Though we are kicking off this list with one of the most polarizing anime titles of all time, please allow us to state our case. While a concept of a martial arts high school may be ridiculous and not all that original, this is one of the few qualities that this series gets right. While it includes elements of early 90s delinquent titles akin to Shounan Junai Gumi, this anime teaches viewers and its cast that there is always stronger than them and a martial artist isn’t always going to be at the top of the food chain. At certain times, this trope is a means to put a practitioner in their place, in other instances, it is used as a means of motivation to rise above it.

Either way, martial arts isn’t a journey that begins or ends in high school, but a practice one dedicates their life to. For some people, that idea of obtaining perfection is living a peaceful life, or for the case of Tenjou Tenge, kicking ass and taking names, but even that has no end. While some martial arts may teach its students to avoid confrontation, there are instances where you have no choice and when you do, you better be prepared and Tenjou Tenge as a martial arts anime does a great job of portraying that.

While this is a carryover from our Top 10 Fighting Anime, Dragon Ball Super has always embraced the martial arts spirit. While Goku and Vegeta are competitive by their Saiyan nature, they always seek to improve themselves for themselves and their rivalry. In this series, they get their ultimate trainer in Whis, the strongest being of their universe. In this franchise, it doesn’t matter if there is a galactic threat that needs to be stopped or a tournament to win. Goku, Vegeta, and most of the cast are always training to keep themselves in shape in their lifelong journeys to further improve themselves.

When Goku faces an opponent, while saving the universe is an effect of his victories, his primary motivation is to test himself and have fun. The fact that Goku sticks to his principles in this matter is what makes this anime appealing beyond its explosive action. He doesn’t care about fame or glory, he finds exchanging blows against a high-level opponent thrilling and that’s what makes him feel truly alive. And the fact he never uses his skills for monetary pursuits when he easily can just show how his training and dedication keep him humble.

In this modern remake of this classic tale of samurai masculinity, Kenshiro does everything possible to survive a post-apocalyptic lawless world. Putting aside all of the exploding bodies caused by Kenshiro’s pressure point techniques, Hokuto no Ken does an excellent job of displaying what the martial arts is also about, protecting the weak. Though Kenshiro is driven by his own personal goals to reunite with Yuria, his true love, he is always there to protect the innocent. When he can’t, he is not afraid to shed some man tears to reflect his on his failures.

His brother, Raoh, represents a different side to the coin of a martial artist’s journey. As a conqueror, he believes in the Darwinian model of survival of the fittest and to a certain extent, he is by no means wrong. He never maliciously slaughters innocent people, and he just wants to prove his strength and that he’s the man. Martial arts to some extent is about proving your own skills to yourself, and Raoh exhibits a lot of that in his rivalry with Kenshiro. Upon losing to Kenshiro, Raoh acknowledges Ken as the true successor to Hokuto Shinken and as his brother, rises to die on his feet like a true martial artist by proclaiming he has no regrets and faces toward the sky.

While a large majority of Rumiko Takahashi’s titles are romantic comedies, Ranma ½ spices it up by adding in some Kung Fu Fighting. Ranma gives us the tale of how many of its cast members resolve their problems through martial arts. Just like how Mr. Miyagi can make anything into martial arts, so can Ranma ½. Though Ranma largely features traditional martial arts such as Karate, Kung Fu, and Kendo, the series goes to certain extremes by introducing rhythmic gymnastics as a martial art. Considering the agility and coordination necessary, making it a martial art is only natural.

Motivated by their rivalry, Ranma and Ryoga always work hard to find ways to improve themselves so they can defeat one another. Ranma is also motivated to prove his masculinity so he always works hard to train himself. As Ranma progresses as a martial artist, he shows discipline when he applies himself to learning new techniques, a necessary quality for dedicated martial artists. Though Ranma at times has an ego in contradiction to most martial arts teachings, considering the lineage or his instructors from his deadbeat father to his father’s panty thieving master, you can’t blame him. In the end, this anime shows that the journey of martial arts is a lifelong one where you can always improve yourself physically and spiritually.

While it is natural for audiences to not think of boxing as a martial art primarily due to their exclusive exposure to it as a sport, Hajime no Ippo does an excellent job of showing how boxing is a martial art on the same level as Karate and Judo. As for what also contributes to the mainstream impression that boxing isn’t a martial art, it could be that when many real-life boxers today have a fight scheduled, they train for some six weeks, make weight, fight, take a few months off and party, and repeat. Heck, some fighters like Ricky Hatton and Jake LaMotta had reputations for putting on weight in their off time, which is probably why some people don’t take boxing seriously as a martial art as well. Ippo and his gym mates show that is not the case as they are always training whether they have a fight or not.

As for Ippo and his coach Kamogawa, they share a relationship that resembles Daniel and Mr. Miyagi’s from the original Karate Kid movies (through Kamogawa has a lot of Mick’s gruffness from the Rocky movies). Kamogawa finds unorthodox and yet effective means to train Ippo and it leads them to victory. After Ippo finishes a fight, he doesn’t take a vacation or bloat up, he’s back in the gym the following Monday. Even when Ippo isn’t in the gym, he is always finding ways to stay in fighting shape between bouts. When he’s at home, he’s helping his family’s fishing business by carrying loads of luggage.

If anything, his assistance with his family business (along with his genetics) built the foundation for his boxing style. Not only did it build his strength, but his balance and coordination as well. If he’s not helping out at the family business, expect him to go out for a run with a few moments of shadow boxing in-between. The fact that he stays dedicated to his craft 24/7 for his own personal being shows that he is as much of a pure martial artist as Goku and GSP.

In this TV adaptation of the hit video game, Ken and Ryu are portrayed as teenage black belts but their world comes crumbling down when Guile makes easy work of them thanks to his superior experiences. Taking inspiration from their defeats, they go on a journey to test themselves. If martial arts is about anything, it is about controlling your ego and through the first few episodes, it certainly hit them like a bag of bricks. Martial arts teaches you how to deal with losing, and Ken and Ryu are great examples of this philosophy that applies in all parts of life.

Instead of giving up, Ken and Ryu see this as an opportunity to start from scratch and see the world. If anyone with martial arts experience knows, getting a black belt is not an end, but only the beginning. The learning never ends because martial arts evolve and change over time. In relation to their defeat to Guile, they were limited to just their training and competition experiences, and like when Bruce Lee faced a challenger in the 1960s, they learned that by staying limited to their style and routine, it can create weakness and limitations in an actual confrontation. That is what Ken and Ryu ultimately learn on this journey as they also take down crime syndicates and terrorist organizations around the world.

To put Baki in a nutshell, it’s practically Bloodsport, Enter the Dragon, and the old school UFC on every legal and illegal PED and product you can get off the shelves of a GNC supplement store put together times over 9000! Considering the original manga debuted a couple of years before the UFC, Pancrase, or any mainstream MMA organization, its presentation of the sport is undeniably outdated but still exciting. While this anime is full of cast members who are evil and strong in the martial arts, they are not motivated by monetary gain or fame.

Yujiro, Baki’s father, is without a doubt the strongest man in this series and he once broke into the White House by single-handedly taking out the Secret Service just to prove he could. Despite how twisted Yujiro is, his martial arts principles only drive him to seek strong opponents and nothing more, even if it means his own son.

In addition to characters who don’t use their skills for such grand ambitions because traditional teachings won’t allow it, Baki excellently demonstrates numerous styles of martial arts and characters based on actual martial artists. There are characters that are based on Kyokushin founder, Mas Oyama, a Russian Sambo practitioner based on former UFC tournament champion, Oleg Taktarov, and a pro wrestler who is inspired by Japanese wrestling legend, Antonio Inoki. Through Karate, audiences learn about how power and accurate its strikes are when applied properly. While professional wrestling is entertainment, through this manga, the Japanese style can educate audiences that the catch style of submission wrestling is just as deadly as the holds popularized through Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

After being bullied for most of his life, Kenichi Shirahama finds the dojo to make him a man, Ryozanpaku, home to masters of various martial arts. At Ryozanpaku, Kenichi not only learns Karate, he also learns a good number of other martial arts for his self-improvement both physically and emotionally. Through this anime, fans can learn how martial arts differ between competition and the street. In competition, you have rules based on a martial art. In Judo, you can’t strike and in Karate, you can’t grapple. Whenever a certain martial artist of a particular style challenges Kenichi to a street fight, thanks to his cross-training for martial arts that are meant for self-defense as opposed to competition, he can exploit those weaknesses.

In the first fight he wins, he defeats a striker by countering it with throws/takedowns, which was highly emphasized in the original UFC events. In another fight, he defeats a boxer by using leg kicks from his Muay Thai training. As he progresses in his training, so does his self-esteem and a lot of martial arts schools promote that. And because Kenichi excellently portrays what many schools try to teach, it is a worthy addition to this list.

Just like how we have an anime about boxing, old school mixed martial arts, and Karate, Yawara is an anime about Judo, and how it ties into the 1992 Olympics, the first time it had women’s Judo. Due to its domestic popularity, Ryoko Tani, a multi-time Judo medalist who was popular at the time, was given the nickname Yawara-chan during its broadcast. The series is very straight to the point on what Judo is about both as a competitive sport and as a way of life. Her father was obsessed to the point that he has been absent for most of her life due to his training journeys and her paternal grandfather, a 7th-degree black belt is passing on his passion to her and hopes to make her a gold medalist.

Judo is excellently represented in this anime for every reason imaginable and does not try to over exaggerate the sport. It educates the viewers about the techniques (the terminology is exclusively Japanese oriented, and many international schools still use original Japanese words for techniques, positions, submissions, etc.), and the rules as a sport. It goes into every last detail with how you grip the opponent’s gi, how you plant your feet, elevate your hip, etc. At times, it also demonstrates how Yamara can counter moments where she is about to be pinned and turn it in her favor.

In addition to the throws, you also learn about the submissions such as the Juji Gatame, or Arm Bar, which was often used by UFC Women’s champion, 2004 bronze medalist and present WWE wrestler, Ronda Rousey. In addition to the competition, it shows how Judo, or martial arts for that matter, is ultimately a religious practice.

Coming in at number one is Karate Baka Ichidai, an anime based on the life of Kyokushin founder, Mas Oyama, who is represented as Ken Asuka in this anime. Like the real-life Oyama, Asuka started his training during childhood and upon his discharge at the end of World War II, he tries to find a new life through Karate through good and bad means. After accidentally killing a man who had a family, he lives as a hermit for a few years and dedicates his training and studies to Miyamoto Musashi’s writings.

After he returns to the real world, he goes around Japan and the world to demonstrate Karate and slowly gains a following. The anime goes as far as to portray how he fought a bull and chopped its horn off on national TV. Some of his exploits also introduce him to some real-life wrestlers and Judo practitioners such as Great Togo, Rikidozan, and Masahiko Kimura.

Karate Baka Ichidai shows that Karate can be for fighting and competition but ultimately demonstrates it as a means of self-improvement and as a culture. Training Karate not only helps people physically but mentally and spiritually as well. Asuka will face failure in every way you can think of, but by learning from failure and always believing, all things are possible. Beyond the fighting, the anime at times shows actual live action clips of techniques Asuka demonstrates in the anime such as his punches, kicks, and board (and beer bottle) breaking, and there are instances where the anime explains a technique whether it would be a chop or kick.