Exhibit A: “Y'know, Dragon Ball and One Piece are like the best action anime ever, and there's no other show that comes even close to it. Modern anime just ain't got that…feel, that old anime has. It just isn't as good as the golden age, y'know.”
Exhibit B: “Yoooooooooo, did u watch the new episode of Demon Slayer. The animation was so good and the motions were so fluid and the fighting was so cool. Man, Ufotable really one-upped themselves this time with the animation. Oh ya, and Jujutsu season 2 is going really hard, the MAPPA slave train sure is making some fire content.”
Exhibit C: “Action Anime? Why? No, I have never watched an action anime in my life. Such a subpar medium that partakes in brutal displays of violence cannot convey a truly meaningful story. So, why should I waste my time watching such mediocre content? I only ever watch Romcoms and SOL anime. How could you tell?”
Anime is a vast medium consisting of various, wildly different genres of content. When one consumes content in such a medium, one naturally falls into a certain pattern of thinking, or rather a bias. Many people are biased to Shounen anime, others just put on whatever is popular and don't put too much thought into it, while others consider themselves connoisseurs of the medium and only consume subversive and underground content. One's taste is subject to their own personal experiences and beliefs, so let me explain to you how my taste is objectively the best.
I have never been a fan of action anime, or rather anime whose main themes were the fights, and all conflicts in the show were reasons to animate more fight scenes. A majority of these shows use their action as a foil to compensate for their subpar plot and bland characters. And even if the fights are fun to watch, it eventually gets boring to watch the loop of conflict, fight, and resolution throughout the show.
Thorfinn Karlsefni suffered more hardships before he reached adulthood than most of us have experienced throughout our lifetime. Seeing his father killed through hoodwinkery consumed him in an all-encompassing rage that burnt in him throughout his teenage years. Thorfinn killed hundreds of innocent people, all for a chance to avenge his father. Vinland Saga is chock full of killing and violence, being set in war-ridden medieval Europe. The fighting sets a tone which permeates through all aspects of the show. Every character in this show has seen their fair share of war and bloodshed, and such a drastic difference in environments with their contemporary audience shines in their personality. Some revel in the chaos and yearn for greatness through war, while others use the war as a means to an end. And just as the violence and carnage reaches its climax, all depictions and murder and death are removed, moving the show into its next phase with a contrasting tone to the first.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is the story of a man fighting against the greatest enemy of all, society. Being bottom-of-the-barrel is tough in Night City, and David wants to fly in its skies despite being a filthy commoner. But just as Icarus fell because he got too close to the sun, David too fell into the sea. The fight scenes in Edgerunners are fast-paced and erratic, setting up the wild and uncontrollable nature of Night City. It is a cruel and oppressive place for the weak to be used and thrown by the strong, and however much they rebel, eventually, even the strongest fly will be squashed.
Kara no Kyoukai is an anime series consisting of seven movies. It is a story about the lives of Ryougi Shiki, a person with the supernatural ability to see the lines of death of living and non-living things, and Kokutou Mikiya. This series covers various times of their lives, but in a majority of these movies, they work for a supernatural firm that occasionally deals with supernatural murder cases. Throughout the movies, we see various aspects of the cases our main characters pick up and how they operate to reach closer to the culprit. In general, most cases Shiki takes an interest in is due to a clash in ideologies with the culprit and so she goes out for them with a personal grudge. This gives us more insight into Shiki, who is an otherwise silent person, as well as the 'hidden behind the curtains' culprit. This generates tension and a strong sense of conflict throughout the film which culminates in an ideological clash right at the end. This style of storytelling gives time to build on the world and characters in a short span of time while conveying its primary theme.
Mushoku Tensei and Sousou no Frieren are both very prominent anime in the fantasy genre. While Frieren is very, very famous, Mushoku tends to be more… infamous. Nonetheless, they are both some of the best fantasy anime ever made. Frieren and Mushoku Tensei both place great importance on the world in which the characters live. The shows take ample time to develop the world and flesh out various mundane aspects of it to make it more alive. The lead characters in both shows, Frieren and Rudeus, are not ones to seek out fighting and only ever engage in combat when necessary. This nature of developing the characters and keeping fights to the bare minimum gives weight and importance to the few fights that do take place in the series. The fights take place to further the plot and develop the story rather than sow the seeds for more fights in the future.
Hopefully by now, you have realized the common theme that I had been explaining throughout this article. Some of the best action sequences are those which occur due to a natural progression in the plotline of the story, rather than having the story be a setup for infinite fights. There were more shows which I wanted to discuss but decided not to, due to factors. Instead, I will list some of them out here, and you can check them out yourself. Starting with shows that are not so popular, Attack on Titan is the peak of the action-mystery genre. Chainsaw Man (Manga) and Fire Punch (Manga) are unique takes on the action genre, both done by the same author. Mob Psycho 100 is the coming-of-age story of an esper boy, with bucket loads of action sprayed throughout, while remaining true to its core. Eminence is Shadow is a hilarious parody of the genre it is a part of. Neon Genesis Evangelion (despite being a show I disliked) does a breakdown of the human psyche through its fights. That is to explore the human mind during these fights as well as its consequences on the mind after them.
I think that's quite a lot of shows I have mentioned and it's time for me to wrap it up. TLDR: Shows should have more nuanced plotlines, where the fights are the cherry on top, rather than the main dish.
