These are the action anime I recommend most often. Each one has great fights, and a story that makes the fights matter.
Top 10 action anime of all time
Ten action anime with great fights and stories that make them matter, plus where to start each one.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Two brothers try to bring their mother back with alchemy and pay a terrible price. Their search for a way to undo it turns into a story about war, ethics and a government conspiracy, and the plot stays tight from the first episode to the last. It's the closest thing anime has to a consensus favorite.
Watch it if you want one long story that starts strong and ends stronger.
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Attack on Titan
Humanity lives behind huge walls to keep out giants that eat people. That premise is only the starting point: the story keeps changing what you think the war is about. The series runs four seasons, and this first one is where to start.
Watch it if you like dark stories with big twists.
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Hunter x Hunter (2011)
Gon sets out to become a Hunter and find the father who left him. Each arc changes genre, from exam tournament to heist to something much darker, and fights are won with strategy as much as power. The later arcs are some of the best stretches in shounen anime.
Watch it if you like clever power systems and fights decided by strategy.
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Mob Psycho 100 II
Mob is a shy middle schooler with enormous psychic power who just wants to be a normal kid. This second season has some of the most inventive animation in TV anime, and its story about growing up lands harder than its fights. Start with the first season.
Watch it if you want spectacular animation with a big heart.
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Vinland Saga
Thorfinn grows up in a Viking war band, chasing revenge against the man who killed his father. The first season is a brutal, gripping war story. The later seasons ask what comes after violence.
Watch it if you like historical drama and real character growth.
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JUJUTSU KAISEN
Yuji swallows a cursed object and becomes host to a powerful curse, which lands him in a school for sorcerers. The fight animation is some of the best of the modern era, and the cast is fun to spend time with.
Watch it if you want modern, fast, stylish fights.
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Cowboy Bebop
A crew of broke bounty hunters drifts around the solar system, one job at a time. Most episodes stand alone, mixing noir, westerns and jazz, and the action still looks great. It's the show many people use to introduce friends to anime.
Watch it if you want something stylish you can watch an episode at a time.
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Gurren Lagann
Two boys dig their way out of an underground village and into a war against giant robots. Every arc escalates further than the last, until the scale turns absurd on purpose. It's loud, sincere fun.
Watch it if you like mecha and big, shameless hype.
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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Tanjiro joins the demon slayers after demons kill his family and turn his sister into one of them. The story is simple, but the sword fights are some of the most beautiful animation on TV.
Watch it if you want a straightforward hero story with stunning fights.
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Chainsaw Man
Denji is broke, in debt and fused with his chainsaw devil dog, which makes him useful to the government's devil hunters. It's violent, strange and darkly funny.
Watch it if you like chaotic, unpredictable action horror.
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