Here is everything you need to know about the five best martial arts anime.
Air Master
Former gymnast Maki Aikawa has started to utilize her keen athleticism and acrobatics to her advantage. Known eventually as “Air Master” for her focus on flying-like gymnastic movements, Maki began thirsting for more combat thrills as she grew tired of Tokyo’s usual fighters.
Air Master revolves around Maki’s discovery of the Fukamichi Rankings. Despite the anime’s age and oftentimes shoddy animation, fans of martial arts will appreciate Air Master fight scenes for being elaborate and fluid in movement, directing the eyes exactly to what Maki and her opponents intend to do without the distractions of flashy effects.
Air Gear
The story stars Itsuki Minami, or Ikki, as he discovers the wonders of Air Gear but at the cost of being dragged into the world of underground fights as “Storm Riders.”
While combat in Air Gear feels more like sci-fi martial arts compared to traditional fight scenes. Being able to whip out punches and kicks in mid-air as Ikki and his rivals duke it out on rooftops remains breathtaking to see.
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is probably one of the most intense martial arts anime of all time. The story focuses on high school student Kenichi Shirahama and his quest to learn martial arts to stop being bullied.
Kenichi steadily improves his performance as a martial artist with each passing day. Fans of the series eventually see his improvement from a fledgling warrior into a master across the anime’s 50 episodes.
The God Of High School
The God Of High School has a world where it’s possible to become the best fighter across all of Korea’s high schools. Here, high school student Mori Jin gets entangled in the mysterious The God of High School tournament. He fights and eventually befriends Karate expert Daewi Han and epeeist prodigy Mira Yoo.
The God Of High School is quite an interesting take on the traditional tournament format present in other martial arts anime. And with each protagonist and opponent boasting a unique fighting style, there are more than enough matches to entertain fans of different martial arts.
Grappler Baki
In Grappler Baki fights are all-stakes, with no rules, and sometimes to the death. Keisuke Itagaki’s story has quite a lot of segments from which its many anime adaptations can indulge. Baki Hanma slowly grows out of traditional martial arts to learn ruthless techniques, all in the name of defeating – and even killing – his father.
After suffering a harsh defeat from his father, Baki has resorted to traveling the world and joining various underground tournaments to hone his skills. Unlike other martial arts anime, Grappler Baki just allures the action fan with its pure and brutal take on combat.
