

I'll second the part about "actively seeking godhood" narrows the range too much. That more or less restricts it to villainous characters since that's rarely considered a heroic goal.

For example Kamichu! has the main character becoming a god more or less entirely by accident and the series more about her dealing with the fallout of that (in a relaxing, laid-back and cute slice of life way).

One could argue that in the Haruhi movie Yuki achieved Godhood (or the next best thing too it) by usurping Haruhi's powers.

One could make the arguement for Ichigo from Bleach depending on how literally one chooses to take Hachi's speech to Barragan. Aizen certainly tried, though whether he actually achieved it is arguable.

Maybe the Campione from the anime and light novels of the same name, but generally the god-slayers are treated as a separate class of existence from both gods and humans.

In a sense it was what Kayaba was trying to achieve in Sword Art Online, though that may be more metaphorical than you mean.

Though I will second Madoka and by extension Homura (in the third movie) from Madoka Magica.

Actually I think the title of one manga chapter and the last episode of the first season sums Keima (at that point anyway) perfectly. "More than a god, less than human."

edited 11th May '14 3:32:04 PM by KnightofLsama

I X'nd Madoka. I don't think Homura exactly qualifies because she's riding Madoka's coattails.

How about either Shinji or Rei? Or Tetsuo from Akira?

I figure Light Yagami from Death Note is a little too obvious?

Yeah, there seem to be quite a few characters who become a god without actively seeking it. Lain qualifies, I suppose. Eiri tries his best (he falls under "villain seeking godhood" ) but doesn't quite get there.

Tried, yes. Achieved... nope.

Though it does raise a valid question as to what the OP meant by 'achieving godhood'. A god in one series is just a punk with delusions of grandeur in another.

It also means how do you deal with non-supernatural versions. Like I mentioned Kayaba in Sword Art Online can be argued to be the god of Aincrad in the sense that he created what was intended to be a fully realised world, but did so in an entirely non-supernatural manner by creating a virtual world.

Yeah, the definition of "Godhood" is kind of difficult when you aren't dealing with literal supernatural apotheosis.

(Even dealing with Death Note raises the difficulty that while Light technically failed at his own criteria of godhood, going by the manga at least Kira still ends up being worshiped by thousands after his death - which, by other definitions might qualify as being considered a god. I always liked the irony of that, myself.)

There's Jojo's Bizarre Adventure's Kars. Who achieved eternal life, and funnily enough, suffered because of it.

FMA's Father, who had all the infinite power of a god...For a fairly short time, but meh.

I think Griffth from Berserk kinda counts I mean in the beginning his motivation wasn't seeking to become God but when he was given the opportunity to achieve Godhood he took it and is now a powerful God currently in Berserk.

Anyone who becomes a Super Saiyan is pretty much stronger then most of the gods of the Dragon Ball verse, if it counts..

Then there's Super Saiyan God.....

Accelerator, the "I want to become so powerful that challenging me would be unthinkable, it would be blasphemy!" guy. And sure enough, he sits firmly in the top tier of the franchise's power hierarchy, having such a ridiculously hax ability that he can bitchslap demigods and divine entities without even breaking a sweat.

To be fair, he only wanted to become godlike because he was sick and tired of people picking fights with him just because of his reputation as the strongest. He wanted to be left alone and the only way he saw to that end is to participate in an experiment that would increase his powers to the point where he becomes an artificial god. He eventually reached that level on his own.

edited 12th May '14 4:21:11 PM by amitakartok

Adam Blade pulls off becoming a god(for a limited amount of time), but he doesn't actively seek to do it for most of the story.