Best Action Anime Shows

Certainly an anime classic, Dragonball Z is perhaps the one to beat when it comes to action anime.

Part of the Dragonball trilogy (Dragonball, Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT), DBZ is full of vicious bad guys - Buu, Cell and Freiza to name a few, as well as fight-to-the-death battles, amazing martial arts moves and yes, even some good moral lessons.

Another anime classic, Cowboy Bebop is the story of Spike Speigel, an interstellar bounty hunter and his unlikely crew and their adventures as they travel the solar system looking for the wanted.

Bebop is lively, funny and full of edge-of-your-seat action. And there's even a little romantic sub-plot for the soft-hearted fans.

Trigun is a unique anime, all its own. Our hero - Vash the Stampede - is a mysterious gunman on the run. He's got a big bounty on his head and when I say big, I mean "BIG". 60 Billion Double Dollars to be exact and he's hunted by everyone and their dog.

He's also being followed by two insurance ladies who are responsible for keeping him out of trouble and ensuring he doesn't damage any property along the way.

There's action, adventure and plenty of gun fights... plus a little humor thrown in for fun.

Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage is a powerful and undeniably freaky anime series. The story of a group of pirating mercenaries, we get to follow the crew on their adventures as they encounter some of the most bizarre and frightening "bad guys" around.

Ah, what would an anime list be without a little Fullmetal Alchemist on it?

The story of Ed and Alphonse Elric - two young alchemists searching for the legendary Philosopher's Stone to right an alchemy experiment gone wrong, FMA is by far one of the most popular anime series around, full of action, adventure and just a little magic as well.

Gungrave is a dark and intense anime series with plenty of action to whet your appetite. Created by Yasuhiro Nightow (Trigun), this is the story of Brandon Heat, a young member of a powerful crime syndicate.

After Brandon is murdered by some of his syndicate brethern, he is brought back by a madly genius scientist who can regenerate the dead. What follows is Brandon's version of justice.

Lupin the 3rd is by far one of the funniest action anime you'll ever see. Lupin is an international thief, always on the lookout for the next big score. He's also hunted by the top detective, Zenigata who although dedicated and determined, just can't see past Lupin's many disguises and antics.