It's impossible to watch anime and not run into a tournament arc, and everyone has their favorite. There are the Chuunin Exams, the Dark Tournament, and the World Martial Arts Tournaments. The critical point to a good tournament is to allow viewers to get to know many characters quickly by introducing them and their powers.

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When it works out, these often become some of the fans' favorite arcs.  But people tend to love the same tournament arcs over and over, when there are plenty in anime and manga which are often unnoticed, either because there's a more prominent tournament arc overshadowing it or the anime itself just wasn't that popular, to begin with.

10 Chess Games - Marchen Awakens Romance

Marchen Awakens Romance 02

In the anime series MAR, nearly the entire show was essentially a tournament. Ginta Toramizu first appeared on planet MAR-Heaven. His goal was to eventually return home, despite gaining superpowers and even losing his need to wear glasses. Until he has a way to do so, he helps out a resistance force in the battle against the Chess Army. This series has mid-storyline training, characters gaining new and improved special techniques, and even some unexpected plot twists that make it worth sitting down and investing the time to finish all one hundred episodes.

9 Yu-Gi-Oh  5D's - World Riding Grand Prix

yusei team unicorn

The riding Grand Prix added something that was desperately missing to the franchise at the time. Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s did this often, as even the concept of having duels on motorcycles was something no one had ever seen before. But the World Riding Grand Prix took it a step further, creating three versus three matches where no team was all out until all of their members had lost. This arc has some of the best duels in the series, from the match against the Nordic monsters to the Sleeping Giant Zushin.  This season is one of Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's best.

8 Shaman Fight- Shaman King

Shaman King Reboot Trailer

Shaman King is another anime where the majority of the storyline is just a giant tournament. Yoh Asakura is a shaman with dreams of becoming the Shaman King because it would grant him the opportunity to reshape the world. The Shaman Fight comes along once every five hundred years, meaning Yoh has a rare opportunity to make his wish happen. He's got the power of a former samurai Ryu, along with a handful of other spirits he has the ability to channel, leading to Yoh seeing countless battles in the hope of one day becoming the King.

7 Hunter Exam - Hunter x Hunter

Hisoka During Hunter Exam

The Hunter exam isn’t really thought of in the strictest sense as a tournament, even though the end of it wraps up in a literal martial tournament. Arguably, it’s more of a tournament than anything else on this list. Gon and Killua challenge themselves, again and again, putting their lives on the line for the hope of becoming Hunters. They were paired against whole murderers and still managed to come out on top. And at the end, Togashi reminds the viewers that despite their incredible strength, there are people far stronger than either of them.

6 Mahora Tournament - Magic Sensei Negima

Mahora Academy

Because the adaptation was poor, the Mahora Academy's Tournament is manga-only. Negima being shoe-horned into the harem role instead of getting to its battle shonen roots is part of why the series is almost unheard of these days.

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The tournament is supposed to be a significant part of the Mahora Academy's annual festival. While martial arts is constantly going in and out of style, thanks to Negi's popular students, this tournament winds up being a significant deal. Several women who hadn't been developed much up to that point got some stand-out scenes in this tournament, while Negi continued to progress as a mage and a martial artist.

5 Ura Butou Satsujin - Flame of Recca

Anime Flame Of Recca Punch

Flame of Recca's tournament arc felt like a rip-off of the Demon World at first, but the characters and world quickly differentiate themselves. The heroes are invited to the tournament just like Team Urameshi, but different dynamics are set up once they arrive. Each of the teams has to learn how to improve themselves and their powers for the final arc of the series. Recca learning how to master all of the fire dragons except the most powerful one is a journey, and his battle against his brother Kurei is one of the most intense sibling rivalry fights in the manga.

4 The Winter Cup - Vivid Strike

Vivid Strike

The Nanoha-verse should take time out to have more fun like this. It doesn't make much sense, but in the world of Vivid Strike, young women can draw on magical powers to age themselves up and participate in nearly magical MMA fights. What makes The Winter Cup stand out is how unpredictable it is. The unbeatable antagonist seems to be on a one-way course with the main character until she's introduced to a rival even she can't quite match up with.  The fight scenes in this series are short but impactful, and every transformation scene is always well-animated.

3 7th Gunpla World Tournament - Gundam Build Fighters

An image from Gundam Build Fighters.

The entire point of Gundam Build Fighters is a tournament arc. It starts with the main character Sei Iori having no confidence in his abilities to pilot a Gunpla figure. Eventually, Sei begins working with a new friend he's made named Reiji.

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With Reiji’s help, the two of them experience a meteoric rise into the top rankings and the world's best fighters. Build Fighters has some of the most impressive battles in the series, even if the story itself isn’t all that deep in character development and the constant clash over ideologies like in the standard Gundam series.

2 Three Kings Tournament - Yu Yu Hakusho

Yusuke-vs-Yomi

Yu Yu Hakusho has another tournament after having one that was arguably the most significant tournament arc of all time. But this time, everything takes place in the world of Yusuke’s ancestor Raizen. However, what made this tournament stand out is that despite having Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama participate, all of them lost. Not a single one proved strong enough to make it to the finals, something almost unheard of in most shonen anime series.

1 Universe 6 vs. Universe 7 - Dragon Ball Super

Vegeta trains Super Saiyan Cabba in Dragon Ball Super

When people think of a Dragon Ball tournament, generally, it's either the World Martial Arts tournaments or, more recently, the Tournament of Power. But Universe 6 vs. Universe 7 deserves a lot of love, mainly for introducing a new Saiyan race, and the best boy is Cabba, who gets to train under Vegeta. There’s also Hit, which is sufficient for people who like overpowered characters that can stop time on a whim. There’s a lot of fun to be had in this arc, and it expands the universe in a way the manga hasn’t yet.

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