Does Anime Handle Martial Arts Well or What?

VIDEO: Awesome Video of the top 10 Martial Arts Anime of all time!

Some anime include martial arts with powers, like DBZ and Naruto, and although these can be slightly over the top, they’re still some of the best that the genre has to offer. No matter what your favorite fighting martial arts anime is, we want you to vote for the series that you love the most. With the help of your votes, we’ve created the ultimate list of top martial arts anime shows, but we still need more and more votes to make the list a reliable recommendation guide for other anime fans. Feel free to upvote and downvote any of the shows below, just as long as you’ve actually seen them enough to form an opinion about them.

If you’re a big Martial Arts fan and you’re looking for something unique and good for the eyes, then I recommend Ikkitousen be your first choice. I have to admit, the plot is quite amusing and unique not much like other fighting anime with their rehashed plots. If you take a closer look, you will notice that at certain points, some parts of the story were actually based off Chinese history so a few of the character names are actually taken from names of heroes from that era. But the biggest selling point of this show is their so-called “fan service”. The battles are so intense that during their fights, the fighters loses a part of their clothes revealing only their under wears. Simply put, you will see a lot of panty fights and bra fights in this show. Fan service plus high-speed action scenes makes up for a great show, not to mention that it has a great plot, interesting characters and great animation.

Without a doubt, Dragonball is indeed one of the greatest anime ever made in history. Compared to its sequels like the GT or Z, Dragonball may seem to be rather bland in terms of action but skipping out the origin of a great series is like not caring at all about the history of your own family. It started rather slow but halfway through the series, the anime picked rather up and showed everyone else why this show made it to the top of our list. Characters-wise, Dragonball definitely has plenty of interesting and colorful characters that audiences can easily acquaint themselves with. Some of these characters even bring out the humor in the show to make it less dragging than other shows of the genre would. On the story’s point of view, it started out as something so simple and slowly becomes more and more complex as several characters are introduced into the show. But what really made this show such a big hit to the fans are definitely its fast-paced action scenes that will definitely not disappoint any fans of the genre. Definitely a must-watch and highly recommended for all fans in general.

Airmaster seems to be underrated by no apparent reason and luckily for me, I stumbled upon this show as I was searching for good raw action animes. The plot itself is quite simple, that I admit, but the action scenes were so brilliantly made that I didn’t even notice. Apart from its storyline, both its animation and the high-paced action scenes are basically the strengths of Airmaster. This is one show that all martial arts fan should never miss to watch.

At first, the story of The Strongest Disciple Kenichi seemed rather bland but as you watch the show, it slowly hooks you to it that you just have to finish the entire series in one sitting. The characters in the show are remarkably lovable and the main character, Kenichi is the perfect example for audience identification since all of his masters continue to point out that he has absolutely no natural talent for martial arts. But what he lacks in skill and the talent, he makes up for hard work, perseverance and determination to protect his friends. Much to every other anime of the genre, the show also offers a little bit of fan service during Miu’s fights, the granddaughter of the grand master of Ryozanpaku Temple. Halfway through the series, the fights grow more intense which makes up for one remarkable memorable show. The redeeming factor of it all is that not only is our main character focusing on one martial art style, he is actually mastering all 5 different martial arts: from Karate, Jujitsu, Muay Thai, Chinese Martial Arts and even Weapon Mastery. Definitely, a show that can be recommended for the fans of the martial arts and action genres.

Pretty much anyone who claims to be a big martial arts fanatic has definitely heard of Street Fighter. Street Fighter to everyone’s knowledge originally made its debut as one of the biggest fighting games in the arcades. Plot-wise, Street Fighter has decently shown different sides of our favorite characters like Ryuu, Ken or even the oh-so lovable Chun-Li. But the true measure of every fighting martial arts anime is in its action which without a doubt Street Fighter has definitely delivered. Despite the intensity in battle, the fights remain grounded rather than the characters using their overwhelming powers which give it somewhat a sense of realism in its fights. A perfect rendition of slow-paced and fast-paced action scenes makes heated battles more tantalizing and more fun to watch. Definitely a must-watch for fans of the game and of the martial arts genre.