Final Fantasy: 25 Greatest Summons

Few summons have ever gotten a moment as iconic as Anima’s initial introduction in Final Fantasy X. Beckoned by Maester Seymour as fiends swarm Luca’s blitzball arena, she effortlessly wipes out wave after wave in a formidable show of might.

It's strange that Seymour never unleashes Anima upon the party given his eventual villainous turn, though he does get some unique dialogue if the player’s version is summoned against him given that the fayth, the human soul sacrificed to bestow an Aeon upon a summoner, is that of his mother.

Anima is a tragic figure not just for this, but for her tortured appearance, chained and appearing to rise from the depths of hell each time she is summoned. It’s a remarkable image and one that players get very used to, but never bored of, in the endgame.

This is largely due to the fact that X was the first game in the series that enabled players to exceed the traditional damage cap of 9999. Even without much grinding, Anima’s overdrive, Oblivion, is capable of dealing hundreds of thousands of points worth of damage. They’re just numbers, but mind-blowing ones that are almost essential to begin the arduous grind against the games superbosses.