List of Fictional Martial Arts - Manga and Anime

Manga and Anime

• Hokuto Shinken, or "Divine Fist of the North Star" practiced by Kenshiro of Fist of the North Star and his "uncle" Kenshiro Kasumi in Fist of the Blue Sky. The martial arts is heavily based on the application of pressure points, which, when high strength is applied and/or in sequence, can cause paralysis, blindness, and massive hemorrhaging. However, the technique can also be used to heal. There is also a rival martial arts style, called Nanto Seiken, the "Sacred Fist of the South Star", which focuses on piercing and penetrating attacks by breaking through the opponent's defenses. For other martial arts style in the series, see List of fighting styles in Fist of the North Star.
• Hatsugouryuu Aiki Jiujitsu, used by Uesegi Shizuka in the manga "Shamo". The martial art was called a legend or myth in the series due to its profound use of skill, speed and accuracy. The style uses a combined form of Aikido and Jiujitsu as shown by the manga with throws and grapples.
• Panzer Kunst, German for "armor arts" is featured in the manga Battle Angel Alita, and was developed by Tiger Sauer, prior to the start of the series, on Mars. It is practiced by the series' main character, Alita. It was developed to anticipate cyborg attacks, counter armed opponents, zero gravity combat, strategize and analyze opponents to effectively counterattack and is very effective versus larger opponents. Those trained in this style rarely lose a second fight with the same opponent. All the ranks and attack names are in German.
• Renewal Taekwondo, or RE Taekwondo, is a type of martial art developed in modern South Korea used by Jin Mo-Ri and Jin Tae-Jin in the series God of High school. It is emphatic in strong, fast kicks, like its base WTF Taekwondo. Some skills are directly linked with WTF, skills involving Hwechook for example, and some are created purely by Jin Tae-Jin and other associates.
• Hiten Mitsurugi Ryū, or "Flying Heaven Honorable Sword Style" practiced by Himura Kenshin of Rurouni Kenshin. It is a sword discipline that enables its practitioner to fight with superhuman speed and reflexes, study and predict his opponent's movements, and use many powerful sword techniques. Many of the techniques were originally intended to be lethal, but Kenshin, who has sworn off killing after his violent career as the "Hitokiri Battōsai," has modified his usage of these techniques in accordance with this vow, and wields a reverse-bladed sword called a sakabatō.
• Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū, or Anything Goes Martial Arts (from Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2), is the school of martial arts founded by Happosai, and is the art used by Ranma Saotome, his fiancée Akane Tendo, and their fathers Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo, respectively. It is most commonly believed that Anything Goes Martial Arts was founded by martial arts master and perverted lecher extraordinaire Happosai during his travels around China and Japan. How long ago is disputed as his exact age has never been disclosed. In the manga, Happosai is at least 118 and at most 230 years old (and in the anime a little over 300) with his training journey happening when he was still a young man. If this is true, then it is safe to assume that the school itself is quite old. . Happosai took two young apprentices, Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome, as his students, an act which would lead to both the creation of the two main branches of Anything Goes Martial Arts, as well as his lengthy hibernation without food or water.

True to its name, Anything Goes Martial Arts, is based on learning and adapting many different styles of martial arts, taking what works and discarding what doesn't. As such, Anything Goes Martial Arts is not confined to a single way of thinking or philosophy when it comes to martial arts combat. This gives the practitioner of Anything Goes Martial Arts the advantage of adaptability and unpredictability in a fight since he or she would ideally know moves and techniques from many different schools that complement each other, minimising perceptible weaknesses.

It is interesting to note that the philosophy of Anything Goes Martial Arts is similar to that of many martial arts used by many real-life mixed martial artists, most of whom cross-train in many different disciplines to create a balanced, well-rounded fighting style.

• Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, in general, the Saotome School is the more aerial of the two branches, with feats of acrobatics during their fights. In this respect, it is probably the closer of the two systems to the original school of Happosai, since the latter also prefers to go to the air when fighting. The Saotome school is also host to a number of offbeat, diversionary techniques named after animals, such as the "Crouch of the Wild Tiger", which are a hallmark of the Saotome school.

The school also has two sealed martial arts developed by Genma Saotome, the Yamasenken and Umisenken. Both are schools designed to help in thievery and have some rather deadly attacks. It was in attempting to learn the Yamasenken that the father of Ryu Kumon ended up killing himself and destroying their dojo, leading to the beginning of the younger Kumon's quest for the complementing scroll "to rebuild the Kumon dojo".

Training for the Saotome School involves turning everything, even mundane events into training exercises, as well as experimenting with many new techniques (as is the way of Musabetsu Kakutō). This willingness to experiment, however, can lead to some unexpected results.

• Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts,The Tendo school seems like the more 'traditionally Japanese'/Karate-like ground-based school of Anything Goes Martial Arts (as opposed to the more 'Chinese'/Kung Fu-like Saotome school). However, both Akane and her father have been known to jump significant heights and use aerial attacks when necessary.

The Tendo School may emphasize power over speed. The Tendo School also seems to teach weapons use, both standard and improvised. In her battles with Ranma, Akane has wielded shinai, bokken, mallets, bonbori, tables, bows and arrows, and been clad in samurai wear, and Soun uses archaic armour and weaponry far more frequently. Akane's weapons training has proved enough to maintain an almost even official kendo match with Tatewaki Kuno, a known and highly skilled practitioner.

Tendo-ryu may be more effective against large groups of opponents than it is one-on-one, as evidenced by Akane's nearly instant wins against throngs of her school's sports and martial arts club members, but this may also be due to the attackers' comparatively low skill level.

• Founding School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, The Creative Indiscriminate Martial Arts, sometimes translated as the Founding School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, Ganso Anything Goes Martial Arts is Happosai's variant of Musabetsu Kakutō. This variant mostly involves chi manipulation as well as stealth and trickery. Whether or not this is the original school of Anything Goes Martial Arts, or whether Happosai developed it as a response to his advancing age, is unknown. It seems different enough from the Tendo and Saotome schools that it can be considered a later development. However, both the Tendo and Saotome schools have themselves evolved further with the appropriation of new techniques.