As most fans know, Manga and anime are more often than not filled with adventures, awesome powers, action, swords and all that is related to the aforementioned. Of course, martial arts could not be missing from the equation, also considering the rich martial arts culture and history of Japan (Samurais and Ninjas only being the most well-known examples).
The men and women on this list specialize either on real-world or fictional (or both) techniques and they are all people that one would not want to face on the battlefield. Without further ado, 10 manga martial artists to be feared and admired!
10 Tsukikage Ran – Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran
This short anime tells the story of Tsukikage Ran, a female ronin (Samurai with no master), whose skill with the katana (Japanese sword) is unmatched. She says she enjoys letting herself be carried by the wind (hence the title), sake, and of course sword-fighting. Unlike the typical samurai, she wields her katana with one hand (quite easily). She is joined in her exploits by Meow, also a very skilled martial artist from China, and the anime’s 13 episodes are standalone stories of their adventures together in the Edo or Tokugawa period (1600–1868) of Japan.
9 Spike Spiegel – Cowboy Bebop
The protagonist of Cowboy Bebop is fun, cool, and nonchalant, but possesses some tremendous skills that he won’t hesitate to use. He is proficient when it comes to weaponry (for example, his own Jericho 941, or Ruger P85, and also other firearms and explosives), martial arts, and hand-to-hand fighting due to his former engagement with the Red Dragon crime syndicate and sporadic training with the rest of the Bebop team.
He practices Jeet Kune Do, the martial art and philosophy school established by Bruce Lee; nevertheless, he has a fondness for the high kicks of French kick-boxing.
8 Hei – Darker Than Black
Hei, also known as the Black Reaper (Kuro no Shinigami), is a human who has gained Contractor powers. Contractors all have a quite unique power that they can yield masterfully (some times with a price, but not in Hei’s case). Apart from his ability (Molecular/Electricity Manipulation), he is an expert hand-to-hand combatant who has incorporated impressive acrobatics into his fighting style with seemingly little to no effort. This is a natural skill that has nothing to do with his powers, but with his own training, enhanced durability, speed, and agility. He is also proficient in fighting with a combat knife that he sometimes attaches to a metal wire and uses as a long-range weapon.
7 Izumi Curtis – Fullmetal Alchemist
Who knew that underneath the persona of the kind and calm housewife lay the ferocious and unyielding Alchemist and martial artist that we see in Izumi? Though she has chosen a quiet life as the owner of a shop with her husband, Izumi has some pretty massive aces in her sleeve.
Although normally she is not quite willing to take on mentees, she yielded to Edward and Alphonse Elric's appeal to accept them as her students and tutored them in both alchemical philosophy and skills and martial arts for many months. Izumi is one of the physically toughest characters in the story, being enormously skilled in both armed and hand-to-hand combat.
6 Sui-Feng – Bleach
Sui-Feng was fostered from her youth as an assassin and combatant, her goal and life-purpose being to attend to the Shihoin clan and be enlisted in the Onmitsukidō. She seriously captivated Yoruichi, who made Sui-Feng her personal guard and student. She is extremely skilled in Hakuda (hand-to-hand combat) and Shunpo (speed), possibly second just to Yoruichi. Her Zanpakuto, Suzumebachi, in Shikai will destroy anybody touched by it twice on the same spot: a deadly ability that needs excellent speed, dexterity, and agility to be used.
5 Annie Leonhart – Attack On Titan
Annie Leonhart, the feared Female Titan, was one of the top martial artists and hand-to-hand combat experts in her class at the 104th Training Corps, gaining 10/10 in her finals and graduating in the top five. Annie is proficient in many martial arts styles (even one invented by her father) and she is also an expert in armed combat.
She is notable for her distinctive fighting technique, with a solid attention on lessening the advantages of bigger opponents with more raw strength through kicks, throws, and grapples.
4 Saitama – One-Punch Man
Saitama is, well, exactly what it says on the tin: the one-punch man, the person capable of finishing off (even killing) his opponents with one well-struck punch (although his abilities are not limited to his punches). He has no elaborate or supernatural powers, other than the fact that his physical strength, speed, and endurance have extremely surpassed human limits. He is by far the most powerful character in the series and very few (if any) have been a match for him. He can leap to incredible heights (but not fly) and go through walls, and is so fast and agile that he can create afterimages of himself.
3 Yoruichi Shihoin – Bleach
Formerly the matriarch of the esteemed Shihoin clan, as well as the teacher of Sui-Feng, Yoruichi escaped to the human realm decades before the manga’s beginning. She almost succeeded to overpower Sui-Feng, the present 2nd Squad Captain, after 100 years of abstention from battle, until their clash was interrupted.
She has a remarkable and petrifying range of combat abilities: she is a Hakuda (hand-to-hand combat) virtuosa, undoubtedly supreme in Soul Society, and has established the practice of Shunkō, combining martial arts with overwhelming lightning Kido. She is tremendously fast, the finest Shunpo user in Soul Society (yielding her the label “Flash Goddess”).
2 Son Goku – Dragon Ball
A kind, brave, and very powerful warrior (but not the brightest of the bunch), Goku is a Saiyan that was originally sent to earth to destroy it, but turned out as one of its greatest defenders. Goku is literally one of the strongest people in the entire world of Dragon Ball and a prodigy of combat from a very young age. Though at first, he did not compare to others of the Saiyan race, he trained long and hard, eventually surpassing even the most powerful warriors in their ranks. Though most of his powers are of supernatural nature, he is an expert martial artist.
1 Naruto Uzumaki – Naruto
This guy needs no introduction (but he will be introduced anyway). A brilliant ninja and currently Hokage (the Kage of Konohagakure, a title presented to the village's chief), Naruto is a strong and capable fighter and martial artist. He has won the hearts of many a fan around the world and he is hailed as the protagonist of one of the Big Three. He is extremely versed in ninjutsu (which in this universe comprises of both real-world and fictional techniques) and can even create clones of himself (Shadow Clone Technique). He is masterful of both hand-to-hand and armed combat.