Non predictable and overly cliched action!
 

After reading new Fairy Tail chapter I'm beyond frustrated and start to lose hope in action anime/manga lately :uhoh:

What I want is action where you can't predict the outcome miles away! Or where they don't use dumb shortcuts and power of love/friendship and whatever. I also don't want an invincible main cast!

Bleach will be one of the best examples on how action should not be done!

Now about action that I liked...

FMA and FMA: Beotherhood - even though it is shounen and does follow the formula it still had its exceptional moments!


Seirei No Morbito - nice action with no cheap shots. Even though main heroine won most of the time she still got seriously damaged that had reflected on future events and she did not win with some cheap/cliched tricks!
Usually damage is ignored by main cast like if its a scratch even though the are bleeding like mad -_-

Baccano! - since we didn't really have a main hero there, none of the fight outcomes seemed forced.

Fate/Zero - did quiet few things differently. The ending alone shows that it is different. It doesn't use cheap tricks either, they plan them instead of bringing them out of thin air.

Ga-Rei Zero - probably one of the least predictable series out there for me, surprised me many times. Episode 1 is worth a cup alone!

And so many more!

If you know any other unique action series, please let me know!
You can find my anime list in my sig! Don't pay much attention to marks, some of those were watched years ago when I went easy on stuff.

I present to you BLASSREITER!

If you can predict anything that happens, you're a psychic.

So I should recommend a really predictable action with a a cliche ending, bet you'd be really surprised! And you would never see it coming! oh wait..

Are you joking or something ? If so, I think you're hardly recommending an action show with a unpredictable storyline or something.

You should watch Zetsuen no Tempest (it's still airing). It’s a fantasy action that involve magic just like Fate/Zero. It's also pretty much unpredictable in which the mysteries are layered and they also reveal the overall plot slowly within each episode. Very enjoyable stuff. Oh, and this is not a yaoi show even though the protagonist are two bishies, just in case you don’t like yaoi or stuff like that ;).

Oh, and I also recommend you Basilisk. An action show set in feudal Japan that involves two groups of ninjas (ten people each) from different clans battling each other for pride. Again, kinda like Fate/Zero, but here, they use ninjutsu instead.

There's also Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas and Fuuma no Kojiro which are also great.

Since you have Seirei no Moribito in your list, how about Junni Kokki ("Twelve Kingdoms")? The action sequences are not as brilliantly choreographed as the ones in Moribito, but they are decent, and the overall story itself is excellent.

One off-the-wall suggestion is AKB0048. Just watch the opening episode if you've never seen and then decide. I thought the concert/battle sequence in that episode was quite well-directed, and the change of music from "Aitakatta" to "Shoujotachi yo" fits well with the transition from concert to battle.

If you're willing to have the "action" take place on a Go board, then I'll suggest Hikaru no Go. You'll be amazed at how they can make a board game dramatic.

Finally, if you've never watched Noein, I'll recommend that as well. Some of the battle scenes are quite remarkably animated, especially the one in episode 12.

I'm a sarcastic person but in this case I missed a whole point of comment... feel to enlighten me?

Obelisk ze Tormentor
Oh I don't mind yaoi/yuri, it actually tends to give more depth sometimes. That is if it is handled properly.
Thanks!

SeijiSensei
Never expected to get an idol shows a suggestion here :heh:
But thanks, I'll take a look on all of them :)

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is probably what the writer of fate/zero is best known for. It looks like a normal magical girl anime at first, but it's pretty dark. You should probably watch at least three full episodes before judging it. There's actually quite a lot of action, but that's not what this series is primarily known for.

Black Lagoon is a really good action anime. There's a lot of gunfights and explosions, and the dark humor is actually quite funny. This is one of the series where I'd recommend the English dub over subs.

Durarara! is from the same author and studio as Baccano!. It takes place in modern Ikebukuro and the narrative style is very similar. It needs about two or three episodes to take off, but the author still hasn't lost his talent for writing captivating characters.

Mirai Nikki is a pretty good series about a group of people who receive cell phones that can predict the future and are pitted against each other in a death game. This series has some of the craziest plot twists I've ever seen, although it does have its weak moments.

Did you even see her AnimeList ? She's already watched every one of them but Black Lagoon I guess.

True, Black Lagoon is the only one I didn't see yet :heh:

Considering how much people talk about it I guess it will be among my next 4 shows to watch.

Just want to say about zetsuen no tempest, give it a 5 episode test,I know that might seem like a lot (though it is a 2 cour show) ep5 is the episode where there's a revelation that makes the whole audience go "Wait....what :twitch: " , I honestly replayed a scene to make sure I had understood it correctly

The thing about black lagoon is that while it's a great show,it thrives more from great characters (and great interaction between them) than really being really unpredictable.Though I do enjoy it a lot.

Oh, sorry. I didn't even notice the link in the signature. :heh:

Ok, will keep that in mind^^

I don't see Bakuretsu Tenshi aka Burst Angel on your list. Might be worth a try.

@SeijiSensei: Major kudos to you for recommending Noein - Mou Hitori no Kimi e. I try to recommend that show to everyone I can whenever I can because I feel that it doesn't get as much love as it deserves.

Also, I would recommend Tenkuu no Escaflowne and Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku. I'm not the best for judging whether or not an action sequence is "good" or not, but I found both of these shows to be very entertaining. Furthermore, both featured bittersweet (and perhaps even tragic) endings that aren't easy for most to predict. Be warned though, the latter deals with some very heavy topics (child soldiers, genocide, rape, etc).

Shounen action series not on your list or previously suggested:

Kekkaishi - TV Series
Shijou Saikyou no Deshi Kenichi - TV Series & OVA

As far as shounen series are hardly unpredictable at one point or another, it seems to me that the main leads here struggle a lot more to pull off the action by facing frustration, loss, rivalry and some strange allies :)
(If you choose to finish Kekkaishi by reading the manga, I bet you'd see an end you might not entirely expect!]

Another suggestion could be Dogs: Bullets and Carnage - OVA, pertaining to main leads, who are not quite in their right mind AND doing a lot of action.

How about Jojo's Bizarre Adventure? While it is an old series, I would say it still manages to be unpredictable because its not afraid to suddenly kill off one of the major characters, the characters often use their powers in very unorthodox and clever ways, the villains rarely explain how their powers work so the heroes have to work out themselves in order to counter them and also because the series, as its title suggests, is quite crazy, especially once the famous Stands are introduced in the third story arc Stardust Crusaders.

The manga started in 1987 and is still ongoing but there is an anime adaptation airing right now. So far it's adapted the first arc and is in the middle of the second. The second arc is where I think the series really picks up. Not to mention its protagonist Joseph Joestar tends to specialize in trickery and subsequently comes up with plenty of clever and sometimes amusing strategies.

Vivid Operation read my post there.

I don't know if you've never seen Hunter X Hunter, but since I see no mention of it I'll certainly suggest it. It rips actions clichés to shreds.

^I thought Kurapika looks very obvious in my avatar :heh:

And sadly I can't agree, most of the fights are predictable especially when it comes to Gon and Killua...

Good show but not very original action wise. Did like Phantom arc though. One of the best I've seen in shounen.