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The most unique fighting styles in fiction

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Ranma 1/2 had some fun ones, like martial arts ballroom dancing and martial arts rhythmic gymnastics. I think there was a martial arts competitive eating one too.
 

Complete

Banned
I really loved the telekinetic hand-to-hand combat in Push:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oow0d-lLY8E
Usually TKs fight while stationary or at most hand wave from distance. The idea to increase the strenght of regular punches and kicks by using telekinetic energy was great and it looked beyond badass.

I wish somebody would make a sequel or that proposed tv series, because I would love to see his concept developed further.
If you liked that, you'll love Mace Windu using the Force:
https://youtu.be/mj07qh51zPI?t=203
 
Yeah!
Didn't realize there was a sequel TV series to the 3 part OVA until a couple of years ago.
:/
large.gif
Haha. Same here. My mind was blown when I caught an episode on G4TV of all places and I saw Nenene/Yumiko being mentioned and I was just, "WTF?"
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Uther Doul from China Mieville's The Scar has one of the more overpowered and unique fighting styles that is based around his weapon, one of the last of its kind and a piece of left over technology from a long dead alien civilization that crash landed on his planet ages before he was ever born. He is already a man who has traveled all over the world from a nation ruled by zombies where humans are cattle to the remnants of one inhabited by Mosquito people. He is an incredible fighter in all respects from unarmed hand to hand combat to using guns but its his sword that everyone knows about and fears.

china_cov_final_low.jpg


You see him unsheathing that and you best run. It's connected to nodes in his palm that pierce through his hand and are connected to a series of wires that run up his arm and down his body to a motor and generator on his belt. When he flicks those on his sword goes from a normal deadly melee weapon to something that can stop an invading army by itself. Its a Might Sword and not in the sense that is mighty but more in the sense as to what might it do. Its a weapon that mines probability with every swing and can produce the myriad of potential outcomes.

Those most likely outcomes are the strongest and do the most damage while the least likely ones come off as near transparent ghost like swings and do a knick or a fraction of the potential damage because of how weak a possibility they are. Every swing is thousands, tens of thousands of swings all at once and anyone caught in the potential area for all those swings is often sliced to ribbons or a gorey mist depending. The trick is of course that all possible swings also include letting go of the sword hilt or stabbing yourself by accident so the user has to know how to mine for the best potential outcomes out of the countless billions of most possible ones, In fact in order to get the best set of outcomes you have to get a bit zen like and try to perform the most generic non specific sword swing every time as the more you focus on getting specific, the more you limit the potential of each attack.

Its such a powerful offense that its basically the ultimate defense. He was the last line of defense basically by himself against a successfully invading army fully of humans armed with guns, swords, bombs, magic users, giant cactus men, augmented war cyborgs and all manner of opponents specially trained and sent there to conquer his pirate paradise. He takes them on and destroys them. Its literally throwing troops into a meat grinder as before they can even realize whats happening they're chopped to bits. The soldiers in the front of the charge start actually trying to retreat even as the ones behind them push them into what is basically a wall of sword swings. Within a few minutes he's decimated the entire army as even oncoming bullets are stopped as in some potential swings they're deflected by a swordstrike.

uther_doul_by_designshiba-d9jmxrf.jpg


There is also a very short description of probability music and wrestling. Wrestlers were described as looking like they had hundreds of ghost limbs all grappling hundreds more in all manner of positions. The sword doesn't even look the same depending on the user as it basically becomes the best possible sword for that wielder be that a huge broadsword or a thinner smaller rapier or something even more alien. Could only find this one bit of fan art that sort of shows off what the sword looks like in action.

030d92901808140c0255bc81713e7eea.jpg
 
JoJo has been mentioned, of course, but One Piece is also something of a ridiculous source for this shit thanks to Devil Fruits.

Case in point: Kuma.

(apologies on this, first example I could find was sorta spoilers)

-Bartholomew-Kuma-one-piece-35149158-500-259.gif

So what's going on in the gif up there? Its not teleporting and its not disintegration. But rather, Kuma can push things, and they will just go. The air in front of him? Alright then, now you've got a pressure bomb. A person to the other side of the planet? Done. The pain in a person's body? Its out now.

He's also
a cyborg with a laser in his mouth.
Because why not?
 

Geist-

Member
title said unique
Did someone else combine real martial arts and the elements together in a similar manner?
(Honestly curious)

I really loved the telekinetic hand-to-hand combat in Push:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oow0d-lLY8E
Usually TKs fight while stationary or at most hand wave from distance. The idea to increase the strenght of regular punches and kicks by using telekinetic energy was great and it looked beyond badass.

I wish somebody would make a sequel or that proposed tv series, because I would love to see his concept developed further.
Such a great example, Push was one of those great concepts that died far too soon. Regardless of what you think of the actual movies itself, it had some great ideas.
 

I'm going to say Mugen, but also because of the contrast. First of all, the show by itself is amazing. And Mugens counterpart, is as traditional, plain and basic as is possible, and that feeds into Mugen being even more spectactular. It is used wonderfully to keep things interesting. This contrast between them but still having them both also be similar. They are both strong.


There is this Dance Capoiera style breakdancing, but also a lot of high kicks, backflips, rolls, throws as well as this frantic uncordinated style of sword slashes. Looks like a mad man, and Jin in the series calls Mugen out for it, like he only wins fight because he is unpredictable and his stance is too open.





Mugen is one of my favorites. As is Spike. It's like Spike is a mix of both Mugen and Jin.
 

AaronB

Member
It's not as wild as the mainly anime styles that seem to have dominated this thread, but I think Jack Reacher's fighting style is worth mentioning. He's described as a brawler who was a military brat, and so got experience fighting in cities all over the world.

He's about 6'5", 250 muscular pounds, and completely ruthless if he decides he needs to fight. His preferred method is to open the fight with a surprise headbutt, which shatters the face of his first opponent (he's rarely fighting just one guy). He's also a fan of elbows, which do more damage and are less likely to be damaged themselves compared to fists. He also extensively uses straight kicks to the knee, bending it backwards and badly damaging the joint (think Jon Jones' oblique kicks delivered by someone as strong as Brock Lesnar). If he's dealing with someone he thinks is particularly bad, and/or likely to fight him again, he's not above breaking fingers or hands of opponents who are already beaten on top of the concussions and other damage he's already given them.

It's basically the logical extreme of fighting styles that are fairly realistic.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
It's not as wild as the mainly anime styles that seem to have dominated this thread, but I think Jack Reacher's fighting style is worth mentioning. He's described as a brawler who was a military brat, and so got experience fighting in cities all over the world.

He's about 6'5", 250 muscular pounds, and completely ruthless if he decides he needs to fight. His preferred method is to open the fight with a surprise headbutt, which shatters the face of his first opponent (he's rarely fighting just one guy). He's also a fan of elbows, which do more damage and are less likely to be damaged themselves compared to fists. He also extensively uses straight kicks to the knee, bending it backwards and badly damaging the joint (think Jon Jones' oblique kicks delivered by someone as strong as Brock Lesnar). If he's dealing with someone he thinks is particularly bad, and/or likely to fight him again, he's not above breaking fingers or hands of opponents who are already beaten on top of the concussions and other damage he's already given them.

It's basically the logical extreme of fighting styles that are fairly realistic.

Cosigned. Lee Childs does a great job of describing Reacher's thought process going into a fight. Best part of the Reacher novels for me is when he sizes up his opponent(s) and comes up with the most direct and effective strategy to take them down. Not flashy, but extremely methodical.

Even though Tom Cruise is waaaaaaay off from Reacher physically, they translated that well in the movie. Especially his last fight against Jai Courtney.
 

JimiNutz

Banned
It's not as wild as the mainly anime styles that seem to have dominated this thread, but I think Jack Reacher's fighting style is worth mentioning. He's described as a brawler who was a military brat, and so got experience fighting in cities all over the world.

He's about 6'5", 250 muscular pounds, and completely ruthless if he decides he needs to fight. His preferred method is to open the fight with a surprise headbutt, which shatters the face of his first opponent (he's rarely fighting just one guy). He's also a fan of elbows, which do more damage and are less likely to be damaged themselves compared to fists. He also extensively uses straight kicks to the knee, bending it backwards and badly damaging the joint (think Jon Jones' oblique kicks delivered by someone as strong as Brock Lesnar). If he's dealing with someone he thinks is particularly bad, and/or likely to fight him again, he's not above breaking fingers or hands of opponents who are already beaten on top of the concussions and other damage he's already given them.

It's basically the logical extreme of fighting styles that are fairly realistic.

This sounds seriously awesome.
I've read the very first Jack Reacher novel years ago (and have friends that love the series) but I've never read the rest.

Did the fight style translate to film? Can't imagine it did with Tom Cruise in the lead role...
 
This sounds seriously awesome.
I've read the very first Jack Reacher novel years ago (and have friends that love the series) but I've never read the rest.

Did the fight style translate to film? Can't imagine it did with Tom Cruise in the lead role...

Seconded, Jack Reacher is 6'5 in the books?? I've not seen the movie nor read the books, but I have a Reacher paperback lying around somewhere I never got around to reading!
 
Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series has select humans who can imbibe metal shavings mixed with drinks that can give them the ability to do everything from amplify senses to manipulating emotions to controlling objects through an almost magnetic push and/or pulling force.

Came into the thread to say this.

Allomantic fights are so cool!
 

Ferulci

Member
No Panzer kunst mention ?
Mugen from samurai champloo
Morau, Knuckles, Bonorenof, Netero (who do a prayer before each attack) from Hunter x Hunter
Trafalgar Law from One Piece.
 
54812482ef2549b88d199d3f67947f97.jpg


The GOAT fighting style imo, is found in Jojo Part 7, and is Gyro Zeppeli's "Spin" fighting style. By using his steel balls, he manipulates the natural spirals found in all living things, and can bend the rules of nature if thrown properly. On contact, his steel balls can shut down your nervous system, forcibly control your muscles, and shatter bone. Spin can also be used defensively, and can cure ailments and make skin bulletproof.
 

Zaru

Member
On contact, his steel balls can shut down your nervous system, forcibly control your muscles, and shatter bone. Spin can also be used defensively, and can cure ailments and make skin bulletproof.

I love part 7 the most but those are some bullshit powers.
 
Saint Seya had a lot of funky fighting styles especially for the golden saints ranging from brute force to creating dimensional rifts or removing senses from their enemies. Overpowered (they are supposed to strike at the speed of light... Yeah. Sure) yet awesome when I saw that on TV as a kid.

And there's Battle Angel Alita which is awesome too with the variety of fighting skills (anti-cybork karate, fighting in low gravity conditions, etc). Fantastic.
 

SaganIsGOAT

Junior Member
The bending in Avatar (the animated show) was super rad. I loved watching the characters skills evolve as the series progressed.
 
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