Graham Spector of Baccano! mixes this with Talkative Loon. His endless monologues certainly seem poetic, but his rapid mood shifts and short attention span makes him sound more schizophrenic than anything.
Gennosuke Kouga from Basilisk is not only a mighty swordsman who doesn't even need to brandish his blade to kill you, he's also a talented flutist and dancer.
Griffith, the World's Best Warrior, is also a man of learning with a bent for the philosophical and fights to realize his philosophy. Unfortunately, it ultimately takes a dark turn in the Nietzsche Wannabe mold. Turns out he's not really philosophically opposed to the monarchy, he just thinks they're mistaken about who the real Übermensch is. (Hint: it's him.)
Guts is astonishingly good at this for a gruff towering, powerhouse of testosterone with an attitude to boot. He fights because he's Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life, and (at least for a time), finds it in fighting itself, not because of any real wish to inflict violence on others (yet), but Because I'm Good At It and because he finds meaning in honing his skills to the utmost. His way of persuading Jill, a young girl who looked up to him for protection, about how dangerous it was to be with him was pretty much a poem of awesome, tearjerking, and heartwarming. In the end, it gave Jill the courage to survive with the life she had to live with.
The Skull Knight, Guts' Cynical Mentor, is given to waxing philosophical about the existential struggle of mere humans against an uncaring and often actively hostile universe. Being an undead warrior with a few centuries to think about such things will do that.
Revy and Balalaika from Black Lagoon occasionally fall into this. The former gives lectures on nihilism and the latter on warrior life.
The first indication that Sori-sensei is a badass comes from him cutting a guy to pieces with barely any effort, because 'people who treat art as a doormat are not welcome in his house'.
Vice-Captain Kira of the military force, the Gotei 13, is a published haiku poet, and his entire philosophy on both life and war is that War Is Hell. That melancholic attitude comes across in everything he does.
Captain Kyouraku is a published writer, but he has no idea how unpopular his stories are.
Rose Otoribashi fits this trope to a tee, being both a great lover of music and art as well as ensuring all of his abilities, as well his fights, invoke a sense of ART. Has become a meme in certain fan circles.
And Byakuya Kuchiki, who is certainly a very good fighter, being one of the captains, and also does calligraphy.
A one-time example: when fighting Carman, Bobobo and Softon take to writing Haiku. Carman thinks that this will distract them long enough for him to get a few hits in. Unfortunately for him, one of Bobobo's was:
"I'll beat you to death! Beat beat beat beat beat beat beat! I'll beat you to death!"
Also a literal example in the other Cyber Knight, Poet.
In Brave10, despite being the Handsome Lech and acting the part of a lazy and unconventional samurai lord, Yukimura is one surprisingly. Of all the samurai in the story, he has the biggest philosophical streak and spends a lot of his non-Obfuscating Stupidity time ruminating on war, power, morality, and fate.
Darker than Black has the character of Isaak, who fits this both literally and figuratively. He is a KGB agent and has a compulsion to write poetry after using his powers. In a figurative sense, he and his partner Bertha are presented as being remarkably sensitive and likable, even though they feature in the series as opponents of the hero.
The Major in Ghost in the Shell (1995) is a One-Woman Army of the highest order, but next to her day job as a counter-terror special forces commander she's also spending a lot of time dealing with questions about existence and reality. In a way, she eventually Ascends to a Higher Plane of Existence. Batou is much the same, though he doesn't show it quite as obviously.
Captain Raballo, the handler assigned to train Claes in Gunslinger Girl, has an extensive library on the grounds that knowledge is essential to any soldier. On noting, however, that the book he's reading is about growing vegetables, he says dryly: "Should come in handy if we're invaded by plants from outer space." (manga only).
Akisame Koetsuji, one of Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple's teachers. A Jiu-jutsu master who has "Warrior Philosopher" as his epithet. He spends his spare time carving ornate Buddhist statues and transcribing poetry in beautiful calligraphy. He is also quite insightful, so much so that Kenichi believes he can read minds.
Killer Bee from Naruto is actually a warrior rapper who always speaks in rhyme.
In Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Evangeline occasionally waxes eloquent concerning topics such as the nature of happiness, what true power is, and what it means to have a soul.
This is how Tatewaki Kunō sees himself in Ranma ½. Of course, everyone else sees him as a complete and utter raving loony.
Shibata Taketora of Shibatora is a kendo champion who cautions a hotheaded young practitioner that "A fighting heart is not a strong heart. A heart which seeks conflict will never find true strength." Shortly after, he demonstrates his ability to cut down a violent delinquent with a "shinken," a word usually used to mean "real sword," but which he uses to describe a "heart sword," an imaginary blade.
Arguably the entire point of Vagabond is to see the main character (Miyamoto Musashi) slowly transition from an immature glory-hound into a Warrior Poet.
