There’s no such thing as a big tournament arc in anime. The concept dates back to the ’80s, and it’s been around for so long for a reason: tournaments introduce tons of new characters and help fans easily understand character motivations and fighting styles. For an action series, there are few better ways to show character growth externally and sometimes,internally. Yet while there are many great tournaments, not all of them excel in the actual choreography portion, focusing on the story above all else. While many anime rely on complex martial arts powers, good choreography is not just about hand-to-hand combat, but rather the flow of fighting and the creativity present in each battle. Truly Great Tournaments feature both solid storytelling and incredible choreography.
Dragon Ball Cell games feature some of the best combat ever
The Cell Games are one of the few tournaments Dragon Ball Z truly disturbed, and it’s simultaneously one of the best arcs of the series. After Cell achieves his perfect form, he challenges all of humanity to see who might actually be able to defeat him, and if he wins, he blows up the Earth. Aside from the ridiculousness of the premise, it certainly offers high enough stakes to entice any viewer to buy into it.
Sure, the Cell Games aren’t very long, but this tournament represents the pinnacle of Dragon Ball Z choreography. Goku vs. Perfect Cell is easily one of the best fights in anime history, with the two choosing to largely engage in hand-to-hand combat for the majority of the battle. The only thing holding Cell Games back is that it’s essentially just a handful of battles compared to better tournaments.
Vivid Strike Winter Cup Tournament Proves Magical Girls Can Fight
Most anime fans only recognize Sharp strike from this bullying scene where a girl mercilessly beats three of her bullies. What they don’t know is that the series was actually a spin-off of a very popular magical girl series from the 2000s, Mahou Shoujo Lyric Nanoha. In this side story, magical girls use their powers to transform into adults and compete in mixed martial arts tournaments. Surprisingly, this massive genre shift worked well.
The Winter Cup tournament features many major figures from Nanoha Vividwhere they charge into intense battles with their pride on the line. Even though no one’s life is in danger, watching the intense training the characters go through for each match makes the point that the fights are important, and Seven Arcs makes each battle feel both tactical and hard-hitting. Sharp strike even throws a hilarious curveball at the fans with the inevitable tournament winner.
The Flame of Recca tournament copied the best parts of the Dark tournament
The second major arc of Flame of Recca is the Ura Batou Satsujin, a massive tournament filled with talented martial artists wielding powerful ninja weapons known as Madougu. Just one look at the tournament and it will remind you Yu Yu Hakusho‘s Dark Tournament, but since the Dark Tournament is one of the biggest tournaments of all time, that’s not a bad thing. Similar to the Dark Tournament, most “training” for Flame of ReccaThe Ura Batou Satsujin tournament takes place in combat, with the protagonists becoming more and more proficient with their weapons throughout the series.
Since this tournament features as many martial arts as weapons, the fights are more varied than in lesser anime tournaments. Some battles may feature a Buddhist monk attempting to teach the protagonist how to become a demon, while others involve children with puzzle-based weapons that can change shape. Either way, fans of shonen anime will find this a great tournament, especially if they like anime from the golden age of anime (the 90s).
Gun Gale Online mixes gunfire with anime tournament madness
At the end of the day, awesome gun choreography is still choreography, and that’s exactly what made fans so enamored with gun-fu in the 2000s. With that in mind, it’s hard to cut corners Gun Gale OnlineBattle Royale tournaments. Frequently held Squad Jams transform into a free-for-all that’s all about the last team standing, allowing dozens of players to battle for supremacy.
The second Squad Jam in particular was at its peak, delivering some of the best fight scenes ever. Sword Art Online history. The series’ main rival, Pitohui, is a complete psychopath in this tournament, making every fight featuring her a violent work of art. Meanwhile, LLENN is adorable, but her speed and tactical approach to combat make each of her battles entertaining. There’s a reason why Gun Gale Online remains one of the best seasons of Sword Art Online.
Gundam’s Gunpla Battle Japan Tournament Redefines Teamwork
Once it starts, Try Gundam Build Fighters It’s a long tournament to see who will become the winner of the Gunpla Battle Japan tournament. Unlike the original series, the entire tournament in Try Gundam Build Fighters focuses on 3v3 battles where teamwork becomes essential. It offers a different level of strategy than most tournaments, since winning often comes down to having better chemistry.
Of course, Try Gundam Build Fighters it’s not strictly martial arts like many tournaments… but that doesn’t mean hand-to-hand combat isn’t used. The protagonist, Sekai Kamiki, relies heavily on a melee martial art known as Jigen Hao Ryu, which comes directly from G GundamThis is Domon Kasshu. When the series is at its best, it’s often with characters who will directly encounter Sekai’s martial arts skills and fight hand-to-hand with him, resulting in some of the most high-profile battles in history. Gundam history.
Gundam combat offers the best elements of Shonen battles… with giant robots
Of course, when even the most seasoned anime fans think of giant robots, they don’t tend to think of tournaments or grand fight scene choreography. Yet this is what makes G Gundam one of the best mecha anime of all time. A massive departure from the Universal Century era of Gundam, G GundamThe conflict centers around a massive tournament known as Gundam Fight.
In this world, Gundam pilots are representatives of other countries and engage in close combat to decide who is the best. With this setup, viewers have access to a variety of fighting styles from around the world – complete with giant robots. It’s no surprise that such a cool concept became one of the most popular anime of the early 2000s.
Tournament of Power is an expanded Battle Royale showcase
Dragon Ball SuperThe Tournament of Power was certainly a unique idea for a tournament. Rather than doing multiple rounds, it’s just one long battle royale where players are eliminated via ringout alone. This could be Dragon Ball Super best arc, and it’s definitely the most ridiculous in the series.
While Dragon Ball Z is best known for its power wrestling with beams rather than its fights, the Tournament of Power ups is a game for moments of pretty hyped choreography. One of the highlights in the middle, with Gohan teaming up with Frieza to stop the super-speedster Dyspo from overwhelming them, leading to one of the sickest battles for Gohan in Great. Meanwhile, the ending where everyone is against Jiren is so hyped that we’re still talking about it. Dragon Ball fans almost a decade later.
Naruto peaked early with the Chunin Exams
There is a reason why, for many Naruto fans, the Chunin Exams are one of the best sequences remembered from the series. Naruto had spent dozens of episodes emphasizing the importance of rising through the ranks in the ninja world, and then showed fans the Chunin Exams, a way for protagonists to actually rise through the ranks. Although the exams were divided into several parts, it is obvious that the key section here was the tournament itself.
The Chuunin Exam offers a surprising amount of well-executed fight choreography despite all the very different fighters. Whether it’s genius Neji taking on his less talented cousin Hinata, or Rock Lee’s battle with Gaara after losing his weights. Even characters who weren’t known for fighting put on a decent show, like Sakura and Ino’s battle, which was just taijutsu.
Yu Yu Hakusho’s Iconic Dark Tournament Is One of Anime’s Best Sequences
More than 30 years later, Yu Yu Hakusho is still one of the best shonen anime of all time. A lot of this depends on how good Dark Tournament has been since its launch. Threatened by former tournament winner Toguro, Yusuke and his allies are forced to participate in the Tournament of Darkness or lose their lives. It’s a great setup reminiscent of classic martial arts films.
There are just too many great moments to remember when it comes to The Dark Tournament, because even at the gate there’s a classic fight like Yusuke and Chu’s Knife-Edge Deathmatch. There is no time for training here either; the audience simply watches as the protagonists learn to improve through successive matches and more powerful opponents. From a narrative point of view, it’s certainly the best tournament of all time, but it’s still nowhere near comparable to Dragon Ball.
The 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament is the best arc in the Dragon Ball tournament
Honestly, everything Dragon Ball World martial arts tournaments represent high-level choreography. The series has done a fantastic job of making each tournament distinct, considering so many Dragon Ball is built around multiple tournament arcs. However, the 22nd tournament offers more serious competitors than the 21st, and does not seem to be a foregone conclusion like the 23rd.
Dragon Ball truly represents a different kind of peak for the franchise, and many fans would be better off if they just watched the series. Ki blasts and special moves start to become more common with the 22nd tournament, but not so much that viewers are deprived of a lot of great martial arts goodness. Tien’s fights in particular are historic, whether it’s his fight against Goku’s former teacher, Master Roshi, or his fight against Goku himself.