[Top 5] Best Swordfighting Anime – Recommended Watch List

Alright, you know I had to include Sword Art Online. It’s literally got “sword” in the name.

In 2022, a virtual reality game called Sword Art Online has surfaced up, becoming insanely popular. People can use their VR headsets to stimulate all five senses, and otherwise control their characters with nothing but their mind. However, one day, 10,000 players log on to find that they can’t log out. The game’s creator, Kayaba, tell them that if they want to break free, they must conquer the 100 floors of a steel castle that SAO is the setting of.

There’s a catch: if they die in the game or try to remove their headsets forcibly, they will die in real life.

Kazuto Kirigaya – or Kirito – is one of the 1,000 players who had been a beta tester for the game, so he plays through the game alone, eventually meeting a girl named Asuna Yuuki. He actually ends up marrying her in-game, and now they must work together to try and free themselves from the deadly jaws of Sword Art Online.

Aliens from space, Amanto, have invaded Earth and taken over Japan! The Japanese had their samurai fight the aliens, but they ended up surrendering once they realized the sheer strength of the Amanto. The government agrees to a contract with the aliens – swords are not allowed to be carried in public, and allowing the aliens to live in the country. The samurai’s swords are all taken, and the government basically just becomes a puppet for the Amanto to use as they please.

The series is about a samurai called Gintoki Sakata, working as a freelancer after he was no longer allowed to be a samurai. He helps a teenager named Shinpachi, who eventually becomes his apprentice to help pay the bills. They also help save an alien girl named Kagura from a Yakuza group, and with her super strength, the three form a shop called the Yorozuya – which is otherwise known as the “we do anything” store.

The series has a lot of jokes about clichés from other manga, and overall it just seems like a lot of fun to read. I think it’s supposed to be a comedy, but other people have said that Gintama’s a poignant drama.

So, I’ve actually watched the very first episode or 2 of this anime, but I need to watch more. Yes, I know it’s absurdly long, but shhhh, I want to watch it all eventually.

The story revolves around 15-year old Ichigo Kurasaki, who can see ghosts. However, one day, he becomes a substitute Soul Reaper – or, shinigami­ – when Rukia Kuchiki can’t fulfill her duties while engaging in battle with a Hollow that was quite powerful. Though he was reluctant at first, Ichigo begins to kill Hollows in Rukia’s place for her.

Eventually, he even learns that some of his classmates have powers of their own. One of them can use spirit particles, another has a group of protective spirits by her side, and another even has the strength equal to Hollows!

But wait, there’s more – it seems someone is framing Rukia for her crimes in the human world, and she’ll end up being sentenced to death! There will be lots of chaos and swordfighting that the group will go through, but it’ll all be worth it for our entertainment. (Seriously, there’s like, 366 episodes of the anime. I really need to get caught up on the Bleach series, don’t I?)

Guts is a wandering mercenary who knows what death is. He was born from a corpse that’s been hanged, adopted by a woman who died of the plague when he was three, and was raised by his adoptive father. His father, however, blamed Guts for his wife’s death, and then he nearly murdered Guts in a drunken rage at one point.

Guts ended up killing his father in self-defense, and since then, he’s been wandering around the world. Guts built up a reputation as the young mercenary with no fear, and eventually caught the eye of Griffith, who led a mercenary group called “Band of the Hawk.” The two fight, and eventually, he becomes Griffith’s deadliest subordinate.

There’s a lot more about Berserk that goes on here, but I can’t go through it all here, so if you want to see it yourself, you’ll just have to watch the anime (or even read the manga)!

What list of sword-fighting anime wouldn’t be complete without Inuyasha? Pretty much everyone knows about Inuyasha, and how much swordfighting there is. The story revolves around the 15 year old Kagome Higurashi, who’s from the modern day Tokyo.

However, on her 15^th birthday, when she goes to retrieve her cat, she’s dragged into the Bone Eater’s Well by a centipede demon that came from it! However, instead of hitting the bottom, she’s instead transported into the past, during Japan’s Sengoku Period!

When Kagome comes across a boy pinned on a tree and frees him, she learns that she’s the incarnation of the now-dead Kikyo, who took care of the Shikon Jewel – or the Jewel of the Four Souls. Now, she and the boy – a yokai named Inuyashi – are off to get the jewel back!

I hope you all enjoyed this article, because I certainly enjoyed writing it! Have you seen any of these anime? Let me know in the comments down below! In the meantime, I’m Sara Ann, and I’ll see you in the next article!