Martial arts have influenced the fighting styles of anime characters for years now, and that’s led to more than a few strong anime characters who kick. Many famous anime characters favor kick-based fighting styles, and the strongest characters who kick have gone down as some of anime’s best-unarmed fighters.
Although these characters are united in their preference for fighting with powerful leg strikes, anime creators have demonstrated a remarkable talent for creating unique ways for characters to actually fight with kicks. These characters differ drastically in size and shape. Their exact fighting techniques are also all unique, but all equally impressive and stylish.
10 Priss – Bubblegum Crisis
Original Anime Created By Artmic & AIC
The most aggressive of four female leads of 80s cyberpunk anime series Bubblegum Crisis, Priss fights with the most relentless combat style of the four. Like the other Knight Sabers, Priss fights in a high-tech hardsuit. Each of the four Knight Sabers has a unique built-in arsenal of weapons, including some of the weapons built directly into the hardsuits. While Priss primarily uses punches and kicks, literally tearing her cyborg enemies apart, her hardsuit is equipped to increase the effectiveness of her brawling close combat style in spectacular fashion. The hands and feet of her hardsuit are equipped with contact-activated detonating charges that give her blows explosive force.
9 Hitmonlee – Pokémon
Animated By Studio OLM & Based on the Franchise Created By Game Freak
Named in English after legendary martial arts movies star Bruce Lee and after the famous kickboxer Tadashi Sawamura in the original Japanese, Hitmonlee is literally identified by the Pokédex as the “Kicking Pokémon.” This Fighting-type Pokémon primarily learns moves that consist of kicking its opponent. In the original games, Hitmonlee’s legs are described as being able to stretch when it needs to move more quickly or kick with more force. In the anime and manga adaptation, Hitmonlee’s legs are depicted as stretching and uncoiling like springs, allowing the Pokémon to kick faraway targets.
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8 Android 18 – Dragon Ball
Animated By Toei & Based on the Manga By Akira Toriyama
Although Android 18 doesn’t fight exclusively or even primarily with kicks, one of her kicks is responsible for a truly shocking moment in the series. Shortly after 17 and 18 are introduced, Vegeta challenges 18 to a fight. Up to this point, no enemy has shown to be a real match for a Super Saiyan-powered character. Vegeta himself handily dispatched Android 19 after going Super Saiyan. 18 quickly proved herself one of the most powerful threats in the series up to that point by not only matching Vegeta blow for blow but even breaking his arm with a single kick. As a villain, Android 18 made her impact immediately felt in a decisive fashion, and her eventual turn towards heroism made her one of the series’ most popular characters.
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7 Infinite Justice – Gundam Seed Destiny
Animated By Sunrise & Based on the Franchise Created By Yoshiyuki Tomino
Gundam has become one of the most influential mech anime series of all time. Even after decades, the franchise is still finding intriguing new ways to keep its mechs visually and conceptually unique. The Infinite Justice Gundam is a great demonstration of the series’ innovative mech designs. Fighting with kicks seems like an odd choice for a giant robot, especially when the series has consistently depicted the Gundams as using guns and energy swords. Infinite Justice has the equipment to make its kicks a particularly effective combat technique. The mech has a beam emitter called the MR-Q15A “Griffon” Beam Blade running from its knee to its toe, effectively entire its entire leg into a lightsaber when it kicks its opponents.
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6 Sailor Moon & Sailor Venus – Sailor Moon & Codename: Sailor V
Animated By Toei & Based on the Manga By Naoko Takeuchi
Sailor Venus actually predates Sailor Moon‘s other characters, starring in her own manga Codename: Sailor V which debuted several months before Sailor Moon. In-universe, it’s established by the time Usagi and the others awaken their powers, Minako has already been fighting monsters as Sailor V for a full year. In that time, Sailor V has become something of a folk hero and role model, starring in the arcade game Usagi plays. One of Sailor V’s signature moves is the Sailor V Kick, which Usagi adapts into her own Sailor Moon Kick. At her strongest, Usagi is one of the most powerful anime characters ever, so her kick is nothing to sneeze at.
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5 Moka – Rosario + Vampire
Animated By Studio Gonzo & Based on the Manga By Akihisa Ikeda
The female lead and male protagonist’s primary love interest in 2008 Vampire anime RomCom Rosario + Vampire‘s Moka has two personalities, the sweet and timid Outer Moka, and the cold and ruthless Inner Moka who is released when the rosary Outer Moka wears is removed. Although Outer Moka gets the bulk of the screen time, Inner Moka is invariably released to handily dispatch the Monster of the Week, often with a single kick. The quick, one-sided nature of the fights are enough of a running gag in the series that the bat character who keeps a humorous running commentary of the events unfolding in the series will pop up to time how long the fight lasted, often in just a few dozen seconds.
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4 Tenya Iida – My Hero Academia
Animated By Studio Bones & Based on the Manga By Kohei Horikoshi
The Class President of Class 1-A at U.A. High School, has a fairly self-explanatory Quirk. Engine is exactly what it sounds like. Tenya’s legs are powered by literal engines, with mufflers visibly sticking out of his legs. His Engine Quirk not only allows Tenya to run with incredible speed, but the logical benefit to having super-powered legs is that Tenya is capable of kicking with incredible force. Naturally, Tenya’s fighting style is based on kicks and the combination of his powerful kicks with the speed boosts he is capable of producing has produced some incredible results in Tenya’s fight scenes.
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3 Chun-Li – Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
Animated By Group TAC & Based on the Video Game Created By Capcom
Although Street Fighter is best known as a video game series, the immense popularity of the games have earned them several anime adaptations. The early 90s saw the release of a feature-length movie based on Street Fighter II, which is noted to be significantly more faithful to the source material than the infamous 1994 live-action Street Fighter movie, and a 29-episode series that was a looser adaptation.
As one of the series’ icons, Chun-Li has been featured prominently in the series’ anime adaptations. While these adaptations have sometimes taken liberties with the source material, Chun-Li is consistently using the same kick-heavy fighting style as in the video games. The high point of Chun-Li’s appearances in these adaptations is her fight with Vega in the Street Fighter II movie, which ends with Chun-Li putting Vega through a wall.
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2 Morgiana – Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Animated By A-1 Pictures & Based on the Manga Created By Shinobu Ohtaka
A former slave who becomes one of Magi‘s main protagonists, Morgiana is a member of the Fanalis tribe, meaning that she has incredible superhuman strength despite her short stature and young age. Most of Morgiana’s strength is contained in her legs, meaning that she performs incredible feats like jump huge distances and run up walls. Her fighting style is primarily kick-based and the strength of her legs is sufficient to break stone just from stomping the ground in frustration. In the Magi story arcs that focus primarily on her, Morgiana gets ample opportunity to show off her capabilities, overcoming multiple enemies at once with her powerful kicks and physical abilities.
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1 Sanji – One Piece
Animated By Toei & Based on the Manga Created By Eiichiro Oda
Although being one of the few major One Piece characters without a Devil Fruit means that Sanji has a comparatively weak and less flashy slate of abilities, he has proven himself a capable fighter ever since his first appearance in the early episodes of the series. Visually based on the real-life martial art Capoeira, Sanji’s kick-based Black Leg Style has an impressive, dance-like visual style that helps to compensate for lacking the most outlandish elements of a Devil Fruit Power. Like all of the major One Piece characters, Sanji has continued to grow in power and unlock more and more of his full potential as the series has progressed. Even without a Devil Fruit, Sanji’s powers have become impressive and he has kicked his way to some memorable moments and iconic victories. This adds up to One Piece’s Sanji being the strongest anime character who can kick.
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