Looking for high-adrenaline suggestions
I’d really appreciate suggestions for any action-packed anime series you might be able to share.
I “play” Zwift indoors for exercise when I don’t have time to ride my bicycle outside. While Zwift is a huge improvement over nothing, I still find myself watching the clock more than the screen. To help keep my mind busy and pass the time, I’ve been watching anime while riding indoors for the last several years. The more intense the anime, the better!
I think the early Attack on Titan seasons are the most emblematic of what I’m looking for, though I’ve been enraptured by other less likely shows, such as Psycho-Pass and Dr. Stone.
Chainsaw Man, Blue Lock, Shield Hero, Sword Art Online, Parasyte , the first season of Vinland Saga, Shokugeki, and many others have helped me get through countless hours of riding in the past, and I could really use a few new series going forward.
Thanks in advance!
Edit: cleaned up some phrasing
Edit 2: It's really hard to come up with an exhaustive list, but as folks jog my memory (or when my own addled brain decides to be useful) I'll add other series I've seen so far as well.
- Yowamushi Pedal
- Because: of course
- Lastman
- A rare French anime, and I really enjoyed it
- Fireforce
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- One Punch Man
- Kill La Kill
- Gurren Lagann
- Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
- Watched a few episodes but struggled to get into it
- Eighty-Six
- My Hero Academia
- Demon Slayer
- Watched through the train movie and discontinued when they turned said movie into the next season
- Mob Psycho 100
- Watched a few episodes but struggled to get into it
- Hunter X Hunter
- Cowboy Bebop
- RWBY
- Struggling with the current season
- Tokyo Ghoul
- Struggling with season 3
- Sabikoi Bisco
- Made it to episode 10 and fell out of it, can't remember why
- Ranking of Kings
- Made it to episode 8 but never got into it
- Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun
- Made it to episode 11 before dropping it
- To Your Eternity
- Made it a handful of episodes in but never got into it
- Berserk
- Watched the first season, need to get back to the second
- Black Clover
- Amusing enough, managed to watch 143 episodes lol
- MEGALOBOX
- FLCL
- Naruto
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
- Tower of God
- Aoashi
- Black Summoner
- DNA2
- Death Parade
- Erased
- This one hit me in the feels
- Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works
- Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
- The Greatest Demon Lord is reborn as a Typical Nobody
- Gundam Build Divers
- Kaiji
- Noblesse
- Over Drive
- Overlord
- The Promised Neverland
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica
- Shinobi no Ittoki
- So I'm a Spider, So What?
- The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat
- takt op.Destiny
- RE:Zero
Blood Blockade Battlefront or Fireforce is pretty good if you just want action. If you want actual really good movie during exercise, Promere is really good.
Ha, I totally forgot about Fireforce; that one was pretty good.
I've not even heard of Blood Blockade Battlefront or Promere; I'll add them to the list.
Thank you!
I recommend 86 Eighty-Six if you want something similar to AoT. It's less action, but a great watch if you like the vibe of AoT.
Jujutsu Kaisen is amazing. It's made by the same people that made Chainsaw Man. Highly recommend.
But for action, I noticed you didn't list My Hero Academia. Always gets me pumped when I watch it. Demon Slayer as well.
Other anime that could fit: Mob Psycho 100, Mashle (still airing), Trigun, Hunter X Hunter, and Dragon Ball of course!
Not gonna lie: eighty-six choked me up a few times :)
Jujutsu Kaisen is on the list now!
I did watch several seasons of MHA, but I fell out of it. My friend warned me, and I came to agree: the problem with anime series like that one is that they need to continuously ratchet up the stakes to keep the show interesting, and that's not something most writing teams can do forever. The last I saw of that series, if I'm remembering correctly, was the movie where they go to an island together.
I also saw several seasons of Demon Slayer, but got bored with it when they essentially decided to drag the movie out into the better part of a season. I can only maintain interest for so long when they're literally rehashing the exact same scenes, so I stopped watching.
I saw Hunter X Hunter, and it was pretty good. Do you have a particular series of Dragon Ball you'd suggest?
I started watching Mob Psycho 100, but after a few episodes it still hadn't clicked for me so I moved on. Does it get way better?
Adding Mashle to the list!
Thank you so much for all the suggestions!
Edit: forgot to mention that I'm adding Trigun to the list!
Demon Slayer is worth skipping the first half of Season 2 to continue. Second half is all new from that point onward.
MHA does suffer from the Shonen trope where the stakes have to be elevated with each fight, but I felt it was natural since he's still learning to harness One For All. It does get better as Deku starts to turn the power into his own. I loved the newest season, but no worries if it isn't for you.
Dragon Ball Super episode 1 is a good starting off point unless you saw the two movies for it. If so, then you should start around episode 30.
Mob does get better in my opinion, but I guess it depends on what you liked about it. Reagan is my favorite character, so I loved it throughout. Definitely more about being a comedy than an action anime.
Jujutsu Kaisen should be your next watch for sure if you ask me!
Wow, great information; thanks!
I'll add MHA back to the list, but maybe a bit further down. Same for Demon Slayer, though I am more interested in experiencing new shows at this point than revisiting shows I've watched in the past unless you really feel I'd be missing out.
Based off your suggestion, Jujutsu Kaisen will be my next show unless someone else chimes in with a very strong opinion on something else. Thanks again.
It's short, but FLCL / Fooly Cooly. The first time I saw it I actually wondered if it was an anime or an American show copying the style. Later found out the animation is faster than usually done in Japan (I think it has more frames per second), which combined with the fast pace of the story makes it feel pretty frantic.
Juuni Taisen: Zodiac War might also be fun. 12 episodes, just a straight-up battle royale. You get exactly what's said on the tin, twelve warriors trying to murder each other with superpowers and ridiculous weapons/methods. Had a lot of fun with that one.
Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo are both classics for good reason and full of energy. Cowboy Bebop feels more mellow to me than Samurai Champloo did, but the action is fantastic in both.
For a much longer series: Bleach. It focuses a lot on battles, and honestly? It's just cool. Pretty sure the author stated he wrote it to be cool, which is actually surprisingly rare in shonen.
And I haven't watched this myself and opinions I see vary, but this season there's an anime called Magical Destroyers that seems to have a lot of frantic energy to it. At the very least the opening is a banger!
I've seen FLCL (the original season, still haven't watched the latest). Do you know if the more recent season is worth it?
Cowboy Bebop was my first foray into anime back in the day, so it'll always hold a special place in my heart :)
I'll add Juuni Taisen, Bleach, and Samurai Champloo, and Magical Destroyers to my list. Thank you!
I haven't seen the newer season of FLCL, though it's been on my list. Looking it up, it definitely seems to be one of those "like it or hate it" seasons due to being in the shadow of the original. It's near-impossible to find or give unbiased reviews on shows like that.
Same for me! Cowboy Bebop wasn't my first, but I grew up watching it late at night and it will always be special to me. Highly recommend Samurai Champloo since it's by the same studio. (I actually still need to finish that one, got through most of it while watching with a friend but ended up stopping when they moved.)
One more suggestion for the road: Re:Zero. Isekai where the protagonist is an actually average guy with no advantage besides return from death. Which sucks since you can die dozens of times before figuring out how the heck to win and succeed in the current situation. Definitely an intense ride!
Ah, another one I’ve started and abandoned (made it through 25 episodes and can’t remember why I stopped). Sounds like you’d strongly encourage me to pick it back up, though, so it’s going on the list.
Thanks so much :)
This one's pretty short, but in terms of being action packed I don't thing there's anything that can beat it: Dead Leaves
Never heard of that one, either. It's on the list, thank you!
Rather than pure-action shows, how about some sports anime? Those are almost always hot-blooded and filled with action.
Some notable ones I’d suggest:
Other than Yowamushi Pedal, I've not watched any of these. I'll add them to the list, thanks!
Add Hajime no Ippo to the list. It's a boxing anime and it's fantastic.
Will do, thank you!
Redline is what you're looking for. Not just in this case, I'd recommend it to anyone with even the slightest passing interest in anime, or animation as a whole. It's right up there with Akira in being one of the greatest animated action films ever.
I honestly haven’t spent a ton of time watching anime movies, but maybe that’s something I should change. Your suggestion has been added to the list, thank you!
I'm not a big anime buff so not sure how good these'll be in terms of packing raw action scenes, but Kill La Kill and Gurren Lagann come to mind for me.
Also probably One Punch Man and My Hero Academia. (I also haven't seen Jojo's but, probably Jojo's?)
Thanks so much for the suggestions.
It’s hard to come up with an extensive list, but I have watched One Punch Man, Kill La Kill, Gurren Lagann. I started watching Jojo, but couldn’t get into it; maybe I’ll give it another shot.
Jojo really foes get better and better as it goes. There's some reoccurring characters, but you're okay if you start at a different season. Different settings, changes the main character. The season called Stardust Crusaders is the best jumping off point. That's where the author decided to start using Stands.
Hey, I really appreciate the suggestion and now it's definitely getting a second chance with me. I really felt like I was missing out on something having abandoned it like that.
To add to the Jojo discourse: I haven't watched all of it, not by a long shot. I watched a bit of Stardust Crusaders but got tired of the enemy-of-the-week formula. But later a friend got me to watch Diamond is Forever, and I found that much more compelling for some reason. So you might find some of the seasons will resonate more than others.
Sweet, thanks for that suggestion. I'll try both either way, but now I have an additional jumping-in point!
Diamond is Forever is what got me into Jojo. Slogged through everything up until then and now I can go back and watch the rest. Apparently that season is what inspired Persona 4.
Really enjoyed Castlevania on Netflix, and the action is CLEAN - beautiful animation and actually a really stellar story. Extremely likeable characters too.
That sounds awesome, I'll add it to the list. Thank you!
For intensity, Yakusoku no Neverland (only watch season 1, still 100% worth) is super hype. Also I'd heavily recommend Code Geass.
I really enjoyed The Promised Neverland (I don't eat meat, partially for ethical reasons, so it hit home a bit extra for me). I did watch both seasons, and while the second was far weaker I still enjoyed it well enough.
I'll add Code Geass to the list, thank you!
The first one which came to mind is Akame ga Kill, it's definitely my top recommendation based on you having enjoyed Chainsaw Man and Attack on Titan.
Tokyo Revengers has the main character get sent back in time to his middle school body in order to prevent a murder, however it's a very different vibe to Erased as it's about gangs of teenage delinquents, if you like the time travel concept then I'd say definitely give it a go, although annoyingly the second series has gone to Disney+ rather than staying on Crunchyroll.
I see Sword Art Online is on your watched list, the closest vibe show I can think for that would be Guilty Crown, plus it's the same animation studio as 86 so it's a visual delight.
Something a little different would be Moriarty the Patriot - it doesn't have any fantasy or supernatural elements but is a masterpiece.
Seraph of the End - this was sadly not well received at the time of release as the first episode sets up the story (vampires, post apocalyptic dystopia, etc) then the next few episodes are set in a high school, which apparently turned audiences in Japan off as there was so much media already set in high schools at the time. Which is unfortunate because after those episodes introduce the supporting cast, they all go out and have plot happen to them in this post apocalyptic world! If you give this a go and find it a slow starter (I personally didn't but that may be because I had already read the manga so knew how much action was coming) I'd say to give it a half dozen or so episodes to really give it a chance.
Finally, I see you've already been recommended Jujutsu Kaisen so I will just add another +1 to those and also let you know that the next series starts in a few weeks, so if you enjoy it (I'm sure you will) then there will be more to come! There's also a movie, too.