(AfroGamers.com) So, we touched on some of the more known anime special attacks. Now we’re looking at five underrated attacks. Did your favorite attack or anime series make this list?
MVP of Underrated Anime Special Attacks: Dragon Slave (Lina Inverse, Slayers series)
Lina Inverse is an adventurer/sorceress who wanders the world with close friend Gourry. There is usually some goal early in the season that escalates into a season-wide storyline of fantasy and adventure.
Her main attack is one used by a few other sorcerers in the series—mainly in a one-off fashion. Known as the most powerful black magic spell in the Slayers series, it was originally called the Dragon Slayer but was phrased differently as the years went on.
When Lina pops the Dragon Slave, the chances are ridiculously high that the target is going to be dust, ash, or a parking lot. This attack is hard to miss and does not play around.
If an enemy is still standing after Lina unleashes this, that enemy is a major problem.
Amaguriken (Ranma Saotome, Cologne, Ranma ½)
This is probably the simplest attack on the list. All it entails is punching extremely fast repeatedly. Ranma ½ main character Ranma learns it from the grandmother of one of his fiancées.
It’s the training itself—attempting to snatch chestnuts from an open fire—improves the trainee’s hand reflexes to insane speeds. It’s also the name of the literal translation: Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.
The reason it makes the list is that the training is so old school. It’s the kind of training you’d see in a kung fu film from the 70s or in Dragon Ball. Just doing impossible—sometimes ridiculous—and repetitious acts until the character sees a drastic improvement.
Hundred Crack Fist (Kenshiro, Fist of the North Star)
It’s not an old school anime list if I don’t mention Fist of the North Star at least once. In execution, the Hundred Crack Fist is actually similar to Ranma’s Amaguriken.
Kenshiro is known for his incredible speed, strength, and ability to make enemies explode by striking their pressure points.
It’s a kind of technique that can be used by others in the Fist of the North Star series but the Hundred Crack Fist variation is a signature of the main character. Every main character need one attack they’re known for, after all.
This attack isn’t even that specific other than every strike hits a pressure point. Now, he can simply press or strike specific pressure points and get the same outcome.
The Hundred Crack Fist is just him battering pressure points so that the enemy is in pain before they explode. I don’t know if this series or the series our next anime special attack belongs to was the first to have shouted attack names.
In Fist of the North Star, it was only mentioned as a “shouted attack” once. After that, it was just something Kenshiro did to bludgeon bad guys in the wasteland.
Kinniku Buster (Kinnikuman, Kinnikuman)
In case you don’t remember, Kinnikuman is a wrestling-oriented superhero manga that started in the late 1970s and had a comeback late in the 2010s following a hiatus.
Or the series ended and it was revived. I’m not entirely sure why Kinnikuman returned but it’s one of my all-time favorite manga series. Originally, it started out as parody of superhero series and comics.
It could’ve easily gone down as a gag comic that would be done before the decade was over but adding pro-wrestling as the means that superhumans fight each other was brilliant.
Wrestling was hot in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s and this series thrived during that wave. The Kinniku Buster involves cradling the opponent on one of Kinnikuman’s shoulders and sitting on the ground rapidly, jarring the opponent’s neck.
I say “opponent” because there are annual tournaments where the choujin (supermen) compete against each other—good or evil. In Kinnikuman fights, the Kinniku Buster is supposed to be our hero’s special attack and he does pop the attack but there’s always that extra “Oh no!” factor when an opponent is immune or knows how to reverse the attack.
See the cowardly, goofball Kinnikuman have to figure out a way to make the Kinniku Buster work is similar to Naruto finding out how to best use the Rasengan.
The Kinniku Buster made a transition to the real world and was used in the WWE by Samoa Joe and in Pro-Wrestling NOAH by Mohammed Yone.
Thunder Shock (Ash and Pikachu, Pokemon)
In the early episodes of Pokemon’s debut season, the Thunder Shock was the go-to attack for Ash’s Pikachu.
As the series went on, Ash and Pikachu pick up more attacks but Ash would call for Thunder Shock and Pikachu would pop it as if he didn’t know if he had other moves. I’d think Pikachu would know if he had learned something else throughout all of their traveling.
It would turn out; he did learn more before the first season was out but you never forget this curiously strong version of the Thunder Shock.
Seriously, this attack was Thunderbolt strength-wise in the series. Pikachu was frying Team Rocket with Thunder Shock then decided to add some panache with Thunderbolt. By “panache” I just mean more lightning.
Be sure to check out our first list on epic anime special attacks.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.