Choreographing a fight scene takes some effort on the animators part to do especially when said show has high standards but sadly these ten fall flat. Today I present the Top 10 Worst Anime Fights
10. Needless - The Endless Fight Against the Girl Squad
Midway through the anime, Adam Blade and co. fight against the girl squad and a number of other entrants in what resembles a bedroom. For a series that prides itself on a lack of commonsense and manly testosterone, they waste most of it on this one very long fight that throws in too many lame twists.
9. Bleach - Everyone Against Aizen
Speaking of endless fights, this one takes the piss in terms of length. I've never been so desperate to see someone die and the way Bleach extends itself to make sure Ichigo has some hidden superpower drawn out of nowhere, pretty much killed off any interest I had in this series.
8. Yu-Gi-Oh - Any of Mai Valentine's Duels
Summed up with this.
Although the Abridged Series does a better job.
7. Naruto - Kabuto vs Sasuke
This isn't even a fight, it's just dialogue and flashbacks which are boring as hell. Naruto likes flashbacks a little too much and spoiled what was a very good story arc.
6. Tekken - All the Fights
It baffles me that an Anime film based on a fighting game has such lousy fight scenes. I don't even think the Street Fighter American Cartoon was this bad.
5. Digimon - WarGraymon vs MachineDramon
I'm not a fan of the one slash duel but I understand the significance in most cases, in Digimon considering that more effort was made on the other fight scenes and considering that MachineDramon was curb stomping most of the cast, it came as a disappointment when he was taken out by one slash.
4. Angelic Layer - Anyone of Hikaru's battles in the Layer
While I do enjoy Angelic Layer, I can't stand the logic behind this universe's rules. Hikaru was made a light weight type but seems to have no problem toppling foes twice her size in one hit and seems to take thousands of hits before seeing real damage. No one that small can take so much damage and defeat a foe in one hit!
3. Soul Eater - The Final Battle
Soul Eater is awesome but has one of the most Anti Climatic endings in Anime history when the final boss is defeated by "Being Brave"
2. Sailor Moon - Most Regular Episode Fights
The Monster of the Week shows up and is defeated by a bunch of special moves followed by a thrown tiara or an over the top Moon Scepter attack sequence, rinse and repeat next episode. This is why Pretty Cure is beating you! They actually fight!
1. Pokemon the 1st Movie - Mewtwo Army vs Human & Pokemon Army
When this kicks off, Mewtwo blocks the special moves of the Pokemon so it descends into a painful to watch fist fight/body fight/wing fight, whatever the Pokemon is, then we have the biggest hypocrisy in history when the human characters start saying that fighting is wrong, then Ash does the stupid thing by getting himself killed while the tears of the Pokemon bring him back to life. For a movie that sets itself up so well only for that to happen is just plain wrong.
I've been wanting to review this anime since I started it and now that it's done here is what I think of Pani Poni Dash.
We begin with ten year old Rebecca Miyamoto whose about to start a new job as a teacher at a Japanese High School, if you're wondering where you've heard that before, you may be thinking of Negima but Pani Poni Dash started in Manga format back in 2001, yes like Needless it's older than it looks.
On the way Rebecca is subjected to many strange things including a cat locked in a vending machine who hands out warm cans and claims he's god, Rebecca is also being spied on by Aliens who look like funky trash cans whose job in this series is just to spy on Becky and make snarky comments. Traveling with Becky is Mesousa, a horribly depressed bunny rabbit.
Now a game for anyone who fancies posting comments called trope bingo.
Episode one introduces most of the cast and by episode five we learn pretty much everyone so all you need to do is name ten character tropes without looking at TV Tropes and you win.
Back to the review, the students get very excited at the prospect of having a kid teacher so they mess around with her to the point that they scare her off behind the curtain. While there are plenty of characters in this series the ones were focusing on the most is Class 1C made of Rei, Himeko, Ichijo, Kurumi, Miyako & No.6 Sayaka.
From there we are subjected to the weird and wonderful the show has to offer in an Azumanga Daioh meets Excel Saga as painted by Roy Lichtenstein and that's where things start going off key.
A gag series needs to keep the jokes and references flowing constantly and can't afford to stop or repeat anything otherwise the characters will end up falling flat later on. Pani Poni Dash insists on going with running gags for 90% of it's content and suffers for it as a result.
Himeko's "Maho" (Ten times worst in the dub), Sayaka's "XY of the year", Kurumi's boring sulk routine, Miyako's shiny head and Mesousa's constant depression fall really flat when it's played out every episode with only Rei, Ichijo and Becky making an effort to diversify but even they fall flat sometimes when you fail to be surprised by them anymore (Which is strange considering how random Ichijo can be). This also extends to the rest of the cast apart from a few exceptions but still ultimately falling flat when they do their routine for the tenth time.
To put all that in more simple terms, it's like being told the same joke everyday, it gets less funny the more you hear it and by the end of it you just want to watch something else, this gets harder to watch when you're trying to catch references as well. I think ADV had Video notes but the version I got was a re-release so I've got the unfortunate task of re-watching the series to catch all the references.
You know what, I expected better from this series, especially when the art style is so attractive to watch; when you look back at it's senior shows Azumanga Daioh and Excel Saga you get the feeling that the creators watched both shows and then showed up at the meeting saying "combine these two!"
Final Verdict: I expected a lot more from this series considering how good the art style is; while it does keep you drawn in, the show can be tiring to watch and can easily become boring if watched constantly. I recommend for best viewing to watch one episode a week to stop it from becoming boring.
To move on from unique art styles and considering I covered a Samurai in the Walk of Fame, lets move on to Sword Styles. Rules this time that I'm sticking with just swords not other kinds of blades or light sabers.
Of course Erza earns extra points for style
10. Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin
It seems weird to begin with such a common looking style but considering the fact that he began as a cold hearted killer and became a no killing badass with a reverse bladed sword does turn a few heads especially from the likes of his enemies.
9. Yoh Asakura from Shaman King
At it's strongest, Yoh's oversoul can turn into a giant Samurai Sword which seems to have rocket boosters. It's so big that you can threaten giants with it.
8. InuYasha from InuYasha
Although InuYasha is better at the whole bigger is better argument with Tessaiga, a sword that would make the Bleach cast jealous, this sword comes in many textures including Dragon Scales and Diamond.
7. Mifune from Soul Eater
One of my personal favorite styles is Mifune's, using several swords stuck in the ground and a deep understanding for spacial awareness, Mifune can attack with all the swords in any battle situation.
6. Kuchiki Byakuya from Bleach
Choosing just one of the hundreds of sword styles in Bleach was a job in itself but Senbonzakura wins due to it's execution, style and the fact that you're essentially being killed by cherry blossom petals.
5. Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail
One look at the above picture tells you that "you are going to die" in a very awesome way. But out of all of Erza's armory the Heaven's Wheel wins hands down. Just look at it!
4. Roronoa Zoro from One Piece
For a show that redefines the term "Pirate" it's unusual that the only pirate looking character Zoro is not even a pirate to begin with. Come on, he wields three swords one of which is between his teeth and he certainly makes the most of it.
3. Saber from Fate/Stay Night
For a while we don't actually see her sword until she goes full power and uncovers Excalibur, that's not to say it's bad, to be able to fight with an invisible sword is very useful until you stab yourself with it by accident.
2. Masamune Date from Sengoku Basara
Three swords are cool, six swords made to look like claws is epic and Masamune makes a point of going all out against any opponent, who says the Sengoku period has to be accurate, why can't he ride a horse with motorcycle handle bars and tail pipes.
1. Killer Bee from Naruto
But I have to say, I still can't work out how Killer Bee's sword style works but after using it in the games and seeing it in action, it's easily the most impressive sword style I've ever seen. Pity his rapping needs work.
In the world of Anime it's easy to point out the anime art style which most of the time has just improved from the old days but not evolved but this list celebrates those who dared to be different and succeeded.
10. Hetalia Axis Powers
Style: Soft color tones that give the characters such a unique appearance & glow.
Although Hidekazu Himaruya's art style is better known in Hetalia, when used in a different story it's almost as if you're reading a painting.
9. Princess Mononoke
Style: Miyazaki Hand Drawn Style that rely on epic scenery.
There's a reason why Miyazaki is considered the Japanese Disney, all of his works rely on epic scenery which is entirely hand drawn and Mononoke was his crowning achievement of this.
8. Redline
Style: Strong color scheme similar to pop art relying on exaggerated animation.
7 years and 100,000 hand made drawings show just how much effort this film took to make.
7. Pani Poni Dash
Style: Strong colors used in free flowing animation to demonstrate surreal & exotic imagery.
I'm not sure if this was the first title to use this type of art but Pani Poni Dash is certainly the best at using it. At times the quality fluctuates but it works well in the shows favor in order to show off some of the more surreal moments of the series. Negima has used this style as well.
6. Puella Madoka Magica
Style: Nightmarish abstract art which draws the viewers attention to the story.
Madoka Magica was ground breaking for the Magical Girl Genre by taking the happy parts and redesigning it into a nightmare world. Each witch resembles an abstract painting showing just how corrupt the mind can get.
5. Shamanic Princess
Style: 90s style at it's highest quality.
The short series Shamanic Princess really wanted to stand out and the 90s Anime style was set on strong color and high quality scenery and animation. I'd like to see how much money this cost to animate.
4. Panty & Stocking
Style: Western Cartoon Style based heavily on Adult Swim and Modern Cartoon Network.
If Americans can copy us then we can copy them and the result is the anarchy that is Panty & Stocking, a show that makes Excel Saga look normal.
3. Soul Eater
Style: Tim Burton Art Style.
It's been said in pretty much every review for Soul Eater that if Tim Burton ever did an anime then it would look something like Soul Eater and who can blame them when the moon is smiling with such a sinister grin.
2. Hyakka Ryoran Samurai Girls
Style: Wood Block Art Style using ink blots & brush strokes for action sequences.
An old printing technique used in Japan & China which became in the art world the official style of Japanese art. Samurai Girls is drawn in such a way that the animation looks as if it takes place on a wood block with ink blots & brush strokes to create unique action sequences.
1. Tiger & Bunny
Style: Evolution of the detailed art style used in Akira mixed with CGI.
The animation team behind Tiger & Bunny really worked for this series, it is one of the best anime worlds I've ever seen and really mixes well with the CGI parts. If someone took the time to reboot Akira it would look something like this.
In the next 48 hours I shall be adding a new world which will run alongside Retro Retrospective.
This one will cover the hundreds of great anime characters we've seen over the years entitled "Anime Walk of Fame"
Stay tuned for more info.
