Favorite Anime

[Grave]

Teams, heroes, movies, it would probably be impossible for me to come up with a top 10 for all, since when it comes to teams there's almost always one person in the group that I just don't like (outside of the Bebop crew). I know that's kind of a lame reason, but that's just me.

Heroes , there aren't that many I care for (At least in shounen).  Outside of Spike, Alucard (I wouldn't exactly call those 2 heroes to begin with) and Kenshin, there really haven't been any heroes/main characters that I'd really consider to be a badass either (then again I'm a bit out of touch with recent anime), but when we say heroes, are we talking main character or just a general type of thing?

As for movies, I don't know if I can even come up with a top 5 since I haven't seen many.

01. Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal
02. Knockin on Heaven's Door
03. Ghost in the Shell
04. Ninja Scroll

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

While we're on the subject of top 10 lists, I thought I'd make a list of my top 10 favorite fights in manga/anime. First, though, I kind of need to defend why I think this is worthy enough of having a top 10 list to begin with. A lot of people have the misplaced notion that those traditional fights in battle shounen or shounen-like series are mindless time-wasters that are just there in place of plot. Personally, I say fuck that. BADLY done fights are mindless time-wasters, good fights in these types of series are some of the best moments around in either comics or animation, because when you get down to it, they bring everything to the table from mind-bending, clever, and highly technical strategies to tons of emotional weight in truly captivating and desperate situations. Those really cool action-scenes that you find in well-animated shows or movies that have a bunch of fancy punching and kicking are certainly cool, but those are the mindless fights. It does take a great deal of talent to write (and yes, I mean actually "write") a well done fight in a manga or anime and make it truly interesting to sit through, whether it only be a few minutes long or several episodes long. Yeah, there are moments where characters pause and think and such, but in a good fight, that's there to display the situation for what it is, and shows you the psyche of the people fighting during the actual fight, and how they plan plan to make it through their situation in one piece.

With that said, I want to honor the 10 best fights that I have ever seen in manga/anime:

10. Kurapika vs. Uvogin (Hunter X Hunter)



One of Togashi's many strengths as a writer is that he can make you give a shit about the fights in this series, and not just those of the main character, but in many cases his best stuff comes from supporting characters, because he is smart enough to use them at a time when he makes them feel as though they were the main characters of their own individual stories. What makes this fight great, though, is that it's a revenge fight, and not the satisfying kind, but the gritty kind that makes the character realize just how much they hate what they are doing in the name of revenge. This fight makes my list because in reality, it's really just a terrific character piece under the guise of a shounen fight. Kurapika is trying to take revenge on the Genei Ryodan for the massacre of his clan, and he ends up fighting one of its strongest members, Uvogin. Kurapika ends up piercing a chain into Uvogin's flesh and has it wrap around his heart by the end of their skirmish, clearly not wanting to resort to torture to get answers out of him (which downright disgusts Kurapika). He thus gives Uvogin and ultimatum to either rat out the abilities and whereabouts of the rest of his group, or die by having the pointed end of the chain pierced through his heart. He basically ends up telling Kurapika to go to hell and is immediately killed in the process, as promised, leaving Kurapika with blood on his hands....and face....and shirt....and with a dead corpse that he now has to bury. It's messy stuff, both visually and psychologically, but that's what makes it so great.

9. Monkey D. Luffy vs. Rob Lucci (One Piece)



This fight is on here because it manages to capture the culmination of everything that the Straw Hat Pirates had busted their ass for up to this point. You see, the World Government's secret organization called Cipher Pol 9 basically apprehended one of Luffy's crew, Nico Robin, and were ready to bring her to her execution as the last person alive to contain any forbidden knowledge of the Void Century in history. Naturally, Luffy and crew were pissed when they found this out, and despite Robin herself telling them to leave her be (in the interest of letting them stay alive), the Straw Hats essentially said fuck that and basically declared war on the World Government by burning down their flag at Enies Lobby, where Nico Robin was being held for her execution. They then proceeded to raise hell against the entire establishment, and each of them had tough fights with members of CP9, and at the center of all of this were the leaders of these two groups duking it out, with Luffy as the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates and Lucci as the leader of CP9. Of course, Lucci being the big bad villain had the upper hand for most of the fight, but underestimating Luffy turned out to be his greatest downfall as the battle ended with Lucci assaulting Luffy with a ridiculously intense attack and then turning his back on Luffy as he was stumbling. This was obviously a big mistake because Luffy did not fall down as Lucci had predicted, and now Lucci was too late to react to Luffy's last desperate barrage of attacks. It was a really climactic finale to pretty much the best fight that I've seen in this series, to date.

8. Yusuke Urameshi vs. Toguro (Yu Yu Hakusho)



This one is on here because it carries a lot of emotional weight to it. On the one hand, Yusuke wants to take revenge for Genkai's death, but when he can't produce results that satisfy Toguro, he tries to bring out Yusuke's true strength by killing Kuwabara, and in doing that, he royally pisses Yusuke off. The next scene with Yusuke is fantastic, in how he admits that he at one point admired and respected Toguro's strength, but then came to realize that it was really just Toguro's weakness as a human being that lead him to the point in life that he came to. Yusuke then proceeded to beat the shit out of Toguro and kill him with a final giant spirit gun. All in all, a nice, clean, happy ending, wouldn't you say?

7. Killua Zoldyck vs. An Entire Fucking Battalion Of Chimera Ant Soldiers (Hunter X Hunter)



Yes. Yes, he does actually fight tanks. He also even finds the time in the middle of all of this chaos to play a game of darts with some chimera ant soldiers....where he is the dart board (and yes, I mean that literally). A thing to note about this fight is that it's not just my favorite fight scene from Hunter X Hunter, it's my favorite sequence from the entire series, period. What makes it so great and intense is that despite Killua going all out against enemy after enemy, it's not just him being a bad-ass and taking down all of his opposition with ease. On the contrary, he is struggling to survive through most of this battle, and the whole thing is just him barely making it out of one skirmish alive and immediately finding himself engaged in another, whether he wants to or not. Also, just like the Kurapika vs. Uvogin fight, this fight is, more than anything, a great character piece for Killua in the guise of a fight. Are some of you guys starting to understand why I find this series so awesome, now?

6. Kenshin Himura vs. Seita Soujiro (Rurouni Kenshin)



First of all, I want to give an honorable mention to the Kenshin vs. Saito fight, which was nothing too special in the manga, but was WAY better in the anime thanks to stellar animation and direction. That said, Kenshin vs. Soujiro is one of my favorite fights in the series because it successfully combines both tension and emotional weight. I particularly like how this battle thematically ties in with Seita's past, and how it brings him to conflict with the twisted ideals that Shishio brought him up to believe in. This all culminates in one of the greatest climaxes of any fight that I have ever seen in any medium.

5. Goku, Gohan, Krillin, and Yajirobe vs. Vegeta (Dragon Ball)



Teamwork in Dragon Ball? Oh, my! But, yes, this fight was excellent just for that very reason. First of all, we have Goku going all-out right from the very beginning, and he manages to blow Vegeta away (once again, I mean this literally), but then Vegeta comes back as a giant ape and Goku is completely spent. Yeah, he'd be pretty fucked if he was alone in this fight by this point, wouldn't he? Of course, Gohan and Krillin come to the rescue. And good god, Krillin....he is USEFUL as fuck in this fight. Some might even argue that it was the last point in the entire series in which he was a useful member of the team (though, he also had some of his moments in the Namek saga, as well). And speaking of useful, even Yajirobe helps out, and actually manages to save Gohan's ass. Now, try and wrap your head around that. What I love so much about this fight is that EVERYONE in it was completely desperate, including Vegeta. The last few moments of it left all of the characters without any energy to do much of anything, and this lead to an iconic scene where Vegeta was literally crawling back to his space pod to escape when all of a sudden Krillin comes to stop him and is about to deliver a killing blow before Goku tells Krillin to spare his life. Classic stuff.

4. Kenshin, Sanosuke, Saito, and Aoshi vs. Shishio (Rurouni Kenshin)



This wasn't direct teamwork, but everyone played a part in this fight, and Shishio proved that he was a real bad-ass despite the fact that he would literally ignite into flames by overheating his body if he fought for more than 15 minutes at a time. This battle pulled out all of the stops, with Shishio being a complete bastard to the point of even driving a sword through his lover just to get at Kenshin. This was another desperate situation, and while it didn't have quite as much emotional weight to it as some of the other fights on this list, it did make every single moment of its duration so intense that you would be on the edge of your seat throughout the entire thing. Not a single moment was wasted, here.

3. Son Goku vs. Tenshinhan: 22nd Budokai Tenkaichi (Dragon Ball)



Hands down my favorite fight in the entire series. This fight had weight to it, and it had tons of great and memorable moments, but it also had something that no other fight on this list does. And that thing is comedy. Believe it or not, that really makes this fight stand out as one of my favorites, ever. The comedic parts don't take away from the serious elements of this fight at all, but they just work so damn well and really do a terrific job at both parodying the ridiculous nature of fights in most shounen series as well as self-parodying this series itself, in that regard. And, as an added bonus, it actually ended with the main character losing by just a hair, but both characters could easily walk away proud from this fight. I think the best way to sum up why this fight is so good in just one word would be to call it "fun." That seems like such a simple concept yet you'd be surprised at how many shounen mangaka don't ever seem to incorporate that element not only into their fights, but into their entire bodies of work, in general.

2. Team Urameshi vs. Team Masho (Yu Yu Hakusho)



Is this cheating? Because, if it is, then I say: fuck it! I don't even care. This, to me, is really more like one, big, desperate fight, rather than a series of fights. I say this because it all just connects together so well. You see, Team Masho's sponsor, Butajiri, happened to be a highly influential member of the Black Black Club, which basically ran the tournament committee behind the scenes. So, right after Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Genkai (under the disguise of the masked fighter) had fought a grueling battle against Team Ichigaki, they were immediately thrown into this next match without any time to prepare for it or to even recover from their wounds. This wasn't all, however, as Butajiri had another trick up his sleeve. He had the committee order Hiei and Genkai to be left out of the fight in order to receive medical attention; with these characters being two of the team's strongest members at the time, and with neither of them having received much damage at all. That left just three fighting members on Team Urameshi, including a mostly fit and fresh Kurama, a mildly injured Yusuke, and a heavily injured Kuwabara, against 5 fresh new faces in Team Masho. Kurama was the first up, and ended up fighting and defeating Gama, but not before Gama cursed him with his own blood, essentially immobilizing most of Kurama's limbs. However, Kurama still fought on regardless, and through insane strategy that actually worked, he managed to defeat the next opponent, Touya, as well, but not without sustaining heavy damage from the battle, and leaving himself unconscious. Because of that, Kurama was unable to leave the ring, and thus was still considered an active fighter for the next match, which then had Bakken beat the shit out of him to piss off Yusuke. Upon finally throwing Kurama out of the ring, Yusuke had his turn to fight and basically wreaked Bakken to avenge Kurama. He then had a fight with a member of team Masho who was surprisingly a lot like himself, Jin, and this proved to be the best skirmish in the entire team battle. Although it was Yusuke's win, the tournament committee declared it as a draw, counting on the fact that Team Urameshi had no members who could fight anymore. But, at the last minute Kuwabara stepped in, with injuries and all, and managed to take down the team's leader, Risho, for a major upset and amazing victory. This fight is just desperation from beginning to end, and it truly is my favorite fight in the series, and one of the best that I've ever seen in any manga or anime series. In fact, it was my favorite of all time, until....

1. Ippo Makanouchi vs. Takeshi Sendo: Japanese Featherweight Title Match (Hajime no Ippo)



....I saw this masterpiece. I mean, what better series to have the best fight that I've ever currently scene in a manga or anime than one that centers around the art of two guys punching the crap out of each other? So, here's a little story-line history for context. Ippo had fought Sendo nearly 2 years before this match (which was also a great fight) and managed to defeat Sendo, thus officially starting their rivalry. Also prior to this match, Ippo had his first shot at the title against the former champion, Eiji Date, but ended up losing it by being KO'ed in the 5th round, which was not only a loss for the title, but his first loss in an official match, ever, which left Ippo devastated. Right after this, Date retired the title and championship belt in order to pursue the world title. This left the title up for grabs for the next two biggest contenders after Ippo, Sendo and Vorg. Unfortunately for Vorg, he was Russian, and thus a foreigner to Japan, leaving the match up to a lot of bias from the referee. So, when neither him nor Sendo were able to knock each other out by the end of 8 rounds, the match came down to points. Up until the last minute of the match or so, Vorg had been ahead by a single point, but then he slipped of his own accord, which the referee falsely counted as a knockdown to deduct points from his score, having Sendo end up winning the match on points rather than a KO. Sendo was very unsatisfied with winning the title this way, and didn't truly feel like the champ, so he wanted to prove it to himself by fighting Ippo again and defeating him. Right there, you have a ton of weight from BOTH fighters going into this match, and of course only one can win. For Sendo, he doesn't want to lose against Ippo again, and for Ippo, he doesn't want to lose a match for the Featherweight Title again.

Now, with all of that build-up, it would be hard for any match to live up to expectations, but this one managed to surpass them. Prior to this match, Sendo told Ippo's trainer that the Dempsey Roll (Ippo's strongest move at the time) would not work against him. Within the first 14 seconds of this match, Ippo rushed Sendo, successfully initiated the Dempsey Roll on him, and scored a complete knockdown. And, right then and there, I knew this match would be the real deal. I mean, if the mangaka of this series was confident enough to have Ippo use his best attack right at the beginning of the match and still have enough left in the match to wow you after that point, then you know right from the get-go that every single second of this fight would be some of the most intense that the series could throw at you. Now, it's true that I haven't read any of the manga beyond what the anime has covered so far, and maybe there are even better fights coming up in the series, but as far as every piece of manga that I've read or anime that I've watched goes, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this fight is hands down the greatest that I have currently ever seen in any series, so far.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I think Killua is a hero, actually. I think he really proved it in Chimera Ant.

He's much more of a hero than Gon is, anyway.

Which I agree with, but seeing as how that point came really late in the series, I am conflicted as to whether to count him as a hero or not, since he was still a very morally gray character to me before that point.

If I were to rank Killua, though, he'd be in my top 3 for sure.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Interesting picks.

Though everyone knows my favorite is Yusuke Vs. The Doctor. Mind games, psychic powers, moral decisions, tight timeline, and the first big indication that what Genkai said about this whole Chapter Black incident being different is true.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Interesting picks.

Though everyone knows my favorite is Yusuke Vs. The Doctor. Mind games, psychic powers, moral decisions, tight timeline, and the first big indication that what Genkai said about this whole Chapter Black incident being different is true.

I was mainly going for fights of a physical nature for this list, though many of them have psychological elements to them. At any rate, that's why I didn't include the Yusuke vs. Doctor ordeal, since that was more of a mind-game than a fight. If I were talking about my top 10 general favorite scenes or moments from anime, however, that whole bit would definitely make my list.

[talonmalon333]

Does Light vs. L count as a fight?

[Foggle]

I love the Kiritsugu vs. Kotomine fight in the second to last episode of Fate/Zero.

[VLordGTZ]

Yeah, that fight was awesome!!!!!!!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Does Light vs. L count as a fight?

Read my previous post.

[VLordGTZ]

Here's my top 10 favorite anime/manga fights:
10. Lina vs Hell Master (Slayers NEXT)
9. Luffy vs Crocodile (One Piece)
8. Killua vs Rammot  (Hunter x Hunter)
7. Joseph vs Wham (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency)
6. Team Urameshi vs Team Toguro (Yu Yu Hakusho)
5. Kiritsugu vs Kotomine  (Fate/Zero)
4.  Kurapika vs Uvogin  (Hunter x Hunter)
3.  Goku vs King Piccolo (Dragon Ball)
2.  Yusuke vs Sensui  (Yu Yu Hakusho)
1.  Jotaro vs Dio (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders)

[talonmalon333]

Does Light vs. L count as a fight?

Read my previous post.

Sorry. I should've read this page instead of skimming it.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Special mention has to be made about the Ginyu Force fight. It would have been nice if Vegeta, Krillin, and Gohan could have held on a little longer, though. I'm pretty sure they could have taken the other two if they didn't go up against Recoome first.

[Grave]

Favorite fights, I was actually thinking about making a thread for this. This is a topic I can go on and on about for days. I'm not going to get into the deep aspects of a fight since none of that really matters to me. When it comes to fights, it's all about flash for me.

With that said, majority of the fights from Hajime no Ippo can easily make my entire top 10 because those fights were that good, not to mention they're well animated for looking so old, but I'm gonna stay away from that since if I put one fight I have to put most of them lol.

01. Kenshin vs Saito
02. Sword of the Stranger
03. Mugen and Jin vs Kariya
04. Byakuya vs Kouga (Sad when filler fights are better than actual canon fights)
05. Mustang vs Envy
06. Yusuke vs Yomi
07. Spike vs Vincent
08. Sasuke vs Itachi
09. Kenshin vs Sojiro
10. Kenshin+ vs Shishio

[Foggle]

Spike vs. Vincent is amazing.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Spike Vs. Mad Pierrot