It could be quite easy to boil Dragon Ball Z down as a consecutive series of one-on-one fights, and you know what? It totally was. All of Dragon Ball Z's major plot points center around the idea of combat. But I also don't view that as an objective flaw, either, and the reason for that is that these characters are all written around the concept of fighting. (...) Combat wasn't actually a way to solve problems to these characters - rather, it was justification for why they exist at all. These were all proud fighters who put an immense amount of personal weight into their physical strength and skill - or to put it a different way, Dragon Ball Z wasn't a story about fighting, it was a story about a group of characters who really loved to fight.
A Fighting Series, as its name suggests, is one that places a lot of emphasis on fighting. Different fighting styles and learning new moves and abilities are a major part of the plot. There will be lots of emphasis on training, technique, and practice. The main character often, though not always, wants To Be a Master; whether he does or not, he usually is by the end. Common in Chinese movies from the 1970s and ubiquitous in Japanese Shōnen anime/manga.
Note that simply having a lot of fighting does not mean that a show is a Fighting Series; in order to qualify, the fighting has to be integral to the plot, rather than a means to an end.
Related to the Martial Arts Movie. See Fighting Game for the Video Game equivalent. Should not be confused with Dueling Shows. For fight scenes happening in one of these series, take a look at Fighting in All the Wrong Places Index. Also see This Index Knows Kung-Fu.
Common tropes in this genre include:
- Arch-Enemy
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy
- Artistic License – Martial Arts
- Big Badass Battle Sequence
- Combat Pragmatist
- Charles Atlas Super Power
- Chewing the Scenery
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique
- Determinator
- Duel to the Death
- Eccentric Mentor
- Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting
- Extremity Extremist
- Fight Scene (usually Once an Episode)
- Good Old Fisticuffs
- Improvised Weapon
- Kiai
- Kick Chick
- Kung-Fu Kid
- Martial Pacifist
- My Kung-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours
- Old Master
- Opposing Combat Philosophies
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs
- The Rival
- Rival Dojos (normally a Pacifist Dojo and a Thug Dojo)
- Rival Turned Evil
- Rule of Cool
- Scenery Gorn
- Screaming Warrior
- Sorting Algorithm of Evil
- Spirited Competitor
- Storming the Castle (or in this case, Rival Dojo)
- Time to Unlock More True Potential
- To Be a Master
- Tournament Arc
- Training from Hell
- Training Montage
- Trash the Set
- Triads and Tongs (if there is a Mob War arc)
- Wax On, Wax Off
- When You Snatch the Pebble
- World of Badass
Examples:
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Multimedia Franchises
Anime & Manga
- Abyss Rage
- AIKI
- Airmaster
- Arachnid
- Attack on Titan
- Bad Company
- Baki the Grappler
- Bastard!! (1988)
- Black Clover
- Bleach
- Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
- Booty Royale: Never Go Down Without a Fight!: Part this, part Slice of Life Work Com about sex workers.
- Choujin X
- Claymore
- Crows
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Devilman
- Dragon Ball is a Trope Codifier alongside Saint Seiya.
- Fairy Tail
- Fatal Fury: Devil Street of Horror
- Fire Force
- Fist of the North Star, which, along with Kinnikuman, launched the entire Shōnen fighting genre.
- Flame of Recca
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- Gamaran
- GTO: The Early Years, though it started out as more of a Gag Series.
- Hajime no Ippo - Although it leans more towards to Gaming and Sports Anime & Manga, the series showcases many of the tropes commonly found in Fighting Series. The fact that it is focused on boxing helps.
- High School Exciting Story: Tough
- Holyland
- Hunter × Hunter
- Ikki Tousen, combined with Fanservice
- Jackals
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure takes this to the weirdest facets, as the title already implies.
- Jungle King Tar-Chan
- Karakuri Circus
- Kengan Ashura
- Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple (an affectionate parody of the genre)
- Kill la Kill
- The King of Fighters: Another Day
- Kinnikuman - Predating Fist of the North Star by 4 years, it arguably did just as much as, if not more, for the genre.
- Kotaro Makaritoru!
- Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid combines this with Magical Girl.
- ViVid Strike! is basically Magical Girl MMA.
- Maken-ki! is set at Tenbi Academy, where everything is settled officially in duels.
- MÄR
- Mashle: Magic and Muscles
- Mob Psycho 100
- Mobile Fighter G Gundam combines this concept with Humongous Mecha.
- My Hero Academia
- Naruto
- Negima! Magister Negi Magi, combined with the Harem Genre.
- One Piece
- One-Punch Man, a Deconstructive Parody of Shōnen superhero tropes.
- Pokémon: The Series
- Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General
- Pretty Cure, especially HeartCatch Pretty Cure!, also combine this with Magical Girl, and did so before Vivid.
- Queen's Blade, combined with Heroic Fantasy and Fanservice
- Ramen Fighter Miki is a Deconstructive Parody of the genre.
- Ranking of Kings
- Ranma ½
- Ratman
- The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World
- Real Bout High School
- Reborn! (2004) became this from the Kokuyo Arc onward.
- Record of Ragnarok
- Riki-Oh
- Rosario + Vampire, like Negima above, eventually combines with the Harem genre.
- Saint Seiya, arguably the Trope Codifier together with Dragon Ball
- Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
- The Seven Deadly Sins
- Shadow Skill
- Shaman King
- Shenmue
- Soul Eater
- ST☆R: Strike it Rich
- Sumomo Mo Momo Mo
- Taboo-Tattoo
- Tenjho Tenge
- Tenkaichi: Nihon Saikyo Bugeisha Ketteisen
- Tomorrow's Joe
- Toriko
- Until Death Do Us Part, focusing on urban guerilla warfare.
- UQ Holder!
- Vagabond
- Virtua Fighter
- Yu-Gi-Oh!, especially before the Card Games appeared; in fact, the original concept was that of "a fighting series where the main character never throws a punch."
- YuYu Hakusho
Fan Works
- Are you my dad?
- Chiaroscuro
- Dragon Ball Z: Dynasty
- Dragonball Z: Legacies
- Kara of Rokyn
- lie in reverse
- More Than Enemies
- Superman of 2499: The Great Confrontation
- Tokimeki PokéLive! and TwinBee: Applies to the Pokémon Battles that take place in both the Main Stories and Side Story arcs.
- The Warrior's Daughter
- Witchblade Sakura
Films — Animation
Films — Live-Action
Literature
Live-Action TV
Manhua
Manhwa
Tabletop Games
- Ninjas And Superspies by Palladium Books is a hybrid James Bond/Jackie Chan style action thriller in tabletop game form with a very heavy focus on combat mechanics. About 90% of the characters know at least one style of martial art and there are several who can learn multiple styles.
Video Games
- Asura's Wrath is influenced by these types of series in Japan, with the idea that it's an Interactive version of this type of Anime series. It works.
Web Comics
- '32 Kick-Up does this with Inkblot Cartoon Style Funny Animals.
- Girls of the Wild's
- Gurral the Smasher starts out with the titular kaiju Gurral as a gladiator working for the Arena Lords.
- The Korean webtoon Lookism is strangely this. It starts with a fat guy being tired of being beat up and he splits into two. One of them a Bishonen with a Heroic Build, the other the same old one. Due to his past of being beat up he as had the reflexes to avoid but not the speed and now he does. Turns out that this new body and his old body too if he had dared to is pretty strong and he is able to defend himself against the strong guys at his new school. This is a Web Toon with many Action Fashionistas, Badass Architects, Dance Battlers, and more. In this Defeat Means Friendship as well.
- My Best Friend Marneao'
- Study Group
- Viral Hit
- Weak Hero
Western Animation
