The wildest training arcs in anime push their protagonists to their limits and then miles past them. The best of the best in real life, from sports teams to military units, become what they are through intense training and discipline. The heroes of fans’ favorite anime are typically no different.
Anime characters can endure devastating or even deadly ordeals and come out alive, if not without a few scratches. This means that they can go through the most outrageous training sequences possible and come out stronger for it. The more creative and high-stakes the heroes must go to improve, the more exciting it is for the audience.
10 Rock Lee’s Training Is Slow, Steady, & Incredibly Effective
Naruto, produced by Studio Pierrot and based on the original manga by Masashi Kishimoto
Shinobi have as many brutal training regimens as they have techniques to learn. From Naruto risking life and limb to attain Rasenshuriken and Sage Mode to Sakura’s theory that Orochimaru somehow got Sasuke to synthetically accelerated his progress, they will do anything to unlock the most powerful jutsu they can attain. Rock Lee’s endless taijutsu training isn’t as flashy in comparison, but might be even more effective.
Lacking both ninjutsu and genjutsu, Lee must push himself further than his peers. He purposefully gives himself impossible physical challenges so that he will fall short and immediately go into an even more difficult penalty workout, pushing himself past what’s physically possible for a normal human being. What’s more, he does this with ground-breakingly heavy weights on his legs, making him both stronger and much faster than his peers and his enemies.
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Naruto: Shippuden
Set two and a half years after the events of Masashi Kishimoto’s original anime, Naruto Shippuden continues the titular hero’s attempts to become the best ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village and bring his former friend Sasuke Uchiha back to the light. The 500-episode series features the return of allies such as Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki’s mentor Jiraiya, as well as the villainous organization Akatsuki.
- Seasons
- 22
- Franchise(s)
- Naruto
9 The Assassination Classroom Course Turns Kids Into Killers
Assassination Classroom, produced by Lerche and based on the original manga by Yusei Matsui
Class E is the bottom of the barrel at Kunugigaoka Academy, and nobody cares about them. This all changes when an octopus alien blows up the moon, and says that unless someone kills him, he’ll do the same to Earth. He has one contingency, though – he’ll give Class E one chance at him as long as he’s the one to train them. That sort of thing is pretty good motivation to get serious.
As it happens, Korosensei is actually a very good teacher, which is exactly what Class E needed to truly thrive. From combat and stealth exercises to marathon cram study sessions, his lessons push them to the limits, bolstering their strengths and overcoming their weaknesses. By the time it’s time for the final assassination, Korosensei’s students are forces to be reckoned with in battle, and in life.
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8 Piccolo’s Training Is Truly Demonic
Dragon Ball, produced by Toei Animation and based on the original manga by Akira Toriyama
In Dragon Ball, Earth’s protectors are devoted to getting stronger and fighting the universe’s most powerful villains. Naturally, they’re shown going through a great variety of training methods and tools. These range from simply wearing weighted clothes to spending days in a potentially fatal high-gravity chamber to toughen up their bodies.
Usually, training that’s unnecessarily dangerous – such as Crane Master’s – is portrayed as ineffective and damaging. But there’s one notable exception: Piccolo desperately trying to speedrun young Gohan’s growth by forcing him to survive in the harsh wilderness and beating him to a pulp in sparring matches. In another timeline, Future Gohan repeats these methods on his own student, Future Trunks, and in the current timeline, Gohan is actually frustrated by training that doesn’t nearly kill him.
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Dragon Ball
- Created by
- Akira Toriyama
- First TV Show
- Dragon Ball
- First Episode Air Date
- April 26, 1989
- Current Series
- Dragon Ball Super
7 Rose’s Training Is The Terror Of The Kingdom
The Wrong Way To Use Healing Magic, produced by Studio Add, based on the light novel by Kurokata
When he’s whisked off to a magical world, Ken Usato from The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic is baffled as to why everyone is horrified that he has an aptitude for healing magic. They aren’t afraid of him, rather, they’re afraid for him, because the kingdom’s chief healer is a vicious, merciless trainer. Rose terrifies everybody, but looking at Usato’s rapid progress, no one can deny her effectiveness.
Rose takes full advantage of the fact that she can instantly repair any damage done to her trainees’ bodies. Usato is forced to run drills all day, do push-ups with massive weights (plus a heckling Rose), and endure survival challenges and fights with giant beasts to test his will. For all his yelling and complaining, Usato not only quickly becomes accustomed to life among the healing mages, but understands how necessary all this will be once he is on the battlefield.
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6 Tootsuki Training Camp Sends First-Years Home In Tears
Food Wars!, produced by J.C.Staff and based on the manga by Michiko Ito & Taiki Asatoki
A professional kitchen is one of the most stressful workplaces in the world. Tootsuki Culinary Academy aims to only graduate the best possible chefs, who can not only withstand the environment – but thrive in it. To that end, they create a cutthroat space where the slightest mistake in class gets them expelled and destroys their career.
An early arc focuses on one of the most stressful exams, with a deceptively cheerful name: the Friendship and Rapport Training Camp. Over this week at the Tootsuki resort, students must cook hundreds of different dishes each day to teach them to run a business and please a huge influx of customers. It’s explicitly intended to cut the first-year class in half almost immediately.
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5 Ranma Spent His Whole Life On Crazy Training
Ranma 1/2, produced by Studio Deen and based on the manga by Rumiko Takahashi
Growing up a martial artist, Ranma Saotome has always been put through difficult training regimens. Unfortunately, his trainer is his inept father, Genma, meaning they usually did him more harm than good. These include but are not at all limited to throwing boulders at Ranma, forcing him to stick his arm in a piranha tank, and covering him in fish and throwing him into a pit of cats.
However, this doesn’t mean that Ranma learned nothing useful from them. He proves able to create surprisingly effective exercises for himself when he needs to. His Amaguriken style requires the utmost speed and precision, and to perfect it, he devises a training regimen that takes advantage of his gender-bending curse to force him to strike with pinpoint accuracy and blinding speed, or suffer painful punishment.
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4 The Pillar Of Hell Is Exactly How It Sounds
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, produced by David Productions and based on the manga by Hirohiko Araki
From Part 3 on, training isn’t a huge deal for JoJo‘s heroes with their scary powerful Stands being consistently strong without much extra work. Practitioners of the power system used in the first two parts, Hamon, however, aren’t as lucky. To master the rare martial art, fighters must be in peak physical condition and learn to take perfect control of their breathing.
In Battle Tendency, Joseph Joestar and Caesar Zeppeli are put through harrowing training by Lisa Lisa. For their first exercise, they spent almost three days climbing an oil-flooded tower out of a pit. Any longer, and they might have starved, with Joseph fitted with a muzzle that would suffocate him if he didn’t breathe right. Joseph doesn’t get any special treatment for being Lisa Lisa’s long-lost son: if he dies here, he wouldn’t be strong enough to fight the Pillar Men anyway.
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3 Izumi Curtis Survival Camp
Fullmetal Alchemist, produced by Studio Bones and based on the manga by Hiromu Arakawa
When young Edward and Alphonse Elric insisted that Izumi become their alchemy teacher, they had no idea what they were getting into. Almost immediately, she takes a leaf out of her own martial arts instructor’s book, who abandoned her to survive alone on a frozen mountain, so Izumi she seemingly leaves the boys to survive on a desert island.
Izumi might be just winging it as a teacher, but she is smart and practical, and she has a considerable impact on Ed and Al. The question she charges them with answering during their time on the island gives them a better understanding of alchemy and how they intend to use it on their journey. The intensity of the rest of her training is such that the brothers still wind up terrified of her even years later, though.
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2 Blue Lock Puts Strikers Through The Wringer
Blue Lock, produced by Eight Bit, based on the manga by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Kota Sannomiya
According to the best sports anime, teamwork is the key to victory in any game. According to Jinpachi Ego, that’s stupid: the biggest egos and most self-centered players are what win games. To make Japan international champions, he throws its 300 best strikers into the Blue Lock training program, designed to destroy 299 of them to forge the final one standing into the greatest soccer player in the country.
As quickly as Isagi and the other strikers become stronger during this training, it’s no less painful to endure it. Though the stakes aren’t life or death, they might as well be: anyone who’s eliminated will never play pro soccer again. Through intense drills and games, the Blue Lock participants are forced to unlock every bit of their buried potential, becoming strong, clever, and most importantly, ruthless to keep from falling.
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1 The Straw Hats’ Offscreen Training Extravaganza
One Piece, produced by Toei Animation and based on the manga by Eiichiro Oda
After the horrifying ordeal of One Piece‘s Marineford Arc, Luffy and the Straw Hats agree that they need to get a lot stronger if they want to achieve their goals. They decide to split up for two years and reunite when they’ve completed rigorous training arcs on their own. Most training in One Piece tends to take place off-screen, but this one produces the most dramatic results.
After spending two years on various islands under various masters, the crew not only come back with bold new looks but with hard-won new techniques, too. From Luffy fending off an entire island full of bloodthirsty beasts to learn Haki, to Brook learning astral projection on the path to becoming a famous musician, to Zoro losing an eye and becoming a stronger swordsman, they’ve all overcome their toughest trials yet.
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One Piece
Created by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece is a multimedia franchise that began as a manga series and follows the adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates as led by Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy, an enthusiastic pirate with a thirst for adventure, is afflicted by a mysterious curse that gives him various powers he uses to protect himself and his friends. The manga eventually gave way to the anime series, with the two being some of history’s longest-running anime and manga series. Along with over fifty video games made over the years, the series entered the live-action world with Netflix’s 2023 adaptation.
- Created by
- Eiichiro Oda
- First TV Show
- One Piece
- Character(s)
- Monkey D. Luffy , Roronora Zoro , Nami (One Piece) , Nico Robin , Usopp (One Piece) , Vinsmoke Sanji , Tony Tony Chopper , Franky (One Piece) , Jimbei (One Piece)
- Video Game(s)
- One Piece: Unlimited World RED , One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 , One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 , One Piece: World Seeker , One Piece Odyssey
