While many business deals are settled through contracts and meetings in the boardroom, since ancient times, many merchants in Japan have had another way to settle business disputes – Kengan matches.
In the underground merchant world of Kengan Ashura, businesses ranging from smaller shops to mega-corporations settle disputes and make business deals through gladiatorial bare-handed fights in the arena. However, the competitors aren’t the the businessmen, but rather a series of proxy warriors. Every business scouts powerful fighters to field in Kengan matches in hopes of claiming profitable victories.
Tokita Ouma is one such prospective Kengan fighter. Recruited by the CEO of the Nogi Group, he hopes the attraction of strong fighters to Kengan matches will eventually lead him to the fighter he seeks to conquer in order to fully call himself the strongest.
Sometimes you want to watch really manly guys beat each other bloody, and Kengan Ashura knows that’s what you want. However, what you weren’t expecting was some of the good intrigue it has going on behind the scenes. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Kengan Ashura, head on down below.
Anime Like Kengan Ashura
For Fans of Big Dudes Beating Each Other Bloody
Baki
As the son of Hanma Yuujiro, Hanma Baki trains intensely every day in order to finally beat and surpass his father. However, at this very moment, five of the world’s most dangerous and deadly criminals are breaking out of jail.
They all seek out one thing – Baki.
They all crave the taste of defeat and hope Baki can grant it to them. However, in this dangerous fight, Baki is not alone.
Both Kengan Ashura and Baki are quintessential “muscle dudes beating each other bloody” anime. That’s all they do. They fight and they fight brutally, and that is all you need.
Both series are about men who want to be the very pinnacle of fighters, and only differ in the small details of how they get there.
The biggest difference is that Kengan Ashura is all proxy fighting. Baki is not limited to such conflicts, he will fight anyone and he will fight them anywhere, but he only really fights for himself.
Record of Ragnarok
Every 1,000 years, all gods from every religion are convened to decide the fate of humanity.
Due to their abuses against each other and the planet, the gods are about to unanimously vote for ending humanity.
However, just as it is about to pass, Brunhild, a Valkyrie, puts forth a proposal. Humans are given a chance to have 13 warriors from throughout history fight against gods in a one-on-one tournament style battle that will ultimately decide their fate.
While there are plenty of unique muscle-bound fighters in Kengan Ashura, Record of Ragnarok, being about a tournament between gods and humanity’s best warriors, has just ever so slightly more creative freedom when it comes to creating fighters. That said, most of them are still bulging with rock-hard muscle, but some have a little more cunning and martial skill outside just hand-to-hand combat.
Regardless, both series have plots that are fully focused on a tournament with high stakes on the line, so the plot is all about fights, reactions to the fights, and a small bit of intrigue in between the fights.
Cestvs
Cestvs is a 15-year-old slave training as a pugilist for gladiatorial combat. While he wishes only to escape his violent life, his master will only grant him his freedom if he wins 100 matches.
After the death of a close friend, his desire for freedom is the only thing that keeps him going. His goal keeps a fire burning in him to train hard and fight even harder, even if it means fighting other slaves with the same desire for freedom as him in the arena.
Unfortunately, Kengan Ashura and Cestvs share the same less-than-ideal use of pure CGI when it comes to animation, but even more unfortunate is that Cestvs doesn’t look a fraction as good as Kengan Ashura does at times.
Both Cestvs and Kengan Ashura are about tournament-style fights between bare-handed brawlers. However, Cestvs is telling a more historical gladiator story in Rome about gladiators that fight with cestus, or fist weapons.
However, while Tokita is already trained and established, Cestvs, the titular main character, has to be trained up. As such, the plot focuses more on that.
For Fans of Mixed Martial Arts
Kenichi – The Mightiest Disciple
After years of reading self-improvement books, “weak legs” Kenichi finally works up the courage to join the karate club. Unfortunately, his school bully challenges him, intent on literally kicking him out.
While all hope seemed lost, new classmate Miu invites him to her dojo for training. While he was able to defeat the bully, his new strength attracted the attention of a powerful group of students, and in order to overcome them, he must train in many martial arts styles.
In Kengan Ashura, you watch Tokita adapt to the different styles of fighters in order to effectively counter them. Some are masters of specific martial arts, some have more unique styles. If the mixed martial arts was part of what you enjoyed about Kengan Ashura, Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple lives in the same vein.
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is less about “ridiculously large” dudes beating each other bloody, and more focused on the marital arts that fighters use to fight each other. The series goes into more depth on the techniques used, but, like Kengan Ashura, is still a martial arts anime where fighting is the focus.
Hajime no Ippo
Makunouchi Ippo has been bullied his entire life, but dreams of changing himself. One day, he is saved by Takamura Mamoru, who happens to be a boxer.
After Ippo faints from his injuries, Mamoru takes him to his gym where Ippo asks to be trained in the sport of boxing.
Unlike Kengan Ashura with its variety of fighting styles, Hajime no Ippo is specifically about only boxing. However, if you know nothing about boxing, Hajime no Ippo will soon show you that it is a little more intricate than just two people punching each other.
Like Kengan Ashura, Hajime no Ippo puts a big emphasis on adapting to the fighting styles of different fighters. No boxer, even if they are all just boxers, fights the same way. This means that Ippo has to adapt his style to counter them, not unlike Tokita.
God of High School
In Korea, they host the God of High School tournament. In it, the strongest high school fighters battle it out against each other for the top prize.
This year, Mori Jin, a Taekwondo specialist, has entered, but soon finds out there is more at play than just a simple tournament.
Like Kengan Ashura, God of High School is centered all around a massive tournament, the winner of which will be the unquestionable strongest fighter.
However, while Kengan Ashura is proxy battles and gigantic beefcakes, God of High School is a high school tournament and the characters are decidedly slimmer.
Furthermore, while it is a martial arts tournament, the characters in God of High School are a bit more super-powered at times.
For Fans of Proxy Fighter Tournaments
Killing Bites
After unwittingly participating in a kidnapping, college student Yuuya finds his friends murdered by the girl they kidnapped.
Forced to drive her somewhere, he now finds himself the prize in a match between two Therianthropes, animal-human hybrids.
Being saved by the girl, Yuuya is suddenly in the middle of a proxy war between four companies engaged in a blood-sport known as Killing Bites.
Both Kengan Ashura and Killing Bites center their plots around tournaments where proxy fighters battle it out for corporations to settle disputes. While neither series has an abundance of plot beyond that, Killing Bites does try to step out from just being about the fights.
The biggest difference between these series is that Killing Bites has the battle take place between a new species of animal people instead of well-muscled brawlers. So instead of mixed martial arts, it shows off the fighters having more animalistic fighting styles. It also happens to be a bit sexier sometimes.
For Fans of Intensely Manly Anime
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
In 1868, Dario Brando saves the life of English nobleman, George Joestar. When Dario dies, George hopes to repay the favor by taking in his son, Dio.
Unfortunately, Dio wants the Joestar household for his own and tries to take it with the help of an Aztec stone mask with supernatural powers.
This triggers a chain of events that will affect the Joestar house for generations to come.
Kengan Ashura has a certain type of narration to it that you found more commonly in the old school “super manly” anime despite not being that old of an anime. It is something it shares with Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
Both series feature overly muscular characters occasionally being very dramatic and more often just beating the crap out of each other. There is more of an attempt at plot in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, but when you strip each series down to the bare bones, those plots are just ways to get the characters from one interesting fight to the next.
While Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure starts off a bit more marital arts focused, it does move more into super power territory when it comes to fighting.
Fist of the North Star
After being betrayed and left for dead, martial arts master Kenshiro now wanders the post-apocalyptic world looking for his rival Shin, the man that kidnapped his fiancee, Yuria.
Trained in the Hokuto Shinken school of martial arts, Kenshiro uses his martial skills to defend the weak from those that roam the wasteland.
As new challenges and even stronger enemies continue to present themselves, Kenshiro puts all his skills to the test in order to bring Shin and his disciples in the Nanto Seiken school of marital arts to justice and get back his beloved.
Fist of the North Star doesn’t have much in common with Kengan Ashura in plot or setting, but they are both what you could easily describe as “super manly” anime where manliness is dialed up to the almost absurd.
Both series are martial arts focused anime, but Kengan Ashura keeps the martial arts more in the realm of realistic possibilities, some fighting styles not withstanding, whereas Fist of the North Star features a martial art that makes people explode.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Kengan Ashura? Let fans know in the comments section below.
