Shang-Chi has been one of the most successful movies to release in the past year, grossing $388 million worldwide so far. A continuation of the MCU, the storyline offered some much needed diversity while also giving viewers a great new villain in the Mandarin, and some of the best fight scenes the MCU has ever had.
Few films are able to provide the kind of intense martial arts action that anime series can, though. There are entire sub-genres devoted to storylines where the end of every major arc has massive fight scenes showing off all the special moves the protagonist has learned, and they still manage to be some of the most popular series in the medium. For fans who need a bit more action and fantastical settings after coming away from Shang-Chi, there are plenty of anime to keep them busy.
10 Dragon Ball Is The Action Anime Everyone Should Watch At Least Once
Dragon Ball Z is the perennial action shonen anime series. It’s the sequel to the mega popular Dragon Ball anime, a story about a young martial artist named Goku who travels the world in search of the Dragon Balls, items that can grant any wish once they’re all collected.
Dragon Ball Z continues the fights over the Dragon Balls, but ramps up the drama several times over. The protagonists are now grossly underpowered, paired against some of the most powerful people in the galaxy.
9 Ranma ½ Combines Action And Comedy To Make A Great Classic '90s Series
Ranma ½ follows the titular character Ranma, who has been training under his father for years as a member of the “Anything-Goes” school of martial arts. Ranma’s father has agreed to marry him off to Soun Tendo’s daughter, as they’re both practitioners of the same martial arts and the two can carry on the line.
There’s just one problem: while training in China, Ranma fell into a cursed spring that transforms him into a girl whenever he’s splashed with hot water. Oh, and Tendou’s daughter Akane can’t stand Ranma. As a series, Ranma is as much about comedy antics as it is about martial arts, with plenty of the young cast challenging one another to fights.
8 History's Greatest Disciple Kenichi Shows Its Protagonist Go From Zero To Hero
Kenichi Shirahama is after one thing: improving himself. He’s constantly getting bullied, even after he attempts to join his high school karate club. But when he meets transfer student Miu Furinji, everything changes. Miu introduces him to Ryozanpaku, the dojo where she lives, and all the martial artists who train there.
There Kenichi learns to protect himself, defeating the bully at his high school club and gaining the attention of a number of other delinquents at his school. From there, Kenichi spends his days training to become a better fighter, eventually becoming a full-fledged student of Ryozanpaku, as his opponents become more and more dangerous.
7 Yu Yu Hakusho Features A Teenaged Kid Living Up To His Potential
Yusuke Urameshi is a young street punk with a life headed nowhere fast...until he’s turned into a Spirit Detective after he shows a willingness to sacrifice his life to save a young child.
After being revived, he’s now in charge of keeping the peace on the Earth, fighting against threats from the Demon Realm. It’s a big job, but fortunately he has a handful of friends to help him in the task, including his school rival Kuwabara, and two demons Hiei and Kurama.
6 Tenjou Tenge Has Some Of The Most Brutal Fights In Anime
Souichiro Nagi and Bob Makihara have one goal in high school: prove they’re the strongest fighters their school has to offer. But there’s just one problem—Toudou Academy has some of the strongest martial artists in all of Japan. The two are barely there a day before they quickly learn that neither of them are anywhere close to the strongest. Nagi runs into Masataka Takayanagi and is completely humbled. Fortunately, Nagi seems to have the potential to become one of the strongest martial artists of all time...if he can last that long.
5 Saiyuki Is A Long-Running Series That's A Twist On Journey To The West
Genjo Sanzo is a priest on a mission to restore balance on Earth. For years, humans and demons have managed to live together without issue, but out of nowhere demons started fighting and wiping out humans, even coming up with a plan to bring back a powerful demon from thousands of years ago known as Gyumao.
Sanzo’s mission is simple: stop them. He’s even working with three other demons in Goku, Hakkai, and Gojou to accomplish his goals. Saiyuki was one of the most popular series from the early 2000s, running for three seasons and over a hundred episodes. It even got a sequel series, Saiyuki Reload Blast, in 2017 to continue the story.
4 Scryed Combines Superpowers With Hard-Hitting Action
A unique phenomenon occurring in the Yokohama district of the Kanegawa Prefecture has not only broken the area away from Japan, but caused one percent of the people living there to gain superpowers. These people are marked as Alters, and their powers allow them to create a lawless land in Yokohama.
Eventually, an organization known as HOLY forms with the hope of rebuilding the land, and they use the authority granted them by the organization HOLD to come in and police this new lawless land of Alters abusing their powers over normal humans. But HOLY’s plans are disrupted by the appearance of Kazuma, a powerful young Alter who only wants to protect the home where he lives.
3 Air Master Features A Teenaged Gymnast Who Falls In Love With Martial Arts
Maki Aikawa is a sixteen-year-old former gymnast who leaves her old life behind for something completely unexpected: street fighting. Much like Nightwing, her gymnast skills make her a more dangerous fighter, allowing her to flip around her opponent, making it that much harder to beat her.
Maki loves the rush of fighting, and she becomes so well known that she eventually becomes aware of a fighting league—the Fukamichi Rankings. There, she’s able to challenge the strongest fighters in the world and experience the high that she can only get in the midst of combat.
2 Flame Of Recca Follows A Boy Learning About His Family's History As A Clan Of Ninja
Recca Hanabishi is a ninja attending high school. Or at least, that’s what he calls himself. He relies on tricks and fights much like a ninja, even though he goes to a regular school. But everyone keeps challenging him because he’s admitted that if they can beat him, he’ll become their servant.
Eventually, Recca meets a young woman named Yanagi and agrees to become her servant even though she can’t even fight. Connected to Yanagi, Recca learns he actually is the last descendant of the Hokage ninja clan, and actually has the ability to wield fire. Armed with this new power, Recca has to learn the secrets of his past.
1 Naruto Uzumaki Goes From Least Respected To The Leader Of The Konoha Village
Naruto Uzumaki is considered the #1 knuckle-head ninja of his Ninja Academy class. Though he’s skilled in some areas, he’s generally undisciplined and not smart in far too many others. He’s also got one more problem: he has the power of the Nine-Tailed Fox inside of him, a great chakra monster that once attacked and nearly destroyed Konoha Village where he lives. Because of this, he’s shunned by nearly everyone in the village, but he still wants to prove that he belongs, even going so far as to declare he’ll become Hokage, leader of Konoha Village.