Forum - View topicTournament anime recommendations.
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7994 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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This is the new official recomendation thread for Tournament series and other shounen related stuff. If you're looking for suggestions for anime in this field try here. Also as is always the case with these, posting recomendations of your own is highly appreciated.
For Reference:
There's numerious examples out there but to start it off I'd recomend one of the greats like: Rurouni Kenshin-Revolving arround Kenshin, the wandering swordsman, he encounters Kouru and decides to stay and help her martial-arts dojo find new students. In the process she learns of Kenshin's bloody past as the infamous Batosai: The Man Slayer, and his personal mission to atone for thw wrongs he's committed. Back to Recomendations Home Last edited by Kruszer on Thu Dec 04, 2008 3:07 am; edited 2 times in total |
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Best Tournament-style Show ever made:
Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files Has a satisfying ending and no filler. Yes, it's freaking long, but aren't all shonen tournament-style shows? Anyway. A lot of great characters, fun and unique fights, gory glory, and hey: it's actually funny. The dub is funny anyway, I got bored with the Japanese. Usually shows like this have a bunch of corny jokes you just attempt to put up with, and there are a few in Hakusho, but for the most part it's a genuine gut-buster. Speaking as someone who tends to abhor shonen tournament style shows, I still recommend this one. Along with seconding Kenshin. Just skip a few of the later arcs where it gets really silly, and get to the last few episodes, that is. |
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Murasakisuishou
 Posts: 1469 Location: NE Ohio |
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Gonna have to take issue with you, JesuOtaku
 ; the ACTUAL best tournament-style show ever made:
Shaman King Unlike its manga counterpart (which even I, a huge fan, will admit tends to drag...a lot), this is a fast-paced, thoroughly enjoyable, adorable bundle of goofy shounen tournament fun. It doesn't take itself at all seriously, and as a plus it's pretty short for what it is (only 64 episodes, with just a handful that are genuinely filler). The story revolves around Yoh Asakura and his quest to become the titular Shaman King. After teaming up with a long-dead samurai ghost he is accepted into a tournament in which shamans from all over the world compete for the right to possess the king of spirits and become the savior of the world. Lots of unique characters with actual personality and not just identifying quirks, plus a great cast to match. A lot of people think the ending is sort of "...what?" but I personally thought it was great. The show itself is just so much fun that the ending doesn't really matter anyway. Highly recommended even if you're not usually into shounen - yes, there's the tournament structure, the power ups, and the general 'friendship conquers all!' theme saturating the thing, but it honestly watches like more of a parody of shounen tournament anime. It also has some of the most memorable next episode previews I've ever seen. |
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BES Null Core
 Posts: 604 Location: 六十周年的东方裁判 |
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Angelic Layer
A new line of toys has been introduced to the world. Using the latest advances in robotics and neural interface, players can purchase and customize dolls from the local department stores and pit them against each other in battle in specifically constructed rings. The world is thrilled, and large scale tournaments have been organized around these toys. The animation by Bones is gorgeous. Shortcuts are present and not difficult to find, but the excellent choreography of the fights makes them easy to ignore. The characters, based on designs by CLAMP, are pleasing to the eye, but the animators made the fortunate decision to fill them out. The wonderful music makes many of the fights seem like elaborate dances. This is something of a general spoiler--it indicates the distinctive mood of the story. spoiler[There is no vast conspiracy or ancient powers behind the game. It is simply a collection of people who love Angelic Layer who have come together to pit their skills as deuses against each other. Thus, the series does not possess a sense of urgency except during the fights--a nice break from the typical harried tournament formula.] |
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jetz
 Posts: 2148 Location: Manila, Philippines |
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Yakitate!! Japan
It's kinda different from all the other series mentioned so far because it has nothing to do with fighting. This anime only deals with making bread so it's pretty light hearted compared to the other tournament style series.
It's not as long as the other series mentioned (except maybe Angelic Layer) cause it only has 69 episodes (some episodes are an hour long though). Anyway, all the characters are very likeable and memorable, the comedy is excellent (although weird at times) and the animation (especially the food  ) is pretty good. The music is nice too.
The Prince of Tennis This is something for the girls, but I guess guys can watch it too (I know a few guys who liked it). From the title, you can guess that it's about tennis but it's far from being realistic cause the moves are pretty much out of this world (except for Kaidoh's Boomerang Snake, cause apparently it is possible to do it in a real tennis match). It has a few filler episodes but the filler episodes are actually very funny and I didn't mind watching them. Sometimes I like the filler episodes better cause the matches go on for as long as 2-3 episodes, but there are matches that are pretty intense and exciting to watch (especially the ones during the Hyotei and Rikkai Dai arc). |
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guet
 Posts: 492 Location: Sparta |
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Fate/Stay Night From the encyclopedia: Shirou Emiya lost his parents in a fire when he was young and was later adopted by a sorceror by the name of Kiritsugu Emiya. Although he was full of admiration for his adopted father and yearns to become an ally of justice, Shirou has limited powers and was unable to become a strong sorceror like his father. That is until one fateful day, he was drawn into the Holy Grail War and had to summon a female "Servant" known as Saber in order to protect himself. It turns out that the Holy Grail War involves a series of battles among powerful sorcerors to fight for the possession of a relic that will grant one's wishes, the Holy Grail. There are altogether seven "Masters" who can summon their respective "Servants" from different classes known as Saber, Archer, Rider, Berserker, Lancer, Caster and Assasin. These "Servants" have to hide their names in order not to reveal their weaknesses to the enemies. The story revolves around Shirou and his entanglement in the Holy Grail War.
My take on the series: although not your typical shounen series, Fate/Stay night does center around a tournament of sorts. I enjoyed this series for the interesting concept of summoning heroes from other times. If all you are looking for is a good tournament style series, then I don't think Fate/Stay night will disappoint. |
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IncompetentOverlord
 Posts: 139 |
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Kinnikuman and Kinnikuman: Nisei(AKA Ultimate Muscle)
These two shows sort of represent the pinnacle of what the Shonen Epic genre has to offer. The fights mix WWE style wrestling with Superpowers and just a hint of Martial Arts. The main characters, Suguru, Mantaro, and Meat are all extremely sympathetic, though the other characters tend to be Street Fighter-style nation stereotypes(Though that doesn't mean that some of them aren't really, really cool). It might be too strange or kiddy for some people(Which would be odd because Nisei was a Seinen manga serialized in Weekly Playboy), but when a murderous soviet wrestler defeats a superhero with a teacup for a head, you just gotta love it. |
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Tris8
 Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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Hikaru no Go is the best tournament anime I've ever seen. It's funny, intense, and by following the progression of a boy (Hikaru) in the game of Go (instead of martial arts) it brings a freshness to tournament-styled anime. One of the things I love about this series the most is that it avoids the pitfalls that many tournament series fall into: repetitiveness, the "there's always someone stronger who just happens to pop out of the woodwork every time you defeat a Big Bad", and the constant powering up just in time to defeat said Big Bad. At the beginning of the series, Fujiwara-no-Sai and Meijin Toya are introduced. Sai is a 1000-year-old ghost who in life tutored the Emperor in Go. Meijin Toya holds several Go titles including the prestigious Meijin title and is considered one of the greatest players of that lifetime in the world. We are able to see Hikaru progress in both maturity and skill throughout the series, but because these two characters are present, we have a measuring stick with which to compare him to. We never lose perspective, and this way we are able to truly appreciate his progression from aimless middle school student to driven and worldly young man.
You may hate me for it, but I also have to recommend good ol' Dragonball. Everyone's probably already seen it, at least in part, so I won't say much about it. This series is almost the opposite of Hikaru no Go. It's rarely serious, and doesn't try to rise above tournament anime stereotypes. Instead, it embraces the stereotypes and because of that it is a non-pretentious, very fun watch. It can be hilarious, mostly coming from Goku's stupidity, obliviousness, and innocence. I prefer this series over Dragonball Z, which isn't nearly as funny or light-hearted but is also good if you're looking for a tournament anime. |
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The Naked Beast
 Posts: 1028 Location: A Blue Planet |
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Mobile Fighter G Gundam
It may have Gundam in the title but it has all the makings of a tournament series. Rather than going to war, the Space Colonies have agreed to hold a tournament every four years to decide the right to rule all of space. Each country sends a representative or Gundam Fighter to fight on Earth until one is left standing. The story follows Neo-Japan's representative Domon Kasshu, The King of Hearts, during the 13th Gundam Fight. You have all of the shonen basics here: the main characters have superhuman abilities gained through intense martial arts training, decisive personal duels, a team, signature finishing moves, and the like. Like most tournament series, it gets really good during the tournament arc which is halfway through the series. The first half is still good introducing the characters, Master Asia, and the eventual team. Domon's master, Master Asia, is capable of destroying Mobile Suits with a piece of cloth! Oh, that is just how he makes his first appearance. Wait until you see what he can do in his personal Gundam. |
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naninanino
 Posts: 680 |
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Yumeiro Pâtissière
A zero to patissiere type of story about a young Japanese girl, Amano Ichigo. She is a normal, happy, yet clumsy and not particularly talented girl with a caring family. All her attempts at picking up a hobby or interest lead to failures. A chance meeting with a French patissier leads him to notice her sense of taste and feeling for sweets. This leads to a recommendation for her to become one too. Eventually Ichigo chooses to follow her new dream, to become a pastrymaker like her grandmother. Through hard work, with the aid of her new friends and a magical spirit, she partakes a cake grand prix tournanment with price none other than a place in the worlds top pastry school. An anime about hard work and friendship, with a power to show that dreams can come true. My personal opinion is that this show was vastly underappreciated for being a morning TV-anime. The show has very good pacing and even the "fillerish" episodes usually provide character development. It is also educational when it comes to baking and ingredients. A great motivational cooking show, with trials and tournaments. |
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5150 |
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So, it is now 2016. Have 2013-5 presented any good tournament anime? (Please, no unannotated listing.)
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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I see no one has mentioned Cross Game, Chihayafuru, or Shion no Ou in this thread. Cross Game is one of my all-time favorite anime about a pair of childhood friends both of whom are talented pitchers. The boy Kou goes on to lead his school to the Koshien baseball tournament, while the girl Aoba must deal with the rule that forbids girls from participating on high-school teams alongside boys. Baseball is merely the motivation for one of the best coming-of-age stories I've watched.
Chihayafuru has some similarities to Hikaru no Go. High-school freshman Chihaya has played second-fiddle all her life to her older sister who is a gravure idol. As a young girl Chihaya met a boy named Arata who introduced her to an arcane card game called karuta. He points out that since karuta is largely played only in Japan, being the national champion makes you the best player in the world. Chihaya decides to pursue this dream and begins by recruiting a team of fellow players so her school can compete intermurally. She starts with another childhood friend, Taichi, who is secretly in love with the clueless Chihaya. We watch "Team Chihayafuru" play a variety of tournament matches against other schools and see them compete in individual matches as well. The romantic triangle aspect of the story is only mildly hinted at and not really developed in the two anime seasons. One big contrast between Chihaya and Hikaru is her commitment to team play while Hikaru leaves his schoolmates behind to pursue a more individualistic life as a Go player. Shion plays yet another Japanese game, Shougi or "Japanese chess." As a four-year-old girl she witnesses the brutal murder of her parents and becomes mute as a result. We rejoin her around age twelve as she is competing to become a Shougi professional like her adoptive father. The anime follows both Shion's progress through the ranks and the reopening of the investigation into her parents' murder. I found Shion's personal story much more compelling than the mystery. There is no team play in the Shougi world as it is depicted in this anime. Recurring in all these shows is a puzzling gender segregation that persists even in games where physical strength is not a criterion for success. Go, Shougi, and karuta all have separate rankings and tournaments for male and female players. While karuta has a physical component, the important criteria are acute hearing and lightning reflexes more than sheer physical strength. Obviously strength matters not at all when positioning a stone on a Go board or moving a piece in Shougi. In Hikaru even the middle and high schools field separate male and female Go teams, though the karuta teams in Chihayafuru are mixed gender. Still, when it comes to individual play, Chihaya competes only against other women, while Arata and Taichi compete against men. |
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