I'm looking for a series where the main character/group gets into battles of some sort (sports, martial arts, etc.) where his opponents are mostly evenly matched and most of his confrontations are very close. Also, he doesn't win by pulling something out of his ass or through a stupid circumstance but instead through good tactics or something.
I do like the ones where the main character/group comes from behind but I'm getting a little sick of those. Or where the main character is overpowered. My favorite moments in competition are when things are very close and you never know what might happen.
Also, if the main character(or team/group) could LOSE occasionally, that would be good.
Examples of what I don't want:
Hajime no Ippo (don't get me wrong, this is my favorite anime)
TTGL (tied with ippo for favorite anime)
I have a fairly good example from Initial D, but it also has some problems:
Also, not ones where the main character/group gets the shit beat out of them and then eventually wins through some random tactic. It should be an even fight and the main character somehow does end up winning by figuring out a new tactic or something.
I know this post is already too long and contorted, but one last thing I'd also be interested in is a series where the main character/group has different types of encounters so it's not predictable: sometimes they're very overpowered, sometimes they come from behind, sometimes it's really close.