10 Anime Characters Who Could Beat Gaara

I think we can all agree that the Gaara vs Rock Lee fight was peak anime.

Well in this ranking we’re going to try and capture some of that magic, but with a twist.

Here’s what we’re considering: “which anime characters could give Gaara a thrashing”.

And in order to keep it fun – I’ll refrain from using extremely obvious picks.

10. Secco

Anime: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

I’m going to start things off with Secco as he’s my meme answer.

So, let’s picture a best-case scenario.

They start off the fight only a few feet apart and Secco immediately starts running towards Gaara with his Stand ability activated. Obviously, Gaara sends sand his way in order to stop him.

However, Secco’s ability (Oasis) allows him to liquify the ground that he comes in contact with. Since sand can theoretically be considered ground, Oasis works on Gaara’s sand as well.

Gaara is completely caught off guard and Secco uses the opportunity to liquefy his sand shield and then slit his throat. Since Gaara isn’t used to protecting his body with chakra (because he usually doesn’t have to), the hit lands and he dies.

This is the only possible win condition for Secco.

Is it extremely unlikely? Yes. But I also find it hilarious – and will therefore include it.

9. Satoru Gojo

Anime: Jujutsu Kaisen

When Gaara was introduced – we were made to believe that he was untouchable.

Well, Gojo somehow managed to be even more elusive than that!

Sure, Gaara is protected by his sand (both the active one and his sand skin), but that can’t hold a candle to Gojo. This dude has literal infinity around him.

And while he doesn’t have the raw destructive power of Gaara, he still has ways of dealing with him. First off, Gojo is incredibly quick – being able to literally leave a battle, have a chat, and then come back in a second.

Secondly, his hand-to-hand combat skills are way above Gaara’s (as he usually just relies on his sand for offense). And most importantly, Gojo has his Domain Expansion.

Even if Gojo couldn’t get through Gaara’s sand shield, he could just activate Domain Expansion and melt Gaara’s brain instead.

8. Shota Aizawa

Anime: My Hero Academia

This fight is quite similar to the Secco pick, but with a bit more substance.

Just like in that fight, the key factor is that they start the battle no more than a few feet apart.

From that distance, Aizawa can just nullify Gaara’s power and make him a sitting duck. He can use his scarf to quickly grab Gaara (which is sure to bring back Rock Lee flashbacks) and pull him closer.

He then just has to kill him before his Quirk runs out.

This is also banking on the fact that Gaara either couldn’t protect his body with chakra (due to Aizawa) or just couldn’t react in time.

But if he doesn’t get him in his first go, Aizawa stands no chance.

Have you ever tried to keep your eyes open during a sandstorm? It’s virtually impossible!

7. Esdeath

Anime: Akame ga Kill!

Overall, I think Esdeath and Gaara are actually pretty similar in terms of power.

Gaara is a bit stronger when it comes to ranged combat – as his sand is a bit more versatile than Esdeath’s ice.

But on the flip side – Esdeath is way better at hand-to-hand combat. We see her pulling some intricate combos in her fight against Akame, while Gaara doesn’t really have impressive feats in this category.

And in terms of defense – they’re actually almost identical. Although Esdeath’s defense isn’t automatic (like Gaara’s), it seems virtually impenetrable once she’s serious.

After all, she managed to effortlessly dodge many of Akame’s slashes even when she attacked from a blind spot. So, pretty evened out overall.

However, Esdeath’s trump card would spell the end for Gaara. Although it doesn’t last long – the ability to freeze time would give her an easy opening to just cut Gaara’s head off.

6. Aladdin

Anime: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

This one would definitely hurt Gaara’s ego.

I say that because he’d get beaten by sand – the only constant in his life.

And that’s because Aladdin (although he looks fairly harmless) is way more powerful.

So if we were to have the two fight to the death – here are my predictions.

Aladdin summons his three sand giants and Gaara automatically feels like less of a man. But he manages to summon enough sand to at least somewhat match the soldiers.

Aladdin then has them all use their fire breath (which is a large city-level attack), and Gaara gets owned. The fight is even more decisive if we throw some headcanon into the mix – as we’ve never seen Aladdin actually try to kill someone.

5. King

Anime: The Seven Deadly Sins

I’ve mentioned a few times now how Gaara usually relies on ranged combat.

And while he outclasses almost everyone else from his verse in this category – he can’t compare to King.

This is because, by the end of the series, King can fight you while being in a different time zone. His Chastiefol is simply way too powerful and versatile for Gaara to stand a chance.

He can put a cage around himself, fly into the air and still have thousands of knives swarm Gaara from all sides. And if that doesn’t work, he can blast him with a city-level explosion.

If he’s feeling extremely cheeky, he could ever have his bear ruffle Gaara up a bit in melee combat. Overall, I don’t think Gaara would even have the chance to land an actual hit.

4. Tatsuhiko Shibusawa

Anime: Bungo Stray Dogs

Man, this one would be really rough.

Tatsuhiko has the ability to basically separate a person and their power. After that, the now powerless user has to fight their own ability and destroy the red gem within them.

However, I don’t think Gaara could really accomplish such a feat.

First off, the manifestation of his power would be a hassle to battle against.

After all, it’d be a sand monster with insane mobility and the power to crush your limbs the second you get close.

Secondly, Gaara isn’t that good at taijutsu.

There have been mentions of how he has improved, but I’ve honestly seen nothing in the anime to support this. So my prediction is that he gets absolutely trashed.

3. Tatsumaki

Anime: One Punch Man

I’m honestly really curious how this one would work.

Since Tatsumaki can control just about everything – could she just control Gaara’s sand as well? If so, it’d be the saddest game of “stop crushing yourself”.

But even if we were to assume that she can’t directly control his sand – her victory is still pretty certain. For once, she is way faster while flying and could outmaneuver all of Gaara’s attacks.

Secondly, she could affect his main body and just throw it away from his sand (especially if he has a lot of it built up around him). Lastly, she can just squish him like a bug.

We already know that she can throw a meteor down to Earth if she so chooses.

And seeing how much trouble that feat made for the entire ninja world when Madara did it – handling it alone would be almost impossible.

2. Asta

Anime: Black Clover

Asta is the first character that came to mind when thinking about this topic – as he seems like the most obvious counter.

It’s also rather poetic as he’s basically the Rock Lee of his own verse.

And let’s just say that anti-magic would absolutely destroy Gaara. Because what is he going to do? Asta can just swat away every and all attacks that come his way.

Not to mention that he’d go through Gaara’s defenses like a warm knife through butter.

Plus, Asta is also arguably more mobile (especially after the time-skip), more durable, and physically way stronger.

The only way Gaara could win is by doing a sneak attack and somehow disarming Asta immediately.

But even then, his demonic powers would give Gaara lots of issues.

No matter how you slice it, buff dudes without magic will always be the bane of Gaara’s existence.

1. Ajeel

Anime: Fairy Tail

It only makes sense to end things off with a sand vs sand battle.

And while it’s a bit difficult to gauge (since Ajeel gets randomly nerfed midway through), I think Gaara should lose this one.

I’m mostly relying on two things here.

First, Ajeel’s power to integrate his body into sand. This would mean that Gaara’s attacks would be virtually useless as long as Ajeel reacts in time.

Second, that Ajeel could sneak some of his own sand past Gaara. This is because Ajeel’s sand saps all of the moisture out of your body – making any type of chakra defense virtually useless.

In terms of destructive power, we’ve seen both of them throw out city-level attacks.

However, it’s important to note that Ajeel’s quicksand seems a bit more reliable than Death Coffin for mass destruction.

And while Gaara has slightly better defense (as it’s quicker), Ajeel has better tenacity (being able to tank hits from Natsu without flinching).

It’d be a close one, but I think the odds are slightly stacked in Ajeel’s favor.