Solo Leveling Has Great Fights, But These Anime Have Even Better Action

Solo Leveling Season 2 is undoubtedly one of the best anime released this year. In fact, Solo Leveling is one of those rare series that has been able to even reach audiences not used to watching anime.

Much of Solo Leveling‘s success is due to the high-quality animation of the series, delivering amazing action and battle scenes. But there are many other anime out there with action-packed moments as good as or even better than Solo Leveling. Let’s delve into some of them.

Demon Slayer

One of the Best of All Time

Demon Slayer is a phenomenon that will hardly be repeated in Japan in the next few years. Even though other series have managed to achieve a good level of success in the country, the Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle trilogy proves that none of them have come close to what the franchise became in Japan. The movie screening now in theaters around the world is a good example.

With more investment than anime typically has, Demon Slayer was able to stand out for its plot and great battles. Despite some limitations which even higher-budget shows face, the direction excels in delivering action-packed and emotionally charged scenes. It’s often considered one of the anime with the best fight scenes of all time.

Jujutsu Kaisen

A Dark Series with Lots of Action

Jujutsu Kaisen is one of the best shonen manga released in Shonen Jump in recent years. It stood out from other series in the magazine due to its darker tones. It was already trending with readers before the first season debuted a few years ago.

The anime has been able to bring Jujutsu Kaisen to another level, and the series featured great action and amazing battles, quickly becoming a worldwide hit from Season 1. While the manga is already over, the anime still has a lot of content to adapt, and the next seasons are likely to be even better.

Dragon Ball Super

Revisiting a Classic Shonen Series

Dragon Ball Z has great fights given what was possible to do in the 1980s and 1990s, but Dragon Ball Super was able to combine the classic Dragon Ball Z style with new technology, delivering great action scenes.

Thus, while Dragon Ball Super might keep a traditional approach most of the time, it shows some amazing battles with iconic moments, like Goku awakening Ultra Instinct.

Attack on Titan

One of the Most Controversial Anime of the 2010s

Attack on Titan is a series that achieved huge success, although its ending arc sparked controversy among fans. In any case, the series features thrilling combat scenes, be it the seasons produced by WIT Studio or the final season, produced by Studio MAPPA. Some examples include Historia vs. Rod Reiss and Levi vs. Zeke.

Fans of Solo Leveling would definitely love watching Attack on Titan if they have not done it yet, because the series have more similarities than it seems at first.

Hajime no Ippo

Great Boxing Fighting Scenes

Hajime no Ippo might not be as internationally popular as other series, but it features some pretty exciting fighting scenes. As this is a boxing anime, the fights don’t include superpowerful beings using an overpowered attack. The older Hajime no Ippo anime might feel stiff to some fans due to the limitations at the time, but more recent series feature better fighting scenes.

Bleach: A Thousand-Year Blood War

Bleach Unleashing All Its Potential

Bleach was one of the best shonen manga in Shonen Jump during the 2000s-2010s. The anime produced in the 2000s is also amazing, but it features many limitations that were typical of the technologies available at the time. Bleach: TYBW combines the best of both modern and classic animation techniques, taking the series to a whole new level. And with still one final season to come, it will be even more amazing.

One Piece

It’s Been Getting Even Better

The One Piece anime has been in production for more than 20 years, and for a long time the series wasn’t known by many international anime fans as an anime with good fights. This doesn’t mean that One Piece didn’t have good battles back then; in fact, the series always had good animation quality given the possibilities at the time.

But since One Piece has become even more popular globally in recent years, Toei Animation and other companies involved in the production have invested more in the animation, and fights are now better than ever. What drives One Piece apart from action series with a more traditional approach is that animators experiment a lot here to make battles more dynamic and scenes more creative. The battle in which Luffy first unlocks Gear 5 is a good example of this.

Precure Franchise

A Magical Girl Series Highly Influenced by “Power Rangers”

When we talk about anime with battle and action, few people might think about Precure (Pretty Cure). However, this magical girl anime franchise is heavily inspired by Sailor Moon and tokusatsu series like Super Sentai (perhaps best known as Power Rangers in some countries). Precure series usually blend fighting scenes with slice-of-life moments while advancing the plot. It’s one of the most successful franchises Toei Animation created, and the studio usually invests highly in every series.

A few years ago, when Dragon Ball Super was airing, some fans even joked that, despite everything, the Precure series seemed to have better fighting scenes than Super. Therefore, while some might find this an odd recommendation, Precure typically features great fights and action scenes, although some might not enjoy that the franchise usually follows the Power Ranger formula.