While calling the Big 3 Anime Series the BEST Anime series is debatable, it is undeniable that they have been in tier of their own for a long time now. The following series, Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece, have all been in production for decades; introduced new trends to the animation industry; and built fan bases in the hundreds of millions of people across the globe. These accolades speak for themselves in showing the world just how good these series are; only a handful of other series can claim even one of the accomplishments that all three of these series have in spades.

So, this begs the question – how did these three series do it?  There are a lot of things one could point to that might answer this question. The character building; the over-arching story; the world building; the morals characteristics; the length of the series (hundreds of episodes each); and a dozen more qualities could all be examined as to how these series have become so well-known. However, these qualities are hardly unique to these series – dozens of other anime series have successfully exhibited the same qualities. There is one thing that each of these series has done that places them in tier above the rest of the industry, and it is more simple than one would expect – the fight scenes.

Before writing me off, hear me out. I know other anime series have fight scenes and many of them are great. However, the way Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece have set up their fight scenes makes it so other series cannot compete. It can easily be seen by looking at the most epic fights within each of these series. In Dragon Ball Z, the trendsetting first Frieza fight; in Naruto Shippuden, the iconic Pain fight; and in One Piece, the ever-anticipated Kaido. Even if you have not watched a single episode of any of these series, watching the full versions of these fights is well worth it and you may even change your mind about starting these series.

These major fights scenes in these series comes down to three main elements that have not yet been emulated by other anime series:

  1. The length of time the fights take in terms of episodes.
  2. The fight’s overall sequencing and meaning in the context of the story.
  3. The main character’s development from beginning to the end of these fights.

Starting with the first element, over a dozen, and in extreme cases, over 100 episodes of time is devoted to these fights. This allows the viewer to experience the fight from every angle and point of view. The main character and any of the side-characters and minor characters are involved, multiple antagonists, and the world that has been built in the time it took to reach these fights are heavily involved in these fights. Everything comes together perfectly when these fights take place, and the length of these fights reflects that. The number of episodes it takes to just complete these fights in the epic and cohesive way they are in these series is more episodes than 99% of other anime series are allowed to have in single season. Overall, the longevity of these series makes for much better fight scenes with plenty of suspense and stakes.

Moving into the second element, these fights have larger than normal implications for the rest of the story. They re-affirm the story’s direction and set an end goal that was previously unclear. While most epic fights would be the end of the story in other series, these fights (Frieza, Pain, and Kaido) are strategically placed in the middle of the story, letting the viewer know that there is still much more story to tell and epic fights to be had. In all cases, this is true many times over – Dragon Ball Z had the Cell fight; Naruto had the Sasuke fights; and One Piece still has the Black Beard fight, with many more like that could be mentioned for each of these three series as well. Only these three series have pulled this type of – culminating event that eventually becomes something even bigger – successfully.

 Lastly, the third element is the most important. (spoilers in this paragraph) The main character’s development accelerates within these epic fights. Since the main characters of these series are the main appeal, the type of character development that happens during fights is very important to fans. Something that defines the character is seemingly lost, their defining morals are put to the test, and ultimately the main character comes out triumphant but only after a long, arduous battle. The main character comes out injured yet stronger than before. In Dragon Ball Z, Vegeta dies so that Goku can defeat Frieza by becoming a Super Saiyan; for Naruto, his entire village is destroyed so that Naruto can defeat Pain with his new Sage-style; and in One Piece, Luffy dies which triggers his own awakening so that he can defeat Kaido with his awakened Gear 5. It is only through these great struggles that these characters can grow so fast, and only the Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece series can pull this off due to the first two elements mentioned above.

Of course, none of this post is meant to downplay the greatness of many Anime series that are not in the big three. There are plenty of incredible Anime that rival many aspects of the big three that I presented here today – Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, Chainsaw Man, and Frieren just to name a few. However, it seems too tall an order for any of them to rival the big three in all aspects of what makes Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece so great. Whether you like these three series or not, it is inarguable that there is a reason why these shows are so huge both in number of episodes and popularity throughout the world. I believe it is because of the way the producers of these shows approach their fight scenes. Let me know in the comments if you agree with me or not, and if not, why?