I love action shows. Everytime I see a well choreographed action scene, it takes me back to the time when I was reenacting Kamehameha’s in my garden or shooting friends with water pistols. There’s just something about the flow of a well-animated (or in the case of manga, well-drawn)action scene that seems amazing to me. Though I do appreciate slice-of-life, romance and drama, the genre that holds the most appeal for me at the moment is shounen, since most anime and manga in that genre have great action sequences.
For instance, I’m reading Bleach, One Piece, Naruto, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Fairy Tail, Full Metal Alchemist, Mixim, Deadman Wonderland, Claymore etc – all of which have beings with superpowers able to pull off devastating special moves. And for all their flaws (outside of One Piece which HAS NO FLAWS. AT ALL) I still enjoy them due to badassery and climactic double-page attacks. Another example is Shin Angyo Onshi, my favourite manga, which contains some of the best action scenes I’ve ever seen, complete with climactic finishes and all.
Whenever I come across a series with a lack of action, it has to prove itself in other ways to be interesting enough for me. Actually, it’s more that that series is at a slight disadvantage in my mind. For example, when I look at a preview for the upcoming season, shows like Kurokami and World Destruction get me the most excited since I always need my crazy fight fix each season. It’s a shame when shows such as those fail to live up to expectations, especially in the case of Kurokami. It’s like being given the most delicious form of your favourite food and then getting something half the quality given to you each week afterwards. However, most of the time, series rise up and above this since I’m interested in most aspects of anime and manga. Kaiba has its eccentric art and surrealness and Natsume Yuujinchou has its excellent music and heartwarming characters – and they’re another two of my favourite series. But nevertheless, HIGH SPEED ACTION is King. I think this lies mostly in my appreciation for anime as a visual medium. The better it looks, moves and flows, the more it appeals to me. With shows such as Kaiba or Natsume, there are beautiful moments, but they pale in comparison to something as stunning as the fight in Kurokami’s first episode.
Xam’d contained a smattering of great scenes from start to finish, but that was one of my problems with it – there was only a smattering. I’m kind of ADD about this: when things don’t move I start to lose interest unless the show is engaging enough. Xam’d was a great show, no doubt, but occasionally the pacing was so slow I was bored by what was going on. From the outset, I was expecting there to be scenes like the fights in the first and last episode every 3 episodes or so, so when that didn’t happen I was kind of disappointed. But when it was done well, it was done well and quality > quantity when it comes to this type of thing.
Bad/boring/confusing fights are just a pain to watch. Without proper direction, action scenes just won’t work and that can really detract form my enjoyment of the series. I managed to get through 4 episodes of Soul Taker before giving up on it completely since it was extremely boring and I could barely understand what was going on when the time for a battle rolled around. When I looked up the director, it turned out to be Wackiyuki Shinbo . On this occasion, Shinbo’s style just didn’t meld well with the sequences (though to be honest, I’m not sure how large a part he had in the grand scheme of things – who plays a larger role in directing the action scenes, the director or the animation director?). In fact, I think the only reason I stuck with it for 4 episodes is because I was waiting to see a really cool fight, but in the end it was just a waste of time. Converselym hust as bad action can detract from a good show (though I wouldn’t really call Soul Taker “good”) great action can make a bad series even more enjoyable. The show may be completely ridiculous, but if things are moving fast and there are objects blowing up and lasers firing everywhere, it’ll still be fun to watch (*cough*Code geass R2 *cough*).
I hereby dub thee: Full Metal GARchemist
Though action for the sake of action isn’t unwelcome, what’s an improvement is when the scenes are backed up by other positive aspects of the show. When you’ve got a protagonist you want to root for nothing gets the blood pumping like seeing a climactic battle to determine the fates of two opposing sides. The more there is at risk and the more invested you are in the character/plot, the more tension and excitement there is in the fight. For instance, the climax of episode 19 of Full Metal Alchemist was even more kick ass to me since everything leading up to it was so well-paced and emotional. Seeing Roy come back at just the right time heightened my enjoyment of the finish/ With that having been said, here’s One Piece!
My love of action scenes, as well as my expectations, has grown with the more anime I watch. Whereas in my early days I thought Dragonball Z was THE BES THING OF ALL TIME, now I see it as simply a gateway series for other great action series, such as Bleach (in it’s prime) and Bleach in turn led me to FMA and so on. I’m not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. The higher my expectations, the more I alienate shows because they’re just not up to a certain standard. But hey, the eyes want what they wants.
And so we meander to the end of this aimless post with a question: which provides the better action scene, manga or anime? I personally prefer manga, since the art of some mangaka are just amazing to look at: visceral and violent but always detailed and exciting. A lot of the time, the detail which makes the art so amazing is lost in the transition to anime, but this is replaced with sound and, you know, moving pictures. I return again to episode 19 of Full Metal Alchemist, which managed to make the battle look even more amazing than it did in the manga.
I don’t have much of a conclusion to this except I think I’ll always love action scenes just like I’ll always hold a place in my heart for Sonic the Hedgehog. No matter how far he’s fallen. And continues to fall. And will fall.
Action scenes?
Cowboy Bebop has quite a few very good fist fights in the TV episodes, and awesome ones in the movie. The gunfights are very good in general.
Sword of the Stranger has the best animated swordfights. More on swordfights in anime: [->]
I haven’t read SAO, but I have it. The panel you showed however, doesn’t match the awesomeness in Vagabond. Shigurui manga probably has the most brutal graphic action.
End of Evangelion‘s Unit 02 vs Units 5+ is utterly gorgeous action.
Since we’re in mecha territory, you gotta love dogfights. Dogfights is where Macross reigns supreme. Macross Plus (most accessibly short 4 ep OVA), Macross Zero (awesome CG, 5 ep OVA), and Macross Frontier (25 ep TV Series) which has lots and lots of good action direction, and adds close/h2h combat into dogfight dynamics.
For overall space battle + dogfight extravaganza, 1984’s Macross: Do You Remember Love? is a top-tier spectacle that stands unique in all anime (Movie).
I really want to remember how great Cowboy bebop was, but I just can’t!
Sword of the Stranger made me HNGHHHHH.
Too many manga on my mental to-read list. Too many. RE: Shin Angyo Onshi not being awesome: How’s this for awesome (spoilers!) https://omisyth.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/munsu.jpg
“Erste.”
I never got past the first ep of Macross Zero. Just never got roud to it. Loved the last ep of Macross Frontier set to the Lion remix.
OLD MOVIE MUST IGNORE. Nah, I will check it out. Eventually. Somehow.
Not bad at all, just not at the level of Vagabond, as for gore Shigurui is just on a different planet.
I will read SAO though, after my binge on heartbreak and bleakness ends.
Having just finished rewatching Read or Die that’s what immediately comes to mind when I think of awesome and well animated action scenes.
It’s fascinating how in anime a particularly awesomely choreographed fight sequence can stick in your mind just as well as a memorable one-liner or catchphrase. For some reason traditional film fight choreography, at least for me, doesn’t have that same kind of memorable nature that makes you want to go back and watch the fight or action scene over and over.
And while I love a beautifully drawn manga action sequences as much as the next guy, ultimately I much prefer the fluidness and dynamism that animation can provide.
Though I’ve only seen a few martial arts movies, some of them stick out in my mind more than most anime scenes. Such as the Matrix (lol “martial arts movie” and Ong Bak. Everytime I think of things like this it makes me want to take up a martial art. And I will. Eventually!
There’s also the fact anime’s much more vivd and imaginative than most down-to-earth action movies. Perhaps because it’s brighter it’s burned into your retinas more :P?
While I do love good action, I absolutely can’t stand ‘reading’ an action scene in a manga. Off the top of my head, Claymore looks absolutely amazing when it’s action scenes are shooting across the screen in the anime but the manga is just a mess. I can’t understand how people enjoy reading bang and swish type material.
yeah just my two cents
It took me a while but after I got used to actually reading manga, “filling in the blanks” of the motions in each panel just makes everything flow the way I want. Movements and sound effects are all custom to my liking. It’s almost like since reading a manga is a more interactive process than watching an anime, and as such it feels more fulfilling.
Also, CLAYMORE IS AWESOME :3
Each to his own I suppose. I’ve always preffered anime to manga, especially for action series. I must lack the mental capacity to fill in the gaps I suppose.
As for Claymore, I’ve only started it. I bought the first 3 manga since they were going cheap but very quickly decided I would prefer to watch the anime. It’s being made by Madhouse FFS, how could you not want to watch that!
Omg, just watch episode one of Cowboy Bebop to see how awesome it’s action is. As for the One Piece scene you picked, yea it’s one of the best. I also felt that the subber added to its awesomeness with the Gattling part. Another thing I love about One Piece is when there is a still shot of all of the crew determined to kick some a$$.
I’ve already seen Bebop, but I just can’t remember it. I was young and foolish.
One Piece is full of BURNING PASSION AND INDOMNITABLE WILL.
“Whereas in my early days I thought Dragonball Z was THE BES THING OF ALL TIME, now I see it as simply a gateway series for other great action series, such as Bleach (in it’s prime)”
This is literally the exact same thing with me….i think…..I watch DBZ and thought it was the best, and the second anime I watched, Bleach, made me think, “Hmm, maybe there are other, better shows out there?”
Other then that, I thought Kurokami was pretty good action wise (although there were a few boring parts that i thought were a bit disengaging, and I never read the manga). I love Gantz as far as manga go. It kicks ass.
One show that really let me down was Sengoku Basara (which I still haven’t finished). It started off so strong and then dive-bombed (I felt). I mention this because it was the last action anime I watched.
Sengoku Basara kicked ass most of the way through, though it kind of dragged at times. It’s manly speeches and absurdity made up for those moments though.
“(outside of One Piece which HAS NO FLAWS. AT ALL)”
Well said.
*brofist*
Scamp: Madhouse made crap out of Claymore with respect to the last few episodes. Filling in the ‘blanks’ is paltry payment for Yagi Norihiro’s infinitely superior plot. (Not to mention the OMFG detail he painstakingly puts into every panel!) But you’re right, to each his own :]
I think this post made me realize that I like action scenes even though I don’t particularly like shounen anime. I don’t think I can go back to the long shounen and seinen with typical plots that I used to like before, but looking back on it, I still have really fond memories from battles like Ichigo vs Byakuya, Rock Lee vs Gaara, and Kenshin vs That Smiling Kid Whose Name I Forgot – and I don’t think that enjoyment is purely based on the fact that those were some of my first anime. I know I really enjoyed the action scenes in Kara no Kyoukai 6, so maybe I should check out some recent short seinen to see if I’ve been missing anything.
I had to go and find the Ichigo v Byakuya fight and watch it again. Then I went and got the manga version. Now I rewatch/reread it every couple of weeks. I be action lover.
dude i saw ur top ten anime weapon and all the one i new i agreed with. reading this it like wow this dude is awesome and i love action anime and mangas and manga r better to me cause im a drawer and seeing the so cool art work it like wow. Now it looks like u no a lot of great animes and mangas and games can u give me some of Ur favorites so i can check them out. and d gray man manga is wayyy better then the anime and so is souleaters and they r longer and full of more cool action scenes. And dbz who did not love dbz it a clasic.
Birdy the Mighty Decode.
The animation is amazing, and when you put amazing animation and high speed fighting sequences, you get bad assery.
WATCH. IT.
I totally get what you’re saying, great post.