7
Let the count-down to post-employment begin, with the TOP SEVEN BALLS-TO-THE-WALLS AWESOME MOMENTS IN ANYTHING
07. FAIRY TAIL: MIRAJANE UTTERLY DESTROYS FRIED
Well. It's been nice knowing you, pal.
Mirajane lost her magical powers to a mental block after her little sister died. But when her little brother's life is on the line, she unblocks and it all comes flooding back really really hard.
She doesn't just take Fried down. She doesn't just defeat him. She utterly destroys him. He even hulks out himself in an attempt to fight her on equal ground - in his own words, only a demon can defeat a demon - but it's just not enough. It only succeeds in holding back his inevitable defeat for a moment before she seizes control of a whole river's worth of water and pummels him to earth with it.
Glorious.
06. NARUTO: KILLERBEE VS KISAME
You can all go home now, this is without question the most awesome thing you'll see all day
If Naruto was like this all the time, it would be one fun as hell manga. A fight to the death between the two most ridiculous and beefy characters around, taking place in a giant mobile bubble of water. Watch as Bee more than once almost pulls a sneak attack with a pencil! Gasp and Samehada turns traitor, and gets punted away! Be amazed by how Kisame keeps getting back up.
And although it comes to an end rather suddenly, it finished with Bee and his Brother performing a beautiful Double Lariat. I couldn't ask for a better.
05. ONE PIECE: THE CREW TAKES DOWN AN ENORMOUS ZOMBIE MONSTER WITH THE POWER OF ANATOMY
For reference, the two guys on the right are normal-sized giants
Let's say you have a giant monster. So huge that normal-sized people don't even come up to its ankle. How would you take it down? Well, this is a world where people regularly throw buildings at each other and consume more than their body weight in meat, so I guess that's not completely unmanageable.
Now, zombify that monster. Not only does it not die by any normal means, it doesn't even feel pain. All your attacks against it are totally pointless.
So, what do you do in a situation like this? Well, if you're the Straw Hat Pirates, you get together, perform a fuckofaload of teamwork, and exploit the fact that it can't feel pain (meaning that it can't tell when its spine has been forced into a straight line instead of its usual cushioning S-curve) to destroy its spinal column, keeping it from moving. It still won't die, but it'll be taken out of the fight permanently. And it'll be awesome.
04. AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER: STORMING THE EARTH KING'S PALACE
We are strong, no one can tell us we're wrong
This is it. They've got their transportation back. Long Feng no longer has anything to hold over their head. The only thing standing between them and the Earth King now is a bunch of Dai Li jokers, and it's high them they were shown who threatens who around here.
Not only do they penetrate the palace's defenses in a beautifully animated and executed scene, they do so without ever breaking stride. They are a solid ball of asskicking, aimed straight at anyone who wants to get in their way.
03. FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: ALPHONSE AGAINST KIMBLEE AND PRIDE
Yeah, he's surfing on the back of a rock dragon he is in the process of transmuting. What's your point?
There was a lot of balls-to-the-wall ridiculousness in FMA for me to choose from. A lot of it involving Bradley. But this fight is the one that I always stick on. It's the first time in the series that we see a top-tier alchemist really cut loose with the power of the Philosopher's stone, and the only time that it's Alphonse Elric who's the one doing it.
And holy shit, is Alphonse good at what he does. He pulls off creative trick after trick, switching tactics at the drop of a hat to get the jump on two extremely capable opponents. It's over so quickly, and that's its real strength.
02. JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED: THE FLASH TAKES DOWN LUTHOR/BRANIAC
Yep, that's the Flash
You know why almost all of the Flash's villains are either speedsters themselves, or are smart enough not to fuck with the man and his family? It's because if you make him mad enough, he can run right around the planet and then punch you in the face at the speed of light.
The weird Luthor/Braniac hybrid, armed with extremely potent nanotechnology, just finished wiping the floor with the entire Justice League: Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, all of them. Only the Flash is left conscious, and he's taken a beating as well. Victory is assured...or so it seems.
And then the Flash runs around the planet and punches him int he face at the speed of light. And then does it again. And again. And again, until the job is done.
01. TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN: THE FINAL BATTLE
It's like that, but with more explosions
Oh man, where do you even start? Maybe with how it is the culmination of themes that had been woven through the series in surprisingly subtle ways. Or perhaps with the phenomenal voice work by Tetsuya Kakihara? Or, hell, the unbelievable number of drills, explosions, and manly shouts.
Illustrating how off-the-scale things are by featuring a fracturing gauge is a fairly common trope. This is, however, probably the first time I've seen it performed by the actual gauge itself breaking free of its confines and spiralling outwards.
If there is a series that exemplifies balls-to-the-walls awesome, it's Gurren Lagann. And it could not as a series have asked for a better send-off than this.
Answers are in no particular order. If you want to contribute idea for my countdown, drop them in comments here or on my previous post.
07. FAIRY TAIL: MIRAJANE UTTERLY DESTROYS FRIED
Well. It's been nice knowing you, pal.
Mirajane lost her magical powers to a mental block after her little sister died. But when her little brother's life is on the line, she unblocks and it all comes flooding back really really hard.
She doesn't just take Fried down. She doesn't just defeat him. She utterly destroys him. He even hulks out himself in an attempt to fight her on equal ground - in his own words, only a demon can defeat a demon - but it's just not enough. It only succeeds in holding back his inevitable defeat for a moment before she seizes control of a whole river's worth of water and pummels him to earth with it.
Glorious.
06. NARUTO: KILLERBEE VS KISAME
You can all go home now, this is without question the most awesome thing you'll see all day
If Naruto was like this all the time, it would be one fun as hell manga. A fight to the death between the two most ridiculous and beefy characters around, taking place in a giant mobile bubble of water. Watch as Bee more than once almost pulls a sneak attack with a pencil! Gasp and Samehada turns traitor, and gets punted away! Be amazed by how Kisame keeps getting back up.
And although it comes to an end rather suddenly, it finished with Bee and his Brother performing a beautiful Double Lariat. I couldn't ask for a better.
05. ONE PIECE: THE CREW TAKES DOWN AN ENORMOUS ZOMBIE MONSTER WITH THE POWER OF ANATOMY
For reference, the two guys on the right are normal-sized giants
Let's say you have a giant monster. So huge that normal-sized people don't even come up to its ankle. How would you take it down? Well, this is a world where people regularly throw buildings at each other and consume more than their body weight in meat, so I guess that's not completely unmanageable.
Now, zombify that monster. Not only does it not die by any normal means, it doesn't even feel pain. All your attacks against it are totally pointless.
So, what do you do in a situation like this? Well, if you're the Straw Hat Pirates, you get together, perform a fuckofaload of teamwork, and exploit the fact that it can't feel pain (meaning that it can't tell when its spine has been forced into a straight line instead of its usual cushioning S-curve) to destroy its spinal column, keeping it from moving. It still won't die, but it'll be taken out of the fight permanently. And it'll be awesome.
04. AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER: STORMING THE EARTH KING'S PALACE
We are strong, no one can tell us we're wrong
This is it. They've got their transportation back. Long Feng no longer has anything to hold over their head. The only thing standing between them and the Earth King now is a bunch of Dai Li jokers, and it's high them they were shown who threatens who around here.
Not only do they penetrate the palace's defenses in a beautifully animated and executed scene, they do so without ever breaking stride. They are a solid ball of asskicking, aimed straight at anyone who wants to get in their way.
03. FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: ALPHONSE AGAINST KIMBLEE AND PRIDE
Yeah, he's surfing on the back of a rock dragon he is in the process of transmuting. What's your point?
There was a lot of balls-to-the-wall ridiculousness in FMA for me to choose from. A lot of it involving Bradley. But this fight is the one that I always stick on. It's the first time in the series that we see a top-tier alchemist really cut loose with the power of the Philosopher's stone, and the only time that it's Alphonse Elric who's the one doing it.
And holy shit, is Alphonse good at what he does. He pulls off creative trick after trick, switching tactics at the drop of a hat to get the jump on two extremely capable opponents. It's over so quickly, and that's its real strength.
02. JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED: THE FLASH TAKES DOWN LUTHOR/BRANIAC
Click to viewYep, that's the Flash
You know why almost all of the Flash's villains are either speedsters themselves, or are smart enough not to fuck with the man and his family? It's because if you make him mad enough, he can run right around the planet and then punch you in the face at the speed of light.
The weird Luthor/Braniac hybrid, armed with extremely potent nanotechnology, just finished wiping the floor with the entire Justice League: Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, all of them. Only the Flash is left conscious, and he's taken a beating as well. Victory is assured...or so it seems.
And then the Flash runs around the planet and punches him int he face at the speed of light. And then does it again. And again. And again, until the job is done.
01. TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN: THE FINAL BATTLE
It's like that, but with more explosions
Oh man, where do you even start? Maybe with how it is the culmination of themes that had been woven through the series in surprisingly subtle ways. Or perhaps with the phenomenal voice work by Tetsuya Kakihara? Or, hell, the unbelievable number of drills, explosions, and manly shouts.
Illustrating how off-the-scale things are by featuring a fracturing gauge is a fairly common trope. This is, however, probably the first time I've seen it performed by the actual gauge itself breaking free of its confines and spiralling outwards.
If there is a series that exemplifies balls-to-the-walls awesome, it's Gurren Lagann. And it could not as a series have asked for a better send-off than this.
Answers are in no particular order. If you want to contribute idea for my countdown, drop them in comments here or on my previous post.